JoyBringer part 32

[krystalkatz.livejournal.com]

Jun watched his brother pacing around the room like a caged lion, he had been doing the same thing since he had come home from school and so far Jun had only got out a rant about Ohno being suspended and that at least twenty people could be responsible. Jun thought that it was stupid to suspend the man when it was pretty obvious that it was going to do more damage than good but at the same time he could see why they had done it. A claim like that could be damaging to the school and with all eyes on the schools at the moment because of the exams it was hard to just brush it under the carpet and the reputation of the school was more important than that of a single student and teacher. It was harsh on his brother though and Jun wished that he could help them.

“Kazu…” He started but Nino’s phone buzzed with a merry jingle and Nino dived on it cutting away any other chance of conversation and Jun was glad of that not really knowing what he was going to actually say.

“Oh-chan?!” Nino almost screamed into the phone his pacing stopping as an almost relieved look crossed over his face and Jun gave a smile heading to the door and taking the paper with him staring at all the names wondering how this many people could have it in for his brother. Well that didn’t matter even if Masako fell through with the sketch he was prepared to go visit these people one by one until he found out who was doing it. “I’m sorry Oh-chan…” Nino was saying in a hushed sad voice now furthering Jun’s desire to get the people responsible.

“Jun…Masako-chan’s downstairs waiting for you and Kazu…” His sister told him, her almost baritone voice cutting through his thoughts like a warmed knife through butter. “She’s got these two girls with her…And her sister…”

“Ah thinks Nee-chan…” Jun said happy that his girlfriend was there but sad that she had company so that he couldn’t actually act like her boyfriend. The girl studied him for a minute and then hummed with a strange jerky nod asking in a slow voice;

“…Is Kazu okay? He looked…Upset…”

“Wouldn’t you be?” Jun almost growled wondering why she wasn’t taking this as seriously as the rest of them. It was possible that it was because she was in university and it wasn’t affecting her as much but Jun couldn’t understand why she wasn’t taking it seriously.

“Of course I would…I’m not the one that’s doing it so there’s no need to get all grumpy with me…” Aika snapped back her face scrunching up and Jun sighed trying to push away his anger knowing that she was right. But he had never really been able to get on with his sister and ever since they were young they had fought like cat and dog that didn’t mean he wouldn’t take a bullet for her but they weren’t close like the Aiba sisters were.

“Sorry…I just wish that I could do something…” He spat kicking the wall to try and ease out some of his tension and frustration but only managing to hurt his foot and he wobbled around a little as pain throbbed through him.

“Serves you right! I know it’s frustrating but there’s no need to get snappy with everyone…Save it for the person that’s doing it…” Aika grumbled turning on her heel and marching back down the stairs leaving Jun to knock on Nino’s door hating himself for disturbing him when it opened exposing a blotchy tear stained face the phone still clamped to his ear.

“Um…Masako’s here…With her sister and two girls…”

“They have the picture?” Nino growled wiping his eyes quickly and Jun shrugged not really understanding what he was talking about. His response didn’t seem to matter though and Nino pulled himself a little straighter looking more confident as he said down the line “Oh-chan, I’ve gotta go…I call you back in about an hour we can talk then…I love you…I know I will…Love you, bye-bi…”

“Wow…It’s almost creepy how gooey you are on the phone…” Jun mumbled jokingly, just for something to say but he was happy that Nino gave a laugh before looking dark again.

“Oh-chan is thinking of going to a new town, it would make things easier for us in the long run but…” Nino took a breath squeezing at his phone “It would mean that I would definitely not be able to see him and…And he would be leaving our apartment…”

“Yeah…” Jun swallowed seriously not knowing how to handle this kind of thing from Nino. If this whole thing had done one thing other than hurt them it had brought them unexpectedly closer but that was a strange mix of both good and bad. Yesterday, on the bus, with Nino giving him advice it was good and he was very grateful but now he was terrified that he was going to say the wrong thing and mess up his chance of helping his brother. Carefully he licked his lips and then swallowed before reaching out and patting him on the back “But it’s just a place right? And there’s only three weeks until you graduate…You can go that long without seeing him…”

“I know…” Nino sighed his whole body rocking up and down “I know that I should be able to, and I know he’s just thinking about our future and it is sweet of him to be thinking that far ahead but…But I’m so stupidly scared, J…That apartment…We picked out everything together…I helped paint it and…It’s with Aunty Mochi, she isn’t getting younger…She’s like my grandma…”

“I know…Look it might not come to that…” Jun pointed out glad that he wasn’t as bad as he thought he was going to be at this. “Now that Ohno’s been suspended maybe the person will calm down and you can find out who’s doing this…He’s just being overly careful…”

“Plus he’s angry and scared that I’m not going to be able to cope without him…” Nino sighed rolling his eyes while Jun personally believed that Ohno was right to be worried seeing how it was clear to him that Nino wasn’t as strong as he liked to pretend but he didn’t say that he just lightly patted his arm and said;

“Well you’ll have to prove him wrong…Come on let’s go and see what they want…”

Slowly Nino nodded and the pair went down the stairs and were soon greeted by a happy looking Masako with two girls that were wearing the same kind of uniform and Yutsuko who was hovering in the background.

“Nino-chan!” Masako beamed waving him over and Jun tried not to scowl too much as his brother and girlfriend lightly kissed each other’s cheeks. “We’ve got the picture…Look”

Jun watched as one of the girls, the smallest who seemed to be trying to dress exactly like Masako pulled a sketch pad out of her bag and flipped it over. The picture was visibly stunning, and almost photo like picture complete with colour. The girl depicted was pretty, if a little thin in the face causing her to look horsey with a straight hair cut and a longer than average nose. Her mouth was thin but there was the indication of her two front teeth being a little larger than average.

“…I don’t recognise her…Do you?” Nino mumbled his voice clouded with bitter disappointment as he looked up at Yutsuko, who shook her head after frowning at the picture so hard a wrinkle of concentration formed in the middle of her eyebrows.

“No, sorry Nino-chan I don’t think she she’s in my year…” She mumbled sounding just as disappointed while the two girls had slumped their heads bowed deeply.

“We’re sorry…We should have done it better…”

“The picture is perfect” Jun said quickly unable to cope with the sadness in their voices “Just because they don’t know who this is doesn’t mean that she doesn’t go to their school…I don’t know everyone in my school…”

“Of course not, you did very well, thank-you…” Nino smiled the best he could looking at the picture again “I’ll see if dad will let us use his scanner so we can print out a few copies…I’ll give them to my team and ask the teachers if she’s in their class…”

“There’s also the video footage they would be able to see if she matches…” Yutsuko pointed out and Nino gave a happy nod while Jun placed his hands on the shoulders of the two girls, not missing the flare of jealousy from his girlfriend, as he murmured;

“There you’ve helped a lot…Thank-you…”

TBC
A/N: I hope that this is okay ^_^