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File #27School was a chore.
Tanaka Reina could not help but think this again as she made her mandatory appearance with a sulky face. Bad enough that she had to be held back a year. Even worse was how she basically
had to keep a near perfect attendance starting now. Otherwise expulsion was a very real possibility.
"You have to understand, Tanaka-san, that if you demonstrate no wish to be educated here, we will be forced to...take steps."Reina mentally cursed that damn principal again. If her father hadn't been such a traditionalist, she would have asked him to back her up. Unfortunately, he would not pull his not-inconsiderable weight even for such a matter. He had bigger fish to fry, so to speak.
Besides, she didn't really want her father to know that she had been skipping school with impunity. Granted, he might already know, but it was something she rather not discuss with him. Reina was a great believer in avoiding argument unless they were inevitable. She just couldn't be bothered to get into one.
So when the bell rang, the yankii-looking girl was practically the first out of the door and winging it like a bat out of hell. She hated to be forced into anything.
Reina's a free spirit, and NO ONE can stop me...That thought lasted as far as the school gates. There was a crowd of chittering girls clustered around the main gate, making it difficult even for someone of Reina's small stature to squirm through. She did manage it though, eventually.
She would wish she had taken the back exit instead.
It evidently wasn't enough for
that woman to keep dogging her steps even at home. Over the past few weeks, for some unfathomable reason, a certain Takahashi Ai had been an on and off guest at the family estate. Her father seemed to have taken a shine to the charming young woman. Not in the same lovesick way her brothers did, thank goodness, but her father seemed equally taken in by the wellspoken rogue, as did any number of the family servants.
Those traitors!Granted, that Takahashi woman generally left her alone, but she also demonstrated an uncanny sense to show up in places where Reina least expected her to. Like the roof, her favorite thinking/napping spot. Or the lounge. The music room even. Reina almost exploded that one time when she found flowers on her dresser, scented with
that annoying bitch's perfume.
Not that she knew what the woman smelled like. She did
not have a scent fetish, goddamnit.
Now that same woman was here, probably determined to ruin her social life as well. Not that Reina had much of one, but really. She did have
some kind of reputation in school.
Ai was leaning casually against the door of her fancy sports car. It was a different car from the last one Reina saw her driving...
she did not notice these little details on purpose, it was just that they were so OBNOXIOUSLY in her face that she couldn't help but notice them!Deep down, Reina had to admit that Ai wasn't really a bad person despite that incorrigible behavior and all that innuendo in her voice whenever they spoke. It just made her so...mad...that Ai could read her so easily. And get under her skin so, so...
blatantly.
Reina refused to be
just another plaything. She would not stand for it. She wouldn't let this annoying woman get the better of her, if it was the last thing she ever did.
It also didn't help that what little information she managed to squeeze out of her brothers regarding the Takahashi family was distressingly vague. They were linked by "business", so to speak. Which didn't say much. The Tanaka-
gumi had connections both legal and otherwise. It proved nothing.
She
did hear more about Bakahashi's older twin brother though. Apparently quite the lady-killer, to hear her brother tell it. The sister was just as bad, if Reina had anything to say about it. It disgusted her, this whole...
gay thing.
Then again, even if this Takahashi Ai had been a boy and had done all those things to her, she would still have slapped her without hesitation for daring to assume that she was an easy mark. Reina wouldn't be owned so easily, not by anyone.
So it was in a spectacularly foul mood when she emerged from the crowd to see her idiot schoolmates swarming around the luxury car, with a bold few actually speaking to the cool girl in shades. Ai had a winning smile on her lips, her posture relaxed as she laughed and joked with her adoring crowd.
As if drawn by some sadistic instinct, the woman seemed to notice the scowling Reina immediately, waving at her and beaming like the sun on a summer day. That got everyone's instant attention. The chatter intensified with Reina's deepening scowl, but she refused to show anything as she walked casually, if a little stiffly, to the smugly grinning woman.
"What are
you doing here?"
Ai took off her shades, revealing warm chocolate orbs. If Reina didn't know better, she would have thought the woman sincere. But having been the recipient of her tricks that first time, the kitten would not trust Ai as far as she could throw her. Which to wit, wasn't very far, if at all.
"It's a Friday, so I thought you'd like to go out for a change..."
Such an innocuous invite. If it had been anyone else, Reina would have jumped at the chance, no matter how short her time would have been. Her father would probably send his henchmen to bring her back if he found out, or surround her with the most obvious bodyguards ever if she even wanted to take a jaunt through Shinjuku. Things seemed to be heating up on the business side of things, though her family tended not to discuss them around her. But Reina didn't grow up in a mob family without picking up a few things. When the guard around the estate tripled the frequency of their patrols, not to mention her escort to school starting to pack some real heat, Reina knew that things were bad.
It was tempting to just go somewhere though. Her father kept her out of family matters, and she was largely unknown except to the most trusted inner circles of the organization. Anyone outside didn't even know Tanaka Takeshi had a daughter. The best defense, as always, was secrecy. It had enabled Reina to lead a semi-normal life, which was why her father was reluctant to get personally involved in something as trivial as Reina's school issues. If he made any large moves, their rivals would notice, and it would only be a matter of time before someone realized that she was a daughter of the Tanaka family.
Her mother had been killed in such a gangland dispute. It was one of the reasons for her father's general paranoia when it came to her. She was his last child, the only daughter. He would never risk her, not for anything. Reina knew it, loved him and respected him more than anything, but it could get
fucking annoying to be coddled and protected every second of her life.
She would have said "yes" to anyone else in a heartbeat, if only for a chance to have some time for herself. But this was Ai. That impudent woman who had made mock of her virtue. It was unforgivable. Reina was not a forgiving person. However, she was also a rebel by nature.
"In that thing?" Reina lifted her nose dismissively. A Lamborghini? As if that was going to impress her like the rest of her idiot schoolmates. Ai blinked briefly, probably unused to anyone dissing her sweet ride, but that moment passed quickly.
Recovering instantly, she put on the best face she could, bowing extravagantly like a prince, her ponytailed hair sweeping elegantly over one shoulder.
"It would do me great honor for the great Tanaka-sama to grace me with the pleasure of her company." Ai announced, as much for Reina's benefit as it was for the girls surrounding them. There were actually
squeals among the watching girls. Reina rolled her eyes heavenward.
People actually fell for those?Good thing that Takahashi's frequent appearances around her home was starting to help her build some immunity to that roguish grin and irreverent charm. But her inner girl couldn't help but be flattered by the extravagant compliment, no matter how much bullshit she knew it to be.
Reina feigned a sigh, also playing to the crowd.
Two can play at this game. Reina hated losing, so she was going to fight back in every way she knew how.
"I suppose I could make do just
this once. You may chauffeur me."
Besides, Reina thought,
the fact that you're here and that my guards are nowhere in sight, not even behind the nearest bush, means that Father sent you. Reina was not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. It was a rare chance to go out and have fun after surveillance on her had gone up to intolerable levels. Reina was a watchful person, and she
hated having eyes on her. She seemed to have a sixth sense regarding that. None of her bodyguards, not one, could escape her notice eventually.
She chalked it up to hereditary paranoia. A healthy sense of watchfulness coupled with caution led to a long and healthy life. Reina was a little short on the latter, but she was young. These things came in time.
Besides, with the kind of business her family was involved in, Reina decided that caution or no, trouble would still find its way onto her doorstep eventually. Best to just seize life as it came, even if it meant having to put up with Takahashi's presence for a while.
"Tense, aren't you?" Ai murmured as she guided Reina to the passenger side, one hand on the yankii's slender waist. Reina scowled briefly, barely moving her lips as she hissed a reply, restraining her temper as best as she could.
"Don't think you can catch me off guard. I'm not one of your toys." Reina lifted her chin proudly, climbing into the leather seat as Ai held the door open.
"Of course you aren't. That'd be no fun." Ai whispered, mostly to herself, even as she swung the door shut. She smiled charmingly at the adoring crowd
(such adorable girls!), gracing them with a jaunty wave that had more than one confused girl sighing in pleasure.
"Where to,
ojou-sama?"
There was just the barest hint of mockery in Ai's tone as she slid smoothly into the driver's seat. Reina considered it, then shrugged almost imperceptibly. Best to just make the most out of the trip, since the Bakahashi was decidedly more tolerable today.
"Harajuku first. Did Daddy say when we had to be back?"
"Nope!" Ai was cheerful as she shifted gears, lurching from a dead standstill to a speed that left the surrounding scenery a blur. Reina turned pale as they accelerated. She always did fear rollercoasters...
Two minutes later, Reina decided that she hated Takahashi after all. She was going to
kill that woman, if it was the last thing she ever did.
Just, not now. No, right now, she had to focus on not losing her lunch all over her own lap even as her life flashed before her eyes.
Later.
If there was a later. Reina paled even more and let out a tiny squeak as they took a hair-raising turn at F1 speeds, Ai laughing maniacally all the way.
It didn't take much longer before Reina actually screamed. Well, Ai did promise to make her do so some time. Reina just never thought it would be like this.
Revenge. This. Needed.
Revenge.Once she made it through this hellish ride in one piece, there would be HELL to pay. Tanaka Reina was a woman of her word. The Bakahashi wouldn't even know what hit her. Reina nodded to herself, then turned a distressing shade of green as they very nearly sideswiped another car.
She might have started crying somewhere in between, but she would never have admitted it. When they reached their destination, Reina seized the pro-offered handkerchief that Ai wordlessly held up to her and dabbed fiercely at her eyes. Her hands were still shaking. Takahashi didn't say anything for once, a surprising turn of events. Reina blew her nose noisily into the kerchief, then tossed it back defiantly back into Ai's lap.
"I
hate you." Reina said without inflection, managing to climb out without betraying her frazzled nerves. Ai shrugged, an ironic smile twisted around her lips. She'd expected...more. Such a non-reaction was almost a disappointment. She shrugged again.
You win some, you lose some.
Tanaka Reina. Feisty, easily flustered, yet capable of pre-possessing self control when required. Ai chuckled lightly again as she exited her prize vehicle as well, locking it remotely before trailing after the reckless kitten.
This was going to be such a
fun assignment.
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Lalalala~
away~