He shakes his head. "Not off-hand, no, but I never really kept up with the academic clubs."

A glance at his watch — which is surprisingly nice for a schoolteacher, but he is supposedly a former olympian — and then he remarks. "Oh, it's almost time for homeroom. Run along, now. I wouldn't want you to be late."

She smiles, nods, gives a little wave and continues on her way.

Kawakami is as tired as ever.

And the students murmur some as she enters the room.

"—heard she killed—"

      "—robbed a bank—"

   "—burned down her—"

And on and on, until they're cut off by class starting.

She snorts to herself. The rumor mill's so out of control it's almost funny.

For now, she has a reason to avoid Kamoshida and work to do. She'll focus on that.

Ann looks back at Akira with a slightly worried expression. She must have gotten a look at Kamoshida talking to her in the hall earlier. 

Akira shakes her head just slightly. Not right now.

She really hopes that means he didn't feel Akira up.

For now, though, she's got to focus on her work too.

It's a productive few class periods, then, and soon enough it's lunchtime. Where are Ann and Akira going to eat today? Classroom? Courtyard? Somewhere else?

"So," Akira says softly to Ann once lunch starts. "You were going to introduce me to your friend Shiho?"

Kamoshida could appear from around a corner at any moment; she's got to keep it deniable on her end too. But there's nothing at all unusual about a couple students who are friends taking lunch together.

Ann nods hesitantly. "Yeah. Usually she takes lunch in the courtyard. It's right out this way, I'll show you."

And off Akira goes, all bright sunny smiles still. She's got to keep the mask up to hit Kamoshida where it hurts.

Are they looking for this athletic-looking girl with a ponytail, perhaps? She's sitting in the courtyard, eating a boxed lunch from home. She's wearing a compression wrap on one knee, an adhesive bandage on the other shin, and a bruise on her cheek. She's also wearing a Shujin uniform and a tired expression.

There she is. And she doesn't look like she's doing too well. 

Ugh, why hadn't she done this before? She's been a coward this whole time letting Shiho suffer alone. 

"Over there," Ann says softly. "With the ponytail."

"Alright. Introduce me?"

Ann takes a breath, straightens her shoulders, and walks over and sits next to Shiho. 

"Hey," she says. "It's been a while, hasn't it? This is my new friend Akira, she wanted me to introduce her to you."

Akira sits down next to Ann and gives Shiho a bright smile. "Hey," she says as gently as she can. "I've heard from Ann that the volleyball coach's been really running you ragged with practices lately. Teachers, huh?" 

She winks. 

She swallows her bite of food and smiles weakly. "Hey Ann. Nice to meet you, Akira-san. And yeah, Coach works us hard, but that's the price of getting the best training, right?"

"I can understand that, but I think that if you're punishing your body with practices and spending lots of time on the court, your coach might be pushing you too hard." 

She ducks her head. "My parents were the same way, always had a real perfectionist streak. But Ann says the gym teacher keeps telling her your starter position's at risk, and if you're working so hard so constantly... you sure you don't want to quit the team? There are other clubs, you know."

Meanwhile, Ann's keeping watch for Kamoshida.

She shakes her head. "Volleyball's all I have," she replies in a small voice, curling in on herself a little bit. "I can't give up now."

"Shiho, I know I encouraged you to go for your dream and all, but if it's hurting you I don't want you to have to keep dealing with it." Ann's voice is low and a little sad.

Alright, enough stepping around it. She's got to be direct.

Akira lowers her voice to a murmur. "Everyone here knows about how Kamoshida treats women. He tried to hit on me this morning and I've barely joined Shujin. I understand if you're scared of him, Ann was too, but I want you to know that you're not alone, okay? I've dealt with similar situations to this before. If you need someone to lean on I'm here."

She hesitates a bit, but shakes her head. "I'll get through it. Thank you for the offer, though."