Eiichi leaned back and raised defensive hands. His eyes became two passive, horizontal slits as Ryoko’s output engulfed him with all the stuffy ambiance of a radiator.
“Personal space is a wonderful thing, ya know.”
“Don’t give me your bullshit! What’s going on!?”
“We’re still in school, Takahashi-san, let’s use our inside voices.”
“Don’t speak to me like I’m a child! And stop changing the subject!”
Noda had been peeking between them. “You know each other?”
Ryoko backed off and placed a hand on her hip. “I think ‘know’ is a little strong.”
“It’s just a word…” Eiichi said, rolling his eyes. “Of course we know each other.”
Ignoring him, Ryoko smoothed out her mood, and bowed to Noda, “Forgive me, I’m Takahashi Ryoko.”
“Asako Noda,” she returned. “Yes, I’ve heard all about you. I even did a photo shoot at one of your judo meets. You were very impressive.”
Ryoko flipped her ponytail out. “Well, thank you, but I don’t like to brag...”
‘Wow, she actually smiled...’
“Judo is my favorite pastime, and one of my crowning achievements. Actually, I saw those photos in the school news app! You did a fantastic job.”
“Oh gosh, you’re making me blush...” Noda rubbed the back of her neck and Eiichi started picking up the warm and fuzzies from her again.
Ryoko pointed to Noda. “See that, Kozuka? That’s how normal people talk.”
“Ah man, and I nearly forgot...”
Continuing in a pseudo-exhausted demeanor, Ryoko turned her attention back to Noda. “Please, maybe you can give me a sane answer. Why are you hanging out with him?”
Noda spoke simply, “Well, we’re just waiting for some friends.”
“Friends?” Ryoko scoffed while jabbing a thumb at Eiichi. “You’re actually friends with this guy?”
“Um, well yeah! Sure!” Noda presented Ryoko with a bright, innocent smile.
Ryoko’s expression became dull, and her head swiveled to Eiichi and back to Noda. “You’re messing with me, right? He put you up to this...”
Noda blinked. “No, not really.”
Eiichi thought he should step in. “Come on Takahashi, is it really so hard to comprehend?”
Ryoko placed an arm across Noda’s shoulders and began leading her away. “Come with me, Asako. I can introduce you to some much better people, with a lot more to offer.”
“Hey, wait a minute!” Eiichi shouted.
They didn’t need Ryoko poking around right now. He had hoped she would say a few crude things and then leave, but now she was just complicating things. If she stuck around long enough, she would start snooping in on what they were trying to do here and just make things worse! With her around, they would probably scare Reiko off!
Noda gently separated herself from Ryoko’s embrace. “Thank you, but some other time would be fine. Eiichi and I really need to get going.”
Ryoko’s delighted expression sank to sheer terror. Her jaw might as well have made a dent in the linoleum. Not only had Noda used his first name, but referenced herself in the same sentence, with an absentminded allusion to something that was beyond Ryoko’s own perception of reality and within things she never thought might be possible.
“Eiichi? ...a-a-and you?”
Eiichi smacked his forehead, ‘Oh this is just great...’
“No!!!”
Ryoko’s voice echoed up the halls.
Her legs propelled her toward Noda until their noses were nearly touching this time. “You cannot be serious! Listen, I know you don’t know me, but I know him! And he is not the kind of person you want to enter into that kind of relationship with!”
Noda was confused and actually getting scared. “Wait! What? Eep!”
Ryoko grabbed her by the shoulders. Horrified eyes stared into Noda’s with such intensity, Eiichi was afraid the frames of her glasses might crack.
“He is the devil, Asako-san! Run fast, run far!”
“It’s not like that! Holy shit, Takahashi!” Eiichi blurted.
He had to get things back on track.
Ryoko whipped a pointed finger on him. “You stay out of this!”
“But you’re talking about me!”
Two outputs approached him from behind. One excited and eager, the other timid and cautious.
“Hey, what’s going on!?” a voice sounded from behind him.
He turned and saw Sumi standing there with her hand raised, a bright smile on her face, while Reiko was tucking herself behind her friend, quivering, with eyes to the floor, not sure how to handle what was happening. He had run out of time.
“Hey, wait a minute...” Sumi blinked at him. “You’re here, but where’s your partner?”
Sumi popped her here and there around the area, looking in every available direction for the long haired beauty from the night before.
“I thought you said you would both be meeting us here?”
While still in Ryoko’s clutches, Noda managed to brush a hand through the air. “Um, that would be me. Hello.”
“Oh! It’s you! Wow! For disguises, you really go all out!”
Sumi rushed over to Noda and began ogling her hair and figure.
“Oh yeah, well, this is just what I go with...”
Eiichi was on the verge of a meltdown, ‘Oh, could this just-get-anymore complicated!?’
Ryoko had frozen in place. She looked like she was staring at the conversation, but nothing was getting through. Then her head turned toward Eiichi, and he swore he could hear her joints creaking.
Her bangs shaded over her eyes and she took one quick, vexed step after another, until she was almost on top of him. Her output burned bright red from behind the two ominous, glowing, blood-red beads, which beamed a death stare from the dark of her bangs. Now she was all eyes, lips making subtle movements in his lower vision.
“What in the hell are you up to Kozuka? Dragging along a bunch of girls? Doing who knows what? That can’t mean it’s for something good. So how much money did you pay them? I am this close,” she pinched her fingers apart, “to doing something that will put you in a lot of pain and destroy your embarrassing reputation, if you don’t explain to me, right now, just what the hell is going on...”
It was really no longer the time to have his fun with her, this whole situation was giving him a pounding headache. “Ryoko, this is all a big misunderstanding...Just listen to reason, there’s nothing going on between any of us—”
“Hello, Morita-san.”
Noda and Sumi had walked past them and greeted the quiet and confused Reiko. Her face turned in a series of slow, little movements, scanning her area, before she fidgeted and played with her tote bag.
“Hello...”
Sumi waved a hand toward Noda, “See? This is the really cool girl I told you about. She didn’t look like this at all yesterday, n-not that I’m insulting your look,” she flustered, “I think it’s cute!”
“Y-You...gave me your number...” Reiko murmured.
Noda nodded, “Mhm, I hoped that we would be able to discuss what’s going on a little further.”
“Oh! So you’ve already made contact! Did you even need my help?” Sumi giggled.
“Very much, Tamuro.” Noda smiled. “Morita, I was concerned last time we met, that you were too frightened to want to speak with me, so I gave you the only available option I could. But Eiichi and I have been talking, and we decided it would be best if we all met and discussed what’s been happening a little further, if you’re comfortable with it.”
Reiko’s eyes blinked hopelessly, and she fidgeted again, considering what she was going to say next.
Her words came out sounding fearful, but with a hint of skepticism. “So you really think you can help me?”
Noda carried herself in a professional manner that threw Eiichi off considerably. He knew she was doing this all for the sake of Reiko’s wellbeing
, but her inner motivations were injected with the adrenaline-pumping determination of them possibly catching her stalker.
“That’s what we hope to achieve from this. If we can all work together, we just might be able to come up with something that would be presentable for the police.”
Reiko didn’t say anything else, and looked very uncertain. Her eyes wandered up from the floor until they met with Eiichi’s.
She stared back at him, and he could feel her wavering output becoming gradually more unstable. She was still afraid of him. To save everyone the trouble of trying to chase after her, he broke contact first.
“Wait a minute.” Ryoko left him and stepped over to the other three girls. “Could you repeat some of that again?”
Noda kept silent.
“Rei-chan?” Sumi was reaching for her friend’s approval.
Reiko looked shyly up at Ryoko. “I think I know you...”
“You might, I’m Takahashi Ryoko,” she said as another attempt at a humble introduction, though someone of her class could only do so much to appear as such.
Eiichi picked up that this type of introduction had been common practice, considering her popularity.
“Morita Reiko...”
Reiko must have felt more comfortable with giving her name this time, since almost everyone here seemed to know it.
Sumi inserted herself as an illegitimate spokesperson. “Someone has been following Rei-chan around and causing trouble, so we’re doing what we can to help her out.”
“Haven’t you called the police?” asked Ryoko.
“She has, several times, but no one has really done anything.”
“Well, hasn’t there been an investigation?”
“Not that we know of. Rei-chan hasn’t mentioned one...”
“It’s because cases like hers get backed up in the Saitama police department inbox every day,” Eiichi inserted sharply, still keeping his distance for his own sake. “There are hundreds of people reporting stalker cases, most claiming to have been offended without any proof, and then there are the ones that really are being offended, and the cops are left to sort through the weeds. I wouldn’t be surprised if your case in somewhere in the middle of the stack by now.”
The four stared at him after this sudden outburst of information.
Ryoko’s voice emanated with disgust. “And just how would you know that, vagrant?”
“You could learn a lot if you used your phone for things other than texting your friends about clothes and watching kitten videos.”
Ryoko’s face turned red. “You arrogant, son of a—”
“What do you know about them!?”
It took everyone a moment to realize that this had been Reiko’s voice, crying out in plight. Judging by Sumi’s surprise, this had to have been the loudest Reiko had spoken, with the most words she had put together, in a long time. Eiichi knew she hadn’t even meant to ask that, it had just come out of its own accord, as an urge, a must that she couldn’t hold in any longer.
Reiko’s eyes were dead straight, focused on him, and he could see her figure trembling ever so subtly, desperately waiting for his answer.
Eiichi took a risk and stepped closer. Her output was still heavy with despair, and weighed on his psyche with thumping convulsions, also making him a little jumpy and cautious of his surroundings, but as well, he could sense a dash of hope, which gave him a chance. She was at a point where she would listen to anyone who could possibly give her the answers she sought.
“Hhh…” He sighed.
If he didn’t have his abilities, he wouldn’t be in this mess right now.
He sauntered to a comfortable distance from Reiko and dared those pleading gray eyes behind the small circles of her rims, seeing if she would reconsider because of who she was talking to.
Reiko’s body trembled, her output wavered in fear, but she forced herself to stay. This strange boy still terrified her. He was something in the background of the grand scheme that she was unfamiliar with. Of course, why should she listen to him? He stalked in the shadows of her mind, where, possibly, her own pursuer dwelt. But if he claimed to know him, she was willing to listen.
Unnoticed by the other members of the group, he saw Reiko’s chest expanding as she breathed in and held her ground.
With a softening of his yellow stare, he invited her know him better.
“Let’s get something to drink, and I will tell you everything I know. You pick the place.”
“You can take us anywhere you feel is best,” Noda added.
“Wait a minute, wait a minute...” Ryoko was beginning to feel left out. “So, let me get this straight. Someone is stalking her, and you’re going to try and help? What’re you gonna’ do, catch the guy yourself?”
“No, that’s not the plan we had in mind.” Noda patted her camera. “We were just hoping to dig up enough info to maybe find out who it is. If I can use my baby to get pictures, we might be able to help nab the guy, or at least send him running.”
“Yeah! I met Kozuka and Asako the other day!” Sumi inserted. “They do this all the time, I just know they can help us! They’re private inv-mmph-mmph...MMMPH!!!”
Noda had clapped her hand over Sumi’s mouth and nothing but muffled sounds came forth. She chuckled nervously at Ryoko and Reiko while Sumi struggled under her grasp.
“Haha...Just, uh...give us a few minutes here,” she said while scooting back toward the shoe lockers with the student in tow, likely to have a chat about what could and could not be said around the popular girl.
‘Nice save, Noda. We’re looking more suspicious by the moment...’
Eiichi thought this might be his chance to shake off their unwarranted tagalong.
“Takahashi,” he said smoothly. “I can tell this is all kinda’ over your head. Just chalk it off as kids doing goofy things, you don’t have to do your hall monitor thing right now. You probably have a lot of more important things to take care of, and I know you don’t wanna’ see my ugly mug anymore...” he was trying his best not to belittle her, but it was so easy. “So, you can just run along. Don’t worry about it, we’ve got this covered, it’s probably not as serious as you think.”
“Oh, I’m coming with.”
‘Shoo! Shoo! Go away! Look, girl! I got a tennis ball! Yeah! Go fetch!’
He took consideration for poor Reiko standing by, who might as well have been a sporting event flier on a cork board, she was so quiet.
“Isn’t that just going a little too far with meddling in other students’ business?”
“Why not? You do it all the time. Apparently, you’re doing it right now.”
‘Oh, this just gets better and better...’
Flashing his teeth at her in a nervous chuckle, he placed a hand on his forehead. “No, Takahashi, I’m being serious here. Aren’t there students you need to make sure leave on time? Maybe some other delinquents have stolen a girl’s diary or something...somewhere.”
‘Anywhere! Just not here!’
Ryoko replied with an affirmative expression and the flip of her ponytail. “I already finished my rounds, and I haven’t gone out in a while, so I need to get some air. Besides, she looks like she might really be in trouble, and as my duty as class representative, I should help out in any way possible.”
That was it. There was not getting rid of her, she was along for the ride, and if she heard one iota of what he and Noda had claimed to Sumi, she would be all over them.
Then she closed in on him, pointing a finger right between his eyes. “But let’s get one thing straight here, Kozuka. I don’t like you.”
“Damn...that’s news to me.”
“I don’t like you, and I don’t trust you. I don’t know what you’re really planning on doing with these girls, but I know you’re up to something.”
She had a pretty good set of pearly whites, now that he noticed.
Eiichi frowned. “You can give yourself a pat on the back. Seems you got me all figured out.”
“Just the thought of you alone with them makes me sick. So I’m gonna’ come with, so I can keep my eye on you, and you’re just gonna’ have to deal with it. Got that?”
“Okay, but before you do, I’ve got one question.”
“What...” she grimaced.
“Just how many crooked cop movies have you seen?”
Eiichi P.I., Vol. 1 Page 31
