Anju Khanna 3

3:12

Izumi Natsumura, Ino Yamamoto, Hamano-san and I ended up at the school's infirmary—the other girls were perfectly fine, as expected. Our wounds were the following:

Izumi Natsumura:

· Several bruises on arms and legs;

· A split lip, and

· A black eye.

Ino Yamamoto:

· Several bruises on her back;

· A bump in the head, and

· Several scratches on arms and neck.

Hamano-san:

· Several bruises on arms, legs and face;

· A black eye;

· Several scratches on arms and face, and

· A split lip.

Me:

· Several bruises, and

· A split lip.

The nurse treated our wounds using alcohol, bandages and a pain reliever. Then she told us to lie down on the stretchers and rest a bit—even though she didn't told us for how long.

"I wanna share Sotoka-chan's stretcher," Izumi Natsumura said. "Which one you want, Sotoka-chan?"

Hamano-san approached one of the stretchers.

"You take another one, Izumi-san," she said.

"IZUMI-CHAN!" Izumi Natsumura yelled.

"SHHHHHHHHHHH!" shushed the nurse, who was checking her phone at a corner.

"Izumi-chan," whispered Izumi Natsumura, "call me Izu—

"I'm not in the mood, Izumi-san," said Hamano-san dryly—and, honestly, this makes perfect sense, given our circumstances.

"Why not, Sotoka-chan?" Asked Izumi Natsumura for reasons I can't understand yet. "Now you need a lot of hugs and kisses and—

"Why did you get Yuri Okabe into the club?" Sotoka-chan asked pretty mad.

Izumi Natsumura stared at Hamano-san with incredulity.

"But I didn't get her into the club."

We all stared at Izumi Natsumura with the same incredulity as hers.

"Yes, you did!" Replied Ino Yamamoto. "Why do you think we ended up like this?"

Izumi Natsumura shrugged.

"I never get her into the club."

Hamano-san tooked Izumi Natsumura by the shoulders.

"Really? She's not in the club? It's just us?"

"Ummm, why would I let her in? She was in the soccer team, and I said was 'cause she left it, but I didn't get her into the club."

"Why not?" I asked—that was the perfect opportunity to get the 5th member. But everyone stared at me like I said the unthinkable—and maybe I did, given our circumstances. "Sorry."

"So, she left the team?" Asked unnecessarily Ino Yamamoto. "What did you tell her, then?"

"Nothing; we were there and her friends were telling 'er practices and the regionals and whatever and—

Hamano-san started laughing.

"Ummm… everything all right? Asked Ino Yamamoto.

Hamano-san kept laughing.

"They kicked our asses for nothing," she said—even if that had nothing to do with Ino Yamamoto's question—and kept laughing.

"She went nuts," said Ino Yamamoto. "Izumi, you broke her, you fix her.

"No," Izumi Natsumura replied while she was lost in Hamano-san's laughter. "She's so beautiful when she laughs. "SOTOKA-CHAN!" She yelled and hugged her—even though that was a really bad idea because:

"Ow, ow, ow!" Cried Hamano-san, but Izumi Natsumura didn't stop hugging her.

"It hurts me too, Sotoka-chan, but hugs cure everything," she said—even though this doesn't make any sense whatsoever, and obviously there's no scientific proof to back it up—and hugged Hamano-san even harder.

"OW, OW, OW!" Yelled Hamano-san, but Izumi Natsumura was still hugging her.

"Hey, stop it!" Yelled the nurse without getting her eyes off her phone.

"Let her go, Izumi!" Ino Yamamoto grabbed one of Izumi Natsumura's arms and started pulling it towards her.

"NO, SHE NEEDS LOVE!" Izumi Natsumura hugged Hamano-san as hard as she could.

"OW, OW, OW!" Hamano-san was yelling.

"Shut up, y'all!" Yelled the nurse without getting her eyes off her phone.

"Let her go!" Yelled Ino Yamamoto. "Khanna-san, help me out!" She ordered me, and because apparently the use of force was the only viable option to free Hamano-san from Izumi Natsumura's hurtful and senseless hug, I took her by the free arm and started pulling as hard as I could.

But Izumi Natsumura was too strong.

"NO!!! KAMI-SAMA-CHAN. TASUKETE KUDASAI!!!"

"Can't you even shut up here?!" Someone entered the infirmary.

3:56

And she was president Fujimoto-san. She was furious.

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!" She yelled, but the nurse didn't shushed her. That's odd. "WHAT'S WRONG WITH ALL OF YOU?! I'M SO TIRED OF YOUR NONSENSE!"

"But they started it," replies Izumi Natsumura. "And everything is Hanna-san's fault."

"I DON'T CARE WHOSE FAULT IS! THE ONLY THING I KNOW IS WHEN THERES A PROBLEM IS ALWAYS YOUR FAULT! IT HAS BEEN JUST A WEEK SINCE YOU STARTED WITH THAT CLUB AND LOOK WHAT YOU HAVE DONE! IT'S CRAZY!

And, from now on, she only yells at us and—

"Khanna-san… Khanna-san…" someone's calling me.

"What?" I ask.

"Take you stuff, and let's go to the principal's office. He's waiting for us," says Hamano-san. We're still in the infirmary. Izuma Natsumura and Ino Yamamoto are still here, and presidenta Fujimoto-san's not.

"Ok," I take my stuff, and we, still hurting, get out the infirmary slowly and clumsily and head to the principal's office.

4:08

"I'll be quick," the principal says from his desk. "You're going to be suspended for two weeks."

Each one of us reacts differently to the news:

Hamano-san puts a hand on her forehead and sighs heavily.

Ino Yamamoto seems a little more upset than usual.

Izumi Natsumura doesn't seem to care.

And I'm most surprised because I never thought this will happen, although we were in a fight, and it was obvious we were going to be punished for it. What would my parents think about all this? I'd never been in a fight before. Probably they'll get mad at me—or maybe they'll be dissapointed—, but I'm sure if I speak to them and explain them the situation, they'll understand, but I don't even understand what happened, so how can I explain it to them?

"So, we all are getting suspended?" asks Ino Yamamoto.

"No," the principal clarifies, "just you four."

"WHAT?! WHY?!" Ino Yamamoto yells—and she has all the right to do so: we all participated in the fight, thus we all have to receive the punishment (but, to be honest, if they get suspended or not, doesn't really affect me, so I don't really care.) "IT'S NOT FAIR: LOOK WHAT THEY DID TO US!"

"Hey, hey," the principal raises his hands at shoulder height and, with his palms exposed, tells Ino Yamamoto to calm down. "Don't ever raise your voice in front of me; I can hear you just fine, and you," he stares at Hamano-san, "they said you started it."

"They called me whore," explained Hamano-san.

"THEY CALLED YOU WHAT?!" Yelled Izumi Natsumura.

"What did I said about yelling?! Yelled the principal. "And you," points at Hamano-san, "Never use that language again in this institution."

"But they called me that, do something."

"I already talked to them, and I'm sure they won't call you that anymore."

"Why don't you suspend them too?" Sugests Ino Yamamoto. "They were also fighting."

"I'm not going to suspend all the soccer team; the sports festival is in a few weeks, and the regional tournament is just around the corner, and you started it," he points at Hamano-san again. "You confessed it."

"They called me whore."

"I won't tolerate that language anymore, missy."

"But you do tolerate others use it, right?" Ino Yamamoto accuses him. "Because they beat us up and also insulted Sotoka-san, but no one baits an eye, right?

"Yeah, what's wrong with you?!" Yelled Izumi Natsumura. "No one insults my Sotoka-chan and lives to tell the tale!

"It's just because we are only four, and they are like twenty, right?!" Ino Yamamoto was rambling on. "Just because of that we get all the blame!"

"Who told you that, Sotoka-chan?! All of them? Tell me!"

"You're disgusting; you're just full of despotism, nepotism! Because of people like you our society is garbage!"

"They only kicked my ass 'cause I didn't know they'd called you that, Sotoka-chan, but now I'll fight seriously!"

"We're surrounded by shit, and no one baits an eye! All of us are part of the problem, but no one seems to care!"

"SILENCE!" the principal yells and hits his desk with both of his fists. "Now I know why I got so many complaints about you: you run and yell constantly in the hallways, you insult president Fujimoto, you hand out unauthorized flyers and fill the school with them, you make a lot of noise at the library. It's now clear to me you really deserve to be suspended, I only hope that's enough."

"You can leave, now," he added

We head to the door and open it, but:

"Ah, yeah, and when you come back you have to bring a written apology for your fellow students of the soccer team."

"Excuse me?!" Ino Yamamoto turned back to him. "An apology?! We have to write them an apology?!"

"Yeah, yeah, don't worry, we'll write it, sorry, sorry," Hamano-san puts her hand over Ino Yamamoto's mouth and bows more times than she should—I mean, considering she apologized twice she has to bow twice, not four times. "We're leaving now. Excuse us," and she takes Ino Yamamoto out.

Izumi Natsumura simply leaves.

"Oh, good bye and thank you," I say and bow correspondingly—but, did I really need to thank him?; I mean, he suspended us for two weeks, and nobody else but me thanked him, but he surely has a lot of work to do, and he took the time to solve our problem, even though that's his job, and he didn't solve anything; he just suspended us, but still it's customary to thank someone for his or her service and to apologize. Wait. I didn't apologize for the inconveniences, but I think it's too late now, and also maybe I've been here too long because he's looking at me uncomfortable, and I'll better go. "Sorry, thanks and good-bye, I say, bow twice, get out of his office and close the door.

Izumi Natsumura, Ino Yamamoto and Hamano-san are there. It seems they were waiting for me.

"Done," I tell them. "Now what?"

"I don't know about you but I don't want to be here anymore," says Ino Yamamoto. "Let's go to the Coffee Bin."

Nobody objects, and we head to the Coffee Bin Ino Yamamoto just mentioned—I don't know what that is, but I don't see a reason not to go.

-------------------------------------

"Now, Izumi-san. Chan. Izumi-chan, whatever," says Hamano-san. We're now sitting on a table outside the Coffee Bin with what we ordered. It's a ristretto for Izumi Natsumura; a hot cocoa for Ino Yamamoto; a small medium roast for Hamano-san, and a bottled water for me—right now my body doesn't need no caffeine or sugar, "tell us what happened."