Chapter 39
[56]
“Attention all passengers. We are now beginning our descent, please fasten your seatbelts and prepare to land.”
When the plane finally touched down in Honolulu, the Shujin Academy students loaded off the plane and onto a bus waiting to take them to their hotel.
Ms. Kawakami wore a pair of sunglasses and a large sun hat while she nursed her aching head. As she took her seat at the front of the bus she was surprised when the school’s famous delinquent took a seat next to her.
“Um, can I help you?” She asked, her tone annoyed.
The boy, without looking at her, cleared his throat and gestured down. When Kawakami turned her gaze down she noticed what he was discreetly passing her. It was a lacy white bra. Her bra.
“Oh god.” She quickly grabbed the bra from his hand. “How did you get that?” She whispered accusingly.
“You put it on my lap last night. Don’t worry, you didn’t take off your shirt. It was actually really impressive.”
The teacher rubbed her temples. “Goddammit, I thought I dreamt that. I don’t do well on flights so I...Wait why am I explaining this?” She poked a finger at his chest. “You are not to tell anyone about this. Got it?”
Ren smirked and raised his hands in surrender. “Yes ma’am.”
Kawakami turned to the window, hiding the fact that she was blushing from him.
A few seats back from them, Ann sat conversing with her new friend Hifumi. The two had bonded over the long flight and were getting to know one another better. Ann was happy to have another female friend after Shiho…
“So you get paid just to play shogi?” Ann asked the girl.
“Well, I also have to do photoshoots for magazines. Many people seem very interested in the idea of a woman playing professional shogi.” Hifumi explained.
“Oh no way! I do photoshoots all the time! I’m a part-time model. Maybe we even work with some of the same people!”
When the bus came to a stop, the students stood in front of the ‘hotel’ they’d booked. Now because the school trip was attended by so few students, there had been an executive decision by the school board to cut back on the trip’s budget. The board had assured the staff that although the accommodations they’d chosen weren’t quite as spacious as the previously selected hotel, it would be just as good. Unfortunately, the school board was full of lying greedy businessmen looking to cut costs wherever possible.
“Uhh, Teach?” Ryuji questioned. “Are you sure this is the right place?”
The group looked at the cheap motel in front of them. The paint on the outside walls was peeling off, the neon ‘open’ sign had 3 out of 4 letters burned out, and several windows were barricaded with wooden planks.
“Well let’s look on the bright side everyone!” Kawakami put on a fake smile. “We’re near the beach and supposedly there’s a hot spring nearby!”
“Umm Ms. Kawakami, I’m not seeing any WiFi here.” Mishima stared at his phone.
“Well, yes...Um, think of it as an incentive to get out and explore!”
“NOOOOOO!” Mishima cried.
Meanwhile, back in Tokyo, Futaba sat in her room fiddling with a device on her desk. She was caught off guard by her door suddenly opening and fell out of her desk chair.
“Futaba! Are you alright?” Yusuke asked in concern, running over to check on the girl.
“Inari! Ever heard of knocking!?” Futaba rubbed her head as she got up.
“My apologies, Sojiro said you were up here working on something. I wanted to see if I could offer my help.” He turned to her desk and spotted two silver objects sitting on the desk.
Futaba quickly covered them with her body and shooed away the older boy. “Nope. No help needed! Thanks for offering bye.”
“Futaba, are those Ren’s webshooters? The webshooters he specifically asked us not to touch while he was away?”
“Nope, no idea what you’re talking about.” The small girl feigned ignorance at the question.
Yusuke raised an eyebrow at her and crossed his arms. “Futaba, I know I can be...distracted, but I’m not a moron.”
Futaba sighed and rolled her eyes. “Fiiiine. Yes, they are. I’m checking out the design so I can hopefully improve them.” She took a seat back in her chair and resumed her work. “Whoever designed these, they had a good idea but never seemed to improve on it. Imagine the possibilities! I could add so many cool new features if Ren let me. Sooo I’m using this opportunity to surprise him when he gets back!”
Yusuke’s eyes were wide with shock. “Futaba...I never expected you capable of such acts of altruism! Truly magnificent!”
“Yep that’s me! Futaba the altruist!” She smiled proudly. ‘It also might help my chances of finally getting noticed by that sexy dork.’ She thought to herself.
Yusuke leaned in to get a better look at the device. “So what are you working on now?”
“Right now I’m looking to improve the ammo capacity of the web cartridges.” She messed around with a thin silver tube using a pair of tweezers. “But I’m having a little trouble getting it-AHH!”
The silver tube broke open and the pressure caused webs shot out into both of their faces.
“Ican’tseeIcan’tseeIcan’tsee!” Futaba tried to remove the webs but only succeeded in further tangling herself. Yusuke was in no better of a position.
“Futaba?” A voice called from downstairs. “Everything alright? You two’d better not be fooling around up there!”
“It’s fine dad! We’re fine! I uhh, I just dropped a book is all!”
“Alright. But you’d better not close that door young lady!”
Futaba turned to Yusuke (as best as she could given the circumstances.)
“This could be a problem.”