Tuesday passed about the same way Monday did. I managed to convince Saki to come hang out with me and Hiromasa again, instead of terrorizing the neighborhood, or whatever it is she normally did.

I spent most of my school days copying notes off the board and watching Saki doodle. It was interesting to watch her work. She would start drawing patterns and shapes in a seemingly random destination on the page. More and more of them would pop up, until things started circling and intersecting with each other. In the end, she would end up with a page so full of ink it would curl in on the corners. She would always start the day drawing slowly, periodically gazing out the window for long periods of time. Then, as the day stretched on, she would get more frantic and start to draw quicker. She scribbled away while her leg twitched under her desk, like she couldn't wait to get out of there. I almost felt bad for the guy in front of her.

We were sitting in our last class on Wednesday, when Saki's luck finally ran out. A middle aged woman stood at the front of the room, choosing people at random to read out passages from the book.

"Higoshi, can you read the next one?" the teacher asked.

Saki's pen stopped moving. Not good. She hadn't been on the correct page the entire class. I should know. I'd been watching her like some super stalker the whole time.

Saki glanced up at her. "No, I can't."

"I see," the teacher said.

Saki waited a few minutes, and then started drawing again. She didn't really seem embarrassed that she was totally lost. Still, I doubted this was going to end well. Mrs. Okano can't have been the only one to notice Saki's lack of attentiveness in class.

In our final homeroom of the day, Mr. Nagashima asked that Saki stay seated. When we were dismissed, the rest of the students shuffled out of the classroom, including Hiromasa, who gave me a really confused look when I stayed put. Pretty soon, only Mr. Nagashima, Saki, and I remained in the room. Saki got up and went towards the front of the class where Mr. Nagashima stood.

"Nagase, can you wait outside?" Mr. Nagashima said.

"I don't mind if he stays," Saki said before I could reply.

He nodded. "Very well. Higoshi, I've been hearing some troubling things from the other teachers. They say you aren't paying attention in class."

"They're right," Saki said.

Would a little tact kill her?

Mr. Nagashima sighed and leaned against the podium. "Are you having some sort of issue? Surely, you must know how important your education is. Is there anything you want to tell me?"

"No," Saki said. "Nothing."

He was going to lose his patience pretty soon.

"I can tutor her." I stood up and went to the stand next to her. "I'm not the top of the class or anything, but I can keep you from failing."

Mr. Nagashima smiled. "I think that's a good idea. In fact, I like that idea a lot. Nagase, she's in your hands now." He gave us a wave.

"Thanks for bailing me out," Saki said, as we left the classroom.

"I get the feeling you wouldn't be saying that if you knew I was serious about it," I said.

"Hey," Hiromasa said, propping himself up from his leaning position on the wall. "Are you in trouble?"

"What the hell do you mean 'serious'?" Saki said, ignoring him.

"Just what it sounds like," I said. "How did you make it this far by skipping school and slacking off in class anyway? Didn’t teachers ever question you before?"

She shrugged. "I seem to get worse by the year, failing more and more tests. I’ve had a good few lectures and punishments, but since I don’t really give a single shit, none of it ever really stuck.”

"Well, hopefully we can do a little better than that this year." I pointed at Hiromasa. "He can help, too."

"Help what?" he asked.

"Tutor Saki," I said.

"I'd love to help." He grinned.

"Really?" She jerked her thumb in his direction. "The guy who signs his name to graffiti is going to help me study?"

"Shh!" Hiromasa waved his arms. "Not so loud."

"Actually, Hiromasa is weird that way. Common sense has never been his thing, but academically he's pretty good."

"Gee, thanks." He rolled his eyes. "Not sure whether to feel praised or insulted."

"You don't have to feel anything, because I'm not going to study," she said.

"Do you really want to get further behind? Why don't you just try it until the end of the semester?" I asked. "If it doesn't work, I won't say another word, and you can go back to doodling until you fail every single test if you want.”

"Pass," she said, and walked past Hiromasa, making her way down the hall.

I walked in front of her, blocking her path. "There must be something I can do to get you to try. I'll do anything you want."

She sighed, tilted her head to the side and stood silently for a minute, probably considering the offer. A grin budded in the corners of her mouth and then blossomed into that smile of hers.

"Anything?" she asked.

I swallowed hard. Usually, when you say that to someone, it is understood that there are certain stipulations. The word anything doesn't actually mean anything. I should have chosen my words more carefully when making my offer, but it was too late to take it back.

"Anything," I answered.

She giggled. "Great. In that case, I have a special treat planned for Thursday."

"I don't suppose you'll tell me what it is?" I asked.

"Of course not." She grinned.

I sighed and hung my head.

"Excuse me?" Hiromasa put his hand up. "I'm not included in this deal, am I?"

"No," she called over her shoulder. "You're free to come along, but only Kaito is bound by contract." She smiled at me.

Lucky me.

"Are we going to my house to study then?" I asked.

"How do I know you're going to keep your end of the deal?" she asked.

"I could ask you the same question," I said. "Consider it a partial payment, some now, some later."

"Alright, but you better not back out on me." She poked me in the nose.

I smiled. "I wouldn't dream of it. Come on, Hiromasa."

Whatever my “special treat” was going to be, I considered it worth it. Saki didn’t technically have to be at school at all anymore. I still had no idea what had happened to her in the past, but she could have quit after junior high. The fact that she bothered to take and pass a high school entrance exam, or that she was still bothering to show up at all meant that she must still care deep down. However, I was worried if she didn’t start to shape up, the teachers would continue to hassle her, and eventually she’d stop bothering to even come to school. This was a risk I couldn’t take.

The three of us made our way back to my house and up to my room. We set our bags down and got out our notebooks.

"What subject do you want first?" I asked Saki.

"I don't care." She flopped down onto the rug. "Surprise me."

"Hiromasa?" I asked.

"How about math?" He cracked open his notebook.

"That works for me," I said.

"Yay," Saki said sarcastically.

I chucked my notebook next to Saki. "You two start. I'll be back."

I went downstairs to get some juice and fresh strawberry daifuku. To my surprise, when I returned, Saki wasn't harassing Hiromasa. She was lying on her stomach, scribbling stuff down on a new page of her notebook while Hiromasa pointed to things in his. I sat down next to her and set all the stuff down. Saki pulled herself into a sitting position and stared at the package of daifuku.

"Want one?" I asked.

She nodded. I took one out of the plastic and handed it to her. She took a small bite and chewed slowly, staring down at the strawberry surrounded by red bean paste and sweet rice dough. I don't think I'd ever seen her eat anything at a slow pace.

"Wow," Hiromasa said. "You can actually eat stuff like a normal person."

She glared at him. "I like strawberries." She took another careful bite.

I took two more daifuku out, giving one to Hiromasa and eating the other. I reserved the last one left in the package for Saki.

We spent the next few hours teaching Saki and letting her copy down notes. She caught on pretty fast, which didn't surprise me, because I assumed her whole problem was a lack of effort from the beginning. The real challenge was going to be in keeping her on track the whole year.

Thursday came faster than I expected. As soon as lunch period started, Saki turned to me with a grin.

"Ready?" she asked.

"We aren't going to get to eat, are we?" I asked.

She smirked. "Probably not."

I sighed.

"Where are you guys going?" Hiromasa asked.

Saki smiled, took a few steps forward, and leaned down to whisper something in Hiromasa's ear.

He shook his head. "No thanks."

"I thought so." She glanced back at me. "Come on."

I followed her out of the room and we started down the hall. I wondered what she could've said to Hiromasa that would've made him reject the idea so suddenly. She hadn't said much, so it must have been straight to the point. Whatever it was, he was probably smart to refuse. I wish I could've been so clever.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"It's a secret." She put a finger to her lips and smiled.

I sighed. "Is there some reason Hiromasa gets to know and I don't?"

"Because I knew he would just get weird about it."

"And I won't?" I asked.

She shrugged. "It doesn't matter. We had a deal."

I sighed again. "Right."

We left the main building through one of the back doors and walked across the school grounds until we came to the old white shed used to store out of season sports equipment and other random clutter that hadn't found its way into a dumpster yet. Not many students wander out that far. It's near the edge of the property, and there isn't anything out there of particular interest if you're actually doing what you're supposed to be doing. Despite that, this was not the first time I'd been out to that shed. I'd been there numerous times before, and not for sports equipment. We circled around back and she stopped to lean against the wooden, paint chipped panels of the building.

"We can probably wait a few minutes before we hide." She looked down and scraped some of the paint off the wood with her finger nail. "They usually don't get here until a little later."

"Am I supposed to know what you're talking about?" I stuck my hands in my pockets and leaned against the wall next to her.

"It might surprise you to know that some of our fellow students use this spot to sneak away for midday trysts." She winked at me.

I laughed. "I don't know about surprising. This isn't the first time I've been back here."

"Really? I'm not the first girl you've been here with?" She nudged me with her elbow. "Bad Kaito. Here I thought I was turning a good boy bad. You're not so good after all."

I chuckled. "Sorry to disappoint you. I can try to fake it, if you want." I gasped. "Students fooling around at school? Who ever heard of such a thing?" I put my hand over my open mouth in mock surprise.

She giggled. "Not bad, but I'm getting kind of jealous. Does your lover have a name? It wasn't that girl that broke up with you before, was it?"

I snorted. "Kaho? God, no. This was last year. Her name was Izumo Yokota."

"Hmm. Izumo." Saki taped the side of her mouth with her index finger. "Not ringing any bells, but then again, I'm not really good with names."

"She graduated last year."

"Oh?" She leaned towards me, grinning. "Not just a girl, but a third year. You are fun." She pushed off the shed and stood in front of me. "So, how did it go?" She pressed up against me, sliding her thigh gently between my legs. "Something like this?"

"Yeah, something similar." I fought every urge to reach out and touch her, because if I did it wouldn't be a game anymore.

She laughed and slapped my cheek playfully. "Your face is priceless. Come on. It's almost time."

She walked off to a cluster of trees and bushes nearby. I wasn't sure what I should do when she did stuff like that. It was obviously amusing to her, but I didn't get the joke. I didn't really think I could keep doing nothing either. I'm not well versed in restraint.

I took a deep breath and let it out, trying to regain focus, and then followed her. I'm not really sure why. I guess sadist just happens to be my type.

"So, why are we here, really?" I asked, crouching in the foliage next to her. "You're going to have to tell me sometime."

She sighed. "I suppose so. I do need your phone, anyway."

"My phone? Why? What about your phone?"

"I don't have a phone, and I need one to take pictures."

"Stop." I put my hand up before she could continue. "You got me to come out here to take pictures of a person with their tongue down someone's throat as blackmail?"

"Yeah, basically."

I nodded, stood up, and brushed myself off. "Bye." I gave a small wave and started to walk away.

"Wait." She grabbed my wrist and pulled me back. "We had a deal. You said you'd do anything. Are you a man of your word, or not?"

I sighed and reached into my pocket. She grinned as I handed her the phone. This was really going to come back and bite me in the ass later. We crouched again. I couldn't believe she really didn't have a cellphone. I guess theft can only get you so far.

"I think you owe me a little more information. Why are you taking pictures of this person?"

"You were right," she said. "It's blackmail."

"For what, though? What do they have on you?"

She snorted. "If I wanted people knowing what it was, I wouldn't need these pictures, now would I?"

"So, they have secret on you that you don't want other people knowing?"

She gave an exasperated sigh and leaned her head back. "If I tell you the gist of it, will you shut up?"

"Sure." I nodded.

"This girl, Sayoko, lives close to my apartment, so she tends to hear things. I don't usually give a crap about what rumors go around about me, but this one involves a family member, and I don't really like people poking their nose where it doesn't belong. I usually favor a more direct approach, but I don't think it will fix the problem this time."

I assume, with Saki, a direct approach is less likely to mean a face to face conversation, and more likely to mean a fist to the throat.

"And your pictures are going to prove what? That she's messing around behind a shed? Who's going to care? Her mother?"

"Yeah, right," she scoffed. "I think her boyfriend would be much more interested to know that she's out here with his best friend."

"Ouch." I paused. "You realize this isn't a permanent solution, right? At some point they are probably just going to get busted anyway?"

She shrugged. "At that point, if she still wants to mess with me, I'll have to come up with a new plan."

"What is her issue with you in the first place?"

"She just likes to put people under her thumb and make them squirm."

That might have very well been true about the girl she was trying to blackmail, but I got the feeling that wasn't the whole story. Although, with Saki, that was hardly surprising.

We waited in silence for a bit longer. Finally, Sayoko and the guy she wasn't dating turned up. They immediately began to kiss and fondle each other.

I turned my head away while Saki clicked away on the phone. I'm usually not bashful, but spying on people from the bushes is not really my idea of a good time. I'd much rather be the guy by the shed. I hoped Saki had some sort of escape plan. I wasn't really sure how far they intended to go, but I remembered the times I was back here, and I really didn't want to be around when people started losing articles of clothing.

"That should be enough," Saki said, and stood up.

What was I thinking? Escape plan? Forget that. This thing wasn't going to bite me in the ass later because it was happening right now.

"Hey, Sayoko." Saki stepped from the bushes.

I didn't really have a choice but to follow her. I kept my head down as we approached them. They had separated now, and were standing a few feet apart. I glanced up from everyone's feet, briefly, to try and get a gauge on how bad the situation was going to go. The guy was looking bewildered. Clearly, this was not how he thought his afternoon was going to go. I kind of felt bad for him, but he was being a spectacularly shitty friend, so the feeling was pretty fleeting. Sayoko looked furious and Saki had a cocky grin on her face. Bad. The situation was going to go very badly. I stuck my hands in my pockets and focused on the grass.

"What the hell are you doing here, Saki?" Sayoko barked.

"Insuring you keep your mouth shut," Saki said.

Sayoko snorted. "How do you plan to do that?"

Against my better judgment, I looked up again. Saki taped the phone and held it up. Sayoko's face slowly twisted itself into a mix of worry and anger. She made a grab for the phone, but Saki pulled it out of her reach.

"Give it to me!" Sayoko demanded.

Saki just laughed in response.

I started to go over the pros and cons of whether or not I should get a phone in a new model, or save some money on the older version when mine inevitably got smashed on the ground.

Sayoko pointed a finger at me. "Who the hell is that?"

"No one important." I put my hands up. "And I'd like to state that I'm here partially against my will."

"He's just a friend," Saki said. "You don't have to worry about him."

"Friend?" Sayoko sneered. "You don't have any of those." She turned her gaze on me. "Look, I don't know what she promised to get you out here, but I can assure you she won't deliver. You're better off just walking away."

I shrugged. "Guess I'll have to find out for myself."

She gritted her teeth. "Naoki, get the phone from her."

"Um..." he started.

"Naoki!" she yelled.

He grimaced and took a hesitant step forward.

I put my arm out in front him. "Sorry. I can't let you do that."

Sayoko clicked her tongue. "Why are you helping her? If you knew the first thing about her-"

"Sa-yo-ko," Saki ticked the phone back and forth with every syllable.

Sayoko sucked air through her teeth and glared at the phone.

"Come on, Kaito. I think we're done here," Saki said.

She started to walk off and I followed her. We hadn't gotten very far, before Sayoko started screaming at Naoki, blaming him for not doing anything. Poor guy.

"Here," Saki held out the phone to me as we walked. "You can't get rid of those pictures though, obviously."

I sighed and took the phone. "I do look forward to this going even more sideways than it already has."

"Don't worry about it." I've known Sayoko for a while. "She won't cause any more problems."

"An old friend?" I asked.

She shook her head. "No. Like she said, I don't have any of those."

"Oh really? I must have been hearing things back there then, or did you not say I was your friend?"

Saki rolled her eyes. "You're not going to make me regret it, are you?"

I smiled mischievously. "We're going to be the best of friends." I wrapped my arm around her shoulder. "We'll stay up late and braid each other's hair."

"Oh, God. I take it back. I take it all back!" She shoved me away. "I hate you. Don't speak to me anymore!"

I laughed as we made our way back towards the class room. Lunch break was all but over, which sucked, because it meant I was going to be hungry the rest of the day. Plus, my interest had peaked over the incident with Sayoko. There wasn't any way to satisfy it either, because it's not as though I could just ask Saki. It was just one more thing I had to add to the list of stuff I didn't know about her, and that list was getting pretty long.