Ryu frowned and left Stockholm Haven café. Ai-chan had left half an hour earlier, but he needed to wait for his sister to finish her job.

Noriko pointed at the police car on the other side of the street. There had been one every day for a week since some idiots with more muscles than brains from Red Rose Hell threw a homemade bomb into the café.

Despite the seriousness of the affair Urufu couldn't help but guffaw when he disarmed the bomb on the floor. Something about Molotov-cocktails made of plastic bottles and diesel was apparently hysterically funny.

Nonetheless the police came and picked up the gang after the guests in the café went out en masse and beat them down into the street. That was also the moment when the student body of Irishima high finally sided with them and made open enemies of Red Rose.

During that week late autumn gave way to early winter, and Himekaizen slowly started boiling with anticipation for Christmas and the second term final exams, as was the case for most schools in early December. Simply put, the students felt the presence of year's end closing in, and Ryu was no exception.

But there was also something he hadn't experienced before. The ambiguous sensation from being part of tearing down Red Rose Hell.

Those were his thoughts when Urufu caught up to them.

“Noriko?”

“Yes?” she said and turned her eyes from the patrol car to Urufu who had called out to her from behind her back.

Ryu watched him throwing a glance at the police before he made up the entire distance to the siblings and sandwiched Noriko between Ryu and himself.

“Kyoko said to meet with you next Sunday. Looks like a girl thing, because Christina just emailed me. Seems she's reneging on our date.

Sucks to be you, Ryu thought. It wasn't exactly like the Swedish couple got a lot of opportunities to be alone with each other. A few months earlier he'd have applauded the mishap with a gleeful smile, but even before he met Ai-chan and became a couple with her he had come to value his friendship over his unrequited crush on Kuri.

“Are you sure about that? You two haven't had a proper date for weeks,” Noriko said, and Ryu noted the concern in her voice.

“We get by,” Urufu answered. “We see each other during club hours. As for dates I'm more worried about you and Nao. Didn't you have something planned?”

Ryu had to give Urufu credit for guessing that the girls' outing interfered with Noriko's wishes. The tall foreigner was not only one of his best friends but also sometimes painfully inept when it came to socialising with girls. And he was most definitely a foreigner despite his mostly Japanese looks.

“I'll live,” Noriko said and grinned. “We're going to an onsen during winter break, and both Nao-sempai and Ai-chan are going with us.”

Urufu gave first Noriko and then Ryu a long stare. It proved he had at least learned some Japanese sensibilities. “You're going on an overnight trip the four of you?”

“The six of us,” Ryu answered and smiled. “Our parents as well, or I doubt Nao-sempai's and Ai-chan's parents would have allowed it.”

“Ah, OK, the girls in one room and you boys in the other?”

“The women in one room and the men in another,” Ryu shot back just as he realised he'd been had.

“Man, you?”

Go die sucker! “Yeah, man me.”

“Funny, and here I thought of your dad as a kid with a runny nose.”

Ryu's dad was forty, which made him ten years Urufu's junior, which in turn made no sense at all since Ryu and Urufu both were freshmen at Himekaizen. Transitions between worlds and bodies did funny things to the concept of age.

“Urufu, leave him be!” came Noriko's voice, but Ryu could hear how his sister hid her laughter among her admonishing words.

Waiting for Urufu to answer Ryu listened to the subdued noise of his shoes tapping against wet tarmac. Splashing more likely. A short spell of rain had just passed them by and puddles of water glittered in the lamplights.

From time to time headlights dazzled them and when the sound of engines vanished behind them Ryu had to blink away the sudden sensation of blindness.

Almost a block they walked before he understood that Urufu had declined to respond.

“I think they're done for,” Noriko said to banish the awkward silence. “Himekaizen just went public with the decision to admit ten freshmen classes, and I think Irishima high will announce that they're admitting an extra class soon enough.”

When did you hear that?

“I know,” Urufu said. “I spoke to the old goat an hour ago. They'll suspend Christina for a week while they decide how to handle her previous part time work.”

“What?” Kuri suspended?

“You haven't heard?”

“Heard what?”

“Apparently Christina worked part time as a hostess during spring term,” Urufu said. “They're kinda pissed off at school right now.”

No, he hadn't heard. But if this was true then anyone on a vengeance trip was certain to lay their hands on a bucketful of ammunition.

“How bad is it?” Ryu asked.

“Anyone but Christina or me and we'd be talking automatic expulsion,” Urufu said. “They want us arrivals attending Himekaizen for some reason, so that won't happen.”

Because you're some kind of special kids? And just shove it Ryu! They are special. I need to accept that. Ryu shook his head in disgust of his own envy.

“What's the fallout?”

“They'll tack on an extra week of suspension I guess. She'll get drowned in make-up classes and her agency will get one hell of a firmer grip on her career.”

“And why is that so bad?” Ryu wondered.

“Idiot bro! Urufu, I'm so sorry!” Noriko suddenly shot in.

“Can't be helped,” Urufu said. “With a bit of luck they won't force us to break up immediately.”

“Whoa! Break up?”

“Yeah. They'll want to purify her reputation, make a decent girl out of her and all that shit. Just because you suffer from an epic case of Madonna whore complex in Japan.” Urufu went silent and stared at his shoes. “Fucking third world backwater excuse for a country!”

***

So the hostess part time stunt had finally reared its ugly face and was about to take a bite out of Kuri's world. Noriko had suspected that something like this would happen eventually, but that didn't make her agree any less with Urufu's outburst.

There were things women weren't supposed to do, and that kind of segregation spoke its own story of a society that in some parts was woefully underdeveloped. She knew that, but she was still a product of that society, and despite agreeing with Urufu, Noriko couldn't but help wondering about why Kuri had taken such a stupid risk.

“You know, maybe you shouldn't live here if you dislike Japan that much,” Ryu said.

Noriko hoped he regretted his words the moment they left his mouth, and her reaction was instinctive. “Idiot brother! Of all the tasteless comments I've ever heard!”

“It's not like I chose to live here,” Urufu filled in. “They refuse to hand me a passport, so I can't travel to Sweden neither, and there's Kuri, and...” He palmed his face as he walked. “Sorry for my outburst. It was uncalled for.”

“No!” If anything it wasn't uncalled for. Forcing Urufu and Kuri to break up was so unfair it made Noriko's stomach churn. “You're right. It's disgusting what they're doing to you.”

Ryu coughed silently as if he needed to think before speaking. “I apologise. Still, I don't know about disgusting...”

“Shut up bro!” That Ryu didn't understand made her angry and a little afraid. “They're keeping Kuri hostage because she's a girl.” When he didn't react Noriko pulled his arm and glared at him. “If you don't find that disgusting, then how could I trust you if something like that happened to me?”

“Why would it? I can't see anything like that happening to you. We're the Wakayamas after all.”

For the first time in her life she slapped her brother with the intent to hurt. She hit him open handed, retracted her hand and whirled to slam it into his face again with all the force her small body could muster. The second slap never reached its target. For a moment Ryu looked as if he would retaliate.

“I wouldn't if I were you,” Urufu said. “My hands, elbows, knees and feet might slip and accidentally land in your face.”

Noriko saw how her brother sagged before he snorted and grinned. “You might miss, you know.”

“I wouldn't,” Urufu said. “When I slip I always hit my target.”

There was something cold in his voice that made Noriko shiver. Not the overt threat he voiced, because she doubted he'd ever attack her brother. Rather it was a lack of something that scared her. It was a lack of joy, or even life. It was the voice of someone who had resigned and accepted defeat, and a beaten Urufu somehow frightened her more than a horde of enemies.

Ryu slowly released the arm he had caught, and Noriko watched her brother examine her face to see if she intended to hit him again. She shook her head and looked down the way she had done so often when he made that kind of silent question.

“Ryu,” she said, “are you really fine with our friends getting hurt because they're not the Wakayamas?”

He flinched as if she had struck him a third time. For a social genius like him her brother sometimes lacked even the most basic of sensibilities.

“You should listen to your sister,” Urufu added. “I've lived for more than half a normal life, and even if this body makes my head flare up in anger I still know how to evaluate what happened.”

There were a few seconds of awkward silence during which they continued walking towards the station.

“Meaning?” Ryu said.

Noriko wasn't sure if he really needed an answer or if he merely wanted to banish the wordless void.

“Meaning that if I hadn't been me you could easily have lost a friend.”

“What?”

“Man! Ryu, sure we're past fifty but it's still my girlfriend you're talking about. We don't really belong here, and we really only have each other. Now when we're shitting ourselves because we'll most likely be forced to break up you tell me that's OK because none of us come from an influential family?” Urufu palmed his face. “Screw it Ryu, what kind of brain-dead monkey are you?”

“I didn't mean it that way!”

“Ryu, you're a good friend. You have your strengths and weaknesses. One of the latter is how narrow-minded you are. Yes, you meant exactly what you said. Family is important to you, and you honestly believe people get the families they deserve.”

“So what?”

A dejected shadow passed Urufu's eyes. Noriko didn't like the sight of it one bit. “You sure made a good choice of parents,” he said and increased his steps. A laugh that held no mirth left his mouth.

“Urufu?” Noriko said. She knew the answer to her question before she voiced it.

“I recalled I have something I need to do. You two continue. I have to check something.”

He could just as well have screamed: 'Go to hell you insensitive bastard!' She watched his back vanish down the street. A lonely hand waved over his shoulder, but he never turned to face them in that usual western style of his.

“What's with him?” her brother wondered after Urufu vanished into an alley.

“What's with you? You did something really bad.”

“In what way?”

“Family is important, right?”

“Yeah, so what?”

Idiot bro! Really! “Kuri never had one after she grew up. She said as much. Urufu is her family now.”

And still her brother's face showed no sign of comprehension.

“Ryu, you know that Urufu lost his when he arrived here. They're all alone here in Japan and you just told him he should have been more careful picking his family when the two of them are being forced apart.”

“Yes?”

Maybe I should slap him once more. Just to beat some sense into him.