This was good… Well, to be precise, she’d finally gone bad.
While I sat there, impressed, Ookuma added, “So, I’m not gonna rat you out, but I do have a favor to ask.”
“Oh? What? You’re not gonna follow that up by making us empty our wallets, are you?”
Ookuma winced and waved Kurumi off. “No, no,” she said, looking embarrassed. “Just, uh… Mind if I join you?”
We all tensed up. Kurumi looked at me, and then back at Ookuma.
“Can we get a reason why?” she asked.
“This school sucks ass, and I decided I wanna bring it down, too.”
“…Fascinating.”
“And I have one boss in particular who I want to see suffer.”
“The head teacher?” Kurumi asked.
“That’d be telling,” Ookuma said, grinning. She made it sound like she had more than a few axes to grind. “Also…one thing you said really struck home.”
“…Specifically?”
“You said that if you had a teacher on your side, you could pull off something a lot bigger than you have so far. With my help, you could change this cesspit a lot faster.” Ookuma balled up her fist and stared down at it. “I’m a new hire, so no one’s gonna listen to me. They’ve been working here so long, they can’t tell right from wrong, and I wanna pound some morals into them.”
With that, her grim expression gave way to a self-deprecating grin.
“That’s all I got,” she said. “So what do you say? Am I in or out? If you still can’t trust me, I’ll sign a contract.”
I never expected her to go so far. It seemed like she was serious. Kurumi crooked her head, watching my reaction.
“Well, I think that’s a pretty good motive. Natsume, what do you say?”
“Might as well let her in. That was the original plan.”
“True. I was thinking the same. There you have it!” Kurumi hopped up off her chair and moved over to Ookuma. Then she flashed a mean-spirited grin and held out her hand. “I approve your membership. From now on, you’re our accomplice. Do your worst!”
“Yeah, I will. Down with grown-ups! Living life the proper way is dumb as hell. I’m over it.”
Kurumi and Ookuma clasped hands and shook on it.
Our whole future had been in doubt, but fortune had smiled upon us. Ookuma’s change of heart had brought us in for a safe landing. I was glad this day hadn’t ended in the headache I’d initially feared it would.
“We’ve got a new member, Natsume—let’s party!”
“Sounds good. But it’s almost time to go home.”
“What, you’re throwing me a welcome party?” asked Ookuma. “Why not hit up a diner, then?”
“Huh? Uh, okay. Does that mean we’re buddy-buddy now?” Kurumi looked slightly taken aback by this closing of the gap.
Then, just as everything seemed settled, I realized we’d left one issue on the table. I looked over just in time to see Nanaougi breaking in to tap Kurumi on the shoulder.
“Does this mean I’m in, too?” she asked.
Kurumi froze up, then turned toward her, eyes like daggers. “What? In your dreams, toots.”
“Aww. But you promised I could join if we flipped Ms. Ookuma.”
“But it was our attack that sealed the deal, not yours, Nanaougi.”
Kurumi was not mincing words. She really had it in for her. I wasn’t too sure myself, but in the end, I threw Nanaougi a rope.
“Kurumi, would it really be that bad?”
“Wha—?! What ails you, Natsume?! Did she win you over with that kiss?!”
What kiss?! I mean, we did kiss… But that didn’t influence my decision!
“Nanaougi exposed her identity before either of us did. I still don’t know what she’s thinking, or why she’s so hell-bent on joining our cause. But it’s clear her commitment is genuine.”
“Hng… Fine… I’ll concede that point.”
“And she did secure an escape route while we were spray-painting graffiti. I don’t think it would hurt to keep her around. At least for a little while.”
Kurumi looked back at Nanaougi—well, it was more like a threatening glare. Then, after about twenty seconds, she sighed. “…Fine, Nanaougi. You can be a provisional member.”
“Whoo! Thanks, Kurumi.”
Nanaougi tried to rub her head, but Kurumi slapped her hand away.
“Stop that! Do not touch me!”
It might be a while before Kurumi warmed up to her; she’d really emphasized the word “provisional.”
“With this many people, we really will need to hold the welcome party at a restaurant. We can’t exactly send Nanaougi home now. We’ll need to find a place where we won’t run into any other students…”
“We shouldn’t run into anyone familiar out where I live,” Ookuma said. “Should I make a reservation?”
“Where were you thinking? It can’t be anywhere pricey.”
“Don’t worry about it. I can cover a larger share.”
Kurumi and Ookuma put their heads together over a smartphone screen, whooping it up. Neither one of them were very tall, and they kind of looked like a pair of junior high school kids. Not that I was going to tell them that—they’d chew my head off.
Soon, they settled on a destination, and Kurumi turned back to us and raised her hand.
“Okay, so starting around six, we’re gonna throw a party for Nana and Koguma!”
“Er, wait, Kurumi, what’d you call us?” asked Ookuma.
“Nanaougi is a mouthful, and you don’t really feel like a teacher, so I figured I’d better give you both nicknames.” Kurumi pointed at each in turn. “Nanaougi’s name has a double ‘Nana,’ so that one’s obvious. And Ookuma’s name, which sounds like ‘big bear,’ is clearly not appropriate. I know the second character doesn’t really mean ‘bear,’ but since it sounds the same, I figured we could use ‘Koguma’ for ‘cub.’ Neat, right?”
She seemed proud of herself. And by Kurumi’s standard, these were decent names. But did they approve?
I looked over to gauge their reactions, but neither of them seemed especially against it.
“Call me whatever,” said Nanaougi. “I don’t care what name you use.”
“I’m fine with it, too. Koguma sounds kinda cute, actually.”
…Okay. If they’re on board, then I have nothing more to say.
“Incidentally, I’m way too used to Natsume to call you anything else, Natsume.”
“That’s fine. If you suddenly started calling me Ren, it’d feel pretty weird.”
“Oh, would it, now? Then maybe I should sneak attack you with it every once in a while. Just hit you with a ‘Ren’ outta nowhere!” Kurumi had a hand over her mouth, giggling.
I’m still her upperclassman! Then again, I wasn’t gonna object, no matter what Kurumi called me.
“Ahem… So let’s make it official! Welcome to the resistance, ladies!”
Kurumi flashed her mean-spirited grin as she raised a fist into the air.
We all formed a circle and bumped knuckles.
It was September. A summer full of expectation had come to an end, and now we were rolling headfirst into winter.
Kurumi Hoshimiya. Ren Natsume. Nana Nanaougi. Kanae Ookuma.
Our resistance had doubled in size, and we were only just getting started.