384 Chapter four, 2017, petty revenge: 5

Noriko shook her head while she waited for Kuri to open the door. It was her first time here, and she regretfully accepted that she was a little curious. While she would have preferred to stay with Urufu in the Haven something in Kuri's voice told her that wasn't really an option.

'But why me and not Kyoko?'

Suddenly the door clicked open and Kuri's voice called 'please enter' over a hidden intercom.

Noriko did as bidden and got inside.

Two pair of shoes waited for her in the hallway, and when Noriko looked into an enormous living room she saw Kuri waving.

"I'll be outside for a while," Kuri said to whomever her guest was. Then she ran to Noriko and hugged her. "I'm sorry, but I can't help her. Please forgive me!"

'Her?' "What's going on?"

"It's Jennifer. She's in a bad shape, and I don't think I'm the one she needs listening."

'No, no you didn't!' Now it was too late to back out. "You owe me for this!"

"I know," Kuri said, "but I could never understand her the way you could," she whispered.

'You insensitive bitch! Why would I want to relive that?' "You owe me," Noriko repeated.

Kuri didn't answer. She just opened the door and vanished into the lift.

Noriko clenched her fists and with worms crawling down her spine she forced her feet into the living room. When she entered it she saw Jeniferu's small body hunched in a chair by a large table in the next room.

'Of course this flat comes with a separate dining room. Gods it's huge!'

"Jeniferu, it's me," she said into the silence.

No answer.

"Noriko," Noriko added at a lack of anything meaningful to say. Of course Jeniferu would know. 'I didn't know walking trough a room could take this long.' But it didn't have anything to do with the room. 'Two years. It takes two years to walk to that table.'

Memories of what had almost happened filled her mingled with the knowledge that there was nothing almost for Jeniferu. 'Urufu saved me, but Tomasu never made it in time for you.' Did that make Urufu better than Tomasu? Noriko didn't think so, not if she was honest, but she also admitted she might have fallen in love with Urufu the first time just because he did save her.

"She left me. She didn't want to talk with me." The words petered out and Noriko heard how they were replaced by, first silent, but quickly wailing sobs.

'I'll never forgive you Kuri!' But Noriko knew she would, even if it took a long time. 'Who told her about what happened to me? Ryu?' But then Noriko remembered she herself had told both Principal Nakagawa and the entire student council last year.

She rushed to the table and sat down on a chair beside Jeniferu. "She's scared," Noriko heard herself say. She put her hands on the table. Right now she wasn't certain if a hug would make the girl panic or not.

"She?"

Noriko threw Jeniferu a glance. Maybe they would talk after all, or Noriko talk, or Jeniferu; she didn't know. "Kuri," she said after a moment's hesitation.

"Christina's scared? Of what?"

"Urufu was as well," Noriko answered. In ways it was a lie, but she believed he was. She hadn't asked yet. "They don't know what it's like." Suddenly afraid of stealing Jeniferu's fear Noriko added: "And neither do I, not really."

"Then why did she leave you with me?" Jeniferu said and broke down again.

'Good question,' Noriko thought. Then she discarded it. Thinking like that was too close to the cynical freshman version of herself from over a year ago.

"Because," Noriko began. She dared touching Jeniferu's shoulder to get her attention. "In middle school some boys tried to **** me."

That did get her attention. Jeniferu's eyes were suddenly wide open and she stopped sobbing at once.

"Did they..."

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"No," Jeniferu's experience was far worse than Noriko's, "Urufu saved me, Urufu and my brother." Which wasn't entirely true. Ryu had been too far away to know she needed saving.

"I've been so afraid." And Jeniferu's eyebrows once again screwed up in a display of misery.

Noriko waited while Jeniferu cried and cried. Holding her seemed fine, and when Jeniferu turned her head and buried her face into Noriko's shoulder she did the same. Fears she had forgotten surfaced and she joined Jeniferu in her wailing.

How much time passed before they stopped crying Noriko didn't know, but certainly more than for any errand Kuri used as an excuse for leaving her flat.

"Dad wants me to talk with someone," Jeniferu said when they had both run out of tears.

Noriko stood heating water for some tea and turned at the sound of Jeniferu's voice.

"And you?"

Jeniferu shook her head. "Not with a stranger."

A small cup with sugar made company on the tray where tea bags competed for space with two mugs and an equally small can of milk.

"A professional," Noriko said carrying the set through the room. "Living room?"

Jeniferu nodded and rose from her chair. Brown hair, some of it still wet from tears bobbed around her face and failed in it's attempt to hide her red eyes.

'Wonder if I look the same.'

Noriko put the tray on a low table by a sofa, the two pieces of furniture that tried to hide in the huge space. Now when she wasn't occupied with her and Jeniferu's shared fear she had time to see how the entire flat screamed of desolation.

"A professional," Noriko repeated when Jeniferu joined her. "I believe you need one." She looked around the empty room. "I believe Kuri needs one as well."

"Do you mean Kuri..."

"No," Noriko said and smiled for the first time since coming here. "For a different reason."