The principal’s office was medically clean, with a rge brown desk pced in the back, far from the door, making every step feel like a consecutive sentence. Her desk was clear, with only her name pcard at the center and a Zen tree in the far right corner. The aroma of jasmine tea clung to the walls. The teapot blew steam in the background.
I approached one of the two chairs in the office, the other being hers, and sat down. Nervous, I scanned the walls—certificates and honors, of course.
They gred at me—Ms. Kamizawa from behind her desk, as Miss. Nakamura stood there like judgment itself. “Tell me what happened in the second period,” the principal said.
“I’m telling you, Miss. Nakamura, that I didn’t ask them to fight over me,” I said, my thoughts racing in my head, searching for reason.
Her eyes were focused and angry, as if she were looking at my mom.
Miss. Nakamura pressed her left hand against the principal’s desk, holding back the sp. “Ms. Tsukikage, it’s hard to believe you had no involvement in arranging this fight.”
“Was this part of your initiation?” Miss. Nakamura continued.
I clenched my hands on my knees. “I swear I had nothing to do with the way either acted, please believe me.
”Miss. Nakamura,” Principal Kamizawa said. The principal’s demeanor was calm, but I couldn’t make out her eyes through the gre of her gsses. “Let’s hear her side before we cast judgment.” Finally, Kamizawa was allowing me to defend myself.
I cleared my throat to speak.
“Ryo came to us; I swear it!” My voice cracked in response. “I was telling Antwon what he needed to know because Miss. Nakamura told me to.”
I thought about the look in Antwon’s eyes—the same look my mother has after a cn csh—a killer’s eye.
My breathing grew heavy. I focused on the principal’s wooden desk and the Zen pnt. I tried to imagine a resolution where no one got in trouble, but when I did, I only thought of how badly Antwon had trashed Ryo.
“ Let’s state the obvious,” the principal’s words cut off before they revealed the bde. ”This school site and district fall within the Crimson Veil; The territory controlled by Ryo’s mom.”
Silence filled the room.
I know what comes next.
“Jade,” Ms. Kamizawa said. “The leader of the Veil and Christina, the leader of the Iron Fan Court, informed the school of your union with Ryo Aizawa.”
I gasped. Why would they tell sensitive information like that to two non-members?
“Well, you see—Mr. Aizawa and I are no longer walking the same path.”
They looked at me as if I were speaking English, slowly decoding an age-old proverb.
Silence consumed the room.
Ms. Kamizawa and Nakamura exchanged thoughtful gnces—verdict reached, no words needed.
My left leg shook as if recovering from a game of kickball.
A tea kettle’s whistle brought it to an abrupt end.
“Ah,” Ms Kamizawa said. “It appears that my tea is ready. Miss. Nakamura, thank you for sacrificing your department's colboration time to chat with me about this pressing situation.”
Miss. Nakamura bowed honorably to Principal Kamizawa, demonstrating a tradition that goes beyond the Sengoku Period. “It’s my honor, Principal Kamizawa.” Her arms were straight—waist bent—back straight. I felt the weight of her bow.
“Shall I contact their guardians?”
“Yes.” Miss. Nakamura looked pleased with herself, though her face never betrayed her sternness.
And just like that, any hopes of getting out of this situation unscathed were gone.
Miss. Nakamura departed the room without so much as a gnce back, closing the door behind her.
I waited a moment to speak, still focusing on the Zen tree.
The echoes of Miss. Nakamura’s steps trailed off into the distance.
***
Ms. Kamizawa sighed, took off her gsses, and leaned back in her chair.
“Christine,” she said, “When were you going to let us know that you and Ryo were no longer engaged?”
Without her gsses, her furious, cat-like eyes betrayed her professional demeanor.
Her hair, tied into a perfect bun, framed a face that no longer needed a smile.
“I’m sorry, Principal Kamizawa. I tried my best to work things out.”
“Bull crap! And call me Hina, after all, you are a bloodline sprout, destined to rule the Iron Fan Court.”
Silence accompanied us in the room.
“Shit, I have to report this to Jade.”
“Tea?” she asked, as she pulled a fsk from her drawer.
“I thought you were going to—”
“Nah, it’s just for show.”
“Tell me what happened so I can save your ass.” She took a sip.
“Thanks, Hina!” I said, knowing that if anyone could fix this, it was her.
“Well, Antwon attacked Ryo because—”
Hina’s voice shed out. “Could you have stopped it, Christine?”
Her eyes grew dark and cold. For Antwon’s sake, I needed to choose my next words carefully.
“Antwon asked him to go away, but Ryo refused. Also, Ryo put his hand on Antwon first.” I swallowed, clearing the lump in my throat.
“So, Ryo threw the first punch?”
I could lie to her, but if she talks to another student, I’ll lose more than trust.
“Antwon threw the first punch after Ryo shoved him.”
She grabbed her pen and put on her gsses—from cn member to professional, just like that.
She didn’t ask any questions or speak—she carved something into the paper before her.
“And then?” She said.
“He…bashed his face into a desk.”
“Who did?”
I didn’t want to answer because doing so would be the same as killing him myself.
“Christine, I know this is hard, but I need to file this report. You know how it is.”
My knees started shaking—Hina had gone cold—like the part of her that’s human stepped out. I assumed their course of action, but I never considered it because we were just kids.
“Christine!”
“Hina, please.”
Silence revisited us, accompanied by his bed pal, grief.
“Christine I—”
“I stopped him!” My heart throbbed in my chest, begging for forgiveness—for Antwon’s safety.
Hina looked at me through the gre of her gsses. I had to say something that would trump Ryo’s trashing. Fortunately, I had just the information.
My head dropped because what I was about to tell her would dismiss Antwons' offense, and pce me in the hot seat.
“I…smmed Antwon to stop him from hurting Ryo, Ma’am.”
I gnced up to see how she took the information: her jaw dropped.
I could hear words trying to form, but they were lodged in her throat, choking her.
“I know what I did was wrong, but he was hurting Ryo. Hina..”
“Are you stupid?” Hina said behind closed teeth. “I could—the Kokiri government marks that as a capital offense. If word—when word gets out, we’re fucked.”
Her breath grew raspy. Hina wore that look—Antwon’s look.
“He had the same look as you do now.”
I was consumed by fear, not from Hina; I always knew what she was, but at the idea that Antwon was forced to do something so terrible.
“What are…talking about, huh? Are you trying to get out of what you’ve done?”
“No,” I could feel the tears swelling up inside.
“Ms. Tsukikage, I think you should go to css. But stop by the infirmary to see how Ryo is recovering.”
She picked up her fsk and took a massive swig. “I should have asked for a better assignment.”
“What’s going to happen to Antwon, Hina?”
“Ms. Tsukikage, if you hit Ryo, the Veil and Court would be at war. Now, Antwon doesn’t have any affiliations in Kokiri.”
Her words stung like a hundred wasps that stung true: Hitting a Bloodline Sprout was a death sentence for anyone other than the heads.
My tears pooled, finally becoming too heavy to hold. “What could I have done?”
Kamizawa’s cold, stoic smile gave way to a frown as she pced her fsk back into her drawer.
“Honestly, I’d rather you had hit Ryo. Your moms are close enough for them to figure it out…I tell you what—I’ll inform Miss. Nakamura to contact Sakura in advance. That will give her time to prepare.
Prepare her to say goodbye to him.
I held my mouth as the weight of it all pulled me down. I’m a monster.
“Look, try to work something out with Ryo—it’s your best chance.”
I nodded, but my mind had already gone to where Antwon was—gone to a pce where we could live without Ryo or the cn’s dogmatic doctrine; Where he and his sister didn’t have to say goodbye.