Even if Kiyomi wouldn't be
accompanying her, Yuuko decided to still go ahead with her plans. She left the
house as usual that morning, dressed in her school uniform with her rucksack on
her back; however, her school things were not in it. Today, her rucksack
contained a change of clothes, some snacks, and a bottle of water. Her parents
would think she was at school the whole day, and anyone walking past her on the
street would think that she had already graduated, as she looked slightly older
than her sixteen years. It was a flawless plan, and one she had already
executed a few times before. Her parents still knew nothing about it.
Yuuko headed in the direction
of her high school as usual, but the moment she was out of view of her house,
she turned and headed a different way instead. First order of business: get
changed out of this uniform.
***
First order of business: meet
up with Kiyomi. The two of them usually met up at a set of traffic lights roughly
equidistant from their two houses and from the school. From there, their first
activity would probably involve ditching out of their uniforms, so they wouldn't
look like the truanting students that they were.
When Yuuko reached the
traffic lights, Kiyomi was already there. As she had said on the phone, she was
dressed neatly in her school uniform. She waved as she saw Yuuko approaching.
"Hey, Yuuko!" she said cheerily.
"Hey, Kiyomi!" said
Yuuko, glad to see her best friend waiting there.
"So, where to
first?" asked Kiyomi.
"Well, I was thinking
that first we needed to ditch these uniforms," said Yuuko. "I brought
a change of clothes for myself, so I can go change in a toilet cubicle
somewhere… what about you? You bring anything like that?"
"No, I didn’t think of
that," said Kiyomi, shaking her head. "Will it matter that much? I
mean, if someone we know sees us, we're busted either way, right?"
"Everyone who knows us is
probably either in school or at work right now," said Yuuko, "so it's
fine. But our uniforms still have our school logos on, so people who realize
we're truanting might phone them up and tell them. And then we'll be busted. So we better change out of them as fast as
possible."
"Yeah, good point,"
admitted Kiyomi. "So, should we go outfit-shopping first?"
"Sounds good," said
Yuuko. "Then we can change in the fitting rooms, or something. As long as
no-one there realizes we're ditching, then it's all good."
"Alright then,"
said Kiyomi. "So, where should we look for clothes, then?"
"I know the perfect
place," said Yuuko. "Follow me."
***
Yuuko made her way to a
nearby clothing store, and not being in any particular hurry, she took her time
picking out a new outfit. By the time she was finished, and emerged back onto
the high street, it was past 10am. Her uniform had been haphazardly stuffed
inside her bag, and she was now dressed in a brand-new light blue summer dress,
white knee-high socks, and white plimsolls.
While she had been shopping,
she had also planned out the rest of the day in her head. For now, she would
head off to the cinema and catch a movie - it didn't particularly matter which
one. After that, it would be lunchtime, and she would head to a café she often
went to when truanting. She wasn't quite sure what to do after lunch, but she
would probably just head to the arcade for a while until it was time to go
home.
***
"What do you think?"
Kiyomi was now dressed in a blue-grey
top and white shorts, with the same white plimsolls on her feet as Yuuko. She didn't
seem entirely satisfied with Yuuko's plan for the day. "There's not really
anything on at the cinema that I wanna watch," said Kiyomi. "Could we
head to the arcade now, and maybe do something else after lunch?"
Yuuko shrugged. "Sure,
why not," she said. "Alright, let's head off to the arcade
then."
Kiyomi nodded, and the pair
started making their way towards the local arcade. "Hey, I just thought of
something," said Kiyomi suddenly, looking over at her friend. "Won't
we have to change back into our uniforms before we head back home?"
"Yeah, but we can just
sneak into a toilet cubicle and do that," said Yuuko. "We've got our
uniforms in our bag, so it's not gonna be a problem. Trust me." Yuuko
smiled, a breeze playing at her long black hair. "You worry too much,
Kiyomi."
"When we're doing
something like this, it's hard not to worry a little," admitted Kiyomi.
"But I do trust you, Yuuko, otherwise I wouldn't be here. So I'm sure everything
will work out fine."
"I'm sure it will
too," said Yuuko.
***
It didn't occur to Yuuko, as
she started making her way towards the cinema, that the arcade and the cinema
were both in the same direction from her current location, so whichever one she
had chosen to go to, she would currently be heading the same way. It didn't
seem like an important detail.
As Yuuko walked, a slight
breeze blew, playing at her long black hair and at the hem of her dress. Right now, she thought, as she reached a
crossing in the road, everything is
alright.
She didn't see the car
speeding down the road towards her, as she stepped off the sidewalk.
***
Yuuko didn't see the car
speeding towards them, but Kiyomi did.
"Yuuko, look out-!"
"What-?"
It was too late by then.
Yuuko was standing in the middle of the lane, and the car would be upon her
before she could get out of its way. In the second remaining, Kiyomi realized
there was only one thing she could do. She darted forward and pushed Yuuko as
hard as she could, away from the car's path.
The car braked, but it was
too little, too late. It slammed headlong into Kiyomi, sending her flying up
onto the hood and into the windscreen, a spider's web of bloody cracks shattering
the glass. As the car finally slowed to a halt, Kiyomi tumbled off the hood, crumpled
to the floor and was still.
Yuuko, in a state of shock,
did not process at first what had happened. She shakily picked herself up off
the asphalt, wincing a little as she climbed to her feet; she appeared to have
grazed her knee as she had fallen. As recognition began to sink in, she looked
round for her friend and, seeing Kiyomi lying bloodied and broken on the
ground, she froze in horror. "K…Kiyomi?" she gasped. Then her shock
gave way to panic. "KIYOMI!"
Yuuko knelt down beside her
stricken friend, taking her by the shoulders. There was blood everywhere;
Kiyomi seemed to be covered in it, her brand-new outfit soaked with crimson.
Her face was covered in blood too, rivulets of it running down from various
wounds. Yuuko could see her own horrified face reflected in a small shard of
glass embedded just above Kiyomi's right eye. "Kiyomi!" Yuuko
shouted, shaking her friend gently by the shoulders. "Are you alright?
Speak to me! Kiyomi!"
Kiyomi coughed, and a little
blood leaked from the corner of her mouth. She took in a shallow, laboured
breath, looking up at Yuuko with unfocused eyes. "Yuuko…" she gasped.
"Are you… alright…?"
"Yes, yes, I'm
fine!" said Yuuko, tears starting to well up in her eyes as the graze on
her knee became a distant memory. "Oh God, we gotta get you to a hospital-!"
Kiyomi managed a faint smile.
With the last of her strength, she reached up and touched a bloodied hand to
Yuuko's soft cheek. "I'm glad…" she said. Then the hand fell to the
ground, and Kiyomi Hanabishi breathed her last.
"No!" Yuuko shook
Kiyomi once again, tears starting to stream down her face, dripping onto the
now-lifeless body of her friend and mixing with her spilt blood. "Kiyomi!
Don't die, Kiyomi! Please! KIYOMI!!!"
***
Yuuko did not see the car
speeding towards her, and nobody was there to warn her of its presence, or push
her out of the way. By the time she and the driver had noticed each other, it
was too late for either of them to do anything. The driver did brake, but it
was too little, too late. The car slammed headlong into Yuuko, sending her
flying up onto the hood and into the windscreen, cracking it. As the car
screeched to a halt, Yuuko tumbled off of it, lying in a broken heap on the
ground.
Despite the heavy impact, she
was not dead, though with the internal injuries she had suffered, it was only a
matter of time unless she received urgent medical attention. She lay where she
fell, in too much agony to move, her breathing shallow and laboured. It seemed
to her that she had become soaked in her own blood; she could feel it running
down her body, soaking into the clothes she had bought only a few minutes
before.
The car remained stationary,
the shocked driver attempting to come to terms with what he had just done.
Yuuko wondered whether he was calling for help. He has to, she thought
desperately. He has to help me. Unless he thinks I'm already dead…
With all the strength she
could muster, Yuuko raised a bloodied hand, reaching out in desperation.
"Please…" she gasped. "Help… me…"
The driver did not help her.
He reversed his car, drove around her, and continued on his way. Yuuko realized
this to her despair, but also realized that there was nothing she could do
about it. All she could do was lie there, slowly bleeding to death, tears
running down her cheeks and mixing with her spilt blood.
"Please…" she
breathed. "Somebody… help… me…"
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