"Hi, uh, yeah, it's this way -" She points.

His eyes widen at the interruption. There's the briefest hint of a sneer, or maybe Akira's eyes were tricking her.

And then he's all smiles. "You always were a caring sort, Ann-chan, helping new students like that. I'll leave you to it."

And he drives off.

Akira falls in next to the pretty blonde student. 

"Well," she says softly. "That's the sketchiest thing I've seen all week. Do you want to talk about it?"

Ann looks Akira over, and then frowns.

New girl... black hair... glasses... 

This must be the one all those rumors are talking about. They say she tied her ex-boyfriend to the train tracks and he only didn't die because the police got involved. 

She's grateful and all, but she already has one really sketchy person involved with her and she doesn't need another. 

"No. Are you actually lost or...?"

"... No, I just thought you could use a hand. Just... girls sticking together, I guess."

Apparently this girl hasn't clocked her either. It's really, really weird being stealth. 

Yeah, she thought so.

She'll feel like a heel if she just lets this girl blunder into Kamoshida's arms. She - should at least warn her.

"Just - don't join the volleyball team, and try your best to stay away from Kamoshida-sensei. That's all."

Akira nods. "Okay. I'll keep that in mind. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, seriously, you don't have to fuss."

She's not fine, but the less questions this girl asks the better it is for everyone.

A blond boy runs up, wearing a somewhat modified Shujin uniform, swapping a loud yellow t-shirt out for the usual dress shirt. He looks concerned and a bit out of breath. He glares angrily at the retreating bumper of Kamoshida's car.

Oh great, now it's Ryuji. If he hadn't picked a fight with Kamoshida she might not be in this mess right now. 

The last thing she wants is to get into a conversation with both him and this new girl right now. 

She picks up her pace towards the school.

"Hey! Ann! Wait up! You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay." 

She can't put any feeling into the words, not in front of Ryuji. It comes out soft and flat.

She's not going to break out into a run. That would draw attention and that's bad.

She slows down. Ryuji will just make a scene if she flees.

She's Not Talking To Him though.

Akira looks over at the blonde-haired boy. "You know what's going on here?", she asks.

He scowls. "Kamoshida wants to be with Ann, the creeper. Ann puts up with it. Dunno why."

"Nothing weird is going on between me and Kamoshida, he's just... friendly."

She is not going to win any acting awards for her performance here but she has to try. If these two do something stupid again it's Shiho's starter position on the volleyball team that's in jepoardy.

"You're not a very convincing liar. Is he threatening you?" 

The principal of the school is a real piece of work from what she can see, so if a teacher came to him with some trumped up reason for expulsion... 

"Don't be ridiculous." 

Ann can't meet Akira's gaze.

"He is, isn't he!?"

Ryuji can't quite keep his voice down with how angry he's getting.

"Oh when I see him next I am gonna beat his ass."

"That's a terrible idea. If you so much as touch him you could be charged with assault. The police will definitely side with him, he's an adult. You'd be expelled at least."

She keeps her voice down. "I know it's outrageous, but you've got to - maneuver, with these things. If you rush in you'll end up in a really bad situation."

Ask her how she knows. The system's stacked against her and those like her, and it enables people like Kamoshida. That kind of behavior where he's hovering over this girl is blatantly stalkerish. 

Much as she'd like to take a direct option, like this blond guy seems to be pushing, there's no way she'd be believed with the charges that have already been filed against her. And she did say she'd try to keep her head down.

Think, girl, think. She needs - she needs more information, at least. And it seems this blonde girl needs a real friend. Like Sakura-san's been to her.

"Do you two have, like, names?"

"I..." 

This new girl is at least a bit more sensible than Ryuji, not that that's hard. And she did help her. And... she seems quietly confident, somehow, in what to do and what to say in this kind of situation.

She really, really, really shouldn't get involved with Train Tracks Girl, but it looks like Train Tracks Girl is going to investigate whatever she does. 

Shiho...

Ann takes a breath. "I'm Ann Takamaki."

Don't beat up the obviously terrible asshole? Sounds kinda sus, but okay. He'll listen to her for now.

Maybe if he listens it won't turn into another mess like when his leg got broken and the track team was shut down.

"I'm Ryuji Sakamoto."

"Look, I know you two have no reason to trust me, but could we meet after school and talk a little? I - don't know if I'll be able to actually help or not, but it sounds a lot like both of you could use a real friend."

She's as gentle as she can be with her voice. She knows how jagged she felt, her first few days in jail. These two deserve to be given the respect she never got.

He frowns for a moment, then grins. "Yeah, new girl. Let's talk after, maybe we'll think of something to stop this asshole."

She wishes she could, but if it got out Kamoshida would definitely ax Shiho's starter position. 

She looks at Akira. "Sorry, but I'm not interested. There's all kinds of rumors about you, and... It's just..."

She trails off.