#394. excerpt from Yoshimi

Here's another excerpt from Yoshimi, within forty pages of the conclusion, as things have reached their endgame and our girl is drawing ever closer to her final confrontation, within the halls of a private academy:

     Ten minutes crawled by.  Most of my food, and there had been very little to begin with, was still present and accounted for, and I saw Turner kiss Cat.  Maybe I was more inexperienced in such matters than I thought, but it didn’t look like the first time.  Maybe that made my friend a skank, I didn’t know, maybe just a good actor.  At any rate, Turner got up soon after and I followed.  In the hallway, there were a few other students milling about, and I awkwardly smiled at them, but never lost sight of Turner.  I found myself thinking about the Scimitar again, and shuddered at the grimness of it.  Maybe it was just that Turner didn’t seem worthy of such drastic measures.  I actually tapped his shoulder to get his attention, and he spun around.  His eyes were cloudy, like he was still thinking about Cat.
     “You’ve got a lot of nerve,” he managed to say, and then sucker-punched me.  “We knew what happened to him.  What, did you think he was the only one you had to worry about?”
     “It occurred to me,” I said, striking back.  Despite his bravado, he was still distracted.  Kamal suddenly appeared in the hallway, and Turner was just surprised enough to completely lower his guard.  I scored another quick knockout victory.  “Fancy your timing, friend-o.”
     “You talk funny,” Kamal said.  “Would you believe we have a detention room?  Meant exactly for occasions like this, like a juvenile lockup.  Not a dungeon, in case you were wondering.”
     “I wouldn’t feel sorry for him if it was,” I said.  “Wish I’d known earlier, though.  Might have saved Corry from some potential agony.  I’m still not sure these goons deserve to be caught in the crossfire.  They seem kind of pathetic.”
     “Most of their week is spent attending classes,” Kamal said.  “Their attention has been dulled.”
     “Glad mine hasn’t,” I said.