You chat with Yuki some more.

You spent the whole lecture stewing in your seat. You couldn’t really focus on the lesson thanks to your racing mind. Yuki didn’t want to be with John but for some reason stayed with him. You were dying to know what the reason was, but hesitated to try and find out. You knew it would be a simple task, just ordering her to tell you, she would even do it happily. But something about doing that just seemed so wrong to you, as did the idea of just telling her to break up with him.

It really was an ironic thing for Jack to have given you this power. You were never really the kind of guy to impose your will on anyone, but now you had the power to do just that and get away with it. You were way out of your comfort zone. Maybe that’s why Jack gave you that power, he knew you’d be careful with it.

Once the lecture was over there was a little time left before class officially ended. You decided to spend some more time talking to Yuki.

“Listen, I’ve known you for a long time.” You said. “You aren’t the kind of person who would just someone like that walk all over you. And you certainly aren’t the kind of person who would stick around with him if you didn’t want to. Hell, I’ve never known you to do anything you didn’t really want to.”

Yuki sighs. “Yeah I know it’s just…” She trails off a bit, getting lost in thought. “There’s a lot more going on here than you think. I guess it’s not really that simple.”

“I’m not gonna pry any more than I already have.” You assure her, you notice she gets a little more comfortable. “But look, it’s pretty clear you aren’t satisfied with what’s going on. He’s not in class right now, right?”

“He shouldn’t be.”

“Why don’t we just go and have a chat with him? Not a shouting match, in fact, I’ll be there to make sure it doesn’t go that far. We can probably at least talk this out with him.” You weren’t convinced he was such a bad guy yet. A jerk, sure, but there had to be something about him that was keeping Yuki together with him.

Yuki sighs and shrugs. “I suppose it couldn’t hurt. I know where he hangs out, come on.”

You were wrong.

There he was sitting in the recreation building on our campus on one of the couches in a kind of obscure corner. It was a place that even you didn’t realize was there, it was sort of tucked away in a spot where you wouldn’t really notice if you weren’t looking for it.

You and Yuki had stopped before going over there, you were behind one of the numerous glass doorways with metal frames in a hallway watching as John was making out with a blonde girl on the couch. You were disgusted. You couldn’t believe you were dumb enough to think there was something redeemable about this guy.

Curious to see how much more furious Yuki was you looked over at her. To your amazement, she looked slightly angry but more than that she looked sad. Her head was hanging slightly and her eyes looked dead, like she was giving a thousand-yard stare.

“Are you going to let him get away with this?” You ask, perplexed. This wasn’t like her at all.

After a few moments of delay she nodded.

No. Fuck this. I’m not going to let her do this to herself.

“Yuki, whatever is preventing you from doing what I know you want to do right now, ignore it.”

Suddenly the furious look you had initially expected grew on her face. She inhaled sharply and her brow furrowed in rage and he frowned. She was glaring through the glass.

She lifted her leg and kicked the door open, the sudden noise making you jump, same with John it seemed.

“Are you fucking kidding me!?” Yuki yelled. Nearly everyone else in the commons turned to look in her direction. She was storming toward John, you could practically see the steam rising off her skin.

You started to feel a bit of regret. You could see where this was going. You went through the door just in time for Yuki to arrive at the couch. You saw her reach down and grab John by the collar.

“What the fuck is wrong with you!?” She screamed as she pulled him up.

“What did you expect? You cut me off!” That was the wrong answer.

Yuki brought her fist to John’s face, you were sure the whump sound could be heard across the commons.

“Are you serious!? That’s what this was fucking about? I cut you off because you were being a fucking asshole. So what do you do?” She brings her knee to his balls and throws him down against the floor. “You go and prove me right! What’s wrong? Your little exotic prize not good enough for you?” John was trying to get up but Yuki stopped him by kicking him in the side.

The girl moved toward Yuki, probably to help John, but Yuki glared at her. “You better fucking not. I will knock you the fuck out, skank.” With that the girl lifted her hands up and backed away.

“Yuki!” You call out, finally reaching her. “I think that’s enough.”

Yuki turns her glare to you initially, but the look is quickly replaced with a twinge of shame. She turns back to John who was panting and writhing on the floor.

“We’re fucking done, John. This was the last straw. Have fun banging this slut, I won’t get in your way again.” With that she spat on him and started walking away.

You scrambled after her, she looked like she was heading for the parking lot. Looks like you were done for the day. You felt awful. You gave her that order in the heat of the moment. You weren’t thinking, least of all about her feelings.

Suddenly she stopped and slammed her fist into the wall next to her, not as hard as she could thankfully since it was brick. Leaving her fist on the wall she leaned her arm against it and hung her head.

“Fuck.” She said. She was quivering, but not with anger you noted as you saw tears streaming down her cheeks. “Why did I do that? I shouldn’t have fucking done that.”

“I’m sorry, Yuki, I shouldn’t have suggested it.”

“You didn’t tell me to beat the shit out of him. That was all me.” That was certainly true, but you knew Yuki, you should have known she might do that.

“Listen Yuki, you aren’t the bad guy here. He’s the one who cheated on you. Whatever redeeming qualities he might have had, they weren’t worth that.”

She stood up straight again and wiped her tears off on the sleeve of her jacket. “You’re right. Damn it Will, why do you always have to be the smart one?”

“You aren’t dumb. You got better on your SATs than me, remember?”

“Yeah, yeah.” She started walking again. “Let’s get out of here.”

We made it across the parking lot in silence. She was lost in thought all the way back to the car. We got in and just sat there for a few minutes.

“What are you thinking about?” You ask after about five minutes pass by.

“I really shouldn’t have done that.”

“If he cheated on you I’d say you have every reason to break up with him.”

“I live with him. I don’t have my own place, I’ll have to move back with my folks.”

You had to admit that didn’t sound good. The few times you met her parents they seemed nice but you knew what they were like when company wasn’t over.

“They’ll have a field day with this one. John got good grades, he was an athlete, he was nice to them, they fuckin’ loved that bag of dicks. They won’t be happy to know I broke up with him.”

“Not even if you tell them why?” You cocked an eyebrow.

“You know them, they’re pretty traditional. If he cheated on me it’s my fault for not being the perfect woman for him. It’s always my fault.” She shook her head. “God forbid they ever find out I cut him off.” She sighed. “I guess it’s not really your problem.” She shrugged and started the car.

“Nonsense. You’re my friend, Yuki. My best friend.”

“Yeah but…”

“Remember when we were teenagers? Whenever you got in a shouting match with your dad and ran away, whose place did you run to every time?”

“Yours.” Yuki replied. Then what I was implying clicked with her. “Are you saying I should crash at your place?”

“I’m saying my door is open. You know my sister won’t mind. She’d be happy to have you, in fact. And you know we would be much more sympathetic than your parents.”

Yuki sighed. “Yeah, you’re right. I guess I could stay there. I just feel bad for mooching.”

“You have a job, Yuki, you wouldn’t be mooching. We can work out the details with Vikki.” You assure her.

“Man,” Yuki begins as she starts pulling out of the parking lot, “hell of a couple days, am I right?”

You chuckle. She had no idea.