A/N: 3rd installment. And none of the characters (aside from the OC) are mine.

Ep. 3: Just Her Luck

Kumiko would've been seriously late if it wasn't for old Tanaka-san offering a ride on his Toyota. He said was "heading to the coffee shop", but knowing him, Kumiko's pretty sure he's actually going to the pachinko* place in the next neighbourhood.

Despite not having much time left before school started, she didn't tell him to drop her off at school. Tanaka-san (and the rest of her neighbors really) have no clue that she was a teacher, and she wanted it to remain that way. It would be really inconvenient (for her, her school and her students) if people outside her immediate circle knew about her double-life, so she asked the old man to drop her off a few blocks away from the school compound. After she got out of the car, she thanked the old man profusely and dashed off - carefully avoiding routes that would allow her real destination to be detected by the old guy, who simply left.

After a few minutes of running and hiding, and having confirmed that he was effectively out of sight, she sighed and wiped off the sweat on her forehead. The mailbin she was hiding behind is a good hiding spot, she took a mental note. Feeling proud of herself, she stood up, brushed off some dust from her knees and did a bit of stretching. She checked her phone clock: she had 5 minutes left before the staff meeting started.

Yoshhhh!

Looking in practically every direction to make sure nobody was around, she chanted her usual "fightoooo-oh!", and ran towards her school as fast as her feet could carry her – completely forgetting her hangover state by now.

What she didn't realise was that someone had been watching whole scene from behind one of the steel fences across the road.

The figure continued to watch her run further and further into the distance, and then looked back at the mailbin she was hiding behind a few moments before. He spotted something pink on the ground, almost glimmering under the sunlight. Curious, he walked to it and picked it up. It was a mobile phone with a dangling charm and a picture sticker (of her, presumably) pasted behind it. On the sticker was a digitally-handwritten 'Yankumi' in red.

'Yankumi', eh?, he smirked.

A second later, a car honked twice near him. He turned to see a black sedan a few feet away.

"'You ready?", someone called out from inside the car. He checked his watch and promptly stuffed the phone in his pocket.

"It's gonna be an interesting day", the mysterious guy mused as he climbed into the backseat.

========= to be continued ==========

/end of 3rd installment/

*Pachinko – slot machine

A/N: Who is this guy? Wait for the next installment to find out! ;)