172. Ten Burly Men

"Now....Let's talk about how you managed to figure out that Kahawara-san was behind all this. Shall we, Yagami-san?"

".....What do you mean? The poster was the one who revealed all this. Go ask him," Reiji shrugged, brushing off the question.

"Please, do you really expect me to believe that the student who posted it really had a change of heart out of nowhere?"

"How would I know?"

The Principal sighed and shook her head.

".....Fine, if you don't want to say, then don't. Things turned out well either way, so I won't really look into it," she finally acquiesced. "But I do need to know what you think should be done with that student? I think his name was Kato Minato?"

Reiji pursed his lips, a little unsure about how he should answer that question.

He had promised Minato that he wouldn't get into trouble if he helped out with the undercover operation, but it also wouldn't feel right if he were able to get away scot-free.

After all, that asshole did play a major role in the initial panic caused by Kahawara.

"....I think a strike should suffice?" Reiji finally muttered.

"...I see, then as long as the President has no other opinions, he'll be given a strike."

They both turned to the taciturn girl who had been quiet so far.

"I believe that's enough as well," Noa nodded.

Once this had been decided, Reiji thought they would be dismissed, but then the Principal stood up unexpectedly.

And before they could react, she bowed a full 90 degrees towards both of them.

"On behalf of Souhei High, I truly apologize that something like this happened to you two. It's the teacher's responsibility to guide your growth, and our responsibility as management to make sure they do so. It seems I have failed to uphold my end of this, and I have no words to express how apologetic I am," she stated solemnly, with no trace of her usual mischief.

"Uh....."

"Also, we will waive your tuition fees for the entire school year as a form of reimbursement for the stress this situation may have caused. I know it might not be enough, but it is a reflection of our sincerity."

Reiji felt incredulous as he took this in.

This was the first time he was seeing the Principal react like this, especially because she only made a couple of cameo appearances in the game, and every single time it was with her signature lazy and humorous demeanor that made her seem mysterious.

So he didn't really know how to react.

On the other hand, Noa bit her lip and spoke after some hesitation.

"This is not your fault, Principal. How could you have known that a teacher would be the one behind this?"

"That's not the only part I'm apologizing for. You see, I tried very hard in the meeting this morning to launch an investigation based on your complaint. But those old coots thought that doing so would harm the school's reputation and wanted to slide it under the rug, hoping that a warning would be enough to stop Kahawara-san from crossing any lines in the future. Although the first post was already up when the meeting took place, it was still a wake-up call to me, showing me that we have become quite complacent in how the school is being run, just because of our past reputation. It should never have gotten to the point where a student had to file a complaint about a teacher in the first place."

Reiji agreed inwardly, feeling a sense of appreciation for the fact that she had acknowledged this problem instead of pinning everything on Kahawara.

Even Noa had a look of realization and fell silent.

"Well, that's all I wanted to let you two know. For the unfortunate me, I have a bunch of procedures and hurdles to get past now that everything has come to light," the Principal groaned, falling back into her seat with a thud as she glanced at Reiji with a hint of unwillingness. "So you two may leave and continue with classes."

She waved her hand as if shooing them away and immediately started clicking away on her computer without giving them a second glance.

They both stood up and walked towards the office door, only looking back once to see the Principal's tired face before they closed the door shut behind them.

Noa pinched the bridge of her nose once they were outside, leaning against the wall beside her.

"Ugh....." she exhaled. "Finally, it's over."

"...You worked hard."

And Reiji meant it.

Not only was she unfairly subjected to being ridiculed online, but she had also done a lot behind the scenes to mitigate the damage from the claims that were made.

When he was first heading towards the Student Council to let Noa know about the second post, he even overheard a second-year student say that she had personally asked someone to stop badmouthing Reiji during one of her classes.

"I should be the one saying that to you," Noa replied with a raise of her eyebrow. "I won't ask for the details, but it must've been tough finding out who made the post."

"Well...I wouldn't say it was tough. Annoying would be far more accurate," he chuckled, thinking back to the shit he had to deal with from Arata.

While he was cursing out the orange-haired man-child in his mind, he noticed Noa straighten up and bow just as deeply as the Principal did.

"I don't think I said this before, but thank you. It seems like my debt towards you keeps increasing."

"Uh, please don't do this. What if someone manages to take a picture again and starts another round of bullshit?"

After he found out that Minato was the one who had taken the first picture, he did not want this to be misinterpreted again.

But instead of backing off, Noa clasped both her hands together and made an aggrieved face while looking down.

From the outside eye, she seemed to be quite scared of the delinquent in front of her.

"I'm s-sorry..."

"..."

Reiji blinked, staring at the timid facade she was putting on with a dumbfounded expression.

'.....Since when was she able to make jokes like this??'

"What am I even supposed to say to this?" he finally sighed with exasperation.

Noa's mouth twitched with undisguised amusement, and she covered her mouth with her hand.

"Pfft."

***

"Reiji-tan! How did it go!"

Haruna and the rest of the gluttons surrounded him like a swarm of bees, but their worried faces only made him feel warm inside.

They were in their class right now, and with a few minutes of lunch still remaining, it was empty aside from them.

"Fine, more or less. He'll get fired at the minimum and will also get reported to the Police, though I don't know how that'll turn out."

"I can't believe he did something like this!" Airi exclaimed, her freckled cheeks puffing up in anger.

"Y-Yeah! He should go to jail!"

"I knew he was kinda evil because he's our English teacher too, but this is wayyyyy more than I ever expected," Ren added.

Hina was as silent as ever, but her indignant expression communicated her feelings far more than words ever could.

"Hmph! I hope he gets put in a cell with ten burly men!" Haruna snorted.

"...That's an insane thing to say."

"No, she's right!" Airi grinned. "If the stories about what happens in jail are true, then... hehehehe."

"...That's not what I was referring to, like, at all!" Haruna gasped with a pale face. "I just thought he'd get beaten up!"

Reiji scratched his hair lightly and laughed along with them, listening to their increasingly offensive insults that subjected poor Kahawara to imaginary tortures you wouldn't wish upon your worst enemy.

One of the reasons he could think calmly, even after the post thrust him right into the limelight in a bad way, was that he knew he had friends who believed him.

If that same thing had happened without these fools around him?

He didn't even want to think about how isolated he would feel.

*DING-A-LING-RIIIIING*

The bell rang once again, bringing lunch time to an end.

And as soon as it did, the classroom door opened, and students filed in one after the other with excited faces, chattering nonstop about something.

And the topic was obvious.

"Dammnnnn, didn't know Shitawara was moving like that!"

"You think he'll be fired?"

"No way he keeps his job, not with that video."

"I feel kinda bad for Yag-.....Fuck he's here."

When they all noticed Reiji and the others at the far end of the room, the loud conversations subsided within seconds, an awkward silence enveloping the room instead.

Reiji could see that some avoided his gaze, still with a trace of fear.

Others had guilty looks, either because they got caught talking about him or because they regretted what they'd said before when the first post was released.

Most surprisingly, some were eyeing him with curiosity, without any visible nervousness or disgust.

He felt a little uncomfortable with being stared at so openly, especially when he'd already gotten used to being ignored or avoided.

But this was a good thing, so he didn't shy away from it.

Just then, a teacher walked into the room while rubbing his forehead, frowning when he saw that no one had taken a seat yet.

"Hey! I know something ridiculous happened today, but classes will still continue normally unless otherwise stated. Get to your seats right now!"

The students snapped out of their daze and shuffled to their desks, allowing the teacher to start his lesson without more fuss.

Ren also finally realized that he was in the wrong class, rushing out as fast as he could.

Which wasn't very fast.

Reiji stretched his arms and sat down, looking out the window with a smile as he relaxed completely, the tension receding as much as Kahawara's hairline.

But when he turned back to the teacher at the front, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye.

An empty seat.

Next to Hina.

'.....Where did he go?'