Chapter 14: Conflict

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The bar had gained another patron.

Rosemary Clooney was playing onstage, classic old-school jazz. The proprietor of the place was getting on in years, and his collection was clearly a refined one.

Kitahara took his seat and finally had a chance to examine the female teacher before him.

She wore a beige knitted sweater, its buttons straining slightly beneath her full figure. Below, close-fitting jeans traced an attractive curve. She was a strikingly voluptuous woman, perhaps a little too generously built.

She had clearly been drinking; her cheeks were flushed, lending her the unmistakable air of a mature woman. At that moment, she was glaring angrily at Kitahara. However one looked at it, she was undeniably attractive.

Kitahara knew her.

The homeroom teacher of the class next door, Sayuri Sato.

She had taught at Hokuhoku Da峰 High for four years.

According to rumor, she was a formidable woman with a poor attitude toward students, quick to scold them. Yet she was an able teacher. Opinions of her at Hokuhoku Da峰 High were sharply divided: some admired her competence, while others disliked her harshness and believed she lacked the proper qualities of an educator.

There had also been whispers that she was recently being considered for promotion to senior teacher.

But Sayuri Sato had been passed over.

The reason...

No one knew.

Kitahara had always treated such rumors as little more than fake news, but now he regretted not paying closer attention. Perhaps he should have learned more.

One always regrets what one does not know when knowledge is needed.

The waiter approached. Kitahara nodded politely.

“Rum.”

“Don’t listen to him. What does a brat like you want with liquor? Do you have orange juice?” Sayuri Sato interrupted.

“We have hot milk.”

“Then milk.” Kitahara nodded.

The fresh, steaming milk was brought over almost at once. Sayuri Sato slapped the table and hardened her expression.

“What’s your name? You little brat, who’s your homeroom teacher?”

The barrage of questions threw off the speech Kitahara had prepared.

But...

Being caught outside by a teacher in the middle of the night really could result in disciplinary action. Hokuhoku Da峰 High had such a rule.

It was a strict one, but there was a reason for its existence... Much like the inexplicable rules found in factories, perhaps anything that existed had its own justification.

Kitahara had to resist.

This was no time to fall into the trap of proving his innocence.

After thinking for a moment, he asked in return, “When asking someone else’s name, shouldn’t you give your own first?”

“You little bastard, are you talking back to me?” Sayuri Sato assumed the full authority of a teacher.

There was no denying that she was intimidating when she turned cold. If Kitahara had actually been a student who had done something wrong, he would already have been trembling with fear.

But he had done nothing wrong.

“I think you’ve misunderstood me.” Kitahara glanced at her favorability rating. “I was only helping someone out of kindness. She paid me for it.”

[Character: Sayuri Sato]

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[Status: Under tremendous pressure from work and facing other difficulties, she is drowning her sorrows in alcohol...]

[Favorability: 7]

The favorability rating was frighteningly low.

“What kind of nonsense is that? Do you think I have to catch her taking you into a hotel before it counts as misconduct?” Sayuri Sato swore. “Don’t try any tricks. Give me your family’s phone number, or prepare to be expelled!”

Kitahara raised an eyebrow. He had done nothing, and now the school wanted to expel him?

That hardly seemed appropriate.

Besides, wasn’t it rather questionable for a teacher to be drinking in a bar in the middle of the night?

Was she taking advantage of the situation to make trouble for him?

He narrowed his eyes and met Sayuri Sato’s stare without restraint.

“Then what is a teacher doing drinking here?”

Teachers belonged to the civil-service class.

Although she worked at a private school, she still belonged to that broader professional group.

Under the influence of Confucian culture, teachers were held to a high moral standard. A female teacher drinking alone in a bar late at night would hardly be viewed favorably if word got out.

“Are you threatening me?” Sayuri Sato’s expression became frighteningly cold.

“Aren’t you threatening me as well?”

Kitahara let his gaze roam over her with deliberate boldness. Sayuri Sato felt the heat of his stare and instinctively adjusted her clothing. When she realized what she had done, her face flushed with anger.

“You’ve got quite a nerve...”

“If you dress so provocatively, you can’t blame people for looking.” Kitahara lowered his head and whispered near her ear, “I can be even bolder than this. Would you like to see?”

The audacity of it left Sayuri Sato furious. No teacher at school had ever dared speak to her that way, and now a student was...

She reined in her emotions and gave a cold laugh.

“Tomorrow, I’ll come looking for you.”

Since he had behaved so improperly, he could hardly blame her. In the end, he was simply a student with questionable morals.

Discipline.

She would see to it that he was disciplined.

Seeing Kitahara remain completely calm, Sayuri Sato felt that her dignity had been challenged. She decided to frighten him a little more.

“Do you know what punishment you’ll receive for insulting a teacher?”

At most, he would be suspended.

As for expulsion, that was absurd. This was a moral issue, not a criminal one.

Society respected teachers, but that did not mean it paid no attention to students.

If Kitahara were expelled over this incident, Hokuhoku Da峰 High would face a storm of public criticism for years to come. The board of directors was not stupid enough to do something like that.

“I’d like to know. Could you tell me, Teacher?”

Kitahara leaned closer until their faces were nearly touching, utterly unconcerned.

Their warm breath mingled between them.

If either of them moved even slightly closer, their lips would meet.

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Sayuri Sato recoiled in surprise. Her chair toppled backward, and just as she was about to fall, Kitahara seized her and pulled her into his arms.

She lost all composure.

“Let go!” she snapped.

“I won’t. Though I suppose I could, if I shouted out who you are.” Kitahara lowered his voice. “Teacher, you wouldn’t want people to know you were behaving so intimately with someone in a bar, would you?”

Sayuri Sato’s expression chilled, and instinctively she moved to pin him to the floor.

But she stopped.

Not out of mercy. Kitahara’s threat had simply struck home.

“You’ll pay for this.”

She was seething inside, but her face remained icy.

“Tomorrow. When tomorrow comes, I’ll show you exactly why I became a teacher.”

There was plenty of time.

Sayuri Sato had countless opportunities and methods at her disposal to make Kitahara pay.

Kitahara smiled, and it was an exceptionally attractive smile.

“Even though this was your fault, you still want to make me pay.”

He was nothing more than an innocent passerby.

For no reason at all, he was about to be punished. Why should he accept that?

“What?”

Sayuri Sato was furious. How could this fool be so ungrateful?

I was the one who saved your future...

If I had not appeared, that woman would already have been taking advantage of you.

You are so young, yet you have already allowed money to control you. What kind of future could possibly await you?

Sayuri Sato had seen too much of the world of fame and fortune, and it had disgusted her. That was why she had chosen to teach at a private high school.

But words were useless.

Sayuri Sato had no intention of wasting another sentence on Kitahara. She pushed him away, picked up her glass, and prepared to leave.

“Teacher Sato, aren’t you going to have another drink?”

The taunt came from behind her.

Sayuri Sato stopped. Her hand slowly tightened around the glass. He really did know who she was.

Then she began to think calmly.

The graduates were ruled out. So were the third-year students. That meant the remaining students all fell under either her jurisdiction or that of one of her close friends.

She turned around and sat down again, crossing her legs.

If she left like this, she would probably be unable to sleep tonight.

She could not swallow this insult.

Round two had begun.