Pinfactuation
Mitsuki Konishi was definitely not stalking her student. Discretely shadowing his every after-school activity? Well, yes. There was just something about the Bitou boy that had made her long forgotten motherly instincts rear its obsessive head. Daisukenojo intrigued her. He had been a very promising student before he had fallen into a bout of delinquency and it pained her to see such a waste of his potential. Luckily, he had shaped up soon after but she felt it wise to keep an eye on him a little longer. However, her authority over the boy as merely his homeroom teacher only reached so far. There was no plausible or valid excuse to allow her to monitor him outside of school.
Thus, Konishi took up Tin Pin.
It was not as much of a sacrifice as she had thought it would have been, playing a children's arcade game. Tin Pin was tolerable. The invigorating adrenalin that could only come from a battle of wills as you faced down your opponent while throwing everything you had into the arena, clashing slam to slam, whammy against whammy—well, there were worse things to be spending every waking moment of your time.
For a while, her strategy had allowed her to keep tabs on her impulsive student without drawing any suspicion. She would have thought it strange for an adult woman like her to be seen playing with fifth graders but that was before she saw the mayor himself, crouching in the dirt to be level with a couple of boys and wrinkling his once-impeccable suit beyond salvation. However, soon after the Black Skullers Fiasco, as Pinhead Weekly had dubbed it, she began to notice Daisukenojo's unsettling choice in friends.
Well, she really had no concerns about his associating with Yoshiya Kiryu; the boy was quite a celebrity and made for a rather valuable ally. Dan and Sakuraba were also rising stars in the world of Tin Pin. The girl, Misaki was unremarkable enough for her not to be a menace. However, the one that she just could not condone was the scoundrel clad in tight leathers and tattoos.
Every inch of the man practically vibrated with an aura of delinquency and other such criminal-like characteristics. She could see right through his corrupt intentions. Konishi was adamant in severing any and all ties the felon had to her student. He was a clever one, donning the guise of a harmless Tin Pin Tinkerer and getting close enough to unsuspecting children in order to entice them into his underworld of crime.
But she would be the one to put a stop to it, she avowed as she casually ducked behind a mailbox to keep that pesky Sakuraba from discovering that she was again, tailing their little group.
"What is it, Neku?" Kiryu asked, cocking his head to the side when the scrawny little boy slowed his steps to rest his gaze on the spot where Konishi's head had been.
The annoyingly perceptive brat scrutinized her hiding place for a second before giving a graceless shrug. "Thought I saw something. Probably a squirrel." Konishi wrinkled her nose in distaste.
"C'mon, yo! Stop standin' around," commanded Daisukenojo, who had turned his head to call over his shoulder. "We gotta get to Ramen Don before the curry's gone!" The spiky-haired child rolled his eyes and resumed his walking. Konishi counted to five before following suit.
When the group of kids arrived at Dougenzaka, she stayed outside by a bus stop so to not look out of place. Glancing surreptitiously through the half-curtains of the eatery, she noted, to her chagrin, that the scoundrel was yet again present.
Her eyes hidden by a strategic reflection of her glasses, Konishi smiled the smile of a predator.
She was nothing if not patient. Waiting for well over several hours for Daisukenojo and his band of Tin Pin junkies to depart, Konishi cornered the creature known as Sho Minamimoto just as he turned the corner into A-East.
"Mr. Minamimoto," she intoned severely, crossing her arms beneath her chest and stopping the criminal dead in his tracks. Minamimoto turned around, insolently raising an eyebrow.
"What the factor do you want?" he challenged in a tone that suggested he couldn't care less.
Konishi was far from intimidated. Pushing up her glasses, she ordered, "I am here with a warning. Stop your association with the boy named Daisukenojo Bitou. Or there will be consequences."
"Hah! Your threats are garbage! CRUNCH! I'll add them to the heap," Minamimoto responded with a derisive sneer. He whirled around, presenting her with his back, intending on continuing on his merry way. "You're subtracting from my tinkering."
The teacher bristled, irked at how easily she was being brushed off. "You...!" She took a deep breath to regain her valued composure. "I challenge you to a Slam Off! If I win, you'll cease your interference with the boy."
At the words, the tattooed man seemed to perk up and swung back around with a rather mad glint in his eye. "Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally!" Reaching into one of his pockets, he pulled out a set of pins as well as a bizarre sort of launcher that Konishi couldn't help but eye speculatively. "Come get derived."
Taking out her own pins, she steeled herself. "I'm looking forward to your defeat!"
What happened next became a dizzying blur of motion. Konishi had never struggled so much against an opponent. Minamimoto was ruthless and brutal, hitting her head on again and again. Growling, she found that her usual tactical approach was useless and the man's utterly bizarre and erratic movements rendered her carefully gathered data void. Down to her last pins, she made a desperate attempt to curtain off Minamimoto's escape roots with two of her pins while dive bombing with a fourth. To her frustration, instead of dodging into her line of fire, Minamimoto stayed rooted and activated a stinger, stunning all three of her pins before hitting them out of the arena with one fluid motion.
"No! My calculations were perfect!" she exclaimed, staring down at her defeated pins in dismay. The rascal in front of her paused and regarded her as if noticing her for the first time.
"Calculations, you say?" he drawled out. Looping a careless arm around her shoulders he grinned at her, displaying a neat row of white teeth. "I zetta dig your style! What's the probability of you coming over to my place for some... data management?"
"Vexatious monkey," Konishi spat out, though not with too much venom.
The infuriating hoodlum's smirk grew wider. Konishi duly noted that she was blushing.
Villains were known to be darkly attractive after all.