Sorry for the long wait once again.
Character don't belong and are of Atlus.
Chapter 8
"So, figured out what you're going to tell her?" The cat asked with a tone of concern as Akira left the train station at Yongenjaya.
"About what?." Akira asked nonchalantly as he carried Morgana's reward for helping him out earlier. "There a number of things that I haven't told her about, so you'll have to be more specific."
"I'm talking about the laundry!" Morgana remarked as he popped his head out of Akira's bag. "Considering the kind of stuff we found in Kamoshida's and Madarame's palaces, I'm sure Kaneshiro won't be any better. She'll definitely have questions about it."
"I have an idea in mind… So don't worry about it?"
"I'm worried because someone is being way too careless when it comes to a certain individual." Morgana's said, still not reassured by his partner's response. "I get that you want to help her, and I like her, but having her do stuff like that might cause her to have questions about what you've been doing."
"Yes, cause some mish-mash suits and women's clothing screams master thief" Akira retorted sarcastically.
"If you haven't forgotten, we already had someone find out about you being a phantom thief already and she wasn't around you as often."
"I think that had more to do with my whole story about needing the drugs for my entrance exams, all the while coming in with a new wound or strange injuries more than anything else."
Before Morgana could continue Akira tilted his head, signaling that they had arrived at Leblanc's entrance. "And sadly that is the end of that conversation, can't have her hearing us talking to each other after all."
Morgana wanted to argue back, but simply huffed in annoyance.
Akira walked in, glad to see that she hadn't accidentally locked the door on him, not that he couldn't lock pick himself in, but as he went in he didn't see any signs of her. "Hello…! Are you in here Becky?" Akira shouted, but got zero response. He looked perplex as his eyes went towards the stairs leading to his living quarters. "Is she upstairs?"
Morgana jumped out of his bag and on to the counter before sitting on one of the stool available. "Hey! Will you at least leave the sushi on a plate? I'm starving."
"Yeah, yeah." Akira went and grab a plate and opened up the box he was carrying, revealing an assortment of high price sushi. "I hope you're happy, I would have arrived home a lot sooner if we hadn't spent all that time finding what you wanted."
"Hey, you owed me for that distraction and I planned to collect in full." Morgana purred as the sushi filled plate was put in front of him. "They look so good..." A twinkly, not too different for when he encountered treasure showed in his eyes.
"I'll leave you two alone then..." Akira rolled his eyes with a smirk on his lips as he left Morgana to his reward and went upstairs to see if Sadayo was there. And sure enough he found her, lying down on the couch, one hand hanging down the couch as the other rested under her head.
"So this is where you've been. Hey, you awake?"
Akira placed his bag by the work table before walking in front of the couch. He went down on one of his knees to be at eye level and noticed that she had fallen asleep once more. Chuckling at the trail of drool coming from her mouth, he was tempted to take a picture of such an amusing sight, but refrain from doing so.
"Come on Becky, time to wake up." He got no response as Sadayo continue to sleep. "Kawakami? Can you hear me?"
As Sadayo continued to sleep, Akira was left thinking to himself. He was reminded of that night that she fell asleep on his bed much like this. While he had done his best attempts to help her out by requesting her, at closer inspection she looks no better than she did that evening, in fact she looked a bit worse for ware. She tried to hide it, but he was able to notices the signs. Her skin lacked color in areas, and the bags under her eyes are still ever present. Her cheeks looked slightly sunk and her hand showing a number of small nicks and cuts.
"Wonder if some of these are from previous kitchen mishaps." 'Did you accidentally hurt yourself trying to fulfill someone's request? Did you get yelled at because of it? What have other people had you do?' Akira's thoughts went to places that he'd rather not think on as he looked at his tired maid… his tired teacher. His hand subconsciously moving her hair to the side, revealing the rest of her face. "Is this really the only way to make amends… Sadayo?"
Sadayo's shifted to his touch, which caused him to pull back in surprise and land on his butt. "Mmmrrr, that looks really good… I'm famished." A smile showing on her face as she shifted on the couch and continued sleeping.
Akira sat there in silence, his heart racing before running his hand over his hair as he let out a relieved sigh. "I guess Morgana might have a point about me being too careless..." Akira Shook his head, chuckling at how pathetic he must look, as he moved close to Sadayo again. "Come on Becky, Don' t think you'd be happy with staying the night here." he gently nudged her by the shoulder, making sure to keep some distance for when she wakes.
Sadayo slowly woke after a few attempts, less panicked then she had been last time as she sat up with a long stretch accompanying a quiet yawn. "Oh, you're back.. Welcome home Master." Sadayo said with a smile as she rubbed some lingering sleep from her eye.
The smile seemed much more natural than her earlier attempts and as Akira heard her greeting, he could help but return one to her. "Yeah, I'm home."
"Sorry..." placing her hand over her mouth as another yawn escaped her lips mid sentence. "I haven't been able to get much sleep for the past week and since I was waiting, I figured I could catch a nap. I wasn't asleep for too long was I?"
"It's fine, you looked like you could use the rest." Akira got up and pointed at his left cheek, causing Sadayo to realize the small wet trail on her face.
Sadayo looked away, embarrassed as she hastily rubbed the drool from her face. "Thanks…" Sadayo pondered to herself. "I feel like I'm forgetting something, but never mind. So... where did you get off to?"
"Not much, just had some complaints about some rock salt."
"Rock salt?" Sadayo blinked with a perplexed look." You mean like those lamps, or cooking-?"
As Sadayo stood up she felt lightheaded and stumble forward. Akira moved to grab her but she managed to grab on to the work bench. As she did, the cloth wrapped ball began to move. With Akira too focused on Sadayo, he didn't realize and as it fell off the table, it burst when it hit the ground as it filled the room in smoke.
"Wha-What is going on?! Why is the room covered in smoke?!" Sadayo coughed as she tried to make sense of what was happening, her hands probing in front of her..
"Don't worry," Akira was surprised at the sudden veil of smoke covering the room, but luckily this wasn't his first time in this situation. When Morgana had first taught him how to make thief tools he had a similar situation when one of his early attempts at a smokescreen had prematurely detonated. "We just need to open up the window and let it clear out."
"Window, so my left?." Sadayo Tried to walk toward the window as she hit the table leg with her shoe, as something else fell, making a slight metallic thump on the ground. "Sorry!"
"I got it" Akira was able to reach the window without any problem thanks to his third sight. As he open the window, he took fan and used it to blow the smoke out the room. The smoke dissipated shortly after as Akira let out a sigh. "That takes care of that. Are you ok?" Akira turned to see a terrified Sadayo as she is pointing at something.
"Hey, what with all the ruckus up here!? I was in a middle of a food nap-" Morgana complained as he came up the stair but was stopped in his tracks at what he found, as his toned went from annoyed to concern. "This… is not good."
"Kurusu-kun.." Sadayo voice sounding shaken. "What is that on the ground….?"
Akira had a bad feeling as his eyes quickly noticed as the bag he had placed by the bench had toppled over. They proceeded to follow where Sadayo was pointing, those feelings where confirmed as a his model pistol laid sitting in the open.
"Tha—that's a gun. That's a gun, isn't it!"
Morgana was just in a panic as he kept looking around for a plan "This is bad, Maybe if I cause a distraction again, maybe if I knock something else down."
'Shit, it must had fallen out of my bag during the commotion.' Alarm where blaring inside Akira's head that he wasn't even listening to Morgana's suggestions. He needed to defuse the situation, and he needed to do it quickly. "I know what you're thinking, but this isn't what it looks like." He said nervously.
"NOT WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE?!" Sadayo turned to Akira, tears forming in her eyes as her expression was a mixture of fear and anger. "BECAUSE TO ME IT LOOKS LIKE A-!"
"Please!...calm down." Akira quickly gestured to lower her volume, worried that someone might overhear her saying he had a firearm in his possession. His fingers pressing against the bridge of his nose. "I know what it looks like, but it's a fake, it's not real. Just... let me explain. Please..."
Sadayo heart was beating so fast that it hurt, but the adrenaline allowed her to power through it. She looked back and forth between the black object on the ground and her, what is starting to feel like, very dangerous student.
'Why are we even considering letting him explain. This goes beyond causing trouble at school or wrongful charges. The gun is there, there is no way to deny that this is a crime, and it's dangerous. This is ten times worse than what you had originally thought of him, This is the kind of thing you didn't want to be associated or get connected to you.'
That voice continued to scream at her to leave, there is no way to deny what she saw, and it scared the crap out of her.
'Do I tell the principal about this? How the heck am I supposed to explain how I found out about this! What will happen to him afterwards...'
Her body was instinctively taking a step back, but stopped midway.
'Please… just give him a chance... I think he's earned that much. After all, he gave us one.'
For how much she wanted to flee, she couldn't leave him behind, not after all he had done for her.
"Fine" Sadayo finally spoke up, though hesitantly. She did her best to calm herself but her word still had anger it them As she smiled. Normally this would relax Akira, but this time, it looked much more malicious. "Now start talking, Master."
Sadayo sat on the couch, holding an annoyed Morgana close on her lap as she fiercely watched Akira working from the ground. It had only been a few minutes since she gave him a chance to explain, but it felt like hours as he worked on, from what it looked like to her at least, dismantling it. The fact that he seemed to be very good at handling the device was quite surprising to her, but was making her even more nervous than she already was and caused her to hold Morgana tighter.
"Tight! Too tight!" Morgana gritted, being careful not to accidentally scratch her.
Luckily for him she was able to notice his discomfort as she quickly loosen her grip. "Sorry Morgana..." She said apologetically as she looked downward toward the cat, while gently petting him as thanks for not freaking out on her.
"If you're nervous, I can make you a cup of coffee if you'd like." Akira turned his gaze to Sadayo as he stopped what he was doing. "
"OOOOOH NO!" Sadayo lifted her head and gave him an angry look once more. "You just keep doing whatever it is that you are doing over there mister. I'm keeping my eyes on you."
Akira let out a defeated sigh. "I'm just taking it apart for now. I figure you wouldn't be very comfortable with me bringing it close to you. Speaking of which I'm done." With that, Akira placed the parts over a handkerchief and while holding it over both his hand he brought them over to her. "See?"
Sadayo simply looked at the pieces that where in front of her in confusion and then looked back at him. "Sorry but, I honestly have no idea what I'm looking at here."
"Right, sorry." Akira set them down and picked one of the pieces and showed it to her. "Like I said before, it's just a model gun. It's well made, but there is no way this could shoot actual bullets." He presented the parts of the gun to Sadayo once more. "Here, take a closer look."
Sadayo still looked unsure as her hand reached a bit before pulling back. She looked back at Akira who waited patiently to she what she did, and as she took a deep breath she proceed to grab hold of the slide. She was shown each piece as Akira explain the intricacies, and how it work at as a whole while also explain why they'd be incapable of functioning like a normal gun. He even showed her how the caps would be loaded, but figured that it's was probably for the best to not to cause any more scares, held back on showing a demostration.
Eventually Sadayo understood enough about the model that she started calm down enough to allowed Morgana to wander off. She could hear the cat meowing loudly as he went and rested on the bed. From the look of annoyance in Akira's face, it looked to her like the cat was berating him. Ignoring the meows, Akira proceeded to take the pieces of the gun back and sat by the work bench, while Sadayo instead laid back down on the couch in a position not to dissimilar to the one she did the night that she he started requesting her proper. Her head rested near the work bench and her body loosened up from how tense it had felt this whole time, her chest lowering and rising with her breathing. Her heart was still beating fast from all the scares and stress that had occurred and even with the nap that she had managed to sneak in, her body was start aching and tired, though she did her best to hide it from Akira.
"I was right about you…" Sadayo let out a long drown out sigh "I knew the moment I saw you you'd be nothing but trouble."
"Sorry for being such a trouble student." Akira remarked, more amused by her remark than offended.
They both turn to look at each other. Silence prevailing for a couple a minutes before it is broken by the sound of laughter from both ends.
Sadayo took a deep breath as she gazed on to her Master. While this whole evening had been very stressful and nerve-wracking, she had to admit it was kind of amusing watching him panic and act so nervous around her. "He was actually kind of cute.' Quickly realizing what she had thought off, Sadayo shook her head to clear it of such thoughts as she put up a sour face. "While I'm relieved that it really was a misunderstanding, why do you have something like that here?" Sadayo proceeded pointed to the souvenirs on his shelf. "Same with those, I mean They seem like a weird assortment of items, not to mention those clothes at the-" As Sadayo thought back to all the things that she had seen this evening, she was suddenly reminded of the incident at the laundromat. "AAAAH-!" And with that she stood up, causing her a bit of a headache as she grabbed her head before turning to Akira. "NOW I remember. What the hell was with those clothes?"
'Narrowly avoid a landmine, only to fall in a pitfall' "What could you mean, I remember you saying that you had it under control and weren't going to freak out." Akira did his best to act oblivious to what she could be referring to, his smile similar to the one he had given Ms. Chouno.
"Nope, that act won't work twice, you're not getting away without explaining yourself this time."
As much as Sadayo wanted to know about what had occurred to Akira on his first day, she let it slid and hoped that he would tell he at another time. This time though, he wasn't getting off easy.
She proceeded to stomp towards the basket, as she proceeded to pick it up and drop it in front of Akira. She reached into the basket to pull out the very same leather top that caught her by surprise earlier and held it in front of Akira's face. "I mean, did you not think about how I would react to finding this!?"
Akira stood, surprised at such a bizarre article of apparel, and quickly snorted as he held himself back from laughing. Sadayo's blushed as she realized how ridiculous this situation had become but stood firm nonetheless.
"Sorry, I didn't expect for you to find something like that, it must had been a shock." Akira continued holding back from laughing. "Though to be fair I did try to warn you."
"You know full well, that there was no way that I would had expected to see stuff like this." Sadayo pouted, as she looked away, her hand still holding up the top. "I mean, it would had still been a bit awkward, but you should had told me that you were having me do your girlfriends laundry as well..."
Akira's face quickly change from one of amusement, to that of confusion as she stared back at her with her with a raised eyebrow. "My… girlfriend?"
Sadayo held up the top in front of her as she looked at it in disinterest. "I mean, I can't imagine someone wearing something like this." Her right hand letting go as it went down, sweeping the bottom of her dress as she looked at what she wore herself with a bit of shame. "But then again...It's not like I can say much." She said in a defeated tone.
"It's not my girlfriend's." Akira interjected quickly
"It's… not?"Sadayo's eyes turned back to see Akira as he smiled calmly, the tone of his voice showing no hints of him trying to lie to her.
"I mean it can't be, since I don't even have a girlfriend to begin with." Akira said with a shrug.
"You don't? Ummm sorry… Didn't mean to assume things..." Sadayo could feel her face burning as she realized that she not only let the discussion between those girls to cloud her perspective, but had ended up confronting Akira about it without realizing it. "OH! But then if you don't, then why do you have these?" She asked, clearly wanting to change the topic.
"Guess it's only fair to let you know, especially if you're still want to help out. And I guess it's only fair that I explain about the model gun after having you go through that." Akira scratched his head as he pretended to sound annoyed. The ridiculousness of the exchange giving him some time to catch his second wind and attempt to take control of the situation.
"Tell me about what?"
"Remember about how you've been asking me about how I make my money." Akira gave her a mischievous smirk as he continued. "well, they're both related to that."
Sadayo found it hard to believe that such thing would allow him to frequently request her. "You make money using this..." as she pointed to the top, followed by the disassembled model gun "...and that?"
"Not at the same time." Akira chuckled. "I sometime go to small markets second hand stores.. You'd be surprised at what people sell in some of those. I tend to gather material for my work bench and sometimes I managed to get some odd articles of clothing as well." Akira proceeds to grab one the golden vest from the basket" I know someone who is willing to buy used goods like these. Though most tend to be so dirty that it's hard to tell what they are, which is why I tend to wash them first, that' why I tend to do to separate wash. One's my regular clothing, and the other is for my finds." Akira points to the top that Sadayo held.
Sadayo had her brow raised in disbelief as he placed the top back in the basket. "That doesn't sound like a very stable way of making money, not to mention… really weird. Why go through all of that?"
"I get a good find here and there, plus some of the stuff is worth keeping." Akira picks out one of the more formal looking article of clothing as he presents it to her. I've gotten some nice shirt for special occasions. So it helps me save up money in that department. Mostly thought, it's just something I do for fun."
"Uh-huh..." Sadayo still looked unconvinced as she drops the leather top into the basket and gestures to the workbench. "And that..."
"Not much to say, I've been working part time at a model guns store." Akira placed the shirt back in the basket as she sat back down down. "My boss is very particular about the craftsmanship of his merchandise, so I asked for something to practice on when I'm at home." He fiddled with the parts for a bit before placing it down and grabbing another ball similar to the one Sadayo had seen before as well as what looked to be a blowtorch as he showed them both to her. "They also sell other things like this smoke bomb, and props, so I tend to make them on the work bench."
'Might as well give an explanation for these before she starts asking about them.'
He noticed as Sadayo looked a bit worried about the blowtorch in hand. "I told you already, it's just a prop, there is no way for it it to light up." He gave her a reassuring smile as pointed the object away from Sadayo as he held the trigger as one would to turn it on. This caused Sadayo to jerk away which left Akira chuckling when nothing happened. "See, nothing dangerous here."
Recovering from her jumpy reaction, Sadayo hesitantly picked it up and took a look at it contemplatively. "I guess that makes sense?" She places the prop on the bench before resting against it and looking at Akira. "So, are they hiring?"
"Huh?" Akira looked completely at a lost for words from the question that had been asked of him.
"I'm always wondering how you were able to earned enough that you where able to request me so often." She grabbed the slider of the gun, taking a closer examination with a slight pout on her lip. "I mean I've given up on making you understand that wasting your money like that is a bad idea since you're so stubborn, but I still worry at times. Model gun shop thought… Didn't think you where interested in those kinds of things, I mean you don't look the type. Still, guess a job is a job." She shrugged as she place the slider back on the bench before turning back to Akira, who looked concerned about something. "Is something the matter?"
"Oh no I just don't think it's pays as much as you're thinking." Akira stated in an attempt to dissuade her from this line of thought. "Plus I imagine that you wouldn't enjoy that kind a job."
"I'm working multiple jobs already, one in particular being a house call maid while wearing pigtails." Sadayo remarked with a tone of annoyance, showcasing the frills on her dress with her fingers as if he would forget their current situation. "I think I can deal with some rough manual labor if it pays more than at least one of my other jobs."
"But that's if he would even hire you." Akira quickly retorted."I mean it took a lot for me to even ask about a job and I don't think he's going to hire someone who not very good with handling these." He gestured to the mostly completed pistol.
"That is true, a lot of places seem rather intent in avoiding having to train new people from scratch." She let out a sigh in frustration. "Plus there are stuff like what I should wear to make a good impression. A business suit is an obvious choice and I should still have some business cards and some head shot photos from my last interview for my resume." She continue on as she thought out her plan and what she needed to prepare.
"You're really putting a lot of thought into this aren't you" Akira said quite surprised.
"I've been jumping from job to job for a couple of years now, Some places might be fine with a simple phone call, but it's more likely that you'll have to go through an interviewing and testing process. I've just gotten used to it I guess." Sadayo responded before going back to talking to herself out loud about what she should do.
Akira was taken aback as he listened to her plan things out and organize herself. Even when he saw her at school as his teacher, she always looked uninterested and tired and he admittedly wondered at times how she could be one. Seeing her now though, he felt an air of reliability coming from her. For the first time since he had met her, he could feel the difference in age and life experience between the two. After all, he never thought this hard about how difficult it might be to look for a job. He helped out at his parents shop back in his hometown, and the as Sadayo said, the few part time he has where just a quick phone call and a small orientation before being put to work, even with his record. For a while he just sat their, leaning against the work bench as he listened to her talk in admiration. He had to admit, it was a bit amusing seeing Sadayo sound very professional and mature, while still wearing her maid outfit and pigtails.
"So, I would really appreciate it if you helped out."
"Wait, what?" Akira was snapped out of his thought as Sadayo directed a question at him.
"Well, even with everything being considered, the fact of the matter is that you're probably right about me not being very likely to be hired if I'm not capable of working with the models." Sadayo rubbed the back of her neck with two fingers as she struggled to repeat her request once more. "Soooooo I was hoping that you would teach me how?"
"Teach you? I mean, I, the thing is-" Akira had been placed in a middle of a question he did not expect receiving has hey tried to find the words to refuse but failing miserably.
"Please, it would really help me out." Sadayo placed her hands together as she pleaded
"But is that really a good idea."Akira finally able to respond, as he was reminded of the previous incident with the curry. He turned away from Sadayo. "I mean the last time I 'Taught' you anything you ended up getting hurt." Part of his reasoning was an excuse, but part of him did regret how bad he had messed up that evening and didn't want a repeat of it.
"I messed up too! I should have been paying more attention." Sadayo quickly interjected, as she leaned closer to Akira. "But I promise I'll be careful this time, and if you think I'm no good at it then we'll drop the subject. Just... humor me, okay?"
Akira struggled to think of a reason as she stared into her eyes. They were tired, but still held a fire in them. After several attempts to get the words out of his mouth he just let out a sigh. "Okay, I'll see what I can do. But if I can't promise you much will come from this, and if I think it's no good then we stop, got it?"
"YAY!" Sadayo gave a big grin as she cheered excitedly. "Thank you, I promise to do my best, master.
"For someone who was terrified of this a short while ago you seem really gung-ho about this." Akira let out a tired sigh. He didn't have to look to know that Morgana was glaring at him from the bed. "But I do think that we should continue this another time. Is getting rather late after all."
"What do you mean, It's only-" As Sadayo looked at the time her smile immediately fell a gasp. "CRAP, I need to head out or I'll miss the last train! She frantically grabbed her bag as she tried sprinting down the stairs. "ThankyouforusingourserviceI'llseeyoulaterbye!"
Akira chuckled at the frantic maid as he waved her off. He could hear the frantic steps as she fled to the door downstairs, ending with the chiming of the bells as the door closes. Once she was gone he let himself sink on to his chair as he ran his hand down his face with an audible groan.
"So your big plan was to tell the person, who in the past, has asked you if you know any other jobs that pay well, and who always questioning you about how you make enough money to request her often... about a job that she's probably hadn't considered before...? You're an idiot." Sounding more disappointed than angry, Morgana jumped on top of Akira before landing and sitting on the work bench.
"It's not like I had planed to tell her about Iwai!" Akira straightened up as he turned to Morgana. "She just saw the pistol and that was the only thing I could explain why I'd own one."
"You know you could had told her about Iwai's past as part of the Yakuza, or about those officers that keep showing up. I'm sure that would had stop her from wanting to work then."
."You're probably right about that,"Akira scratched his head with a reluctant expression before going back to putting the model gun together again. "I don't know... it just didn't feel right to bring that up. I only just found out about his past as a Yakuza, and he really doesn't want his kid to know of it, so telling her about something like that would had felt like betraying his trust. Plus if I had mention the officers, it would had only lead to her asking more questions." He held the new finished gun in front of him, taking aim to make sure everything feel right.
Morgana shook his head before turning to the stairs with a worried expression. "Still… I didn't expect her to be so willing to work in a place like that without hesitation. Just how much money does she need?"
"Yeah..." Akira lowered the model gun as he thought back to when he saw her asleep in the couch, the way she seem to stumble at times when she got up. He began to worry about whether she was going to be okay making it back home when his phone went off.
[S]: Master will be happy to know that Becky was able to make it on time.
[S]: Sadly, Becky won't be able to see master for some time now as Becky will be busy for the rest of the week.
Akira let out a sigh of relief to hear from her. He wasn't happy to hear about the fact that he wouldn't be able to request her for some time, but he had to admit that it did mean that he has some time to figure out what to do about her wanting to work at Iwai's. Not to mention that the group had planned to do their final assault on Kaneshiro this coming weekend, which would had made it harder for him to see her.
[A]: That's good, just let your master know when you make it home, okay?
[S]: Master is so considerate of Becky
[S]: Becky will make sure master know as soon as I make it.
[A]: Thanks, Then we can start lessons next week.
[A]: So look forward to it.
[S]: Yes! Becky will work hard to make her master proud.
Akira always smiled at how silly their chats on text were. He was tired, but refused to go to bed till he hard heard back from Sadayo, much to Morgana's complaints. As sleep began to over take him, his thoughts were of Sadayo, something that started to become a common occurrence as of late. He thought back to her past, how she just tried to do the right thing and the whole world decided to punish her for it. How because of a moment of weakness, she is forced to work herself to the point that she is always tired. She mentioned that she had been doing this for years now. How many years has she been made to do this. 'Is she going to be able to keep going like this? Requesting her might just be delaying the inevitable.' Akira placed his hand over his face, a glaring eye visible from between his fingers mimicking the motions he made while he was known as Joker.
"Is this really what you want, Sadayo?"
"I just want this day to end…." Sadayo protested as she slumped down in defeat at her desk in the teacher's lounge. It was for the most part empty with just her and Ms. Chouno occupying it. The sound of raindrops hitting the window echoing around the quiet room.
"That's what happens when you leave all your work for the last moment." Ms. Chouno interjected, maintaining her focus on her own work. "You had all weekend to take care of it, so don't go complaining just because you decided to push it back till it was too late. You're a teacher so you should be a better example for your students."
"Who quit and made you principal?" Sadayo lifted her head and gave a Ms. Chouno an annoyed look. While she had stopped her interrogation of her she was always on her case about her attitude as a teacher. "I was just really busy, so I didn't have time to get it done."
"And busy with what if I may ask?" Ms. Chouno lifted her head slightly from her work, giving Sadayo a piercing glare. She got no response from Sadayo, which cause her to shake her head and sigh. "This is your responsibility we're talking about here, could you at least put the effort to make some time?"
Sadayo rested her head on the desk, facing away from Ms. Chouno with a pout on her face."I'll get it done okay, no need to get on my case constantly. Jeez..."
The two didn't say anything for some time. Sadayo had hoped that this would have ended their conversation, but she could hear a tapping coming from Ms. Chouno's desk, which seemed to increase in speed. It was agitating her, but she didn't want to instigate her any more and hope they could just leave it be.
"Why did you become a teacher?" Sadayo sighed internally. It seemed that her last comment had caused Ms. Chouno to snap. Her tone was stern, up front, and had no hint of sugar coating to it. "Ever since I've known you, you've always did the minimum of work. You've always tried to leave as early as you can, you tended to avoid the teacher meetings and you never directly interacted with you're students. At the time I felt that it was not my place to tell you what to do, and since you were helping Kurusu-kun out I had figured that the incident with Kamoshida had caused you to rethink you're actions and put more effort. But you've been more and more 'busy' for these past weeks, and you continue to neglect you're duty as a teacher and pushing them aside as if you have no desire to do what you need to do."
Ms. Chouno took a deep breath, her finger pressing against the bridge of her nose. "I may not be the principal, but we may as well not have one at this moment. Principal Kobayakawa has for the most part locked himself in his office and leaving us to deal with the students and backlash on our own. Many of whom already have little faith in us as it is, and more are getting riled up by the stuff with the Phantom Thieves." Ms. Chouno got up from her chair and proceeded to get to her class before stopping by the door and turning to Sadayo. "Things are only going to get harder here for us. If you're more interested in other things and aren't willing to put the effort as a teacher…" Ms. Chouno stopped herself from finishing her statement, running her hand through her hair. "Whatever, ignore what I said. It's just been a stressful time for all of us." Her voice sounded a regretful, but the fact that she didn't' apologize spoke to how she felt. "Either way, you just have your homeroom class, right? Just try to make it till then." And with that Ms. Chouno left leaving Sadayo alone in the room.
Sadayo just laid down and didn't say anything as she hid her face around her arms, her hands gripping at her sleeves tightly. She was upset at Ms. Chouno for snapping at her and lecturing her, but she knew she was just as upset because the other teacher was right. Many times in the past she had questioned why she even bothered to continue as a teacher, and it was a question that grew harder to dismiss as the years went by. There had been many times where she contemplated whether she should just quit and allow the school to find someone much more deserving of her position.
Sadayo's slid her hand over her head, eyes looking into the distance as she raised her head slightly, tilting it to the side. 'I mean do I even have the right to call myself a teacher at this point…?' She clung tightly to herself before letting go and smacking her cheeks lightly. "No point thinking about it now... let's just get this over with." She said halfheartedly as she got up and started walking toward class 2-B. The class was rowdy as many students were out of their seats. Quite a few were talking about last night's events when she came in. In fact the discussion has been going on through out the whole day since it involved the Phantom Thieves once more.
A police raid had apparently occurred in Shibuya last night, with many photos and videos taken by bystanders as the events occurred. They had come to apprehend a criminal by the name of Junya Kaneshiro, and put him into custody. The reason for why the people know the person's name is also what connects it to The Phantoms as the night before the raid Shibuya had been littered entirely by their signature calling card. Many suspect that they had caused him to suffer a change of heart as many said they saw the police apprehend a short man in cuffs who was weeping the whole way through. Sadly no actual evidence of this one could be obtained since they said that the police had confiscated their phones or asked them to delete their footage. Even with that though, the word of mouth had spread quickly and by this morning, their Phansite had once again gain a drastic increase in visitors.
Sadayo clapped her hand against her notebook, grabbing the attention of the students as she came in. "Alright, everyone settle down." The student went back to their seats as she continued towards the front desk. As she placed her things down, her eyes subconsciously went toward the very corner of her class to where Akira was, as she had started doing for some time now. At first she did it because he had found out about her maid job and was paranoid that he might pull something and so kept an eye on him. By this point though it had become a bit of a habit to look at her transfer student's direction whenever she entered class. Akira would usually either look at her back, sporting that cocky smile as he took notice of her looking his way, be talking to Ann, or looking outside as he paid little attention to the class. Today though was different, Ann seemed to be lying down on her desk while Akira head rested in his hand as he leaned on top of the desk. He face was looking her way, but it didn't feel like he was looking at her. She could see head nodding before he would readjust himself, before doing so all over again.
'Is he okay? He seems really out of it...' Sadayo thought worriedly. While they hadn't been able to meet outside of class since last Wednesday, she did get to see him regularly in class. He seemed to be fine last Saturday, but now, she couldn't help but think that the way he was looking reminded her of how she saw herself in the mirror at times. A part of her was worried if something had happened to her transfer student yesterday and while she wanted to ask him, now was not the time. 'Still… he does look like he needs the rest.' Sadayo was reminded of how he was always willing to let her sleep as she thought of something.
Sadayo clapped together as began her class."Okay everyone, We're rounding up the half-way point for your next midterms, so why don't we review what we have covered so far. I know some of you will think you don't need this, but don't think you can just take a nap in class." She turned around to the blackboard, but turned her head towards her students. "Got it? I better not catch anyone falling asleep during class."
Sadayo hoped that Akira understood what she intended as she started the class. She continued writing on the blackboard while reviewing the subject of past course. She made sure to jot down important parts of what she reviewed on a separate sheet. She tried to focus on getting though her talk, but the whispers of her students continue to chatter as she did.
"A course review? She must have forgotten to plan the class.
"I mean, are you surprised? This is Kawakami we're talking about."
"No kidding, you could replace her with an online course and you'd probably get more benefit from it."
"Honestly I didn't mind that she kept to herself at first, but after a while you have to start wondering why she's still here?"
These types of comments were becoming more and more frequent as time went on. They were only whispers at first, or maybe an off hand comment or two, but as time went on they began to become more vocal about their displeasure with the school. The situation with the students in Shibuya and the new rumor of The Phantom's newest act only made things worse since the students now saw The Phantoms as heroes while in return looked at the school with contempt for not being there for them.
As the comments continued Sadayo stopped writing. She held the piece of chalk in her hand so tightly that she could feel it crack in her fingers. She was reminded of what Ms. Chouno had just told her and the weight of shame was becoming too heavy to bear. 'I know I'm a failure as a teacher… But what could any of us done...?'She grit her teeth in frustration as he felt a sting in her eyes. She tried to continue writing down the notes, trying to ignore the continued chatter directed at her when a loud shuffling of a chair caught the attention of the entire class.
As she looked back out of shock as the loud noise had caught her by surprise and saw Akira just standing there in silence. The whole class was silent and all eyes were on him as he straightens up.
"I have to go to the bathroom. May I be excused Ms. Kawakami?"
"Oh! Um su-sure. Just don't take too long, okay?"
Akira waved his raised had in approval as he walked out the class closing the door behind him.
"Man talk about intense."
"Why do we have to be in the same class as that guy?"
"Did you see the way his eyes looked? That was scary."
"Was it me, or did his eyes look yellow for a second?"
"His always so quiet, makes me feel like he's going to snap at any moment."
It seemed that the class had switched their discussion to Akira. Sadayo wanted nothing more than to tell them that they knew nothing about him and should keep such comments to themselves, but much to her regret, she had to admit that she was relieved that their focus was no longer on her.
Eventually the students quieted down and Sadayo continue with her class, only a few whispers being heard when Akira returned, and as Sadayo expected, it didn't take long for him to pull up some books and hide behind them. Class went uneventful afterwards and as the bell rang many of the students were quick to head out, leaving her, Akira and Ann.
Hey wake up! "Ann whispered from over his notebook. "If she sees you you're going to get in trouble." Her arm reached out to nudge him but she seemed to stop herself.
"If who sees him, Takamaki-chan?"
Ann turned quickly towards Sadayo with a panic look on her face, standing up in an attempt to hide Akira. "Heeeeey Ms. Kawakami, crazy weather we're having, huh? I'm just waiting for Akira to finish writing some notes down, so don't mind us."
"I'm sure he is, I just have to ask Kurusu-kun a question and then I'll be out of your hair." Sadayo leaned to the side, but Ann followed suit, attempting to block her view pretending to stretch as she did..
"Sorry, I've just been sitting for so long, got to stretch those muscles, you know?"
"He's asleep isn't he?" Sadayo stated, acting annoyed.
"Of -of course not, why would he do that?" Ann refuted with a nervous smiles while taking a step back.
"Kurusu-kun, if you don't respond to me, I'm sending you straight to the counselors office."
"No wait!" Ann quickly interjected. "Yes, he is asleep, bu-but, it's because he was helping me out last night carrying some stuff from my modeling job. It's not his fault, so is it okay if you can forgive him this time?"
Sadayo wasn't fully convinced about Ann story, but then again she didn't need to be. She knew he had fallen asleep, and even expected him to and had no intention of punishing him. She could tell that whatever had happen last night, it had taken a lot of him and she wanted to allow him a chance to take a breather just as he had done for her so many times now. Nonetheless she needed to put up the act of a disapproving teacher, even if she was playing it a bit to heavy.
Sadayo did her best to look frustrated, shaking her head in disapproval. "I know he is doing well in his classes, but that doesn't mean he gets to ignore class and slack off. But… he really hasn't been causing any trouble, so I guess I can let him off easy time." She said with a sigh. "He did look very out of it, so he must have worked hard."
Ann looked quite shock though relieved.'Huh, I did not expect her to be that understanding' "Thanks you for under-" Before Ann could finishing her thanks, Sadayo raised her finger in front of her.
"But, that doesn't mean he's fully off the hook. Once he wakes up he and I are going to have a talk about this."
"Yeah… I guess that's fair." Ann lowered her head dejectedly as a phone started going off her her bag. As when she went to check who it was, she found that it was from her modeling agency that was trying to reach her. "Huh, it's from work, they usually don't call me this early." She raised her hand apologetically to Sadayo before turning to pick up the phone.
"What's up."
"Now?!
"But what happened to-?"
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. Then Sure, I can come as a substitute, who else is going to be there?"
MIKA?!" Ann did not intend that to be as loud as it was and turned to Sadayo who looked like she jumped a bit at her reaction and mouthed an apology before going back to the conversation..
"Sorry if I surprised you. No, it shouldn't be a problem."
"Got it, I'll be there as soon as I can. Keep me posted if anything else happens, okay " Ann hung up her phone and proceeded to gather her things.
"Sounds like you're busy." Sadayo remarked, surprised at how professional Ann sounded on the phone. She knew that Ann had been doing work as a model, but realize she took it so seriously.
"Yeah, one of the girls apparently got food poisoning and wasn't able to make it. Working with Mika again is going to be exhausting," Ann said with a tired sigh, though quickly perked up. "But at least it will keep me on my toes. Can't afford to slack off after all." As Ann was about to head out when she was reminded of something and turned to Akira we a concerned look on her face. "Ummm"
"If you need to head out I can let him know that you left to a modeling gig when he wakes up." Sadayo looked at the tired Akira. "After all I'm going to be waiting till he wakes up to have that talk I had mentioned."
"Oh, ummm…." Ann's expression seemed even more unsure than it was before at Sadayo's suggestion. "I don't know? Maybe I should call it off..."
Sadayo was confused at why Ann seem so uncomfortable, with what she said before it hit her, as she smacked her forehead. "Sorry...Of course you wouldn't be okay with that. After all you went through you probably don't trust any of us."
"No, it's not that..." Ann voice trailed off as she looks down. "It's not that I'm accusing you of doing something like that, it's just..."
Their was an uncomfortable silence in the room as the two couldn't find anything to tell the other. Sadayo was just about to leave in shame when she thought she heard a very quiet meowing.
"Don't fret Lady Ann, I'll be here if Akira needs help. So leave it to me." Morgana whispered, hoping that Sadayo wouldn't notice him hiding in the desk. His desire to come to Ann's aid causing him to speak up.
'Again with the meowing, I think I'm spending too much time around cats.' She thought it was all in her head first, but from Ann sudden change in expression, she probably heard something to.
"Okay, I guess I'll head out." Ann prepped herself before bowing to Sadayo "Just tell him that they needed me at work."
"O-okay… sure." Sadayo was flabbergasted at how quickly Ann's attitude change as she waved her good bye. "Get home safely Takamaki-chan..."
With that she was left alone with Akira in the classroom. She looked as he continued to sleep, though his face looked a bit uncomfortable. "Still, how could you sleep during all of that." She pouted a bit as she reach her hand forward. "Come on, it's probably better if you go home." As Sadayo shoved him from his shoulder in an attempt to wake him up, his body recoiled as he wince out in pain, causing Sadayo to back away in a panic. "Sorrysorry!" She whispered, not wanting to draw peoples' attention. 'Wait… why did he react like that?'
With a groan Akira woke from his slumber, his left hand reaching out to his right shoulder. He looked like he was in pain as he straightened up from the desk.
"Sorry, I didn't mean that to hurt." Sadayo felt uneasy seeing Akira in so much pain. She could feel her hands wanting to reach out to him and help him, but she held them backing, gripping on the edge of her shirt.
"It's fine." Akira turned his neck to remove the kinks on his neck. "My shoulder is just sore."
"That reaction was way too much for just a sore shoulder." She just thought he looked out of it, and was going to ask him if he had stayed up too late or was just hungry, but after seeing that reaction, she was reminded at how beat up he looked on the first day and was starting to worry that something similar had happened. "Is everything okay? Are you in any trouble? Are you hurt?"
Akira was surprised at the amount of question that was being flung at him. "It's nothing serious, I just..." Akira turned away, placing his hand over his mouth as he mumbled. "run over by a pig."
Sadayo brow raised at Akira's weird statement. "Pig, where would there be any… Never mind." Sadayo tried not to think to hard about it, thinking he was just messing with her." Well pig or not please have that looked as soon as you can, okay. I don't want you ignoring it and getting worse. And another...thing..." Sadayo noticed as Akira was just sitting there with a smile on his face as she went on. "Wh-why are you looking at me like that?"
"Don't know, just hearing you sound so concerned about me like that. I guess I can't help to feel happy. I'm glad I have a teacher like you."
Sadayo look frustrated at Akira's compliment as she looked away. "That's not funny, I'm not in the mood for one of your jokes. I'm no good as a teacher, and everyone can see that." She grabbed both her arms as she took step back. "None of the students have any respect for me, and even the other teachers look at me with frustration. So please don't joke about that."
"Maybe I just know something that they don't."
Sadayo had turned and face Akira wanting to protest, but stopped when she saw his expression. He looked serious, his eyes piercing gray that looked straight at her without flinching that caused goosebumps to grow on her arms.
Akira took his glasses of as she looked at them with a bit of sadness.. "I mean, I think we can both agree that we both have a history of people thinking the worst of us." Akira turned to Sadayo with a sly smirk on his face. "I mean everyone thinks I'm nothing but scum after all, so I guess that's what I am."
"That's not true!" Sadyo interjected as she stepped forward. "It's not your fault that you got wrongfully accused, and even with all of that you're still willing to help others. In the other hand, I couldn't even confront my students about the way they talk about you."
Akira chuckled a bit s he got up. "I hope not, otherwise my little show would had been for nothing."
Sadayo eyes widened in shock at Akira's admission "Wait, don't tell me you-?"
"Any way, I should head out, don't wan to keep the doctor waiting." Akira grabbed his bag with his left and proceeded to head out. "I'll see you around, sensei."
Once Akira was gone, Sadayo was once again left with conflicted emotion about her student. She was frustrated at herself for having to rely on him once more, but couldn't help to admire how much he is willing to help others. She placed her hand over her eyes, exasperated, but a smile crept on her nonetheless as a small laugh escaped her lips.
"Seriously, I can't let my eyes off you for a second. You really are a troublemaker… Kurusu-kun."
So I wish I could say that it's was all Monster Hunter World's fault for this chapter got so delayed, but I had actually expected that to happen and had made an active attempt to set time for me to work on this story.
Instead stuff, just kept happening in the story that I had not planned for.
Fun Fact for the chapter: Akira's explanation for the laundry and why he had the model gun were things I had planned previously and when I had I was so sure of myself that I had come with a great explanation. As I wrote him though I realized that it made no sense. Morgana statement about Akira telling Sadayo about Iwai, was based on the realization that I had when when he finished his explanation.
