Once that guy had hauled Yamaguchi out, Ren felt the last of the tension leave the room.
"He's really good with her, isn't he?" The guy in the patterned shirt murmured thoughtfully.
"For someone with no social skills." The tall guy with the fan replied. The guys who had charged in chuckled at the remark. "Yo." He pointed his fan at Ichi. "You alright?"
"I'll be fine." Ichi answered, wincing. Ren and Yamato were carefully supporting him.
"You guys were her students?" Ren asked, watching them.
"Last year." It was the guy in the patterned shirt who replied.
"We're your Yankumi senpai." The guy who had run in first added with a grin. "I'm Take."
"Tsuchi." The guy with the fan indicated.
"Hyuuga." The one in the patterned shirt nodded to them. The others stepped forward and introduced themselves, but seemed willing to let those three do most of the talking.
"Who was the one who got falsely accused?" Tsuchi asked. Ren was stunned. Why did these guys know about that? Why were they still in touch with their old teacher? Why did the come because she had a cold?
"I was." Ren raised his hand slightly.
"I'm glad you were found innocent." Tsuchi replied.
"Yankumi was super angry about it." Take added.
"Seriously! We all ended up out on the streets looking for that tattooed guy." Wait. Ren couldn't believe his ears. These guys had been out looking for that guy? Why?
"You guys were looking for the culprit?" Yamato voiced Ren's incredulous thoughts, looking just as shocked as Ren felt. Ren knew without turning that the whole class was agape.
"We owe Yankumi." Take said. "If she needs us, we'll be there."
"Treat her better than we did." Hyuuga warned.
"She lost her job because of us. Don't repeat our mistake. You'll never forgive yourselves." Tsuchi's tone was entirely serious.
"What happened?" Yamato questioned.
"They wanted us out. The director used Yankumi to get all of us through the year and then forced her to resign. He was threatening to expel the entire class for a fight the day before our graduation. She handed in her resignation in exchange for the director retracting our expulsion." Ren felt anger stir at that. Who would punish the only trustworthy teacher they had ever met?
"Why didn't you guys do anything about it?!" Yamato snapped. His anger had taken a different direction.
"We boycotted our own graduation." Tsuchi replied.
"But all that did was piss off Yankumi." Take explained.
"When Yankumi dragged us to the ceremony, Hayato ended up crying so hard you could barely understand him." Hyuuga remembered.
"I've known him since elementary, but I've never seen him cry like that." Take said quietly. Yamato's anger at them seemed to subside. What else could they have done? Clearly the memory burdened them.
"Who was that guy who led her away?" Kura asked, changing the topic.
"Odagiri Ryu." Take replied.
Honjo looked startled. "Wasn't Odagiri the name of the guy who ran Kurogin Gakuen last year?"
"Ryu and Hayato ran it." Hyuuga answered.
"Hayato had the social skills to run the class, but Ryu was the brains." Tsuchi assessed. Take and the others smiled at that.
"You guys are Kurogin's 3D class?" Yamato asked. Kurogin had changed, but their reputation last year had been quite fierce. These guys were the ones responsible? And now they were running after their old teacher because she had a fever?
"Hai. We were the 3-D class last year." Hyuuga was nonchalant about it.
"If she tries to do something crazy, call me." Take said stepping forward to offer his cell phone number.
"If?" Tsuchi laughed. "It's more like when."