Chapter Twelve! The Finale! (But not the end! I'm going to cover the Gokusen Special, as well as my own version for how Shin deals with his feelings for Yankumi. Yay!)
Such an emotional chapter. Anyways, the only note today is about Kick the Can. It's a combination of Tag, Hide and Seek, and Capture the Flag. One person closes their eyes and counts while the can is kicked and everyone else runs and hides. The person who is 'it' has to find and guard the can from everyone else. All the other people try to find and steal the can without getting tagged by 'it'. If they do get tagged, they're out until someone successfully steals the can and starts a new game.
Well, read, enjoy, and please review! Let me know what your favorite (or least favorite) part is, and what you're looking forward to!
The day that changed everything started innocuously enough.
There were still a few minutes until homeroom started, and Shin was napping at his desk. If Yankumi practiced her speech for the upcoming symposium on Saturday one more time, he decided, he was heading to the roof for the rest of the day. He knew it was exciting for her, but high school boys only had limited interest in these things.
With his eyes closed, he could hear the sounds of his classmates talking, the screech of moving desks, the impact of a ball being tossed around, and rapidly approaching footsteps. He lifted his head from his arm to see who was running in, and why they wanted to reach 3-D so fast. Maybe something interesting happened, he thought.
"Bad news! Bad news! Really, really bad news!" Takeda shouted as he skidded into the classroom. The rest of the students looked up as he shoved the magazine towards Uchi, then stood panting.
"What's going on?" Uchi asked, staring at the cover of the latest issue of Wednesday Weekly.
"Page…thirteen!" Takeda gasped as he tried to catch his breath. Frowning, Uchi flipped through the pages as the rest of the boys gathered around. When page thirteen finally came into view, there was a round of wide eyes, surprised gasps, and shocked curses. Shin felt his stomach drop to the floor.
It was a full two page picture of Yankumi in her full on battle mode, taken right after she backhanded a gang member with a pipe. "Violence in front of a student!" The tagline read. "Big rough-up with thugs!" The column on the right declared, "Fireball teacher is the 4th generation head of a yakuza family!"
She's not the 4th head, she's the granddaughter of the 3rd generation head, Shin thought in a daze, then shook his head to clear it. That detail didn't matter. Her secret was out.
"What the hell?" Uchi asked as he stared at the magazine.
Everyone knew now. Shin glanced up as he realized what kind of hell she was going to catch for this.
"Yankumi," he breathed, and had a sudden desire to try and shield her from all the pain this would cause.
"That's… that's one of the guys who came after me," Kuma said slowly, pointing at the man in the photo. "This was from when my dad…" He couldn't finish.
"Is this true?" Noda asked, glancing around. Almost as if by instinct, his eyes darted at Shin. For a moment, Shin froze, praying his face didn't give him away. Noda must have seen something however, because he turned towards Shin and opened his mouth to ask another question.
Before he could say anything, Shin interrupted him. "Does it matter?" He asked the class. When they all shifted their gazes to him, he explained, "Does it change who she is? What she's done for us?" There was a long pause, then, one by one, his classmates looked at the floor, considering his words. Shin waited, holding his breath.
"No."
Shin turned to Kuma, surprised at the strength in the boy's voice.
"This picture was taken because she came to find me. Because she rescued me. I don't care if she's yakuza – she's the only teacher that cared about me like that." Kuma almost glared at the rest of them, daring someone to make fun of him or attack Yankumi.
Silence followed, then Uchi let out a soft chuckle. "That explains why she's so good at fighting."
"And so bad at teaching math," Minami added with a growing smile. The boys laughed, then started adding their own reasons why her being part of a yakuza family made sense. Shin tried to suppress the smile he felt at swell of pride in his classmates. She had never judged them because of their families or mannerisms, and they certainly weren't going to start.
The laughing turned into good-natured ribbing, which then turned into other topics of conversation, and the room slowly rerturned to normal. The boys went back to their seats, and Shin sat on his desk and burned the names of the reporter and the photographer that were responsible for revealing her secret into his memory.
Yankumi arrived late, understandably (they could hear the incessant ring of phones all the way in 3-D), and they all heard her chant "Fight-o, oh!" to herself before she entered the classroom.
"Good morning," She attempted, and Shin could hear the strain in her voice. When there was no outraged reaction to her greeting, she obviously assumed that they hadn't heard. He peered at her from under his brows and saw her walk slowly to her desk. Gathering her courage, she took a deep breath and started, "Um…"
"Yankumi." She looked up to see Uchi smiling at her. "We saw it!" He told her, holding up the magazine as if it was an exciting accomplishment.
Another sideways glance showed her smiling tightly. "Yeah, about that…"
"The photo didn't come out too well," Ochi interrupted, shaking his head at the photographer's shoddy work.
Yankumi stared. "Eh?"
Minami piped up with modeling advice. "Next time, better pose with your face turned 45 degrees right."
"You're definitely not sexy." Oishi commented, making a face.
"A little peek at the panties might have helped," Noda added, then laughed as the class simultaneously reacted in disgust.
As shouts of "Ew! Don't want to see that!" echoed around the classroom, Yankumi looked more and more confused, as if she wasn't sure why they were teasing her about such a scandal. Shin kept his eyes firmly on his magazine and explained what they really meant.
"It doesn't matter." He looked up and saw her eyes fill with a desperate hope. "It doesn't matter to us whether you're from a yakuza family."
"Yankumi is Yankumi." Noda said simply.
The rest of 3-D agreed with loud voices that it didn't matter, that it made her cool, that nothing had really changed. Shin saw her blink rapidly and bite her lip to keep from crying. The fact that she was so overwhelmed from their gesture of acceptance confirmed his suspicion that everyone else had been judging her, treating her differently, and that a group of hooligan teenagers were the only ones to consider her feelings.
Yankumi looked at her students with a watery smile. "You guys…" She paused, then somehow, her eyes found Shin. "Thank you." He met her gaze, and was hit by the need to do something, to fix this, to stop people from hurting her.
Just then, the door opened, and the Principal asked to speak with her outside. She nodded, smiled weakly at her class, then followed the Principal out. The room went silent once more as they were reminded that even though they didn't care about Yankumi's family, everyone else did. In the quiet, they could suddenly hear the shout of reporters outside as a car passed by. As Shin sat at his desk, his mind whirled around the noise of the reporters' questions, the picture from the magazine, and Yankumi's face as she realized that her students didn't hate her. The images and sounds spun together faster and faster, until he opened his eyes and only the yells from the people outside remained.
He was not going to just sit here while the people around him tore Yankumi apart. She had helped them when they felt powerless against the teachers, against all adults, and he would be damned if he was going to stand by helplessly when she deserved defending.
He stood up suddenly, the screech of his desk drawing everyone's attention. "Let's go."
Without a word from anyone, the rest of the class rose up and followed him out. As they walked toward the crowd of reporters, Shin took a breath and reminded his classmates (as well as himself), "You guys, hands off, okay?"
The group of adults armed with recorders, cameras, and notepads looked up to see who was approaching. When they saw the school uniforms, their faces lit up like predators discovering prey wandering in for dinner.
"You're 3-D students, right? Can we interview you?" They shouted as they ran at the group of boys.
"Did you know that Yamaguchi-sensei is the heir to a yakuza family?"
"Is she violent with you? She seems like she's very good at fighting."
"It's none of your business!" Shimazu shouted, grabbing one particularly pushy reporter by his collar. Shin rushed over and released the man.
"Hey, stop it," He said, pushing his classmate back.
"So you guys are violent also." Shin heard a familiar, smug voice say from the back of the group. The correspondent for Wednesday Weekly and his partner strode through the crowd, smiling the whole way. As Shin felt a huge temptation to strangle the smile off of the reporter's face, he realized that this was a bad idea. A really bad idea. If he could barely vouch for his own temper, there was no telling what the rest of his volatile classmates would do.
"Hey," Uchi growled, "Aren't you the reporter from the other day?" As they heard the danger in his voice, the crowd quickly moved closer and thrust their microphones at him. "Why did you write all that nonsense?" He asked, ignoring the storm of camera flashes.
"Nonsense?" The man responded with a smirk. "Don't insult me. I didn't lie."
"Weren't you watching?" Kuma demanded as the microphones and cameras swerved to point at him, "Yankumi was only protecting me."
"Well, it's our job to write something that interests the readers." The man looked even more satisfied, which only infuriated the boys more.
"So you can write anything as long as it's interesting?" Noda pushed through and shouted.
"Apologize to Yankumi!" Minami commanded, glaring at him.
The reporter laughed. "Your teacher can't even teach you how to talk politely?" He mocked. The anger in the group of boys rose exponentially.
Kuma was the first to break. "What?" He shouted and grabbed at the man.
"Stop, Kuma! Pull away!" Shin yelled over the crowd, but it was no use. Soon every student was pushing against a cameraman or reporter, shouting insults and demanding apologies.
"You guys! Stop it!" Yankumi's voice cut through the crowd as she and the other teachers tried to separate her students from their opponents.
"They insulted you!" Uchi shouted. "I can't help it!"
"Apologize to her!" Kuma bellowed on the other side of the mob.
Yankumi finally pushed the students away from the reporters, and stopped when the instigator of all the commotion spat out, "Quite a bunch of delinquents you have there! I had no idea that they were so violent! They aren't high school students. They're thugs!"
As Yankumi turned towards him, Shin found himself wishing that she would clock this guy in the face.
"You call my precious students thugs?" She asked tightly, and again, all the cameras started flashing as they heard the anger in her voice.
"Did they do anything? Anything that warrants you following them around?" She shouted at them, defending her students as she always did.
Shin bit the inside of his cheek as he stared at her, trying to ignore the rapid beating of his heart.
Iwamoto, who had been trying to hold Uchi back, glanced around and suddenly said in a choked voice, "The Director!"
Everyone turned to see a glowering older man walked towards them, flanked by Head Teacher and Minion Washio. He stopped, and stared significantly at Yankumi, who met his gaze directly, but Shin thought he saw her hide a small flash of fear.
That small hint of fear terrified him. And infuriated him. He was angry at the reporter, angry at the crowd of columnists, angry at that Director, but he was furious at himself. He had meant to help, to show the reporters that they were wrong, but now he had just made it worse. And he was afraid that Yankumi would have to pay the price.
As the men returned to the school, Yankumi took a breath and ushered her students back without a single glance at the reporters. The boys waited anxiously in the classroom, but the bell rang without any sign of Yankumi. Glancing worriedly at each other and Shin, the students eventually filed out. Shin sat at his desk, staring at the floor, trying to think through what would happen, what the consequences of their actions would be. He didn't like any of the options he came up with.
"Shin…" He heard Kuma's voice, saw his friends' shoes standing near him. When he didn't respond, the pairs of shoes turned towards each other, concerned, then turned back to him. Still unmoving, Shin watched the shoes walk away, leaving him alone with his thoughts.
Only two choices made any logical sense. Either they would punish the students for causing a commotion, or they would punish Yankumi. And since they were looking for an excuse to get rid of this teacher from a yakuza family, they would most likely choose Yankumi. And she would probably let them, because she would think it was her fault somehow, and try to protect her precious students.
Standing up, he headed toward his apartment, trying to think of some way, any way, out of this. He reached his apartment, changed out of his uniform, then tried to think of something else. He couldn't. Sighing, he decided to get some fresh air. He walked and thought for a while, until he looked up and realized that his feet had taken him to Yankumi's part of town. He hesitated for a moment, then made his way towards the Oedo house. As he walked up to the door, he heard some forced laughter that stopped too soon. They're trying to cheer her up, he thought, and knew it probably wasn't working.
"Oh! Young Master Shin!" Makoto had noticed him at the doorway. "What are you doing here?"
Shin took a breath. "I'm here to see Yankumi."
Makoto nodded, then motioned him to come in and take off his shoes while he went to tell Yankumi.
"Ojou, Shin is here." He heard Makoto say through the thin walls.
"Sawada?" She asked, and he thought he heard a bit of hope (maybe something else?) in her voice.
Shin came into the living room and bowed to Kuroda-san, who returned the gesture thoughtfully. Yankumi stood up, looking confused, then tried to smile at him.
"Ah, Kumiko, why don't you and Shin go talk somewhere private?" Kuroda-san suggested to his granddaughter, who nodded and headed down the hall.
It wasn't until she opened the door and walked in that Shin realized the 'somewhere private' was her room. Carefully pushing down any thoughts not related to the problem at hand, he wandered around her bedroom as if it wasn't a big deal. After all, she had done the same in his apartment.
"Tidy room." He commented as he looked around. It was. Everything was neat and in its place. He leaned down to get a better look at the pictures on her desk. One was of a younger Yankumi, smiling and hugging two people he guessed were her parents. The other, he was surprised to see, was of all of 3-D. It was taken after the whole male cheerleading fiasco, before they had found out Yankumi had tricked them. Everyone, including him, was smiling.
"What is it?" She asked softly.
"Hm?" He said as he wandered to a different corner of her room. Discovering a bin full of toys, he picked up a mask and tried it on. "I thought you might be depressed," he told her, smothering any other reasons that his inner voice gave him for why he came to her house.
"Eh?"
"You tend to blame yourself and get depressed." He explained, wondering if she was surprised at how well he knew her. And if she ever wondered why.
"Sawada…"
He turned to face her. "Our punishment will be determined tomorrow, right? Sorry to have caused all that commotion." He met her eyes and said the next sentence as clearly as he could. "But it wasn't your fault."
Her eyes watered, and she glanced at the floor before looking back up. "Why are you apologizing? You didn't do anything. It was all my fault-"
Shaking his head at her, Shin interrupted. "See? You're taking all the blame." The corner of his mouth twitched up, teasing her a little for doing exactly as he predicted.
The tiny smile she offered in return made his stomach turn in odd ways, so he quickly looked away.
"Sawada." She said, stepping closer to him. "I won't let them expel you guys. Not at any cost."
A little disappointed that that's all she took from his words, he nodded and said, "I see. Sorry to have bothered you at such a late hour." With a small, comforting smile, he turned to walk out.
"Thank you."
Her words stopped him, and he forced himself to ask her about his greatest fear.
"Hey, Yankumi," He took a breath as she turned towards him. "You won't be forced to quit, will you?" He looked up from the floor, met her gaze, and asked again, "You won't be fired because of us, will you?"
Her eyes widened for just a moment, and Shin grew even more afraid. Was he right? But then, she smiled and let out a soft laugh. "Of course not," she told him firmly. He stared at her a moment longer, trying to read her. She held her grin, and Shin let out a breath of relief.
He grinned softly in return, then said, "Night."
"Take care," she called after him as he headed out. He bowed farewell to Kuroda-san, who looked as if Shin's visit had given him much to think about, then said goodbye to the other yakuza members.
When he reached his apartment, he tried to sleep. What if she gets fired? His mind asked worriedly.
She said she wouldn't. She promised. And she's never lied to me. He told himself, and fell asleep clinging to that thought.
The day that changed Shin's life dawned like any other.
Despite sleeping most of the night, he felt tired, restless, uneasy. He arrived at school and had to push his way through the even bigger crowd of paparazzi. He said nothing to them, and managed not to attack anyone. Walking in to 3-D, he saw that his friends had the same mix of anger and anxiety. He nodded at them, then waited. Waited for Yankumi to walk through the door and tell them they were suspended, or had to clean toilets, or something, and they would do it happily because it meant that she was staying.
But when the door opened, it revealed Akechi, looking worried and out of breath.
"Bad news." He shouted, "Yankumi has turned in a letter of resignation."
Almost before he had finished his sentence, Shin leapt out of his seat and ran out the door. He only had three conscious thoughts as he sprinted through the hall.
No.
She can't leave.
I love her.
And there was no time for denials, excuses, or pretending it was something else. No time to think about how long that thought had been in the making. How ridiculous it was. How natural it felt. There was only time to run. He barreled past other students, barely aware that the rest of 3-D was following him, focused only on finding her and stopping her. He couldn't lose her. Not now.
He found her walking slowly down the tree lined avenue that led away from their school. He shouted her name as he skidded to a stop a few feet away. The rest of 3-D called out as they too, slowed their headlong run.
She stopped, turned, and met their gaze with only a flicker of sadness. Masking it quickly, she forced a smile.
"What are you guys doing? Shouldn't you be in class? Go back."
And suddenly he was angry. He was furious. She was using the same smile as last night, in order to lie to him, to hide that she was hurting, to make him believe her untruth. She was lying to them to protect them, and didn't have the decency to let him know. To let him help.
"What the hell are you doing?" Uchi shouted, speaking for all of the confused students.
"Why are you quitting?" Imagawa demanded.
Shin could only breathe heavily and glare as he watched her smile fade.
"It's our fault, isn't it?" Noda asked, biting his lip.
"You're being forced to take responsibility for yesterday, aren't you?" Kuma said.
Her fake smile reappeared. "That's not it."
"Then, why aren't we getting punished?" Uchi's voice was on the verge of breaking.
She glanced at the ground and started blinking rapidly. "That's… that's…" Getting ahold of herself, she looked up firmly. "That's… because it's not necessary."
Minami was having none of it. "That doesn't make sense!"
As Shin stared, glared, silently pleaded, he saw her façade weaken. "My resignation is not related to what you did." She told them in a shaking voice.
He couldn't take it anymore. He took a few steps forward. "Then tell us. Why are you quitting?"
Why did you lie?
Why did you lie to us?
To me?
She said nothing, but Shin saw her eyes filling with tears. "Did you do anything that warrants it?"
Still nothing.
His frustration poured out as he answered his own question. "You didn't!" He shouted. "But you're quitting anyway? That's not like you."
Admit it, Yankumi. Let us help. Let me help.
Suddenly blinking back his own tears, he took a breath and skirted as close to the newly discovered truth as he dared. "Didn't you tell us to be honest with our feelings? Are you doing that now?"
Be honest! If you don't want to leave us, don't! Stay! (Please…)
"Aren't you lying to yourself?" He demanded, voice ragged, breaking. And as she met his gaze, as her watering eyes met his, a moment of quiet extended between the both of them as the rest of 3-D shouted and begged her not to quit.
Stay, he asked silently. And for an eternal second, he thought she might.
But then she grit her teeth, gathered herself, and yelled over the noise of pleading, "I'm tired of taking care of you guys!"
Silence fell, and Shin's heart clenched. He knew what she was doing. He knew exactly what she was trying to do, because he had done it himself. She was trying to save them, to protect them, and the only way she could was to make them hate her.
"I won't let them expel you guys. Not at any cost."
"I didn't think it was so troublesome to be a teacher." She shouted, trying to hide the traces of pain. "I had no idea you guys required so much care." And because she knew they could tell, that Shin could tell, how much of an effort the lie cost her, she turned away.
"I'm fed up with being a teacher!" She choked out.
Shin couldn't take it anymore. "You're lying!"
"No, I'm not!" She screamed back, then walked away as quickly as she could.
Unable to keep still, Shin ran his hand through his hair, then bellowed at her retreating figure. "Stop messing around! You promised! You promised to see us through to the end!" Fueled by the pain and fear of losing her, he didn't care if everyone heard how close he was to tears.
"You said you were going to get all of us to graduate together, didn't you?"
And because she kept walking, he screamed out her name in desperation. "Yankumi!"
His classmates joined him, crying out her name as she moved further and further away. They fell silent in hurt and disbelief when she turned a corner without so much as a backward glance. Shin's shuddering breaths were loud in his own ears.
They stood there for what felt like forever, staring down the avenue as if she was going to return at any moment. After nearly an hour of waiting, Shin started the slow trudge back to the classroom. As they entered, everyone gave the empty podium a wide berth, as if acknowledging it would make everything real.
Gathered in the back of the room, every student of 3-D stared at the spot where Yankumi used to be. It felt as though she had taken their power with her, leaving them lost and helpless. Shin stared at the floor, ignoring the occasional looks his classmates gave him. They expected him to fix it, but he didn't know how.
He felt empty. He felt abandoned. But mostly, he felt tired. The same weariness that had plagued him the first day of this year. The weariness that came from fighting against teachers, against adults, but knowing that they had no chance of winning.
Yankumi had tried to talk like all the other teachers he'd had. If she had said those things at the beginning of the year, he might have believed her. He would have wanted to believe her, to fit her into his category of worthless teachers.
But it was too late. She had changed them too much. She had proven over and over that she was unlike any other teacher, that she actually cared, that she actually listened. And the students of 3-D had begun to accept that as the norm. They had gotten used to being able to depend on a teacher, to trust an adult, to know that she would protect them.
At any cost.
He raised his head slowly. She had done so much for them – it was time for them to do something for her.
"Are we going to let it be?" He asked quietly.
Uchi murmured in response, "But what can we do?"
Shin stood and walked to the front of the room, then turned to face his classmates. "Isn't there anything we can do for her?"
Everyone stared at the floor or each other, trying to think of how they could help, what they could do. But it was no use. They were only students. Teenagers. Kids. What could they do?
Shin felt his anger towards adults return. The one adult they could count on had been forced to resign. He muffled a mocking laugh. They had forced her to quit so they wouldn't have to fire her. So they could save their precious reputation.
He froze. Their reputation. The one thing that the Head Teacher and the rest of the worthless adults cared about. If they could somehow use that as leverage…
His mind was working rapidly now. Damaging the school's reputation. They could threaten to riot… no, that would only get them expelled and paint Yankumi in a worse light. There had to be a way for them to threaten Shirokin's reputation without doing something violent or dangerous. To force them to rip up Yankumi's letter of resig-
That was it. Letters of resignation. Expelling students looked like the adults were working for the good of the school, but if an entire class threatened to quit after their teacher 'resigned'… at the nationwide Education Symposium tomorrow…
Shin looked up. "Guys," he said, gaining everyone's attention. "I have an idea."
Noda quickly hacked into the school's files to find the resignation forms for students. After hijacking one of the school printers, Shin sent Minami to go collect all twenty-six forms from one of the teacher's lounges, and sent Uchi and a few others to find envelopes.
After the papers and envelopes were brought back to the classroom, every student sat down and filled out the forms with vicious determination. The teachers had been making all the rules until now. Time to change the game.
Everyone met outside the gym the next day, faces grim. Shin took a breath, and addressed his troops.
"If anyone doesn't want to go through with this, you don't have to. We'd understand if you wanted to stay in school." He glanced at the ground. "Yankumi would understand."
No one moved.
Shin nodded in approval, then added, "This is for Yankumi. So we will not attack, hit, or touch anyone there. Alright?"
Low noises of agreement echoed through the group. Shin took a breath, then led the resolute group into the hallway. As they drew closer to the gymnasium, he could hear the Director giving a speech.
"…resigned voluntarily yesterday. The students, however, will be acquitted without a punishment at this time. They have a bright future ahead of them. It is our duty as educators to be lenient towards our students…"
The fact that he even pretended to care about their future only furthered Shin's resolve. Before the Director elaborate his lie, the boys opened the gym doors and marched in.
The look of shock on the Director's face gave Shin a small bit of satisfaction. Just as he had guessed, there were masses of reporters here as well. The more the merrier… he thought, then took a steadying breath.
"Please listen to what we have to say." He spoke as calmly and clearly as possible. Cameras clicked and lights flashed at this unexpected interruption.
Minion Washio ran towards them, followed by the local teachers. "Get out!"
"We will not move until you listen to us." Shin told him firmly.
Iwamoto-sensei tried to compromise. "Why don't we talk later?"
"Yes, let's go outside." Ando-sensei added nervously.
"Please do not let Yamaguchi-sensei go." Shin said, staring at the Director.
"Get out!" Shouted the Head Teacher from the platform.
"Get out, okay. Get out now." Washio repeated, then the teachers tried to physically push them out.
The boys firmly reminded themselves that this was for Yankumi, kept their fists clenched firmly by their sides, and shouted, "Please listen to us. We beg you. Please! Listen to us! Bring her back! We need her! We beg you… please!"
The Director finally met Shin's accusing gaze and said, "Is something wrong with you since you're trying to defend that violent teacher? There's no way that kind of person can guide students as a teacher!"
That's enough of that, Shin said to himself, and pushed back through the line of teachers. He marched toward the Director and shouted, "It doesn't matter!"
More cameras flashed as he strode toward the podium. "It doesn't matter whether Yamaguchi Kumiko is from a yakuza family. It doesn't matter whether people regard her as a violent teacher. That doesn't matter at all to us!" He finished with a shout. Why did no one else get it?
"She's taught us many things." He took a moment, then used himself as an example. "I always thought that adults and teachers weren't to be trusted. But she changed my mind." He glared at the Head Teacher, trying to drive home his point. "Maybe I can trust her. Maybe I can open up my heart to her." He bit back the logical conclusion of that statement. Maybe I can love her.
Maybe I do.
Uchi joined in. "She was the first teacher that didn't judge us by our looks or grades."
"I've been hit by teachers a lot, but she was the only one that hit me earnestly." Kuma declared.
Even Oishi spoke up. "There's no other teacher who takes us so seriously."
Matsudaira shouted his approval. "That's right!"
"Yakumi helped me understand for the first time what it means to care about friends." Noda told them passionately.
"As for me, if it hadn't been for her, I would have quit school and caused my mom a lot of grief." Uchi spoke softly, but earnestly.
Minami took his turn. "Yankumi taught us the difference between fighting and violence."
"There's no other teacher like that." Hazama said firmly as the rest of the class chorused their agreement.
"She was always on our side, no matter what." Shin asserted with quiet zeal. "I always thought I could quit school anytime. But after she came, I began to think that there's no better place to be." His voice rose with strength. "There's no other teacher quite like her."
The Director narrowed his eyes. "Is that all you have to say?"
Here we go.
"If you insist on not reinstating her, we will all…" He paused as he reached inside his jacket pocket to pull out his envelope, "withdraw from school."
The teachers' eyes widened as every single student behind him revealed their own letters of resignation. Shin deliberately dropped his to the ground, while some of the boys threw them down in defiance.
Video recorders and cameras zoomed in for the perfect angle as they captured the fluttering bits of white paper landing at Shin's feet.
Washio dove for the floor and tried to gather them all up. "You teachers help me!" He commanded as he scrabbled along the floor. "What are you doing? Hurry and pick them up." Choosing their own act of rebellion, none of the teachers next to him moved.
"You guys! Wait!"
Shin froze, then slowly turned with the rest of his classmates to look at the source of the voice. Standing there in full battle mode, was…
"Yankumi." He breathed.
She started walking forward, her eyes fixed on Shin as though she knew this was all his idea. He met her gaze, trying to ignore the thudding of his heart, as she moved through the group of students. Her face was unreadable, with fleeting flickers of emotion too fast for Shin to catch. She dropped her eyes to the floor as soon as she passed Shin, then continued a few steps before picking up his letter.
"What a foolish thing to do." He heard her whisper to herself, and he blinked uncertainly. He wanted her to know that they had done it for her, to help her.
"Director, Head Teacher, would you give me a little time?" She looked up and asked politely. "I have something to talk to you about."
"You don't work at the school anymore." The Director sneered. "Get out of here."
"I ask you. Please." She continued in that calm tone, then bowed. Shin and the others glared at him from behind her, daring him to refuse.
He did. "Throw her out along with those students!" He commanded, but was interrupted by the most unlikely of people.
"Let's listen to her." Countered the Head Teacher.
Everyone stopped and stared.
"What are you doing?" The Director whispered loudly.
"She caused such a commotion. It'd be good for her to apologize to everyone present." He spoke almost accidentally into the microphone, then looked at the Director with a raised eyebrow as more cameras flashed in his direction. "Yamaguchi-sensei." He said, then motioned to the stand.
Yankumi walked up to the platform with steady, measured steps. When the Director looked like he was about to refuse to move away from the podium, Yankumi bowed once again, which caused even more cameras to go off. He glanced at the crowd of visiting teachers and reporters, then reluctantly yielded the mike.
"Everyone. I'm sorry to have caused such a commotion during the symposium. Yesterday I resigned from my teaching position. I regret that I won't see my students graduate." At the mention of the promise she had made so long ago, her eyes flicked to Shin, then away again.
"I have a favor to ask. Shirokin teachers, would you please support these students until graduation? Everyone else here, please don't give up on them. They are not completely mature yet, so they sometimes make mistakes and do the wrong thing. But please don't label them as delinquents and write them off just for that." She attempted a small smile. "It's just that these guys make a few more mistakes than others. That's how they are. It was only for three months, but every day was really fun and fulfilling. I'm proud to have been a teacher to these Shirokin Gakuen 3-D students, who have their hearts in the right place."
"Then why are you quitting?" Uchi called out, still angry and confused.
"Without you there's no point in coming to school." Noda shouted.
"School without you is no fun." Kuma told her.
"You idiots! Stop monkeying around!" She interrupted. "What do you mean by 'no fun'? School isn't for playing but for studying. Studying isn't for getting good grades, but for training yourself to overcome hardships. People cannot live alone. That's why they learn to live with others. School is there for you to learn things like that. That's why you need to attend regularly and graduate properly."
And the fact that she was still trying to teach them, to leave them one last piece of advice, to help them even when she was no longer their teacher, inexplicably made Shin angry, ardent, emotional, and sad, all at the same time.
"You guys, listen carefully," She said softly, staring at all of them earnestly. "You guys may not be good academically, but you guys have the most important things as human beings." Swallowing a few times, she patted the left side of her chest. Over her heart. "Right here."
Tears freely flowing down her cheeks, she left them with a last command. "So go live your life with pride, confidence, and dignity." She took a step back, then bowed in wordless thanks and pride.
Shin couldn't look away, but he knew from the heavy breathing and loud sniffs behind him that the rest of these hardened delinquents were fighting tears – and all because they had one person, only one, who believed that they had the most important thing human beings needed. A good heart.
As Shin watched her walk back through the crowd, his own heart felt full to bursting. He could tell how hard it was for her to renege on her promise, to say good-bye to her first students, to walk away without a fight, and that hurt him almost as much as the realization that he was losing her as soon as he admitted he loved her.
Her slow steps carried her past him, and as soon as she couldn't see his face anymore, Shin closed his eyes and let his tears fall.
The sound of ripping paper, loud in the quiet gymnasium, forced Shin to open his eyes and stare at the platform. With his gaze firmly on Yankumi, the Head Teacher slowly, deliberately, and defiantly, destroyed her letter of resignation.
With once more glance at Yankumi, who had turned around with a glimmer of cautious hope, the Head Teacher marched over to the Director. "For the first time, I'm going against you."
The Director gaped. "What?"
Head Teacher looked out on the crowd of students and their departing teacher. "We need Yamaguchi-sensei at our school." He declared firmly. After a moment of stunned silence, the Principal stood up and started clapping. Little by little, the applause grew until it included everyone in the gym, from the Shirokin staff to the visiting educators.
Turning to the Director, Head Teacher spoke over the sound of support. "Can you still fire her?"
The older man walked forward, and while Shin couldn't hear what he said, it was clearly threatening. To his credit, Head Teacher kept his composure, then let out a sigh of relief once the Director had left the stage.
As the applause continued, Uchi looked around uncertainly. "So, she doesn't have to quit?" He asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.
Shin had only just allowed the news to sink in, but once he heard Uchi's question, a broad smile stretched across his face.
"Of course not."
This, of course, started a round of intense celebration, which soon resulted in hoisting Yankumi up on Kuma's shoulders and parading her around the gym. After her wild and rather precarious ride, there was a round of chaotic and exuberant shouting and hugging, with a few people (such as the unlikely duo of Kashiwagi and Minoru) outwardly weeping with joy.
The next Monday was the happiest school day Shin had ever known. Yankumi came in with a beaming smile, and announced that they would be spending all day outside in celebration of her first day back. The board was quickly decorated, and everyone trooped outside. Shin was surprised to see how many people had come to support her return. Not only was her entire yakuza family there, but the local teachers and the detectives (Shin was annoyed to see) came out with them as well.
As the game of Kick the Can got underway, Shin noticed the observers split into groups. Kuroda-san and the Principal seemed to be having a grand time watching the young ones run around. Wakamatsu, Minoru, and Makoto were also smiling fondly as their Ojou tagged as many students as she could reach. The pair Shin was most suspicious of included Mr. Handsome Detective-san and Tetsu, with Shinohara's partner sneaking through the grass behind them.
He seated himself a little ways in front of the two men, and casually watched his classmates and teacher vie for the can while being conveniently within earshot.
"Ojou is in love with you, but I will not give her up." He heard Tetsu tell Shinohara-san definitively.
There was a brief pause, then the detective responded with, "Alright. I wouldn't have it any other way."
Kashiwagi chose this moment to pop up suddenly. "What? Are you two going for her? Does that make the three of us… rivals?" He sounded both surprised and concerned. "Rivals?"
Shin decided it was time to declare his own interest. "Sorry," he apologized lazily, then turned to look at the men behind him with challenge in his voice. "But make that four of us."
Without a backwards glance at his 'rivals', he found himself smiling as he ran down the hill to join the rest of 3-D. Yankumi welcomed him (as well as Tetsu and Shinohara) into the new game, then kicked the can as hard as she could. Unfortunately, it soared up the hill and hit the Vice Principal's head before it ricocheted off of Minoru, bounced off Kuma, then ended up back where it started – in Yankumi's hands.
They all looked up to see the Head Teacher glare at them dangerously, then heard Yankumi shout, "Run you guys! Run!"
"I'll expel you all!" Head Teacher shouted as he raced down towards the fleeing students. The chase soon turned into a game of 'Grab the Can and Run Away', with adults and teens alike enjoying themselves. After a few hours flew by, Yankumi paused and turned towards the group behind her.
"You guys, follow me!" She declared, grinning breathlessly. "Let's all graduate together!" She looked to the sky and lifted her fist into the air. Everyone raised their own fists and punched the air with her. "Oh!"
As Shin stood surrounded by yakuza members (who were somehow his friends), detectives (who somehow looked out for him), his teachers (who were somehow not so bad anymore), and his friends (who were undeniably idiots), he smiled at his crazy homeroom teacher (who he was somehow in love with), and couldn't imagine a better day.
