Interlude 1: The Leadership Team's Change
Shujin Academy. Located in Tokyo's most business oriented district of Aoyama-Itchome and established for over 50 years. A venerable, influential school whose founders' meticulously selective processes were designed for the sole purpose of finding students of the highest calibre. Combined with consistently excellent turnouts, it propelled those who were accepted into its prestigious gates miles ahead of their fellow year group upon graduation. The numerous awards and recognitions that it has attained, most notably in its recent years have allowed it to cement its position as being one of the best places for private education before university. Of Japan's biggest and boldest in the world, a reasonable number started their journey to success here in no small part to the vast facilities, internal and external, as well as the curated tutelage of highly qualified educators. The top students in the nation gnash their teeth in anger at those who were granted the right to attend. The wealthiest of the wealthy immediately designate the place as an establishment to educate their child or be shunned amongst their peers if they did not. Rather grand, isn't it? And to think a few days ago, it was just a place to learn to me. A person who caught the news would most likely be thinking how is that nightmare factory still standing? Who in their right mind would even want to stay seeing the current state of affairs?
From the moment that the news report broke the arrest of one Suguru Kamoshida, a hired member of the esteemed teaching body, it remained upended in scandals, falsehoods and litigations as damning as the charges to that paedophile. Flooded to the brim with reporters from several media outlets who desperately haggled students for any sliver of information they could gleam, to even have attended the school or be known to have attended was akin to a death sentence. In this case, many Shujin alumni (who the current students wouldn't ever remember) kept themselves out of the public eye for fear of the damage to their reputation in their fields. Staff members employed under the academy were warned that their details could be exposed and their addresses made known to the public through infiltrations into their personal lives. According to unconfirmed sources, Kamoshida happened to continue his co-operation and ensured his estate would pay the genuine claimants whilst avoiding the false claimants. As far as the actual payments went, I doubt anyone would get the value they claimed for. After all, emotional damage was strictly a subjective matter and due to that very nature, it was all the more skewed. The paedophile was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole and for fear of his safety, transferred to a high security facility in solitary confinement. It was a pity that the convict could no longer empathise with what his family were going through. They were continuously heckled by a torrent of horrendous mental and verbal abuse from random strangers - someone even assaulted his mother of all people. Thank goodness that she wasn't in a critical state. They were able to still find work, of course, but the general public condemned them no matter where they could go making work life all the more hellish. Those who had social media in his family destroyed their accounts for fear of the comments that would come their way.
Such were the articles I read across the internet. I was fully to blame along with my team members - for them, it was bringing an end to a sexual predator's hold over their lives and the lives of innocent students. For me…that's unimportant right now. You would think the atmosphere was dreary due to the expectedly high numbers of transfer requests, staff changes and frantic policy revisions…but the truth couldn't be any more different. As I walk along the corridors, gone are the gazes of oppression, fury and tirade from those donning red, grey and black. In their place is hope and tranquillity, that everything would go away and life would resume as normal. Vanquished are the whispers of my misdeeds, background and status of being a criminal. And in its place, claims of actions never taken, congratulations regarding deeds that were never done and desperation to be relevant to my attention going forwards. The current atmosphere is bustling with joy. The teachers who yesterday and the day before fretted over their jobs as well as the rigorous scrutiny they would undergo for the rest of their careers should anything be exposed are more alive than they've ever been. Most of all, the once puppet authority who did naught but encourage Kamoshida's acts which led them to become more heinous and depraved suddenly wielded the power he always had and forgot to use. Now that his eyes were finally opened from his self hiding, he took clear control in the school once more and some real progress could hopefully be made. Those who swore their loyalty to him had more favour than those who didn't swear any loyalty at all. Those who swore to Kamoshida, however, were out of the door and never seen within these halls again. This sudden change in atmosphere wasn't so subtle, my keen follower. It was a slow burning process which the leadership team elected to apply in stagnated phases…the first of which was an emergency assembly called the Saturday after Kamoshida's arrest.
Urgent instructions were being given by the teachers to head to the gymnasium - just from a glance, even the most truant of students knew there was no joking around. Ryuji and I met up at the station beforehand and both made our way together. As we entered the gymnasium, we ran into the girls who already met up and remained huddled in our group amongst the collective. There were many students who rolled their eyes with the most popular comments, in order, being the familiar "Another One?" or "Great…what the hell do they have to say now?" and even "Are we finally gonna celebrate the transfer's efforts?". That last one got me to cockily chuckle and earn the private ire of both my maid-sensei and vice leader. But I digress. The teachers of each class began to discipline the students and once a sense of order and tranquillity was restored, the assembly was set to begin. Principal Kobayakawa made his way onto the stage with the vice principal. Makoto was already seated on the stage to begin with and had her speech in a binder along with an unfamiliar gentleman. How long she sat up there I had no clue of but she'd seemed docile.
"Esteemed members of Shujin Academy, I have elected to run a joint assembly alongside your student council president this morning. As the leader of this establishment, I will be the first to sincerely apologise to each and every one of you for failing to perform my role to the veritable standards this establishment deserves. I am more than certain you have nigh an unspoken question and we will strive today to answer as many as we can but I humbly request you hold onto them for now. Given the overall accumulation of the recent failings I have had in my tenure and the gross negligence of my prioritization, the first announcement I wish to make unto you all is my retirement before the third semester begins." Kobayakawa started.
"What?!" "No way…" "Trying to leave now that things are dicey? Typical…" Some students had resentment to these comments coming from the top dog.
"In the final few months running this academy, I will heed the warning given to us all and uproot the decaying mess that these halls are. Kamoshida's arrest has only drawn a bitter conclusion to a harrowing chapter in this school and this nation. And while he continues to confess his crimes, we have yet to mark the beginning of the revitalisation needed to allow this dying heart to beat again." And where is this going? The imagery couldn't be any more transparent. Shujin was bleeding out and crying for help in the eyes of the public - the top person in the academy practically begged the bottom feeders.
"In order for us to accomplish such a feat, I implore you as the selected few in the nation who have the privilege to enter these walls to ask yourselves…what is the most important thing to you here? Is it the memories you make every day with your fellow students and friend groups? Or do the extra-curricular hubs where you pursue an interest bring you the most joy? The library where you may enjoy a read from our refined selection of genres? Whatever it may be, if this is the place you wish to continue becoming your best selves, use it as your motivation to work towards bringing Shujin Academy back to life again." This man continued with such vigour that everyone ended up captivated. The old way of Shujin, declared null and void; the admission of the neglected aspects of the school; honesty about the financial implications that repairs would require and how it would impact our education and the list went on and on. He put so much trust in the students with what could be perceived as sensitive information to only be kept for the higher ups.
"And now I'll hand over to your student council president, Makoto Niijima." There was a quiet applause that came her way and once the students settled down, she took command of the room.
"In the depths of our helpless despair and misguided glee, one student stood up to openly challenge the way we all thought about our surroundings, inspiring us to reflect on the way we did things and demonstrating the exemplary standard we must all work towards. My team will dedicate our hearts to rebuilding the broken bridges between students and staff in order to reform the community we established and come together as one and in order to do that, we need your help." Makoto urged, appealing to each individual. It was at this point, a new slide and poster was unveiled with a chequered patch of the Shujin trousers and a short but blunt message: WE FAILED. TELL US HOW WE IMPROVE. Such a blunt admission had no room for interpretation - it was a full acceptance of responsibility for this failure of a council.
"...It bears a heavy heart to admit this but my team and I don't have enough of a relationship with you all. Not as a gateway between the staff and the student body. Not as a student council to her electorates. And certainly not as a part of the community. We haven't taken the time or the effort to listen to your needs, nor have we tried to change the dilapidated processes and procedures that have proven to do little." Bowing her head down, she did not interrupt the comments that came her way and neither did the teachers. This must have been a humbling moment for her indeed.
"You got that shit right…" "So now you're being honest with yourself?" "Entitled bitch…"
"If you give us the chance to take the time to revise the framework for student life and needs here, we will finally do right by you all. For the third years, we will leave this place behind in a far better state than we found it. For the second years, we will provide an atmosphere suitable to hand the responsibility of our office down to you all. Lastly, and most importantly, for the first years…we will prove to you that this is the place for you. Suppression, coercion and dismissal was the old means of life within these walls - we encourage you to freely bring any grievance, praise or comment forward and no punishment shall come your way. Please find it in your hearts to trust in us once more." she finished. For once, it felt like I was seeing a true principal and student council president that one would expect from an elite institution. I found a semblance of respect for them that couldn't be put into words and sure enough, the other listeners of this assembly agreed. As the wave of supportive applause and cheers came Makoto's way, the principal then came over to the podium to resume.
"For those who were victims of the horrendous acts Kamoshida performed, we have brought in an external councillor, Dr. Takuto Maruki, to allow you to vent your bottled up frustrations." Now pay attention as this is where the man called Maruki came to the podium and left his humble first impression onto me. He bowed his head to everyone. His brown, curly hair, grey square framed glasses and well-shaven stubble to match gave him a sense of being both old and young at the same time. His maroon brown eyes were gentle and reassuring to the students that they locked onto. His average build made it that no one group would have favour due to their athleticism. And lastly, dressing very casually with a blue jumper and pink shirt combo, tan trousers and open toe slippers while also donning a white lab coat, he'd chosen to dress in a relaxed manner in contrast to the teachers who dressed formally just to sell it to us that he wasn't one of them. He spoke softly upon taking to the microphone.
"Thank you for the introduction, Kobayakawa-san. Good morning, everyone." Maruki greeted.
"Woah…" Ryuji whispered, jaw agape.
"What?" I asked.
"Is it me…or does he resemble Aizen more than anything?" Aizen? Who the hell was that?
"Who?" Ann beat me to the punch.
"Oh…I see what you mean, Sakamoto-senpai!" Sumire whispered back, seemingly in on what Ryuji was on about. Probably something harmless then. Maruki continued:
"I just wish to make you all aware that anything you share with me will remain exactly that: between you and me. No one else will hear of anything you say. Furthermore, I am extending my doors beyond the victims of the crimes that occurred here. I know that finding a safe space to talk with no fear is difficult but I wish to be of the utmost assistance to anyone who wishes to confide in me. My doors will be open to you from next week." he finished before taking his seat. The principal then took over once more and gave announcements we expected to come to us: head straight home after school, don't talk to the media who heckle you, some things to expect in the future and so on and so on. Once we were finally dismissed, we'd all made our way back to the classrooms and over the rest of the day, a plethora of topics were discussed: the new Doctor being a total Chad, the principal turning over a new leaf before his retirement and my varying contributions to the new way of Shujin Academy. Naturally, we had our own takes on this too. For the sake of our golden hearted redhead, we held this discussion after school.
You: "Debate time, guys. Do you think the two authority figures are serious about wanting to change?"
Ann: "I think so. I guess I want to believe in them."
Ryuji: "They got a lot of work to do though. Prez especially…"
Sumire: "They were very willing to take responsibility. Maybe they're already changing."
Futaba: "Meh. On one hand, l can feel the emotion that your principal and Prez both have but at the same time, Kamoshida's arrest broke YESTERDAY. They'd obviously need to make a hasty response so that parents don't turn around asking 'why haven't you taken responsibility for what happened to our kids' or something on those lines."
Shiho: "I doubt it. Niijima-senpai's one thing but Kobayakawa…how long was it that he knew about Kamoshida and his relationships yet did nothing to intervene?" It was understandable that Shiho felt such a way towards Kobayakawa allowing her bestie to stay in a relationship with the bastard.
You: "My take on it is similar to Futaba's. It's a business move to reduce the refunds that need to be made to parents who do pull their kid(s) out of Shujin. The coffers are in the red right now and in order to reduce how much more that is, more will happen."
Ryuji: "Out of curiosity…did you have any involvement with the assembly?"
Shiho: "Good point - we still have no clue how the meeting went."
You: "None at all. After that meeting, I'm pretty much done with the both of them. It's now in their hands what to do going forwards."
Shiho: "Are you really happy with that? Not being able to have a hand in dictating things that go on here?"
You: "I'm not so power hungry or bothered about 300 or so students to want to do that."
Ann: "What an apathetic response, leader. You don't care about us?"
You: "Context much? That's obviously not what I said!"
Ryuji: "We could interpret it as such!"
You: "Well, I do care about you guys. And no matter what happens going forward, I'll continue to do so."
Shiho: "A line straight from the playboy handbook…"
Sumire: "But you're dating him though…" Attagirl, Sumire.
Ann: "It's reassuring, alright."
You: "Believe what you will…what say we celebrate properly to our achievements?"
Shiho: "What do you have in mind?"
You: "Gonna have a think about the cuisine so we'll see."
"We'll see? You have absolutely no clue what to eat, do you?" Mona teased. He was in good spirits - I wondered why this was the case.
"Well, I actually do."
"...I wasn't going to ask, Joker. But seeing as you brought it up, not me-" Before he could start jumping for joy, I had to shoot his hopes down. Not that it wasn't easy to do so.
"Can't afford to get you that every day, kitty. Not to mention, Sojiro won't allow me to waste the funds I have if he keeps seeing me make lazy dietary choices as he'd put it."
"Tch. Boss…" Mona whined.