Author's Note: Corpse Party, ah...what'll I do to own you. :P

Chapter 8: Lunch With Your Teacher (Part 1)

"Eh? Ms Takanaka is not coming to class?"

"She's on emergency leave." Ayumi muttered. She came back from the teacher's room with a report that said Takanaka had come down with a fever and was not able to make it to school today.

Mayu pursed her lips. "That's a shame…she really wanted to finish that calculus topic with us today"

However no one else in the class seemed to share Mayu's sentiments over being worried about their least favorite subject nor their least favorite teacher. One certain beach blonde heaved a sigh of relief at the fact he did not complete the work given to him, and had more time to copy it down from an all to forgiving Satoshi, who was by far the most diligent student here next to Ayumi.

"So what do we do now, class rep?" One of the students on the second row asked, Kazuma, asked.

Ayumi mulled over for a while. At a time like this the class representative is needed to take charge of the class for the remainder of the period. That's what the rules stated anyway.

Then again, it's no secret everyone disliked calculus…

"Well…you guys can revise or do your own stuff if you want, but please keep it down." Ayumi replied calmly.

An eruption of cheers broke out, much to the bluenette's alarm.

"Guys! I said keep it down!"

"Sorry class rep!" Came a collective response from the rest of the all too happy classmates of hers. They obviously wanted to hear the second part of her sentence as a sign that they were free enough to do whatever the heck they wanted for the rest of the period and as such, reacted accordingly to it.

Mayu giggled when Ayumi frowned at the behavior of her classmates. Everyone around their social circle agreed that was more adorable than intentionally intimidating.

Suddenly the door to the classroom opened.

Everyone froze in their places. Had a teacher who was passing by the class overheard them, or was there a substitute teacher already chosen in a matter of minutes sent here to oversee the class?

A pair of messy bangs, black eyes, and a sullen expression did not reassure the class as much as they would, even though this was not their teacher.

Kenneth Sakamoto, was back.

Admittedly they had another reason to stare him this time other than tolerate his presence. The bridge of his nose had a small plaster on it, and there were little traces of the black left eye that was inflicted on him ten days ago, his movements were considerably slower as he walked to his seat. If everyone was actually paying attention to the corner of the lip that he was biting on, they would be able tell he was trying to subtle about the lingering pain that still ached his ribs.

How could he have to guts to come back? How was he still even able to walk? Especially after getting beaten to a pulp that day and still look completely as nonchalant as he was before, when he walked in the classroom.

Those were the thoughts than currently ran through the minds of class 2-9's students. Most of them anyway. Ayumi wondered if she was about to have an anemic episode.

"Morning." Morishige muttered when Kenneth gingerly sat down.

"Likewise." Kenneth replied. He relaxed his back onto the chair and momentarily looked around the class, as if it was his first day in here all over again. He sighed, and proceeded to take out a novel from his briefcase and his eyes immediately started flitting through the pages.

It was the catalyst needed for the bluenette to snap out of her surprise.

"Sakamoto!"

He didn't respond.

"Sakamoto!" Ayumi's high pitched call made some students cringe from the sound and their class rep's sudden change in mood.

His grey eyes stopped at a passage of the novel, and without putting the book down, his eye drifted over to the bluenette standing on the podium.

Ayumi asked in an obvious sounding tone. "Well?"

He stared at her. His stony gaze served to make the class rep's right eye twitch with annoyance.

"Well what?"

"You're late."

"Am I?"

Ayumi's brow creased with anger. "You were supposed to be here fifteen minutes ago before the bell rang."

"Really?" Kenneth feigned surprise and glanced at a nonexistent watch on his wrist. "My watch must've been 15 minutes late."

Ayumi's fists balled up. The sarcasm was not appreciated. She walked straight up to Kenneth's seat and snatched the book away from his hands.

He sighed through his nostrils when he felt the leather slip through his fingers. "I didn't miss an entire period now did I?"

"I'll have to record your name down."

"Knock yourself out." He reached for his book, only for Ayumi to draw her hand back.

"Can I have my book back?"

Ayumi kept mum however, keeping the novel in her grip.

"I can bet transgressive fiction isn't going to be your thing..." He commented. "What happened with the Calculus hag anyway?"

"It's Takanaka-sensei to you." Ayumi corrected him. He seriously had no respect for any of the teachers in here.

"Whatever. She not coming?"

"Sick leave."

Kenneth gave an understanding nod. "You're in charge."

Ayumi cautiously replied. "Yes…"

"Tell you what, you do your thing, I do mine. No problem right?"

"I think that's hardly the case now that you're back here." Ayumi mouthed.

"Shinozaki, you wound me." Kenneth dramatically held a hand over his chest and spoke in an equally dramatic manner. "It almost sounded like…you didn't want me back here."

That sentence alone spoke more than enough for the rest of the class.

She gritted her teeth. He had some nerve coming up here after creating a controversial episode in the school and testing waters with the likes of her, not that this would be the first time. Not to mention the ever present cheekiness to tease her. If nothing, she would not give him the benefit of the doubt to extravagate his arrogance.

"What makes you say that?" Ayumi asked, with an obvious dishonesty.

"Beats me." He shrugged. "All I've done is try to keep a low profile…but no one, even you, seems to appreciate that. You don't seem to be fond of people like that apparently…"

A low profile. Is he for real?!

"You must think you're really funny, Sakamoto."

"So how come you're not laughing?"

"Name me one moment you haven't been a talking point around here." Ayumi felt sick in her mouth for just saying that. It almost sounded like she was glorifying him...

Kenneth chuckled. "Good point. Though it's only people's fault for blowing an insignificant matter out of proportion..."

"Excuse me?"

"Think about it. I mean…I'm sure that someone as dignified and respectable as yourself knows she has better things to do that pay attention to a so-called delinquent like me..."

Even Morishige had to resist a smile at how Kenneth fluently twisted his words. Ayumi was not as amused however.

"For a guy who get his teeth kicked in ten days ago, you still have quite the mouth." She crossed her arms. Her tone vividly made it clear that she would not back down from the likes of him. If necessary, she would humiliate him if that was what it took to shut his smart ass mouth.

"I only lost a few teeth. No pressure." Kenneth fake yawned. "They'll grow back."

"So you can get them knocked out again?"

"What's your point?"

"My point Sakamoto," Ayumi asked in a stern voice, "is do you even care what you do around here?"

It was a simple honest question. One that spoke volumes for every individual who has had the unfortunate memento of encountering Kenneth and lived to tell the tale.

"Eh…no." Kenneth shrugged with a huge, carefree smile on his face.

Ayumi slammed her hands on his table, startling the rest of her classmates, save for Kenneth, who just stared at her with an expression that begged her to spit venom at his face.

"What…what is wrong with you?"

Kenneth grinned sanguinely. "Chill the fuck down, lolita. I was only messing around."

Ayumi's face scrunched up with frustration. She hated being called that.

If she slapped him to tomorrow right now…well it would be immensely satisfying, but it would also incite tension in the classroom and she probably would lose her stature as the respected class representative of class 2-9, and thus she had to play the part of keeping it that way. However it was only through her willpower that she kept her self-respect, and that hand of hers intact. A semblance of dignity was at least worth saving instead of letting herself fall into one of Kenneth's quirks that never ceased to annoy, in more honest terms anger, people around him.

She kept telling herself that someone like him wasn't worth the trouble…and yet every time he continues to egg her on with that antagonistic behavior and nonchalantly cynical approach to everyone and everything in general…

"Don't call me that." Some of the students, especially her friends shifted with worry at the dangerous low of her voice. Yoshiki's chair creaked a little.

"So sensitive…" Kenneth muttered with asinine effect.

Oh he was definitely trying to push her off the edge right now…

Ayumi never felt she could actually have some form of hate for her job in the class, but at this moment, she cursed Kenneth for leaving her with a bitter taste in her mouth right when the day is still fresh.

We were just fine without you.

"Enjoy your novel." She handed it back to him and sauntered back to her seat, and tried to ignore the looks she got from the rest of her classmates.

"That was…interesting." Morishige commented, after Ayumi had left the class to attend to some of her duties. And also probably to escape further embarrassment and tension with the likes of a certain half-blood punk.

"How many stars outta five?"

The bespectacled boy shrugged. He was not one to usually pay attention to matters concerning the class representative, but seeing the tension brewed between Kenneth and Ayumi both intimidated, and amused him to an extent. "I've only ever heard how you two cross paths. Guess the rumors were grossly exaggerated."

Kenneth slipped a gum into his mouth. "For the record, I am the victim in every one of those incidents."

Now this wasn't really something to brag about, since most of these said incidents involved Kenneth getting either a lecture or a kick to his shin for his 'uncouth' behavior that Ayumi took prior notice off. Such examples would include playing truant and catching him on the act, and the occasional scuffle with another student, who was also at fault for instigating the conflict.

It's a miracle he managed to keep hold onto his Nicorette stash without anyone noticing.

"Sure you are." Morishige replied, then briefly glanced at the front of the class, where he caught Mayu momentarily glancing at him from her seat as she was chatting with one of her classmates. She was waiting on him.

"You know…you could join us for lunch." He obviously referred to him and Mayu. He was thankful today that they managed to have an uncommon time to themselves. They usually had lunch, or hung out with their friends at recess whenever they're at school, but Morishige personally preferred being alone with Mayu. It was much easier to share his thoughts and hold a conversation with someone he could depend on, not that he didn't find his other friends equally as dependable.

But Mayu, she was…a different case.

"Doesn't seem like a good idea." Kenneth chewed on the gum, "She's close with her isn't she?"

The bespectacled boy sighed, aware of Mayu and Ayumi's friendship and how potentially awkward the atmosphere would be between her and Kenneth. "Sorry for asking."

"Don't be." Kenneth shrugged and got off his seat. "Catch you in the next period…if I feel like it."

After Kenneth left the class, it was only then did Mayu finally approach Morishige.

"Shige…"

Morishige looked up at Mayu's worried face.

"I think…you should go with him."

The bespectacled boy, though surprised by her request, replied. "Sakamoto can take care of himself."

Mayu clenched her hands over her chest. "A-Are you sure?"

To be honest, he wasn't. Kenneth could not let off at least one week worth of trouble. His cynical disposition attracted all sorts of complications like bees to honey.

"He'll be fine." Morishige assured. If he was smart enough, he would take a rain check with that attitude.

There was a knock on the class door, and the exclamation of surprise from one of the students standing next to the entrance got the attention of the rest of the class.

Yui quickly got the class to settle down though, as she had a more pressing issue in mind. "Excuse me, Mayu, Morishige?"

"Yui-sensei?" Both of them were surprised at her appearance in the class. English period wasn't up for the next hour.

"Did Sakamoto-san come to school today? Mr. Kedouin told me that he was fit to return around this day or tomorrow...and I was wondering -."

"He came." Morishige replied.

Yui sighed with relief. "That's...that's good. I need to talk to him."

Good luck with that…Morishige thought.

"He just left earlier..." Mayu hesitated.

"Oh. Where did he go?"

Morishige wondered if Kenneth would react badly to him revealing his 'private spot' to a teacher. Ms. Yui however was a dependable enough person who looked out for her students and cared for them, and that reputation was built with hands on experience that mostly everyone in the tenth and eleventh grade would affirm without hesitation, himself included. She put a lot of effort into getting to know her students and trying to integrate herself into becoming a reliant educator, parent figure and friend, even though she was still new in her career line. If nothing, that dedication and passion deserves praise where credit is due...

Besides, Kenneth never told him to keep his spot a secret to anyone.

"If I'm not mistaken, he's heading for the rooftop."

"Hey, gaijin."

Kenneth grit his teeth,

"Hey!" The forceful shove that came seconds later still did not deter Kenneth.

"Tch." The student grabbed his shoulder and whirled him around. Kenneth did not stop him, and kept a straight face. "It's rude to ignore people who are talking to you." He was an inch shorter than him, if not thinner and had greasy hair. Kenneth crinkled his nose. This specimen apparently didn't know how to shower.

"Where are you going? Hmmm…"

Kenneth kept his mouth shut. He wanted nothing to do with this bastard who probably tortured and belittled students whose roles have far lesser importance than him.

"Do you understand what I'm saying?" The bully shoved Kenneth's shoulder with disdain. "Or do I have to speak in English?"

"Please don't." Kenneth suddenly laughed. This threw the bully off, and the crowd that was witnessing the commotion.

"W-wh-why are you laughing?"

"Your face…" Kenneth's sardonic tone rang in the bully's ears. "It sickens me."

The bully needed an excuse to make Kenneth his punching bag. He didn't get the grammatical context from Kenneth's comment, but that tone of disgust triggered his short temper to act up.

"Yeah, well. We'll see who's the ugly fucker around here!" The bully lunged and took a swing at him, however Kenneth simply sidestepped and stuck out his foot, effectively tripping the fellow down his face.

This was not taken lightly in part of the bully's lackeys, who were all behind him and were expecting their leader to do the usual shakedown he'd do to most victims in his path.

"Get him!" The bully shouted.

Christ, can't I just get a break…

Before any of them could advance upon Kenneth however, a loud clear voice rang out in the halls, effectively stopping them all in their tracks.

"What's going on over here?"

Kenneth half expected the voice of the school's disciplinarian to ring out in the hall. Heavily accented, smoke riddled gruffness, no holds barred barrage of angry words about to rain its ugly face on the vicinity…and instead a firm, chiding tone made him blink.

From the end of the corridor, it was Ms. Yui. She didn't looked pleased at what was transpiring. She advanced upon the four students in her line of sight and stopped just a few inches away from them.

"Well?"

No one dared to respond, keeping their heads down. Kenneth however didn't mask his look of utter contempt for the bully and his friends. He glanced at Yui once, and she took that look into heart.

"Mr. Ishihara, is it?" She kept a close memory of various characters that stood out to her around the tenth grade, and Ishihara was famous enough to be among those characters associated with most troublemakers around here.

The greasy haired Ishihara scrambled up to his feet and tried to look presentable. "Y-yes, ma'am."

"What were your friends trying to do earlier to this student?"

The delinquents started to sweat from the question.

"N-nothing…" Ishihara stuttered.

"Really? I thought for a moment they were going to rain their fists upon him…"

Ishihara and his goons paled, realizing their necks were on the line.

"If I'm not mistaken…you just came back from your suspension about a month ago right?"

"Y-yes."

Yui covered her mouth her hand, "Oh my…this certainly doesn't look good on your stained repertoire."

Whoa, when did Ms. Yui, the normally sweet and sunny teacher with a lovely voice, sounded and looked so threatening?

Ishihara started babbling. "I swear! W-we weren't gonna do nothing of that sort miss. We were just messing around with ah...Sakamoto-san -."

"Can it meathead. You knew what you were gonna do..." Kenneth snarled.

"Calm down." Yui said. She already knew what happened long before she even got here. It didn't take a genius to figure out who was the victim and instigator in a situation like this...

"I'm only going to say this once. Please refrain from troubling your fellow students. Otherwise I'll have to report this to Mr. Yatsuda…who I imagine would be less than pleased to hear of your exploits, again."

Hearing the name of the disciplinarian, Ishihara yelped and immediately bowed in repeated fashion, with his friends following suit. Kenneth struggled not to snark as the pathetic fellow and his friends apologized in various, unnecessarily creative means.

"I trust you will be on your best behavior?" Yui asked

"Yes Sensei! It won't happen again!" Both Kenneth and Yui knew better however.

"Sakamoto."

Hearing his name suddenly called out by her made his breath hitch. "Y-yes, Sensei?"

"Follow me." Yui ordered. She deftly started walking in the opposite direction.

Ignoring the curious stares directed at him, Kenneth knew he had no option but to follow. And follow he did. Inwardly he dreaded of what Ms. Yui had in mind for him. Was he in trouble too? Or was it something else entirely in store?

When they arrived at the teacher's room, Kenneth was immediately struck with mild claustrophobia. The room, firstly was rather compact, had notice boards pinned all over the walls and a large array of storage cabinets filled with documents on the far left of the room. The desks, though arranged neatly, had paperwork and documents strewn on them in their respective aisles, and the teachers present were either chatting with each other or knee deep in their own work. Yui greeted every last one of her co-workers, and they did as well before returning to their activities in respective fashion. Thankfully none of them acknowledged him as he trailed behind Yui.

She guided him to the lounge that was just to the left of the teacher's room, which was thankfully empty and less boisterous. Kenneth was able to breathe normally once he stepped in.

However he wasn't able to calm down. He kept pondering just what exactly Yui in her conscience would want with him.

"Um…Sensei? Why am I here?"

The response he got from her was far from satisfactory. In fact, it confused him further. Scratch that, he was taken aback when Yui suddenly doubled over and clutched her hands over her stomach and started heaving out loud gasps of air.

"Sensei?" Kenneth reached out to her, and Yui suddenly looked back at him, all traces of that serious and threatening aura of hers minutes ago forgone for a pitiful expression on her delicate face.

"Uh…are you alright?"

Yui's lips trembled and her eyes started to water. "I-I-I…I've never confronted a-a student before."

Kenneth couldn't believe what he was seeing. So that tough shit stunt back there really was just a farce?

"O-oh." He dumbly replied. He was aware at least that Yui was much younger than most of the old farts in this schools and was relatively fresh down her career path. A few bumps along the road should've been expected for a greenie such as herself.

"I saw what he was trying to do earlier…a-and, I had to stop him before you could get hurt." She stuttered before clutching her face in embarrassment. "Goodness…w-what was I thinking?"

C-cute. His mind unintentionally blurted out when he saw his teacher getting so flustered.

"Sensei, I…I understand." Kenneth managed, rubbing the back of his neck and tried to avoid looking at her. "Please calm down."

"C-calm down?" Yui suddenly stuck her face inches away from him, effectively gaining his full attention. "Everyone just saw what I did back there!" She flailed her arms with blinded worry and rambled. "D-do you think someone recorded it and posted it online and I'm going to be a laughing stock for the entire school and then my career as a teacher is going to be over in a moment's notice and then I'll have to transfer to another place, Osaka maybe, to reestablish my job or worse…I'll have to transfer to another country with a limited market for non-American English teachers -.

"Sensei!" Kenneth half shouted. Yui stopped flailing, likely more surprised at Kenneth's firm voice. "Calm. Down."

How ironic. He wasn't even calm himself and yet his teacher is suddenly behaving erratically in a moment's notice from telling off a bunch of juveniles. Admittedly she did look very rigid when she addressed them, proving further about her complete lack of experience when it came to handling a drastic, yet important matter such as the one she unwittingly participated in earlier. He wouldn't stake a claim to know what she felt the moment she tried to establish herself in unfamiliar territory, but it was probably a mix of exhilaration and a slight rush of adrenaline that clouded her senses.

But she did managed to get the job done…though Kenneth imagined she would probably would have done it differently given the chance.

"You did what you had to do. That speaks for itself." He added. "They would've...had their way otherwise if you weren't there."

At Kenneth's reassurance, Yui finally was able to relax. "I…I did a good job?"

"Seriously though, lose that intimidating dialogue. It sounds like you copied that from Mr. Yatsuda's playbook." Kenneth commented dryly.

Yui blushed and fidgeted with her hands. "A-actually I might've taken a few words out of context…"

You seriously…

"N-nevermind." He quickly reverted back to the main topic. "Again, why am I here?"

"Oh yes!" Yui suddenly remembered. "I was looking for you earlier, and Morishige told me that you were heading to the rooftop. Thank goodness I was able to catch you before you broke another rule…"

Morishige, you…

Kenneth pocketed his hands, his eyes narrowing towards a 45 degree angle upon the uninteresting wall to his left. No point lying about it now. If Yui was about to reprimand and lecture him regarding one of his many episodes that disturbed the flow of the school setting, just like every other, he'll be prepared with his usual string of excuses just to get the matter over with.

"You caught me red handed. I guess you'll report me to Mr. Yatsuda?"

"I probably have to…but technically you didn't make it to the rooftop before I got you."

Did she just intentionally point out that loophole?

He looked back at her. "Does this mean…"

Yui smiled. "I'll let that off the hook, on one condition."

Where did this strange twist come from? Surely she's a little peeved at me for trying to break the rules, unless if she wants me to do a favor for her? Wait…yes, that's it! That's the only logical explanation! Well well well, I guess I misjudged you, Ms. Yui, for being kind to a fault…but you are awfully generous now aren't you? Bugger, let's get this one over with shall we…

"Oooookay. Do you uh…need me to do something for you?"

She shook her head.

"Do you need me to do something for someone else?"

He was unnerved when Yui continued to just smile at him. "No."

"Then…am I supposed to do anything at all?"

"I just want to talk to you." She said with utmost sincerity.

Huh?

He was confused. All those drawn out conclusions of character he just formed earlier lingered, but he wasn't sure if he should trust them. What did she mean by talking to him? Was there a specific topic at hand, something related to his studies or is this an impromptu counselling session? Did Izumi set him up for this because she got sick and tired of his attitude? Ayumi is also another possibility…all things considered about the bad blood between them. Maybe it was the beating he took two weeks ago...?

"I'm not sure if I follow…"

Yui chuckled. "It's fine. Why don't we just sit down and have some lunch, before your next class comes along?"

"L-lunch?" Kenneth stammered. He started calculating how fast he could make a beeline for the exit, and faltered when he realized how much attention he would draw into himself in such a small, yet crowded environment, that is if he didn't trip and fall and re-injure his ribs in the process.

She giggled. "Don't be shy now Sakamoto-san. It's not every time you get to have lunch with a teacher as pretty as myself."

At the end of that sentence, Kenneth's mind broke.

GIVE ME A BREAK! I JUST WANTED TO CHEW MY GUM!

I have to apologize for two things. One...I'm five months late of posting a new chapter. College life packs a lot of weight, bear with me...

And then there's this chapter's misleading, well not really misleading, title, as you can probably witness from the obvious. Be rest assured however, that the following chapter will contain the aforementioned lunch with yours truly Yui Shishido...and some more drama and comedy next to more plot and character building.

Reviews are welcome! Later!

(P.S.) Last dialogue was re-edited.