Chapter 3

Sighing, I went to answer it, trying to calm my nerves. Opening the door, I stared at one of my other students.

"Hakuro-kun," I greeted.

"Ohayo, Nakahara-sensei," he said, a strange look glazed in his eyes.

Not again. He was one of my older students, a senior now. So I expected him to be a bit more confident. "Can I help you, Hak—"

This was a change: he pinned me against my wall and crashed his mouth against mine. I kneed him in the stomach and kicked him out.

"What was that?" I growled at him.

Hakuro-kun stared back at me with that strange gleam in his eyes. "I know that the others were turned down. I'm not like them, Sensei."

"So I see."

"I figured if I didn't give you any other choice, you'd give in."

"And what made you think that?"

I looked behind me. I knew of Kyouhei's temper: I usually triggered it. But seeing him so furious, yet so calm…it was frightening.

"That's…Takano Kyouhei…" Hakuro-kun stuttered. "Sensei, he's a Yakuza of the worst kind! Why's he in your house?"

"We went to high school together, punk," Kyouhei snarled, stepping towards him. "And I just so happen to hate any guy that puts his hands on my woman."

"What are you getting at, Kyouhei-san," I said. "I never was 'your woman.' In fact, you hardly regarded me as a woman in the first place."

"It was hard too because you were so damn scary!!"

It was true. I could still be scary when I wanted to be. Heh, heh.

"The point is, that there is no way in this world created by Kami that I'm going to let some punk touch you."

"I'm flattered," I said sarcastically. "But we both know that I can handle myself."

I could literally see the angry tick on his forehead throb. "You are still an ingrate!"

"And you haven't grown up at all," I said. "Plus, which of us ended up making an honest living? I'm a teacher and you're a crime boss. Isn't the answer obvious?"

"Damn it, Nakahara Sunako, you're still stubborn!

"Who ever said I was stubborn?"

"I have to agree, Sensei, you're a bit hard headed."

"SHUT UP!!" Kyouhei and I yelled in unison. Hakuro went into a corner, obviously frightened at what he saw. I've been told many times that Kyouhei and I could look like the Adams Family if we tried.

Apparently, it was true.

"You're still the annoying glutton that you were in high school!"

"Oh really? Well, Nakahara Sunako, you're still as scary as ever. I pity your poor students. I wonder if they know that it was you who made the seven wonders of the world the eleven wonders."

"Even if they did, who got the better grade point average?"

"I still did better in math than you did."

"I stick with what I said before: I hate adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing. You saw it yourself."

"You still failed! One way or another, Takenaga, Yuki, Ranmaru, and I still ended up having to pay three times the normal rent!"

I smirked. "That was a glorious day for me, the day Oba-chan gave up."

"You heartless wench! How do you sleep at night?"

"Very well, thank you." It felt like high school all over again. Kyouhei was practically shrieking at the top of his lungs, and I was just standing there, coming up with witty remarks.

"A-ano…Sensei?"

I turned to Hakuro-kun, glaring. He ended up running away, screaming. I turned back to Kyouhei. I expected him to be hiding behind a tree or cowering from me, muttering how scary I was under his breath.

But he wasn't.

"A lot more changed than you anticipate," he said. "I let you walk away from me last time. I don't intend on making the same mistake." I blinked. Had he really changed that much? "Anyway, I'm hungry. Make me fried shrimp." No. He hadn't.