23 Chapter two, 2016, buddying emotions: 10 (2/2)
”I'm retiring within a year. Need a little bit of dirt on me or some very bad people will do a thorough search, and we wouldn't want that, would we? Your petty bribe fits the bill, pardon the pun,” the principal said and pocketed ten thousand yen.
'I'm way out of my league here.'
”Now, two things, or I'll make your next three years anything but the best three years of your life.”
'He's Japanese after all. What bloody idiots remember high school as the pinnacle of their lives? Oh, yanks of course, but they don't count.'
”One. The stranger parts of this conversation never happened.”
Ulf wouldn't have called the one-sided affair a 'conversation', but apart from that, item number one made perfect sense.
”Two. Have you seen this student before?”
Ulf looked at the picture of a second year Himekaizen student. ”Sorry, can't say I have, sir.”
The principal looked him directly in his eyes. Very slowly, and very softly he said: ”Then that makes two of us.”
Ulf thought of what the principal had just said. 'Hmm, oh? Oh!'
”My colleague at your old middle school has, though. I want this problem gone. Permanently.”
”What?”
”It's all connected. Trust me,” the principal said and slid a memory stick across the table. ”You'll find the photos and videos instructive, enlightening and profitable.”
'I'm way, way, way out of my league here. He's playing me like the kid I look like. Shit, I'm scared!' ”What do you want me to do?”
”No physical accidents. We can't have him hospitalized four times, if you get my drift. With your business background I'm certain you'll find a more, ah, elegant solution.”
'I'm not leaving without something. At least one small victory.' ”Why my old middle school?” He had one bullet to fire, and it had just left the barrel.
”I like how you connect the dots.” It was the first time the principal had looked at him with something that resembled approval. ”Escalator school.”
”I know. I helped four of their high school students to a prolonged vacation.” Just thinking about that memory made bile rise in him. ”I'd understand if they went after me, but Christina? She didn't even go to that school.”
”You're so full of yourself. They're not going after you, or her for that matter. They're going after us.”
That didn't make any sense at all. He needed to think like a CEO and not like a school kid. 'Business. Money. Oh, crap!' ”Your welcome speech.”
”I take it your company in the other world was fairly successful?”
Ulf nodded. ”That really was a special greeting to us.” He needed to verify his suspicion. ”Usually, how many students from my middle school begin as freshmen here?”
”Zero.”
And Ulf had known that answer before it came. Maybe not zero, but at least less than a handful. ”And...”
”27, out of 40 applying.”
He made a quick calculation. ”Fifteen percent of their ninth graders, top performers to boot. Damn, that'll sting in their corporate wallet.”
”And all because they failed to convince everyone that raping middle schoolers is a happy pastime that should be shushed up lest it reflects badly on the school.”
”I didn't know.”
”No, you were expelled. After that they tried to buy the Wakayamas off.”
Ulf thought of the faces he remembered from his old school. 27, and another dozen tried to get out. ”That must have backfired badly. Who are the Wakayamas?”
”Old money. Not a whole lot of it, but it's a respectable family.”
”If you excuse me, but how do you know?”
”Children of old friends. I owe them.”
'He knew their grandparents. I guess that counts as old friends.' Ulf looked at the principal with a lot more respect. ”I'll see what I can do, sir”
”You can't tell anyone, you know.”
”I know.” On impulse Ulf bowed deeply, Japanese style. It was, he felt, the right thing to do.
On his way out he met a third year. One of the girls from the locker room.
'Have fun. He'll eat you alive. Suits you.'