Vol 2 Chapter 10 (1/2)

Sympathy, Youtaku, Grandpa Mitsu

“Lin Xiang… what exactly were you thinking? Wasn’t it just a spirit? Besides, even though what Youtaku just said was a bit out of line, how could you even agree to quit school?” The moment cla.s.s ended, Satsuki nervously tugged at my s.h.i.+rt to prevent me from following my homeroom teacher, whose name I just found out, to the princ.i.p.al’s office.

Argh… to admit that I wasn’t paying attention was just too lame. I couldn’t say it out loud. Besides, who would have thought that he’d ask me to consider quitting school?

“I… I won’t quit school, don’t worry.”

“But then… why did you agree with what Youtaku said?”

“I just… thought that what he said was outrageous, so I purposely agreed with him, just so I can go with him to the Headmaster’s and tell on him?” Lately, it felt like I could lie without batting an eye.

“So that’s how it is. But, try not to tell on him too harshly; after all he is our homeroom teacher. If you get on his bad side, he would make your life difficult.”

If I get on his bad side? Let’s just take away the hypothetical “if”. He didn’t like me to begin with. If we were in my old world, I would have beaten him up already.

“I understand, Satsuki. Thanks….”

“Hey! Trash-kun! Hurry up.” My homeroom teacher Youtaku returned and yelled at me.

I looked at Satsuki and gave her a smile; then under the nervous gaze of Satsuki and the scornful eyes and sneers of the rest of the cla.s.s, I followed Youtaku out of the cla.s.sroom to the headmaster’s office.

———————— Headmaster’s Office

“KO~~KO~~KO~~(Knocking sound)” Youtaku knocked on the door and looked at me with a beaming smile.

“Come in.”

Youtaku opened the door. In the room, there was a woman sitting at a desk, putting together some sort of report.

“a.s.sistant Yonechi, I am looking for the Headmaster. Is he in?”

The a.s.sistant, Yonechi, lifted her head from her work, took a look at us, and asked, “What is this pertaining to?”

“Nothing major, just a matter to do with this special student.”

“Special? How is it special?”

“His name’s Lin Xiang. He’s that poor kid who couldn’t summon any spirit during this morning’s Spirit Summoning Ceremony.” Was he looking at me with sympathetic eyes as he explained it?

“Oh? So that’s him? The Headmaster was actually thinking of looking for him, didn’t think you would bring him here. Go on ahead, the Headmaster is inside.”

“Hmm, I understand. a.s.sistant Yonechi, thank you for your help.” Then, Youtaku turned around, gave me a very concerned look, and said, “Ah, Mr. Lin Xiang, I… I will try my best to put in a good word for you. Let’s just hope that the Headmaster wouldn’t be too severe in his handling of this…”

Strange, what the heck is this guy doing? Why the sudden change of character?

Just when I was suspicious of Youtaku and the drastic change in his att.i.tude, I noticed Youtaku stealing glances at a.s.sistant Yonechi. Ah! So, he was into her?

“Actually, as your teacher, it is partly my fault that you turned out the way you are. It is my….”

Does this guy plan to go on and on about this? Doesn’t he know just how disgusting this is? Doesn’t he realize that I, who have seen through his act, really want to beat him up?

“Let’s go in, shall we, my dear old teacher?” I interrupted Youtaku’s endless speech on how remorseful he was.

Youtaku glared at me and begrudgingly led me towards the room inside. After knocking at the door, we waited until we heard a voice from inside that room, saying “Come in”, before we opened the door and stepped inside.

The Headmaster’s Office was very big, occupying approximately a hundred square meters; the décor in the room was of the traditional cla.s.sic style, with quite a few antiques, and a lot of bookshelves.

Sitting in front of a giant, black desk, the Headmaster, Ijima Michita, was reading some doc.u.ments in his hands.

“Headmaster.” Youtaku gave a respectful salutation. It gave me goose b.u.mps all over.

“Hmm?” At this time, the Headmaster lifted his head, took a look at Youtaku, then at me, as I was standing right behind Youtaku.

With a smile on his face, he stood up. His demeanor gentle and kind as he walked over.

This was the second time I had seen him. The first time was when Meiko suspected that I was a demonic imposter and attacked me. At the time, he was observing me behind the scene to ascertain if I had any demonic power. Later on, after we had cleared the misunderstanding, he told me that he was an instructor and despite their age differences, was an old friend of my father, Lin Fan, the Battle Master. By the time I left Meiko’s office, he had even asked me to stop by and visit him often. Presumably, he must have been considering me like a grandson of sort; it would have explained why he was having such a gentle and kind expression on his face at this moment, right?

Regrettably, since that one time, I hadn’t come by to see him, and it had already been about two weeks? At the same time, I didn’t want people to think of me as a brown noser that kissed up to the Headmaster either.

Meanwhile, only heaven knew why Youtaku got excited all of a sudden. He ran up to the Headmaster, grabbed the perplexed Headmaster’s hand tightly and exclaimed, “Headmaster, even though I know I may have had some minor accomplishments, you didn’t have to stand up and greet me. In truth, as a Battle Elder, you are actually my idol.”

“Argh… you must be… Xiang-chan’s homeroom teacher?” The Headmaster was having a difficult time pulling his hand away from Youtaku’s grip.

“That’s right, that’s right. I am that trash’s homeroom teacher. Wait, what? Xiang-chan?” Youtaku had a look on his face like he couldn’t believe what he just heard.

“Trash?” The Headmaster also had a confused look on him.

“No… no… you misheard me. I was trying to speak in Lin Xiang’s native tongue, Chinese, ‘Tsi Tsai’. That’s right, it means an extraordinary talent, a genius!” As he was doing his best to smooth it over, Youtaku didn’t forget to throw me a thumb-up sign!

‘Oh, f.u.c.k! This human named Youtaku, he won. He is the winner for the grand prize that I give out for having the thickest skin in a thousand years. Kid, you have a very unusual teacher here.’ Freed gave me a wry smile as he offered his commentary.

‘…’ Youtaku’s ability to kiss a.s.s blew my mind.

I have to ask, just who can lie without missing a beat, and utter such embarra.s.sing lines in such a serious manner without turning red in the face? Eh? Wait, I just thought of something… I guess I could do that too?

“Is that right? I originally wanted to go and get Xiang-chan myself, I didn’t expect you to bring him over. You really saved me a lot of troubles. On the other hand, to have you, the homeroom teacher, bring him over here, did something happened?”

“No, nothing of that sort. My being here is entirely because Lin Xiang’s performance in school has been stellar, and today, due to some minor issue, it resulted in him being unable to summon any spirits and has caused him to be quite disheartened. It is such a pity. So! For the sake of his bright future! I have decided to bring him over to the Headmaster’s Office and hope that the Headmaster can give him a bit of encouragement, and help him pull himself together! I have already given him some advice, but he is still the same; to have to bring him here, it really was my last resort….”

‘Motherf.u.c.ker, please! This human… is he for real? What do I have to do in order to be like him, to be able to lie so smoothly, so righteously? This… even exceeds the level of that shameless Yalide.’

‘d.a.m.n Freed!!! You think that you are all that just because you know a few swear words? Who are you calling “shameless”? Besides, how could you compare me, a great dragon G.o.d, with such a low-cla.s.s human?’

‘I apologize! To compare him to you was definitely an insult to him.’