Chapter 195: Contacting Chairman Sakayanagi!
That disgusting employee from the after-sales service area had recognized Airi as Shizuku from Twitter, and Yuto had even told him that he was Airi's boyfriend.
So there was no doubt about it.
The person secretly photographing Airi, writing those disturbing messages, and leaving the photos for her was definitely that man.
Yuto slowly exhaled and forced down the anger rising inside him. Right now, he wanted nothing more than to go to Keyaki Mall and kill that disgusting bastard from the after-sales service area.
He set the photographs aside and wrapped both arms around Airi, holding her tightly enough that their bodies almost seemed to melt together.
"Don't be afraid, Airi. I'm right here with you."
"Mm."
Although Yuto's embrace was a little tight, it only made Airi feel safer. She quietly explained, "I found these things inside my shoe locker when school ended this afternoon."
"Before I opened the envelope, I thought it might be from you, because you're always surprising me with things..."
Instead of a surprise from Yuto, however, the envelope had contained something terrifying enough to send chills down her spine.
"Then why didn't you tell me as soon as you saw the photos?" Yuto asked in confusion. "Didn't we agree that you'd contact me immediately whenever something happened?"
"Because you had important things to do this afternoon. How could I interrupt you..." Airi answered softly.
That afternoon, Yuto had needed to represent the student council while delivering the complaints from the other three classes to Class D. After that, he still had the club qualification tests to handle.
That was why Airi hadn't immediately told him about the secretly taken photographs.
"Airi, you're seriously too stupid sometimes!"
Yuto pinched her waist.
"Yuto, that hurts..."
The pain wasn't actually very strong, but Airi still complained in her usual soft voice.
"What hurts? I barely used any strength."
Yuto rubbed the spot with mild annoyance and firmly told her, "And remember this, Airi. Nothing I'm doing is more important than you. If you ever run into trouble again, tell me immediately."
"Mm..."
A sweet smile appeared on Airi's face as she buried herself against his chest.
The warmth of Yuto's touch gradually spread through her, making her feel safe again. Much of the fear and unease those photographs had caused began to fade.
"Then... Yuto, what are we going to do?"
"Leave it to me."
Yuto narrowed his eyes, his voice turning cold.
"I'll make sure he understands exactly what happens when someone frightens you."
"You can't do anything reckless, okay? There are surveillance cameras everywhere in this school. It would be bad if you got caught on camera," Airi hurriedly warned him.
She was genuinely worried Yuto might lose control because of her.
After all, this wouldn't be the first or second time he'd done something reckless for Airi.
There had even been one occasion when things had nearly become fatal.
In fact, Airi's fear that Yuto might do something extreme and get expelled was the main reason she hadn't told him about the photographs immediately.
Unfortunately for her, Chabashira had noticed something was wrong and informed Yuto directly.
Even if she hadn't, Yuto would eventually have noticed Airi's strange mood himself and questioned her until he learned about the photographs anyway.
"Relax, Airi. I'm not some hotheaded kid anymore. I won't do anything reckless."
"But Yuto... you're only seventeen. You're still a very young person," Airi weakly pointed out as she raised her head from his chest.
"I mean I'm much more mature now than I was a few years ago."
Yuto affectionately pinched her pale cheek. Her skin was so smooth that it reminded him of a freshly peeled boiled egg, making it difficult to let go.
The warmth against her cheek brought a faint blush to Airi's face.
She tilted her head upward and gave Yuto a brief kiss.
Seeing that she was already brave enough to kiss him, Yuto figured the photographs probably weren't frightening her nearly as much anymore.
"Airi, go help Chabashira-sensei prepare dinner. I need to call someone and deal with this stalker, okay?"
"Mm."
Airi obediently nodded, stretched out her legs, and climbed out of his embrace before heading toward the kitchen.
At the corner, she turned back and gave Yuto a smile when she noticed he was still watching her.
Only then did she disappear from sight.
Once Airi's familiar figure vanished around the corner, Yuto pulled out his phone and called Chairman Sakayanagi Narumori.
...
At that moment, Chairman Sakayanagi was having dinner with Sakayanagi Arisu.
When his phone suddenly rang, he stopped eating and pulled it from his pocket. The moment he saw the caller, surprise appeared on his composed face.
Arisu glanced over curiously.
"What's wrong, Father? You look like you've seen a ghost."
Chairman Sakayanagi chuckled at her teasing.
"The person calling me really is someone certain people describe as a demon."
"Hm?"
Arisu paused briefly before instinctively asking, "Shimizu is calling you?"
"So even you think Shimizu is a demon?"
"I don't personally think that. Some students in my class call him a demon or an evil spirit, so I simply guessed."
Arisu quickly shifted back to the important point.
"But that's not important. Why is Shimizu calling you at this hour?"
"I don't know either."
Chairman Sakayanagi shook his head.
The last time Yuto had contacted him at around this hour, he had revealed that Ayanokouji Atsuomi wanted Ayanokouji Kiyotaka expelled and asked him to ensure that Kiyotaka remained at the school.
What could tonight's call be about?
"Arisu, keep eating. I'll take this call."
"Okay."
Chairman Sakayanagi left the table with his phone.
Arisu continued eating, though she became somewhat distracted. She was quite curious about why Yuto had called her father.
"Hello, Shimizu?"
"Yeah, old man. It's me."
Chairman Sakayanagi couldn't detect anything unusual from Yuto's familiar tone.
"Why are you calling at this hour?"
"I want to talk to you about a security issue at this school. Are you free later? I'd rather come speak to you in person."
Yuto stared coldly at the secretly taken photographs as he spoke.
"A security issue? And serious enough that you want to come here personally instead of discussing it over the phone?"
Chairman Sakayanagi looked genuinely surprised.
He knew Yuto well enough to understand that the boy never contacted him without a reason.
If Yuto wanted to meet face-to-face rather than explain everything over the phone, then whatever security issue he had discovered was probably serious.
"Yeah. Pretty serious."
Yuto's voice remained calm.
"Serious enough that it makes me want to do something illegal."
That sounded extremely serious.
Whatever Chairman Sakayanagi imagined after hearing those words, he immediately warned, "Shimizu, don't do anything reckless!"
Yuto clicked his tongue.
"If I intended to do something reckless, I wouldn't be calling you. Old man, let's meet at your office at eight o'clock."
"Why my office?" Chairman Sakayanagi instinctively asked.
"Because the chairman's office has access to surveillance footage from across the school, right? I want to show you the security problem this school has."
"I see. All right. We'll meet in my office at eight."
"Good. You'd better thank me properly afterward, old man. Otherwise, you might have reached retirement without ever realizing this school had such a disgusting security risk."
"...What exactly is this security risk you're talking about?"
"It's difficult to explain over the phone. I need you to pull up surveillance footage too, so we'll talk when I get to your office."
"Fine."
Chairman Sakayanagi ended the call and muttered to himself, "Shimizu sounded unusually serious. Does this school really have some security problem that even I don't know about?"
"I've been at this school for quite a while and never noticed any security problems, Father. Is Shimizu perhaps trying to frighten you?"
Arisu's voice suddenly came from behind him.
Chairman Sakayanagi turned around helplessly.
"Arisu, eavesdropping on other people's phone calls isn't a good habit."
"I wasn't eavesdropping. I just happened to finish dinner, happened to walk over here, and happened to accidentally hear your voice," Arisu replied with a cheerful smile.
Chairman Sakayanagi wasn't particularly bothered by her listening.
"Shimizu isn't the type to exaggerate. If he says there's a security risk at this school, then one probably does exist."
Arisu raised her eyes toward her father.
"Father, you seem to trust Shimizu a great deal. What exactly happened between the two of you that made you trust him so much?"
"Nothing happened between us. Shimizu and I simply met in a park and played a few games of chess."
"That answer again."
A faint look of dissatisfaction appeared on Arisu's delicate face.
Every time she asked how her father had met Yuto and what had happened between them, he always brushed her off with the same explanation.
Arisu was convinced there had to be more to their relationship.
There was no way two people with such a large age difference had become genuine friends purely because they enjoyed playing chess together.
Seeing the suspicion in Arisu's eyes, Chairman Sakayanagi changed the subject.
"Arisu, you've already finished dinner. You should return to the student dormitory and rest."
"I'd like to sit in your office for a while," Arisu replied.
"..."
...
Airi entered the kitchen.
Chabashira, wearing an apron as she cooked, turned toward her and immediately noticed that the gloomy look from earlier had disappeared.
It seemed that troublesome brat Shimizu had done a good job comforting her.
"Sakura, are you okay now?"
"Mm. I think I'm fine now. Thank you for worrying about me, Chabashira-sensei."
Airi gave her a shy but sincere smile.
"Since you're fine, come over here. I'll keep teaching you how to cook."
Chabashira was curious about what had been troubling Airi, but only mildly so. She had no intention of forcing the girl to explain something private.
"Mm-hmm!"
Airi put on her pink apron and walked over to Chabashira, focusing seriously on learning how to cook.
After all, Airi had set herself the goal of becoming Yuto's wife someday.
And in her mind, a perfect wife needed to be good at cooking.
...
Yuto entered the kitchen after finishing his call with Chairman Sakayanagi.
In the kitchen, both Chabashira Sae and Sakura Airi were wearing aprons.
Although their curvaceous figures were concealed by the aprons, wearing them still revealed their feminine charm of being virtuous wives.
Sakura Airi looked at Yuto who came to her side. He affectionately pinched Sakura Airi's cheek, then smiled and said, "Airi, I made an appointment with Chairman Sakayanagi to go to his office at eight o'clock, and then deal with that peeping tom."
"If everything goes smoothly, he won't still be working at this school tomorrow."
"Mm..."
Airi obediently nodded.
Chabashira looked at Yuto in surprise.
From that single sentence, she immediately understood what had been troubling Airi.
Someone had secretly photographed her.
While they continued preparing dinner, Chabashira found an opportunity to move closer to Yuto and quietly ask, "Shimizu, which student was secretly photographing Sakura?"
"Who said it was a student?"
"...It wasn't?"
"No. Just like you, Chabashira-sensei, he's an employee hired by this school."
Chabashira's brows immediately furrowed.
Yuto asked, "If a school employee secretly photographs and harasses a student, are there penalties for that?"
Chabashira thought for a moment.
"I remember the school's employee contract having rules against harassing students. I just don't remember exactly what punishment applies."
"As long as the employee contract includes punishment for harassing students, that's enough. My biggest concern was that there wouldn't be any consequences at all."
A cold smile appeared on Yuto's face.
Chabashira Sae's expression was slightly stunned. The Yuto she always saw mostly had a smiling, friendly expression, but at this moment, Chabashira Sae saw the side of Yuto that smiled coldly.
Yuto's handsome and dashing face, coupled with this cold smile, further highlighted his dominance and charm as a male.
Chabashira Sae, who was slightly entranced, snapped back to reality from Yuto's cold smile. Pursing her lips, she moved her gaze away from Yuto.
'Don't let your imagination run wild... This is your student, and your student already has a girlfriend, and more than one girlfriend at that!'
…
(Don't forget to vote, review, and leave a comment below! :D The more you vote, the more chapters I upload.)
...
Read more chapters(25+):
patréon.com/U22
(Note: Replace "é" with "e" on your web browser.)