Kahawara practically had to drag himself out of the office because his legs refused to listen to him.
Not with the fear coursing through his body at this moment.
He kept his head down, avoiding the burning stares from the colleagues around him and finally breathed a sigh of relief when he closed the door after leaving.
But when he looked up, he realized that he'd jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire.
Because there were students all around him who narrowed their eyes once they saw him, the phones in their hands signaling their awareness of the situation.
He couldn't stand them looking at him.
"Ph-Phones are not allowed during schooltime!" he yelled. "Put them away right now!"
However, instead of the usual compliance they showed him, all he received at this moment were cold snorts and hushed whispers.
"What a piece of shit," one of them said under their breath, which everyone could hear clearly with how quiet the area was.
Kahawara's face flushed red, and he considered confronting the student for a brief second.
But he deflated once he remembered he didn't have much status anymore, unless the Principal somehow took his side.
Though that was impossible.
He turned away from them and made his way towards the Principal's office, his speed just shy of a proper jog as he navigated his way through the throng of students who were roaming around during lunchtime.
The whispers around him sounded far more deafening than the annoying shouts he sometimes had to deal with from time to time, and his jaw clenched as he quickened his pace further.
Thankfully, the Principal's office wasn't too far, and he felt like a load was lifted off his shoulder when he saw that the corridor where it was located was completely empty.
He could still hear the voices behind him, though, as if they were following him to see his despair for a bit longer, so he threw aside all the hesitation inside of him and entered the Principal's office without pausing to knock.
And once he did, he wished he hadn't.
Because he had forgotten that he wasn't the only one who had been summoned to her office.
Yagami Reiji and Fujikawa Noa were already there, waiting on the chairs in front of the large desk where the Principal sat.
"....Are you so rattled by your failure that you've forgotten basic manners? Why didn't you knock?"
The Principal's always smiling face was utterly cold as she eyed Kahawara with a stern demeanor.
"I.....I apologize," he murmured. "But I didn't do it! I was framed!"
His only choice now was to deny, deny, and deny until hell froze over.
"Then how do you explain the video?"
"It was taken out of context!"
Before the Principal could retort, Reiji's chuckle filled with derision echoed through the room.
"Seriously?" he asked. "I know you didn't have much time to think of an excuse, but is that the best you've got?"
Kahawara's face contorted, and he glared at Reiji with undisguised animosity.
"You!" he screeched. "Did you have something to do with this?!"
Nothing else would make sense.
Minato was too stupid to think of such a plot, let alone how he even managed to record him without any visible cameras.
But if this guy, who was the heir of a Yakuza syndicate, was somehow the one who was behind everything, all the puzzle pieces would fit, even if the image wouldn't be crystal clear.
And yet, the smug smile on the brat's face only grew as he shrugged.
"Hey, hey! What do you mean by that? I'm the victim in this situation, you know? I should be the one asking the questions here!"
"Cut the bullshit! It has to be you!"
"Listen, even IF I was somehow genius enough to sniff you out, which I honestly don't mind taking the credit for, it still doesn't change the fact that you really were the one who made the first post. You don't actually think you can still cover it up, do you?" Reiji laughed, leaning back in his seat.
The amusement in his expression was clear as day, and Kahawara had to resist the urge to throw a punch at his annoying face with every shred of willpower in his body.
Also, because he knew he'd be the one getting beaten up if he really tried it anyway.
"Yagami-san, please stop deliberately riling him up," the Principal sighed, brushing aside the stray strands of hair from her face. "And you, Kahawara-san. The goal right now isn't trying to find out how you were caught, but whether the recent post has any truth to it. If you insist on denying your involvement, that's fine. But keep in mind that we will come at you with the full force of the law if you choose to do so, once we confirm the facts. Confess now, and maybe we can work something out."
Kahawara stumbled for a step or two, his legs almost giving way from despair.
All hope had gone out the window at this point, and he knew there were no chances left.
He exhaled shakily and walked towards the third remaining chair on the other end of the table and sat down, his body melting into the cushion.
"....I did it."
A simple confession, but a confession nonetheless.
"Why?" the Principal asked.
"The post encapsulated most of it. Because I knew the monthly meeting was coming up, and with the complaint that the President filed against me, I knew my job was at risk....I was scared."
"So you decided to attack two of your students for such a selfish reason?"
"You'd never understand," Kahawara sneered, glaring at the narrow-eyed woman with rage. "For someone who was given this position, you'd never understand the work I had to put in to finally win a position at this school! It was my dream, the one thing that had kept me going throughout the YEARS I wasted on snot-nosed brats that drove me insane! I love this job, and I damn well wasn't going to just sit back and watch as it was taken away from me!"
His voice kept getting angrier as he spoke, his volume rising along with the veins on his forehead.
But the Principal didn't have a single change in her expression.
"....Let's make one thing clear. You were the one who threw your position away. No one took it from you. Especially when you account for the fact that the board had decided to simply give you a warning. We weren't going to fire you."
When her last words fell, Kahawara's jaw dropped, and he stood up abruptly.
"Wh-What?"
"The meeting was held this morning after the assembly. We didn't know about your role in this...fiasco yet, and the majority voted for a warning to be issued to you because they couldn't be bothered to launch a proper investigation," she explained in a soft tone. "So all of this? It was all for nothing."
"O-Oh..."
Kahawara didn't sit back down.
He turned around instead and reached for the door.
"Where are you going?" the Principal frowned. "We're not done yet."
But all she got was a half-hearted wave from the man who looked like he had lost his soul.
His face had gone completely pale, the exact opposite of the red-faced fury he had shown just a few seconds ago.
"I'm going home. I'm done," he muttered with almost no energy, and then slammed the door shut, leaving the office to descend into an awkward silence.
"...."
***
Reiji blinked at the closed door in bewilderment.
'....Why do I feel kinda bad?'
At first, he had held back a laugh when he heard the Principal say that they had decided not to fire him before this, but after seeing the impact it had on the old man, there was actually a trace of pity.
Just a trace.
He wasn't sympathetic enough to overlook the shit he had done.
"....Well, that ended anti-climactically," the Principal spoke up, still taken aback at the turn of events.
"Is he going to be fired?" Noa suddenly asked.
Reiji glanced at her and saw no emotion in her eyes.
'....Yeah, she doesn't give a fuck, does she?'
"Obviously. That'll be the least of it. We're more focused on whether we should report him to the police or not. What do you two think?"
She tossed the question to the two of them with a hint of curiosity.
Noa didn't say anything, turning to Reiji to see his opinion first.
"Um...Well, aside from the cheating allegations, I wasn't affected that much by the post. It was the President who really suffered, so I think she should be the one to offer her suggestion."
He didn't care as long as Kahawara didn't set foot inside the school again, but he would still prefer it if he went to jail for this.
If it came from him, someone from the Yakuza, the Principal might not take his opinion so seriously.
So he handed over the decision to Noa, whom he was sure wouldn't be kind-hearted.
"....I think we should hand all the evidence to the Police and let them decide his punishment," Noa replied after taking a moment to think about it.
".....I see."
The Principal rested her elbows on the desk and propped her chin up, her brows furrowed in deep thought.
".....Those old coots won't like this. But you're right. It wouldn't be fair to the two of you if his only punishment was losing his job."
Reiji relaxed, the tension in his body ebbing away once she said that.
Though he had hidden it pretty well, he had actually been quite stressed about this entire event from start to finish, wondering where things could go wrong and how he could prepare for it.
And now that it had worked out for the most part, he could feel the exhaustion starting to set in.
But before he could really enjoy this victory, the Principal continued speaking with a knowing smile.
"Now....Let's talk about how you managed to figure out that Kahawara-san was behind all this. Shall we, Yagami-san?"
'....Ugh.'