Resist or be Buried by a Grave Accusation!

Walking into his homeroom class, Tani lets loose sigh that expels the pent up emotion that built from his morning routine to the conclusion of his conversation with Charl.

He allows himself to relax once in the comfort of his desk chair.

Between the sensations of being followed and the agitation of his newest member, to now feeling the butterflies of an exciting new development, he's found his energy level depleted well before the day's classes even start. So he plans to use these remaining minutes to recuperate before diving head first into his duties.

"Hello there, Akihiro-kun."

A sudden voice immediately shatters that plan and he stiffens right back up.

"!!"

Seems like the universe has other plans for him...

Coming into class 3-D is Principal Togashi. Although presenting himself as soft and friendly as possible to Tani, the Principal carries the presence of a demon with razor sharp teeth.

Despite initially being rattled, Tani mentally prepares himself for the incoming attack, he recollects his posture and sits astute in his seat. "I can't say I'm surprised to see you here, It's been you who has been following me I see."

"Following you?"

"To think you’d go from shackling me with Anita to this, stooping so low is beneath your title as Principal."

"Excuse me?"

"Let me guess, you decided to take a page out of my book and set up cameras to track what I do? I can't imagine you're spry enough to sneak around behind my back, did you hire someone to spy on me on your behalf?"

Tani throws out accusations with the ease of someone who stumbled down a conspiracy rabbit hole on the internet.

"Akihiro-kun," Togashi says with a tilt of his head. “Why would I need to follow you around if I know exactly where you'll be every day?"

"Then what are you doing here?"

"I'm simply here to provide Yoshikawa-sensei with his much needed chair. To be honest, I had forgotten about giving it to Anita-san last week. Picturing my pitiful kouhai standing up all day made me feel quite guilty."

Togashi rolls in an office chair from outside the door, and seems to be feigning fragility while doing so. If it were anyone else, Tani would certainly get up from his desk to help, but he reads every action the Principal makes as nefarious.

"You couldn't care less about him, I'll believe that when you fess up to your toilet debacle and clear his name."

"Heh, we're two birds of the same feather. You could just as easily clear his name by doing that for me." Togashi says, taking a seat in the new office chair and using his legs to roll himself to Yoshikawa's desk. "Then again, we'd both lose out if you did. You care more about what's important to you than him, the same exact way I care more about what's important to me."

Tani clicks his tongue upon being confronted by his callousness; being so accurately compared to his arch rival pinches a nerve.

"So you’re admitting that you’re using that chair as an excuse to meet me here?"

The principal's expression casts a shadow on itself when he says, "I don't need an excuse to come talk to you." Standing to his feet, Togashi thinks he sees an opening. "Although I haven't been following you around, I have taken the liberty to do a little digging into your past."

"Is that so?" Tani shores up his posture, doing his best to camouflage any reaction to the implicit threat. "Unlike you, my life isn't filled to the brim with job threatening misadventures. I am but a simple genius student, I've always been that way."

A knowing smirk surfaces on Togashi’s face.

"You lie like a politician already I see."

Tani answers the hostility of that statement with silence and a cold quizzical glare.

"As your Principal, I have access to every student's educational history dating all the way back to primary school. While you've been distracted by your work with Anita-san, I took it upon myself to see how qualified you really are to teach her."

"If you think I'm unqualified, you wouldn't have been dumb enough to force her on me."

Togashi's eyebrows shrink and expand, he's very obviously holding back his anger behind his soft smile. "It's not about what I think."

Now this piques Tani's interest.

"Though the academic board of TIU has taken my word on your capabilities, I felt it best to have data pertinent to your grades at hand in case they asked about why I vouched for you in the first place."

"I'm sure straight A's and being at the top of the Kokusai high school rankings is more than enough to appease any curiosity of theirs."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that."

An unpleasant sweat slides down Tani's temple.

"You see, Akihiro-kun. I've noticed something that may be of concern to the board if they ever found out."

"And what might that be?"

It's moments like these that Tani has trained himself for, it's very apparent that some sort of bombshell is about to drop, so he should be able to lean into the many hours of composure work he's undergone.

However…

His heart rate has skyrocketed and his face is hot.

The Principal thinks he can sense it. Not long ago, he was afflicted by the same ailments. Being presented with evidence that could potentially destroy many years worth of work is not for the faint of heart.

Neither of them are immune.

Togashi doesn't hide how rewarding it is to flip the script on his devious student, he broadcasts it to Tani as a way of shrinking him down to size.

"For your entire school career, your grades were mediocre at best. But then suddenly it jumped to straight A's right after the summer break of your final year in middle school."

This is exactly where Tani thought the direction this conversation was heading, but hearing it out loud still inflicts a crushing blow.

"..."

"So naturally, I can't help but wonder how and why it is that such a dramatic change would occur?”

Tani remains silent, his perfect posture is altered by the clenched fists he hides behind on his lap.

“Will you entertain me with an answer to my most pressing question?” Togashi asks.

“...”

“Akihiro-kun…Is that when you started cheating?”

The universe continues to take course.

But this time, Tani must resist.

Today’s UN Lesson --- To be continued!