Resisting the Invasion (Part 3)

Walking into his homeroom class, Tani lets loose sigh that expels the pent up emotions of his conversation with Charl. 

He allows himself to relax. 

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."

“!!”

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

Sitting on Yoshikawa's desk 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. Our resident high schooler prepares himself for an incoming attack.

Doing his best to avoid communicating any discomfort, Tani pushes his glasses further up his nose before saying, "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 now following me around. 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. He's been rattled by the series of accumulative events since he's gotten to school, and he's unintentionally broadcasting it.

"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?"

That explanation does enough to snap Tani back into his senses, he immediately realizes he's running the risk of making a fool of himself if he continues down that path. Clearing his throat, he quickly changes the subject.

"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."

"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. But 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 must confess, I haven't been following you around, but I have done myself a little digging into your past."

"Is that so? 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 doesn't even budge despite instantly sensing the hostility of that statement. He answers it 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. "Well, It's not about what I think."

Now this piques Tani's interest.

"Though the academic board of TIU has taken my word about 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 lips are quivering. His heart rate has skyrocketed. His face is hot.

The principal can see this as clear as day, not long ago, he was inflicted with these same uncomfortable sensations. Being presented with evidence that could potentially destroy many years worth of work is not for the faint of heart.

Togashi doesn't hide how rewarding it is to flip the script on his devious student.

"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 happen.”

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

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

“....”

“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!