Chapter 83.1 – The rivals 1.1

Before he could say anything more, Sakamo lifted his right leg with such speed that Tashiro didn’t even see him move.

When he blinked because of the sudden gush of wind that messed up his perfect hair, Sakamo’s foot was mere millimetres from his nose, and his tone of voice was scary. “Don’t threaten me, boy. You are just a bug that I can squash easily, as if you were nothing. I checked you out online last night. You have some fame as a teenage model, and you are used to changing girlfriends as if they were shirts. You like to cause problems between couples and make the girls fall for you. When you get what you want, you dispose of them as if they are nothing. There are a bunch of rumours about girls that say you abused them by force, but it seems your agency spent a lot of money to shut them up. Don’t stand between me and Hangaku-chan, or you will find yourself in a scary place where you don’t want to be.”

When Sakamo lowered his foot and turned to go away, Tashiro gathered his courage and shouted, “What if she finds out that she prefers to be with me than with you? What are you going to do about that?”

A strong slap from behind hit his right cheek, and he bumped his head hard against the wall.

The voice of a furious Hangaku Mae spoke, as Tashiro Saito was turning around to see who hit him. “He won’t need to do anything, because I will end you, dumbass! Yesterday, those three bimbos tried to hit me with a ball. Now you dare to annoy my boyfriend? Are you all crazy or what? You are not even half the man that he is, stupid! How could I be seen near you? I already regret slapping you because I touched your disgusting face! Get out of my way, dumbass!”

Hangaku pushed Tashiro’s head against the wall with her open palm as she was going past him, and Tashiro hit his head on the wall again and went down on his knees, unable to stop the dizziness and weak legs.

Sadakichi Chiba rushed to him, and as she was preventing Tashiro from falling to the ground with his head first, she shouted, “You are going to regret this, you bitch! I will…”

In the next second, Hangaku was in front of her with her forehead against hers. “You will do what, bimbo? Roll on the floor and put your belly up for this dumbass to rub? You don’t have it in you to do a thing against me, considering you let him hit on any girl around with you near him. You should be ashamed of yourself. I wouldn’t ever let a guy act like that near me because I would slice his head off the first time he went after another girl.”

Hangaku backed away a little and watched as Sadakichi’s eyes flooded with tears. Not only because of anger but recognition, because Hangaku’s words hit her like solid bricks.

Hangaku got up and said, “You know I am right. Now it’s up to you to do something about it. Do you have enough self-esteem to stand tall and realise your full potential? Or will you continue acting like this guy’s doormat? Boys are supposed to love us and do everything we girls say, not the other way around!”

Hangaku left and held the right arm of a puzzled Sakamo, leaving behind a crying girl dealing with her demons and lack of courage.

Sakamo asked as they were walking to their classroom, “So I am supposed to do everything you say, is that it? Even if you tell me to do something I don’t want to do? Since when can you move that fast? That was utterly weird, Hangaku-chan!”

“I was angry, okay? Girls can do and say some crazy things when they are angry! Now tell me what happened for him to be shouting at you like that.”

Sakamo made an awkward smile. “I guess it was my fault. He surprised me, and I overreacted. He said he wanted to talk to me, but I didn’t even let him start. Not that I wanted to know, because I am pretty sure he only wanted to mess with me to have a shot at you.”

“Yeah, and those girls near him were helping by messing with me as well. Well, if they try anything, we will deal with them if necessary. Changing the subject, there is something I want to ask you. Do you have work after School today, or can you come to my house to have dinner and meet my parents?”

Sakamo made a hard stop in front of their classroom and asked, “Meet your parents? That’s awfully soon. I was hoping we could do that a few months from now. Why has it to be today?”

“Because you invited me to go with you to that fundraising event, that’s why. I told them you invited me, and they insisted they want to meet you, to be sure you are a good pretendant for me, considering that a lot of my parents’ acquaintances will be there as well. My mother asked me a lot of questions, and they weren’t too happy with my answers. At least my necklace granted me a few points with my mother because she said it looked extremely expensive, even with me telling her that you said it wasn’t. My father was very curious about the crystal, and I bet he will ask you a lot of questions about it because he collects crystals, and he said he never saw one like mine.”

Sakamo raised one eyebrow. “That will be a bother. It is probably better if after School I go home and change into some fancy clothes, then. I need to find a present as well. What about the recording studio?”

Hangaku shrugged as she entered the classroom. “I can go record some songs and arrive in time for dinner. Come a little before eight, because dinner is at eight-thirty. I will text you my address in a moment. Sorry for being on such short notice, but my parents are a little overprotective sometimes. The quirks of dating the heir of a rich family, you know?”

Sakamo nodded, thinking about what could be a good present and where he could buy it right after School.
The moment he sat at his desk, he took his phone and sent a message to his bodyguard, asking for advice on a present for a future mother-in-law, and he answered a few seconds later, saying that he would take care of it.
Sakamo put his phone in his pocket again, and a ringing sound came from the loudspeakers in the corridor.

Sakamo looked around, wondering why everyone suddenly went silent, listening, and a familiar voice was heard, coming from every loudspeaker in School, “Good morning students. This is your Principal. To prepare for the nationwide simulacrum next week, I want to warn everyone that we will do a few simulacrums this week. The government asked every School and business in our country to use this week to test their procedures so that everything could be fixed before the real deal. I will count on you all, and I must advise you to follow the guidance of your Teachers, the moment the alarm sounds. I also want to use this moment to ask the first-year students, Hangaku Mae and Sakamo Ryu, to come to my office during the first break. That is all for now.”

The entire class looked at Sakamo and then at Hangaku, and the mocking voice of Yoshinobu Tokuga interrupted the awkward silence that followed the Principal’s announcement. “What did you do this time, Sakamo-kun? It is always the same troublemaker! Shame on you! For a guy raised in a Shrine, you are a real bad boy, aren’t you?”

That remark made the entire class explode in laughter, and Sakamo scratched his cheek, embarrassed.
The History Teacher arrived, and everyone rushed to their place because they knew she didn’t like to see her students fooling around.
…

The moment the bell rang, announcing the break, Sakamo and Hangaku went to the Principal’s office.

When Sakamo held the door for Hangaku to enter, the secretary raised her eyes from the computer and forced a smile as she got up. “Sakamo-san and Hangaku-san, the Principal is expecting you. Follow me, please.”

The smiling woman knocked on the Principal’s office door, and when she heard his voice, she peeked inside and told him that the two students that he was waiting for had arrived. She held the door for them and closed it the moment Sakamo and Hangaku entered, returning to her desk and computer.
Inside, the Principal signalled with his open hand to the two chairs in front of his desk with a serious face, and Sakamo pulled a chair for Hangaku, and sat on the next one, facing the Principal in silence and waiting.

He cleared his throat and said, “Aham... Hangaku-san, it seems that lately, we are getting some unexpected attention from the media in front of the School’s gates. I hope you are taking proper precautions so that they do not step over any boundaries. I understand you are not to blame, but I need to ask that you avoid speaking to them at the gates so that they give up and go away. If you want or if you need to talk with the reporters, please do it away from School.”

“Since this morning, I started coming and going from School by car, with one of my father’s bodyguards. I don’t intend to talk with them. I know they don’t respect any boundaries, and they could annoy other students. It is enough that they annoy me, but I guess fame comes with some problems.”

“Well, I suppose you are used to gathering a lot of attention from the media because of your family, but I wasn’t expecting it to become like that. There is always a huge crowd out there all day long. This morning they stopped me from entering, asking me a bunch of questions about you, and I had some trouble getting rid of them. At least there is a big group of security guys and police officers, and they keep the reporters in check.”

Sakamo was in silence, wondering why he was called as well, but the Principal turned to him with a frown. “Sakamo-san, this is the second time you have come to this office, and I am wondering how many times you will come. It seems you caused quite a commotion at the gym yesterday. Care to enlighten me on what happened? Because Oki-sensei already told me her side of the story, I want to hear yours.”

“I suppose you could say she tried to uphold the School rules, but the problem was the way she did it. She smiled and laughed in such a way when I told her that I was a Shintoist that I found it disturbing, to say the least. She ordered me to take off my pendant, which I refused because it is a representation of my faith, and I promised my father, the Head Monk at my Shrine, that I would never take off that pendant. My classmates thought she was bullying and ridiculing me, and they got mad at her.”

“Well, it was more or less what she told me, but perhaps her laugh was too rude. Even she acknowledged it after I told her that you were indeed raised in a Shinto Shrine. Even with that, she has a point. It is too dangerous for you to do gymnastics with that pendant attached to that string that you seem to use under your clothes. We are now facing a dilemma. You can’t attend Oki-sensei class with that pendant, but we can’t order you to remove it because we can’t discriminate a student for their beliefs and faith.”

Sakamo slowly nodded. “I don’t mind not attending gymnastics, but I do mind removing my pendant. I would rather change Schools.”