Everchanging

We'll Get Better

!!TW!! Discussion on self-harm, Discussion on panic attacks, self-hatred

Tengen's phone chimed with a text message. He wasn't sure if he's ever felt this angry and scared in his whole life as he stood in his boss' office just a few feet from the students that started this all. A quick glance at his phone told him that Obanai had texted him, having stayed back in case anyone returned.

Found him.

We're in the Shinobu's office now.

Meet us there when you guys finish up.

He sighed heavily, shifting his phone so Kyojuro could read it. If they were heading to Shinobu's office that meant Genya was hurt. And if he was hurt that meant it was these students' faults. However none of them seemed to be worried as Kagaya sat at his desk, eyes staring right through the kids.

"Do you all understand why you're here?" He finally spoke, his voice calm and steady. Tengen was honestly surprised, he wouldn't have been able to exude this level of calmness even if he tried.

"Cause some kid can't take a joke." The boy rolled his turquoise eyes as he crossed his arms, obviously upset at how much the situation had blown up. "It was just some stupid videos and pictures."

"Kaigaku, you and I both know that those weren't just some 'stupid videos and pictures'." Kagaya's eyes slimmed when the boy just scoffed, turning away and shutting down the conversation. The adult just sighed before addressing the other two students. "I'm going to have to call each of your guardians and inform them of this situation."

"What?!Why?!" The girl stopped twirling her white hair to gawk at the principal, her blue eyes wide and somewhat scared at being in trouble. "We didn't do anything wrong!"

"Ume, you and Kaigaku showed off videos and pictures that were sensitive towards Shinazugawa and you knew it. You were intending to get a rise out of him."

"Exactly! We were trying to get a rise out of him. How the hell were we supposed to know he was a crybaby!" Ume nearly screamed, standing from her seat as she felt wronged. Tengen used one hand to hold Kyojuro back while he coached himself to stay calm. "We didn't think he'd flip like that! Gyutaro just mentioned how shy he was in class so we wanted to get him out of his shell a bit."

"Yeah, Ume's right." Gyutaro smiled from where he stayed lounged in his chair. "We just wanted to help the kid out with a little prank. We didn't think it'd go this far."

Tengen couldn't take it anymore.

"We all know that's complete utter bullshit." Tengen spoke before he could stop himself, the whole room now looking at him. Kagaya's face was decidedly calm and unsurprised. Though, Tengen was sure he'd get scolded for cursing later.

"We both know that this wasn't some stupid prank. You wanted to harass him with those videos. Why else would you actually show them off? If it was a prank you wouldn't have done actual damage. If you actually wanted to 'help him out' you wouldn't have shown off videos and pictures that you had to have known would hurt him."

"That's not fair! It was a prank-"

"Even if it was a prank. That doesn't mean you're all innocent from the consequences. You walked into the lounge and showed off sensitive pictures of the kid's dead family and played a video from the worst day of his life. What did you think was going to happen? He isn't even fully healed physically from that night. What makes you think he's mentally healed?"

Tengen wondered if this was what Sanemi felt when he yelled at Shinobu the other night. Did he also have such a weak hold on his fury that one wrong step and he was done for? He couldn't stand it, looking at these kids and seeing the pure panic and devastation on Genya's face before he ran. He could still hear the shrill and heaving breaths coming from the boy as Tengen tried to stop him from running. But he was too fast and Tengen didn't want to touch him and make things worse, so he let the boy run as far as he needed to.