How to deal with a runaway girl

Chapter 16

The room was lit by a single bulb. There were a few people in it and maybe three or four things, but it was otherwise empty. The room had only one door and no windows. The three men were sitting against the wall, bound and gagged. They watched in horror as the scene unfolded before their eyes. One man held a wooden sword, the other held a rope suspended from a beam strategically placed in the ceiling. Between them stood a large wooden tub. The room was filled with the sound of splashing water. This wooden tub must have been full of it. And the splash was caused by a man tied with a rope by his legs and lowered headfirst into the said tub.

"Midari-kun" Said the man with the sword to the tall Japanese man holding the rope. "Pull him out now, if he drowns or loses consciousness, the fun of punishment will stop way too early and this boy won't learn anything!"

"You're right, sensei" Midari nodded eagerly and, tensing his muscles, pulled the rope towards himself.

The punished man's head emerged from the water. The man spat out liquid and gasped desperately for air, but otherwise made no sound.

"Look at that Midari-kun, how fast he learns!" The man with the sword said with a smile, then he swung and hit the hanging man with it. The unfortunate man bit his lip almost to the point of bleeding so as not to scream in pain. "You see, he has already learned that if he even squeaks, he will land in the water. Smarter than I expected!"

And he hit him again. And again. And again.

"Huh?" The man with the sword leaned over the hanging man, listening. "Midari-kun, did he just gasp?"

"Yes, sensei"

"Then why don't you put him back down?" He asked, surprised.

"Because that would mean that we would have to drown him every time he took a breath, and that wouldn't be fair" The tall Japanese man explained politely.

"Oh, where did the good old days go..." The man with the sword sighed resignedly, shaking his head.

"Wait, you damn cook, I'll get you for this!" The hanging man couldn't stand it and screamed, to which the happy man swung and hit him with a whistle.

"Sensei, if I may, I would like to tell him something before I drown him again" Midari asked, to which the man with the sword graciously nodded.

"And I'll show you too, Green Demon!" The hanging man exclaimed in a burst of desperate courage.

"Do you know who this is?" Midari asked, not at all concerned about the threat, pointing his head at the man with the sword.

"Him?" The question surprised the hanging man. "This is the cook this girl works with all the time" He said dismissively.

Midari just sighed in disbelief.

"Oh, these young people... Sorry, sensei, these kids know about Demons, but they don't remember the Forest they came from" The hanging man froze when he heard these words and stared at the cook with silent panic. Although blood had been rushing to his head due to hanging upside down for some time, now he was pale as a wall. He understood what the tall Japanese meant.

"Onimori-san, the Demon Teacher, is standing in front of you"

Without giving him any more time to process this fact, Midari suddenly loosened the rope.

"By the way, Midari-kun..." Onimori looked at his student carefully. "I heard that you saved the little miss, I won't lecture you that you shouldn't have allowed this situation to happen at all, but I have been given to understand that those here have prepared very well. How did you find them?"

"Your right, sensei" Midari bowed, still holding the rope so that the hanging person's head was under water. "It's quite a simple matter, as soon as I noticed she wasn't coming back, I ran to the office to see what had stopped her. When I didn't find her there, I immediately called people together and we started looking for her all over the property and especially outside. But I noticed something was wrong. The new ones were nowhere to be found. A red light immediately went on in my head. As soon as I realized that it was their doing, I returned to the office and started looking for the nearest place where they could take her in a short time. And luckily, Miss Aki managed to scream, or rather she tried to. The rest happened as sensei guessed"

"Well, you and that hearing of yours, Murasakidori-kun has always envied you... I'm just a little surprised that they survived long enough to be punished... Worse day...?"

"No way, sensei!" The tall Japanese denied it eagerly. "It's just that it's so hard to find new employees these days..."

"Midari-kun"

"Yes, sensei?"

"Your precious new employee has stopped blowing bubbles"

"Ah!" Shouted Midari, who, while explaining the situation to his teacher, completely forgot about the submerged hanged man.

The tall Japanese quickly pulled the hanged man out, but it seemed it was too late. Onimori looked at him indifferently and struck him in the stomach with a well-aimed sword blow. A real fountain gushed from the hanged man's mouth. Brought back to life, he choked, spat and snorted, greedily gasping for life-giving air. But Onimori didn't let him rest.

"You wanted to! Put! Your dirty! Hands! On! Your! Boss! Girl!" The man growled through clenched teeth, hitting the hanged person with a wooden sword after each word, completely unconcerned that the hanged person was breaking the rules and screaming loudly in pain. "So! Nice! Girl!"

With the last blow, he swung so hard that the sword shattered as it hit the hanging man's body.

"Midari-kun. Drown him" He added impatiently.

The hanging man saw a hint of opportunity. Holding his breath underwater, he thought that since the sword was broken, maybe the punishment would end or be suspended. However, as soon as he was pulled out again, all his hopes fell apart just like that first sword.

A crowd of people was pouring into the room, those at the front carrying armfuls of wooden swords in their arms. The crowd consisted of all the Japanese working in the kitchen, the gardener, and a few guards.

"Onimori-san, please forgive us" Said one of the cooks, bowing apologetically. He was one of those holding armfuls of wooden swords. "Most boken shops were already closed, but luckily we managed to find at least a few"

"You did well" Onimori praised them. "I was just starting to get a little bored, and above all, this punishment is designed for two people to hit the punished person" He added instructively. 

"Yes, Onimori san!" They all shouted at the same time.

The four former new employees had a really long night ahead of them.