Our Teacher is a Yakuza Princess

Chapter 4

As Shin walked toward school that morning, he paused on the bridge. This is usually where he napped on the hillside until whenever he wanted, then strolled into school late like he didn't care. Because he didn't. He looked at his watch. School would start in ten minutes. If he kept walking, he'd arrive right on time. Ordinarily, that would be too ridiculous to consider, but... for some reason, going to class seemed more interesting than napping. Plus, he could always sleep at his desk.

So Sawada Shin arrived on time for school, which amazed and unsettled his friends. If Shin was on time, maybe something else impossible would happen.

"Do you think there'll be a natural disaster today?" Uchi drawled, but he sounded like his heart wasn't in it. Shin looked up to try and see what was wrong. He wasn't beat up, and he didn't look sick. Shin added Uchi to his list of things to think about. This list included the fact that he had seen Yankumi talking with two cops outside the school. He purposefully left off the list the fact that on the night Yankumi claimed she had a group date, Minami saw her with some cops. The possibility of her dating anyone was laughable, and Shin found that he didn't like thinking about it much. So. Worrying about Uchi and cops, not worrying about Yankumi and dates. Ew.

While Shin was pondering his list, he watched detachedly as the green-striped shirt guys (he could never remember their names. He was pretty sure they were twins. Or at least brothers.) set up a block of flour above the door. And Yankumi walked in with a cheery hello and got flour all over herself in response.

He grinned slightly as she just stood there, covered in white as a chorus of "Ba-ka! Ba-ka!" echoed around the room.

"Quit it!" She shouted in her scary voice. "Sit up straight this instant!"

Shin's grin grew a little wider. This was totally worth skipping his nap.

After homeroom was over and they were on a break, the newspaper article about the possible student thief started circulating the room. Everyone had a story about how all the adults immediately suspected them, whether at a convenience store or at school. Shin, however was focused on Uchi. He seemed distracted and worried. After he agreed with Noda without really listening to what he had said (always dangerous), Shin moved over and asked what was wrong.

"Hm? Nothing." Uchi said with an unconvincing smile. Shin knew he was lying, but didn't want to push. That's how you lost friends.

Uchi stood up. "I'm gonna skip today. Gotta jet." He walked out, ignoring the cries of protest from his friends.

"He's been acting kinda strange lately." Minami commented. Shin grew more worried. If even Minami noticed, it must be pretty bad.

When math with Yankumi was over, Shin also decided to take the rest of the day off. He wasn't going to follow Uchi, because that'd be sneaky and wrong. But he could just happen to pass by the places Uchi often went. Nothing wrong with that.

Sure enough, as he walked through one of the downtown arcades, he heard one of the consoles say "You lose!" in an incredibly condescending way and a familiar voice cursing at it. Shin sat down across the way and watched Uchi slam into the manager accidently and tell him to watch it. The Uchi he knew would at least mutter an apology before walking off. Angry Uchi meant worried Uchi, which in turn meant a worried Shin.

The mountains of posters declaring "Beware of Purse-Snatcher!" on the way to school didn't help. Especially since the drawing was of a figure in a uniform similar to Shirokin's, and had blonde hair peeking out of the beanie he wore. The description was vague enough that really the only clues were the hair color and the fact that the muggings had occurred near the school. Head Teacher was going to have a field day with this.