Our Teacher is a Yakuza Princess

Chapter 17

Shin froze as his brain went into overdrive.
Wait, what? She 'needs' me to 'come over' tonight. Like for a family celebration? Is she in trouble? Am I in trouble? Or like for a dinner? And is she inviting me to dinner as a poor hungry student, or dinner as a student who's nearly an adult? Or is she really asking me what it sounds like she's asking me, because that's really forward, and why now and ...what do I say? What do I want to say? (Yes?)

Before his brain could travel further along a path Shin did not want to explore at the moment, he tried to collect himself and figure out what Yankumi meant.

"What..." He was thinking of adding 'the hell' when Yankumi interrupted him.

"See, it turns out that Kawashima-sensei has an overnight training session for nurses so she needs someone to look after Yuta for the night and all I was doing was trying to explain how heartless everyone was for coming up with excuses for not taking him in and then all of a sudden Fujiyama-sensei volunteered me to host him, and I couldn't say that I can't because then I'd have to explain about my family business so I need someone to come with me and make sure my family acts like normal people."

Shin blinked as part of his mind was wondering how Yankumi could speak that long without taking a breath, another part put her previous request in this new context with a good amount of relief, and Shin decided that the small part that felt almost disappointed didn't exist.

He closed his eyes and took a calming breath. When he opened them, he saw Yuta peering around the classroom door to stare at both of them.

"Fine." Shin told her, too exhausted from his mental gymnastics to say anything else.

"Oba-chan. Are we leaving soon?" Yuta asked, and as tired as he was, Shin couldn't help but be amused as Yankumi's face went from angry eyes of steel to an incredibly fake fixed smile.

"Soon," she told him through clenched teeth. "And let's not call me oba-chan, kay?"

"Okay, oba-chan," Yuta responded, then ducked out of the door.

Shin could have sworn Yankumi growled at the kid before marching after him. Shaking his head with a slight smile, Shin knew that tonight was going to be interesting.

The three of them walked to her home, and Shin got the strange experience of having complete strangers bowing as they walked by. At first it was only a few people here and there, but as they passed through a marketplace a few blocks from her home, every single person there seemed to know her.

"Ojou! Welcome home!"

"Hello Ojou!"

"Ojou, how are you? Doing well?"

"Welcome back, Ojou!"

"Oh, Ojou, would you like some fresh octopus?"

Yankumi responded to each of them with a smile, occasionally explaining that the small boy was the son of a friend of hers, and introducing Shin as well. What weirded Shin out was that some of them already knew about him.

"Ah! The Young Master Shin! It's a pleasure to finally meet you!"

And before Shin could ask how in the world they had heard of him, he and Yuta were ushered out of the marketplace. Yankumi was walking slightly ahead of them, muttering mental notes to herself, when Shin felt a tug on his sleeve.

"Is oba-chan's real name Ojou?" Yuta asked curiously. Shin thought a moment. His first instinct was to answer 'no', but he had seen how offended Yankumi got at being called 'Old Lady'. However, normal people didn't really use 'Ojou' in everyday conversation, so if he called Yankumi 'Ojou', it might flatter her but confuse everyone else. And so, in consideration of Yankumi's 'delicate feelings', Shin came up with an alternative.