Lesson Learned

You should have kept hitting

Her brother wasn't a violent person, no matter how angry he was, he wouldn't think of hitting someone; he'd just use his words instead.

But she'd had realised very early on that all seemed to go out of the window when concerning her.

Like when they were eight and a much older boy had lifted her skirt in the hallway and then laughed with all his friends when she'd screamed and Rio had tried to hit him.

Mitsuko was sat next to her brother outside their Primary School Principal's office where their dad was inside speaking to Principal Hiroshima about the fight Gakushuu had gotten into and why her brother was currently holding an icepack to his swollen shut left eye.

Gakushuu numbly stared at the wall while Mitsuko kept shooting him unsure looks, wanting to apologise for getting him into trouble.

She hadn't even told him what had happened about the boy pulling up he skirt, but someone in class must have because the next thing she knew at lunch time he was on top of the boy beating him bloody while everyone else huddled around and watched.

The older boy's face had been so swollen and blotchy from the punches it looked like he'd had poison ivy smothered over his face.

Mitsuko grimaced and held his hand. "...Sorry."

His brow furrowed faintly, glancing at her. "Why?"

"Because I got you in trouble," she mumbled.

He sighed, shrugging. "It's fine. Someone had to teach that moron a lesson." He looked at his knuckles which still had blood on them. "Now he knows better."

They both tensed when the door opened and their dad walked out with Principal Hiroshima.

"I'm so sorry for the trouble," dad said brightly; his smile making Mitsuko feel a rise of dread.

"It's alright." The Principal shook their dad's hand. "I'm sorry you had to come all the way down but I had to follow procedure and your wife wasn't reachable."

"Yes, she's staying with family," dad lied, making both Mitsuko and her brother scowl. "I would like to extend my apologies to the poor boy, though." His smile tightened. "I hear he was quite injured."

"It wasn't anything serious – I've already suspended him and spoken with his parents" Principal Hiroshima replied dismissively. "He's a troublemaker anyway, I know Gakushuu was just defending himself."

Mitsuko frowned, because that wasn't really the truth since Gakushuu was the one who attacked the older boy first—

"Well, apologies for the trouble," dad said, smiling politely. "I'll make sure to buy you a drink when we meet up with the others next week."

That seemed to make their Principal laugh and pat their dad on the shoulder. "I'll hold you to it."

Her frown grew as she watched Principal Hiroshima go back into his office.

Dad's smile dropped the second their principal turned away and was out of ear shot. "Well this was a waste of time."

The two of them stiffened, drawing closer to each other.

"It's my fault," Mitsuko said quickly, as their dad looked down at them. "Gakushuu was defending me because that boy lifted my shirt in front of some older boys!"

"Yes, I'm aware." Dad sounded irritated as he looked at her brother."...And if you were going to earn a black eye over this, the least you could have done was put the boy in the hospital."

She looked up in shock while Gakushuu frowned.

"...I tried," her brother muttered.

"Clearly not hard enough." Dad bent down and gripped his jaw, making him wince when the ice pack was pulled away. "You should have kept hitting." Their dad's eyes narrowed, holding Gakushuu's jaw tight while they looked at each other. "If you're going to beat your enemy into submission, you make sure they can't get up." He turned his jaw to examine the large purple blemish on his face. "And don't be stupid enough to do it in front of witnesses."