Our Teacher is a Yakuza Princess

Chapter 21

His decision lasted until the next day at school. He was trying to finish his book when the two students on eavesdropping duty ran into 3-D.

"There's been a development!" One shouted.

"Yankumi's omiai succeeds!" The other finished.

Shin immediately looked up as a seed of panic started to grow. She had agreed to date that pretentious bore of a human being? Why?

The rest of 3-D was also analyzing this new information.

"Seriously?"

"No way! He's just a guy with eccentric tastes, isn't he?" Noda asked the rest of the class and received a loud chorus of laughter. Shin glanced over and noticed Kuma looking thoughtful and dejected. Noda noticed as well and commented, "What's wrong, Kuma? What's the glum face for?"

When Kuma didn't answer, Uchi ran over and started poking and teasing him. "Chubby, are you by any chance in love with…?"

"No! That's not it." Kuma shoved them off roughly and moved over to the window. "I just thought… if she gets married, she might quit school."

The entire class went silent as Kuma's words hit them. Shin felt a sudden camaraderie as Kuma and the rest struggled with the same question he had months ago when he first found out about Yankumi's family. Noda, who disliked serious silence, tried to lighten the mood.

"Quitting work when you're married isn't the style nowadays." He assured the class (and himself). Everyone quickly jumped on this idea and agreed loudly.

"But you know…" Kuma interrupted them forcefully, then continued in a subdued tone. "…she has a one-track way of thinking sometimes."

Shin felt the ghost of a grin as he heartily agreed with Kuma's assessment. As silence once more fell over the classroom, Shin realized how much Yankumi meant to all of them. For Kuma to consider the future, to know how she thought about things, for Noda to come up with reasons for her to keep teaching, for the whole class to worry about her leaving them, Yankumi must mean a hell of a lot to everyone.

They were all pensive as they walked home, though Shin was more focused on why she had accepted stupid Mr. Omiai's offer to date rather than if she would leave them if she got married. He wanted to make sure it never got that far, for reasons he was unwilling to discuss at that time.

"It won't matter to us if Yankumi quits, will it?" Uchi asked them as they walked by a video game store. Minami and Noda agreed, then asked Shin what he thought. He shrugged to give himself time to come up with an answer, and was about to reply when a student wearing a vaguely familiar uniform rushed past them. Before Minami could ask what his problem was, they heard shouting from behind them. They turned and saw a man grabbing Uchi's arm and trying to drag him away. Shin came closer and asked what had happened.

The man looked even angrier and accused, "So, you had accomplices?" When the boys looked at each other in confusion, the guy's eyes widened. "Ah, you're Shirokin students, aren't you? No wonder!"

At this, the atmosphere changed from puzzlement to anger, and Shin could see fists clenching and jaws tightening.

"Come on!" The guy demanded and pulled at Uchi again.

"It was lying here!" Uchi protested, and Shin noticed he held a video game in his hand.

Kuma chimed in. "A guy bumped into me and dropped it."

Shin looked down the way where the kid had gone. "The guy that ran away was an Eisho student," Shin said, remembering what the uniform was.

"That guy, yeah. Catch him." Noda told the manager, pointing down the road.