Our Teacher is a Yakuza Princess

Chapter 22

After school, Shin and his friends tried to head home, but a crepe cart was parked along their way, and Kuma immediately pleaded with them to wait for him to get some. Grumbling and mumbling, the boys stood near a tree and waited for the line to crawl along.

It was a good ten minutes before Kuma made it to the window to order, and by then everyone was impatient and irritated.

"How long is he gonna keep us waiting, for Christ's sake." Uchi drawled.

Minami complained, "It's been fifteen minutes already!"

"His obsession with food is overwhelming." Noda added.

Before the tirade could continue, Kuma ran up with no less than four packages of crepes. "Thanks for waiting!"

"It took too long, Fatty." Uchi rebuked him, but the prospect of food made Kuma oblivious to insults from his friends.

"Sorry, sorry." He apologized with a smile. "Well then, it's time to eat-" But just before the first bite of crepe made it to his mouth, Kuma was suddenly accosted from behind, and all four crepes fell to the ground.

With an agonized cry, Kuma looked up from the fallen food to glare at the man who had bumped into him. Shin thought it was a little strange for the guy to be wearing both sunglasses and a hat, as well as clutching a black duffel bag as tight as he was.

"Watch where you're going!" Kuma shouted at him. Shin suspicions grew as the man simply gaped at them, then tried to hurry off. His chubby friend was not content with a frightened look, and ran after this enemy of delicious snacks.

"Wait just a minute!" Kuma demanded, grabbing the man's coat. The rest of the kids caught up to him and turned their own irritation from Kuma onto his attacker.

"How about an apology?" Uchi called out, striding towards them.

"How long do you think we had to wait?" Noda asked angrily.

Kuma saw an opening. "Pay for them!" He yelled into the man's ear. Shin, who was strolling along leisurely behind them (he wasn't all that interested in what was happening), saw the small man snap and attack Kuma with his duffel bag. The boy retreated for a bit, then he too, went on the offensive.

Kuma shoved the man back a few times, and when he fell over, the boy decided to continue the fight on the ground. Never ones to miss a dogpile, the other 3-D students shouted war cries and jumped on top of the combatants.

When the man stopped twitching, Shin decided it was time to intervene, and attempted to get the boys' attention.

"Stop that." He told them, "What if the police come?"

And as if his words had summoned him, a policeman on a bike screeched to a halt.

"Hey, what are you boys doing?" The cop demanded.

Surprised by the unusual promptness of the local law enforcement, all Shin could say was, "The police are already here."

"Get off him!" The cop said, parking his bike and pushing the boys off of the now unconscious man. "What do you kids think you're doing? Public harassment is illegal you know, and with what you've done to this poor man I should have you all-" The policeman gestured to their victim, then stopped suddenly. "Wait a minute…" he muttered to himself, then pulled a 'Wanted' poster from his pocket.

The boys, curious as always, leaned in for a look at the paper. They all glanced from the picture to the figure on the ground and back.

"It's…the same guy." Shin said after a moment. The cop stared, then immediately called in for back-up. As more cops arrived (including Mr. Handsome Detective-san, to Shin's annoyance), people started noticing, and reporters started arriving.