Chapter 68
Found Out
The Vice Principal was livid, his piercing eyes scanning the scene. Elyna’s stomach plummeted. Merda, kuso, fuck! When Katayū’s gaze zeroed in upon her, her heart almost gave out.
“OUT!” He bellowed, pointing at her. “GET LOST!”
Her body reacted on instinct; she scrambled for the exit, hands shaking as she pulled the heavy door open. Her blood roared in her ears, heart rate spiking painfully when she stumbled in the corridor.
Elyna could only manage a few steps before her legs gave out. She sank against the wall, drawing her knees up. Oh god, oh god…
Chest heaving, Elyna fought for control; the tears came anyway. She pressed her hand over her mouth, trying to muffle a sob. Her whole body shook, the adrenaline crash finally claiming her.
Behind the barely parted door, Katayū’s voice rose like thunder. “ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR GODDAMN MIND?!”
The words cut her down like a machine gun. Struggling for air, she felt her lungs squeeze painfully.
“What the hell were you thinking?”
Naively, Elyna believed she’d seen Katayū angry before. But this was nowhere near manageable levels. This didn’t even register on Richter scales! He was unleashed, voice cracking like a whip. A tornado ready to wreak havoc upon the world.
“Mako-san…” Kazuki’s tone was surprisingly steady.
“Don’t ‘Mako’ me! Chikushō, Kazu! Your teaching assistant? Elyna, of all people?”
Her stomach lurched. Was that disgust in his voice? She bit her lower lip, trying to steady her breathing.
“She’s twenty-two, for Amaterasu’s sake! And you’re her supervisor!”–
Twenty-two. Staff member. But still his subordinate. This was all they were to the rest of the world: a scandal waiting to happen. As if loving Kazuki was something wrong.
Katayū’s voice dropped to dangerous levels. Somehow, it was worse than his bellows. The exchange grew heated—her lover’s answers curt and powerful—words overlapping too fast for her to catch. Elyna wondered if she should leave, give them privacy for this.
She took a shaky breath, preparing to move, when Kazuki’s voice pierced her heart.
“NO! … MARRY HER DAMNIT!”
The admission punched the air from her lungs. Marry me? Shaking, Elyna turned the idea in her mind. It was insane, and overwhelming, and underneath it all … impossibly precious. Hope bloomed despite the disaster unfolding. Until Katayū shattered the illusion.
“Like last time? Are we going to pick up the pieces again? Did you even tell her?”
An ominous silence followed, filled with secrets she wasn’t privy to.
Tell me what? Kazuki did not often speak of his past, offering snippets of his childhood.
Was he divorced? Worse? The conversation continued behind the door, but Elyna could only press her forehead to her knees, fresh tears falling.
This looks monumental … and he didn’t tell me.
Despite the storm raging in her mind, Elyna kept her ears strained towards the rooftop. As if it could give her the answers.
“What if Sarah had been your subordinate?” Kazuki’s quiet voice drifted through. “Would you have walked away?”
“I would have waited, you baka!” The Vice Principal’s voice cracked with emotion. “A month, Kazu! If you’d spoken to me…!”
The words landed like a spear in the heart. They should have waited. They could have waited. But the fear of losing Kazuki clawed at her insides. Please, don’t take him away from me.
Their voices dropped too low after that, murmurs she couldn’t quite make sense of. Elyna struggled to pull herself together, wiping uselessly at her face. The tears stubbornly fell, uncontrollable.
Breathe. In and out. Just breathe.
She attempted every technique Kazuki had taught in his Qi Gong sessions, all the while terrified that he might lose his teaching position because of her. More tears leaked; she let them fall. Please, if anyone is listening, protect him.
Her mind raced through consequences. If the scandal exploded, she would claim she’d pursued him. That she had kissed him first all those months ago. She could testify that he’d initially rejected her.
But Kazuki had already admitted their affair. The fool, he had not even tried to deny it! There was no lying to the Vice Principal now he’d said those disturbing words. Marry her.
When the rooftop door finally groaned open, Elyna braced for another explosion. Instead, she was met with a dishevelled Katayū. He let out an exhausted sigh.
“Come on.” His tone was weary. Almost resigned. “I’ll drive you home.”
Through wet lashes, Elyna found the Vice Principal giving her a disappointed look. Something twisted in her chest; all that work to gain his respect, crushed in ten seconds. One fatal mistake.
Spent, she eyed him warily. The explosion seemed settled, but she didn’t fancy rekindling Katayū’s rage. She tried to push herself up; her legs wobbled. As if the earthquake had not been enough.
The Vice Principal reached down without violence, firmly pulling her to her feet. His arm became a pillar as her balance wavered; damn, he was strong! “We’re going to have a very serious conversation about this.”
Elyna finally found her footing and gathered her bag. Only then did Katayū release her. He walked away without a word, his footsteps echoing in the empty space.
Instinctively, Elyna turned around. Kazuki stood by the door, framed against the dying light. Their eyes met across the distance. Devastated. Apologetic. But most of all, his gaze burnt with a promise, a vow that this wasn’t over.
Honourable fool!
She tried and failed to keep a sob in. “Gomen nasai.” She bowed deeply; the apology would never be enough, but the throat was clenched too tight to do better.
“Don’t worry,” his voice cracked. Then he seemed to gather himself and straightened. “Elyna, it will be fine.”
Kazuki didn’t look away until she turned around. Even though he couldn’t embrace her or hold her hand, the weight of his gaze accompanied her until she was out of sight. Taking a shaky breath, Elyna followed Katayū into the darkness ahead, carrying Kazuki’s love with her.
The car’s heater hummed, but Elyna’s bones still felt like ice. The tears kept coming despite her efforts. Shock and exhaustion had finally vanquished her.
“How much did you hear?” Katayū rumbled.
Elyna’s chest was so tight that she couldn’t breathe properly. “Some of it,” she managed to utter, giving him the full leisure to discuss the monumental—and terrifying—row that still echoed in her ears. Massaging her sternum, she waited for the Vice Principal to elaborate; he didn’t.
Outside, the lights blurred together, from both speed and her tears. Each second of silence stretched; she braced herself for Katayū’s reproaches. Perhaps another bout of yelling pointing at her failures.
I need to protect Kazuki, no matter what. That purpose steadied her, helping her rebuild some composure. And given the Vice Principal wasn’t talking… Elyna finally drew a shaky breath and asked, “Is it true?”
Katayū kept his attention on the road ahead, his shoulders tense. “Is what true?”
“That he could lose everything.”
Even in the dark, she could see his jaw clench. For a moment, he did not answer. Only when they reached a red light did he spare her a glance, eyes blazing. “Did you sleep together?”
So much more than that, Katayū-sensei. So much…
Elyna turned towards the window, unable to lie but unwilling to expose their relationship. Her energy levels were too low to sustain another explosion right now.
“Did you?” He pressed, both her and the accelerator.
Gaze fixed on the road, Elyna didn’t answer. She dared not to. But the silence was telling enough. Of course they had. Again and again, to their heart’s content in those stolen moments so precious she’d built an inner shrine for them. There was something sacred in the act of loving Kazuki.
No regrets. Though I hope I don’t end up dead in a ditch…
The sound of a fist striking the steering wheel startled her.
“Damn it, Trewith!” Katayū yelled. She flinched, fresh tears breaking through.
The fear was palpable underneath his anger, but she was too weak, too rattled to take it.
Kazuki’s uncharacteristic outburst, not an hour prior, had sapped her strength.
“Please,” she said quietly, voice unsteady. “Don’t—”
“DON’T!” He stopped mid-sentence, gripping the steering wheel so tight that the leather creaked. “Don’t what? Ask the questions that have to be asked?”
Elyna pressed her hand over her eyes, sobbing as silently as she could. It was all too much: the anger, the fear, the weight of what she’d done crashing down at once. “I’m scared,” she finally stuttered, the words barely audible.
A tense silence followed, broken only by the heating system and distant traffic. Elyna focused on her breathing, grateful for the respite. Katayū seemed to be wrestling with his fury. A samurai through and through. There was still a heart capable of mercy behind his thunderous exterior.
For a long moment, he just drove. And when he finally spoke, his voice was more even. “At least you’re both adults. That keeps the police out of it.” He shot her a pointed look.
“But if this gets out, Sano will be ‘encouraged’ to leave to preserve the school’s reputation. You know what that means, I presume?”
She didn’t need to see his hands squeezing the steering wheel to death. Yes, she knew Kazuki would never teach at a prestigious school again. The whispers would follow him everywhere. ‘Resigned to preserve reputation’ was a target planted on a man’s back.
“Teaching is everything to him,” Katayū finally said, voice flat. “I vouched for him.”
Elyna’s gut churned with guilt, the weight of that statement adding another layer. She’d betrayed the man who had trusted her as well as the one she loved.
More tears rushed down her cheeks, unstoppable rivers of sorrow for the consequence of her heart’s poor decisions.
I should have been stronger. I knew the stakes, but I still chose to defy the unspoken laws. Kazuki wouldn’t just lose a job. He would lose his honour, and his identity. And Katayū would face the consequences.
“I know,” she whispered. “I’m very, very sorry that I landed you both in trouble. I’m ready to stay away from him, just don’t…”
“Worry about yourself first.” Katayū’s voice cut her off none too gently. “Your contract expires at the end of March. If this comes out, there’s no renewal. Your work visa will end.”
Elyna shook her head. “I can adapt. I’ve moved countries half a dozen times. I’ll find something else.” Her voice steadied as she said it, certain of this one truth. “But Kazu lives for that job. This would destroy him. So please let me take the fall.”
Her voice cracked, but she refused to stop; there must be a solution to protect him. “I’ll stay away from him, whatever it takes. Please…”
When another red light forced them to stop, Katayū studied her for a long moment, his face unreadable. Finally, he exhaled, expression softening. “You really love him.”
It wasn’t a question, but she answered anyway. “Yes.”
Desperately.
Katayū deflated like a man who’d handled both an earthquake and an unsavoury discovery in the same afternoon. As the light turned green, he drove on in the night.
“Now listen, and listen well,” he eventually said. “No one must discover there was anything between you two while he was your supervisor.”
What? What is he saying?
Elyna stared at him, momentarily stunned. Katayū, who valued duty and honour above everything else, was … covering for them? No, impossible; he would probably fire her the minute he reached his office, right?
“Oi, Trewith, have you gone deaf?” Exasperation bled in his tone as he took another turn.
Elyna blinked, eyes sore from too much crying. A minuscule sliver of hope was sparking in her chest, so fragile that the slightest gust of wind could snuff it out. “What are you saying?” she stuttered.
Katayū gave her a quick, exasperated look, one she definitely preferred to his earlier rage. “Kazu is my friend, Trewith. Do you think I want to destroy his career? Hell, Shintarō breaks more rules in a week than most of the staff do in a year, and he’s still there because he’s an awesome teacher.”
A weary sigh escaped Katayū. When he spoke again, his voice had softened. “I wish you’d had the sense to wait. Ten more days until graduation, then two weeks after that your contract end. Was that so much to ask?”
Erm… There’s no sugarcoating the timing, so better stay silent.
“Keep your phone locked,” he ordered, braking too harshly to avoid crashing into a car. “Don’t let anyone discover anything.” His tone sharpened as he laid down unbreakable rules. “Does anyone else know? Your friends?”
Elyna drew a breath, still processing that Katayū was actually protecting them. “No. And that’s what the rumours are for. Everyone thinks I’m into women.”
The ghost of a smile touched his lips. “Smart. What about Shintarō?”
Elyna shook her head; he nodded approvingly. “Good. Keep it that way. No touching, no looks, no private conversations. Zero. And no yelling on rooftops! This cannot happen again. Understood?” His tone was unyielding, uncompromising. But underneath the steel lay salvation.
“Capisco, signore,” Elyna replied, the Italian emerging by reflex.
Katayū pulled up to her building, some of the tension leaving his shoulders. He took one thorough look at the modern construction and said, “It’s a good building, you’ve got nothing to fear from a replica. It’s gonna be all right, Trewith.”
Elyna blinked owlishly, catching the double entendre. It was a strange moment to show a modicum of diplomacy. But Kazuki had said the same thing. It will be fine. Did he trust the Vice Principal to keep her safe?
A hand settled briefly on her head, a paternal gesture. “Keep your head cool,” he said quietly. “Don’t give up on him.”
Give up? Why would I give up? Brow furrowed, Elyna watched the Vice Principal openly. His dark eyes were unreadable, a worry line marring his forehead. His jaw tightened, then released.
“Kazuki deserves to be happy,” he finally said.
Simple words that carried enormous weight. Elyna didn’t dare respond, too afraid to shatter whatever fragile possibility he was offering.
“And next year, I’ll be your supervisor, young lady!”
Elyna’s eyebrows rose; that tiny speck of hope was now flourishing. “Next year?”
She couldn’t believe it! He wasn’t going to fire her! The Vice Principal only nodded, his dark eyes boring holes into her. Daring her to flee to the other side of the world. Elyna bowed in return, too exhausted to express gratitude.
God, it felt good to have a samurai in their corner.
Elyna: super close call today, samurai-man found out about us
Aksel: Sshhhhhhhit, does mum know?
Elyna: no, he covered for us
Aksel: What? Where are his principles???
Elyna: whose side are you on, dolt?
Aksel: The side of … whatever, I’m glad you’re OK