Alex Brim, Hero for Hire

Chapter 3.2

Tomiko felt her cheeks turning hot and said, “Sakamo-kun? Yes… he sure is...”

“Tomiko-chan, you know very well I was not talking about Sakamo-kun… I meant Takechi-kun, or Takechi-sama, like Sakamo-kun calls him.”

“Yeah… I guess he is… kind of sweet… I am used to having boys flattering me, but the way he says things… and the way he looks at me… it’s like… if I am the only girl around. It’s… kind of nice. Most of the time, boys get distracted by Hangaku-chan boldness and prettiness, but he didn’t look at her ever since he sat next to me, not even once. It was like… if I was the only girl in the World. It… made me feel very special...”

Hojo Masako disguised a smile and glanced towards Takechi to check how far he was. “He is not like the type of guys that are always after you. He is a little shorter and chubbier than most of them… and the fact that you noticed he only had eyes for you is interesting.”

“I… know he is like that, but the way he smiles with his eyes glowing… I could swear I felt my heart stopping a few times… don’t… say anything to Hangaku-chan, ok? She won’t stop teasing me.”

“Don’t worry, I would never babble about such a thing, but you could spend some time with him to know him better. Maybe he is a hidden gem under that squishy belly of his.”

Tomiko narrowed her eyes. “Don’t say things like that! You should be the one getting worried because by the looks of it, Hangaku-chan will catch Sakamo-kun and you won’t stand a chance.”

Hojo Masako quickly looked up towards the exit and saw Hangaku still clinging to Sakamo’s arm and the girls in the cafeteria looking at them with jealous eyes. “Even… if I wanted, I could not compete with all those girls. They are all staring at him, and they know nothing about him, except that he is pretty. We also know little, but what we already know, it’s amazing.”

Takechi returned and heard the last part. “Tell me about it. I just met him this morning, and it felt like I knew him for years. He made me feel at ease with him and the way he helped me with those guys outside was unbelievable. I just didn’t understand that phone call he made. Maybe he belongs to a Yakuza group, and him being raised in a Shrine by Monks is just his cover story.”

Hojo raised one eyebrow. “Do you really think he lied like that? He doesn’t look like that kind of guy, he looks… I don’t know, genuine, I guess?”

“Yes, I think the same. Even my grandma liked him when we met him in the morning, and she even invited him to have dinner at our restaurant. My grandma is an excellent judge of character, no one can fool her.”

Hojo Masako spoke while walking with Tomiko and Takechi, “Maybe he likes to keep his things private, that’s why he looks mysterious. And strangely, that only makes me want to learn more about him! It will be a little difficult, now that Hangaku-chan is targeting him. For instance, if he lives alone, to whom he turns when he gets sick? Or needs help with something? What about his lunch and dinner? He will always bring boxed lunches bought in a convenience store like today? And he will eat dinner all alone, every day? Won’t he feel lonely, being raised in a Shrine and always surrounded by his brothers?”

Takechi glanced towards Hojo Masako and tried to speak casually. “My grandma is going to make boxed lunches for him every day. They already agreed on that this morning. As for dinner, he said he was going to use my family restaurant as a canteen. I guess you could make one boxed lunch for him one of these days, or we could all join him in my family restaurant and have dinner with him so that he doesn’t feel lonely. It would be a good idea not to let Hangaku-chan or any of the girls in School to know this, or Sakamo-kun will be flooded with invitations for dinner or to join another table for lunch.”

Hojo slowly nodded with her face turning red. “I… could do that because I prepare my lunch at night to bring to School, I could make one extra. And… if I warn my parents, it’s ok if I go eat in a restaurant with my friends, and… I could walk him home one day if he lives in the direction of my train station, and…”

Hojo placed both hands over her face. “What I am saying? I could never be so bold, and I don’t have Hangaku-chan’s courage! I don’t even know him very well! What if he thinks I am crazy?”

Takechi answered, making Hojo peek between her fingers. “From what I saw, he also thinks you are interesting. He had trouble getting rid of Hangaku-chan, but he kept on glancing at you. Maybe it’s not so farfetched as you may think, having him interested in you. I mean, if you are indeed interested in him, that is. It wouldn’t surprise me if you are. I knew all the girls in School would be interested in him as soon as I met him. Even I would be after him if I were a girl. Well, I also got confused this morning and asked if he was a girl because he is too pretty for a normal boy and has that beautiful long hair.”

Tomiko Hari laughed, “Ahahah! You actually asked that? What did he say?”

“He smiled and said that he was flattered, but I was not his type. I was never dumped in such a polite way, that’s for sure! Now that I think about it, he also asked if we could pretend to be a couple so that girls would leave him alone, but I said despite him being such a pretty girl, he was not my type!”

Hojo took her hands from her face and asked with a suspicious smile while looking at Tomiko Hari, “Really? What is your type then, Takechi-sama?”

Takechi Hito smiled at Tomiko as well and answered, making her smile back with a glow in her eyes, “Purple hair, small glasses, a beautiful smile and a voice that takes me to the moon and back, when she whispers near my ear.”

Tomiko answered with a gentle voice, “Thanks, you are very sweet…”

Hojo Masako tapped their backs and spoke before running along the corridor, “I am going ahead, take your time and talk some more but don’t be late, or the class is going to start without you guys!”

Tomiko stared at Takechi and asked with a nervous voice, “So… Do you have a girlfriend? And… Do you live with your grandma? It’s just the two of you?”

“I… don’t have a girlfriend. I also live with my mother, father, and younger sister. And you?”

Tomiko took a slow breath and spoke with a few cute giggles in the mix, “Well… I also don’t have a girlfriend… Hihihi! Nor a boyfriend… and… I live with my mother and father. I don’t have any siblings, but I always wanted a younger sister.”

“I… think you would love my younger sister, she is very cute. People say she is cutter than me if that’s even possible!”

“I… wouldn’t mind meeting her… and… talking with you some more, without being worried about arriving late to class.”

Takechi made such a big smile with his eyes glowing that Tomiko had a hard time not hugging him again. “I would like that! If you don’t mind being seen with a short and chubby guy like me.”

“You are not that short. And… You are not that chubby… and… I never worried about what other people might think.”

Takechi kept on smiling while walking next to Tomiko, feeling like the luckiest boy on Earth that could even talk so casually with such a beautiful girl that seemed to like him as well.

While they were still talking in the corridor and walking slowly to their classroom, Sakamo told Hangaku Mae to enter their classroom, and Hojo Masako arrived just in time to see Sakamo entering Takechi’s classroom while Hangaku was biting her lower lip and putting her hair behind her ear and taking it out again to repeat the movement like she normally did when she was nervous.

Hojo stopped near her on the left side of their classroom door and asked, “What’s the matter? Why Sakamo-kun is going to that classroom?”

“He… said he wanted to be sure that Takechi-sama was safe if he was not around… he looked angry… his eyes… he had the scariest eyes… I just asked what he would do if Takechi-kun was bothered again, and he told me to go to class that he would be back in an instant...”

Before Hojo Masako could say a thing, a loud bang came from Takechi’s room, and they rushed to the door and leaned on it, trying to hear what was happening. They heard Sakamo’s voice, and they trembled.

“Why you didn’t help my friend Takechi-sama, you bunch of cowards? Do you all have a death wish or what? I bet that if it was any of you, he would be the first to jump to your rescue, even if he was beaten to a pulp! Don’t you dare to say those guys are dangerous, because I am a thousand times more dangerous than they will ever be! From now on, you will all be responsible for Takechi-sama well-being when I am not around, understood? Or I will find out where you live, and I will beat to a pulp every single member of your family! Not even your dog, cat, or parakeet will be safe from my wrath! Understood?”

Hojo and Hangaku heard a boy’s voice, that went silent after the noise of a powerful slap and chairs falling to the ground. “Who do you think you are, to come here and…”

Slap! Thump! Crash!

“Anyone else wants to complain? Don’t you dare pretend to be courageous when you let those three bullies drag my friend out of here! There’s no point in crying because even the girls are at fault and I won’t have any problems beating you up for being cowards like this sample of worthless boys in here! You disgust me, you ugly pieces of dog s**t! You should all feel honoured for having such a great guy like Takechi-sama instead of abandoning him when he needed your help! What kind of classmates are you, anyway? It’s better for your health if I don’t need to come here again, because if I do, you will all leave this room in a stretch, straight to the Hospital! Understood? Answer me, goddammit!”

Hojo gulped, and she heard a bunch of voices trying to speak almost at the same time, “Yes… We will protect him… I swear… I am sorry...”

Then, Hojo stared at Hangaku when she heard Sakamo again, “As for you, you lousy Teacher, you are the worst of them all! You saw Takechi-sama going out with them, and you already said that you knew those three were not good news and still, you didn’t do a thing. I guess you are more afraid of three kids and their friends than you are proud to be a Teacher. I wonder if you are going to be able to sleep at night after this. If you have children and a wife, I bet they would be very ashamed of you, if they knew you are a lousy coward that doesn’t care about the security of the students under your charge!”

An overwhelming silence followed Sakamo’s words, except for a few sobbing from the scared girls and Hojo Masako pulled Hangaku Mae to their classroom door, and they arrived there just when Sakamo was opening the door of the other classroom, closing it with a loud bang that resonated in the corridor. The noise made Takechi and Tomiko look in Sakamo’s direction, and Takechi ran to him, asking with a worried look, “What happened? Why were you in my classroom?”

Sakamo faced him with his face red and answered, “I was just scolding and scaring your coward classmates and Teacher. None of them helped you when you asked, and they even dared to say that to my face, those worthless pieces of s**t! Not even your Teacher, because he is scared of those bullies and their friends. I told them to protect you when I am not around, but I don’t trust them. From now on, you will always be near me during breaks, ok? On the days that I can’t go or come to School with you, I will have some people following you to make sure you will be safe.”

Takechi Hito slowly nodded. “Ok… but who are the people that will follow me? They are Yakuza?”

“No, nothing like that, but they are just as dangerous, or even more. I will see you in the next break, alright?”

Takechi nodded and opened his classroom door, facing a bunch of scared looks upon him and the muffled crying of the girls. He went to his place in silence, wondering what Sakamo said to make them be like that.

Outside, Sakamo took a deep and slow breath to calm down and entered his classroom, making a slight nod to the worried Hojo Masako and Hangaku Mae. Tomiko Hari entered right after him but before she could ask what happened, the History Teacher arrived and told them to sit, and class began.

…