CHAPTER 422: CHAPTER 321: DESPICABLE GROWN-UPS!

Taira Sakurako pushed Fushimi Roku to the school gate. The latter said it was fine to be dropped off here; if he went any further, he might be mistaken for a pervert and get caught.

"Do well in school and aim to get good grades..."

Before Fushimi Roku could finish his advice, Taira Sakurako interrupted with a blank face, "I’m not here in elementary school to prepare for college."

Oh right, she came to Waseda Industrial School to find Yukimura Aoi’s sister.

This school is well-equipped and has many facilities for hosting national middle and small club competitions. If Aoi’s sister participates in any clubs, it’s highly likely she’ll come to Waseda Industrial School for the competition.

"Then I wish you good luck in finding whoever it is."

Fushimi Roku couldn’t remember the name of Yukimura Aoi’s sister, so he just mumbled a sentence and waved for Taira Sakurako to hurry off to school.

Sakurako turned and left. Fushimi Roku watched her back, and his hidden concern temporarily climbed to the peak.

Can this little one really socialize independently?

He recalled Taira Sakurako trying to bring a gun and a fruit knife to school, and his ominous premonition grew stronger.

If Taira Sakurako gets triggered and he’s not there, she might cause a scene at the school — he’d definitely be mainly responsible for concealing her condition. Although Taira Sakurako, being underage, wouldn’t have to go to jail, it would be troublesome for him.

With nothing better to do, should I sneak in to take a look?

...

On the other side, Taira Sakurako stepped into the school, changed into indoor shoes on the first floor, and placed her shoes in her locker, just as she had planned.

While Minamoto Tamako and Fushimi Roku were outside investigating cases, Taira Sakurako was at home diligently studying her school plans — from entrance routes, to conversational tactics, to body language, she had a complete strategy!

Minamoto Tamako and Fushimi Roku were worrying needlessly because she didn’t plan on making friends at all. Her goal for attending school was to find someone, so there was no need for excessive socialization — if her classmates ostracized her, that would be even better, as she wouldn’t have to exhaust her brain cells talking to strangers.

That’s right, Taira Sakurako’s first goal in her school operation was to successfully have all her classmates ostracize her!

Being ostracized wasn’t enough; if someone found her easy to bully and played nasty pranks on her, her future school life would be difficult... So her second school operation goal was to defeat the most vicious troublemaker in the class.

The so-called ’getting along with peers’ meant beating them up in a physical sense!

This was cold knowledge she read in a book: when a newcomer goes to prison, if they don’t want to be bullied in the future, they have to fight with the biggest guy in the prison to prove they’re not to be messed with.

Fushimi Roku had confiscated her fruit knife, leaving her at a disadvantage in terms of weapons, but fortunately, she had already prepared — she had a brick in her backpack, and if it came down to a fight, she’d swing her backpack and throw it at the opponent’s face, which should be sufficient as a weapon.

She had already thought of a backup plan, and when it came to court confrontation, she’d accuse the opponent of harassment, arguing that she had no choice but to act in self-defense.

As for whether the other party would report to the teacher or parents... Taira Sakurako hadn’t considered this at all.

Her concept of parents was still stuck in the drunken father stage, and her understanding of teachers was practically zero; she only knew that teachers were school employees.

Right now, Taira Sakurako closed the shoe locker, tried to calm herself with deep breaths, and ignored the chattering elementary school students around her, stepping precisely and steadily into the teacher’s office.

During enrollment paperwork yesterday, the homeroom teacher had explained: she should go to the office upon arriving at school, and he’d take her to the class and introduce herself.

Just thinking about facing unfamiliar adults alone made Taira Sakurako’s legs feel unsteady. All sorts of negative memories came flooding back; she remembered her father smashing things after drinking, and she recalled malicious neighbors, making her feelings of withdrawal intensify.

The more adults, the scarier; she couldn’t even comfort herself that more people meant more safety because she’d witnessed collective malice firsthand.

’Don’t be afraid, Sakurako, breathe!’

’This is a school, the probability of a malicious incident happening here is low...’

Taira Sakurako hesitated at the office door, repeatedly doing psychological self-construction. After more than half an hour, just as the class bell was about to ring, she finally reached out and knocked on the office door.

"The door’s not locked, come in!" came the homeroom teacher’s voice.

Taira Sakurako pushed the door open and looked up, stunned for a second.

She saw Fushimi Roku had changed into formal attire, put on glasses from who knows where, and was sitting properly at the office desk seriously correcting elementary school homework. The homeroom teacher was sitting beside him looking smitten, continuously asking Fushimi Roku how long he’d be teaching as a substitute, what his relationship with the usual instructor was, and where he used to work...

By the way, "homeroom teacher" does not refer to any Mr. So-and-so; it’s a title equivalent to a class teacher and can be a female teacher.

Taira Sakurako looked bewildered, thinking, why is this guy here? When did he change jobs?

She was about to ask when the homeroom teacher got up, greeted her, and said, "No need to be nervous, Sakurako-chan, our classmates are all very friendly."

After saying this, the homeroom teacher took Taira Sakurako out of the office, not forgetting to remind Fushimi Roku to call her after work.

Taira Sakurako’s palms were sweaty, fearing that the homeroom teacher would suddenly act quirky, swing her little hand around, or suddenly change face like a Sichuan opera and spank her...

Fortunately, what she feared didn’t happen. The teacher just ordinarily walked her through the corridor, ordinarily pushed open the classroom door, and ordinarily went up to the podium. It was so smooth and uneventful that she suspected there was a trap.

"Before today’s class, I have an announcement," the teacher signaled the students to be quiet, propping up the podium with both hands and loudly said: "We have a new transfer student in our class. Please give a warm applause to welcome..."

Speaking, she turned her head and waved at Taira Sakurako outside the door, indicating for her to come up to the podium.

Taira Sakurako had anticipated this, knowing there would be a self-introduction segment. She had prepared thoroughly for it, took a deep breath, and walked towards the podium while constantly repeating to herself:

My voice must be loud and clear, or I’ll be seen as timid;

My gaze must be spirited, or I’ll be seen as creepy;

My back must be straight, or I’ll be thought to be weak...

Socializing is a battlefield of wits and deceit, life is a jungle of the survival of the fittest. You must show your strength to outsiders to earn the necessary respect!

Sitting below the podium were two to three dozen elementary school students who obediently clapped when they heard the teacher’s words.

Under everyone’s gaze, Taira Sakurako walked up to the podium, standing shoulder to shoulder with the teacher, with her hands behind her back. Just from her stance, you could tell how intimidatingly strong she was!

"Now, please introduce yourself," the teacher said with a smile.

She could tell that Taira Sakurako was very nervous, probably a shy and reserved little girl. Even adults need some time to adapt to new environments, let alone a seven-year-old kid, who would probably be so nervous they’d stammer, maybe even be unable to speak...

"Taira Sakurako is here!!"

Taira Sakurako with hands behind her back, mimicking an underworld tough guy, loudly said: "I’m the Assistant Chief of the East City Association’s directly affiliated Black Dragon Group, served time for seven years, took the fall for the boss six times for finger-breaking punishments, personally took out over a hundred scumbags, and the embroidery on my special attack uniform was sewn at my old man’s funeral home..."

"Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute—"

The teacher said ’Hold on’ three times in a row, bending over with an awkward smile, and asked in a low voice: "Who taught you to say these things?"

"Are you underestimating me?!" Taira Sakurako loudly countered.

She looked around and found that the classmates were all a bunch of weaklings. The boys looked like nerds, and the girls were even more clueless, not even knowing what a special attack uniform is, whispering and asking each other what ’finger-breaking punishments’ meant...

Too weak, too weak indeed!

Just a bunch of small fries!

Only the teacher seemed to be the strongest person in the class, definitely the leader of the class. She carefully observed that when the teacher entered the room, the students fell silent, showing the teacher’s clear dominance!

The teacher’s smile stiffened slightly, starting to suspect Taira Sakurako’s family background. Perhaps this little girl was some kind of underworld heiress, which might explain why she spoke that way.

She patiently advised: "That’s a swear word, you know, children shouldn’t say it..."

Taira Sakurako didn’t know this; she had always thought it was an interjection or some kind of courage-boosting spell.

But since the words had already been spoken, Taira Sakurako decided to stick to her guns. Fearless people aren’t afraid of breaking rules—she wanted to establish new class rules: from now on, kids can say swear words!

"Hmph, ignorant foolish woman..."

Before Taira Sakurako could finish speaking, the teacher had already punished her by making her stand in the corridor—her prepped weapons were unuseable as the teacher made her stand with her backpack held up.

Taira Sakurako wanted to resist, but the teacher threatened her with expulsion, forcing her to comply, standing idiotically like a stump outside the door.

The elementary students by the window were craning their necks, curiously peering at the transfer student who was being punished as soon as she entered the class, whispering to each other:

"What does she mean by all that?"

"Idiot, you don’t even know..."

"Hey... don’t you think she’s quite cute?"

...

Taira Sakurako turned a deaf ear, her backpack was weighing down on her head painfully, leaving her little energy to think about anything else.

The sound of footsteps came from the other side of the corridor, Taira Sakurako’s eyes rolled as she glanced sideways to see who it was, and it turned out to be Fushimi Roku.

He approached with his hands on his hips, stopping in front of Taira Sakurako and shaking his head like Tom Cat while making ’tsk-tsk-tsk’ sounds.

"What do you want?" Taira Sakurako was displeased, thinking Fushimi Roku was watching her disgrace: "What are you doing here?"

"Never mind that, I’ve got my own tricks," Fushimi Roku wore a ’just as I expected’ expression: "It’s just been half an hour, and how have you ended up like this?"

"The teacher threatened me, said if I didn’t behave, I’d be expelled." Taira Sakurako felt resentful: "Despicable adults!"