Chapter 85: Karen

(A/N Sorry for no chapter these last two days. I was busy and tired.)

(3rd pov)

Ryoto has won without any trouble and walked away as if he had just dealt with some minor inconvenience. He looked satisfied with what he did, but there was some minor detail that escaped many eyes except for the teachers, Kaede and Rio. From Ryoto's eyes, you could see a faint sign of smoke.

Ryoto didn't seem to care about it, so these that noticed didn't ask about it. Besides, the smoke quickly stopped coming out.

Ryoto walked up to Karasuma nonchalantly.

Ryoto: "It seems that you won our little bet."

Tadaomi: "That I did."

Seeing that Karasuma had something on his mind Ryoto asked.

Ryoto: "Don't you have any questions?"

Tadaomi: "I have, but as I've said before, I chose to believe in you, and if you want to speak with me or anyone else, you'll do it."

Ryoto was surprised by Karasuma's words. He expected him to at least ask a few questions, but his shocked face changed quickly into a small smile.

Ryoto: "Looks like you are becoming more like a teacher."

At this, Karasuma shrugged.

Tadaomi: "With a student like you, I was forced to become one."

As the exchange took place, some students noticed that someone was crouching over Takaoka's body and waving in front of his face.

Sophia: "Hello, are you with me?"

Her voice brought everyone's attention to her.

Ryoto: "Sophia?"

Sophia: "Yes!"

Ryoto was obviously waiting for her to tell him why she was here, but after initially saying 'yes', Sophia went back to see if she could get a reaction from the unconscious body.

Done waiting, Ryoto decided to ask her.

Ryoto: "What are you doing here?"

Sophia, not stopping waving her hand, answered.

Sophia: "I heard that there will be a new teacher, so I came to greet him, but he won't even return the greeting. Rude."

Ryoto: "...He is unconscious."

Sophia: "That doesn't expire from having good manners."

She was pouting and was probably annoyed at Takaoka, but as she said that, a new voice came from the school building.

Gakuho: "You don't need to greet anyone as he won't be teaching here anymore. I came to see the state of affairs, as the proprietor. I was interested in the new teacher's abilities, you see. But his class was horribly dull."

The principal arrived a d took out a piece of paper that he signed and passed it to Karasuma.

Gakuho: "This is his notice of dismissal. Pass him that when he wakes up. He will be unable to teach here from this point on. You at the ministry of defense do not have the power to appoint teachers to this school. Do not forget that everything here is under my jurisdiction.

With that said, he left.

Ryoto: "Charming, isn't he?"

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Rio: Are we seeing the same person?"

Ryoto: "I think so. Are you seeing a psychopath that would use any legal but morally questionable option to achieve his goal?"

(Ryoto's pov)

After Takaoka woke up, he seemed strange. He was not angry, nor he was scared. Nothing. It was like his soul had left his body. He just took notice of dismissal and went inside the school to pack his things. It was strange, to say the least.

Seeing that Takaoka wasn't a threat anymore, the class decided to go and celebrate it, and Karasuma would be joining and paying for the sweets. I declined as I had something more important on my mind. Karen. I didn't want to wait for our talk for too long, so I decided to use Susy's service one more time today and laid down under her.

...

It sounds like I'm talking about something completely different. I'll stop.

Under the tree, I turned off my eyes so I would entirely focus on Karen. What she wanted to talk about sounded important, so I'll treat it as such.

'Ok, Karen, what did you want to talk about?"

Karen: "..."

There was a silence, but I waited patiently.

Karen: "...I wanted to tell you about myself a little."

I expected many things but not that.

Karen: "I'm aware that we didn't start on a high note... and we still have some differences, but I know about you more than you know about me, so I'll even things out."

'Karen, you don't ne-'

Karen: "Shut up for now, and let me do it. I'm choosing to do it myself so let me do it."

She then proceeded to take a few deep breaths.

Karen: "As long as I remember, I was always compared to Sophia. At first, I tried to be as good as her, but I was always one or more steps behind, so I decided to do the second-best thing, be myself without hiding anything. If I didn't like something or someone, I said it or, on occasions, punched that someone. If someone didn't like me like that, then it was their problem. At least I didn't need to worry about having fake friends."

As I was myself, no one wanted to get closer to me besides the I'll hag that will not be named. Even my parents stopped talking to me unless they needed something from me. Only Sophia was still in contact with me, but I know she must be laughing behind my back, and I still hate how everyone compares me to her.

At times I thought that maybe I was wrong, but I shoved these thoughts deep into my subconscious where they won't see any light ever again.

I got some basic information about your previous and current life when I started this job. Reading it got me furious because you reminded me of me too much, but you decided to shut yourself closed instead of being yourself.

I thought you were some kind of loser who couldn't handle what the world was throwing at you. Why couldn't you just say 'fuck it and be happy? To borrow someone's words, you were just like a plant. It was infuriating, so I was more antagonistic than I usually was.

But as I was observing how you lived, I saw you change little by little. It was fascinating, really. It was like looking at myself taking another path but what was even more strange to me was that you didn't mind me.

You've seen me at my worst, and when I pretended to be friendly, you said that you prefer the real me, which was the first time someone said that to me, and I didn't even know how much I needed to hear it from someone.

I know that I can be unreasonable, bitchy, or even annoying, but you still said these words and for that... thank you."

When Karen finished talking, I didn't know what to say, so I went silent for a while to digest the newly acquired information. What I heard right now won't change how I treat Karen, but she telling me all of this says that she trust me at some level.

'...'

'You know Karen, I'm not good at interactions with people. I may seem that I'm charismatic or like I don't care how people think about me, but I'm just bad at reading the air, and I'm bad at reading people, too, so I don't know what should I say or do right now so instead I'll tell one part of my story as well.

---

END

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