"...So, when is the press conference happening?"

"Three days from now on."

"Okay then, I will prepare a speech for the occasion. I wish you good health, Principal." Gojima stood up on his chair, slightly bowed and started walking.

"...Suman." (Sorry)

Gojima paused a little to hear a sad apology from the principal, which was barely audible. He could sense that the old man was also bowing his head in shame and guilt. He, however, did not turn back and just walked away.

Coming out of the room, Gojima turned off the recording app on his smartphone.

...While I do applaud you for recording the conversation, I am not sure about using it. The old man is not in any way pleased about the situation either.

'Yeah, even if I release the conversation, the big wigs will find a way to pin everything on the Principal and use him as the scapegoat. Money does make the world go round, after all. While I do find the Principal annoying, I don't exactly dislike the guy.'

Maybe we could edit it in a way to make sure the Principal suffers minimum damage? Something to think for the future.

'Yeah. I'll just hold on to it for now. Let's just hope I am not forced to use it someday.'

Gojima thought about the press conference three days from today. He really felt the urge to deliver a killer apology which will make the bigwigs puke blood. But then again, it might truly cost him his job. Usually the way to go about this kind of situation is to make the insolent appear as the bad guy to sway the public opinion, and then punish him in the name of justice. He did not wish to get fire on the accusation of money laundering or sexual harrassment and then spend all of his savings to clear his name.

But the temptation...

It was something he had to think after a good bath and maybe a few sips of cold beer, not now. Maybe he would think of something after he went back home.

That morning, Sayuri woke up from her sleep and the first thing she decided to do is to buy some groceries, as she had mostly ran out of ingredients.

She noticed that the door next to her apartment was locked from the outside. It seemed like Gojima had already gone outside. Either that, or...

Or he did not return home at all.

Sayuri did notice that lights were off the whole evening yesterday. He did not return home after having lunch with one of his beautiful female colleagues and then going somewhere...

Wham!

She slapped both of her cheeks with her hands to get rid of the... pointless thoughts. It was not his business if her neighbor went to his colleagues home or some love... hotel...

Ting!

Sayuri flinched as her smartphone made a sound. She checked it to see that it was a message from Misaki.

Suddenly she started to feel angry at this annoying friend of hers. She remembered how she teased her about her almost every interaction with Gojima. It was all her fault!

She opened the message to see a link to some video clip. The only thing she wrote was, 'Hey! Check this out! I saw something super cool! A bunch of emojis'

'What the hell is this about?'

Sayuri clicked the link to see a clip that someone recorded with his mobile. It was of a car moving around dangerously with a man on top of it, trying to stop the car.

Was this a movie shooting or something? The man did look a little... familiar...

'Wait what?!'

Her eyes bore into the screen and her breathing stopped as she saw the car crashing into a pole, Gojima getting down from the top and smoothly taking out the driver and kicking him so hard that the man flew and slammed into a wall. Then Gojima started to tumble and fell unconscious.

Then the cameraman simply ran towards the car and showed that there was an unconscious woman inside wearing hospital garments. Soon there was a crowd and an ambulance came to take all three of them away. She recognized the name on the ambulance.

'He's in the hospital! I got to—'

She called one of the doctors that took care of her to inquire of Gojima's situation and relieved to hear that he was alright and had already been released.

'Why does this man always get involved in such crazy situations! Always being the hero of the day and getting himself injured in the process! He is so... so...'

Sayuri started to move her legs. She had to buy ingredients, after all. Maybe she would cook up something healthy and easy to digest for him. Mama always said that helping your neighbors was a good deed. Yes, she was helping her sick neighbor, that's all.

"Ruri! Are you ready to go?"

"Hm."

Takeshi was already on his bike, urging Ruri to get on the backseat. Today, he was going to challenge himself to hit his limit.

Not that he had any plan to go too far. He knew a shrine a few kilometer far from the town, and that is where they intended to go.

Takeshi did a double take to see Ruri wearing a skirt. He had never seen her wear a skirt before, even for the school she had always worn shorts.

'D-Don't tell me, did she dress up because... because she thinks it is a d-d-d-d-date or something?! I-Is she, perhaps?!'

His heart started beating faster, but he decided to calm down for the moment. It was too early to come to such a conclusion. He had seen his friends before to come to such hasty conclusions and then make fools out of themselves.

But he had to admit, Ruri looked a little cute today—even with the childish schoolbag she had on her back. There was something different about her, not just the skirt. But what was it? Wait, before that, should he compliment her about the skirt? But what if she found it creepy? Nah, not worth the trouble.

"W-Well? Hop on!"

"...Uh, Takeshi kun..."

"W-What?"

"Don't you... uh, it's nothing. Let's go."

Ruri was a little disappointed that Takeshi said nothing about the skirt she was wearing, or the fact that she did her hair a little and even used lip gloss. People did compare her to a boy, but did she really lack feminine charm that much?

She hopped on to the back seat and Takeshi started to pedal. They finally started on their journey.

Whenever someone went somewhere far from the populated area, one thing they should always check is the weather forecast. They might not always be accurate, but there was no harm in preparing for any situation.

It was something they both forgot, and they were totally unaware of the storm that was brewing.