In the recess
Bert and Erika are in the gym storage room together.
"B-Bert-kun, let me explain—" Before Erika can finish, Bert grabs her by the neck and pins her to the wall. "Agh," Erika gasps as Bert tightens his grip and leans in closer.
"Bitch, you're supposed to take my side. Why did you betray me?" Bert snarls, spitting on Erika's face as she struggles. He throws her aside; she coughs for breath, trying to steady herself.
"I... I couldn't do anything. If I took your side, everyone would get suspicious." Bert kneels and gently lifts Erika's chin.
"B-bert-kun," Erika blushes slightly, but her relief is brief when he clamps his hand on her neck again, cutting off her breath.
"I don't care about anything. What good are you if you can't even support me?" Erika's eyes widen. She thought she had betrayed the only person who had stood by him—the child who had supported her for a man like this.
"Miss Erika and student Bert William, come to the principal's cabin immediately." Her thought is interrupted as she hears their names over the speaker.
After a while, Erika and Bert reach the principal's office. They knock and ask for permission to enter. Granted entry, they open the door and are shocked to see Hiroki and Kaede sitting before the principal and secretary with identical, expressionless faces.
'Why is he here?' they both think in unison.
"Both of you, sit here." The headteacher says in a cold, serious tone. Erika and Bert obey and sit beside Hiroki and Kaede in front of the headteacher.
"W-what's happening, sensei? Why did you call me and Bert-kun here, and why are Hiroki-kun and Kaede-san here too?"
"Miss Ericka, I was re-checking the answer sheets of the half-yearly exam, and I found something interesting." As soon as the principal said this, Ericka began to panic, but Bert still didn't understand why he had been called.
"By the look on your face, I take it you know what I mean. Then tell me, why did you do this?" The headteacher tossed some papers onto the table — Bert's answer sheets — and on each one Ericka's handwriting was clear, with marks showing erased wrong answers and rewritten ones. Ericka was speechless, and Bert grit his teeth in frustration, knowing that if this came out his student visa could be cancelled and he could be sent back to the United States.
"And as for why Hiroki is here? I suspected you would rewrite his answers too, but instead of correcting them, you made everything wrong, causing him to fail." Ericka was shocked; the deceit she had committed to please Bert and gain his favour and love had been discovered by the headteacher.
"Tell me, Miss Ericka, why did you do this? Did Bert pay you?" At the principal's words, Bert slammed his hand on the table in rage.
"Why would you think I forced her to do it? I'm innocent; I did nothing wrong!" Bert shouted, then fell silent under the principal's hard stare.
"Try this again, and I will cancel your student visa and send you back to the United States. with the clarity that you will not get admission in any school or institution." Bert went quiet and continued to grit his teeth. The principal's attention shifted back to Ericka.
"Now, tell me the reason, Miss Ericka, before I decide to cancel your teaching license." Ericka is shocked and confused. If she tells the truth to the headteacher, she will not only have her teaching license cancelled but also go to jail with the others.
'Is this really the end of my career? The career I worked so hard to build? Why is this happening to me? What did I do wrong?' Ericka looks toward Hiroki.
'I understand now. I betrayed the only person who supports me and helps me perform my job just because of my lust. Looks like karma came to bite me. I can't do anything now.' Tears start to form in Ericka's eyes.
"Sensei, instead of cancelling her teacher's license, I have a far better option," Hiroki said, and everyone's eyes turned toward him.
"What do you mean, Hiroki-kun?" the headteacher asked.
"Think about it, sensei. If you cancel Ericka's teaching license and Bert's student visa, the students will not accept it at face value and will try to find the reason behind it; if they do, it will tarnish our school's reputation. There are many students from strict, wealthy, and famous families. As soon as they hear about it, they will immediately try to transfer their children to another school, and there is a possibility that the student admission rate of our school will be greatly affected by this incident. Even if some students stay, every graduate from this school could have problems getting jobs or university admissions because of their association with this school." Everyone was shocked by Hiroki's far-sighted thinking, and Bert just gritted his teeth in frustration again because, once more, Hiroki outshone him.
"So, what do you think, Hiroki-kun? What is the right thing to do in this situation? We can't let these two go with the possibility of them doing this again," the headteacher asked with a serious expression on his face.
"The right thing to do for now is to let Ericka sensei continue her career here and let Bert continue his study here, but in strict supervision."
"You know, I can't do this, Hiroki kun, I can't let her teach here or let Bert study here."
"Yes, I knew that sensei, but I didn't say let her teach here until she retires, let her teach here until the current school term ends, and in the meantime, you can find a new teacher who can take her place. Also, we let the other students know that Ericka Sensei is going to leave her job because of personal reasons after the school term ends. That will benefit this school in many ways:- First, by delaying her resignation, students will think that she herself left her job. Second, you will have enough time to search for a new teacher instead of her place. Third, you also know that sensei, whenever another teacher takes the place of another teacher, that affects the students' learning rate because every teacher has different teaching methods, and students need time to get adjusted to the new teacher and his/her teaching methods."
"Wow" The head teacher's assistant covered her mouth immediately because of embarrassment. Everyone starts to look toward her.
"Sorry"
"Let's get back to the point, Hiroki- kun what you said is actually a good plan for saving our school's reputation but still you are a kid. I need to ask your parents is that really what they want for their son or not?"
"You can ask my mother, I am sure she will agree with me, right mom?" Hiroki said while looking towards Kaede. Everyone's looks towards Kaede. Berk smirks a little knowing what is going to happen.
"I-I don't know, do whatever you want sensei." Kaede said while looking sideways.
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Sorry about the late upload guys. It's just I got so busy in job and study that I barely left time even for myself but, I will try to upload more faster.