The staff room smelled of old coffee, chalk dust, and tension.
Every head turned the moment I walked in. Teachers who normally wouldn't glance twice at me suddenly froze mid-sentence, eyes following me like I was dragging a corpse behind me.
The Vice Principal didn't say a word. He just gestured to the empty chair in the center of the room, the kind of spot you put someone when you wanted them surrounded.
I sat. Calm. Straight-backed.
Military habit, never give the enemy the satisfaction of seeing you flinch.
Around me, voices picked up again in low tones, like I wasn't even there.
"Isn't he the one from yesterday?"
"The cafeteria scene… unbelievable."
"Shoku-sensei's class, wasn't it? Figures."
"Still, for Hoshino-sensei to… hug him like that in public…"
I could practically hear the unspoken words: scandal, disgrace, troublemaker.
