"Why does it matter to you? You're all buddy buddy with Kamoshida anyway so why do you care what we say." Ryoko grumbled as she leaned back.
"Because! Even if you somehow manage to get something that you could use, you think anyone's gonna believe you two?" Ann pointed out as she kept herself calm against the frustrated Ryoko. "Say you do and you start trying to spread it; once people figure out the source is from a disgruntled former member of the Girl's Track Team and the new delinquent transfer student…It'll get dropped as quickly as it started."
Lee would have rather not admit it but Ann did make a pretty solid point, though that did leave him with a follow up question; "So if you're sure about this, why tell us when you could've watched it fall apart?"
"Because I wanted to give you fair warning, that's all…And I'm not like the Student Council President who is the direct contact to the Principal."
"Bullshit, the minute you leave…You're just gonna rat on us to Kamoshida!" Ryoko sniped at her as she seemed particularly incensed with the whole thing.
"Just…Just think before you do something stupid, okay?" Ann sighed as she turned on her heel and left to go get changed when the bell rang.
With an added huff of anger, Ryoko gulped down the last of her drink; "The nerve of her! "You need a better approach…" What the hell ever!" She grunted and then threw the empty bottle in the trash.
"It sounds like you know her more than we do." Morgana piped up as they climbed out of the bag to resume their spot on the table. "But she is right; a different approach could actually be better than what we've accomplished so far."
Ryoko's anger softened a little as she glanced at the two of them; "I know her from middle school, we were friends but then we just…grew apart when we came to Shujin, she had her part time job as a model and I had track practice…God! I wish we could just, I don't know! Make him forget about all this…"
Lee then remembered a little nugget of info from the past; "Well, if we steal the Treasure in the Palace, then it stops him from his distorted desires…You said that, right Morgana?"
The cat nodded as they scratched their ears; "Yeah, if we can beat the Shadow Kamoshida and steal the treasure then it should take away his desires."
Ryoko nodded along as they thought on it more; "So we take his treasure and he becomes a good person? Awesome, so how do we go about it?"
"We'll need to explore the Palace more and find the treasure but we can't rely on theories alone." Morgana pointed out.
"What do you mean? It'll take all the bad desires away, right?" Ryoko scratched her head as she tried to formulate the best way to beat the tar out of Shadow Kamoshida.
"There's no telling what'll happen if we take his Treasure or take out his Shadow like we do with the others…Distorted desires are still desires, after all. In the best case scenario; he'll feel the weight of everything he's done without the Shadow to hold back his conscience and confess everything…But it's also robbing all his desires: Like the will to sleep, to eat…"
"To live…" Lee added grimly; "So the worse case scenario is that he becomes a vegetable who can't do anything on his own and the WORST case scenario is that he…"
Ryoko's eyes widened when she fully grasped it; "Okay, hold up! Kamoshida's a scumbag and all but I don't wanna do this if it ends up killing the guy!"
"I agree, if we end up executing him in the process of all this…Then we'd be no better than he is." Lee mentioned as he got up.
"It's a lot to consider but even if we want to, we can't do anything with just the three of us." Morgana then climbed into Lee's bag; "We should get going, people will get suspicious if we're out here for too long."
The two said their goodbyes as they split off at Shibuya; Ryoko mentioned about hitting the gym to try getting back to her old self while Lee decided to make his way home. "You seem to be taking the whole "potentially killing someone" aspect a lot better than I thought you would." Morgana mentioned as they reached the stairs down towards the trains.
Lee knew for a fact that killing the Shadow would kill the person but he wasn't going to let them keep doing whatever they want…However he also needed to find a way to say it without hinting that he knew more than he let on. "I mean, you yourself said it was theories so I'll try and stick with the bright side of things until we-"
"YOU'RE DISGUSTING! And you call yourself a teacher!" A girl's voice yelled over the bustle of the crowd and Lee began to realise that while he was so focused on what could be in the future, he completely forgot about the here and now.
By peeking past some of shuffling people, he saw that same blonde girl from earlier except she was glaring down at her phone like it had insulted her but that gaze changed over to Lee when she felt someone watching her; "You again? What exactly do you want?!" She would then realise how she sounded and that she had been caught so she softened a little; "So what exactly did you hear?"
Lee felt that pang of hurt when he saw that same look of disdain in her eyes pointed directly at him but decided to try playing it off; "You weren't exactly very quiet, though all I heard was something about a teacher." he mentioned honestly as he noticed that no one was stopping them or saying anything.
"Well, whatever it was you heard; forget about it! It's not your business to know." Ann snapped at him and then pointed at him; "Besides; all I've seen you do is nose in on people's business, you started it with Kamoshida, you somehow got Sakamoto to help you and now all I hear is that you two are doing all kinds of weird stuff!"
Lee looked at her in confusion; "Look, maybe this isn't the best place to discuss this…Why don't we go somewhere private t-"
"Are you serious right now?! What is it with guys and getting me somewhere private, just…Leave me alone!" Ann yelled at him as she ran off into the train station crowd.
"Smooth going there, charmer…" Morgan snarked as Lee tried to follow after her; "Though what could've gotten her so riled up like that?"
Lee glanced his eyes around; Thanks to his regimented schedule on the last run he went through; he was well acquainted with Shibuya and could navigate it on reflex; "Job Boards…Juice stand…Where did sh…There!"
Ann was leaning against one of the pillars like she was trying to steady herself but when she turned around; she saw Lee standing there; "Didn't you hear me? I said leave me alone!" She snapped once more at him before the stress finally got her and she started to cry a little.
"Look, let's just find somewhere to eat and help you decompress, my treat." Lee offered as he helped steady herself
"You're a jerk…Making a girl cry like this." she mumbled, unsure whether she meant this literally or if she was joking.
——A few Minutes Later——
Lamenting the fact that his wallet that was previously plentiful had not carried over; Lee opted to take Ann to Big Bang Burger, it may have been cheap but it was close and anything too out of the way would make Ann feel worse. "I'm not that bad a person you think I am…The rumours are just rumours."
Ann looked up from her fries as she felt a little better but she still felt suspicious around him; "Why are you so intent on talking to me? I yell at you and…Granted I've not been nice to you so why?"
Lee sighed, taking a sip of his drink before looking to Ann; "Regardless of what may or may not have happened; It didn't feel right to just leave you alone to wallow about..Whatever it is."
Ann nodded; "Well, you were right…That was Kamoshida on the phone; You've been here long enough to know the rumours that they spread about me? How I'm a hussy or I'm dating Kamoshida to get a spot on the team…Those aren't true, the only reason I stick around Kamoshida is for my friend Shiho." She explained softly as she began to let the truth come out.
"Shiho…She was that girl with all the ponytail and the sling, right?" Lee asked her; still trying to understand what would posses Kamoshida to get that kind of physical with her.
"Mhm…Kamoshida said that he could give her a shot on the team if he and I became a thing…But it's in name only, I've only just given him my number and you can imagine the kinds of things he's asked of me…Trips out, drives in his car but now he's just asking me to come over to his place to…You get the idea…" Ann grimaced as she crushed a fry in her hand. "He told me that I have to…He'll take Shiho off of the team if I ignore him. I don't want someone like him with his hands all over me but I can't let him kick Shiho out! She's the only reason that I still go to that dump of a school…"
Lee could feel his sympathy grow and decided to try giving her an out; "Then why not help me and Ryoko…If we report him then we can stop him from hurting other people."
Ann wiped her eyes and sniffed softly; "What I said earlier still stands; Even IF you have evidence that he's done all the things that people say they did. No way will the other teachers, the Principal or even the parents want to acknowledge it, it'll get swept under the rug and he'll keep going like he always does."
"I'm pretty stubborn, I can make sure to get Kamoshida to give up." Lee said playfully, though his intention on stopping Kamoshida was more evident than before.
Ann chuckled a little at his joke, her mood starting to brighten a little; "I'm sure you do…But I'm gonna be honest, after seeing how you helped Mishima-chan get to the Nurse's Office; I can imagine most of the rumours about you are made up anyway…I'm sorry that I got cold to you before but for some reason…And I don't know why though, but I feel like I can trust you more then anyone else at school…As much as I do with Shiho, anyway." Ann remarked as she felt her smile coming back.
Lee nodded with a small smile but for some reason, he couldn't help but feel a bad omen sitting in his gut.
——Later, At Shujin——
The girls' Volleyball team had finished practice for the day; In Shiho Suzui's case, that often resulted in another bruise. She tried her hardest to get better at playing but no matter how much she pushed it or how many times she did the practice; Kamoshida never thought it was enough for her to be considered much more than a bench warmer.
"Maybe I should call Ann and talk to her, I don't think that I'm cut out fo-"
"U-Um, Suzui?" Saya Mishima called from the door; looking a little ruffled and equally as bruised as Shiho was; "Mr Kamoshida called you to his room…He wants to see you."
Feeling her stomach sink in nerves, she nodded and began her slow walk towards Kamoshida's office; "But I thought I did okay in the practice today." She mumbled to herself before timidly knocking on the door.
"Come in."
As soon as she entered; Shiho noticed a number of things, the first was that his window was open, the second being that his hand was bleeding plus his phone had a cracked screen along the center. But the biggest concern was that Kamoshida wasn't angry like he usually was, he looked completely calm; "Y-You wanted to see me…Sir?"
"There's my girl….How about you shut the door because I have something to discuss with you about your place on the volleyball team." Kamoshida explained as he turned to look at her with an almost tired expression; "So far you've turned up to practice without missing one but your skills haven't improved at all…Have they?"
"N-No sir…I am trying though, as hard as I can!" Shiho meekly tried to explain herself while Kamoshida seemed to stare right through her.
"Unfortunately, just trying isn't enough…Shujin's volleyball team is one that is made up of winners and if we can't all pull our weight to nationals, then we need to find people who can." Kamoshida said with a tone that made him sound almost regretful if he wasn't towering over her and threatening her spot.
"P-Please Mr. Kamoshida! I promise I'll work harder, I'll engage more…I-I'll do anything!" Shiho begged as she tried to make him change his mind.
"You know Suzui, there actually IS something that you…And only you can do." Kamoshida remarked as he got up from his chair and slowly made his way towards the now shaking Shiho. "Your friends with Takamaki, right? She's been too busy to come by and help me with some…extracurricular activities, maybe you'd fit the part."
Shiho could feel her body shake and every fibre of her body was ringing out with warning alarms so loud that she almost wanted to turn and run for the door, however this vastly larger teacher's presence and voice seemed to keep her rooted in place. Not out of dedication or out of loyalty.
Out of fear…
"So, how about you come over here and we can talk out how you can keep your spot on my team." Kamoshida asked her with a slow tone that seemed to threaten her to her very core.
"I…I'm not sure that I-" Shiho pleaded as she tried to muster up the courage to look him in the eye.
"Come…Here…Now, Suzui…" Kamoshida said with a deep growl in his voice as he started to lose his patience with her.
Shiho felt her body freeze up as his tone changed and then almost like she was under a spell, she felt one foot move in front of the other to get closer.
"Takamaki's been a real tease lately and ignoring me outright, if you can't improve yourself on the field…Then I'll have to put you on a reserve spot…Or take you off entirely…" He mentioned as he watched the terrified Shiho take small steps towards him. "But I'm a nicer teacher than anyone else here. If you do something nice for me then perhaps I can let stay on the team…"
"Something…Nice?" Shiho asked quietly, it was hard for her to pull away and harder to let her words out because being around Kamoshida like this felt like she was slowly being swallowed up into the ground.
Feeling her trepidation and smirking a little as he wanted more, he made his move; "Yeah, like I said before…Takamaki's been ignoring me and not doing what she agreed to, so I think maybe it's time you took matters into your own hands…You do want to keep your place, don't you?"" Kamoshida hissed as he placed his hand on her arm and gave it a squeeze. "So how about it, you want to talk more at my apartment? I'll give you some pointers on how to take your place on the field and you return the favour by supporting me…" He remarked wit the most devilish glint of malice in his eyes as he watched her tense up.
Feeling his grip tighten on her, Shiho quickly realised what he was insinuating; "Y-You're not suggesting that...Are you?" She would whimper as his other hand cupped under her chin, even though his now fully clear intentions made her skin crawl; She couldn't pull free of his leering gaze. "I won't…It's wrong!"
"If you think you can't do it, then leave…But then what'll poor Ann say when she realises that all her hard work in getting you here has been all for nothing….Why, I think you'll break her heart." Kamoshida would say with that same look of false concern that he had when Mishima was admitted to the Nurse's office.
Shiho felt her body start to turn from fear of him to anger; "How…How dare you…You push Ann into doing what you want and now you want to do the same to me?" She snapped as even though she was still scared, she was now angrier at him.
"You're forgetting something important here, Suzui…If you want to succeed, you need to do what I say as both a teacher and now as your trainer…" He sneered as he then grabbed Suzui's wrist.
"Let…Let me go!" She yelled out as she pulled free and ran out of Kamoshida's office as fast as her legs could carry her, not noticing another person sneaking out of the bathrooms and going in the other direction.
Kamoshida then growled; "SUZUI! If you run now, It'll make your punishment that mu-GAH!" He yelled out but then hissed in pain as he felt something clawing his leg, he then reached down and grabbed what was digging into him with a snarl and sharp yank; he lifted the offending creature that was violently hissing and swiping it's claws at him. "A cat?! Shit, the little bastard must've climbed in through the window!"
He then threw the black and white cat against the wall in a fit of anger, once again being denied of his chance at fun made him feel particularly petty and malicious before turning towards the growling cat. "Think you're a guardian, you furry little bastard…Well I'll show you how I handle unruly little be-"
THWONK!
Kamoshida was cut off from what was most likely a very real threat he'd follow up on as he collapsed to the floor with a sizeable knot on his head.
Standing behind him was a fuming Lee clutching a baseball bat so tight that it made his knuckles turn white; "Don't…You ever threaten my friends like that!" He snarled as he threw the bat to the ground and went to go help Morgana into the bag; "Thanks for scouting ahead for me." He would say to the cat after he calmed down a little.
"After what I saw him try to do to her and to me, it was ABSOLUTELY my pleasure…but I do have a question; How did you know that Kamoshida would try to do something like that?" Morgana asked as they settled in the bag and walked the hallway.
Lee paused for a moment but then thought of something; "Considering everything we've seen of him in the Palace and how Shadows are people's repressed self…Seeing as Kamoshida was already a violent, harassing psycho, I just got a bad feeling." He explained; even though things in his past time were a blur, the sight of Shiho jumping off of the school roof still stuck in his mind very vividly.
"I guess that makes sense…I guess that's probably the one time paranoia and overthinking pays off. Though what about the girl? You did leave that girl behind looking like you saw a ghost." Morgana mentioned as they heard his phone jingle.
"Hey, it's Ann…I didn't get the chance to ask for your number so I asked Sakamoto if I could have it."
Lee raised an eyebrow as he saw her message out of the blue; "Look, I'm sorry about earlier when I ran out…I'll make it up to you."
The next message came through after a couple of minutes with the start of it being a smiling emoji with it's tongue sticking out; "You better do, Mister~ But I appreciate it that you paid for our food before you ran out. I also wanted to check in and see if you were okay, you looked pretty spooked when you left like you did."
Lee smiled a little; Even though it was the early stages, he missed having the chance to talk to Ann and the others again…Well, Ann and Morgana for the moment; Ryoko still gave him some conflicting feelings. "I just had a bad feeling that I left something behind at school and needed to go grab it."
Ann may have been a little spacey with things but she wasn't an idiot; "Riiiiight, look…About the whole Kamoshida thing, I'm not telling you to drop it because I'm sticking up for him. I'm actually going to try talking to him tomorrow and see if I can break things off. I'll talk to Shiho too and see if we can figure something out if he kicks up a fuss…Anyway I gotta jump on the train so I'll see you at school!"
Lee would tuck his phone away when he saw Shiho outside the school gates; She looked understandably shaken and fearful as she was keeping an eye out for the gym teacher when she heard footsteps.
"O-Oh, you're that transfer student…" Shiho would say as she exhaled and tried to calm her nerves to seem a little less scared; "What are you doing at school so late? I thought everyone else except clubs went home a while ago."
Lee nodded; "I left something behind in Kawakami's classroom and I ran back to come get it."
Shiho chuckled a little as she glanced to him; "That's understandable…Have..Have you seen Kamoshida around?" She would ask as she peeked around a corner in case he was looking for her.
"I…I think I saw him in his office, I got turned around and it looked like he was taking a nap." Lee mentioned; trying to pull out a lie but it seemed like it was better then dragging up the events of a few minutes ago while she was still a wreck.
"I…I'm gonna see if I can go home. I'll see you at school." She would wave slightly before heading out to get the train home.
"Are you sure it's alright to hide this from them? It's not like what you did was a bad thing…Well…Except for hitting a teacher, of course." Morgana mentioned as they noticed Lee's rather serious look on his face.
"Yeah…For now at least, Shiho's shook up enough as it is…We'll go to the Palace tomorrow with Ryoko and find this treasure, I'm not going to wait around until Kamoshida follows through with his attempts."
——The Next Day at Shujin——
"Um…Sorry, Ms Kawakami… But Mr. Kamoshida needs to see Lee right away." Mishima would say as she knocked on the door.
"Lee? Of course, but make sure you come right back afterwards." Kawakami ordered as she was confused by the sudden calling out for Lee.
"Mishima? What's going on?" Lee asked the girl as he walked alongside her before she poked her head into another class, this time asking for Ryoko.
The three walked along to go find Kamoshida's office but two out of the three were confused as to why they were summoned her while Lee had a pretty vague idea as the door opened up.
"Good to see you three made it, close the door and sit down." Kamoshida said as he snapped his fingers to direct them to their seats; aside from his serious look, he had a bag of ice pressed to the back of his head. "I'm assuming you know why I brought you three here."
Mishima looked nervous while Lee and Ryoko were equally disdainful of being in the gym teacher's presence. "A-Actually, I don't…Why did you?"
Kamoshida scowled as he looked among the three of them; "Cut the act! I wanna know what you three were doing last evening?" He grimaced as he watched the three for any tells.
"The hell are you talking about? I just went straight back home after that dumb game." Ryoko snarked as she crossed her arms.
"I-I was helping to clean up the gym, I called Suzui up to your office but that was it." Mishima stammered nervously, earning a raised eyebrow and a suspicious look at her from both Ryoko and Lee.
"And you? What's your alibi, delinquent student?" Kamoshida leaned in close to Lee's face with an accusatory look.
Lee glared back but decided to stay polite. "I forgot homework on Kawakami's desk so I ran back to get it before school closed."
Kamoshida stroked his chin but his scowl didn't change; "Well I've got an interesting story for you three…One of you came to my office yesterday and assaulted me while I was…busy with work."
"You mean picking on students and leering at girls?" Ryoko growled as she tapped her foot; she knew that Kamoshida had some shady things going on and those were the two rumours rotating.
"One of you three, hit me in the back of the head with this!" Kamoshida yelled as he held up the bat from the day before. "I didn't see who did it but I do have a suspicion it was one of you three…"
"W-Wait, Mr Kamoshida, I-I'd never think bad of you, let alone attack you li-"
"You be quiet!" Kamoshida snapped at Mishima as he rounded on the other two; "You couldn't handle being kicked off the teams, Sakamoto so you probably felt more then willing to take another swing after your…terrible accident."
"You son of a…YOU BROKE MY LEG AFTER YOU SHIT TALKED MY FOLKS!" Ryoko snapped back at him as she sprang out of her chair to glare up at him.
"That was self defense, a teacher can't and shouldn't be attacked by teachers…But you…" He would then point at Lee; "You have a criminal record and you plus Mishima couldn't make it full time on the team so you decided to try lashing out."
"I didn't do it!" Mishima exclaimed as she got out of her chair and clenched her fist; "I don't want a spot on the team that badly…"
"Well, regardless of who did it or not…I'm making sure you three get expelled." Kamoshida declared before going to sit at his desk. "When the next board meeting comes around; expect to kiss your desks, lockers and your futures
"That's bullshit! You can't do that without a good reason." Ryoko yelled at him while kicking her chair towards him.
"THAT IS ENOUGH! You've already tried to attack me in the past, The transfer student is a time bomb waiting to happen and Mishima isn't any better." Kamoshida sneered as he started writing.
"W-Wait, but I didn't do anything! Why are you choosing to expel me?!" Mishima stammered as she felt her body squirm.
"You may or may not have assaulted me Mishima but you have a nasty habit of leaking information…You leaked the transfer student's criminal record to the school…That's called Damaging Disclosure, when that gets handed over to the police and that's a chargeable crime." Kamoshida sneered before starting to laugh raucously as the three left his office.