"Yes, the man resisted. He didn't follow the plan and even demanded more money."
"This isn't what we agreed on." The traditional-looking Sakaki Michiaki sat in a pitch-black car, his eyes flashing with fury, his body trembling slightly like an enraged lion.
A call was made to the principal's office at Mihama Academy. Sakaki Michiaki, suppressing his rage, maintained a dignified tone as he informed Tachibana Chizuru: "Immediately expel the student named Jhin. I will have Yumiko study abroad in America, and your school will be shut down. Go handle the paperwork at once."
After speaking, Sakaki Michiaki hung up abruptly. Listening to the dial tone, Tachibana Chizuru had no idea what trouble Jhin had stirred up this time to make Sakaki Michiaki personally call to shut down the school.
"How am I supposed to explain this to the students?" Tachibana Chizuru worriedly put down the receiver. Before she could figure out what to say, another call came in, this time from an unknown number. Tachibana Chizuru picked up the receiver: "Hello..."
"Don't worry about the school. Also, remember to put the dessert on the table." A voice of indeterminate gender and age said this before hanging up.
"Dessert? I don't remember buying anything like that."
Tachibana Chizuru was baffled. The caller's words made no sense.
...
Sakaki Michiaki leaned against the window, gazing at the brilliant neon lights that only shone at night. Only from such a height could one appreciate this commanding view, indulging in the scenery that power and status afforded him. He suddenly thought of his rebellious daughter, and the fleeting good mood instantly vanished.
A knock came from outside the office. He stood before the window, inspected his attire, and after confirming everything was in order, sat back down in his office chair. "Come in."
Two deliverymen in light-blue uniforms walked in, which displeased him greatly. "What's going on? How did you get in here?"
"Didn't you just tell us to come in? Mr. President of the Touhin Electric Railway Group." Jhin's flippant voice grated on Sakaki Michiaki's frayed nerves.
The other delivery person took off their hat, making Sakaki Michiaki ecstatic. "Yumiko! Have you finally decided to come back to the family?"
That was right. Jhin, using his own preparations and the help of a certain kind person, had successfully snuck Sakaki Yumiko into the Touhin Group tower to give her a chance to confront her father.
"No! I'm here to negotiate with you. Being at school is countless times more freeing than staying with the Sakaki family."
"This time, I'll keep you by my side and educate you properly."
"Have you forgotten what you did to me and Mother?" Sakaki Yumiko roared in fury. "A place like the Sakaki family is better off destroyed!"
"What are you talking about? Do you have any idea what I've done for you, my heir, up until now..."
"Stop lying! You've never once thought about me! You're just shackled by the curse of the Sakaki family! I don't want to become like you, not even if I die!"
"That's enough..." As if struck a sore spot, Sakaki Michiaki shot up from his chair, veins bulging on his forehead. "Do you think you're the only one who's been hurt?!"
"How can I let Touhin, entrusted to me by my father, fall into decline because of a little girl's willfulness!"
"I won't let you control me. I will speak with my own will, act with my own will. I will not be your puppet."
Sakaki Michiaki was stunned. A puppet? His own daughter was calling herself his puppet?
"Father, while you've never understood me, I've never tried to understand you either." Sakaki Yumiko pulled a craft knife from her pocket with a tragic smile. Even talking face-to-face, he still couldn't understand her in the slightest. "I never existed in the first place. Just think of it that way."
The gleaming tip of the craft knife's blade emerged and Sakaki Yumiko thrust it toward her own neck, which she always held high and proud like a swan's. Perhaps, from the very beginning, this blade should have been aimed at her neck, and not at the hair she cut off to look like a boy...
"Yumiko!" Sakaki Michiaki cried out in terror, watching helplessly as the blade drew closer and closer to his daughter's fragile neck.
"Schlick..." Jhin shot out his right hand like lightning, clamping down firmly on the craft knife's blade. Blood dripped from the gash onto Sakaki Yumiko's collar. He hadn't expected Sakaki Yumiko to still be carrying her craft knife while in a delivery uniform, let alone that she would attempt suicide so decisively.
Is this craft knife your real body or something? Didn't we agree that you'd leave it to me if the talks broke down?
Having witnessed this terrifying scene, Sakaki Michiaki's legs felt weak, and his back was covered in a cold sweat. He propped himself up on his desk. "Don't do anything foolish, Yumiko. If you leave me too, just like Misako did, I'll truly be all alone."
"Since you don't want to inherit the Sakaki family's business, then leave with the man beside you." As he said this, Sakaki Michiaki seemed to age several years, his usual dignified aura gone. "As long as... one of your children with him... takes the Sakaki name."
...
The notice to shut down Mihama Academy was rescinded, and everything returned to normal, as if nothing had ever happened. A major event did occur over at the Touhin Electric Railway Group, however. Sakaki Michiaki announced that he, the president, would officially step down in three years and would no longer hold any position within the group. When asked for his reason, he only said that he needed time to slowly understand the words someone had left him.
Jhin's task as a personal bodyguard had long been over, but he still accompanied Sakaki Yumiko to the riverside to sketch.
A gentle breeze brushed against Sakaki Yumiko's delicate cheeks, and the playful wind blew strands of black hair across her face. She tucked the stray hairs behind her ear. The sound of the stream flowing over rocks was like a cheerful performance.
"Just who in the world are you?"
To Sakaki Yumiko's question, Jhin replied as he always did: "Just a student."
"Hehe..." As if expecting Jhin's answer, Sakaki Yumiko gave a radiant smile. "I think I've mostly figured it out already."
As the younger brother of the genius painter Kazami Kazuki, Jhin could naturally see that unlike her previous paintings, Sakaki Yumiko's every brushstroke was now agile and full of life.
"Your brushwork... it's different from before."
"Is it?"
"It's become very captivating, Miss Sakaki."
Sakaki Yumiko shyly bit her lower lip, her cheeks blushing as if rouged. "Are you still going to call me 'Miss Sakaki'?"
"Then... Yumiko."
"Mm." Her smile was as light as a little bird's—joyful and free. The caged bird had finally been given the chance to fly.
...
My name is Komine Sachi, and I'm a first-year student at Mihama Academy. Lately, I've noticed that some of my good friends are smiling more brightly. It's no longer like they're shrouded in shadow as they were before; it feels like they've completely escaped the nightmares of their past.
I'm sure it has something to do with that boy named Jhin. To be honest, I want to change just like them, but... is someone like me really allowed to change?
__
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