Chapter 26

Honestly, there was no contact with Inari ever since she last called. I don't know if I ought to be worried, but she did tell me to lay low. I had no idea how serious this was, so I merely went about my way normally. I didn't think of it much as I had a lot of things to be worried about.

One day, while the colorful pinkish petals were slowly peeking out from between their leaves, I came to realize the severity of her call as there were a bunch of suspicious-looking men hanging about the front gates of the school with an expensive-looking car parked by the side. The news spread like wildfire and so the teachers tried to stop it, asking them to leave but they refused, telling them that they wanted to meet the Principal of the school.

Inari must've given up my location. Was she tortured? Or was she offered a large sum of money? I can never tell.

They didn't try to get into the school. By the end of the school day, they were gone without a trace and I was called to meet the Principal after school. This is not good. They even managed to get the discipline master to follow me from my classroom, so I wouldn't be able to run away and get to safety. I had a bad feeling about this, and so I texted Kousuke-san as discreetly as I could.

"They're just here to see you," the discipline master was saying. "You don't need to be scared."

I said nothing, and grew even more angry. They should be protecting me rather than selling me out to the scary people, was what I thought. I tried to feign a stomach-ache, and tried to leave but the discipline master didn't take my bluff. He was the discipline master for a reason. The walk to the Principal's office felt long and dreadful.

My heart was up to my throat by the time I stepped into the room, seeing the Principal and the boss with two of his bodyguards flanking him. Is that the man who's taken hold of Inari?

"This is Amari Izumi."

"Yes."

The boss wasn't looking at me just yet. 

The longer I looked, the more peeved I was. He had a severe look on, despite having rugged good looks. Black hair, cut short and a little unruly. He had shades on, as he looked out of the window. The man was dressed professionally, in a three-piece suit that accentuated his broad shoulders and slim waist. Despite leaning against a table, with both hands buried in pockets, he was oozing a menacing aura.

"Izumi, this man has found your mother," the Principal started speaking.

I tried to keep my face nonchalant. 

"He would like you to go and see her," he continued.

"No," I said.

The adults were taken aback by my answer. I could feel their surprised stares on me, as I stared back at them unflinchingly. I knew what they were trying to do, and I was not happy about it. These adults are treating me like I am a child like I lack the maturity to be treated equally.

The man finally spoke. "Why won't you see your mother?" he asked. "Aren't you worried about her?"

His voice was deep, and it reverberated against my rib cage, tugging against my heart painfully while squeezing it tightly as I drowned in their tight embrace. He turned to look at me, moving away from the table to plant himself right in front of me.

"She can take care of herself."

"What makes you so certain?" he asked.

I raised my head to look at him, locking eyes with him and noting how severely terrifying he looked. "Because I know her," I said steadily. And I know she gave me up for a bunch of cash. Inari was that kind of woman, the kind that cared about money for her flesh and blood she denied years ago.

He barely reacted to my statement but I could see that he was curious about my answer. I knew he wanted to ask more, but he was refraining himself from it. I too wanted to ask more questions, and I was refraining myself as well. The call Inari made was a warning, and I was not planning to get swept away by the adult's prompting.

The door to the room burst open suddenly, and we turned to see Kousuke-san stepping into the room with a scowl plastered on his face. He scanned the room, noted the occupants, and saw me standing in the middle before he came to pull me out of there.

"Why are you here, Oshiba-sensei?!" the Principal demanded, almost relieved but terrified.

"Why did you not contact her guardian before this unknown man demanded to see her? She's a minor for crying out loud," Kousuke-san asked instead as he grasped my wrist. "Let's go Izumi."

"I am her guardian," the fiery man replied flatly. "I am her father."

"What are you talking about?" Kousuke-san demanded.

"I am her father," he stated, almost stubbornly.

I felt like vomiting. My stomach was queasy. He does not look his age, if I can say that but he was suspiciously young. Even after he had said his age, I could not process it in my mind. I could not grasp the notion that my mother had sex with a minor, and got pregnant by a minor. I could not – for the life of me – understand the implication of having a young man like him as a father.

"You cannot be my father," I said.

He sighed heavily. "I am Takahashi Makoto," he said, as he turned to look at me squarely. "It seems that Inari barely kept you proper. But I am still pleased you are attending school, despite looking like you got into a fight recently. You did well, supposedly you got my bad blood."

I didn't even know if I wanted to take it as a compliment or an insult, but the way his voice coiled against his tongue made it seem less like an insult and more like praise. And I particularly didn't like it when he spoke, his words were layered with suspicion and insincerity.

"Is she fine?" I asked.

"She's alive," he answered shortly.

I said nothing to that.

"Do you have any questions for me?"

"No."

He barely showed any sort of reaction to anything, so it was difficult for me to discern his facial expressions. Kousuke-san's grip on my wrist tightened considerably, intentionally letting me know that I was not alone and so I was a little more confident in locking eyes with a famed man who was supposedly my biological father.

Takahashi Makoto.

They were supposed to be a one-night thing, so she was taken aback when she found out she was pregnant. She got me tested, trying to match who the father was and knew who he was. However, she decided not to contact him and brought me up on her own.

I understood why.

Takahashi Makoto is the fourth head of a large empire known for its tenacity and boldness in business. They own a large chain of hotels, casinos, and shipment of exports and imports. His face appears now and then in magazines and newspapers. He was a powerful one. Too powerful for commoners like us.

"I would like to know more about you, Izumi," he said. "And if you'd allow me to, I would like to be your father. I had been trying to locate you-"

"Don't you have a son?" I interrupted flatly. I am not unaware of his standing. I know enough about him to know he has a family, he had a wife and if I recall, he had a son too. His statement bore a lot of suspicion and I could not afford to believe him.

He didn't answer.

"I don't want you to think that you can enter my life," I said. "I'm happy with where I am now. Please don't come back. Kousuke-san, let's go."

Kousuke-san glared at the other man and quickly pulled me out of there immediately. I don't remember what I said to him after that, but I left school and returned home with my mind full of questions and doubts. I could not seem to understand what had happened, my mind was still unable to accept the information and so I began to peel off my clothes in a robotic manner.

This is not what I wanted.

Why can't things stay the same?

I didn't like this at all.

Angry tears suddenly blurred my vision, surprising me and I hastily brushed them away, cursing at my luck. A sob filled up my chest and I couldn't stop them from erupting; tears overflowed my ducts and began to flow down my cheeks.

"Stop crying, Izumi," I scolded as I struggled to keep myself composed.

As tears wet my cheeks and flowed, I gave up standing and took to curling myself up in a fetal position by the corner of my bed and wall as I sobbed my way across time. I kept cursing my life, my luck, and the way things had been. I was so pitiful, it's hard to accept.

Due to this fact, my tears kept on coming in fervor and I couldn't stop them from racking my body as I sobbed hard. I didn't know how long I had been lying on the floor, my tears had flowed and flowed until they couldn't flow any longer and so they dried up against my skin. When I finally sat up, I located my mobile phone to find a few messages from a few people.

Scrolling through them, I came to find out that they had a gist of what had happened and it seemed that either news had traveled fast or Kousuke-san had informed them about it. They kept on messaging when I didn't answer, and there were a few missed calls too. As I was thumbing through their worried messages, thumping sounds could be heard against my wooden door and Natsu's voice appeared.

"Haretsu, open up," he urged.

I sighed and told him to wait so I could freshen up, and pull on some clothes before I opened the door. Natsu was not alone, there were Haru-san and Iwaizumi-san too. Surprise was an understatement at their presence, especially Iwaizumi-san. I was expecting someone else though.

"What're you guys doing here?" I asked, my voice sounded rough.

"We're checking up on you! You didn't answer our messages!" Iwaizumi-san exclaimed. "Hajime was worried half to death but he couldn't come because of practice and made me go on his behalf -"

"Are you okay? I heard from them," Haru-san interrupted before he exploded into a long monologue.

"I just -"

Natsu didn't pause for my response; he pulled me into a hug. I embraced his comfort, burying my face in his shoulder while I held him tightly. His humming of a familiar lullaby resonated, a reminder of the countless times he'd alleviated my pain and provided solace.

"Don't ask her too many questions," Natsu murmured to the other two. "She'll answer them once she's okay."

Their hands tousled my hair as they departed, informing me to take care. Iwaizumi-san will inform Hajime-san that I was taken care of. Once they had left, I raised my head to meet Natsu's expectant gaze, knowing he awaited my words.

"I found out who my real father is," I said. "My biological father."

His eyes widened in shock.

"He's a very powerful guy," I continued as I took a step back. "Tachibana Makoto, a well-renowned businessman with a side dealing in the yakuza. His family is rich and influential and I don't know how much Inari was paid to give up my location because he went to my school earlier today."

"What does the fucker want?" he asked. "It's been sixteen years, it's a tad bit too late."

"Honestly, I don't know," I answered. "And frankly, I don't give a single fuck because he has his own family. He has a wife and a kid. I don't know why he even bothered to come and find me, let alone announce to the Principal that he is my real father."

Natsu looked torn. 

"Let's go get some ice-cream," he decided eventually.