Useless

In the principal's office, where there was no principal, a gentle black-haired man whose face looked to be 27 years old, and was concerned about appearance, had dimples, charming lips, two muscular-looking arms, and wore glasses was putting his teacup in his mouth. After that, his eyes fell on the woman in front of him, who was sitting on the sofa and want to smoke in the room.

Because the man's gaze was a bit scary for the woman, the woman gave up smoking. Putting the cigarette back in the pack, then took a deep breath so the man could hear it.

"You look exhausted, Miss Prillia."

The woman in front of him, blocked by the table, who was on the soft sofa, was Prillia, the homeroom teacher for Class 2-E.

"I thought I wouldn't get involved with that anymore, but it turns out… Ah, forget it! Since when can they be like that? As far as I know, when I was in school here, it never happened," Prillia said.

"It's already happened."

"Uh, what do you mean? I never found that item."

"Yeah, because you didn't get involved with them. It happened during your sophomore year of school. They had planned this while getting the items exported from outside. When your third year of school is here, they have already succeeded in making the item. And after you graduate, they've spread the item all over the city. So, it happened when you were in school here, Miss Prillia."

Prillia thought for a moment after the man said. After that, she looked straight at the man.

"Then why don't you stop that? You know about that, right? You're part of the government too, right? But... why don't you want anything to do with them? Why is the government just silent?"

So many questions were asked by Prillia. That was something Prillia had been asking about all along. But, even though she asked the man that several times, the man just responded as usual.

"Because it was their choice. The government will not want to interfere because it is their choice. If they interfere, what will happen to them? They will not be able to fight against the power they have, even though they are an only young adult. For that reason, neither I nor the government in this city will ever interfere in their affairs."

"You... What do you think of the people in this city? You don't know that 5 out of 10 people have consumed that item. You don't know how much people suffer from consuming that item?"

"It's up to them. Those who want it, also have to bear the risk. It happened to you too, Miss Prillia."

"Aiiisshh..." Prillia bit her lip after the man brought up her past. "You..."

The man again put his teacup to his lips casually as if he didn't regret having said that.

This happened so fast, it seemed as if almost the entire town knew about the item. This seemed to indicate that the item was expanding rapidly. This makes ordinary people who don't want to end up curious about the item—and in the end, they consume the item and get addicted.

Prillia knew that this could not happen. She had experienced those times. Her past is quite dark, even she still regrets what she did in the past. She wants the item to be eradicated immediately, and the government catches the mastermind behind making the item. This is very dangerous if left unchecked. If this continues, all the inhabitants of this town will become addicted to the item, which is a dangerous narcotic.

"How long will this keep happening? There have been many victims involving the students of this school. I don't want my students to become victims because of that item. I don't want them to go through what I went through."

"That's up to them," The man said casually, looking as if he didn't care what Prillia had to say. "What they choose and run, it's up to them. You can't stop that."

"You… Why do you always piss me off? If it weren't for you who hired me here, I would have beaten you."

"You wouldn't be able to do that there even though I didn't hire you here, Miss Prillia."

"I'll prove it."

"Just try it!"

Prillia stood up, took a deep breath, sighed, and looked in the direction the man was at, and then she pointed her fist at the man.

"See? You can't do that."

Prillia couldn't take her fist 5 cm away from the man's face. She couldn't hit the man in the face for no apparent reason.

"Why… why can't I just smack you in the face once?"

"That's because you've made a choice. You chose not to hit me."

That's right. Even though Prillia said that she would hit him, she had no intention of hitting him in the face. So, that's why she didn't manage to hit the man in the face.

The man put his cup on the table, and then lowered Prillia's arm slowly.

"It's the same as your students. If they didn't choose to take the pill, they wouldn't be ensnared by anything. However, if it turns out that their curiosity about the pill is getting stronger, they will be ensnared by the pill. So it's their choice."

"Then what should I do, huh!?" Prilia sat back down. "I am a teacher at this school. I don't want them to experience that. I don't want any more victims to my students."

"You just need to act normal. You teach them, you guide them, then you go home and take care of your sister. That's all you need to do."

"What do you mean, I'm useless? I can't prevent anything? Like that?"

"Possible."

"..."

Prillia responded silently to what the man had done to her. It pierced her heart deeply. "She is useless", the words that made her hurt.

She was hurt by those words and looked at the pack of cigarettes that was on the table.

"I'll throw this in your face!"

She did so, throwing the pack of cigarettes in the man's face. However, the man managed to catch the cigarette pack before it hit his face.

"You've come to your senses, haven't you? What do you have now? Power? Money? Crown? You are the queen? You have realized that you are nothing. You're just a teacher."

"You..."

The man threw the pack of cigarettes on the table. Surprisingly, the position of the cigarette pack returned to its original position. He seemed to pay close attention to each position of the cigarette pack before.

"What happens when a teacher like you gets involved with them? Do you want to leave your sister, who is already in her second year at this school? Are you going to just leave her like that?"

"..."

Prillia has a responsibility to look after her sister. She has lost both her parents. If she just left her sister, it would be like throwing her sister into an orphanage. She gave up her responsibilities as the eldest sister.

Prillia was aware of that, but she didn't expect that she would be of no use to her students who got into trouble with the pill. It was already like she was entertaining on a large scale but her existence was not considered by anyone.

This made her quite heartbroken as a teacher. This makes it the same as what she experienced. This made her unable to become the best teacher, as her mother had hoped for her when she was in college.

Heavy, this fact is very hard for her to accept. The fact that she should have been able to help her students ended up being a useless figure. This is a very hard fact for her.

"I-I…"

Prillia loves her sister, Ayska Qaireen. She didn't want to make Ayska sad anymore because she lost their mother. She didn't want to be of any use to Ayska and her students. She didn't want to be a failure. Even so, the facts she faced were very hard for her to accept.

"I told you, it's useless. It's not just the teachers who want them not to do that, but the government too."

The man knew something that prevented the government from interfering in the affairs of the people of this city. The man also knew that this city had several rulers who had freedom. For this reason, he only hopes that the people of this city are not wrong in their life choices.

"The central government doesn't want to know about this. They just cover their ears and eyes and tell the government that works for this city to deal with it. And we, the government that works for this city, can only solve a few problems. We can't reach what those companies are running. We don't have permission to find out about them. We seem to be limited. So, you're not the only one who's useless in this city's troubles."

"Then what should I do?" Prillia asked, a languid look on her face.

"I already have an ace to deal with this. I hope this works out."

"What are you doing?"

"The government in this city cannot break through this matter from the outside. They are limited to finding out about them. For that, as a matter of overcoming this, we have only one option, which is to break through from within."

"...I don't understand what you guys are planning."

"You don't need to understand. You just need to be a good teacher to your students and behave as usual. Neither you nor I nor the government is useful for dealing with the proliferation of those items in this city."

Even though Prillia didn't know what happened and what the man said, she nodded and agreed. Even though she was useless, she still nodded.

"By the way…" The man raised his teacup. "How's the new student doing?"

"Who?"

"The two men." He managed to drink the tea.

"Oh, they..."

***

Meanwhile, in the public park, some children were looking at the toy horses being tortured by being played by two teenagers.

"Oy, Fujitora, they are waiting for us. Can we stop playing this piggyback?"

"Shut up! I'm still imagining when I caught the cowboys who ran away from me. I will catch them."

"Are you stupid? We'd better go home. It's late."

"Shut up!"

Well, that happens a lot. Teenagers destroy public facilities made for children. Fujita and Raka almost break the two toy horses in a public park.

"Hiiiiiii-haaaa..." Fujita imitated the sound of a horse.