10 Chapter 10 - Miss Tome of the Gale

The Kazama Family is heading to school together like always.

Kazuko looks around the bridge with her big eyes, "Oh, there aren't any challengers for Onee-sama today."

"It's not something that happens every day." Momoyo said with a shrug.

In the past when people still don't know about her strength, people would brave enough to challenge her everyday just so they can challenge Tesshin.

But nowadays it's hard to get any challengers to challenge her like back in the days.

People who knew about her strength starts chickening out and never dare to challenge her anymore. In her opinion, there's too many coward in this generation!

Maybe she should take Yōta to have a spar match with her.

'Oh, maybe that's a good idea.' Momoyo thought as she looks in Yōta's direction.

The man in question is currently listening to some weird song called 'Your Mother is Chome-Chome' by Terakada Tsuu through his earphone.

She never understands why he loves that weird song, not only the title of the song is weird even the lyrics are weird as hell too.

She means, what is Chome-Chome about?

"I wish we could go out and pick fights." Kazuko said cheerfully as she twirls around with open arms as she leads the group like usual.

That statements bring Momoyo out of her musing as she smirks in response, "Yeah, that would be awesome." But then she purses her lips in dissatisfaction, "If only that old man didn't prohibit it."

"What about the old man?" A voice that laced with power and authority suddenly appeared out of nowhere that makes the Kazama Family jumps on their feets except for Yōta and Momoyo.

When they look at the source, they could see a bald old man but still has white hair on lower part of his head, his beard also long as his arm and his eyebrows are long enough to the point where they go over his eyes.

This is Kawakami Tesshin, the principal of the Kawakami Academy, the Grandmaster of the Kawakami Temple, the biological grandfather of Momoyo, and the adoptive grandfather of Kazuko.

Goddamn, what a long title.

Yōta already sensed the old man's energy nearby, so he doesn't really surprised when the old man suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

Beside this old man was known to pop out everytime someone mentioned him, especially if it's coming from his grandchildren.

"Good morning, Gramps." Yōta takes the earphone out from his ears and bows deeply in front of his grandfather-figure.

As the kid who'd been taken care by the old man when he still wets his bed, he respects Tesshin as much as he respects both his parents and biological grandparents.

"Oho, Yōta. Good morning, my boy." Tesshin greeted Yōta back while laughing like an old man he is before he cracks open one of his eyes to peer on Yōta's figure, "But still, your existence is still baffling as usual."

No matter how many time he sees it, this young man's aura is always interesting to look at.

Everything about this young man is simply contradicting.

His aura is like raging tsunami, so chaotic, so uncontrollable, and destructive. But even in that chaotic aura within himself, there's still establishment in it, making that chaotic aura itself looks tranquility in response, which is pretty much weird.

Usually, there's no tranquility in chaos and there's no chaos in trainquility. But this man's aura easily destroy that perfect image, and creates this contradictory image, making impossible to possible.

Karakusamoyō. What a fearsome technique. He knows what that technique's capable of.

It's not a technique that mere student should have, but this young man succeeded on achieving this technique in his young age.

It's a technique that even the greatest samurai in Japan, Miyamoto Musashi, failed to achieve in his life.

The deepest level of kenjutsu. The sword that surpassed the sword that reached 'One'.

"Surely you jest." Yōta simply chuckles in response.

"Hohoho."

The young man can denied all he wants for now. But no matter how long he's trying to hide behind that mediocre mask, it will crumbles in time, and people will understand and know who Nagakura Yōta is.

He wonders what kind of expressions the masters around the world would have when they finally witness this young man already achieved the 'Zero'.

Oh, he can't really wait for that moment to happen. That would be funny.

"Whoa, when did you get here, Gramps?" Kazuko asked curiously after she finally able to pushed her surprise.

"Good morning, Principal." Yamato also starts to greet the old man in respectful manner.

"Just now." Tesshin replied to Kazuko while patting the girl's head, he then turns his head to the Kazama Family's direction, "Good morning. Thank you for always looking after my grandchildren."

"There's morning assembly today. Don't you have to get ready for that, old man?" Momoyo asked as she crosses her arms under her chest.

An explosive wind suddenly burst out from Tesshin body as he opens his eyes wide, showing no pupil inside, "Show me some respect when you're wearing the school uniform, you fool!" In seconds after, the pressure gone and the old man smiles lightly, "But I forgive you because you're my cute granddaughter."

"This may be an outrageous school..." Gakuto sighed out as he wipes the sweat on his brows after he feels the heavy pressure coming out from Tesshin.

"You still don't have a girlfriend, Shimazu?" Tesshin raised his long eyebrows in response, "You're too blunt. You have to be a better talker if you want to get some girls. Just look at my boy Yōta there." He continued as he points in Yōta's direction with his chin.

Everyone then look at Yōta's direction instinctively when Tesshin said that.

There they see Yōta smiles at Miyako and Kazuko, asking them if they're okay and not, he's been protecting both when Tesshin suddenly exerts his pressure at Momoyo.

While he knows that Tesshin won't hurt his students especially his cute granddaughter, Yōta's instinct starts screaming at him to protect them, thus his body is simply moving first without thinking.

And before he knows it, he's already covering both of them from the pressure.

Miyako and Kazuko smiles bashfully at Yōta as they thanked him for protecting them.

Even though the current situation is not that dangerous, but it's still nice to know that Yōta always will be there to protect them.

"If you can't do like what Yōta just did, then it may be impossible for you to get a girlfriend."

"Leave me alone!" Gakuto shouted in response. He doesn't want to hear that! He'll get a girlfriend, no matter what!

"Hoho!"

The principal of Kawakami Academy simply chuckles before he leaves the group with light steps. He already had his fun, and for an old man like him, teasing a youngster nowadays is always fun, after all.

With the principal finally gone from their sight, the group once again starts their walk to school and the conversation resumes as if nothing has happened.

"You're not dragging tires today, Wanko?" Gakuto asked while crossing his arms in wonder.

Kazuko smiles widely in response and imaginary dog's ears appeared on top of her head, "Don't take me so lightly!"

She takes off one of her wristbands and gives it to Takuya.

"Whoa, this wristband's heavy...!" Takuya grunted as he's trying his hard to not drop the wristband.

"I tried a heavy one today." She puffs out her chest in pride as she stares expectantly at Yōta, "Isn't it amazing!? Now's your chance to praise me!"

"Oh, you're awesome~ Good girl~" Yōta smiles brightly in response as he pats Kazuko's head with so much pride, "You'll going far!"

Kazuko couldn't helped but to rumbles and giggles when Yōta pets her head with two hands, playing with hair and scalp, "Hehe, of course!"

She looks very delighted.

"But it's boring if there aren't any challengers." Momoyo sighed out loud before she grins in Yōta's direction, "I'll tease Yōta to kill time, I guess."

Yōta suddenly feels shivers down his spine, he suddenly leans forward and perform a stance of standing sprint start, with fingertips on the ground.

While the group's looking at him curiously on what he's doing right now, Momoyo grins widely before she pounces on Yōta with enthusiasm.

"UWOOOHH!!!" Yōta dashes forward like his life at stake, trying to overun the Goddess of War, "GO AWAY! I DON'T HAVE ANY INTENTION TO BE YOUR TOY TODAY!!!"

Momoyo happily chases after him, "Haha, wait up, you!"

"What a heartwarming scene." Miyako commented from the side.

"Yeah, except Yōta's running desperately and they start to trade blows after blows too." Takuya corrected while shaking his head.

"Oh look at that, a tree is flying through the sky." Shōichi whistled at the sight of Yōta swung his wooden sword and blows the trees behind Momoyo when she ducks to avoid the slash.

It's a peaceful walk to the school.

-Scene Change-

After arriving at school, the Kazama Family joined the students in the schoolyard for the morning assembly which is mainly to hear Tesshin's rambling about life and all that.

It probably went without saying, but most of the talk that Tesshin spouted are went in one ear and out the other.

...

Since Kyojin is taking his time today, the students of 2-S are chatting away in the classroom like it was a break time.

"Nee, Yōta, are you doing anything for the upcoming Golden Week holidays?" Miyako asked as she plants her chin on her palm.

Yōta hummed in response, "To be honest, I don't know. If Mum is calling, I guess I'll visit them, but if no, maybe we can plan something?"

"I see. Well, if Emi-obaasan is calling, you can't really refuse her..." Miyako nods her head understandingly.

"Yeah, can't have her suddenly crying on me saying that I don't love her anymore..."

"Ah, I can see Emi-obaasan's doing that..." Miyako couldn't helped herself to imagine the exact image of Emi's bawling her eyes out saying that her Yōta doesn't love her anymore.

Emi is a very impulsive and emotional person. While she adores and dotes on Yōta a lot, but sometimes she can be too overbearing and overprotective of him.

"And when that happen, Dad always gonna be her punching bag."

While it's bad for laughing at people's misery, Miyako couldn't help herself to giggles at that.

Yōta's parents is a funny pair. When the wife is getting emotional and starts crying, she will definitely vent it out on the husband, and the husband could only accepts the punch with smile on his face.

"Okay, you all, it's time for your lesson..." Kyojin finally made his appearance.

...

"We will have a moral class now." Kyojin started as he taps the teacher's desk with his finger.

"Morals, huh..." Jun hummed thoughtfully as he nods his head, "Something I've never heard of."

"Well, it's something you very much lack right now, being a lolicon and all." Kokoro commented from the side as she fans her face.

"She got you right there, Jun." Touma chuckles .

"Boo~" Koyuki on the other side playfully booing on Jun.

"A mere morals won't shackle down this King to unify the country!" Hideo shouted with enthusiasm as he starts posing.

"How wonderful, Hideo-sama!"

"Kinda goes without saying, but I'm kinda shit when it comes to morals, manners, and all that." Kyojin sighs out loud, ignoring the golden boy and his crazy maid, "But once you kiddos get out into the real world, yeah, you'll be in a real deep trench of feces if you don't know your manners."

"That's, uh... definitely one way to put it..." Yōta chuckles wryly in response.

"It is..." Miyako nodded her head in agreement.

Kyojin then opens the strangely thin, old textbook, "Sheesh, this is plain common sense. So anyhow, you're sitting on one of the normal, non-priority seats on the train. Then you see an elderly woman get onto the train."

"All the seats are taken, and the poor old lady is wheezing herself to death practically. Would the correct thing to do in this situation be to give up your seat? Yes or no?"

Touma hummed and flips his front bangs with his fingers, "Of course, yes. Even if she's old, you should take care of a lady nontheless."

"I've to agree with Touma-san." Yōta nods his head in agreement. It's a common sense to give the seat to the old lady who in needs, after all.

"I mean, you'd feel bad the rest of the ride if you didn't..." Kokoro added.

"Fuhahaha! It's a King duty to take care his people too, of course, it's YES!"

Kyojin hummed in response as he plants his cheek lazily on top of his palm, "Aight, we'll do this. If you think giving up your seat is the way to go, raise your hand high."

In response to Kyojin's call, his students proceed to raise their hands one after the other.

This is pretty easy. It's basically like 1+1=2 in math. Nobody even really needed to think to know their answer.

"What's your opinion, Shiina?"

"..." Miyako turns silent for a moment before she sighs, "Nobody'd want her fainting or anything, so of course I will give my seat."

"Wait, Shiina." Jun suddenly called out, "Are you really sure about that?"

"?" Miyako simply raises her eyebrows in response.

"We are here to study morals. We want to be THINKING about human empathy." Jun started as he slams the desk very passionately for some reason, "Hence, I believe there may be more to this question than it leads on, so to say."

"No, like, you seriously don't even have to use your small brain at all." Kokoro sneered, "You let her have the seat, no duh."

"The hell are you saying, baldy?" Hideo crosses his hands and narrows his eyes, "Are you such a miserly guy that you wouldn't let some poor old lady sit down?"

"You deserve punishment, kyaarun~!" Azumi chimed in from the side with chirpy manner but her eyes glint with dangerous light.

"That's not nice, Jun." Touma chided his childhood friend while shaking his head.

"Baldy is a meanie~" Koyuki points an accused finger on Jun.

"Listen up, everyone!" Jun ignored the comment and stands up, "You're all going about this the wrong way. In order to reach the true answer to this question, we first have to consider the old lady herself. Is she a fundamentally good or bad person?"

"Heck, we can even call into question whether she is truly an old lady at all. For all we know, her hunched posture, and shaking legs could all just be clever acting."

"If there exists a person out there able to trick others to such a foolproof degree, they could, in fact, be a notorious swindler."

"A swindler~? So, granny is a bad person~?" Koyuki asked innocently as she tilts her head and taps her lower lips repeatedly.

"Now she's a criminal?" Kokoro looked very flabbergasted by now.

"Miss Tome of the Gale, active pickpocketer. Age 86." Jun said as he raised his index finger to make a point, "Skilled in the craft of stealing wallets of sleeping office workers next to her the moment she sits down on a priority seat. That is what her everyday life consists of."

He raised another finger, "From 08:00 AM till 01:00 PM, her primary hunting grounds are city halls, and in the afternoon, she switches to stealing the wallets of fellow elderly people at big general hospitals."

"... A habitual pilferer..." Azumi whispers to herself in shock.

"Wait, what the hell man!? Do you legit think this super granny you're imagining exist out there!?" Yōta smacks his desk.

"What? Of course no." Jun denies it fast, making all the students stumbles on their seats, "I'm just playing hypotheticals here. The point of the story is we have no detailed background and bio for that old woman in the textbook. And because of that, we need to discuss her as a person."

"O-Oh, I never knew simply discussing morals could get so deep..." Kokoro mutters to herself as she touches her forehead with her back hand.

Miyako closes her eyes in response, "I don't really think this is supposed to be 'deep' at all."

"Other than what I've already mentioned, she pulls that rent scam thing, where you inform people of your bank details for the rent having changed. Long ago, she also used to engage in credit card fraud."

"And as the cherry on top, she even engages in distress calls, where she targets her fellow elderly folks to poach their pension."

"She's no newcomer to the business of fraud; started in her mid-thirties, so that makes about fifty years now. And the money she's accrued through this heinous life of crime totals to more than three billion yen."

"She goes from host club to host club on her weekends, using that black money to buy herself men. She'll first find an attractive guy she likes, then she'll buy him an entire apartment and make him her sexual plaything."

"Miss Tome is the kind of person that takes advantage of the goodwill of others and scams innocent people of their money without the slightest hesitation."

"So, tell me. Would you all still let that woman have your seat?"

Hideo growls, "That's unforgivable! As a King, We will make that woman pay for her crime!"

"I'd smack her as hard as I goddamn can and kill her!" Azumi shouted her answer as her real personality showing up.

And with that, the faction of those who would not give up the seat increases to two members.

Here in this class, they ponder about right and wrong without any sort of profit-loss thinking.

Simply giving yourself into the majority opinion and raising your hand is the action of a mindless sheep.

"It is truly 'right' to just concede your seat to an elderly woman that has dabbed her hands in crime for a whole fifty years!? A woman who no doubt driven COUNTLESS innocent people to suicide!?"

"Never, I say! Call me a 'scumbag', call me a 'lolicon', call me a 'horrible human being', but I care not for that! I would much rather be shunned by the world than give up my seat to a CRIMINAL!!"

"As much as I hate it, I agree with the lolicon here..." Kokoro voiced out her opinion.

"Hmm, I see." Kyojin hummed thoughtfully before he nods his head, "What IF the granny is a criminal, huh? I gotta say, that sounds like a REAL moral class, and I like it."

"Touma~ My head's about to burst..." Koyuki said as she lazily lays her head on the desk.

"Yosh, yosh..." Touma simply chuckles and since his seat is in front of Koyuki, he can easily reaches for the girl's head and pats her in comfort manner.

"You are OUT OF YOUR MIND!!" Yōta roars once again as he scratches his head frustratingly, "If there was a world out there where such a terrifying ass grandma exists, then I sure as hell wouldn't wanna live in it!!"

"Objection." Miyako cooly raised her arm, "The person in question is not trying to proved a deep question about moral rightfulness. He's just purposely trying to run the conversation in a different direction for his own pleasure."

"..." Jun averts his eyes from Miyako and turns silent.

"What's important to consider here is not whether the person could be a criminal or not, but rather whether the act of 'letting an elderly person have your seat' is in and of itself the correct thing to do." Without wasting any moment, she continued to make her points across, "It's a straight and simple question, wherein we judge whether or not someone has the all-important quality of 'empathy'. In my opinion, that is the true nature of this question."

And with that, Miyako continues to read her philosophy book, ignoring everything around her. She's already makes her point, there's no need to join this farce anymore.

In response to Miyako's words, everyone's eyes start to open, realizing that the act of giving your seat to an elderly person in and of itself isn't wrong.

Hideo and Azumi were constantly groaning on their seats, having a conflict with their inner sense of justice.

Jun hums and nods his head, "Sure, fine. Then let us suppose you go ahead and let that elderly woman have your seat. But what if everyone inside the train, with the exception of yourself, was an elderly woman above the age of eighty?"

"What's your point, baldy?" Hideo asked as he crosses his arms.

"Basically, what I'm saying is, the people sitting and the people holding onto the straphangers are all old women." Jun begins to taps his desk rhythmically with his finger, "Those who stand without a seat are but mere moments away from falling over and dying. In that situation, an elderly woman that looks like she's literally one foot into the grave comes over to your seat."

"Now tell me, Yōta, what would you do?"

"Huh? Well, the grandma's about to die, right? I just have to give my seat, right? It's simple." Yōta narrows his eyes while answering that.

"And that, my friend, is where the problem arises." Jun shakes his head, "Due to you giving old lady A your seat, old lady B, who was in JUST as bad as old lady A, is thus left without a seat, and falls to the floor, dying. Oh, the heartlessness... Through one rash action on your part, you ended old lady B's life..."

"Well, maybe grandma B should have asked one of the other grandma's sitting down to give her THEIR seat!"

"Old lady's C, D, E, F, G, H, et cetera, who are sitting are all on the verge of dying, the same as old lady A. What does she do now?"

"Holy shit!! What is this, the trolley problem!?" For the umpteenth time, Yōta smacks his desk, "All the passengers are grandma's two steps from death's door!? MAJI DE!? Like is this world infected with some old age virus or WHAT!?"

"Haha, and just like that, we've gone off track..." Touma rested his chin on the back of his hand, looking fondly at his classmates bantering with each other like usual.

"Eeee~ Which granny am I supposed to give my seat to~?" Koyuki asked in flustered manner.

"Gosh, at this point I don't even care anymore. Let's just decide who gets to live with a round of roullete or something." Azumi chimed in from her seat.

Kokoro fanned herself with her iron fan and sighs, "And now the morals go out the window. What I can expected from a low-moral lolicon like him, anyway?"

"I mean the first thing we ought to do is call an ambulance." Miyako mutters to herself as she flips the page of her book.

Following that, the homeroom teacher from 2-F, Umeko, came after hearing the students in 2-S yell on about granny this granny that and told them to quiet it down.

The conclusion the class arrived at unanimously was a non-responsive 'Let's just pray we never get on a train like that in the first place'.