“You’re
certain you can’t stop it?”
“Kareyoshi-sensei,
we’re saying we don’t have any interest in stopping it.”
Kareyoshi heard
the emphasis on ‘sensei’, but there was no respect in it. If
anything it sounded as if the man smirked.
The spring
trimester was a memory since just a few days, but it never felt like
it had ended for him. Especially since the summer of 2017 showed
leniency when it came to temperatures. The last, lingering days of
July offered weather better suited for late May.
“Don’t want
to?” Kareyoshi asked, more for confirmation than anything else.
“Look, if the
kids behave like some unruly gaijin you discipline them. As it is now
those expelled got rewarded by an entry into Irishima High.”
He could growl,
but it helped about as much as wiping dirt from his suit. Out of the
three schools there had never been any question about which one had
the highest status. Now there were effectively only two of them left,
but even as Benibara High, or Akai Bara High School as it was
formally named, was dissected last winter the students with the
highest grades went to Irishima High and the rest entered Himekaizen
Academy. Only those with pure Japanese hearts found no place in
either school.
Benibara was left
as a burned out shell of its former glory.
“Kareyoshi-sensei?”
He left his
thoughts and shifted his attention to the representative for arrivals
in Japan. A dirty half blood at that!
“As
I said earlier. We’ve made an agreement with your superiors that
the expulsions be rescinded.”
“And
if I don’t agree?” Kareyoshi stared at the woman who had spoken
without being spoken to. Being half Swedish meant she was probably
incapable of cleansing herself from the foreign taint clinging to
every fibre of her being.
She
returned his stare.
He
could have sworn there was something condescending in her expression.
“We
emigrate. All of us.”
“Why?
Because you love Sweden that much?”
Her
next stare sent shivers down his back. “No. We represent a little
over a trillion yen. That gives us a lot more power in Sweden than in
Japan. We’ll use it to shut down the business with arrivals.”
Kareyoshi
shrugged. If a few dirty foreigners given overblown rights were to
cease arriving in Japan, then what was the problem?
“You
don’t have to understand. I’m aware it’s beyond your mental
capacity anyway. You just have to obey.”
Kareyoshi
almost gave in to his need to discipline a woman who didn’t know
her place, but a glare from the man beside her calmed him down.
Whatever the reasons for the strange order given here Kareyoshi still
trusted the people who worked with the arrivals but still aimed for a
pure Japan.
“Whatever
is best for my home,” Kareyoshi said and made certain his voice was
at its most formal.
“Whatever
is best for humanity,” came the immediate reply.
Kareyoshi
didn’t even bother to answer. His hand forced he’d have to
reinstall every student who wanted to come back to Himekaizen.
“You’re
right, of course. I’ll keep that in mind,” he said and smiled.
His new orders were clear. He had to allow the garbage back inside
his school. That was all. He could still make anyone stupid enough to
return regret that decision for the remainder of their high school
lives.
