Third Person PoV

While Kiyopon was conversing with his friends, he noticed a particularly odd aura from Chabashira-sensei. Well, if anyone looked her direction, then they would've noticed the pressurizing gaze she was giving Kiyopon while subtly faking her paperwork on the desk.

" So the plan's set, right? We're meeting later at the mall?" Haruka asked while twirling a strand of her blue hair.

" Yep." Everyone answered except for Kiyopon ( Who was still wondering about Chabashira's intentions. )

" Kiyotaka? What about you?" Akito asked.

Kiyopon turns to him and nods before proceeding to excuse himself, " ...Please excuse me...I'll be back in a bit." He said.

" All right." Akito said and the rest of the Kiyopon group accepted the excuse and asked no further questions.

Kiyopon walks out the door and he quickly heard Chabashira's footsteps following him from behind.

Kiyopon avoided the main hallway and opted to rendezvous at the stairs.

Once they had privacy, Chabashira called out to Kiyopon.

" Ayanokoji."

Kiyopon turns to look at her, blank-faced.

" Please follow me. " She said.

" And if I don't?" Kiyopon dared to ask.

She sighs, " Unfortunately, the option to refuse is non-existent with the current circumstances. This is extremely urgent." She was serious.

That evoked a bad feeling to begin swirling in the pits of Kiyopon's being.

Kiyopon quietly followed Chabashira, trying to figure out what exactly is this urgent manner. He hadn't done anything wrong or anything suspicious. Maybe because he was spotted at the top floor, fake kissing Manabe, to avoid being identified by the female student who'd just left her room?

Kiyopon doubted that. The school would rather not waste their time on romantic flings between students, even if him and Manabe weren't really like that.

Could it be...? A thought formed in Kiyopon's head. A dreadful thought if it were to end up being true.

If it does end up being what he'd thought of, then Kiyopon must ready himself in advance.

She knocked on the office door. " Principal, I've brought Ayanokoji Kiyotaka."

A gentle voice that carried the dignity of age, responded, " Enter."

Chabashira-sensei opened the door, Kiyopon noticed the nervous grip she had on the door before opening. His face immediately turned serious since the thing he'd been dreading for a few minutes, is about to become reality.

A man, who looked to be around his 60's, sat on the sofa. He was the school's principal. Kiyopon recognized him during the few ceremonies that this school had done. But he didn't seem calm like he usually was, in fact, sweat even trickled down the side of his face.

Kiyopon didn't bother looking at the second man who was present in the room. He sat opposite of the principal.

" You two may talk now," said the principal, " I trust this is acceptable."

" Of course." The other man answered.

" Very well, I'll be taking my leave now." The principal said. He bowed humbly before making his exit, he had bowed to a man who was only in his forties.

" I'll excuse myself as well..." Chabashira carefully said before bowing and taking her leave. But as she passed by Kiyopon, she had spared him one last glance, a glance full of worry but exited immediately.

" Been a while, hasn't it, Kiyotaka?"

"...." Kiyopon has not once spared a look to the man.

" Why don't you take a seat? I came all the way here to meet with you, after all."

It had been a year and a half since Kiyopon had heard this man's voice. As expected, nothing really changed except the subtle growth of gruff and command in his voice due to aging.

After another moment of silence, a chuckle escaped the man's lips. " Still silent as ever, I see?"

Kiyopon offered no response.

" You used to talk a lot back then, especially to the other kids who were your age." The man took a sip from his tea before continuing, " A pity that they couldn't keep up with your mental growth. Weak fools, they were."

Kiyopon glares at his father.

" Great. I knew that would get you to look at me." The man grinned. " Let's get down to business, shall we?"

The man places his cup back on the small plate.

" I've prepared the documents for you to drop out. I already spoke to the principal. All I need now is for you to say yes."

.

.

.

.

" Silence again? How annoying. Truly annoying." The man sighed in disappointment. " Despite your troublesome refusal to talk to me, you are still the most valuable thing the white room had ever produced. The greatest milestone I had ever achieved, and to add more weight to my words, it was my own flesh and blood....my own son.....who had achieved that title." He said.

"..."

" Drop out, Kiyotaka. That's an order." His father commanded. " Haven't you had enough? I believe you've been defying me for a short while now. It's time for you to return back home."

"...."

" Tch, this school has escalated your " rebellious phase". If you had only obeyed me, and stayed in the mansion. This annoying attitude of yours wouldn't have been established." he spat out his frustration. " Putting the white room under renovation for one year, has certainly become my biggest mistake in a LONG time."

"..."

Kiyopon decided to turn around and headed for the door. His father noticed and only smirked. This was his chance to pull out his trump card, which will definitely affect his defiant son.

" But personally, I think there's one person who has bigger regrets than myself." His father started while Kiyopon continued marching to the door, attempting to tune out whatever his father had to say.

Kiyopon reached the door knob, but as he began to twist it open. His father spoke,

" I'm sure you know him. He WAS your butler, after all. The employee who went against his employer, the man who granted you this sliver of freedom; The man named Matsou."

Kiyopon stopped. His eyes widened when his mind registered his father's words.

Kiyopon immediately turned to look at his father once more with a serious expression.

" Yes, he truly shocked me to my core. He had told you about this school as way for you to escape my control. He encouraged you to ignore your real father's wishes and you chose to let yourself be manipulated with his words, and then decided to accept the offer, and thus, you were enrolled into this school without any real issue." The man paused, " But all this had been done without my permission. And so, I was of course....angered when I had found out that my little masterpiece had escaped with the help of his caretaker." He said and waited. He made sure to etch this information deep into Kiyopon's mind before continuing.

" Naturally, Matsuo had to be punished." He started,

" He was disciplined and dismissed." And then he gave a cruel smile, " But that ' punishment' would be too kind of me, isn't that right? "

Kiyopon unknowingly clenched his fist, as his began to shift into an expression that gave a sense of upcoming despair.

" I assume you know about Matsuo's son?" His father asked.

Unexpectedly, Kiyopon spoke.

" Eichiiro..." He didn't mean to speak but his mind couldn't process his own command until after it had happened.

Kiyopon knew who he was. He was Matsuo's pride and joy, he could recall all the silly stories and memories Matsuo has of Eichiiro and Kiyopon, despite not having met him, listened to Matsuo's stories with great interest. Even if it didn't show on his face, Matsuo continued to speak until he had enough for the day.

Kiyopon remembered Matsuo telling him that Eichiiro had promised to work hard everyday so he can get a job to support and repay back his father for all his effort. The smile of Matsuo as he looked back fondly on that story, was still burning in Kiyopon's memory.

" Yes, that was his name. When you enrolled at this school, Matsuo's son also managed to pass the difficult entrance exam for a wonderful, prestigious private high school. He worked exceptionally hard, and achieved it all on his own."

The man paused once more and tried to decipher Kiyopon's expression.

" But now he's been expelled." He said.

"..." Kiyopon knew that it didn't end there. His father predicted that he KNEW this wasn't the end.

" But instead of moping about it, his determination hadn't faded. He bounced back and immediately tried to enroll in other high schools. I did whatever was necessary to crush his attempts to advance. I made him give up." He said.

" I did the same to Matsuo, too. I tarnished his reputation to the point where he was unable to get another job. His son also lost his way, and is now unemployed." He said.

Matsuo....Kiyopon felt an ache in his heart. It grew bigger and painful the more he thought about what his father just said. Kiyopon knew that he wasn't making this all up...

Matsuo and his son lost everything......because Matsuo had helped Kiyotaka....

" But this was more than the old man could bear. He could handle this burden alone, but he simply could not accept that due to his stupid actions, he had sabotaged his son's future. And so, he came and begged me to leave his boy alone. He said he'd do anything to appease my ferocity."

"....What...did he-"

" He committed suicide last month by self-immolation." His father finished.

Kiyopon's pupils sharpened at that. His clenched fists lost its power and unclenched.

....Why....Why does it hurt? Kiyopon asked himself. The pain inside him was expanding. It was something he'd never felt before.

" Right now, his son's working part-time, earning enough to live on and nothing else. No future. No dreams. No hope. His family's tragedy is your fault. The boy must surely hold a deep grudge against you. Even in death, he'll never forgive you." The man taunted.

"...."

Kiyopon tried to keep himself together. He told himself to ignore the aching feeling and think about this rationally, thinking about this logically. He can't let these unknown emotions get the best of him, not at this moment.

He closed his eyes and cleared his thoughts. He masked his feelings once more with his blank expression.

" Look at you, your expression doesn't seem to have any ounce of remorse. The man who took care of you, who saved you, had died. And your face remains expressionless. Ha! If Matsuo saw you now, he'd start despising you as well." He said.

Kiyopon finally spoke up with a serious tone.

" You have no proof whatsoever to what you're saying. No evidence to suggest that it's true. I refuse to believe in your pathetic attempts of lying to me." Kiyopon said, coldly.

" Matsuo's death has already been recorded. If you want, I could sent the documents that confirms it." The father shot back.

" Documents could easily be faked. I won't believe anything that comes out of your mouth, nor any of the papers you'd try to show me. " The son retorted.

" Is that so?" The man asked.

" And I do not intend to leave the school. Matsuo enrolled me here, he wished for me to enjoy my three years. I will honor his wishes and continue my school life, there is nothing that you can do to affect that." Kiyopon said before turning around.

" Are you sure?" He stopped Kiyopon once more. "You argue that I might be lying through my teeth and faked documents about his death to convince you." He said.

" So what if I were to show you something." The man stood up and walked towards Kiyotaka with a dark grin etched upon his face. " Something that could prove everything I've said up until now."

The man forcefully turned Kiyotaka to face him once more and showed him a video on his phone.

The video played....

Matsuo's screams filled the silent office.

His screams as he burned. Kiyotaka's expression completely changes, his so-called resolve falling apart at the sight of his butler screaming for mercy for his son and screams due to the pain from the burns.

Kiyotaka could only imagine the absolute pain Matsuo had to go through. Each scream that pierced Kiyotaka's ears were getting disturbing the more he watches.

Eventually, the screaming stopped, and the only sound that was heard....was the fire continuosly burning Matsuo even after he had passed.

".......Matsuo..." Kiyotaka gritted his teeth.

" Do you see now? I wasn't lying, now was I?" The man laughed evily before putting away his phone and taking his seat again at the sofa while Kiyopon stood frozen.

" Well, even with that. I doubt it could convince you...after all....you DID say that there was nothing at could affect your resolve, yes? I'm quite proud of that. It means that my masterpiece is still strong....but unfortunately, in exchange, he's quite stubborn to cherish and savor his freedom."

The man poured the now cold tea in his cup.

His father glanced at him once more.

" To savor a freedom.....stained with the blood of his caretaker. " He sneered before drinking his cold tea.

" You may go now, Kiyotaka. It seems we just can't agree on some things, right? But do beware, I won't stop here. I will take you back and when I do, I will make sure you will never be out of my reach ever again. Enjoy fighting for the rest of your three years." The man paused, " That is, if you STILL choose to fight."

"..." Kiyotaka looked down and took a deep breath before turning around once more.

He gripped the door knob with such intensity and roughly twisted it, opening the door and leaving, slamming the door as he left.

" Foolish boy. I'm utterly disgusted by how weak you've gotten under his influence. But breaking you mentally is not something I haven't done before. I'm simply forced to remind you of the fact that the more people get close to you, the more likely they are to get hurt because of you. I'd expect you'd learnt that by now." The man muttered.

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Chabashira looked towards Kiyopon, who had just exited the office.

She crossed her arms and began asking her question.

" How was it-"

But Kiyopon swiftly ignored her existence and kept on walking.

Chabashira, unknowing of what Kiyopon was currently feeling, continued on her pursuit.

" Ayanokoji, I want you to answer me. How did it go?" She asked more sternly.