Alinea

"It's only natural that you should be punished, no?"

Bright as a bulb, colorful and oozing with charm, the bored CEO, Kazehaya Gin looked all relaxed as he stood there in front of the dumbfounded girls. The servants, on the other hand, bowed their heads as soon as he appeared.

"Young Master Kazehaya," they greeted.

"Y-Young Master?" One of the four girls – the chubby one that Gin recognized as Rin stammered as they continued to stare at him in awe.

"Yes?"

Since Gin knew that the other three were Ara's real friends, he decided to be nice to them.

"Are you our host's brother?"

"Something like that," he answered honestly with a dashing smile that was blinding to most.

Regardless that they were not really blood-related, it was a fact that he was the older brother figure to Ryuu, and he's technically the second in command in the clan. Nobody else had the power over him other than Koutaishidenka himself.

As expected, the girls inhaled audibly as he mesmerized them with his good looks.

"Urghh Ara-chan has a reverse harem full of good looking guys,"Rin mumbled to herself, with a giggle, but Gin's demigod ears heard her clearly and he was totally surprised, although he didn't show it on his smiling face.

It seemed these girls knew about Ara's connection to Ryuu, but he would have to ask them about it later. For now, he had to deal with one annoying insect. His smile vanished, replaced by a stern expression as he turned to Okada Koharu. The girl was on a full damsel in distress mode right now, looking all innocent and pitiful. Too bad, her acting's all wasted on him since he knew her all too well – even her dirty little secret that he still hadn't told to anyone even Koutaishidenka.

He had found out who her partner in crime was.

Remembering the details of the report he received yesterday before they went to save Ara, his hazel eyes hardened, all traces of warmth he had shown the other girls just earlier gone as they fixed on the pretentious woman.

"Call the principal, and their teacher," he ordered, and the three girls gasped, their faces filled with worry as they exchanged looks with each other.

Okada Koharu who was the one who did something wrong stuck to her performance and played innocent, as more tears fell from her eyes. There was no trace of worry in her, however, which told Gin, she was confident she would be able to storm this fiasco and leave unscathed.

Too bad again, Kazehaya Gin was there.

Now that Ara, herself, allowed him to go ahead and do what he had to do when it came to the crazy woman if she did something, he decided to immediately strike when the opportunity presented itself. He had no idea how far he could go though. But, he'd help Ara destroy this girl's mask faster so she wouldn't have to deal with Okada Koharu for far longer than necessary.

As soon as he gave his order, a servant scrambled to his feet to get the principal and the adviser to come. Soon, the two arrived, along with the other class' adviser and the guidance counselor. All a.d.u.l.ts instantly recognized Kazehaya Gin and gave a proper greeting to Homura International's CEO.

"Kazehaya Shacho," they greeted as they bowed.

"Is something the matter?" the principal asked awkwardly as his gaze transferred from Kazehaya to the girls, and a scowl suddenly appeared on his face as he realized they were the same students he had scolded last night.

"You again?" Angry was an understatement to describe the old man's face, and the girls were understandably terrified.

Kazehaya placed a hand on the principal's shoulder, stopping him from scolding the girls on the spot. "Please follow me," he beckoned, and all people involved including the servants tailed after the CEO towards the receiving room.

On the way, Kazehaya'd phone in his pocket suddenly rang, and he swiftly took it out and smiled upon seeing the caller. He was not able to greet her however as Ara immediately spoke.

"Kaze-nii, destroy her mask. Kick her out…"

Gin's smile turned into a wider grin, as mischief danced in his hazel eyes. Finally, a full green light to get rid of the Okada trash had been handed down. "Got it," he answered as he ended the call, and slipped his phone back in his pocket.

When everyone was seated, Kazehaya began.

"Asahi-san, "Kazehaya mentioned the principal's name. "I called you all here because I want to settle an issue. It seems, as you must be aware, one of your students has been giving my staff a lot of trouble since last night."

The principal gulped as beads of perspiration formed on his bald head despite the cold weather. "We truly apologize for this Kazehaya-sama. We have strictly told our students about the rules and policies enforced during our stay here but it seemed someone was really not good with instructions."

Kazehaya raised one c.h.e.s.tnut brow, as he took on a condescending attitude. "Not good with instructions?" he scoffed.

The principal bowed his head. "Yes, Kazehaya-sama. We really apologize as the student doesn't have any sense of direction and kept getting lost."

This time, Kazehaya let out a mirthless laugh. It would have been very rude under a normal circ.u.mstance, but this was not one, and the CEO was powerful enough to offend whomever he wished. He even offended Ryuu at times.

"Principal, I didn't mean to be rude, but please know that I'm not buying your explanation."Kazehaya's voice was firm, making all the a.d.u.l.ts and the girls except the deranged culprit flinch in fear.

"We extended the invitation to visit the Cedar Palace to your graduating classes. If someone as stupid as that girl who cannot seem to follow instructions is a graduating student, then the level of education your school is giving is quite concerning."

Hearing this, of course, it was expected that the principal as well as the staff who were there to deny it and focused the blame on Okada. It was just as Kazehaya planned after all. He wanted to drag Okada to the spotlight and unravel her ugly face in front of these people. He had prepared a little presentation for them too.

"Kazehaya-sama, it's not like that at all," the principal said hurriedly, his voice ringing with an apology. "This girl… this girl seemed to be interested in the private area and has tried to sneak there more than a couple of times."

Okada Koharu didn't expect this. It was not part of the script she had been following in her head, and so she stood up. "That's not true. I just kept getting lost. Principal! Was it my fault if I have a poor sense of direction?" she asked demurely, her eyes imploring the old man to champion her.

Again, Kazehaya cut her dramatics off.

"Oh? No sense of direction?"Kazehaya asked mockingly as he signaled for the servants to bring a laptop inside.

The servants hurriedly placed the computer on the table and opened it.

"What is that Kazehaya-sama?"

Everyone in the room was curious as to what was going on. Kazehaya, however, ignored them as he clicked on the files and then turned the laptop facing the people so they could see the screen. It was a black and white video of what seemed to be a surveillance recording.

As expected, everyone looked on curiously at the screen. Kazehaya watched as those orbs which were inquisitive at first changed into surprise, then to indignation, and finally to disgust, while Okada Koharu turned white as a sheet.

Kazehaya smirked. There was no way she could tell people that her sneaking was because she lacked a sense of direction. Everyone saw how she had deliberately snuck from her group and surreptitiously went towards the private area, where it was clearly forbidden, ducking her head and hiding each time she encountered people nearby.

There were three recordings of her three attempts to sneak into the private area. Each video was similar to the other. Okada Koharu couldn't lie. Her alibi's totally crushed by the glaring evidence.

"Can someone tell me how is she poor in direction? She clearly knows where she wanted to go, doesn't she?"