Chapter 80: Chapter 79 - Teacher Under Surveillance

Minami Asakura had reached the point of No Return.

She no longer merely watched Kuro Kurogane.

She was now conducting an investigation.

A real investigation.

At least that’s what she told herself.

The trouble was, each and every time she found a piece of evidence pointing to Kuro’s guilt, the act of examining that evidence somehow led her straight back to the conclusion that Kuro was innocent.

It was deeply frustrating.

It was extremely frustrating.

It was almost too frustrating to be real.

Then, on an utterly unremarkable Wednesday afternoon, Minami made a decision.

One time only.

Just to see what kind of student Kuro really was; she would follow him after school .

After this, she could close her investigation.

Easy.

Unfortunately, reality had its own plans.

After the last bell rang.

Students began to exit from their classrooms.

Minami was standing next to a second story window ’organizing’ papers.

She saw Kuro walk out of the school building with his backpack.

That’s when she moved.

Cautiously.

Stealthily.

As if she were a professional investigator.

At least, that’s what she thought.

The truth was that she looked like she belonged on Cops.

There were several teachers who watched her speed down the hall while trying to not look like she was speed-walking.

As Kuro was walking away from the school, he followed his normal route.

Minami trailed him at an appropriate distance.

Initially, everything appeared normal.

Kuro suddenly came to a stop.

Minami ducked behind a vending machine.

She waited several awkward seconds.

Nothing happened.

After a while she peeked around the corner.

Kuro was buying a bottle of water.

Minami was slightly embarrassed.

Only very slightly embarrassed.

About five minutes later, Minami’s first piece of evidence appeared.

Well, she thought it did.

There was a little boy crying at a busy intersection.

Nobody could tell him where his parents were.

Kuro noticed him right away.

He squatted down next to the child and spoke to him in a calm manner.

Minami squinted her eyes in curiosity.

Was Kuro acting?

Was this part of a plan to create a public persona?

As she continued watching, the child eventually stopped crying and could explain what had just happened.

Twenty minutes later, Kuro returned the child to his mother, who had been panicking and was now crying from relief.

She thanked Kuro several times.

Kuro just smiled and walked away.

No reward; no recognition; nothing.

Minami blinked.

That was not what she expected.

She continued to follow Kuro around.

Surely he would do something suspicious eventually.

Right?

Instead, Kuro went into a convenience store.

Minami waited outside.

Three minutes later, Kuro came back outside carrying a few bags.

Interesting.

Very interesting.

What type of secret activities could possibly require shopping at a convenience store?

Minami carefully followed Kuro out of the store.

Ten minutes after that, she learned what the secret was.

An older lady had difficulty bringing groceries up a steep hill.

Without hesitation, Kuro walked over.

And helped carry them back to her house.

Minami watched, stunned.

The old woman had spent close to five minutes thanking him.

Kuro took a pass on any of that.

And continued his walking.

Again.

No award.

No audience.

No payoff.

Just helping.

Minami frowned.

This did not support her theory whatsoever.

At this point, Minami had been tracking him for more than an hour.

And her investigation had produced the results : Assisted a lost child. , Assisted an old woman , Held doors for strangers , Returned a wayward wallet.

This was just getting annoying.

Where was the suspicious behavior?

Where was the playboy behavior?

Where was the evidence?

Meanwhile, Kuro remained mostly unaware.

He did glance back at one point.

And shrugged.

Maybe he was just imagining it.

The next incident occurred at a local park.

A large group of elementary school kids were frustrated sitting around a bench.

Kuro recognized them immediately.

They were from a tutoring group in the neighborhood.

One of the kids was waving at him excitedly.

"Kuro-Bro !"

Minami froze.

Kuro-Bro?

Older brother?

The kids immediately swarmed him.

For a number of minutes, Kuro assisted the kids with solving math problems.

Minami safely hid beneath a tree, not far from where Kuro was playing with the neighborhood kids.

The kids continued playing while Minami observed Kuro.

Most passersby had no idea Minami was watching Kuro.

One child pointed at Minami and asked their parent, "Why is that lady hiding behind that tree?" Minami casually turned away from where the child pointed.

Meanwhile, Kuro’s actions while playing with kids became more and more professional.

The facial expression that Kuro was using when helping kids changed from his usual "I’m polite at school" smile to a "I feel good and relaxed" smile.

Minami couldn’t help but watch Kuro closely.

Kuro looked so different to Minami for just a moment.

Kuro looked younger and warmer and looked more human.

Minami felt weird about it because the way she thought Kuro looked and acted didn’t match what she thought about Kuro’s suspicious playboy type personality.

It had been hours since Minami’s feet and back began to still hurt from standing for so long and it had become evident to her that her investigation had failed miserably.

Wherever Kuro could be found, he was always helping others.

That was all.

There were no suspicious or secret girlfriends.

There were no suspicious meetings or conniving behavior.

Kuro only displayed excessive amounts of kindness whenever Kuro helped out at the neighborhood.

Kuro’s display of kindness was so excessive, it made Minami suspicious of Kuro’s actions.

Kuro went into a small bookstore as the sun was setting. Minami felt she had to follow him inside.

Entering the small bookstore caused Minami to have second thoughts about following Kuro into the store.

It was so small inside the store, Minami could not find a place to hide from Kuro inside the store.

Finally, after searching for a place to hide, Minami found a shelf that she could crouch behind and observed Kuro as he participated in an over-the-top amount of kindness toward others at the bookstore.

Kuro and Minami locked eyes at the exact same time.

For one horrible moment. Minami quickly snapped her head back. Heart pounding out of her chest.

No way! He has to recognize me! Right?

After a few moments Minami was able to peek her head around the shelf again. Kuro was back to looking through books. Minami let out a huge sigh of relief.

She got up to leave and accidentally slammed her forehead into a book shelf. Three books fell down with a loud crash and echoed through the store.

Every single customer turned to look at her. Minami froze. The store owner stared. Several kids stared. Even Kuro looked at her. For just a second their eyes met again. Minami adjusted her glasses calmly.

And then walked out of the store like nothing had happened. The only thing she had left was her dignity.

Minami was currently outside the bookstore leaning against a wall.

Her entire face was red. She was totally embarrassed. This was a disaster. An absolute disaster. What was she even doing? She is a teacher. A responsible adult.

Not some amateur detective stalking a student. The realization hit her hard. Very hard.

Maybe she shouldn’t do this anymore? Yes! She should definitely stop! This whole thing has gone far enough.

Minami then noticed something. Kuro had stopped walking across the street. There was a little cat stuck in a drain.

There were so many people walking by but no one stopped to help.

A few moments later, he was down and had saved the frightened animal.

The cat then jumped onto his shoulder.

Minami was amazed.

The sight was so wholesome.

And so charming.

The cat was even rubbing against his face out of affection.

This was so unfair.

Totally not fair.

After the sun went down, Kuro finally went home.

Minami was still standing quietly after finishing her investigation.

And she was very frustrated with the results.

Because none of what she had seen supported any of her theories.

In fact, the evidence against them all was stronger.

Much stronger than she thought.

Later that night, Minami sat alone in her apartment.

Her dinner of instant noodles was cold and sitting next to her notebook.

Her notebook that had Kuro’s name in it.

Minami opened her notebook.

And read the entry.

Then she frowned.

Something was wrong.

Very wrong.

The entry "Potential Playboy Tendencies" did not seem plausible anymore.

Because she just saw something different today.

Not a playboy.

Not a troublemaker.

Not a manipulator.

Just a boy helping people when he could.

That was just so hard to hate.

Minami made a sound of disgust.

Then laid her head on the table.

Investigating him was turning out to be more complicated than she ever thought.

Since she’s been in this school, Minami Asakura had never been able to figure out.

Kuro Kurogane!

And that made her want to solve the mystery of who Kuro is more than before.

This will definitely lead to a lot of trouble for Minami.

The problem is that she does not know what her main problem is right now.

That’s not figuring out Kuro’s secrets, but rather that she is already focused on solving who Kuro is.