Canon: Remove if not applicable.A knock on the door interrupted Kouen in the middle of a sentence, and he turned his attention to the door with a cold gaze as Seishuu opened the door. "I'm very sorry to disturb," he said, much more polite than he tended to be, and Kouen knew that it was because of the guests sitting opposite of Kouen at the conference table. "but the school called and said it was an emergency..."
"My apologies, it seems I must take this," he apologized to the two darkskinned men. The closer of the two shook his head briefly. "Of course," he said, and Kouen supposed that he must remember what it was like to have to be available when your siblings caused trouble. Armakan Amun-Ra had a younger brother of his own after all, and one quite rowdy, as far as Kouen was aware. The two had discussed their troubling siblings before. With a nod, Kouen left the room to take the call in his near-lying office.
It turned out to be a call from the principal at the junior high school that Kouha, Koumei, Rohroh and Razol attended. "I tried to reach Alexius-san earlier since I know that you are very busy," the principal said, and Kouen rolled his eyes as he leaned against the table. Of course he was busy, but so was Mu, and Kouen really was more easily accessible, as Mu often didn't have the opportunity to take any calls or messages, unlike Kouen - or Seishuu, rather. But the principal was scared of him, while he thought that Mu was the opposite of scary. Which only meant that he had never seen Mu angry, although that was, of course, a rarity. "Yes," he cut the man off before he could continue. "What is it?"
"Ah, err, yes, it's your younger brother, I mean, that is.." How scared could a person get? This was pathetic. Was he this scared of the students, too? "What about him?" And which one? Kouha, most likely, as many people didn't consider Mu's siblings to be Kouen's siblings, even though they were in-laws. Not legally in Japan, perhaps, but married was married. The principal stuttered. "R-right, he, um, well, actually, all four of your siblings are sitting outside my office... It would be good if either of you can came to talk..." The man didn't need to say that he preferred if Mu were to be the one to come. But it was a surprise that Koumei was in trouble too. He didn't tend to cause trouble. It honestly made him curious. "I understand, I will come as soon as I can." He ended the call while the principal squeaked out polite parting phrases.
"Seishuu, I need to go see the principal," he informed his secretary and friend, as he passed him on his way back to the conference room. Once he opened the door he noticed that Armakan was on the phone. "I see," he said, and he rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I will be there." After saying his goodbyes to the person on the phone, he turned to Kouen. "I apologize, but it seems I have to cut this meeting short, Kouen-san," he said. "My brother has caused trouble again." Kouen nodded in understanding. In that case, the principal must have called him first, before calling Armakan. Young Sharrkan attended the same school as the four latest troublemakers in Kouen's family, and Kouen knew that the principal was scared of Armakan as well. Just not as scared of him as he was of Kouen. "Mine as well, so I also need to leave. Perhaps our secretaries can schedule a new meeting?"
As that seemed a good idea for both parties, Kouen followed Armakan and his secretary Narmes Titi to Seishuu's table, and as Narmes and Seishuu conferred over the new date, Kouen fetched his coat.
While they took the same elevator, the visitors stepped out at ground floor, while Kouen continued to the car park further below, where his car was parked in its usual spot. He arrived at the school only a short while after Armakan and Narmes, and Narmes held up the door for him while Armakan waited inside and out of the heavy rainfall.
Outside the principal's office, a whole group of kids sat waiting. Some parents were already there. Only Kouen and Armakan were the guardians that were siblings instead of parents. The vice-principal was also there, trying to keep the kids and parents from arguing. She would have done well, if the parents had not been causing more trouble by continuing their arguments. The students respected her way more than they respected the principal. Silence fell when people noticed that Kouen and Armakan was there. Clearly, the principal was not the only one that feared them. Pathetic. Armakan's brother Sharrkan was standing against a wall, his fingers against its surface and he rolled from heel to toe impatiently. When he noticed his older brother there, a "shit" escaped him.
Kouen turned his gaze toward his siblings. Rohroh stood with an angry glare on his face, glaring at anyone that looked at him, Razol was restlessly stretching, Kouha was sleeping against Koumei's shoulder, and Koumei was reading, apparently completely uninterested in what was going on around him. Rohroh was the first to notice Kouen's presence, and he tsked in annoyance.
The vice-principal cleared her throat. "Ren-san, since all of these cases concerns your family, if you would please step into the principal's office?" she said, and she opened the door. "Principal, Ren-san is here," she said, and Kouen heard a shuffling sound that sounded a lot like someone dropping papers to the floor. Mentally, he rolled his eyes again. "Thank you, Abraham-san," the principal said, and Kouen stepped past her into the office. She called in a couple of parents, their children, and a newly-woken Kouha. So the incident which involved the most people was Kouha's, then. He only briefly knew the other parents, and they had not had enough impact on him to make him memorize their names. He did remember one mother's face, however; he was fairly certain that her other son had gotten into a fight with Razol a couple weeks back. She had beaten him pretty badly, over some dispute or other. So the younger brother was in one of Kouha's classes then.
The principal looked over at the vice principal, Sheba Abraham, and she sighed deeply before stepping to the front of the room to address the distressed parents, sulking (or sleepy) children and the calm older brother. "During last period's English class, a fight broke out between these five boys," she said.
"He started it!" one of the boys, a bony, pale one, pointed at Kouha. Kouha was suddenly fully alert. "It was your own fault!" he said, glaring at the boy. "No it wasn't!" another boy shot back. His face was covered in freckles. His brother was the one who lost badly to Razol. That kid had stated that she had fought dirty, although Kouen doubted that she had needed to fight dirty. All their siblings were trained in martial arts by Mu, for the sake of self-defense, and some of them took it very seriously.
"A-according to the teacher," the principal piped up, suddenly finding courage form somewhere. "the one that threw the first punch was indeed Kouha-kun."
"I don't believe that he would do so without a reason," Kouen calmly stated. "A reason?" A father snapped. "You must be joking. There are no reasons that justifies violence." Kouen, who had had his violent moments during his time in school as well and was younger than the gathered parents, and thus clearly remembered better what it was like to be a teenager, raised an eyebrow. "I doubt that you actually believe that," he said. The man's face turned purple with anger, but before he could retort, Sheba cut in. "Why don't we let Kouha-kun tell us why, then? What happened?"
Kouha glared. "They deserved it, that's all I'll say," he said. He crossed his arms, and the expression that made its way onto his face spoke clearly of how he had no intention to speak any further. Kouen knew that it was useless to try to get him to talk at the moment, unfortunately. He didn't doubt that his brother had a reason for getting into a fight, though. "If you're intent on not speaking, then," he said, and turned away from Kouha, back toward the two members of the school faculty. "I assume that you intend to suspend him," he said, matter-of-factly. The principal nodded, unnerved by Kouen's cool attitude. "Yes, that's right," Sheba said. She turned toward the parents. "All of these boys will be for the rest of the week, and Kouha-kun for two weeks." The expression on her face told them all that she would not tolerate any protests.
Of course, there were still protests, both from students and parents, but the decision was final unless they got to know the reason behind the fight. Kouen hoped he could find someone to keep an eye on Kouha though, leaving him alone at home was not a good idea, because he would get up to a whole lot of mischief. Kouha was told to wait in the corridor while he handled the rest of the meetings, and next, Razol and Koumei were brought in, along with a stout woman, and she was pressing an ice pack against her right eye. Apparently she was a teacher, and Razol had punched her in the face, while Koumei had been reading a book during a movie in history class. "Although Koumei-kun's transgression isn't as bad as Razol-kun's, we thought you should inform you none the less." Sheba said. She looked to the teacher. "If you could tell us what happened, Akimiya-sensei."
"I was showing a movie about the Second World War, and I noticed that Koumei-kun was reading and Razol-kun was sleeping." she said, ready to explain all too eagerly. All too angrily. "When I told them that they had to pay attention to the material, I was told that they didn't care about it, and she," she nodded towards Razol, "punched me."
"As I said," Kouen said calmly, "I don't think that any of my siblings would fight without a reason." Even if some of the reasons could be very petty.
"Sensei is omitting parts," Koumei said, and Razol nodded. "Yeah, when sensei said Mei can't read he said that the material in the movie is bullshit nationalistic crap--" "I didn't phrase it that way," "---and then sensei said that no it's not, that it's super accurate, and then when Mei started talking about the stuff we've learned when we've learned about it from En-nii, sensei said that that's just bullshit and that the movie is the only accurate thing and that anything that says anything else is bull crap liars, and when Mei told her that that's just so fucking narrow-minded, sensei was definitely going to punch him so I punched her first."
"Razol's poor choices of words aside," Koumei said, shrugging. "that is accurate."
"Then Akimiya-sensei was in the wrong," Kouen said. History was a passion for him, and he could not accept such narrow-minded thinking as this teachers. If she only cared about one side of the story, she was not a good teacher. Even more so if she hit students if they brought up totally valid points. He should look into that, he couldn't allow a teacher like that to teach his siblings.
"No matter the reason," Sheba sighed, as the principal cowered. Seriously, how had that man managed to become principal? "she still punched a teacher. Koumei-kun will be sent to detention, but Razol-kun will be suspended for a month." Wonderful. Just wonderful.
"You realize, Kouen-san, that if she does this one more time, it won't end up in something as lenient as a suspension." Sheba told him as Razol, Koumei, and the teacher were ushered out of the classroom. "I understand," he said. She had ended up causing a lot of problems this year. Perhaps it wasn't a good idea to have her in the same class as Koumei? "I will talk to her." Sheba nodded. "Good. Now, please, Amun-Ra-san, please."
Armakan and Sharrkan, and Rohroh, entered the room. Rohroh glared defiantly at the principal, who only shrank back further. He really wasn't suited for this job. Sharrkan sat awkwardly beside his brother, and Rohroh sat beside Kouen. It was an odd combination, Kouen wondered what exactly they had done to warrant being brought to the principal's office together. It did not take long for him to find out.
"So you're saying that you're suspending them for the duration of the week because they made out?" He was almost unable to suppress the disbelief. "I saw three couples making out in the corridors on the way through the building, and no teacher seemed to have a problem with that."
Sheba made a face where she stood just out of sight of the principal as the principal spoke. Apparently, she did not agree with him in this case. "That was different," he said, "they were not boys kissing boys."
"Ridiculous," Armakan said, and Sharrkan startled, looking up at his brother in what was clearly surprise. Had he not expected him to be supportive of his choice of kissing-opponent? Perhaps not, Armakan could come off as terribly old-fashioned. But so could Kouen. "You can't expect that to be acceptable," Armakan continued. "There is no way Sharrkan will be suspended for such a ridiculous reason."
"I agree," Kouen said. The principal only managed a pitiful "but..." before he continued. "You realize that it's the 21st century? If you do not forbid boys and girls from making out with each other you can't ban boys and boys or girls and girls from making out with each other." He proceeded a long argument, and Armakan added several points as well, which made the principal look more and more cowed. "But it's not natural---" he piped in, and Kouen asked him if he was seriously saying that to someone in a same-sex marriage. The principal was completely quiet at that, unable to get out even a single word. Armakan looked over at Sheba. "The suspension will be considered to be withdrawn. Sharrkan will go to school as normal. Rohroh-kun as well."
Sheba nodded. "Very well," she said, not the slightest reluctant to have the decision overturned. She also didn't seem to mind that Kouen and Armakan had threatened to sue if it happened again.
Once they left the office, Rohroh stopped in the doorway and grabbed Sharrkan by the wrist, pulling him close. He gave him a firm and deep kiss, right where he knew that the principal would see it. Then the licked his lips as he pulled away, and grinned deviously at the principal. The man looked as if he was about to pass out. He really should just quit, Kouen thought. He should let Abraham-san have the position instead, she would be far more suitable.
One hand around Rohroh's wrist, Sharrkan hesitantly looked up at his brother. "Brother, I..." Armakan cut him off. "Return to your class, Sharrkan," he said, and Sharrkan nodded. Still holding on to Rohroh, he hurried off down the corridor. Armakan motioned toward Narmes that they were leaving, then he looked over at Kouen. "That was certainly a surprise, but it seems we might see more of each other in the future, if it lasts," he said, then nodded in goodbye.
Once the two people from the Heliohapt Concern were gone, Kouen turned to Kouha and Razol. Koumei had apparently left, as had the worthless teacher. "I will drive you halfway home," he said, "I expect you to explain yourselves better tonight when we talk to Mu about this."
"How did I explain myself badly?" Razol asked as they started to follow him toward the parking lot. "Cut down on the swear words, for example." Kouen stated calmly. "Kouha, you will explain yourself as well." Kouha nodded. "Yeah, right, sure," he muttered.
*****