Episode 376: Reprimand (Third Party Perspective)
-Kon kon kon!
The sound of knocking reverberates through the room, which is furnished with high-quality furnishings and has a calm atmosphere.
"Enter."
With a dignified voice, the owner of the room gives permission to enter.
"E, excuse me."
Opening the door, the one who enters with a small, faint voice is a petite, trembling girl.
Seen from the side, she is likely to be mistaken for a Junior High School student, but she is Shinonome Rin, a classmate in Fuhito's dormitory.
"I can't hear you. Speak louder and more clearly."
However, because her voice is so soft that he can hardly hear her, Shinonome Dougen stops his hand on the document he is writing, raises his stern face, and glares at Rin while giving an order.
He is Rin's grandfather.
"Hiu. E, excuse me!!"
Rin's body trembles, and even though her eyes are teary, she raises her voice as much as she can and greets the room again.
"You can't even do such an obvious thing ... Haa ... Well, that's fine."
At those words, Rin looks down and her body trembles in fright.
It is easy to see from the exchange just now that the relationship between the two is clearly not as simple as that of a typical grandfather and grandchild.
"Do you know why I called you here?"
"..."
Dougen asks Rin with eyes as if they're looking at a pebble on the side of the road. However, Rin remains silent, clutching the hem of her clothes while looking down.
"Are you listening!!"
"~!?"
Dougen yells at Rin who doesn't answer right away, and her eyes widen. Rin shrinks ever further at the threatening attitude.
"Don't be silent!! Answer me right away!!"
Dougen is annoyed and shouts even more.
"Hii ... Contact with Satou Fuhito-kun ... Hiikuu ... it's for reporting progress ... Hiikuu."
Rin, cowering in fear and completely in tears, replies to him.
-Daan!
"Didn't I tell you to speak more clearly!!"
However, even if she manages to answer, she ends up giving him a feeling of irritation, and provokes more anger. Dougen stands up and slams his fist into his desk, cracking it.
"Hii. Hiiiiiieeee!?"
Rin involuntarily crouches down, holds her head, and her body trembles. Like a small herbivore that hides in fear from a carnivore.
"Haa ... Why in the world could you be born into a martial arts family, my Shinonome Family. I can't understand it at all."
He looks down on Rin, who is timidly shaking in front of him, with disdainful eyes as if he is looking at something dirty.
"Until now, I've kept you alive in the hope that you'll be useful, but I no longer want this useless person."
"~~!?"
Dougen soon becomes unable to accept the existence in front of him, who is unable to produce any results and is living in fear and doing nothing.
Rin, who senses it, raises her face.
There is even more despair.
"Listen, if you don't want to die, hurry up and report."
"Ha, hahi ... The movements of other forces are intense, and I can't get close ..."
Realizing the seriousness of the situation, Rin desperately spins the words of her report so that she can survive somehow.
"Fumu. As expected."
"Eh?"
Naturally, Rin thought that if she reported such a thing, she would be reprimanded more than just before, but she is taken aback by Dougen's lighthearted reaction and makes an expression like a pigeon eating a peashooter.
"No, what, I thought you wanted to die too much. I thought I would just do what you wanted."
Dougen raises the corners of his mouth with a smile.
His eyes aren't smiling at all, and his light reaction is him being overcome with anger and being stunned, and he just decides to deal with the uselessness in front of him.
"Hii."
Rin retreats in fear.
"What, it will end in an instant. You can rest assured."
Dougen gets up from his chair, bypasses his desk and moves over to Rin.
"Help ..."
Rin loses her composure and desperately retreats, but her body can't move as it should and Dougen gradually corners her.
"You disgrace this Shinonome Family!!"
When Dougen catches Rin within the range of his martial arts, he raises his fist and tries to swing it down on Rin.
-Kon kon kon!
However, at that moment, a knock on the door resounds.
"Hiyu~ ... Hiyu~ ..."
His fist stops before Rin's eyes and the tip of her nose, which is so wet that you can clearly see the traces of her tears. Rin's heart beats at tremendous speed, and Rin breathes faint breaths.
"Who is it?"
Dougen releases his stance and asks the person outside the room.
"It's me."
"Tani, is it. What do you want?"
The one who arrives outside the room is the subordinate Tani. Dougen asks again what he wants.
"It's almost time for the meeting."
"Is that so ... Haa. I'll be there soon."
Remembering that he had an inevitable meeting today, Dougen calms down before replying to Tani.
"Understood. We will be waiting for you."
Tani goes away from the room as it is.
"Got it? Get results before I call you next time? Or else ... You got it?"
After straightening his collar, Dougen threatens Rin, who is on her knees. At those words, Rin silently nods her head.
"And clean up that blunder."
Dougen checks the floor under Rin and adds, then he leaves the room.
"I'm going to be killed at this rate ... I have to do something ..."
As soon as Rin is released from her fear, her body begins to tremble, and she understands that her own life is in danger at this rate.
