Chapter 647: TEACH ME
Yagi did not miss the tone in which Emi said the words. The tone could be more important than the words sometimes.
“This sounds like a good thing, but the tone you are using makes it seem like it is a bad thing,” Yagi replied.
Emi sighed and turned her laptop to face Yagi. “Look at her results from the last few exams.”
Yagi looked at the results and found that the scores were extremely random and made no sense at all. In one mathematics exam, she scored seventeen. In the next one, she had a full score. And the following one, she got a thirty-seven.
“What is happening here?” Yagi asked.
“From what I have gathered, Misaki allows her classmate to bid on the score that she should get for each exam.” Emi sighed again.
“What do you mean?” Yagi was even more confused.
.....
“I mean that in the most literal sense, Mr Yagi,” Emi replied. “The person who offers the most amount of money can ask Misaki to get any specific score. If she does it, she keeps the money. If she cannot, she repays double the amount.”
Yagi’s face darkened. He had indeed been neglectful of Misaki and perhaps allowed his niece to become a little spoiled. But he did not know how to raise a daughter. He tried to give her the best of everything to make up for what she did not have.
However, he now realised that it might have been a mistake.
“Should I reduce her pocket money?” Yagi asked with a hint of tiredness and frustration.
“That would not help at all.” Emi countered as she took back her laptop. “From what I hear, she is yet to lose a single bet, so she has not paid anyone a single coin. And I do not believe she is doing it for the money. When I said that she is a genius, I mean that in a quantifiable way. Being able to get a perfect score in fifth grade is easy for a child with above-average intelligence.”
“Ambitious ones can even manage to score a zero with a little work. However, for someone to be able to get random specified scores, especially in languages is almost impossible. Misaki has exceptional intellect.”
Yagi wondered if he should feel proud or not. He was never a top student or even above average. He never had the brains to handle the complicated things in school. But his brother was something special. It was the reason he was always set to take over the family business.
Who knew that he would face an unfortunate end?
And now, his daughter was displaying the same talents that his older brother had. No, she was even smarter. Despite being half of that evil woman, she managed to be a magical little fairy that was the best of his brother.
Unfortunately, his poor parenting could lead to the loss of a genius.
“I will talk to her and set her straight,” Yagi said as the weight of the world settled on his shoulders.
“I would not advise you to take the direct approach. Although Misaki is highly intelligent, she is a child at heart. I believe that the reason she allowed herself to drop down from the top class to the last one and began failing intentionally was to get your attention.” Emi said.
Yagi heard the hint of rebuke in Teacher Shio’s voice. He could not complain because he knew that the accusation was probably true. He was never there for his niece. It was inevitable that she would feel neglected.
“I do not know how to be a parent,” Yagi said.
Emi felt some sympathy for the man after seeing that he was genuinely contrite. She had faced a lot of parents, and she could tell the good ones from the bad ones. Since she started teaching in the damned school, she had mostly met bad parents.
Their first instinct was always to blame the teacher for failing to educate their children. They would claim that they paid a lot of money so that the school could make sure that their kids made something of themselves.
In essence, they wanted teachers to take the role of parents.
They would claim to be too busy for nonsense like disciplining their children. They would say it was the work of the teachers to deal with such issues, even when the problems happened at home.
It was rare to see someone like Yagi who was willing to admit his shortcomings. It softened Emi’s heart. She had heard some bad rumours about the man, but she was never someone who followed meaningless gossip.
She was glad she did not trust the teachers who told her to leave Misaki alone because her uncle was bad news. He was a good person who did not know how to raise a daughter. And she was not going to give up on someone who wanted to be better.
“I am going to teach you.” Teacher Emi said bravely.
Yagi lifted his lowered head and looked at the beautiful woman before him with a surprised face. He could not tell what she was up to. She was just a small lady herself. She looked like a daughter someone was raising.
Moreover, he was eight to nine years older than her, so he could not process the words she had just spoken. The doubt on his face was obvious.
“Do you know anything about raising children?” He asked.
“Well, one of my post-graduate diplomas is in child psychology. But the most important thing is I have been a daughter. And I think I turned out pretty good.” Emi smiled, lighting up Yagi’s world.
Yagi felt like he would believe everything she said if she looked at him like that. He would probably follow her to damnation just to see that cute smile again.
“Alright, Teacher Emi.” He said, his voice a little hoarse.
Emi pouted slightly. “You should call me Teacher Shio.”
“It is good to have a difference between your students. Teacher Emi will be my exclusive teacher on raising a good child.” Yagi put behind his earlier heavy mood.
“Fine, you can call me Teacher Emi. But you have to listen to me well.” Emi said.
“I will be hanging on to your every word.” Yagi smiled.
For some reason, Emi’s heart skipped a bit as she looked at the smile. She did not know why, but there was something about Mr Yagi that made her feel something unfamiliar. It felt like she was craving something somehow.
The feeling made her uncomfortable, but she also did not want to get rid of it or distance herself from Mr Yagi. She felt a little confused.
“So, what is the first step, Teacher Emi?” Yagi asked.
