CONFRONTED with the ravaged Student Council Room and Satsuki on the brink of insanity, it took every ounce of self-control to suppress the rage boiling inside Shindo.
He found Satsuki with her clothes torn. Hugging flesh dyed red by the blood of the man who assaulted her, she was trembling in fear and despair as she caved in on herself. If Shindo had arrived even a moment later...he had no doubt she would have turned into something no longer truly human.
Shindo was filled with indescribable rage toward the man who tormented her. It didn’t matter if the bastard was no longer among the living. So what if he was like a broken toy with its head pulled off! But right now, he needed to focus on Satsuki and the repairs for this disaster scene.
Shindo came before the long table covered in the remnants of flowers that were once decorative flower arrangements. With a mighty yank, he pulled off the white satin cloth spread across it. All of the debris toppled to the floor. With a few whips in the air, he was able to shake out the glass shards caught in the material.
On his way back to Satsuki, Shindo noticed the man’s head bobbing at his feet. Fighting the temptation to stomp on it took all of his willpower. His next course of action was to take Satsuki to the safety of her private suite. He wanted to avoid touching her with a body sullied by the dead. He forbade himself to touch Satsuki’s body and heart with tainted hands. It was a self-imposed rule, going back to that incident...
Filled with the urge to spit words of hatred, Shindo had to bite his lip to hold his tongue. In a display of releasing unvoiced disgust, he grabbed the nearby semblance of a vase and bashed it into the head! For all its weight, the vase cracked over the man’s head...and split in two. It left a massive gouge in the scumbag’s face, but already drained of all its liquids, there was no blood left to flow out.
Averting his eyes from the “junk,” he carefully made his way to the trembling young lady. Unfurling the satin cloth, he draped it over her head.
“Please bear with me a little longer,” he said and scooped Satsuki into his arms. He wrapped her in the cloth and peeked through the Student Council Room door to ensure the coast was clear before slipping out. Locking the door behind him, Shindo prayed they didn’t run into anyone as he rushed to the Tsujikawa private suite on the fifth floor.
Fortunately, the two reached the private suite without being noticed. Once there, Shindo sat Satsuki down on the floor in the shower room.
“Let’s just worry about washing that blood off for now,” Shindo gently spoke to her. He grabbed the handheld showerhead, set the temperature panel to something on the lukewarm side, and turned the shower knob. A strong, yet not jolting, stream of warm water sprung from the showerhead.
Sitting on the floor where he put her, the warm water rained down over Satsuki’s head. The cloth billowing around her quickly grew saturated with the warm water, altering its form to cling tightly around her body.
“I’m going to gather fresh clothes...” Shindo said in a flat voice. Finding himself mesmerized by the sight of her, he had to consciously peel his eyes away as he made his way out.
“Shin...do...” The sound of Satsuki’s sorrowful voice mixed with the shower water brought him to a halt. Glancing back at her over his shoulder, he found that she was looking at him over her shoulder with teary eyes.
Shindo wanted to stay with her for as long as she desired. But for her sake, there were things he needed to do. Not to mention...
Wet in the shower with skin donned in water droplets, Satsuki gave an air of beauty unlike any he had ever seen before. He couldn’t bear to remain in her presence.
“I will return momentarily...” He broke his eyes away from her and rushed out of the shower room.
Once he was a reasonable distance away, he contacted one of his subordinates stationed at Tsujikawa mansion. Without offering any explanation, he issued the orders to “Put the Student Council Room at school back in proper order. It is a matter of great consequence to the Miss.” All of Shindo’s subordinates were Satsuki’s attendants. If he said it was for her, they would do anything.
After completing that call, Shindo proceeded to contact Mizuno, who served as the head butler for the Tsujikawa residence. From there, he called the five lawyers the Tsujikawa’s kept on retainer. He asked Mizuno to look after Satsuki once they returned home and requested the five lawyers to contend with the school and external affairs.
The fact that Satsuki was hurt and could bring harm to others must never come to light, no matter the cost. His resolution solid, he exercised the full extent of his authority under the Tsujikawa name, bequeathed to him by Master Tsukasa as Satsuki’s retainer.
After finishing the last of his phone calls, he grabbed a spare uniform kept on hand in the closet and pulled spare undergarments out of the built-in closet drawers. Although they were merely undergarments, they weren’t simply stuffed in the drawers, but individually wrapped in silk cloth.
When first preparing the private suite at the school for Satsuki, Shindo personally ordered they be wrapped in such a manner. That way, if a third party broke in and vandalized the room, the villain’s eyes wouldn’t immediately fly to her underwear. But in truth, it might also have been partially for himself.