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It was night time when we pulled up in front of the location where Kira had called from. It wasn’t located in the same red-light district where Deacon had opened his gaming center. This place was several districts away in a much seedier part of town where old eastern construction was still in use. A lavish-looking hotel with many neon lights caused the place to stand out in the crowd. It looked somewhat pricy as far as love hotels went, and I had a suspicion this place was able to hold on by being a spot frequented by many politicians and the like.

I got out of the car once Mrs. Fukumi found a place to park. I didn’t hesitate to start heading for the entrance to find Kira. As she noticed me aiming for the love hotel’s entrance, she let out a noise of surprise.

“W-wait for me!” She called, locking her car and half-running to my side. “You’re being way too bold! Don’t you see this is a love hotel? How can you just walk right in?

“Because I’m worried about Kira and I don’t care about appearances.” I rose an eyebrow.

Sasori blushed, “Well, that may be so, but I am your teacher, and the pair of us are walking into a love hotel, this could seriously cost me my job!”

I frowned. “Your daughter is in there, and you care about your job? Besides, any rumors that could spawn from this we both know are completely true! Don’t act like you deserve to be a teacher after what you’ve done.”

Sasori lowered her head. “You used to be such a nice boy, why have you turned out so awful?”

I sneered. “What can I say, I guess I’m my father’s son.”

Sasori winced at those words. She knew now that my father had been manipulating and sleeping with her for fun, and he didn’t care a thing for her. However, even though she knew that it didn’t stop her heart from feeling some pangs of hurt and anger. Well, I wasn’t being particularly nice either. The fact that she uselessly allowed her daughter to end up in this state seriously angered me.

Then again, Kira was a teen who could make her own choices. It really wasn’t fair to blame Sasori for this. I could just as easily blame myself as her supposed friend. Perhaps I was being a bit too hard on her. In fact, Sasori looked about halfway to tears. I sighed and then touched her shoulder gently.

“Sasori… I’m not my father. If it was you who called instead of Kira, I don’t think I’d be acting a single bit different.”

Sasori blinked, looking up at me with a strange glint in her eye.  I shrugged and turned back toward the love hotel. This time, she followed me without complaint, but she made sure to keep her distance too. She couldn’t help but blush again as she entered the doors. I turned back to her and gave her a questioning look.

“Didn’t you hit up these things with my father?’ I asked.

Sasori turned away. “O-of course not. He always got a full night hotel. Ne-never something so…”

She let the rest of what she was going to say drift away. She looked uncomfortable and uncertain. I ignored her and walked up to the clerk. It was a middle-aged woman. I was glad to see it wasn’t an old couple like the ones who ran the hot springs. At least this woman looked like she fit in this environment. That wasn’t to say she looked sexy or lewd. Quite the opposite, in fact, she looked like a plain nondescript wallflower just doing their job. When you worked a job in this kind of business, the less discomfort the better, so it was always preferable to have a weak presence that was quickly forgotten.

“Hey, have you seen this gir…” I asked, pushing the image across the counter.

Before I got it half way to her, I was hugged from behind and a hand pressed affectionately against the top of mine, stopping the picture from sliding forward. “Sweetie… I’m bored. Let’s worry about this stuff later. Get the room for now.”

I blinked as Sasori was suddenly touching me really affectionately, her chin on my shoulder, and a lewd expression on her face. Like the flip of a switch, she suddenly went from awkward to fitting in with this environment perfectly. It caught me off guard to the point my mouth fell open.

With my stunned silence, Sasori picked up the picture and slid it into my pocket. She made it look like she was taking a credit card from me, but it was actually her own. She tossed it on the counter in front of the woman.

“We’ll take a suite. Four hours minimum?… that’s fine… my baby can last!” She gave the clerk a wink.

The clerk barely even made a noise as she took the card and rang it without question. She handed the card back with some keys.

“Thanks… sweetie. Come on… honey, let’s go to the suite!” Sasori slapped my butt and then dragged me into the back hallways.

As soon as we were alone, I turned to her, “Okay, what the hell was that?”

Sasori similarly looked angry. “Are you stupid or what? You’re just going to ask! Do you know what kind of people run these hotels? It looks very suspicious! You may have gotten yourself in serious trouble if I hadn’t saved you!’

Once again, I found myself shocked looking at the red-faced Sasori. She looked genuinely scared on my behalf. I had assumed at this point she’d hate me to the bone, so seeing the concern on her face was definitely not something I expected. She had been surprising me time and time again. Perhaps the Sasori I had built up in my mind after that single weekend with my father was not all there was to her. Still, I didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of apologizing, so I stubbornly crossed my arms.

“Wouldn’t it help you out if I ended up in trouble?”

Sasori lifted her chin. “I’m still your teacher. Whatever else has happened between us, I can’t allow you to be hurt!”

When she said that, it felt to me like she genuinely believed it. I dropped my arms and shook my head, giving in.

“Okay… then if we’re not going to ask, how do you want to go about searching for your daughter. That thing didn’t give us a room number, right?”

Sasori’s face started to return to normal and she wrapped her arms around herself, shaking her head. “No, I’m not sure we’ll be able to find Kira until she leaves. I was just planning on waiting in the car until she came out. Whoever she came out with I’d call the police on. You’re the one who came barreling into the hotel like like some knight in a tale rescuing a damsel.”

Sasori’s face twitched and it looked for a second like she might actually smile. Somehow, the thought of me heroically saving her daughter amused her. I wasn’t amused at all. I had saved Maria in exactly this kind of fashion a few weeks ago. I wouldn’t hesitate to walk into a group of a hundred men and take her out of it with me. Even though Kira wasn’t mine, she asked for my help and I was determined to give it.

“Hahahaha.” A loud voice broke out in a boisterous laugh.

Two men appeared to be walking down the stairway and heading in our direction. Sasori gasped and then grabbed me. Before I could say a thing, she shoved me into the linen closet that some maid staff had left open and closed the door by all but a crack.

“Wha-mMmm!” I tried to say something, but her lips struck mine before I could.

I was left completely flummoxed as my teacher, a woman I had blackmailed and raped on two occasions, was kissing me in the closet of a love hotel. It was so surreal that I wondered if I had passed out. As we smooched, the men in the hallway were walking by.

“Well, I have to say, Mr. Chambers… you do have a good eye for women.”

“I’m glad you enjoyed. I’m always a man who likes to share.” The one named Mr. Chambers answered.

Wait, Mr. Chambers sounded familiar. That voice also sounded like one I had heard before.

“I’ll say… it’s a shame I have to go early. Will your girl be alright? She sort of just disappeared.”

“She does that. You don’t need to worry about her. I also must take my leave. I have some meetings I must attend early tomorrow and wouldn’t be able to stay and play longer even if she was up for it.”

“That girl was a real goddess…”

“Oh, you have no idea…” Mr. Chambers broke into another laugh as the pair left the hallway into the lobby and out of hearing range.

Sasori finally broke our kiss, gasping slightly. “That was close.”

“Mr. Chambers…” I worked the name through my memory. “Our principal?”

Sasori nodded. “I can’t believe we ran into him here. If he had caught us, it would have been awful.”

I shrugged. “I’m not so sure about that.”

Sasori looked up at me with a disbelieving look.

“Hey, we ran into him in a love hotel. He’s a married man. I don’t think he’d want his affairs getting out any more than we’d want ours.”

I also noticed he spoke of sharing and goddesses. He couldn’t be… I shook my head. It didn’t matter right now. Whoever he was talking about didn’t sound like Kira, and it was Kira who I came to find.

“I think if we want to find your daughter, we should head up to the room and come up with a strategy.”

Sasori nodded. “Alright… let’s go.”

She peaked out into the hallway a few more times and when she was certain the coast was clear, she grabbed my hand and headed out. Glancing at the tickets, she headed for the stairway.

“We’re on floor three.” She informed me.

The pair of us headed up two flights of stairs. We could have taken the elevator, but the pair of us were on edge and an elevator felt a bit dangerous at the moment. No sooner did I reach the third story when I saw someone walking toward us. There was no reason to hide unless we knew the person, but I flinched anyway. It was only after that I realized I actually did know the person.

“Hakaru? Is that you? Shit, man… I never thought I’d see you in this place.”

“Ah… it’s you!” I said, grimacing. “Um… Gio, right? You’re Gina’s brother.”

The man, Gio, chuckled as he approached. The last time I saw him he was wearing a suit and sunglasses, looking every bit like a Yakuza. This time, he was dressed in a Hawaiian shirt and slacks. However, even this casual wear didn’t hide his large build and intimidating facial features. He was no less terrifying to look at here than he was the last time I had met him.

As Gio reached us, he held out his hands. “Hey, what’s going on here? This doesn’t look like my sister. Not that I want to see you taking my sis to a place like this.”

“Ah… actually… she’s my…” I really didn’t want to piss Gio off, but I had written his sister off a long time ago.

What are the chances that I would run into this guy again? How bad was my luck, seriously!

“I’m his teacher,” Sasori said, and then immediately froze, realizing how that sounded.

Gio looked back and forth between the pair, and then burst out laughing. “Shit… man… you’re hardcore. I was going to give you shit for holding out on my sis but damn it, a teacher. Now I respect you too damn much to care!”

Sasori looked down, blushing, while I put a forced smile on my face and pulled her close to me, selling my prowess.

“Ah, yeah. Things just sort of ended up this way. How about you, Gio? I never thought I’d see you in a place like this.”

“How so?” Gio raised an eyebrow. “My dad owns this place!”

I coughed. “Oh… really?”

Gio laughed. “Ah… shit, you didn’t know? Haha… that’s too funny. Yeah, dad has his hand in all kinds of stuff. I only came out today cause dad’s friend wanted to have a bit of a party. Guaranteed pussy, he said. Turned out it was just one pussy. I’m a man of culture… my friend, I don’t stick my dick in no fucking meat toilet. I was just looking to see if I could find something classier, like maybe a hooker.”

Sasori and I glanced at each other, the same thought spiraling in our minds. The meat toilet… it couldn’t be… Kira?

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