Chapter 13

	“I can’t believe we finished early for once!” 

	As Ami cleaned out the test tubes they had used for that day’s 
experiment, Akira smiled and placed another weight on the balance he had just 
calibrated. It was indeed a rare night when they actually finished ahead of 
schedule, but he couldn’t say he necessarily minded, as it meant more time 
for him and Ami to spend on other things besides research. They hadn’t really 
spent much quality time together since their holiday vacation, due to his 
working on an important paper for a prestigious scientific journal and Ami 
catching up on her schoolwork, which she had let slide ever so slightly since 
they started seeing each other.

	However, now that his paper was finished and Ami was once again at 
least three chapters ahead in all her classes…

	“You know, I can think of one thing we can do with the extra time…” 
Akira said huskily, coming up behind his lover and starting to nibble at her 
earlobe. 

	Though he was unable to see her face, Akira knew from experience Ami 
was blushing. “Akira, we’re at work,” she admonished, setting the test tube 
she had been cleaning back in its rack.

	“So?”

	“So, it’s too dangerous. What if somebody sees us?”

	“Like who?” he asked, moving down to her slender neck. “Nobody’s 
going to interrupt us. Come on, Ami. You know you want to…”

	A lustful sigh escaped from her lips when he found one of Ami’s 
secret erogenous zones, weakening her resolve. “Akira, you are such a 
terrible influence on me. First the pool, then the library in Nagano, now 
this…”

	“Variety *is* the spice of life.”

	“Somehow, I don’t think this is what they meant.”

	“What’s the fun in life if you don’t take a risk every now and then?”

	”It does sound tempting…” she moaned as Akira’s hands found their way 
up to her breasts, stroking her nipples through the fabric of her satin 
blouse.

	Taking that as a yes, Akira cleared off a nearby table of some 
paperwork, then wordlessly led her over.

*****

	After her last class of the day, Yui headed to Professor Kitagawa‘s 
office, intending to talk to her chemistry professor about the quiz he had 
passed back earlier that day. She had double-checked the answer of a question 
he had marked wrong in her textbook, and, while her answer wasn’t the most 
commonly held belief, she still thought she deserved at least partial credit, 
if not the full point value.

	However, when she arrived, she was informed that Professor Kitagawa 
was not there and that he was working in the lab. Yui was in no mood to walk 
all the way to the Institute of Medical Science, which was located near the 
other end of the campus, but the professor only gave them one day after a 
test or quiz was passed back to appeal their grade, so she had no choice but 
to grudgingly trek her way to the research center, cursing her bad luck the 
entire way.

	It just hadn’t been her day, had it? First, her alarm clock failed to 
go off that morning, causing her to miss breakfast in favor of getting 
dressed and making a mad dash to her first class. Then, she had gotten back 
the chemistry quiz, coming in second yet again to Miss Mizuno, who had 
received another perfect score. After that, Yui had completely blown her diet 
of the week, pigging out on two slices of greasy pepperoni and sausage pizza 
to make up for the missed breakfast (and the stupid quiz), and now she was 
being forced to walk all the way across campus in the cool mid-February 
weather to argue for a measly two points which she should have been given in 
the first place.  

	Well, at least she was getting her exercise for the day.

	“Excuse me, miss, do you have clearance?” a middle-aged man sitting 
behind the main desk in the lobby asked as Yui entered the building and 
passed by on the way to the elevators.

	Yui stopped in her tracks and muttered a swear under her breath 
before plastering a fake smile on her face and walking over to the desk. She 
had forgotten that the labs were off limits except to authorized personnel, 
and, unfortunately, Professor Kitagawa had taken back her temporary ID card 
after that one week she filled in for Miss Mizuno. “No, but I’ll only be a 
few minutes,” she promised in her sweetest voice. “I just need to speak to my 
professor.”

	“I’m sorry, but, without permission, I can’t allow you to go any 
further than this desk.”

	“I see.” Determined not to leave without having seen Professor 
Kitagawa, Yui quickly came up with a plan. “This is just terrible,” she said, 
letting out an overly dramatic sigh as she turned her back to the secretary. 
“Now what am I supposed to do? I really need to talk to him.”

	“What’s the problem, miss?”

	Yui smiled privately to herself, thinking how easy men were to 
manipulate. She could be quite the actress when she wanted to be, and she put 
that talent to good use as she turned back around, her eyes misty with 
crocodile tears. “Well, you see, I was supposed to turn in this really 
important paper to my professor this afternoon, but, since I accidentally 
left it in my dorm, he told me that if I got it to him before six, he 
wouldn’t penalize me,” she explained, mentally congratulating herself for 
coming up with a cover story so quickly. “But now, he’s sure to fail me, and 
I’ll lose my scholarship and have to drop out…”

	Yui pretended to sob, hiding her face in her hands, as the secretary 
reached for the handkerchief sticking out of his jacket pocket. “Please, 
miss, don’t cry,” he said, offering her the handkerchief. “Why don’t you 
leave the paper with me, and I’ll be sure he gets it when he leaves?”

	“Thank you for the offer, sir, but by then, it’ll be too late. It’s 
almost six right now, and my professor is really strict about this kind of 
thing. Isn’t there anything you can do to help me?”

	“Well…” Peeking through the space between her fingers, Yui saw the 
secretary open a desk drawer and pull out a clipboard. “I’m not supposed to 
do this unless you’re on the list,” he admitted, “but since I can see this is 
an emergency, I’ll issue you a guest pass.”

	“You will?” Yui sniffled, using his handkerchief to wipe away the few 
tears she had managed to force. “Thank you. You’re very kind.”

	“Don’t mention it. Just sign there.”

	He slid the clipboard across the desk and pointed to an empty space 
at the bottom of the list of signatures, which consisted mostly of doctors 
and scientists from other schools. Triumphantly, Yui signed her name and 
handed the clipboard back to him. “Here you go.”

	“And here you go,” he said, handing her a yellow card marked “Guest." 
“This is good for an hour and will allow you access to all guest-approved 
areas. Most of the labs are strictly off limits, but you are welcome to wait 
outside in the hall. Be sure to turn this card back in when you’re done.”

	“Thank you again. You saved my life.”

	After bowing in gratitude, Yui walked back to the elevators and 
headed up to the third floor. It took her a while to remember where his lab 
was located, but she eventually located it and was about to knock when 
something she saw in the small door window gave her pause.

	Yui could see Professor Kitagawa inside the lab, but he wasn’t alone, 
and he certainly wasn’t working. In his arms was a young, blue-haired girl, 
and they were kissing passionately, the girl’s back pressed against a table 
in the center of the room. At first, Yui wasn’t able to identify the 
professor’s new girlfriend, as his height mostly obscured her features, but 
when he lifted the girl onto the table, giving her a good view of the girl’s 
face over his shoulder, Yui gasped and stepped away from the door.

	She knew that girl! She was none other than Mizuno Ami, the 
professor‘s research assistant and Yui‘s number one rival. 

	Thinking she must have been mistaken, Yui once again peered through 
the window, her suspicions confirmed. The girl was definitely Miss Mizuno; 
there was no mistaking it.

	“I can’t believe it…” she breathed, all thoughts of speaking to 
Professor Kitagawa about her quiz forgotten as she let what she had just seen 
sink in. “Mizuno-san…and our teacher…together…”

	And at that moment, her bad day started to look much brighter.	

*****

	“Hideki, you *won’t* believe what just happened!”

	Glancing up from his computer screen, Hideki was surprised to see his 
girlfriend standing over him, her cheeks flushed and her light blue eyes 
practically sparkling. Yui was panting, as if she had just finished running a 
marathon race, and she was obviously excited about something.

	“What? Did Kitagawa-sensei give you a higher grade on that test?” he 
asked, remembering that she had said something earlier about wanting to talk 
to her chemistry professor about a problem she was convinced he had 
incorrectly marked wrong.

	Shaking her head, Yui plopped down in the booth opposite him and 
called out an order for a small low-fat mocha latte to a nearby waitress. 
“No, this is *way* bigger than an extra two points on a test,” she announced.

	At that, Hideki saved what he was working on and closed his laptop. 
To Yui, nothing was more important than her marks, so, if she claimed her 
news was bigger than a good test grade, he knew it had to be huge. “Okay, you 
officially have my complete and undivided attention,” he declared. “What is 
it?”

	“Guess what I just saw in sensei’s lab.”

	“I don’t know. What?”


	Yui paused dramatically, dragging the moment out like the MC of a 
beauty pageant, before finally revealing her big news. “Kitagawa-sensei and 
Mizuno-san locked in a passionate embrace!”

	“Yui, are you hallucinating?” Hideki asked, reaching across the table 
to place a hand upon her forehead and finding it cool to the touch. “You 
don’t have a fever…”

	The titian-haired girl swatted his hand away, shooting him an annoyed 
look. “I’m not sick, Hideki! I honestly saw them together.”

	“Of course you did. Mizuno-san is working as his lab assistant,” he 
reminded Yui, somewhat amused at his normally level-headed girlfriend’s 
behavior. He hadn’t known she had such an over-active imagination. “You told 
me yourself. They’re doing research together.”

	Huffing, Yui leaned back in the booth and folded her arms across her 
chest. “Unless sensei was doing research on Viagra, I highly doubt what I saw 
could be classified as ‘research.’”

	“Yui, are you sure about this?”

	“Are you calling me a liar?” she asked, a flicker of a flame burning 
in her eyes.

	Holding up his hands in mock surrender, Hideki shook his head. The 
last thing he wanted was for Yui to be angry with him, especially when they 
were having a study date later that night. “N-No, of course not. It’s just 
hard to believe, that’s all. Isn’t it possible that you were mistaken?”

	“Believe me, I know what I saw, Hideki,” Yui insisted. “They were 
about two minutes away from turning that lab into a scene from ‘Teacher‘s 
Pet.’”

	“Kitagawa-sensei and Mizuno-san?”

	Hideki tried to imagine it, but the idea was too ridiculous to even 
contemplate. He only knew Miss Mizuno by reputation and what Yui told him, 
but she certainly didn’t strike him as the type of person who would sleep 
with her professor. “Yui, I think you’re letting this obsession you have with 
Mizuno-san go to your head,” Hideki said, rubbing at his forehead. “Besides, 
I’ve met Kitagawa-sensei’s girlfriend before, and, though I don‘t know what 
Mizuno-san looks like, I highly doubt they are one in the same. Kitagawa-
sensei is an intelligent man. There’s no way he would risk exposure of such 
an affair, *if* it even exists, by bringing Mizuno-san to his apartment, when 
he knows full well that a university student lived right down the hall. It 
would be professional suicide.”

	“You’ve met his girlfriend? When?” Yui demanded to know.

	“The day after the skinny-dipping incident. When I went to walk 
sensei’s dog, she was at the apartment.”

	“What did she look like?”

	“I don’t know… Average height, slim, cute.”

	“Can’t you be more specific?”

	Hideki sighed, starting to become annoyed by her questions about the 
mystery girlfriend. Why did it even matter to Yui who Professor Kitagawa was 
dating anyway? It was his own private business. “Yui, it was months ago, and 
we only talked for a couple of minutes. I don’t really remember what she 
looked liked.”

	“Surely you must at least remember her hair color. Was it blue?”

	He shrugged. “She had just gotten out of the shower, so her hair was 
wet. I don’t really know. I guess it was black. That’s what it looked like to 
me.”

	“But it could have been blue? You don’t know for sure?”

	“Yes, I suppose it could have been blue, but it could have been brown 
as well, if you want to use that logic.”

	“How old was she?”

	“Around our age, I guess. She was a bit on the young side,” Hideki 
admitted. “Still, how old is Kitagawa-sensei? In his late twenties or early 
thirties? It’s not all that strange for him to be dating a twenty-year-old. 
She could be a student at another school. or she may not even be a student at 
all.”

	“Or she could have been Mizuno-san,” Yui insisted.

	Hideki rolled his eyes, still in disbelief they were still on the 
subject. “You’re not going to give this idea up, are you?”

	Yui didn‘t answer his question, instead asking one more time, “Can’t 
you remember anything else about her?”

	“Yui, I told you, I only met her once, the morning after the skin--” 
Hideki abruptly stopped, finally realizing why the girl had looked so 
familiar to him.

	“Hideki?”

	“The skinny-dipping girl! I’m not completely positive, but I’m pretty 
sure she was the girl we saw in the pool that night!” he said triumphantly. 
“That means you saw her as well, and you didn’t mention anything about 
Mizuno-san that night.”

	Hideki felt pleased with himself for finally managing to prove Yui 
wrong, but his girlfriend shook her head. “We were five stories up, and it 
was dark,” she reminded him. “Of course I wouldn’t have been able to 
recognize her. Besides, even if this girlfriend you met wasn’t Mizuno-san, 
that does nothing to prove me wrong about what I saw in the lab. The girl 
might have been a one-night stand, or they could have broken up, or maybe 
Kitagawa-sensei is cheating on her with Mizuno-san.”   

	“I’m sorry, Yui,” Hideki said, “but I just don’t see it.  I mean, 
he’s a professor and she’s his student. That sort of relationship is kind of 
forbidden.”

	“If you’ll help me, I’ll prove it to you,” Yui challenged, not 
willing to give up her outrageous claim.

	Hideki sighed, knowing from experience that she wouldn’t drop her 
suspicions until she was either proved right or wrong. He might as well give 
in sooner, rather than later. “Okay, I’m probably going to regret this, but 
what do you need me to do?” he asked.

	Smiling, Yui leaned over the table.

	“Well, here’s my plan…” 

*****

	“Tell me again why we’re doing this?”

	Hideki followed behind his girlfriend as they walked down the hall to 
Professor Kitagawa’s apartment on the evening of Valentine’s Day, his hand 
shaking as he reached into the large pocket of his jacket and fingered his 
copy of the teacher’s keys and a small mini-camera. He knew he had agreed to 
help Yui with her scheme to expose his neighbor’s alleged affair with his top 
student, but Hideki couldn’t help having second thoughts about going through 
with the whole thing. It seemed wrong to spy on the man who had been nothing 
but kind to him. Professor Kitagawa’s private life was no business but his 
own, and, even if he and Miss Mizuno were dating, was it really all that bad?

	Yui, however, was a woman with a mission. Stopping in front of the 
door to the professor’s apartment, she turned around, hands on her hips, and 
scolded him. “Hideki, you know perfectly well why we are doing this. If 
sensei and Mizuno-san are indeed involved, the school deserves to know about 
it.”

	“It’s really none of our business, Yui.”

	“It is if it turns out the only reason why Mizuno-san retains her 
position at the top of the class is because she’s dating her professor,” she 
declared. “That’s called nepotism, and it isn’t fair to the rest of us who 
actually work for our grades.”

	“But you have no proof of that,” he reminded her, coming up behind 
the titian-haired girl. 

	“Not yet, but I will tonight if all goes according to plan. Now, are 
you certain nobody’s home?”

	Hideki nodded. “I told you, sensei usually works late at the labs. He 
won’t be back for hours.”

	“Good. The last thing we need is to be caught sneaking into his 
apartment,” Yui said, holding out her gloved hand expectantly. “Key?”

	For a moment, Hideki was tempted to say he had forgotten to bring it 
with him, but it would only prolong the inevitable, seeing as his apartment 
was only a few feet away, so, sighing, he reached back into the pocket and 
pulled out the silver key. “Here,” he said, placing it in her hand. “I can’t 
believe I let you talk me into betraying Kitagawa-sensei’s trust like this. 
I’m positive this is not what he had in mind when he gave me that copy.”

	“Oh, stop worrying so much and get inside before somebody sees us.”

	With a light shove, Yui pushed him inside the apartment and closed 
the door behind them. The lights were off, so Hideki flipped the switch 
beside the door, revealing a clean, if not entirely tidy, living room. Yui 
raised an eyebrow.

	“Not very fancy, is it?” she commented, walking around as she 
inspected the room. “I guess professors really don’t make a lot of money, at 
least those who don‘t have tenure yet.”

	“Can we just get this over with, Yui?” Hideki asked, anxious to leave 
and start their own Valentine‘s celebration. The sooner they were out of 
there, the better.

	Yui sighed. “Fine, did you remember to bring that spy camera of 
yours?”

	He patted his pocket. “It’s right here.”

	“You have got to be kidding me,” she said, looking at him in 
disbelief. “How can a camera fit inside there?”

	Reaching inside the pocket, he pulled out the tiny camera and showed 
it to the skeptical redhead. He had bought it the night after Yui had hatched 
their plan at a state-of-the-art electronics store in Akihabara, and the man 
who had sold it to him assured Hideki it was the latest in surveillance 
equipment. About the size of a small coin, it could record up to forty-eight 
hours of footage and was easily hidden -- perfect for their plan. “This is 
cutting-edge technology,” he said. “Nobody is going to find this thing unless 
they know what they’re looking for.”

	“Sounds like exactly what we need,” Yui said with an unnerving smile.

	At that moment, a low growl reached their ears. It sounded as if it 
was coming from the direction of the kitchen, and Yui jumped, latching onto 
Hideki’s arm. “W-What’s that?” she stuttered, her skin going as pale as a 
ghost. 

	Hideki fought the urge to laugh. “Oh, that’s only sensei’s dog, 
Mercury,” he said, disengaging himself from her tight grip on his arm. 
“Remember him from winter break? He’s nothing to worry about.” To prove it to 
her, Hideki looked around, and, seeing the Corgi standing at the entrance to 
the tiny kitchenette, crouched down. “Come here, Mercury,” he said, 
whistling. “Remember me?” Mercury stared at him for a long moment, then 
hesitantly walked over, allowing Hideki to pet him. “Good boy…”

	“Oh, stop messing with that stupid dog,” Yui ordered, recovering from 
her fright. “This isn’t playtime, Hideki.”

	“Right.” Rising, Hideki glanced around the room, looking for a 
suitable place to hide the camera. “So, where do you want this to go?” he 
asked. “Over there might be good.”

	He pointed to a bookshelf in the corner of the room, but Yui shook 
her head. “I was thinking more along the lines of sensei’s bedroom,” she 
declared.

	“His bedroom?” Hideki immediately threw up his hands in protest, 
shaking his head. It was one thing to hide a camera in the living room, but 
what went on in a man‘s bedroom was a private matter. He certainly wouldn’t 
like it if somebody bugged his room when he was with Yui. “Yui, I know I 
agreed to help you bug Kitagawa-sensei’s apartment, but don’t you think 
putting a surveillance camera in the guy’s bedroom is going just a little too 
far?”

	“Not at all,” she replied, already heading in the direction of the 
bedroom. “His bedroom is the perfect place. This is where we will get the 
juiciest footage.”

	“I don’t know about that,” Hideki said, reluctantly following her 
inside. “They might not even be sleeping together.”

	Yui rolled her light blue eyes. “Trust me, Hideki -- if sensei is 
stupid enough to be dating Mizuno-san, he’s stupid enough to be screwing 
her.”

	“If you say so…”

	“Why don’t you stop being such a wuss and get to work?” she snapped, 
obviously annoyed with his reluctance to go through with the plan. “And make 
sure we have a good view of the bed.”

	Sighing, Hideki pulled out the screwdriver he had also brought along 
and began searching for the perfect place to hide the camera. He still didn’t 
like the idea of taping the professor’s most private moments, but, if that 
was what Yui wanted, he really didn’t have a choice. He promised. Besides, 
what were the chances that Professor Kitagawa and Miss Mizuno were physically 
intimate? Quite frankly, Hideki highly doubted they were even dating. The 
idea was just too preposterous, and, once Yui realized she had misinterpreted 
whatever she thought she saw in the lab the other day, hopefully, she would 
forget the whole thing, and they could get back to more important things than 
playing childish spy games.

	“I guess that fire alarm will do,” he finally declared, indicating 
the alarm on the wall opposite of the bed. “Is that okay with you?”

	“Sure, but can you hide it in there?” she asked skeptically.

	“Piece of cake.”

	After dragging the small chest that sat at the foot of the bed to the 
wall, right underneath the alarm, Hideki climbed up and took off the cover. 
Years of fiddling with the insides of small appliances had made him somewhat 
of an electronics expert, and it only took a few minutes before he was able 
to rewire the fire alarm to the camera. Once that was finished, he placed the 
cover back on, careful to position it so the camera’s lens could see the bed, 
then hopped back off the trunk.

	“Is that all?” Yui asked in surprise as she helped Hideki move the 
chest back to its original position. “Now what?”

	“Now we’ll go back over to my apartment to test it out and wait for 
something to happen.”

*****

	Ami had been having the best Valentine’s Day of her life. For the 
first time, she had somebody special to spend it with, and she made sure to 
go all out, making Akira a batch of homemade chocolates -- with help from 
Makoto, of course -- and even going back to Victoria’s Secret on her own to 
pick up something special for later that night. Although a part of her wished 
that they could go out for a romantic dinner like other couples, Ami was 
still determined to make it a Valentine’s Day to remember.

	In fact, she smiled privately to herself as the two of them headed 
back to his apartment after finishing up at the lab, imagining the look on 
his face when Akira saw what was underneath her demure button-down dress.

	“I must say, somebody just looks like she ate a canary,” Akira said, 
chuckling as they stopped in front of the door to his apartment and he pulled 
out his keys. “What’s with that secretive smile?”

	Ami blushed, unaware he had been watching her. “A surprise,” she 
replied.

	“What kind of surprise?”

	“You’ll just have to wait and find out,” she teased, brushing past 
him when he unlocked and opened the door.

	Inside, she started to reach up and take off the platinum wig she had 
worn as a disguise when Akira shook his head. “Why don’t you leave that on 
for a little while longer?” he suggested, coming up and embracing her from 
behind. “You look unbelievably sexy as a blonde.”

	“I suppose a few minutes more wouldn’t hurt.”

	Keeping the wig on, Ami turned around to face her lover, wrapping her 
arms around Akira’s neck and pulling him down to kiss her. They became caught 
up in a passionate liplock, barely even hearing Mercury’s barks until the 
Corgi tried to jump his owner. Laughing, the two broke apart, and Akira 
rolled his eyes.

	“Talk about ruining the mood,” he said, glaring down at the dog, 
though it was obvious that he was more amused than mad at Mercury. “I suppose 
you’re hungry, aren’t you?”

	Mercury barked twice in reply, then went running off to the kitchen.

	“You better go feed him,” Ami said. “If you don’t, he’s never going 
to leave us alone.”

	“Right. And you should get ready that surprise of yours, whatever it 
is.”

	“I thought we were going to order take-out first,” she reminded him.

	“I’m not very hungry,” he admitted, “for food, any way. Those 
delicious chocolates you made me filled me up. Why don‘t we build up an 
appetite first, then order out?”

	That sounded just fine to Ami. 

*****

	“This so boring!” Yui whined.

	Almost two hours had passed since they had broken into Professor 
Kitagawa’s apartment and hidden the camera, but, as of yet, nobody had come 
home. The bedroom on the television screen set up so they could watch the 
tape as it recorded looked exactly as they had left it, not even a pillow out 
of place. The boredom of waiting for something to happen was starting to 
drive Yui crazy.

	“When does sensei usually get home, Hideki?” she asked, looking over 
her shoulder at her shirtless boyfriend sitting against the headboard of the 
bed.

	Hideki, who had decided to pass the time playing a game on his 
laptop, hit one of the keys to pause the game and glanced up from the screen, 
frowning at the interruption. “I told you, Yui, Kitagawa-sensei should be 
back soon,” he replied. “He’s usually home by nine at the latest.”

	“Nine?” Yui looked at the time on the VCR and sighed. “But that’s 
fifteen minutes away.”

	“You know, if you’re so bored, I can think of a few ways we could 
entertain ourselves…” 

	Setting his laptop on the nightstand, Hideki crawled over to where 
Yui sat at the edge of the bed, clad in the white terrycloth robe she had 
changed into after taking a shower, and began lightly kissing her neck. 

	“Hideki, stop that!” she ordered, slapping his hand away when she 
felt him reaching for the knot of her belt. “We did that already.”

	“But I’m ready for another round.”

	“Ugh, why do boys seem to have a permanent case of sex on the brain?” 
she wondered aloud.

	“ Come on, Yui. It‘s Valentine‘s Day.”

	“I’m not in the mood.”

	“Yui!”

	Suddenly, Yui brought a finger to her lips, signaling her horny 
boyfriend to be quiet. She heard something coming from the TV, a faint noise 
that sounded like a door closing and muffled voices, one male and one female, 
intermingling with Mercury’s excited barks. “I think they might be back,” she 
said is a soft voice, trying to make out what they were saying. “Turn up the 
volume.”

	Hideki reached for the remote and put the TV on maximum volume. 
“Maybe we should have thought about bugging the living room, too,” he 
commented. “I can’t understand a word they’re saying.”

	“Too late for that, now. Besides, the important stuff will happen in 
the bedroom.”

	“If they are, in fact, sleeping together.” Hideki shook his head, 
still obviously not believing what she had seen in the lab. “Honestly, Yui,” 
he continued, “I think this was a complete waste of time. The odds that--”

	Yui abruptly covered his mouth with her hand, the voices becoming 
louder and more distinct. “I think they’re heading to the door,” she 
whispered, her heart pounding against her chest. Finally, some action! “Are 
you recording this?”

	“I am now,” Hideki replied, hitting the record button on the remote.

	“Good.”

	As Yui and Hideki transfixed their eyes on the screen, the door to 
the bedroom creaked opened and a slender hand, obviously not belonging to the 
professor, reached in to flip the switch. Light filled the small room and 
reflected off the platinum hair of the woman who entered. Yui was momentarily 
confused, positive she had been right about the woman in the lab being Miss 
Mizuno, but then the blonde reached up to pull off her wig, revealing a head 
of dark blue hair underneath. Taking a seat on the edge of the bed, the woman 
slowly began undoing the buttons of her dress, revealing the powder-pink lace 
teddy trimmed with a red bow she wore underneath, and a few minutes later, a 
man joined her. He apologized for taking so long to feed the dog and bent 
down to tenderly kiss the woman as she reached up to rid him of his shirt and 
tie. 

	“Kami-sama, it’s true?” Hideki breathed. His hazel eyes had widened 
to nearly twice their size as he continued to watch the two lovers undress. 
“That’s Mizuno-san?”

	Glancing over at her boyfriend, Yui smirked with satisfaction. She 
knew she had been right about the professor and Miss Mizuno, and it felt good 
to finally be proven correct. “What did I tell you?” she said. “Maybe next 
time you’ll believe me when I tell you something.”

	“But Kitagawa-sensei and Mizuno-san? It’s unbelievable!”

	“You can’t argue with concrete proof,” Yui replied, turning her 
attention back to the TV and raising an eyebrow at the image on the screen. 
“Well, what do you know? That really is Mizuno-san’s natural hair color.”	

	“Yui!” Finally breaking free from his trance, Hideki’s mouth dropped 
open. “Don’t tell me you actually want to watch this,” he said. “I-It’s 
wrong. They don’t even know we’re taping them.”

	“I don’t see you moving to turn it off.”

	“Yes…well…” Blushing, Hideki scratched the back of his neck. “I 
didn’t know Mizuno-san had such a nice figure.”

	Yui glared, but before she became too angry by her boyfriend’s open 
admiration of another woman’s body -- one that was far more beautiful than 
her own -- she pushed Hideki back down against the pillows and straddled him. 
It was time to remind him what he already had. “Okay, enough of that,” she 
said, feeling his erection through the fabric of his jeans. “Why watch it on 
TV when you can get a live show?”

	“But I thought you weren’t in the mood.”

	Smiling, Yui reached for the belt of her robe. “Well, let’s just say 
I’m feeling a little more generous at the moment. After all, it is 
Valentine’s.”

*****

	Late Saturday afternoon, Ami sat on her bed with her laptop, checking 
her email while she waited for Makoto to finish dressing. The two of them 
were supposed to be heading to the theater where they planned to catch the 
new Miyazaki movie that had just opened, but a certain tall brunette was 
taking forever to choose an outfit.

	“Okay, which goes better with these pants?” Makoto asked, barging 
into Ami’s bedroom for the third time with a top in each hand. She was 
dressed only in a pair of black pants, changed from the denim skirt she wore 
before, and a nude-colored strapless bra. “The green turtleneck or the 
chiffon baby doll?”

	“I’m sure you’ll look great no matter what you wear, Mako-chan,” Ami 
replied, barely glancing up from her computer screen. After all, it was the 
truth. Makoto could wear a paper sack and people would think it was haute 
couture.

	The brunette groaned in frustration. “You’re not helping, Ami-chan!”

	“Gomen nasai, but you know I’ve never been much of a fashion plate. 
If you want a second opinion, why don’t you call Minako-chan? Choosing 
clothes is more her area of expertise.”

	“I would, but she has an audition this afternoon for that new TV 
show,” Makoto reminded her, hopping onto Ami’s bed. “Please, Ami-chan. I want 
to look my best. You‘ve got to help me!”

	“Because Asanuma-kun will be there?” Ami guessed, giggling as her 
roommate began to blush profusely. Though she and Asanuma had been dating 
seriously ever since Christmas, Makoto still became flustered whenever his 
name was mentioned. “Okay, if I have to choose, then I say go with the 
turtleneck. It matches your eyes, and it‘s more weather appropriate.”

	“Thanks!”

	Makoto headed back to her own room to finish dressing just as Ami 
reached the last email in her inbox. The subject line said “Important 
Educational Video,” but she didn’t remember any of her professors mentioning 
they planned to send out a video. Figuring it was just spam, Ami was about to 
send it to the trash can when she recognized the sender’s email address as 
belonging to Akira, except it was his official school address instead of his 
personal email which he normally used to send her things.

	“Why didn’t Akira mention he was sending us a video?” Ami wondered 
aloud as she opened the email. If it was from him, it was bound to be safe.

	The nondescript email seemed innocent enough when she read it. The 
short message explained that he wanted them to watch the video by Monday and 
that they would be given a quiz over the material covered on it in class. Ami 
was struck by the thought that the wording didn’t quite sound like Akira’s 
writing, especially with the overuse of emoticons, but she decided to check 
out the link provided anyway, just in case he had asked one of his TAs to 
write it for him.

	While she waited for the video to download, Ami set her laptop aside 
and went over to her vanity to run a brush through her hair. When she came 
back a few seconds later, it was already finished and ready to play.

	“Bless the speed of technology,” she said, grinning as she started 
the video.

	That grin soon disappeared, however, once the video began to play on 
her computer screen. What was billed on the website and in the email as an 
educational video on chemical reactions was actually nothing more than a 
poorly shot porno starring a dark-haired man and a woman whose features Ami 
couldn‘t clearly see because of the missionary position. She couldn’t even 
tell what color the woman’s hair was, the hue seeming to blend in with the 
pillowcase, which might have been black or maybe a dark blue or purple. 
Blushing, Ami was about to close out of the program when something caught her 
eye.

	At the foot of the bed, she saw a discarded teddy sitting on top of a 
small chest. It was powder-pink and very lacy, with a tiny red bow tied in 
the middle of the bust area. Though the image was a little hazy, she was 
almost positive it was the same model as the one she had worn yesterday, or 
at least something very similar. It even appeared to be the same cup size.

	Actually, now that she thought about it, that chest looked familiar 
as well. Didn’t Akira keep a chest at the foot of his bed for Mercury‘s chew 
toys?

	And the sheets… Last night, they had made love on navy sheets just 
like the ones…

	Ami went pale as she brought her hand to her mouth in horror. “No, 
this can’t be…!”

	Her worst fears were confirmed when the couple on the video changed 
positions, finally giving her a good look at their faces.

	It was her and Akira…naked…making love… 

	Unable to tear her eyes away, Ami continued to watch the video, not 
even noticing when Makoto knocked on the door and popped her head inside the 
room.

	“Ami-chan, you ready to head to the theater? Showtime starts in 
twenty minutes,” the brunette announced, a finger tapping on the face of her 
wristwatch. “We don’t want to keep Itto-kun waiting.”

	When Ami didn’t respond, Makoto came in uninvited and started waving 
a hand in front of her face. “Moshi moshi! Earth to Ami-chan! Time to take a 
break from that thing. For the next two hours, you are hereby forbidden to 
think about school or computers. Ami-chan? You hear me?”

	“Huh?” Ami finally voiced, glancing up at a faintly amused Makoto.

	Makoto laughed. “Boy, something sure had your attention. What are you 
watching anyway? The new GeSANG video? Can I watch too?”

	“Oh, it’s just something for school. You wouldn‘t be interested…”

	Ami tried to close her laptop before Makoto could see what was 
actually on the screen, but, unfortunately, her roommate’s eyes were quicker 
than her hand. Getting a brief look at the video, Makoto arched a surprised 
eyebrow in Ami’s direction.

	“Ami-chan, why on earth are you watching a dirty movie?” she asked. 
“I didn’t know you were interested in that kind of thing.”

	“I’m not! It’s not what it looks like, Mako-chan.”

	“Oh, really?” Evidently not believing her, the Amazon plopped down on 
the bed and grabbed the laptop from Ami’s hands in spite of her protests. 
“You know, I’ve always wanted to see why guys like these movies so much,” she 
said, flipping up the computer screen. “Why anybody would want to watch 
complete strangers having sex is beyond me, but there must be…”

	As Makoto’s words drifted off, Ami shut her eyes and wished she was 
anywhere but there. 

	“Ami-chan?” Makoto’s voice had lost the teasing tone, softening into 
one of concern. “Is this you?”

	Ami nodded, unable to trust her voice.

	“And the guy?”

	“My…boyfriend.”

	“Your boyfriend.” Returning her attention back to the video, Makoto 
frowned, her brows furrowed in confusion. “Why do I get the feeling I’ve seen 
him before?” she asked. “He reminds me a little of that picture of your 
chemistry professor I saw in that medical journal of yours. That couldn’t be 
him, though, could it? You said your boyfriend was a businessman separated 
from his socialite wife.” 

	Taking back the laptop from Makoto and ignoring her question, Ami 
closed out of the program and resisted the urge to cry. How could Akira have 
done such a horrible thing, especially when they had tried so hard to keep 
their affair a secret? Now, not only did everybody know they were lovers, 
they had photographic evidence of their most intimate moments, as well.

	“How could he do this to us?” Ami whispered, grateful when she felt 
one of Makoto’s arms wrap around her shoulders in comfort. “Why would Akira 
do this? We tried so hard…” 

	“He is that professor, isn’t he?” Makoto guessed. “Kitagawa Akira-
sensei?”

	Ami nodded, realizing there was no reason to keep it a secret 
anymore. With the video’s release, everybody would know about their 
relationship. “I’m so sorry, Mako-chan,” she apologized. “I didn’t want to 
lie to you, but we couldn’t tell anybody about us. The school wouldn‘t have 
understood.”

	“It’s okay. I understand.” Pulling Ami closer, Makoto let her rest 
her head on the shoulder of her green turtleneck. The brunette smelled 
faintly of rose-scented perfume. “But why are you so upset about the video? 
It’s just a personal thing between you two, right? Lots of couples like to 
film themselves…in that way. It‘s nothing to be ashamed of.”

	Ami shook her head. “But we didn’t. At least, I never consented to 
it.”

	“You mean you didn’t realize you were being videotaped?”

	“No, of course not! I never would have agreed to something like that, 
and even if I had, I most certainly wouldn’t have given permission to release 
it to the public.”

	Dark green eyes widened. “You mean…?”

	“It’s posted on the Internet,” Ami said numbly, still not believing 
it was true, “and he mass-emailed the link to the website.”

	“That bastard!” At the revelation, Makoto jumped up from the bed and 
began cracking her knuckles. Ami could almost hear the cackling of thunder 
between her hands even though her roommate wasn’t in senshi form. “Where does 
he live?” she demanded to know, easily falling into her role as the soldier 
of protection. “I’m going there right now and kick his ass a hundred ways to 
tomorrow.”

	“No, Mako-chan, I‘ll handle it,” Ami declared with as much conviction 
as she could muster. She knew what would happen if she let Makoto go after 
Akira, and, while he might deserve the beating of his lifetime for what he 
had done, she needed to confront him for herself first. “You should go meet 
Asanuma-kun at the theater and have fun on your date. I would have just been 
a third wheel anyway.”

	“I’m not going to let you go to that pervert’s place alone! There’s 
no telling what he might do to you.”

	“I’ll be fine, really. I just think this is something I need to do 
for myself.”

	“Are you sure, Ami-chan?” 

	“Yes, I’m sure,” she assured the still-enraged Amazon. “Now, you 
better get going. You don’t want to be late for the movie.”

	Makoto still didn’t look convinced, but. reluctantly she left, though 
not without giving Ami another hug and whispering some words of encouragement 
in her ear. Once Ami was sure her roommate was gone, she then finally allowed 
herself to give into the emotions that had been steadily building up since 
she first realized what her lover had done.

	She cried.

*****

	Clicking the “send” button on the last bunch of emails with her 
mouse, Yui’s lips curved into a satisfied smile. Finally, she was done. Soon, 
the entire school would know what an unethical slut Little Miss Perfect 
really was.

	She had been pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to pull off her 
plan. With a little help from Hideki’s “borrowed” textbooks and some research 
on the Internet, Yui had trained herself as an amateur hacker in the course 
of just one night. She wasn’t about to break into government databases, of 
course, but her skills were adequate enough to steal Professor Kitagawa’s 
password -- the obnoxiously cute “iluvami” -- and the email addresses of 
every student and faculty member at Tokyo University. 

	After that, it was only a matter of building a couple of simple 
websites to host the sexy video of the professor and his student. To lessen 
the likelihood of getting caught, Yui had created two different websites and 
three versions of the email she had sent out with the links. 

	The first website’s link was sent out to the general student 
population under a fake email address she had created with the subject line: 
TU PROFESSOR SCREWS COED - HENTAI. Many of those would probably end up in 
junk mail folders unopened, but Yui knew at least 90% of her horny male peers 
wouldn’t be able to resist the lure of free porn.  

	The second batch of emails, sent from another false address to the 
faculty of Tokyo University, provided a link to the same website, but she 
worded the email as a “concerned citizen,” informing the faculty how 
distasteful it was that a professor from such a respected school would post a 
video of himself having sex with a student on the Internet. 		

	It was the third bunch of emails Yui was most proud of, however. 
Using Professor Kitagawa’s school email address, she had sent the second 
website’s link to all the students who took one of his chemistry classes, 
including Miss Mizuno, making them believe that he wanted them to watch a 
video on “chemical reactions” for a quiz next week. Yui only wished she could 
be there to see the look on Miss Mizuno’s face when she watched the video and 
realized that her lover had betrayed her. 

	Closing out of the email, Yui wondered if the so-called “girl genius” 
had checked her inbox yet. She had sent the email a couple of hours ago, so 
it was entirely possible. At that moment, Yui could just imagine Miss Mizuno 
sitting in front of her computer, tears streaking down her face...

	The sound of the telephone ringing rudely interrupted Yui’s fantasy, 
followed by her dorm roommate’s helium voice from the bathroom, asking Yui if 
she would mind getting that. Grumbling that she wasn’t a human answering 
service, Yui nevertheless reached for the phone and said a gruff “Hello,” 
expecting it was another one of Yoko’s male “friends” wanting to set up a 
date with the girl Yui not-so-fondly called the whore of Toudai.

	Instead, it was her boyfriend. “Hey, Yui,” Hideki said, his soft, 
masculine voice bringing a smile to her face. “I’ve been trying to call you 
all morning on your cell, but I kept getting your voicemail. Where have you 
been?”

	“Oh, I turned it off so I could study,” Yui lied easily, knowing 
Hideki would not be happy if he knew she had stolen some of his textbooks and 
spent the entire night learning how to hack into the school’s computer 
system. Besides, it was partially true. She had turned off the phone so she 
wouldn’t be interrupted while she pored over the unfamiliar technical jargon 
contained in the text. Luckily, Yoko had been out on one of her sleepover 
dates, so she had the room to herself for most of the night. “Big test coming 
up in calculus. It counts for nearly thirty percent of our test average.” 

	“I should have known.” Yui could practically see the knowing smile 
and slight eye roll Hideki always gave her when he thought she was studying 
too hard. “Well, I made it home. Kaa-san and Tou-san are sorry you couldn’t 
make it, but they’re hoping to see you next break.”

	“Huh?” What the heck was he talking about?

	“Home? Kaa-san’s birthday party? The one you said you couldn‘t attend 
because you needed to study?”

	“Oh…right…” It still didn’t ring any bells, but, evidently, it was 
something she was supposed to know about. He must have told her last night 
after they made love. Admittedly, she hadn’t been paying much attention to 
Hideki then, caught up in her plans for revenge. She only caught the part 
where he told her that he would be gone for the weekend and the fact that she 
would be able to go through with her plans without worrying about her goody-
two-shoes boyfriend trying to stop her. “Tell Matsuno-san I wish her a happy 
birthday.”

	There was a short pause on the other end of the line. “Yui, is 
something wrong?” Hideki asked. “You kinda seem out of it.”

	“No, nothing’s wrong. In fact, I feel great.”

	“You do?” He sounded surprised. “You don’t feel guilty about…you 
know? What we did yesterday?”

	“No, of course not,” Yui replied, bringing up the video on her 
computer. It sickened her to watch it, but, for some reason, she also felt a 
perverted sense of satisfaction in seeing the two ruin their lives on camera. 
“Why should I? It’s our duty to bring Mizuno-san and Kitagawa-sensei to 
justice for their crimes.”

	“I don’t know, Yui. It didn’t really seem like either of them was 
bribing the other. They may really be in love.”

	“Love? Hideki, don’t be naïve. The only reason why Mizuno-san is 
sleeping with our teacher is to get the top grades in the class.”

	“We don’t know that for sure. We have proof that they‘re having a 
sexual relationship, but nothing that shows either of them have an ulterior 
motive for that relationship. Isn‘t it possible that they simply like each 
other?”

	Yui rolled her eyes. The combination of the video and Miss Mizuno’s 
grades was more than enough proof for her that something unethical was going 
on between those two, as she was sure it would be for Dean Tanaka. She 
couldn’t understand how Hideki couldn’t see what was so plainly obvious to 
her.

	“Remember, we couldn’t hear what they said to each other in the 
living room,” she reminded him. “I would bet my entire scholarship that 
Mizuno-san offered to sleep with him in exchange for the top mark on next 
week’s quiz. Dammit, we should have bugged it, too.”

	“Why are you so certain it is Mizuno-san who is doing the bribing and 
not the other way around?” Hideki asked. “If you’re right about this -- and 
I’m not saying you are -- it could very well have been Kitagawa-sensei’s 
idea, though I admit I never thought him the type to abuse his position that 
way.”

	“It doesn’t really matter who initiated; both are in the wrong,” Yui 
pointed out, though she still didn’t think Professor Kitagawa was the one 
bribing Miss Mizuno. He was too respected a teacher to do something like 
that. “All we can do is show this video to the proper authorities and let 
them sort it out. If they‘re guilty, they will be punished; if not, no real 
harm done other than a little bit of embarrassment.”

	On the other end of the line, Hideki sighed. “I guess you’re right,” 
he agreed reluctantly. “Well, I’ll let you get back to studying. Nee-san 
wants me to help her blow up the rest of the balloons before our folks get 
back from breakfast. We‘re throwing Kaa-san a surprise party.” 

	“Okay. I’ll see you Monday, Hideki.”

	“Ja.”

	“Ja ne.”

	Hanging up the phone, Yui turned her full attention back to the video 
playing on the screen, the corners of her mouth turning up in a devious 
smile.

	“Mizuno Ami, prepare to meet your doom.”

******

	Sitting down in his comfy armchair, Akira slipped on a pair of 
reading glasses and opened a thick textbook to Chapter 14. Since Ami had 
decided to spend the day with her roommate, he figured he might as well get 
started on his notes for next week’s lectures. That way, he could enjoy 
spending the rest of the weekend with his girlfriend, who had promised to 
come over later that evening after finishing her own studying.

	He was nearly halfway through the notes for Monday’s lecture when 
Akira heard a loud pounding on the door. The noise caused Mercury to lose all 
interest in the steak-shaped chew toy with which he had been playing for the 
last hour and run over to the door, barking excitedly.

	“Quiet, Merc,” Akira ordered with an amused smile, setting aside his 
work as he rose from the chair. “It’s probably just a neighbor wanting to 
borrow something.” 

	Walking over to answer the door, Akira couldn’t help wondering who it 
might be, though. Other than Matsuno Hideki, he couldn’t say he was 
necessarily on friendly terms with any of the other people who lived on his 
floor. People in his building tended to keep to themselves, and he only knew 
a small handful of his neighbors by name.

	The last person he expected to see was Ami, but, when Akira opened 
the door, she was standing outside, her back turned toward him. Akira, 
pleasantly surprised by the unexpected visit, smiled and started to embrace 
her when he noticed something was wrong. He couldn’t be sure, but it almost 
sounded as if Ami was crying.

	“Ami?” 

	Taking her by the shoulders, he turned Ami around, flinching when she 
shrugged his hands off of her. His suspicions were confirmed the moment Akira 
saw her face. Her normally porcelain skin was red and blotchy, and her navy 
blue eyes filled with unshed tears, some which she tried to wipe away with a 
lace-trimmed handkerchief.

	“Ami, what’s wrong?” he asked, again moving to embrace her. “Why are 
you crying? And why aren‘t you wearing a disguise?”

	Ami rejected his attempt at comfort, stepping back from his grasp. 
“You know perfectly well what’s wrong!” she accused. “How could you, Akira? I 
trusted you!”

	“What?” Akira was at a lost as to what had gotten Ami so upset. Had 
he forgotten an anniversary or something? “Ami, come in before somebody 
recognizes you and tell me what’s going on with you,” he said, showing her 
inside. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. What did I do?”

	“As if you didn’t know! The whole school‘s probably seen it by now.”

	“Seen what?”

	“This!”

	Heading over to his PC, Ami pulled up her email and opened a message 
labeled “Important Education Video." Much to his surprise, Akira noticed it 
had been sent from his email address at the school, but he knew for a fact he 
hadn’t sent it. He never employed videos in his lesson plans, preferring a 
hands-on approach to learning and teaching.

	“What is that?”

	Ami clicked on the link contained in the email’s message, pulling up 
a rather poorly designed website titled “Chemistry is Fun." She then 
downloaded the video file hosted on the site and started playing it with his 
media program, fast-forwarding through the beginning.

	The second the video began, Akira started to feel sick to his 
stomach. He immediately recognized his room and the two people writhing 
together on the bed.

	“Oh my g-- Where did this come from?” he demanded to know.

	“Don’t act so innocent, Akira! You know exactly where it came from, 
because you were the one who made it. Who else could have done it?” she 
asked, burying her face in her hands and letting out a loud sob. “I can’t 
believe you taped us while we were… Oh, I can’t even say the words!”

	“But I didn’t!” he insisted, resting his hands on her shuddering 
shoulders. “You’ve got to believe me.”

	“I honestly don’t know what to believe anymore. I never thought you 
were the type of man who would do something so…so…disgusting!”

	“I’m not! I would never do something like that. You know me better 
than that, Ami.”

	“Then who?” she challenged, turning around in the desk chair to face 
him. “Who could have made that video of us, Akira?”

	“I don’t know, but I’m going to find out.”

	Leaving Ami at the desk, Akira stormed into his bedroom and started 
looking everywhere he could think of for a hidden camera. Since the tape was 
made last night and he hadn’t left his apartment all day, except to check his 
mail and take Mercury for a short walk, chances were it was still in there. 
Ami followed a few moments later, watching from the doorway as he tore apart 
the bedroom.

	“Akira, what are you looking for?” she asked, her voice losing most 
of its accusatory tone from earlier. Akira hoped that meant she believed him 
when he told her he hadn‘t made the video. “You’re making a mess.”

	“The camera,” he answered, tearing down a favorite poster of 
Katsuragi Misato from Evangelion. “It has to be around here somewhere.”

	Looking around the room, Ami’s bloodshot eyes stopped on the fire 
alarm mounted on the wall opposite the bed, and she pointed up. “What about 
in there, in the fire alarm? From the angle the video was shot, it’s probably 
somewhere on that wall.”

	“Good thinking.” 

	Akira dragged Mercury’s toy chest over to the wall just underneath 
the fire alarm and climbed on top. At first glance, the alarm appeared 
innocuous enough, but, when Akira pulled off the cover, he immediately saw it 
had been rewired. A tiny camera had been installed inside, and, when he tried 
to press the button to check the alarm, it didn’t even beep in response.

	“Damn!” he swore, tossing the cover away in frustration. “Who could 
have done this?”

	Over by the door, Ami wrapped her arms around herself, her shoulders 
shuddering. “I don’t know, and I don’t care,” she said. “Just get rid of that 
thing.”

	“With pleasure.” Yanking the rest of the fire alarm off the wall, 
Akira smashed it against the floor, then jumped off the chest to walk over to 
where his girlfriend stood, quivering with unreleased sobs. “Are you okay, 
Ami?” he asked, pulling her into an embrace.

	Against his chest, he felt Ami shake her head “no." “I feel so 
violated,” she whispered, obviously trying to keep from crying again. “Why 
would somebody do this to us? I don’t understand…”

	“I don’t understand either,” Akira admitted, lightly kissing the top 
of her head as he tightened his hold around her waist. “Somebody must have 
found out about us and wanted proof, but who?”

	Before either of them could come up with a possible suspect, the 
phone in the living room started ringing. Akira tried to ignore it, knowing 
that comforting Ami was more important than a missed phone call, which was 
probably from his mother anyway, but after the seventh or eighth ring, Ami 
pulled away.

	“Answer that.”

	“No.”

	“You have to, Akira. What if it’s the school?”

	“All the more reason to let it ring.”

	“Go pick it up. I’ll be fine.” 

	Ami took a seat on the bed, wiping away her tears with the balled-up 
handkerchief in her hand, as Akira reluctantly went to the living room and 
answered the phone. As Ami suspected, it was the school -- more specifically, 
Dean Tanaka Kanane, the head of the College of Mathematics and Sciences at 
Tokyo University. The dean did not sound happy, barely letting Akira get a 
word in edgewise.

	“Kitagawa, what is the meaning of this?” he demanded to know. “Today, 
I got an email from a Watanabe-san, claiming he had come across a website 
hosting a sexually-explicit video between you and one of your students.”

	“Yes, I know, Tanaka-sensei--”

	“Do you realize what you have done? When word of this leaks out, and 
you know it will, our reputation as one of Japan’s most prestigious 
universities will be ruined.”

	“I don’t know how this happened, sir--”

	“Is it true that you are carrying on an affair with this girl? Mizuno 
Ami-san?”

	“Yes, we are in a relationship, but--”

	“Meeting with the board, tomorrow at eight o’clock, Kitagawa. We’ll 
discuss this more thoroughly then.”

	“Yes, sir. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

	Akira placed the receiver back in the cradle and grimaced. He would 
not be looking forward to tomorrow, but he would worry about the meeting 
later. Right now, he needed to take care of Ami.

	“Was that the school?” Ami asked when he returned to the bedroom. She 
looked better than before; at least her eyes were no longer watering with 
unshed tears.

	Nodding, Akira took a seat on the bed beside her, pulling her closer 
toward him. “That was Tanaka-sensei, informing me of the meeting being held 
by the board tomorrow concerning the video.” 

	He tried to sound as casual as possible, but the moment he mentioned 
the board, Ami‘s head popped up in concern. “A meeting?”

	“It’s really not a big deal, Ami,” Akira said, hoping he didn’t sound 
as worried as he felt. “It’s probably just a preliminary hearing. Nothing 
major will be decided.”

	“But it is a big deal,” she insisted, once again agitated as she 
jumped up from the bed and started pacing around the room. “This is such a 
disaster. I’m so sorry, Akira.”

	“For what? None of this is your fault.”

	“Yes, it is. I’m the one who wanted to continue pursuing this 
relationship. If we had done what you suggested in the first place, none of 
this would have happened, and you wouldn’t be facing the possibility of 
losing your job…” 

	Standing from his bed, Akira managed to stop Ami in mid-pace and 
turned her around to face him. “Listen to me, Ami,” he said, “this is *not* 
your fault. Besides, it’s really not that big of a deal. If worse comes to 
worse, I’ll get another job. Hell, I didn’t even *want* a teaching career. I 
only took the job because Toudai has such state-of-the-art research 
facilities. This was only supposed to be a temporary thing until I finished 
paying off my student loans and could start working on my research full-
time.”

	“But you love teaching. Whenever I watch while you’re lecturing the 
class, your entire face lights up.”

	It was true. He did enjoy teaching, more than he ever thought he 
would, especially after those two nightmarish semesters he worked as a TA 
while going through his graduate studies. What had started out as a favor 
from Dr. Nakajima to get him over a financial rough patch had turned into a 
passion of sorts. It would be tough to give it up, but Akira considered 
himself, above all, a realist, and he knew the termination of his job was a 
very real possibility.

	“I’m not saying I won’t miss it, but face it: The odds of me finding 
another teaching position when word gets out about this are a million-to-
one,” he reminded Ami as he took a seat back on the bed.

	Walking over, the blue-haired girl sat down on his lap and wrapped 
his arms around his neck. “What will you do if the school does decide to fire 
you, Akira?” she asked.

	He only had to think a moment before coming up with a possible plan. 
“I have a friend who might be able to help. He was my roommate my junior 
year, and his father owns one of the biggest pharmaceutical companies in the 
world. I’m sure he can put in a good word for me.”

	“But what about your personal research?”

	Akira half-smiled, forcing himself not to show Ami how really 
disappointed he was with the idea of giving up his diabetes research. “So I 
won’t win the Nobel Prize before I’m thirty. It’s not a big deal. It was a 
long shot anyway.”

	“I’m sorry…”

	“Ami, how many times do I have to tell you that none of this is your 
fault?” he asked, lifting her chin to see that tears were again brimming in 
her eyes. “If anyone is to blame, it’s the pervert who thought it would be 
fun to film a sex video without our consent.”

	“But--”

	Before she could say another word, Akira brought a finger to Ami’s 
lips. “Shh, I don’t want to hear you apologize anymore,” he whispered, 
picking her up and placing the light-weight girl on her side of the bed 
before joining her. “Just go to sleep, Ami. This will all look better in the 
morning.”

	I hope, Akira thought as he wrapped his arms around his lover and 
comforted her until she finally fell asleep.

*****

	Sunlight filtered in through the window of Akira’s bedroom the next 
morning, waking Ami from her less-than-restful sleep. Her eyes fluttered 
open, and immediately she noticed the absence of her lover’s arms around her, 
his comforting body heat replaced by a blanket that she never remembered 
pulling over her.

	“Akira?”

	Alarmed when she rolled over and found his side of the bed empty, 
Ami, still dressed in the clothes she had worn the day before, tossed the 
blanket aside and sat up in the bed, her eyes darting worriedly around the 
room.

	“I’m in here, Ami,” Akira’s voice called, much to her relief. The 
door to the bathroom swung open a few seconds later, revealing Akira standing 
in front of the medicine cabinet mirror above the sink, combing gel through 
his naturally unruly hair. He was already dressed in a pair of dress slacks 
and a freshly pressed white shirt, a tie hung loose around his neck. “I’m 
getting ready for the meeting,” he explained when Ami shot him a confused 
look. 

	“Oh, the meeting!”

	She had completely forgotten about the meeting Akira was supposed to 
have that morning with Dean Tanaka concerning their relationship. Jumping out 
of bed, Ami went over to the closet and started rummaging through the small 
wardrobe she had snuck over to his apartment for the mornings when she spent 
the night. There had to be something suitable for her to wear.

	“I’ll be dressed in ten minutes,” Ami said, finally selecting a 
modest, knee-length white pencil skirt and a baby blue twinset and tossing 
them on the bed. She then began undressing, her nimble fingers making it 
halfway down the buttons of her wrinkled shirt before Akira came up behind 
her and pulled her hands away.

	“Ami, I don’t think you should come,” he told her as he grabbed the 
skirt and twinset off the bed and hung them back in the closet. “This doesn’t 
concern you.”

	Ami pivoted on her heel, confused. “What do you mean? Of course it 
concerns me!”

	“Ami, please, I would rather you stay here. I can handle this by 
myself. Stay here, and try to get some more sleep. You barely slept at all 
last night.”

	“I’m fine,” she lied, barely managing to conceal a yawn. “Besides, 
maybe if I talked to Tanaka-sensei, I could get him to understand…”

	“I’ll explain what happened,” Akira promised. “Everything will be 
fine. I‘ll see you in a couple of hours, okay?”

	Reluctantly, Ami nodded, and Akira lightly kissed her forehead 
goodbye. “Good luck, Akira,” she said, giving him a small smile before he 
headed out the door.

	Left alone in the apartment, Ami laid back down on the bed, intending 
to try to get some more sleep like Akira suggested. Sleep, however, was an 
elusive beast, and, after ten minutes of tossing and turning, Ami gave up and 
headed to the kitchen to make herself a cup of coffee. While that brewed, she 
went to the bathroom to take a shower.

	Stripping down, Ami could barely look at herself in the mirror, her 
eyes quickly glancing away when she accidentally caught a glimpse of her 
breasts in her reflection. She turned on the faucet, and, when the shower was 
suitably scalding hot, Ami stepped underneath it, a sob shuddering through 
her body as the water pelted her like stones being thrown at a sinner.

	She felt so dirty, but, no matter how hard she scrubbed, the dirt 
would not go away. Her skin became raw and red, and tears mingled with the 
hot water pouring down on her, stinging the scratches.

	Finally, when she thought she had cried enough tears to last a 
lifetime, Ami turned off the faucet and emerged from the shower, wrapping a 
large white towel around her body. She then headed for the sink, forcing 
herself to look at her reflection. As she expected, her cheeks were blotchy 
and her eyes were rimmed with red, contrasting starkly with the dark circles 
already underneath from a lack of sleep.

	“Well, you look like crap,” Ami said to her reflection, neither of 
them able to crack a smile. 

	After splashing some water on her face to wash away the remaining 
tears, Ami brushed her teeth and got dressed.

	The coffee had finished brewing by the time Ami returned to the 
kitchen, filling the air with a pleasing aroma. She poured herself a cup, and 
taking a seat at the table, began looking over the front page of that 
morning’s newspaper, though none of what she read sunk in.

	Her thoughts instead were on Akira, wishing he hadn’t insisted she 
stay at the apartment while he went to the meeting with the dean. She was 
just as much to blame as he was in what happened, so it was only right that 
she share in the punishment, whatever it was.

	What was going to happen to her, anyway? Akira would no doubt lose 
his job, but would she be expelled from the university? Ami felt selfish for 
even having such a thought when Akira was more than likely on his way to 
being fired, but it was a logical concern. 

	Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of “White Destiny” coming 
from the living room. She had recently selected the opening song for 
“Pretear” to be the new ringtone on her cell. Though Ami was tempted not to 
answer it, not in the mood to talk to anybody, she managed to drag herself to 
the couch and dig the cell phone out of her purse. A quick glance at the 
Caller ID revealed it was her mother.

	“Hello, okaa-san,” Ami said, hoping she didn’t sound as miserable as 
she felt. “How are you?” 

	“Ami, we need to talk,” her mother declared in a voice Ami rarely 
heard.

	“About what?”

	“I think you already know the answer to that,” she replied. “Where 
are you?”

	Ami looked around Akira‘s living room, wondering what she could tell 
her mother about her current whereabouts. “I’m…uh…”

	“Are you at his place?”

	Surprised, Ami nearly dropped the phone. “But how…? You know?”

	“Ami, I have a break in thirty minutes. Meet me in the cafeteria.”

	“But, okaa-san…”

	“Not now. We’ll discuss it later. I’ll see you there.”

	With that, her mother hung up, leaving Ami to stare at the phone in 
her hand, dumbfounded. Her mother knew about her and Akira? But how? How had 
she learned about their relationship?

	Unable to come up with an answer, Ami put the cell back in her purse 
and swung it over her shoulder. She would get her answers at the hospital.

******

	Outside one of the administration building’s conference rooms, Akira 
waited nervously to be called inside, fiddling every so often with the knot 
of his tie. It was unlike him to be so fidgety, but he supposed even the most 
hardened criminal got a little antsy before the jury handed down the verdict.

	That’s exactly how he felt, too -- like a criminal being brought to 
trial. All that was missing was a pair of handcuffs around his wrists and a 
couple of guards by his side to make sure he didn’t try to escape, an idea 
that was looking all the more tempting as the minutes dragged by. However, 
Akira knew he had no choice but to face the consequences of his actions, so 
he stayed, trying his best to ignore the whispers and dirty looks that were 
shot at him by his colleagues as they passed by the conference room on their 
way down the hall.

	Seeing their reactions, Akira was glad he had managed to convince Ami 
to stay at the apartment, instead of coming with him to the meeting. She was 
already embarrassed enough over the release of the video without having to 
deal with public opinion. 

	“Tanaka-sensei will see you now,” the dean’s secretary said, coming 
out of the conference room.

	Taking a deep breath, Akira stood and followed the secretary inside.

	The conference room was one of the smaller, more intimate meeting 
places in the building. The only furniture was a small, rectangular table, 
which sat three on each of the long sides, and some chairs. On one side sat 
Dean Tanaka, along with two other school officials, to whom Akira 
respectively bowed and greeted.  

	“Ohayo gozaimasu, gentlemen.”

	Dean Tanaka, who sat in the middle seat between the two other men, 
gave a slight nod. “Have a seat, Kitagawa-sensei,” he said, indicating the 
single chair provided on the other side of the table, which Akira took. 
“These two gentlemen are Watase-sensei and Takeuchi-sensei. They, along with 
me, will decide what course of action to take in this matter, if one shall be 
needed,” the dean explained once Akira had settled. “Now, do you understand 
why you were called here?”

	“Hai. You have concerns about my relationship with Mizuno Ami-san, a 
student in one of my classes.”

	“I’m afraid it’s much more than that, Kitagawa-sensei,” the dean 
said, sighing. “Tokyo University has been hit by a wave of bad publicity in 
the wake of this scandal. We have always prided ourselves on being one of the 
most respected schools in Japan, but that image has been tarnished by the 
release of that sexually-explicit video of you and Mizuno-san to the 
students, faculty, and, now, the general media.”

	Akira was unaware that the news of the video had progressed outside 
of the school, but somehow he managed to outwardly keep his cool despite the 
fact that inside he was seething. If he ever found out who was behind what 
had happened… 

	“I had nothing to do with the making or the distribution of that 
video, Tanaka-sensei,” he insisted. “I am just as embarrassed over the video 
as the school.”

	“Are you saying this is the work of another?” Dr. Watase, who sat on 
the right of the dean, asked. “That you and the girl were unaware that you 
were being taped?”

	“Yes, sir.”

	“Do you have any idea who might be behind this debacle?”

	Akira shook his head, at a loss for a possible suspect. “No, sir. As 
far as I know, prior to the video’s release, there was only one other person 
who knew of my relationship with Mizuno-san, and I assure you, gentlemen, he 
is not capable of something like this.”

	“Can you provide us with a name?” the other man, Dr. Takeuchi, asked. 

	“Nakajima Ryu-sensei.”

	“And how did Nakajima-sensei come to learn of your affair, Kitagawa-
sensei?” the dean inquired, an eyebrow raised.

	“He overheard me talking to her on the phone.”

	“I see.” After writing something down on the pad in front of him, Dr. 
Takeuchi decided to change tactics. “Mizuno-san has been working as your lab 
assistant since September, is that correct, Kitagawa-sensei?” he asked.

	Akira relaxed a bit at the seemingly innocent question. “Yes, sir.”

	“Why did you decide to give the job to her, instead of a graduate 
student as is the normal practice? According to her file, Mizuno-san is only 
in her second year of pre-med studies. That is somewhat unusual.”

	“I was desperate and needed a new assistant immediately,” Akira 
explained. “My former assistant, Watanabe Jiro-san, was fired after I caught 
him smuggling experimental pharmaceutical drugs out of my laboratory. I 
offered the job to my students, and Mizuno-san was one of the few who 
expressed an interest.”

	“I see.” Nodding, Dr. Takeuchi made another note before setting down 
his pen and folding his hands over the paper. “Kitagawa-sensei, was Mizuno-
san qualified for the job?” he asked. “Or did you hire her solely on the 
basis of her looks?”

	Akira, blindsided by the insinuation behind the inquiry, looked from 
face to face, finding all three men were staring at him expectedly as they 
waited for an answer. Did they really think he was that low, that he was some 
kind of sexual predator who knowingly went after young, impressionable 
schoolgirls? The way the question was worded, it sounded as if they thought 
he had deliberately planned to seduce Ami from the start. 

	“I resent that question,” Akira said, his eyes narrowing.	 

	“Nevertheless, we require an answer, sensei,” Dr. Watase replied. 
“Was Mizuno-san qualified?”

	“Of course Mizuno-san was qualified for the job,” he snapped, 
forgetting for the moment where he was and to whom he was speaking. “I am 
conducting important medical research. I would not put that research in 
jeopardy by hiring somebody who was not capable for the job, and Mizuno-san 
is more than capable.”

	“Still, did your attraction to her influence your decision in any 
way?”

	“No, there was no attraction in the beginning,” Akira insisted. “I 
chose her because she happened to be the top student in my class and had some 
experience working in a laboratory setting. That‘s all.”

	“I see.”

	Akira braced himself for another insulting follow-up question, but it 
never came. The subject was dropped as Dean Tanaka picked up a thick folder 
sitting on top of the stack in the middle of the table and pulled out a piece 
of paper. The folder was clearly labeled “Mizuno, Ami.”

	“Let’s talk about Mizuno-san’s grades for a moment, shall we?” the 
dean suggested, his eyes traveling across the paper. “They really are quite 
remarkable.”

	“Yes, they are,” Akira agreed, not without a sense of pride in his 
girlfriend’s many accomplishments. “Mizuno-san is a very devoted student.”

	“I don’t doubt that, but are you aware that in the entire time I have 
served as dean of the College of Mathematics and Sciences, a woman has never 
once achieved such high scores in a math or science-related course?”

	“Times change, sir,” Akira declared, somewhat amused by the dean’s 
outdated gender stereotypes. “Today’s women realize they have the 
intellectual potential to match, or even surpass, men in traditionally male-
dominated fields. In fact, four of the top ten students in my advanced 
organic chemistry course are female, including Yokoyama Yui-san, who is 
continually right behind Mizuno-san in the rankings.”

	“So you are saying you see nothing suspicious in these scores?” Dean 
Tanaka asked, handing the paper across the table to Akira.

	Looking over the sheet, Akira saw it was a current transcript of 
Ami’s grades from his class for the semester, each perfect score she received 
neatly highlighted in bright yellow. The highlighted numbers far outnumbered 
those that weren’t, but even those unfortunate grades were exceptionally good 
-- nothing below an A. Shrugging, Akira placed the paper back facedown on the 
table and slid it back to the dean.

	“No, I don’t,” he replied honestly, not quite sure what Ami’s grades 
had to do with the matter at hand. “Should I?”

	“You tell us, Kitagawa-sensei,” the dean challenged. “How well do you 
know the three other girls you say are in the top ten of your class?

	“How well do I know them?” Akira repeated, confused. “With all due 
respect, Tanaka-sensei, I don’t understand the relevance of that question in 
context to the subject of this meeting. I thought we were talking about my 
relationship with Mizuno-san.”

	“Then allow me to rephrase. Do you know them as you know Mizuno-san?”

	Suddenly, it dawned on Akira what the dean was suggesting. 

	“No, I do not,” he declared, jumping to his feet, “and the fact that 
you would accuse me of such a thing is an insult. I do not make a habit of 
sleeping with --”

	“We have not accused you of anything, Kitagawa-sensei,” the dean 
said, raising a hand to interrupt his tirade. “It was merely a question -- 
one I’m sure you can quite understand considering the circumstances.”

	“But you do suspect me of seducing them?”

	Dean Tanaka shook his head. “Currently, there is no evidence to 
support such a suspicion. However, in the case of Mizuno-san…”

	“You believe I unfairly grade her because of our relationship,” Akira 
said, completing the dean’s thought.

	“Considering the evidence, yes, the thought did cross our mind.”

	“I can’t believe this!” Akira banged his fist hard on the table in 
frustration, causing some of the tea the secretary had at some point during 
the interrogation set down in front of him to spill over the lip of the glass 
and onto some nearby papers. “Are you so stuck in the 1950s that you can’t 
even entertain the idea that a woman could possibly earn such high marks in a 
science course without having to whore herself?” he asked. “Mizuno-san earned 
those grades fair and square, Tanaka-sensei. Nothing changed when our 
relationship began. If you had truly studied these reports, you would have 
seen her grades remained constant throughout, not only in my class, but in 
her other courses as well. Are you accusing her of sleeping with her other 
professors too?”

	“You are putting words into my mouth, Kitagawa-sensei. I said no such 
thing.”

	“Not in so many words, no, but you cannot hold me to a different 
standard than the rest of the faculty. How can you possibly judge me for 
giving Mizuno-san grades comparable to the ones given by, say, Azuma-sensei, 
and yet claim the other professor innocent?”

	“The difference between you and Azuma-sensei is that you have a 
confirmed sexual relationship with the student and he does not,” the dean 
replied.

	“It all comes back to the tape, doesn’t it?” Akira asked, eventually 
sitting back down in his seat. Things were starting to become more clear. 
“This is my punishment for causing the school embarrassment. It has nothing 
to do with grades or alleged nepotism.”

	Sighing, the dean reached for a nearby copy of the school handbook 
and flipped to a page marked by a yellow Post-It note. “The school does not 
expressively forbid relationships between students and faculty, Kitagawa-
sensei,” he revealed. “However, Article VII, paragraph three reads: 
Professors may not accept or ask for money, bribes, or sexual favors from 
students intended to influence the student’s grade point average.”

	“So you intend to use that loophole in order to reprimand me?”

	“If my colleagues agree, then yes, I would like to recommend the 
school take a closer look into this matter.”

	“What? Tanaka-sensei, you have no pro--”

	“I’m sorry, Kitagawa-sensei, but as of tomorrow morning, you will be 
temporarily suspended from your teaching duties without pay until the 
university conducts a proper and thorough investigation into this scandal.” 

******

	Arriving at the hospital a few minutes before her mother was 
scheduled to go on break, Ami headed to the cafeteria and took a seat at the 
table in the corner where they usually sat whenever they met for lunch. 
Nervously, she wrung a napkin around her fingers as she waited, wondering how 
in the world she was going to explain her relationship with Akira to her 
mother.

	There was no doubt in Ami’s mind that her mother had somehow learned 
of the video. It was the only reason Ami could think of to explain the sudden 
summons to the hospital for a talk, but how did her mother find out about it? 
Makoto wouldn’t have told her, at least not without asking Ami’s permission 
first. The school? It was a possibility, but wouldn’t they have notified her 
first if they planned to contact her parents? They hadn’t even asked to see 
her yet.

	“This is a nightmare,” Ami murmured to herself, tossing aside the 
napkin which she had thoroughly shredded. “An absolute nightmare.”

	A few minutes later, she saw her mother, an attractive middle-aged 
woman with blue hair cut stylishly short, coming from the food line and 
heading toward the table. The doctor sat down her tray and took a seat across 
from Ami.

	“Good, you came,” she said, the smile with which she normally greeted 
Ami absent from her face.  

	“Okaa-san, I don’t know what you know, but --”

	“Please, Ami.” Her mother raised a hand, signaling Ami to stop, then 
sighed, her face softening somewhat. “First of all, are you okay?”

	“Okay?” Ami hadn’t expected that, prepared for a lecture. “I guess 
so,” she answered softly. “I mean, I was really upset yesterday, but I’m 
feeling a little better now.” Glancing up, she stared at her mother. “How did 
you learn about what happened?”

	“A former professor of mine told me,” she replied. “We’ve kept in 
touch over the years, and he thought I should know.”

	“I’m so sorry, okaa-san,” Ami apologized, placing her hands in her 
lap. “You must be incredibly disappointed in me right now.”

	Sighing, her mother reached for her cup of coffee and took a sip 
before responding. “I would be lying if I said I wasn’t upset by what I 
heard,” she said. “Dating one of your professors? A sex video? I don’t know 
what you were thinking. How did this happen?”

	“Okaa-san, Akira and I never meant for anything like this to happen. 
We had no idea we were being taped. He’s just as upset about this as I am.”

	“But you two have been seeing each other?”

	Looking down, Ami nodded. “Since around the beginning of the second 
term.”

	“Oh, Ami…”

	Her mother’s voice was filled with disappointment, and Ami couldn’t 
blame her one bit. Dr. Mizuno Saeko had raised her to be the perfect student 
and doctor. An affair with one of her professors certainly was not a part of 
those plans.

	“I know our relationship is wrong, okaa-san,” Ami said after a long 
moment of silence. “It was stupid of me to get involved with Akira, but he’s 
a wonderful person. We care about each other very much.”

	“I’m sure you do, but he’s your professor.” Again sighing, her mother 
shook her head. “I knew I should have talked to you sooner.”

	“About what?”

	“It’s not important now,” she replied, taking another sip of her 
coffee. “At least tell me you two were careful. You do practice safe sex?”

	Ami’s cheeks burned. “Okaa-san!”

	“Ami, you were smart about this, weren’t you?” her mother demanded to 
know. “I didn’t bring home those pamphlets for you to throw away without 
reading them.”

	“Yes, of course,” Ami said, unable to look her mother in the eye. She 
couldn’t believe they were having this conversation. Despite the fact that 
her mother had always been relatively open when it came to sex, answering any 
questions Ami had as frankly and honestly as she would a patient, it was 
still embarrassing to talk about it regards to *her* sex life.  “I’m on the 
Pill, and we use condoms regularly. You don‘t have to worry.”

	“Good, though I do wish you had told me about this. If I had known 
you were thinking of becoming sexually active…”

	“It’s okay, okaa-san. I remembered everything you taught me, and I 
don’t plan to get pregnant until I’m married and out of school. Nothing is 
going to get in the way of my goal of becoming a doctor.”

	“I’m glad to hear that.” Glancing down at her watch, her mother 
frowned. “I’m afraid I need to get back to work. We’ll talk more about this 
later,” she said, standing.

	“Hai. Ganbatte, okaa-san.”

*****

	“Damn it!”

	Upon entering his apartment, Akira slammed the door behind him and 
plopped down on the couch, still shaking with anger over the dean’s decision. 
He couldn’t believe what had happened at the meeting. If he had been outright 
fired over the video, Akira would have understood and accepted that, but to 
make false accusations against him and insist on starting an investigation… 
That was low.

	How was he supposed to tell Ami? Hadn’t the poor girl suffered enough 
embarrassment over the last couple of days without having to deal with an 
official investigation as well? 

	‘Where is Ami, anyway?’ Akira wondered, for the first time noticing 
her absence. Considering how much noise he made when he came home, he thought 
she would have come out by now, anxious to hear what had happened at the 
meeting.

	Standing, Akira headed to the bedroom and popped in his head. He 
remembered suggesting that she try to get some more sleep before he left, but 
he found the bed empty save for a slumbering Mercury, whimpering loudly as he 
kicked his hind legs. Akira came inside, and sitting down on the edge of the 
bed, woke the Corgi from his nightmare.

	“Hey, boy, where’s Ami?” he asked, stroking the dog’s hair.

	Mercury, unsurprisingly, revealed nothing about his girlfriend‘s 
whereabouts, letting out a couple of short barks before once again putting 
down his head and going back to sleep. Akira sighed and began changing out of 
his suit, wondering where in the world Ami could have gone without leaving 
him a note.

	He had just finished undoing his tie and unbuttoning most of his 
dress shirt when Akira heard a door close. Heading back to the living room, 
he found Ami curled up on the couch, staring off into space. He came up 
behind her and lightly touched her shoulder, causing her to jump in surprise.

	“Oh, Akira!” she exclaimed, craning her neck up to see behind her as 
she sat back up. “I-I didn’t realize you were home. When did you get back?”

	“About ten minutes ago,” he replied, taking a seat beside her. “Where 
have you been? I thought you were going to stay here and try to get some 
sleep.”

	“The hospital. Okaa-san called me. She knows.”

	Akira nodded, the news not coming as much of a surprise. If the dean 
was right about the video having been leaked to the general media, it would 
have been only a matter of time before everybody found out about their 
relationship.

	“How did she take it?” he asked.

	Ami managed a small smile, though it was far from happy. “Better than 
I thought she would, actually,” she said. “I know she’s disappointed in some 
of the choices I‘ve made, but mostly she was concerned about my well-being. 
She wanted to know how I was dealing with the release of the video and if we 
were being…safe. It was strange, but I got the feeling that she kind of 
understood, if not necessarily approved of, our relationship.” 

	“At least somebody does.”

	Frowning, Ami scooted closer toward Akira, wrapping her arms around 
his waist. “The meeting didn’t go well, did it?” she guessed.

	“You could say that.”

	“Did they fire you?”

	“No,” he answered, shaking his head. “Apparently, there is no 
official rule in the school’s bylaws forbidding a professor from dating a 
student as long as the student has reached the age of adulthood and the 
relationship is consensual.”

	“That’s great!” Ami exclaimed before noticing the grim look on his 
face and pausing. “Isn’t it?”

	“Yeah, great.”

	Akira tried to sound relieved, but Ami saw right through his façade. 
She pulled away so they were facing each other. “Akira, what happened?” she 
demanded to know. “What aren’t you telling me?”

	Sighing, Akira’s hand touched her cheek, his thumb caressing the soft 
skin. He wished he didn’t have to tell her about the investigation, but it 
concerned her as much as it did him. 

	“The school didn’t fire me,” he finally said, “but I was temporarily 
suspended without pay, effective immediately.”

	“What? But I thought you said --”

	Akira interrupted her before she could finish. “They want to 
investigate allegations that I offered you high grades in exchange for sexual 
favors, Ami.”

	“What?” If possible, Ami’s porcelain skin faded to an even paler 
shade of white. “Why would they think that?” Gasping, she placed her hand 
over her heart. “It isn’t true, is it?” she asked. “You haven’t been grading 
me unfairly because I’m sleeping with you, have you?”

	“No, of course not!” he assured her. “I would never do anything like 
that, Ami. You know that. If anything, I’ve taken to looking at your work 
more critically now that we’re together.”

	“Then why would they think such a horrible thing?” she wanted to 
know. “I don’t understand.”

	Akira sighed. In some ways, Ami was still such an innocent. She 
wouldn’t understand the reasoning behind Dean Tanaka’s decision to suspend 
him and start an investigation. “Look at it from their point-of-view, Ami,” 
he said. “You’re my number one student, as well as my lover. It doesn’t look 
good.” 

	“This is ridiculous!”

	He was inclined to agree with her, but Akira kept his opinions to 
himself. “Ridiculous or not, we need to prepare for the worst,” he said. 
“Especially you.” 

	“Me? But you’re the one they’re investigating, the one who might lose 
his job. Compared to what you‘ll be going through, my part is minimal.”

	“Yes, but I’m afraid that things are going to get worse before they 
get better -- if they ever get better,” Akira replied grimly, already imaging 
the fallout. “When word of this leaks out, and you know it will, people are 
bound to say some terrible things, and some of it will be directed toward 
you, Ami. They’ll call you a slut and a whore, and, if the students believe 
that I gave you special treatment because you’re my girlfriend, your 
credibility in their eyes will be even lower than the fabled boy who cried 
‘wolf.’ Even if I’m cleared of the charges against me, in the back of their 
minds, your peers are always going to wonder if you really earned those 
grades or if you got them by screwing the professor.”

	“I don’t care about that, Akira,” Ami insisted, resting her head on 
his shoulder. “I can handle it. As long as we‘re together, we can make it 
through anything. Right?”

	She looked up at him, waiting for an answer he could not give. Akira 
wished with all his heart that was true, but, the truth was, he didn’t know 
if they could survive the public exposure of their relationship. Before, it 
had been easy. They hadn’t had to deal with disapproval of their friends and 
peers, and, thus, had been lulled into a false sense of security. It was as 
if they had lived in their own private fantasy where nothing and nobody could 
hurt them, but the release of that video had finally forced them to face 
reality -- a reality that was far too cruel.

	In lieu of an honest answer to her question, Akira kissed her 
forehead, a move Ami took to mean he agreed with her. A bright smile crossed 
her lips, and she snuggled even closer to him. 

	“We’ll be okay,” she insisted, and Akira hoped with all his heart she 
was right.


DISCLAIMER: "Sailor Moon" is the property of Takeuchi Naoko.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Comments and criticisms can be sent to me at 
ElysionDream@aol.com. Special thanks to my editors, Starsea and I 
Abibde/Samuraiter.