Chapter 43

"J, just until now, Kim Deok-sung... Sir, I... I have been... r, really... rude and a nuisance to you... I sincerely... apologize..."

Nishizawa Eri, wearing a dog collar, stammers out her words in a voice filled with fear.

Nodoka, standing beside her, is seen enthusiastically pressing the shutter of her camera.

She crosses her arms.

Nishizawa Eri, now in a state of shock and fear, is not in her right mind.

She clicks her tongue.

Anyway, this much is enough for a public humiliation.

Nodoka has taken enough photos to ensure that not only the Academy Channel but also the national pride N-tube will have a preserved thumbnail of this incident in no time.

"Get up."

As soon as the words are spoken, Nishizawa Eri rises unsteadily to her feet.

Her forehead, swollen and red, is covered in dirt.

"I don't even want to see you, so get out of my sight."

She waves her hand.

Nishizawa Eri's eyes widen.

She bites her lip.

"Y, you're not... going to... do it?"

Nishizawa Eri asks.

"Do what?"

"Put a leash on this collar... and make me walk around naked... or... force yourself on me... A, aren't you going to do that? W, wasn't that why you made me your slave? I, I am your slave now... I don't have the right to refuse..."

Nishizawa Eri rambles incoherently.

Her orange eyes tremble uncontrollably from side to side.

Ah.

She's making my blood pressure rise again.

How can her way of thinking be so consistently twisted?

She has quite an imagination.

Before I can feel disgust at her words, anger surges up.

Is this crazy woman really delusional?

"Hey, Nishizawa Eri."

At the sound of her name, she flinches.

"Nodoka."

Nodoka's voice is cold.

"Go and deliver this to Nishizawa."

I take out the summons to the disciplinary committee, given to me by the chairman, and hand it to Nodoka.

If Nishizawa Eri, who idolizes Nodoka, receives the summons directly from her and hears about the possibility of expulsion, her mental state will surely collapse.

Nodoka's blue eyes darken as she looks at the summons.

Click.

She places her hand over her chest.

"Alright. I, the noble French princess Olivia Napoleon Bonaparte, will handle this perfectly, as befits your exclusive maid."

Ah.

She should have turned on the signal lights before coming in.

There are still a few students around.

And why is she staking her honor on this? It would be better if she acted as she usually does.

My face feels hot.

"Alright. Go and come back."

"Hehe. You can look forward to it!"

Olivia, with a triumphant expression, disappears with the summons in hand.

I sit back down on the bench, watching her leave.

Round 1 is over.

It's time to head to Round 2, the disciplinary committee.

*

Shuoh Hero Academy.

Beach Park.

Nishizawa Eri sits on a bench with a clear view of the horizon of Tokyo Bay.

Around her neck is a dog collar with Kim Deok-sung's name engraved on it.

"This can't be..."

A trembling voice escapes Nishizawa Eri's lips.

She had been prepared for the dog collar and the dogeza since her defeat.

She had also anticipated that Kim Deok-sung would humiliate her.

But there was one thing she hadn't expected.

"He... He said he doesn't even want to see me..."

Nishizawa Eri's hands tremble.

The conversation with Olivia after school comes to mind.

[He is definitely a fool, a moron, a pervert, and a shameless person, and he has no manners, no sense of propriety, and is the most despicable and worst man in the world... but...]

[...he is still a man who has the qualifications to have the noble French princess as his exclusive maid.]

A man with qualifications.

If that statement was true, then everything she thought was a misunderstanding.

If it was all her mistake.

"Ugh... Ugh..."

Just as Nishizawa Eri was pulling her hair out in frustration.

"That's you... I didn't expect you to be here..."

A cold voice reaches her ear.

Nishizawa Eri turns her head.

There stands Olivia, the platinum-blonde beauty, with a face as cold as ice, glaring at her with icy eyes.

All my fault.

Olivia pouts.

Beach Park.

Of all places, it's here, where she has memories of becoming his exclusive maid.

Though she can't explain it specifically, her mood worsens.

Olivia thinks this way.

"Princess... Princess..."

Nishizawa Eri's voice trembles.

"After the cherry blossom festival, I did some research on you. I know everything about Nishizawa Eri, from your family background to your likes. I understand that your difficult childhood is pitiful and deserves sympathy. But."

Olivia cuts her off coldly.

"That doesn't justify your rudeness, irresponsibility, and nuisance. That day, your actions were a clear act of insubordination, disqualifying you from being a hero."

Olivia's words cut into Nishizawa Eri's heart like a dagger.

Nishizawa Eri's hands tremble.

Words she had already heard at Inokashira Park's café.

But for Nishizawa Eri, who had just realized her complete misunderstanding of Kim Deok-sung, this was a devastating blow.

"That's... That's..."

"Your pathetic excuses are meaningless. You, who lack the qualifications to be a hero, have no right to speak."

"..."

Tears well up in Nishizawa's eyes.

"Your crying is disgusting."

Olivia's lips tremble.

She takes a deep breath and throws a letter onto Nishizawa Eri's lap.

Thud.

Through her tear-blurred vision, Nishizawa Eri sees the Chinese characters on the envelope.

"Summons to the disciplinary committee...?"

"The academy has decided to convene a disciplinary committee to address your insubordination. The punishment... will likely be expulsion. Before you leave the academy, why don't you sincerely apologize to him?"

Expulsion.

The two words, heard from Olivia, make Nishizawa Eri's vision blur.

That can't happen.

Anything but that...

Thinking of her mother who raised her alone with great effort, and the joy on her mother's face when she received the acceptance letter to Shuoh Hero Academy.

Expulsion can't happen.

But given the enormity of her mistake, there is no justification, no reason, no grounds for leniency.

"Ugh..."

Tears stream down Nishizawa Eri's cheeks, a mix of regret, loss, and self-loathing.

"If he doesn't accept it, at least this will prove that you are not just a beast in human form."

Olivia, having said her piece, leaves the beach park with a look of disdain, without looking back.

Nishizawa Eri, left alone, bows her head.

The dog collar around her neck, with Kim Deok-sung's name engraved, glints in the sunlight.

*

The next day.

After arriving at school in the morning, I open N-tube on my smartphone.

[K-Hero Kim Deok-sung! Shaking Japan's archipelago once again! The driving force behind Kim Deok-sung's perfect victory is actually the kimchi he eats every day? Kimchi is now a hit in Japan? Focused analysis of the cause of Kim Deok-sung's victory, which has stunned Japan!]

[Kim Deok-sung! Another victory in the Korea-Japan match! After Shinzaki Rin and Ishihara Daiki, Nishizawa Eri also kneels before Korea! Nishizawa Eri, declaring her submission with the humiliating dogeza! Japan's archipelago sinking into consecutive defeats! President of the Japanese Hero Association: "Why don't we have a hero candidate like Kim Deok-sung?" Angry reprimand! Why did Nishizawa Eri, who ranked third in the Shuoh Hero Academy entrance exam, lose so completely to Kim Deok-sung?]

Today, these chaotic thumbnails are more than welcome.

As expected, seeing Nishizawa Eri's dog collar and dogeza preserved in the national pride N-tube thumbnail makes me feel like the curry rice I had for breakfast is fully digested.

It's about time the bait set by Nodoka starts to get some bites.

I also check the Academy Channel.

[(Special Report) Academy's idol, Nishizawa Eri! Referred to the disciplinary committee for insubordination! Expected punishment: expulsion!]

[Nishizawa expelled? Really? (⊙ᗜ⊙)(⊙<|im_start|>