The Glen, Heywood.
Dining floor, Embers.
The moment David saw Katsuo smiling and waving at him, he immediately sensed the malice behind that grin.
After living through that two-day dream that had felt as real as life itself, David's wariness and hatred toward Katsuo had reached a peak.
Back at the academy, David's attitude toward him had always been the same: avoid him when possible, endure him when necessary. No matter how Katsuo insulted him, David would not fight back and would not even waste words on him.
But in that dream, all his restraint had earned him was more and more bullying. In the end, Katsuo had even gone so far as to insult his mother, Gloria.
Even though David knew it had only been a dream, the anger and hatred in his heart had only grown stronger.
Because he knew Katsuo was absolutely capable of doing those same disgusting things in real life. Calling him street trash. Smearing dirt all over his family for no reason. Enduring it to the very end had still only led to getting beaten and forced out of school.
Now that David fully understood how filthy Arasaka Academy really was, he no longer held even the slightest hope that Katsuo might someday let him off.
But.
Right now Gloria was in the middle of talking with Mr. Kai.
If Katsuo came over looking for trouble and David failed to handle it properly, it would only put his mother in a humiliating position.
And on top of that, the middle-aged man with Katsuo was most likely his father.
If things really escalated, then he and his mother would be the ones thrown out, and the meeting Gloria had spent so much money and effort preparing would be completely ruined.
Worse still, it might even drag Mr. Kai into trouble, since Katsuo's father was also a senior Arasaka executive and a member of the academy board.
In that instant, David thought through a lot.
He quickly looked away and stopped making eye contact with Katsuo. After setting down his plate, he turned and headed straight for the restroom.
If he wanted to avoid a clash and keep from ruining his mother's dinner, then the only thing he could do was find a chance to hide in the restroom.
As long as Katsuo could not see him, that would be enough.
The way David turned and walked off without so much as acknowledging him made the smile vanish from Katsuo's face on the spot.
At first, Katsuo had only intended to toy with him a little.
But the moment he saw that arrogant look on David's face, and that stubborn refusal still lingering in his eyes, the malice and irritation inside him flared instantly.
"You won't even look me in the eye? Heh. Looks like you still don't understand how serious this is."
Katsuo was just about to head over to his table when he realized his father had noticed him standing there staring after the boy who had just walked away. Seeing that his son still seemed distracted, the older man showed faint displeasure.
Tonight was one of the rare weekly dinners the Tanaka father and son shared.
Mr. Tanaka had always put Arasaka first. Work took up most of his time, and he seldom had much chance to talk with his son. So when he saw Katsuo still thinking about chasing after a classmate even now, his tone sharpened slightly.
"Katsuo."
Katsuo immediately came back to himself and hurried after his father, though the corner of his eye kept drifting toward the restroom.
Led by a server, the two of them took a table near the back of the restaurant.
Mr. Tanaka sat down with perfect posture, told his son to order whatever he wanted, and then immediately connected a call and resumed handling work.
Katsuo had long since lost all novelty toward the food at Embers. He had probably eaten every dish on the menu a hundred times already.
So after casually flipping through a few pages of the electronic menu, he handed it back to the server and simply ordered a few Japanese dishes his father usually liked.
Once he was done ordering, he started growing restless again.
His mind was still fixed on David hiding in the restroom.
So he carefully glanced at his father, who was still on the call, then rose as casually as possible and bowed slightly.
"Father, I'm going to the restroom."
Mr. Tanaka did not reply.
He allowed it in silence and continued with his work call.
Katsuo turned with perfect politeness, a faint smile on his face, and walked in small steps toward the restroom. As he moved, both hands slowly slipped into his pockets, and the head he had kept lowered rose little by little.
At the restroom entrance, he headed toward the side marked with the pipe symbol.
The moment he stepped inside, he saw a clean silver-gray marble sink area. Two customers were still washing their hands there.
So he went to another sink, ran a little water, and adjusted his bangs in the mirror with a few light touches. Looking at his own handsome reflection, the corners of his mouth curled up in satisfaction.
Only after the other two men finished washing and left did Katsuo turn his attention toward the stalls farther inside.
Each silver-gray door was shut, with soft green indicator lights glowing above them to show they were unoccupied.
Only the stall at the far end glowed red.
Katsuo instantly guessed that David was hiding inside.
After glancing around to make sure no one else was nearby, he started walking toward the very last stall, his dress shoes clicking softly against the floor.
As he walked, he lowered his voice and asked with fake confusion,
"David, was that you just now?"
"How come you saw me and didn't even say hello?"
"Aren't we classmates?"
"Oh, right, I just remembered. You didn't come to class today, did you?"
"Did the academy finally expel you already?"
"Yeah, makes sense. A piece of trash who can't even pay for the damages he caused to the school's system suddenly shows up eating at a fancy place like Embers..."
"Did you sneak in here?"
"If that's the case, I should probably call security and have them drag you out."
"Then again, how could a high-end place like this let some poor loser like you sneak in at all?"
Bang!
When Katsuo reached the last stall, he slammed a hand against the door with a loud crash.
Inside the stall, David was sitting on the toilet with his head clutched tightly in both hands, doing everything he could not to make a sound.
But he still could not stop his right leg from bouncing restlessly on the ball of his foot.
He was so frustrated and so helpless he felt like he was about to explode.
"Why now, of all times?!"
"Why does he always have to haunt me like this?!"
The scenes from the dream kept replaying inside his head: Katsuo's smug expression, his venomous words, the merciless mockery.
David felt like he was about to burst apart.
But David's silence only convinced Katsuo more that he had the right person, and his tone grew louder and more vicious.
"What, are you planning to hide in the bathroom forever like a maggot?"
"And I guess the kind of thing that gives birth to maggots..."
Smack!
A crisp slap cracked through the entire restroom.
Katsuo froze.
He completely froze.
Out of nowhere, someone had slapped him hard enough to send him crashing against the wall and dropping to the floor.
He looked up in terror at the person standing there, eyes wide, utterly unable to believe or accept that anyone would dare slap him here.
What made it even worse was that the person had casually said, right in front of him,
"What exactly were you saying about maggots? I just ate, and now you've ruined my appetite."
Kai did not spare the collapsed Katsuo a second glance.
Instead, he carefully inspected his own hand, as if he thought he might have hit a little too hard because the skin looked faintly red.
Meanwhile, Katsuo clutched the side of his face, which had nearly been slapped out of shape. His expression twisted viciously, and the cyberoptics in his eyes began spinning with yellow rings of code.
He was calling for his father.
(End of Chapter)
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