Lesson Learned

Everything's fine

There was a loud sigh. "No!" she replied, and then a second later. "We need more onions!"

"I'll remember," dad said pleasantly, before looking back at Mitsuko. "Well?"

Mitsuko stared up at him in surprise and then scowled. "You could have just said that from the start."

His smile widened, opening the door. "True, I could have." He gestured for her to step out first. "Now let's hurry before that friend of yours makes a mess of things."

Mitsuko looked over her shoulder as she walked down the steps. "I gather Mr Karasuma told you?"

"As usual, yes," dad replied as they walked to the garage. "I admit the tentacles were...a surprise." He frowned, opening the garage with the button on his key. "I'd already deduced she was the late Ms Yukimura's sister, but the chemical alterations were unpleasant to find out."

"Well, she's a damn good actress if she even fooled you," Mitsuko commented as she got in the passenger seat often car at put her seatbelt on.

A brief look of annoyance flashed across her father's face as he got in the car. "I was keeping a close eye on her." He clicked his seatbelt into place and shut the door. "Unfortunately the antics of your class did distract me somewhat."

Mitsuko frowned as they reversed out of the driveway and through the open gates. "What was she like when you first met her?"

"...Interesting," dad replied curtly, as they drove down the street. "She's very intelligent, and passed the Transfer Entrance Exam on the first try—I wanted to transfer her to A Class at first." His lips twisted into a scowl. "Unfortunately she broke a good number of my trophies right in front of me, so that thought was swiftly dashed away."

She nearly choked. "Wait, she's the one who did that!?"

"Yes." Dad sighed irritably. "Which is how she landed herself in Class E."

Which is exactly what she wanted.

She almost laughed. "She manipulated you!"

Dad's scowl worsened. "I would hardly call it manipulation. I knew her antics were deliberate and she was set on being sent to E Class, for whatever reason."

Mitsuko's smile was wide. "Nah, she totally duped you".

He sighed in exasperation. "Nevertheless. This reckless behaviour,  Mr Karasuma described is nothing short as a violation of the school rules, and if it is not corrected immediately I will have no choice but to expel her."

"Yeah, if she doesn't die first," Mitsuko responded grimly, sitting back in her seat. "We have to talk her down..."

He glanced at her briefly before looking ahead again. "I'm sure yourself and your classmates will think of something, you always do," he remarked, causing to look over curiously. "And Koro-sensei is a dedicated teacher, he wouldn't dream of losing a student so carelessly...I'd have to cut his pay further if that occurred."

She scoffed at the last bit, feeling some pressure relax from her shoulders. "Yeah, true."

The rest of the car journey was in somewhat peaceful silence as she stared out of the window, keeping her gaze on the sky as she tried to stay calm.

When they reached the meeting point, her dad pulled up and parked on the side of the street near a fence which surrounded a block of thick trees.

"I'll wait here until you're finished," he told her, reaching behind the seat to grab a thick hardback book. "There's some leisure reading I have been meaning to catch up on."