Description: Hayato meets with the headmaster of Justice High, one Raizo Imawano, to discuss his concerns about Kurow. Raizo is less than thrilled by the revelations and the two men form the base of a plan for dealing with young Kirishima.
Raizo Imawano's office is large - befitting the man himself, whose size cannot really be called anything less than 'monstrous' - and every bit as well-appointed as the rest of Justice High School, or perhaps to be more precise, it /was/.
At the moment, it is largely a charred ruin, in the aftermath of a visit by Saishu Kusanagi that left most of the furniture in ruins, and reduced Raizo's wardrobe by yet another fine business suit. Workers are now going in and out, working on repairing the damage, replacing the windows...the new furniture and art will, of course, go in last. Raizo himself is also here, dressed somewhat more casually than usual - in overalls and a hardhat upon his bald head, a (sledge)hammer in one hand.
Although he's a teacher at Taiyo, Hayato Nekketsu knows his way around most of the schools in Southtown fairly well. Just because he's not being /paid/ doesn't mean he's not going to lend a helping hand to any students who are in need of assistance. He's particularly familiar with Justice High, what with the unfortunate events that happened there, and the friends he made amongst the teaching staff. Some teachers might dress up when going to meet with the headmaster of another school, but Hayato's planning to get back to work immediately after this, and is thus still dressed in his red Taiyo track outfit. At least his shinai is stuck in the custom added loop on the back of the jacket, rather than being held in his hand.
It's not hard to pick Raizo out, even in a crowd of workers. The smell of smoke is a bit concerning, but it looks like whatever danger there might have been is passed. Hayato waves briefly once Razio notices him, giving the older man a friendly smile. Hayato's long stride quickly eats up the distance down the hall and before long he's standing next to Raizo. "Good afternoon, Imawano. Having some trouble with your office?" The tone of his question is friendly enough, but Hayato is definitely hoping that this is just a minor accident. He's still somewhat suspicious of certain elements of the student body here at Justice.
Raizo is watching intently, but, perhaps reassuringly, does not seem especially troubled by the fact that his office is a wreck. "That Kusanagi..." the old man rumbles. With his size, the voice is like the roll of distant thunder, even if the words aren't quite loud enough to be discerned. "What's /he/ up to, now..."
And then he notices Hayato, and grins at the infamous Burning Phys-Ed Teacher, waving his hammer jauntily. "Nekketsu!" he laughs. "Good to see you. It's been a while." His eyes track to Hayato, wondering what brings the man here, but for now, casual conversation is good enough. "Ah...some. Saishu Kusanagi dropped by. Nothing too big to worry about, just a little..." He glances back at the scorched interior of his office. "...perhaps more of a lot, of fire."
Raizo's hammer and work clothes represent just one of the things Hayato respects about the Justice High headmaster. Working hands on, not just sitting back and letting other people take care of things for you... That's something Hayato can appreciate. He leans over slightly to peer in through the doorway at the wreckage of the office, letting out a low whistle when he sees just how much damage there's been. "Quite a mess he made in there. Suppose you're next meeting with him will be outside, eh?"
Hayato straightens back up then, bringing him back to his full height. There aren't too many Japanese men who can look Raizo in the eyes on the same level, but Hayato is one of them. Even then, though, Raizo has enough of a size advantage that Hayato would want to think twice about making the man angry. He doesn't have any intention of doing that today, though. He's looking for information. "Speaking of meetings, have you got a couple minutes? I'd like to talk to you about one of your students."
"Hopefully!" Raizo replies, resting the hammer against his shoulder casually. "I might have to fix the matter, if it isn't." Hayato may or may not remember Raizo's infamous 'pick you up by the face and throw you through a wall' technique from the unfortunate incident with Hyo. "Still. Good work out. Much less troublesome than Bernstein. /He/ dropped by the day before." His eyes narrow, troubled, but then he looks over as Hayato straightens. Raizo can't really do that anymore; age and mass have not done kind things to the shape of his spine. Still, he does a game job of squaring his shoulders, and adopting a more serious look as Hayato gets down to business. "Certainly. I should hope nobody has been causing undue problems. I'm afraid I'm somewhat out of the loop..." He gestures at his scorched office. "I've been spending quite a bit of time working on fundraising these past months. Would you like to..." His eyes dart to the construction crew, "...speak outside, or somewhere more private?"
Hayato pauses as he thinks for a moment. He's not a genius but he's also no fool... And he does have some idea of what Kurow's been up to. He's fairly certain Raizo is too clever to fall for the same trick twice, but if there's brainwashing going on then it's quite possible that one of the workers, or anybody who might walk by, could be reporting to Kurow. Best to play it safe. His gaze flicks briefly over the workers going in and out of the office, as well as a teacher who happens to walk by the end of the hallway, revealing some of his suspicions. "I think this should probably just be between the two of us."
Raizo frowns, a little - not displeased, more concerned. If it should be that secret, then...
He nods. "Come on. I have another office we can use. I have some spares set up around campus, in the event of..." He gestures to the office again. "...unexpected circumstances."
He turns and strides off, leaving the sledgehammer and hardhat in a toolbox as he moves to leave. Provided Hayato doesn't strike up conversation as they walk, he leads the Taiyo PE teacher down a few halls, landing outside another door, which he opens. This office is much more cozy, but is bigger than usual just the same - mainly because of the magnitude of destined occupant, than anything else. "We should have privacy here," Raizo says, allowing Hayato inside.
While Hayato is normally fairly talkative, he does have something serious that's weighing on his mind at the moment, causing him to keep his thoughts to himself during the walk to the spare office. He nods to Raizo when the door is opened and then makes his way into the office. Hayato refrains from taking a seat, choosing to remain standing as he waits for Raizo to enter and close the door. He then waits a few moments longer, giving Raizo a chance to take his seat before he begins.
The phys ed teacher frowns for a moment as he thinks up the best way to start. He certainly wouldn't be happy if someone came up to /him/ and started complaining about one of his students, but he has information Raizo definitely needs to know. If he hasn't already found it out through his own sources. "I'm here about one of your students. Kurow Kirishima. That kid's gotten himself involved in some deep trouble. I had a run in with him a short while back after some trouble with one of my students, Sakura Kasugano, during the war in Thailand. You may have seen it on TV at some point, the stand she took during a showing of SNF... She was brainwashed by Kurow. Other students as well, and not just from Taiyo." Not as outlandish an accusation as it may be in some places, given the history of Justice High.
Raizo closes the door quietly, steps over to his desk, and settles in quietly. He folds his hands, waiting for Hayato to speak.
"Brainwashing..." Raizo mumbles quietly. "Yes, I noticed Miss Kasugano's words, and the subsequent..." He frowns sympathetically at Hayato, because that didn't really look like a terribly fun fight to be in. "I'd actually been meaning to go speak with her at some point soon, if I can locate her. There are some things I need to ask." He leans back in his chair, sagging a little. "Given those events, I'll be taking a more active role in affairs soon, actually. I'm very glad you've come to me, Nekketsu."
He breathes a heavy, ragged sigh, showing a little of his age now, in private. "That Kirishima is involved surprises me least of all."
Hayato crosses his arms over his broad chest, shaking his head sadly. A small comment on the current state of affairs. "I try to help out young people as best I can, but I know there are limits to what I can do. And without hard proof I know that it would be useless to get the police involved. Not to mention the ugliness that comes from making something like this public." The incident with Hyo shows just how willing the schools are to settle their own problems. While Hayato wouldn't go on the public record as supporting vigilante, it's not exactly something that he disapproves of, as long as nobody gets hurt.
"I managed to get a little bit of information out of Kirishima, but not much more than an admission that he was behind it. Which means he was working with Shadaloo." Hayato's frown deepens. He doesn't know that much about the organization beyond what's been in the news, but that in itself is very bad indeed. "Wasn't much else I could do at that point but let him go, though. Only got the confirmation I /did/ by promising not to drag his ass right to the cops... for whatever good they could do. And a promise is a promise, even if I make it to a punk like that."
Raizo's eyes widen. "He's connected to--" he breathes, leaning his mass forward. He clenches and unclenches his hands, great gears in his bald head turning. "Shadaloo...somehow I shouldn't be that surprised...I don't know much about that organization myself, but they remind me a great deal of the Imawano, without the pretexts of morality..." Brainwashing. Evil superpowers. Familiar? Far too familiar...
Raizo hums, slowly. "I am only allowing Kurow to attend Justice to keep an eye on him," Raizo finally admits. "The Kirishima are not a clan to be taken lightly. That boy...I would expect that on top of any resources afforded him by Shadaloo, he probably knows Imawano brainwashing techniques." He glances up at Hayato, brandishing his enormous fingernails. "I've seen him fight using my own clawfighting techniques already, so that he was trained by those people is a certainty."
Slowly, Raizo settles back in his seat, a low, tectonic groan coming from his belly. "But this confirms my fears. You've done the right thing coming to me, Nekketsu. Do you have any questions of me, while you're here?"
Hayato gives a long sigh, then slowly shakes his head. "No. I just thought that you should be made aware of all this, for everybody's sake. I'm not exactly the best when itcomes to making plans, so I'm hoping that you'll be able to do more with this information than I'd be able to. If you find out anything important I'd like to know, but for now I suppose I'm just going to have to keep my eyes open. Just because Shadaloo fell doesn't mean this kid doesn't have plans of his own. I may not be able to prove anything, but I'm going to make sure he finds out that messing with students' minds on my watch is a bad idea."
The Burning Phys-Ed teacher turns then, taking a step toward the door. "For now... I'm going to keep quiet about this, aside from telling you. Keeping Kirishima where someone can keep an eye on him is a good idea, and if he panics who knows what he might get up to? There are already students who must have figured it out, but at least for now it's probably best if we keep it from becoming a major outcry. That won't help anyone, and he'll probably just go into hiding."
Raizo nods, the old mountain's serious expression a far cry from the jovial look he shows so many of his students. "I knew he was up to something. But to connect these recent brainwashings to him and to Shadaloo, that makes this far worse than I dreamed. I'll try to get things together..."
He stands. "You're right. Though Shadaloo fell, that doesn't mean Kurow can't continue without their support..." And Raizo's not totally convinced they're gone. He has more than enough experience with secret organizations to know how rarely they really do die, after all. "For now, Nekketsu...please continue as you have. If you can, find out who we can trust with regard to this. If things go too far south..." He frowns. "If things do go wrong, I want to know who I can turn to. But for now, you are right. Tipping our hand to Kurow or his underlings, whoever they may be, will only lead to an ugly conflict, and probably Kurow going underground. I have much too many questions for Mr. Kirishima to allow that."
When Raizo stands Hayato pauses, then moves back toward the headmaster, extending one hand out for a handshake. It's a bit less friendly than what one would usually get from Hayato, but this is serious business. "When the time comes, there are several students at Taiyo that I know can be trusted. I'll do my best to make sure they don't get wrapped up in any plans Kirishima might have."
Hayato waits for a moments for the handshake, showing no hesitation at Raizo's claws if it should happen. "Until next time we meet, Imawano. Hopefully this time around we can nip things in the bud."
Raizo nods, a grim line on his face. This is serious work; there is no time for joviality here. He accepts the proferred hand, careful not to lacerate Hayato on his claws, and shakes - firm, tursting. "Good," he says. "I hope for good news, Nekketsu. If we're lucky...this won't get as bad as last time." If it's not already too late for that. "Until next time. Good luck."
Log created on 15:56:18 08/11/2007 by Hayato, and last modified on 09:53:12 08/16/2007.