Mizuki's face darkened as he listened to everyone around him praise Akimizu.
"Have time tonight, Mizuki? Want to come along?" Akimizu asked, walking up to him.
"Uh... I'll pass." Mizuki's expression changed in an instant, and he forced a warm smile. "I have something urgent to deal with tonight. You all have fun."
"All right." Akimizu looked disappointed, then seemed to remember something. "Mizuki, what was it you said to me earlier? There were too many people around, and I didn't quite hear you. Could you say it again?"
"Haha... it was nothing," Mizuki said awkwardly, his eyes darting away.
Akimizu had no intention of embarrassing Mizuki in front of so many people.
It wasn't because he was generous. He just couldn't afford to damage the kind, gracious image he usually maintained.
Mizuki watched Akimizu walk away, his expression turning stormy.
When Mizuki had received the Outstanding Teacher award earlier, he had been smug enough to go and offer Akimizu a show of sympathy.
But in the blink of an eye, Akimizu had not only received the Outstanding Teacher award himself, he had become Grade Director.
It made Mizuki feel as though everything he had done earlier had turned him into a clown.
In seniority and strength, how was Mizuki not better than Akimizu?
If Akimizu had only received the Outstanding Teacher award, Mizuki might have been merely jealous.
But Akimizu becoming Grade Director was more than Mizuki could take.
Why did Kitagawa Akimizu, a new teacher who had been on the job for only three months, get to become Grade Director?
Meanwhile, Mizuki had worked hard and diligently for six years, earning the Outstanding Teacher award every semester, yet he was still just an ordinary Intermediate Teacher.
Mizuki thought it was unfair.
Something crooked was going on.
Damn it.