Seeing the cold sweat streaming down Jodie's face, James broke out in a cold sweat too.
...Wait, you—you actually bought them?!
And someone really saw you while you were taking out the trash?!
"If I remember correctly, Jodie's ex-boyfriend should have been Shuichi, right?
"And those two aren't that far apart in age or seniority. Terms like 'teacher and student' should have nothing to do with them.
"But judging from Jodie's expression, Suzuki Sonoko wasn't lying?
"Could it be... after Shuichi went Undercover in the Black Organization, he fell for a woman there while pretending, broke up with Jodie, and Jodie was so heartbroken that she angrily changed her tastes and headed in a completely different direction?"
James felt as though a swirling vortex had formed in his mind. The flood of information was slowly dragging him into an enormous piece of gossip.
But a leader was a leader. James quickly forced himself to regain his composure, deciding to set his subordinate's complicated emotional issues aside and deal with the current situation first.
He cleared his throat, his bearing a little weaker than before. "Fine, even if Jodie really likes that kind of manga, she bears you no ill will—having her become a teacher at Teitan High School was my suggestion, and those photos truly weren't taken secretly by Jodie. They were taken by that fugitive criminal who has already escaped. The rest of us can testify to that.
"Now all that's left is the manga. As a teacher, liking that kind of manga is indeed inappropriate, but it isn't against the law. Besides, Jodie doesn't actually make a living as a foreign-language teacher. At worst, being found out would be embarrassing. She wouldn't kill an innocent passerby to keep it secret—right, Jodie?"
Jodie had turned red from head to