The door to Office 302 in the Administrative Building stood half open.
The heating inside was turned up high, the windows shut tight. The stale smell of old tea mingled with printer ink, making the air feel oppressive.
The counselor sat behind a broad desk. The Tieguanyin in his cup had steeped so long that the leaves had turned black.
Someone else sat on the leather sofa beside him.
It was the deputy secretary of the school's Party committee, a man in his fifties named Liu. His hair was neatly slicked back, reading glasses perched on his nose. He leafed through a stack of documents without once lifting his eyes.
He radiated bureaucratic authority.
Kannazuki stood in the doorway and tapped the frame twice with his knuckles, his voice even.
"Counselor. Secretary Liu."
The counselor looked up, his brow furrowed, and let out a heavy sigh.
"Come in. Close the door and sit down."
Kannazuki pulled the door shut behind him, cutting off the cold air from the corridor.
He walked over and sat on the folding chair opposite the desk, his back straight, his hands resting loosely together on his knees. His gaze was calm, without a trace of the nervousness of a student in trouble.
The counselor slapped his phone onto the desk and pushed it toward him.
A video played on a loop. Though the footage of the fight on the main campus road was shaky, the spray of sweat as Kannazuki's knee struck the buzz-cut man's face was clearly visible.
Fifty-eight thousand views.
The pinned comment in red stood out sharply.
"Law School freshman representative beats up sports school bully in the street-is he teaching law or martial arts?"
The counselor rapped his fingers hard against the desk.
"Look at this. It's only been three hours,