He heard the snickering from the floor below, and looked over the side of the railing. The floors in this building had a layout that allowed students to see to the floor below it, and so he could see boys, a small group of them, laughing as one held out a pair of scissors, and another a long set of brown locks.
        It’s not like it was hard for him to figure out they’d cut off one of the girl’s pigtails--he recognized her as Kizuna Ai, a girl from a lower grade he’d taken a class with. They’d gotten close as she’d tutored him in English, and it made him angry that she was being picked on.
        He descended the stairs to the lower floor, and walked to them, breaking his stride only when he can put a hand on Ai’s shoulder and frown at the other boys.
       “I suggest you back off. Kizuna-chan’s had quite enough, and you could all get suspended for this,” he told them, in the most innocent voice he could. Still, it wasn’t like he’d let them get away with it. He quickly pulled out his phone, flipped it open and snapped a picture.
       “Please, try and behave, boys.”
