Chapter 64: Teachers Are Adults After All

TL: lime
ED: Spynine01

A scene in the classroom after school that I am still not used to.

After the end of Minami-sensei homeroom period, she was about to leave the classroom without saying goodbye or see you tomorrow to her class.

Even if someone you haven’t talked to yet greets you, you’ll probably just be surprised and say, “Oh”.

I don’t want to repeat the same thing again, so I don’t need to force myself to say hello to them.

There are a lot of school events coming up, and I’m sure they’ll start talking to each other a little bit from now on.

“Isshiki-kun.”

I was about to walk past the teacher’s table when Minami-sensei stopped me.

I had a bad feeling about this, so I tried to ignore her, but she grabbed me by the arm.

“Hey, heyー.You can’t ignore meー.”

“Ah, good-bye, sensei. See you tomorrow.”

I bowed my head lightly and tried to leave the classroom, but she grabbed my arm again.

“Wait, wait.”

“Wellー… what is itー…”

It seemed she was not going to let me off the hook this time.

“”I need you to help me carry this.”

She pointed to a cardboard box at her feet.

“It’s out. The gofer is out. The style of the second year is still the same as last year.”

It was defiance as best I could do.

I throw words filled with sarcasm at her, but she clapped her hands together like she was swatting a mosquito and smashes my words with a request.

“Heyー? Pleaseー”

“Sigh… Whyーー”

I tried to argue with her without giving up, but then I realized.

“Sensei… are you feeling sick?”

“Eh?”

Looking at sensei’s complexion, she looked like she had thin dark circles under her eyes…

“I’ve been feeling a little sick since this morningー. I’m a little tiredー. Ahahaー.”

“Now… I don’t know if it that’s true or false… Which one is it?”

“I’m really tired of carrying this cardboard box.”

“Good-bye, Sensei.”

As I was about to leave after saying that to her coldly, I received a third smack on the arm.

“WaーWaー. Wait, waitー!.”

“You know what they say ‘A lie is just a lie,’ right? I don’t know why you were being so honest back there…”

“A-ahahaー.”

“Sensei, you have a very bad personality.”

After I said these words with much more sarcasm than before, I let out a sigh and lifted the cardboard box.

“Kyaaー. Isshiki-kun is so cool. You’re so niceー”.

She clapped her hands and said something nice about me.

“I understand… Where to?”

“The staff room.”

Aーh… I’ve got a bad personality, too.

“Did you have a fight with your boyfriend?”

I was somewhat annoyed that the teacher was walking lightly with the attendance book under her arm, while I was there walking down the corridor carrying a cardboard box.

“Why?”

As expected of such a question, she truly is an adult. She asked me back without any hesitation.

“No… I saw dark circles under your eyes… so I thought you had a fight with your boyfriend and couldn’t sleep.”

She answers after a wry smile followed by a laugh ,”Ahaha”.

“I’ve never had a fight… with that guy…”

“Heeh…? He’s a good person, isn’t he?”

“A good person… Yeah… he’s a good guy.”

For a moment I thought she was in love with him, but I’m not sure if she was.

“But that’s all.”

“That’s all?”

The moment I said that, I noticed that sensei’s switch had turned on.

“Yes, that’s all… I don’t know how to say it… I don’t have an answer… or you could say it’s just empty… In response to my questions, he just says, “Anything is fine” or “Anywhere is fine.” and I can’t rely on him at all! When I get angry at him, he just smiles and dodges me! I don’t even know what he’s thinking about! He’s been so busy with work lately andーー.”

Sensei said, “Ah…” brought her hand to her mouth and let out a muffled voice that seemed to say “oops”.

“You’ve got a lot on your plate too, huh…”

“Ahaha. Sorry. I complained about my personal life to my student.”

“No, no. I’m happy to see sensei’s true nature in my second year.”

“That sarcasm is the most frustrating part of you.”

When the teacher finally regretted making fun of me, she made a mature woman’s face instead of her usual teacher’s face.

“I think it’s okay to have a good fight from time to time.”

“A good fight?”

“Yes. A bad fight is just exchanging insults with one another. That’s absolutely no goodーーbut a good fight is when you tell each other what you really think of each other. If you say what you really feel, you might hurt the other person. But because you are honest with each other, you can understand each other well too. It’s hard at first and I’m like, “Why!?” It’s frustrating at first because you don’t understand, right? But gradually, you’ll begin understanding what the other person is trying to say, and you’ll eventually come to respect the other person by saying, “That’s what you think”. I think that’s how love actually deepensーーbut my boyfriend doesn’t really like to fight, so he runs away from it. He doesn’t like to argue at all, so everything goes according to my plan. Fufu… a good adult is at the mercy of a younger woman…”

Sensei stared at me and then smiles with the intensity of someone about the same age as me.

“Have you ever had a fight with Nanasegawa-san?”

“Ahー… no…”

I tried to answer normally, but I almost dropped the cardboard when I realize what the question actually was.

“ーーwait! Why’s Shiori’s name being mentioned here!?”

“Areh? Aren’t you two dating?”

“No, we’re not.”

“Then when did you start calling her by her first name?”

I was so shocked that I couldn’t speak, and Sensei’s words continued.

“You know what I’m talking about? We’re all in the same boat and we resonate with each other right?”

Sensei brought her hand to her chin and said, “Areh?” she noticed something…

“Then I’m Isshiki-kun and Nanasegawa-san’s love cupid.”

“You’re not a love cupid! And we’re not in a relationship or anything…”

“You’re not in a relationship, but you’re petting each other’s heads and sharing umbrellas?”

“ーーWhat!?”

This time, I dropped a cardboard box and it fell at my feet.

Fortunately, the contents were light, so it didn’t hurt much.

“Are you alright?”

“What are you talking about?!”

I pick up the cardboard that I had dropped, feeling a bit upset, and Sensei blurts out, “You’re easy to understand.”

“That’s because I saw you.”

“I-I think you’ve got the wrong guy. No way youー.”

“No, of course not.”

Sensei presses her forehead against my forehead while saying.

“Hmm, you both look good together, you know? Isshiki-kun and Nanasegawa-san.”

“But weーー”

“Don’t be shy, don’t be shy. It’s youthful to sneak up and go out with someone, but it’s better to go out with one another with your chest out proudly. Look, the second-year students have to go on a school trip.”

“Butーー”

“If you get caught up in such small things, you might lose something important one day.”

Sensei’s words stuck in my mind strangely.

“ーーFufu. You seem to have an idea of what I’m talking about. Well, I’ll teach you more after I’ve endured a little more of your pestering.”

“No, I’ll refrain from doing that.”

“Oh my, that’s too bad. I thought I could get a good errand boy from this.”

“What a great bishop you are. You…”