Volume 1 | Chapter 3: May – Part 4
Once the Sports Festival ended, the preparations for next month’s student council elections began. The election administration was one of the committees in the academy and was active only once a year.
Also, it turns out our Class B’s Hayashi-kun, one of the members of Neo Candle, was part of it. Class representatives were forced to help out with the Sports Festival, and they were also forced to help out with the elections.
By the way, Yumi-chan’s in the library committee. She would be on duty a few times a week. During those times, she would be at the reception, helping with borrowing and returning books. Yumi-chan also hasn’t entered any clubs as of yet.
I’m still in the go-home club, but my days as a vice class rep was unexpectedly fulfilling. That’s why I’ve started to think maybe being in no clubs is fine too.
The academy will decide their new student president in the elections. Once the handover is complete, the old members will retire. Kazu-nii, who was the advisor for the student council, was busy too; he stayed late after school day after day. Once in a while he’ll come home early and I would see him sleeping, lying on his side in my living room.
Us class representatives and election committee members were hectic with work. Today, too, we were going to hold a meeting. People like me who came to the meeting room early chatted the extra time away.
“Tsukishima-senpai is going to retire after one more month, huh……” Iinchou said soberly.
Hayashi-kun muttered back, “……He had the aura of a ‘The Student President‘ kind of person. I bet his successor will feel a lot of pressure……”
“This is just a rumor but I heard Mizusaki-senpai is running as a candidate. Probably Kaneshiro-senpai, too.”
“Hmhmhm…… If that’s the case… He’s also ‘The Student President’ type of person too,” Hayashi-kun said with a strangely understanding expression, nodding his head to Iinchou’s words.
“In that case, I think there’ll be a lot of candidates, which is nice,” I added in. “I’m sure there’s girls who want to be in the same student council as Mizusaki-senpai. They will try running for a position no matter what year they are……”
“Will they work properly though, I wonder?” Hayashi-kun made a rather sharp comment.
Even though I said it earlier, a student council election with votes of confidence and no rival candidates will be the easiest for us. When there are many candidates, we have to create opportunities to give speeches for each person, which is frankly a pain. Also, if Mizusaki-senpai runs for president, I feel his fanclub will fight over who will join the student council too. I wonder if it’ll work out somehow.
The meeting for the election eventually took place and dragged out. We were exhausted. Yet we still had topics to discuss, so we decided to hold another meeting tomorrow.
“Come to think about it, how’s your band? Is Iori-kun’s singing going smoothly?” I asked.
“He’s not tone-deaf, so for the time being, yes. We want Sensei to join our practices but he keeps running away.”
“Wednesday is the day you want to find him. He goes home earlier on that day.”
“Really? Then we’ll try hunting him down on Wednesday.”
By the way, Hayashi-kun is the keyboard player of the band. He has played the piano since he was young, so he was rather good. In their group of amateur musicians, he was the one who could play the best.
Iinchou, Hayashi-kun, and I continued to chat as we walked down the corridor.
The meeting room for the election administration committee was in the center building. It was the same school building where the staff rooms and special classrooms were held. It was also the spot where people would gather from both the west and the east side of the building.
“I’m going to strike while the iron is hot. I’m going to visit the staff room,” Hayashi-kun declared with a strong nod.
“Ah, but……”
He ran off alone to the staff room before I could finish. Many of the members of Neo Candle make prompt decisions and immediately jump into action.
“May’s already coming to an end,” Iinchou commented as he looked out the window.
This season with calm and easy-to-spend days was flying away. Before long these days will turn into the moist and humid rainy season.
“You are right. But I actually like the rainy season. How about you, Iinchou?” I asked.
“I don’t really like it. It’s always damp, humid, and my room gets moldy.”
“Wait, isn’t that because you don’t remove the condensation on your windows?”
“My room’s on the north side,” Iinchou told me.
“Then you should leave a dehumidifier in your room. …I like it when it rains. If anything, I’m in an even better condition when it’s the rainy season.”
“Really? Niimi-san, your hair is light and fluffy, so I thought you were the type who hates getting damped.”
“Oh yeah, there’s people like that. I’m sure people whose hair gets stiff or starts flying away hates the rainy season.” I touched my own hair and smiled. “In my case, normally my hair is fluffy but only when it’s the rainy season that it gets glossy. When you touch it, it feels nice. Want to try?” I offered.
Iinchou seemed somewhat taken aback. “……Ah……” His eyes behind his glasses wandered. After his gaze swam around, he eventually smiled tiredly. “I think Niimi-san should be more conscious.”
“……Huh?”
Iinchou looked away again. He’s acting weird.
Anyways, when the rainy season gets closer, there were things you had to care properly besides your hair. In this case, they were musical instruments. Neo Candle were in charge of taking care of their instruments, so they were quite tense after the sudden rain.
The members were able to borrow a keyboard and a drum set thanks to Tsukishima-senpai’s consideration. The second music room was where they mostly held their band activities. They could only borrow the drum two times a week. The amateur drummer Terakado-kun carried his drumsticks everywhere and practised wherever he could. He’ll drum his sticks ‘tarararara’ at any time and, frankly, it’s quite noisy.
As for Kazu-nii who agreed to participate only on the Cultural Festival day, he’s actually been appointed the main vocalist for Neo Candle. The other four members have been trying to get Kazu-nii to join in on their regular practices, which lead to the current battle between Kazu-nii and Neo Candle right now.
I sneakily betrayed Kazu-nii and leaked information to Hayashi-kun. I’m sure with this he’ll be forced to practice with them next Wednesday without a doubt.
In the first place, participating only on the day of the festival? That’s naive! Their concert will fail at this rate.
I was about halfway down the stairs of the center building with such thoughts in my mind. Suddenly, I heard a familiar sound.
—— It was the violin.
There was a wind instrumental music club in this academy. They had a number of wind instruments on reserve but they didn’t have any stringed instruments at all. This was something I didn’t know on my first day of school. As such, the sound of a violin was quite unique and peculiar in this academy.
We could hear this violin once every few days. It would be after school when the wind carries this sound from the church’s way.
‘You could hear the sound of the violin somewhere’ — students rumored it to be one of the seven mysteries of the academy. However, once people knew it came from near the church, the rumor died down. Outsiders were forbidden from the church, so if you loiter around that area, you’ll get scolded.
Also, sometimes you could hear a pipe-organ and bells ringing from the church, so people assumed someone from the church also played the violin as well.
Maria-jou encountered that pretty boy at the church on the opening ceremony. Yet, ever since then, I haven’t seen her approach the church at all.
That being said, there was also a chance I didn’t notice like how Maria-jou went all the way to the west school building during her break like in April. I haven’t gotten bored of observing and following this girl who would trigger events after another but I just didn’t have enough time, so it can’t be helped.
Now then, I thought, as I turned to head back to my classroom.
“You’re still not going home?” Iinchou called out to me.
I hesitated a bit before I answered, “I just realized I forgot something, so I’m going back to class to get it.”
“Eh? But……”
I know why Iinchou was taken aback. After all, today after school was when Kazu-nii was holding supplementary lessons for math.
Incidentally, regarding the supplementary lesson we swept away in April, it was rescheduled for another day and Maria-jou also participated. However, she also caught a cold during the middle school day in GW and missed classes. Kazu-nii had to hold supplementary classes again for that sake. As such, those two were alone together studying.
The world’s truth dictates that if you miss class, you will fall behind on your studies. Maria-jou was excellent in every subject but math. However, even she couldn’t follow the rest of the subjects in school after being absent. Everyday she will visit the teachers of each subject, asking questions on the parts she didn’t understand.
To be honest, Maria-jou didn’t have an image of studying diligently in my mind at all. Seeing her like that was surprising. The way she earnestly tried to cover everything she didn’t understand put her in good books of the teachers. I, too, got a better opinion of her completely.
Anyways, there’s no way Kazu-nii won’t support this diligent Maria-jou. Kazu-nii was a serious teacher at his core, so he heeded Maria-jou’s wish in wanting to catch up with everyone. He planned a supplementary lesson for one day after school for her. Since it seems like Maria-jou will be able to handle the other subjects by questioning other teachers alone, he was only helping her with math.
He planned on giving a lecture and gave a quiz to check her understanding. Afterwards, he will mark it and explain the questions she didn’t understand…… Or that was what he planned.
The reason why he chose after school on a weekday was because he wanted to avoid the risk of being alone with her in an empty school building.
Kazu-nii was trying to resist in vain in any way possible. He even put another insurance on top. He instructed me to return to the classroom after my committee duties and around the time he thinks the supplementary lesson will end. Is he really lacking in confidence, and thinks he can’t fight against Maria-jou’s charms?
“I’m sure their lesson ended already. Plus, we’re part of the class. As long as they’re not in the middle of a quiz, it should be fine.” I feigned ignorance and told Iinchou exactly that.
In the end, Iinchou decided to come with me back to our classroom.
The classroom dyed in the setting sun was quiet and somehow lonely.
Let me confess honestly. I was interested in what I’ll see — that is, ‘Kazu-nii when he’s in the middle of an event with Maria-jou’. He hated the thought of it though. I’ve known him for a long time, but I haven’t seen him in romance mode with a girl yet. I don’t see anything wrong with me being intrigued with this.
However, what I saw when I peeked through the small gap of the door made me swallow my breath away.
In the classroom dyed in the setting sun was a man and a woman, all alone. Maybe their test had already ended, so there were papers on top of the desk and a mechanical pencil rolling nearby.
The teacher sat on a pipe chair near the windows and looked tired. His eyes were closed. You could tell he was sleeping with the way his back was slightly rounded back. It felt like you could hear how he was breathing quietly, deep in sleep.
The teacher was beautiful. He wore a suit with his necktie slightly loose. The setting sun cast shadows on his handsome features. It felt like I was seeing a scene from a movie. You couldn’t help but be fascinated by him and have your voice stolen away.
“Sensei has long eyelashes……” Words escaped from the student’s lips.
She stretched her fingers to him until she was barely about to touch him. The evening wind came in from the window to faintly sway her uniform’s skirt.
The girl timidly closed the distance between them. “…I wonder if it’s strange to think a man is pretty……?” She said in a small voice like she was asking herself.
She narrowed her eyes. “Se-n-sei~ ……Please wake up. I’ve finished solving all the problems~?”
Truthfully, she had no intention of waking him up. After all, there’s no way he would wake up with such a soft voice. She wanted to enjoy this moment just a little bit longer. Still, she made an attempt to wake him up, she said to herself to make excuses.
Suddenly, the teacher’s eyelids moved.
He’ll wake up, the girl thought. She moved to step away but he reached out his hand abruptly and grabbed her wrist. She stiffed and blushed when the teacher stared at her intently directly in front of her.
It’s not like she played a prank on him. However, perhaps the teacher realized she had been looking at him with a similar feeling in her heart. What should she do? The student’s heart wavered. The way her cheeks colored in red betrayed what was on her mind. She wondered if the red of the setting sun would help hide her away.
“……Oh, it’s you, Aikawa,” the teacher muttered quietly.
The two of them were close. What reflected in their eyes was probably the other person’s. After all, they continued to only look at each other.
“……You finished the problems, haven’t you? Sorry, I must have fallen asleep.” The teacher let go of her wrist and stood up. He passed by the girl as if nothing had happened. “…I’m sorry.”
But for what? The teacher apologized with his back turned to her and stepped towards the neglected test papers.
“……Ah…” The girl let out a sigh. She looked down at her wrist the teacher had grabbed moments ago. Red spread to even her ears as she hung her head.
Rattle, rattle, rattle, clatter!
Nosily, the classroom door opened. The two class committee members of their class stepped in and also wiped away the indescribable mood in the classroom.
They sung like feelings of regret and reluctance. Like feelings of being saved. The two of them hid such emotions in their heart and cast their eyes at the door together.
Noooooo, ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!
This is so embarrassing! Give me a break!!
Kazu-nii looked ashamed when he saw me and Iinchou come into the class. I bet he realized that he went and triggered the event perfectly on his own.
Ah, jeez. Who would have thought this! To think seeing a romance event involving family would feel so uncomfortable! Maria-jou, I’m begging you. Capture anyone but Kazu-nii! If I accidentally come across you two, I’m sure the awkwardness will be more than I can handle!
By the way, the description I gave above was added in with my imagination. Only the dialogue was true.
“What’s wrong, Shibuya and Niimi?” Kazu-nii asked.
“Niimi-san had forgotten something. Has the supplementary lesson ended already?” Iinchou answered.
“No, there’s a bit left…… I still have to mark it and explain it.”
“In that case, could we also sit in? It will also help us review.”
“Yeah, I don’t mind.”
Iinchou’s tone was normal like usual. He witnessed the same thing as I did, so I had to say his composed attitude right now was wonderful.
I couldn’t look straight at Maria-jou and headed back to my desk to look for what I forgot.
Afterwards, we took advantage of Maria-jou’s lesson to review our math. When it was all over, we all went home. The three of us, me, Iinchou, and Maria-jou, walked until the station together.
Our topics included me mentioning how we had a meeting tomorrow too and that it was troublesome. Iinchou was praising Maria-jou’s enthusiasm in studying. Maria-jou blushed, slightly embarrassed, as she said she wanted to get good marks in the semester exam.
Our academy’s semester exams are brutal. They would post the total score for just the first years out for everyone to see. Putting aside [Health and Physical Education] and [News], the academy looks at our [Japanese (Modern/Classic/Kanji)], [Mathematics], [English], [Social Studies [History/Geography], [Chemistry], [Biology], and [Physics]. Also, the top ten names for each subject will be posted for us to see.
Our seniors have varying courses due to their career choices, so they don’t have their marks put to display.
“The seniors would also see our exam marks. And it’ll also affect how our teachers evaluate us,” Iinchou commented.
“Yeah, it’s like you said. That’s why I thought I’ll do my best to get a good score,” Maria-jou replied, brimming with zeal.
“Now then, do you have any excuses, Mister High School Teacher Hibiya.”
I welcomed Kazu-nii when he came home with an imposing stance.
As usual, he would come by my home to eat dinner. Afterwards, he’ll go back to his grandfather’s home to sleep. The apartment he rented had no meaning whatsoever. Why don’t you just cancel the contract?
“Ah, well……” Kazu-nii looked away with a mixed expression on his face.
“Who was it that asked me to help them not get close to Maria-jou?”
“It was me here……”
“Yet!! W-W-W-W-Whyyyy the heck did you accidentally grab her wrist!? Maria-jou’s face was completely red, you know!? Kazu-nii, if you’re not trying to flirt then don’t act in a way that’s suggestive! Don’t let your guard down, so she can’t come close!!”
“I was tired! I didn’t think I’d fall asleep in the middle of teaching like that! Not even in my dreams!”
“A-A-A-And! You stared deep into her eyes! If you’re planning to do that then do it when I’m not around!”
“W-Wait! Let me explain myself! That was just… I was dreaming, so I made a mistake!”
“Oh ho~? You were dreaming? Who did you mistake her for, then!”
“No, that’s, umm…” Words got stuck in Kazu-nii’s throat. His face said he didn’t want to say and he looked away, trying to hide his red cheeks.
“Jeez……” I sighed. “You said you didn’t want to be a lolicon, so I was wondering what kind of romance events you had with her. It was a normal event where love will bloom into a start. ……I couldn’t help but wonder what the heck I’ve been doing.”
I shrugged my shoulders on purpose and decided to set Kazu-nii free.
Well, I don’t plan on ending my observations of Maria-jou until my client, Kazu-nii, tells me to stop.
“……S-Shiori? What do you mean by that?” He asked me.
“If dating Maria-jou will make you happy then isn’t that fine too? If you just wait until she graduates to do thi——” I swallowed the words I was about to say.
The pathetic face Kazu-nii had moments ago flew off somewhere. Now he was glaring at me with brimming anger.
“Dating who will make who happy……?”
He grabbed my shoulders, making me flinch a bit. “Ow……” Normally, when I say it hurts, Kazu-nii would let go. He wasn’t cruel enough to ignore me when I was actually in pain.
But this time Kazu-nii was different.
His voice was low as if he was crushing something down. It echoed in my ears. The color of his eyes were dim and darkened — he stared right at me that I forgot my pain and swallowed my breath.
“Shiori, I……” He tightened his grip on my shoulder and close the distance between our faces. He was close enough I could almost feel his breath on me. His eyes deep in anger and violent emotion were drawing close…..
By the way, if you were wondering where we were, the two of us were standing in the entrance-way of my home. I welcomed back Kazu-nii from school with an imposing stance.
So there right by the front door, Kazu-nii was angry while I was frightened.
But this serious scene quickly ended.
Kazu-nii opened his mouth to say something, but at the exact same time, my mom called out to us from inside with a carefree tone. “Oh my, welcome home, Kazuto-kun. Dinner is ready, so hurry up and wash your hands~”
The serious mood vanished and left this awkward one instead.
□ ■ □
The next day we had our second meeting regarding the student council election.
You might wonder why we had to discuss it so many times. Unfortunately, this time around we predicted there will be many candidates, so we had to prepare many things beforehand to avoid trouble and proceed smoothly. After all, the election was only for one day.
The candidates will declare their motives in the morning, students will vote at noon, and in the afternoon is when the ballots are tallied. Finally, the results will be announced in the evening.
I don’t think it will happen but if votes were tied, we would have a run-off voting.
Incidentally, the candidates will be announced two weeks before the election. They were also allowed to make speeches in the academy between the two weeks until the election. I’m not sure if anyone will willingly go through that much trouble though.
Anyways, we have to be prepared for a new school president and a new order starting tomorrow. High school life is long, yet short, so we can’t let one event make us run on and on forever. Members of the election administration committee and class representatives are merely students.
After all this, the semester exam will be waiting for us. I, too, want to study for it.
Maybe it was because I jumped into the meeting with motivation, it ended early today. Kazu-nii, the advisor for the student council, was also present today, so he might have been why it went so smoothly today. Normally, advisors don’t interfere in meetings like this, but it seems they will to stop us from derailing.
I packed my belongings and got ready to leave. When the meeting ended, Hayashi-kun immediately ran off to practice for his band. It seems he had been waiting all day for Kazu-nii in the staff room yesterday. As for Kazu-nii, he suffered mental damage due to his event with Maria-jou, so he got talked into practicing with the band next Wednesday by Hayashi-kun.
I wasn’t the only one making preparations to go home in this meeting room. The student council’s general affairs manager, Tanaka-senpai, was here too. I’m sure she stayed late because she was doing the final checks of this room. Tsukshima-senpai had already left.
“Can I help?” I asked her.
Tanaka-senpai blinked her eyes in surprise.
“Returning all the desks back to normal is a chore, isn’t it? I think having a pair of hands to help out is better,” I told her as I began erasing the blackboard.
“Thank you,” Tanaka-senpai said bashfully.
Isn’t this the first time I’ve heard her voice? After all, the last time I met her, I remember it was Tsukishima-senpai who introduced her. She only nodded back.
TL: Events are fun to watch when you’re not involved and also when your relatives are not involved, yup! There are no April Fools’ jokes. Sorry
One of our readers, Sakura, added English names for the character pages for everyone. If you don’t mind spoilers, you can check them out here and here. If Kazu-nii was my teacher, I would be so distracted…
Volume 1 | Chapter 3: May – Part 4
Once the Sports Festival ended, the preparations for next month’s student council elections began. The election administration was one of the committees in the academy and was active only once a year.
Also, it turns out our Class B’s Hayashi-kun, one of the members of Neo Candle, was part of it. Class representatives were forced to help out with the Sports Festival, and they were also forced to help out with the elections.
By the way, Yumi-chan’s in the library committee. She would be on duty a few times a week. During those times, she would be at the reception, helping with borrowing and returning books. Yumi-chan also hasn’t entered any clubs as of yet.
I’m still in the go-home club, but my days as a vice class rep was unexpectedly fulfilling. That’s why I’ve started to think maybe being in no clubs is fine too.
The academy will decide their new student president in the elections. Once the handover is complete, the old members will retire. Kazu-nii, who was the advisor for the student council, was busy too; he stayed late after school day after day. Once in a while he’ll come home early and I would see him sleeping, lying on his side in my living room.
Us class representatives and election committee members were hectic with work. Today, too, we were going to hold a meeting. People like me who came to the meeting room early chatted the extra time away.
“Tsukishima-senpai is going to retire after one more month, huh……” Iinchou said soberly.
Hayashi-kun muttered back, “……He had the aura of a ‘The Student President‘ kind of person. I bet his successor will feel a lot of pressure……”
“This is just a rumor but I heard Mizusaki-senpai is running as a candidate. Probably Kaneshiro-senpai, too.”
“Hmhmhm…… If that’s the case… He’s also ‘The Student President’ type of person too,” Hayashi-kun said with a strangely understanding expression, nodding his head to Iinchou’s words.
“In that case, I think there’ll be a lot of candidates, which is nice,” I added in. “I’m sure there’s girls who want to be in the same student council as Mizusaki-senpai. They will try running for a position no matter what year they are……”
“Will they work properly though, I wonder?” Hayashi-kun made a rather sharp comment.
Even though I said it earlier, a student council election with votes of confidence and no rival candidates will be the easiest for us. When there are many candidates, we have to create opportunities to give speeches for each person, which is frankly a pain. Also, if Mizusaki-senpai runs for president, I feel his fanclub will fight over who will join the student council too. I wonder if it’ll work out somehow.
The meeting for the election eventually took place and dragged out. We were exhausted. Yet we still had topics to discuss, so we decided to hold another meeting tomorrow.
“Come to think about it, how’s your band? Is Iori-kun’s singing going smoothly?” I asked.
“He’s not tone-deaf, so for the time being, yes. We want Sensei to join our practices but he keeps running away.”
“Wednesday is the day you want to find him. He goes home earlier on that day.”
“Really? Then we’ll try hunting him down on Wednesday.”
By the way, Hayashi-kun is the keyboard player of the band. He has played the piano since he was young, so he was rather good. In their group of amateur musicians, he was the one who could play the best.
Iinchou, Hayashi-kun, and I continued to chat as we walked down the corridor.
The meeting room for the election administration committee was in the center building. It was the same school building where the staff rooms and special classrooms were held. It was also the spot where people would gather from both the west and the east side of the building.
“I’m going to strike while the iron is hot. I’m going to visit the staff room,” Hayashi-kun declared with a strong nod.
“Ah, but……”
He ran off alone to the staff room before I could finish. Many of the members of Neo Candle make prompt decisions and immediately jump into action.
“May’s already coming to an end,” Iinchou commented as he looked out the window.
This season with calm and easy-to-spend days was flying away. Before long these days will turn into the moist and humid rainy season.
“You are right. But I actually like the rainy season. How about you, Iinchou?” I asked.
“I don’t really like it. It’s always damp, humid, and my room gets moldy.”
“Wait, isn’t that because you don’t remove the condensation on your windows?”
“My room’s on the north side,” Iinchou told me.
“Then you should leave a dehumidifier in your room. …I like it when it rains. If anything, I’m in an even better condition when it’s the rainy season.”
“Really? Niimi-san, your hair is light and fluffy, so I thought you were the type who hates getting damped.”
“Oh yeah, there’s people like that. I’m sure people whose hair gets stiff or starts flying away hates the rainy season.” I touched my own hair and smiled. “In my case, normally my hair is fluffy but only when it’s the rainy season that it gets glossy. When you touch it, it feels nice. Want to try?” I offered.
Iinchou seemed somewhat taken aback. “……Ah……” His eyes behind his glasses wandered. After his gaze swam around, he eventually smiled tiredly. “I think Niimi-san should be more conscious.”
“……Huh?”
Iinchou looked away again. He’s acting weird.
Anyways, when the rainy season gets closer, there were things you had to care properly besides your hair. In this case, they were musical instruments. Neo Candle were in charge of taking care of their instruments, so they were quite tense after the sudden rain.
The members were able to borrow a keyboard and a drum set thanks to Tsukishima-senpai’s consideration. The second music room was where they mostly held their band activities. They could only borrow the drum two times a week. The amateur drummer Terakado-kun carried his drumsticks everywhere and practised wherever he could. He’ll drum his sticks ‘tarararara’ at any time and, frankly, it’s quite noisy.
As for Kazu-nii who agreed to participate only on the Cultural Festival day, he’s actually been appointed the main vocalist for Neo Candle. The other four members have been trying to get Kazu-nii to join in on their regular practices, which lead to the current battle between Kazu-nii and Neo Candle right now.
I sneakily betrayed Kazu-nii and leaked information to Hayashi-kun. I’m sure with this he’ll be forced to practice with them next Wednesday without a doubt.
In the first place, participating only on the day of the festival? That’s naive! Their concert will fail at this rate.
I was about halfway down the stairs of the center building with such thoughts in my mind. Suddenly, I heard a familiar sound.
—— It was the violin.
There was a wind instrumental music club in this academy. They had a number of wind instruments on reserve but they didn’t have any stringed instruments at all. This was something I didn’t know on my first day of school. As such, the sound of a violin was quite unique and peculiar in this academy.
We could hear this violin once every few days. It would be after school when the wind carries this sound from the church’s way.
‘You could hear the sound of the violin somewhere’ — students rumored it to be one of the seven mysteries of the academy. However, once people knew it came from near the church, the rumor died down. Outsiders were forbidden from the church, so if you loiter around that area, you’ll get scolded.
Also, sometimes you could hear a pipe-organ and bells ringing from the church, so people assumed someone from the church also played the violin as well.
Maria-jou encountered that pretty boy at the church on the opening ceremony. Yet, ever since then, I haven’t seen her approach the church at all.
That being said, there was also a chance I didn’t notice like how Maria-jou went all the way to the west school building during her break like in April. I haven’t gotten bored of observing and following this girl who would trigger events after another but I just didn’t have enough time, so it can’t be helped.
Now then, I thought, as I turned to head back to my classroom.
“You’re still not going home?” Iinchou called out to me.
I hesitated a bit before I answered, “I just realized I forgot something, so I’m going back to class to get it.”
“Eh? But……”
I know why Iinchou was taken aback. After all, today after school was when Kazu-nii was holding supplementary lessons for math.
Incidentally, regarding the supplementary lesson we swept away in April, it was rescheduled for another day and Maria-jou also participated. However, she also caught a cold during the middle school day in GW and missed classes. Kazu-nii had to hold supplementary classes again for that sake. As such, those two were alone together studying.
The world’s truth dictates that if you miss class, you will fall behind on your studies. Maria-jou was excellent in every subject but math. However, even she couldn’t follow the rest of the subjects in school after being absent. Everyday she will visit the teachers of each subject, asking questions on the parts she didn’t understand.
To be honest, Maria-jou didn’t have an image of studying diligently in my mind at all. Seeing her like that was surprising. The way she earnestly tried to cover everything she didn’t understand put her in good books of the teachers. I, too, got a better opinion of her completely.
Anyways, there’s no way Kazu-nii won’t support this diligent Maria-jou. Kazu-nii was a serious teacher at his core, so he heeded Maria-jou’s wish in wanting to catch up with everyone. He planned a supplementary lesson for one day after school for her. Since it seems like Maria-jou will be able to handle the other subjects by questioning other teachers alone, he was only helping her with math.
He planned on giving a lecture and gave a quiz to check her understanding. Afterwards, he will mark it and explain the questions she didn’t understand…… Or that was what he planned.
The reason why he chose after school on a weekday was because he wanted to avoid the risk of being alone with her in an empty school building.
Kazu-nii was trying to resist in vain in any way possible. He even put another insurance on top. He instructed me to return to the classroom after my committee duties and around the time he thinks the supplementary lesson will end. Is he really lacking in confidence, and thinks he can’t fight against Maria-jou’s charms?
“I’m sure their lesson ended already. Plus, we’re part of the class. As long as they’re not in the middle of a quiz, it should be fine.” I feigned ignorance and told Iinchou exactly that.
In the end, Iinchou decided to come with me back to our classroom.
The classroom dyed in the setting sun was quiet and somehow lonely.
Let me confess honestly. I was interested in what I’ll see — that is, ‘Kazu-nii when he’s in the middle of an event with Maria-jou’. He hated the thought of it though. I’ve known him for a long time, but I haven’t seen him in romance mode with a girl yet. I don’t see anything wrong with me being intrigued with this.
However, what I saw when I peeked through the small gap of the door made me swallow my breath away.
In the classroom dyed in the setting sun was a man and a woman, all alone. Maybe their test had already ended, so there were papers on top of the desk and a mechanical pencil rolling nearby.
The teacher sat on a pipe chair near the windows and looked tired. His eyes were closed. You could tell he was sleeping with the way his back was slightly rounded back. It felt like you could hear how he was breathing quietly, deep in sleep.
The teacher was beautiful. He wore a suit with his necktie slightly loose. The setting sun cast shadows on his handsome features. It felt like I was seeing a scene from a movie. You couldn’t help but be fascinated by him and have your voice stolen away.
“Sensei has long eyelashes……” Words escaped from the student’s lips.
She stretched her fingers to him until she was barely about to touch him. The evening wind came in from the window to faintly sway her uniform’s skirt.
The girl timidly closed the distance between them. “…I wonder if it’s strange to think a man is pretty……?” She said in a small voice like she was asking herself.
She narrowed her eyes. “Se-n-sei~ ……Please wake up. I’ve finished solving all the problems~?”
Truthfully, she had no intention of waking him up. After all, there’s no way he would wake up with such a soft voice. She wanted to enjoy this moment just a little bit longer. Still, she made an attempt to wake him up, she said to herself to make excuses.
Suddenly, the teacher’s eyelids moved.
He’ll wake up, the girl thought. She moved to step away but he reached out his hand abruptly and grabbed her wrist. She stiffed and blushed when the teacher stared at her intently directly in front of her.
It’s not like she played a prank on him. However, perhaps the teacher realized she had been looking at him with a similar feeling in her heart. What should she do? The student’s heart wavered. The way her cheeks colored in red betrayed what was on her mind. She wondered if the red of the setting sun would help hide her away.
“……Oh, it’s you, Aikawa,” the teacher muttered quietly.
The two of them were close. What reflected in their eyes was probably the other person’s. After all, they continued to only look at each other.
“……You finished the problems, haven’t you? Sorry, I must have fallen asleep.” The teacher let go of her wrist and stood up. He passed by the girl as if nothing had happened. “…I’m sorry.”
But for what? The teacher apologized with his back turned to her and stepped towards the neglected test papers.
“……Ah…” The girl let out a sigh. She looked down at her wrist the teacher had grabbed moments ago. Red spread to even her ears as she hung her head.
Rattle, rattle, rattle, clatter!
Nosily, the classroom door opened. The two class committee members of their class stepped in and also wiped away the indescribable mood in the classroom.
They sung like feelings of regret and reluctance. Like feelings of being saved. The two of them hid such emotions in their heart and cast their eyes at the door together.
Noooooo, ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!
This is so embarrassing! Give me a break!!
Kazu-nii looked ashamed when he saw me and Iinchou come into the class. I bet he realized that he went and triggered the event perfectly on his own.
Ah, jeez. Who would have thought this! To think seeing a romance event involving family would feel so uncomfortable! Maria-jou, I’m begging you. Capture anyone but Kazu-nii! If I accidentally come across you two, I’m sure the awkwardness will be more than I can handle!
By the way, the description I gave above was added in with my imagination. Only the dialogue was true.
“What’s wrong, Shibuya and Niimi?” Kazu-nii asked.
“Niimi-san had forgotten something. Has the supplementary lesson ended already?” Iinchou answered.
“No, there’s a bit left…… I still have to mark it and explain it.”
“In that case, could we also sit in? It will also help us review.”
“Yeah, I don’t mind.”
Iinchou’s tone was normal like usual. He witnessed the same thing as I did, so I had to say his composed attitude right now was wonderful.
I couldn’t look straight at Maria-jou and headed back to my desk to look for what I forgot.
Afterwards, we took advantage of Maria-jou’s lesson to review our math. When it was all over, we all went home. The three of us, me, Iinchou, and Maria-jou, walked until the station together.
Our topics included me mentioning how we had a meeting tomorrow too and that it was troublesome. Iinchou was praising Maria-jou’s enthusiasm in studying. Maria-jou blushed, slightly embarrassed, as she said she wanted to get good marks in the semester exam.
Our academy’s semester exams are brutal. They would post the total score for just the first years out for everyone to see. Putting aside [Health and Physical Education] and [News], the academy looks at our [Japanese (Modern/Classic/Kanji)], [Mathematics], [English], [Social Studies [History/Geography], [Chemistry], [Biology], and [Physics]. Also, the top ten names for each subject will be posted for us to see.
Our seniors have varying courses due to their career choices, so they don’t have their marks put to display.
“The seniors would also see our exam marks. And it’ll also affect how our teachers evaluate us,” Iinchou commented.
“Yeah, it’s like you said. That’s why I thought I’ll do my best to get a good score,” Maria-jou replied, brimming with zeal.
“Now then, do you have any excuses, Mister High School Teacher Hibiya.”
I welcomed Kazu-nii when he came home with an imposing stance.
As usual, he would come by my home to eat dinner. Afterwards, he’ll go back to his grandfather’s home to sleep. The apartment he rented had no meaning whatsoever. Why don’t you just cancel the contract?
“Ah, well……” Kazu-nii looked away with a mixed expression on his face.
“Who was it that asked me to help them not get close to Maria-jou?”
“It was me here……”
“Yet!! W-W-W-W-Whyyyy the heck did you accidentally grab her wrist!? Maria-jou’s face was completely red, you know!? Kazu-nii, if you’re not trying to flirt then don’t act in a way that’s suggestive! Don’t let your guard down, so she can’t come close!!”
“I was tired! I didn’t think I’d fall asleep in the middle of teaching like that! Not even in my dreams!”
“A-A-A-And! You stared deep into her eyes! If you’re planning to do that then do it when I’m not around!”
“W-Wait! Let me explain myself! That was just… I was dreaming, so I made a mistake!”
“Oh ho~? You were dreaming? Who did you mistake her for, then!”
“No, that’s, umm…” Words got stuck in Kazu-nii’s throat. His face said he didn’t want to say and he looked away, trying to hide his red cheeks.
“Jeez……” I sighed. “You said you didn’t want to be a lolicon, so I was wondering what kind of romance events you had with her. It was a normal event where love will bloom into a start. ……I couldn’t help but wonder what the heck I’ve been doing.”
I shrugged my shoulders on purpose and decided to set Kazu-nii free.
Well, I don’t plan on ending my observations of Maria-jou until my client, Kazu-nii, tells me to stop.
“……S-Shiori? What do you mean by that?” He asked me.
“If dating Maria-jou will make you happy then isn’t that fine too? If you just wait until she graduates to do thi——” I swallowed the words I was about to say.
The pathetic face Kazu-nii had moments ago flew off somewhere. Now he was glaring at me with brimming anger.
“Dating who will make who happy……?”
He grabbed my shoulders, making me flinch a bit. “Ow……” Normally, when I say it hurts, Kazu-nii would let go. He wasn’t cruel enough to ignore me when I was actually in pain.
But this time Kazu-nii was different.
His voice was low as if he was crushing something down. It echoed in my ears. The color of his eyes were dim and darkened — he stared right at me that I forgot my pain and swallowed my breath.
“Shiori, I……” He tightened his grip on my shoulder and close the distance between our faces. He was close enough I could almost feel his breath on me. His eyes deep in anger and violent emotion were drawing close…..
By the way, if you were wondering where we were, the two of us were standing in the entrance-way of my home. I welcomed back Kazu-nii from school with an imposing stance.
So there right by the front door, Kazu-nii was angry while I was frightened.
But this serious scene quickly ended.
Kazu-nii opened his mouth to say something, but at the exact same time, my mom called out to us from inside with a carefree tone. “Oh my, welcome home, Kazuto-kun. Dinner is ready, so hurry up and wash your hands~”
The serious mood vanished and left this awkward one instead.
□ ■ □
The next day we had our second meeting regarding the student council election.
You might wonder why we had to discuss it so many times. Unfortunately, this time around we predicted there will be many candidates, so we had to prepare many things beforehand to avoid trouble and proceed smoothly. After all, the election was only for one day.
The candidates will declare their motives in the morning, students will vote at noon, and in the afternoon is when the ballots are tallied. Finally, the results will be announced in the evening.
I don’t think it will happen but if votes were tied, we would have a run-off voting.
Incidentally, the candidates will be announced two weeks before the election. They were also allowed to make speeches in the academy between the two weeks until the election. I’m not sure if anyone will willingly go through that much trouble though.
Anyways, we have to be prepared for a new school president and a new order starting tomorrow. High school life is long, yet short, so we can’t let one event make us run on and on forever. Members of the election administration committee and class representatives are merely students.
After all this, the semester exam will be waiting for us. I, too, want to study for it.
Maybe it was because I jumped into the meeting with motivation, it ended early today. Kazu-nii, the advisor for the student council, was also present today, so he might have been why it went so smoothly today. Normally, advisors don’t interfere in meetings like this, but it seems they will to stop us from derailing.
I packed my belongings and got ready to leave. When the meeting ended, Hayashi-kun immediately ran off to practice for his band. It seems he had been waiting all day for Kazu-nii in the staff room yesterday. As for Kazu-nii, he suffered mental damage due to his event with Maria-jou, so he got talked into practicing with the band next Wednesday by Hayashi-kun.
I wasn’t the only one making preparations to go home in this meeting room. The student council’s general affairs manager, Tanaka-senpai, was here too. I’m sure she stayed late because she was doing the final checks of this room. Tsukshima-senpai had already left.
“Can I help?” I asked her.
Tanaka-senpai blinked her eyes in surprise.
“Returning all the desks back to normal is a chore, isn’t it? I think having a pair of hands to help out is better,” I told her as I began erasing the blackboard.
“Thank you,” Tanaka-senpai said bashfully.
Isn’t this the first time I’ve heard her voice? After all, the last time I met her, I remember it was Tsukishima-senpai who introduced her. She only nodded back.
TL: Events are fun to watch when you’re not involved and also when your relatives are not involved, yup! There are no April Fools’ jokes. Sorry
One of our readers, Sakura, added English names for the character pages for everyone. If you don’t mind spoilers, you can check them out here and here. If Kazu-nii was my teacher, I would be so distracted…
