Chapter 6 - I Raised the Villains Preciously

Chapter 6 : I Raised the Villains Preciously

The next day. The kids have been noisy since morning.

Hannah, who ran to the dormitory without washing her hair because it was still early in the morning, was surprised that it wasn’t Masha and Jeremy who were having a quarrel outside.

“Ah! Do it properly!”

“You’re spitting. Shut your mouth!”

Jeremy was running wild on the road, and Ian was sitting at an angle, crumpling his face.

“What, what’s going on…?”

She gently approached and asked Masha, who was touching the doll in the corner.

“Ian keeps arguing about what Jeremy does.”

“For what reason?”

“He said that toys are messy, he’s dirty because he doesn’t wash up in the morning, or he keeps spitting when he talks.”

“Um…”

The children can’t be as clean as adults…

No, it would be difficult even for adults to meet the strict standards of Ian.

Ian hated being touched by anyone, and he couldn’t stand the dirty environment.

He always carries gloves and handkerchiefs.

Is he that kind of person born with that kind of personality?

“Since when has Ian been so neat?”

“He has always been like that.”

“Is he never dirty?”

“I don’t think he’s been this conscious of dirt before, but…I think it’s getting worse each day.”

Said Masha, while brushing his doll’s hair.

He didn’t seem particularly interested in the situation.

“Yeah.”

It’s nice to have a neat personality, but if you get too obsessed, you’ll be tired of living your life.

“I guess I’ll have to wait and see.”

She must break down Ian’s mysophobia!

*****

“Ian, shall we go play with sand?”

That afternoon, Hannah approached Ian with a shovel and a small basket.

“Sand… Play?”

His creased eyebrows were expressing repulsion.

“I want to read a book.”

Ian held up the book he was reading.

It was a clear rejection.

“Well, can you help me then?”

She’ll change the direction.

Ian refused to play, but he was not the type to refuse a request for help.

“…what is it?”

“I have to dig potatoes out of the vegetable garden. Phew, my arm hurts so much that I can’t shovel it.”

Said Hannah while tapping her arms.

The pupils of Ian’s eyes were shaking.

“Potato… dirt…”

Ian’s voice was shaking slightly.

“Can you… Help me please?”

Hannah used the sparkling-eyes attack she learned from her children as a decisive hit.

Ian was troubled for a short while.

Soon, he closed the book he was reading and got up with a sigh.

“Let’s go.”

Oh! As expected, she knew this would work.

Hannah took Ian to the garden.

If he touches the dirt little by little, he’ll be less sensitive to cleanliness.

She took out a shovel and sat in front of the potato plantation.

She was across from Ian and she squatted down.

“Hmm. The shovel is here, the basket is here… Huh? What are you doing Ian?”

When she looked up and saw Ian, Ian was wearing a pair of gloves.

One, two, three, four… five.

How many layers of gloves do you wear?

Ian’s hands were too chubby to bend.

“Can you pick up potatoes in that way?”

“Yes.”

“When your hands are chubbier than the potatoes?”

Ian wiggled his hands around his gloves with an expressionless face.

“I’ll try.”

She thought he wouldn’t do it, but she decided to watch until he realized it himself.

Ian tried to pick up the shovel next to him, but the shovel kept falling out of his hand.

Several times, Hannah, who became frustrated, picked up a shovel and placed it between Ian’s thumb and index finger.

“What do you think? Can you move?”

“Yes.”

Ian began digging in an uncomfortable position.

He struggled to dig with the shovel.

Nevertheless, she could see that Ian’s personality is really stubborn. Evident in his persistence to dig the ground until the potatoes come out.

‘Is that one-of-a-kind personality contributing to becoming a tyrant?’

A small suspicion arose, but she shook her head vigorously.

Nursery School without prejudice! She had to have an open-mind.

“Oh. The potatoes are here.”

Then, a white potato covered in dirt appeared.

“You have to take it out while gently brushing it off so you don’t get hurt.”

His chubby hands grabbed the roots of potatoes and shook the soil.

Because of how funny his appearance was, Hannah tried to keep in her laughter and swallowed it down.

“Look at this. There are delicious potatoes coming out of the soil. It’s not dirty, is it?

“….We wash and eat it.”

“Ah, I actually just shake it very roughly. Because all of this is going into your mouth.”

One by one, the potatoes Ian had shaken were moved to the basket by Hannah.

“Why… Don’t you wash it clean?”

“No?”

Ian’s voice was somewhat strange, and Hannah looked up, Ian stared at her as if he was betrayed.

Oh, wait a minute. Why do you look so hurt?

“I-Ian?”

“I’m sorry, I’ll go in first.”

Ian got up and made a mad dash towards the Nursery.

“Wait… Ian?

Aren’t you running too fast to the building?

“Ian—”

Looking at Ian moving away, Hannah was dumbfounded.

Why would he feel so betrayed just because she didn’t wash the potatoes?

Is it really such a sin not to wash potatoes in this world?

Hannah holding the basket of potatoes, stood there for a while with a blank expression.

******

“Hey Ian, let’s try this.”

Hannah put out a salad made of canned potatoes in front of him.

Once Ian returned to the Nursery, he immediately took a bath and changed his clothes.

There were still white gloves on his hands, and the tightly buttoned seemed more suffocating than usual.

“That’s enough.”

Said Ian without looking at Hannah.

He must be really upset.

“Oh, okay. Eat it when you want. Guys, this is Ian’s canned potato. Taste it.”

When she recommended the children the potato salad, Masha moved his fork into the potato salad and looked at Ian sitting with a sulky expression.

“Teacher, I want to dig the potatoes too.”

“Okay, next time let’s do it together with Masha and Jeremy.”

“Oh, it would be nice if cookies were grown from trees.”

Jeremy said in wonderment, with his mouth full of meat sauce.

“Pigs like you would eat it all.”

“But how did Ian touch the dirt? He’s not the kind of guy to do that.”

Right. She shouldn’t have asked him to do that.

“That’s because teacher wishes for us to be close to nature… Like experiential learning?”

“It’s because you’re dirty, right? Anyway, it’s because you’re so sensitive that you’re not manly,” Jeremy jabbed.

“Would you please stop talking about manliness in front of me?”

Masha wrinkled his brow as if he was displeased.

Jeremy shook his head when he saw Masha.

“Anyway, everyone here is weird except for me.”

Jeremy hit the table in objection.

Oh, my. She doesn’t know if the rice goes into her mouth or her nose today.

(Editor note: like snorting rice up her nose)

“You can’t say that, Jeremy.”

Hannah smiled awkwardly and spoke to Jeremy, and Jeremy said with a straight face,

“Don’t mind him, teacher. Just go play with me instead.”

“I’ll play with you a lot, so don’t say that. You’re going to be kind to Ian, right?”

Please, Jeremy, you too! You’ve got to be sensible!

“I’m the only one who says nice things.”

It wasn’t long before Jeremy became upset. And it was a total mess.

*****

“Well, shall we play with some paints?”

Hannah pulled out the paper and paint and spread it out in front of the children.

“Painting! I like it! Let’s stamp our hands!”

Jeremy clapped and stamped his feet.

“Oh! That’s a good idea. Shall we stamp our hands together?”

“Please red for me!”

Masha said, pointing to the red paint.

Hannah spread the paper wide on the floor, and Masha and Jeremy sat next to each other.

She opened the red bucket and put it in front of Masha.

“What color would you like Jeremy?”

“Green!”

“Oh, green is pretty, too!”

When she applied the green paint on Jeremy’s hand with a brush, Jeremy’s hand felt tickled by the brush.

“Teacher! Look at my hands!”

Masha giggled at his red hand stamp on the paper.

The handprints on the paper were so small.

Hannah laughed at their cute handprints.

Jeremy also began to press his hand painted green on paper.

“There, Jeremy.”

“Yes?”

“Why don’t you stamp all five fingers?”

If he only puts his middle finger on that… It makes the viewer feel very strange.

“I want to stamp everything!”

“T-that’s right… Let’s do it!”

Hannah stared at Ian sitting in a chair in the corner of the room, stroking Jeremy’s hair.

“Ian, do you want to join me?”

When Hannah spoke to Ian, who had distanced himself away with a heavy heart, he looked at the paper and paints and turned his head.

‘Hmm.’

Hannah didn’t give up because she knew Ian enjoyed painting.

“Ian, let’s stamp our hands together~”

She approached Ian with pretty yellow paint.

‘I’m taking off those gloves today!’

Hannah who was full of determination, encouraged Ian, “Hm? But this is really fun~”

Ian leaned away when he noticed Hannah approaching with yellow paint.

“What’s wrong, Ian? Let’s have fun. Without Ian’s hand stamp, it’s going to be sad.”

Hannah smiles at Ian evilly.

Ian looked up at her doubtfully.

“Should we take off your gloves first?”

Hannah’s hand went to Ian’s glove, and Ian jumped.

“Oh, my. Ian! I’ll help you!”

When Hannah touched the gloves, Ian pulled them back desperately to protect them.

“Teacher!”

An exasperating voice called out.

Of course, it would have stopped with the usual Hannah, but now Hannah was fueled with determination.

Those gloves! I’ll take them off!

After a number of futile attempts, Hannah finally snatched Ian’s gloves.

And yanked as hard as she could.