Chapter 77: Outcast

"So, what is it that you wanna say about my students?" Taro asked as Mary took the seat opposite to him.

Mary sighed. "Your students. They are little rascals!" She spoke in a rather loud voice, attracting every teacher's attention.

"Aren't every kid like that? They're naughty devils. We can't help it now, can we?" Taro asked.

"I don't mean it like that!" Mary retorted. She hated that Taro interrupted her in mid-explanation.

"Then what do you mean, Ms Mary?" Taro asked.

"I mean… They talk too much!" She spoke as if it was some big revelation.

Taro didn't look impressed by this. "Are you kidding me right now? Every single person I know about is a freaking chatterbox, including me. So, what's wrong with that?" He asked.

Mary looked frustrated. She seemed like she had something to say, yet her words weren't conveyed to Taro properly. She was truly annoyed by this predicament. While she was trying to explain the situation correctly, someone else jumped into the conversation; an unwanted third-wheel of this conversation. "What she meant is that your students lack discipline. Like, they don't even care if teachers are present. They just talk disregarding us." The woman raised her hand and spoke on Mary's behalf.

Taro clicked his tongue. He hates it when someone else speaks for a person. "You are?" He asked.

"I'm Joanne. I take Mathematics for your grade." She introduced herself.

"Hmm, is that so? By the way, you do know that Ms Mary knows to speak for herself, right? Or are you implying that she can't?" Taro glared at Joanne as if he was about to penetrate her soul at any given moment.

"I know… I just thought she was struggling…" Joanne was about to say something, however was cut short by Taro.

"I know it seems like she was struggling. However, it's not like I'm particularly busy. I had time and she had stuff to say. We would've resolved it within us. Without external help." Taro sounded a bit arrogant as he spoke. However, this was just because the bug named Joanne interrupted the flow of the conversation. He absolutely hated people who lack the sense of not breaking the flow of conversation between two people. "So, Ms Mary, do you have anything else to add, or is Ms… Joanne's statement all you have to say?" Taro asked.

"Yes." Mary nodded her head.

Taro sighed. "Ms Mary, you are aware that your simple yes won't answer my question, right?" He asked.

Mary realized her mistake after this. "Yes. I'm satisfied with Joanne's reply." She nodded her head once again.

"Damn, that's a shame. You could've added a bit more just for an argument's sake." Taro sighed before turning his attention towards Joanne. "And as far as Mrs Joanne's complaints go, they might be seventeen, however they're still freaking kids! Deal with it. Act accordingly. You'll get them soon enough. Well, if you can't view them as kids, then view them as teens. Aren't teens always the more annoying ones than kids? Like, it's where the emo stage develops. Really annoying. However, yet again, they're still teenagers. They'll make noise. They'll think that they grew up when they actually don't and think they're slightly superior, now they've matured like us. You just gotta understand their behavior pattern and then embrace it in even though you find it annoying. Then it won't be a problem." Taro explained. He felt as if most of his students were hard to understand if he was to look at them from afar. However, once he got to know them, they weren't half bad.

Meanwhile, Taro had no idea why he was defending the students so much. He could see some irked faces on the crowd once he completed his explanation. It seemed like he said something that they clearly despised. Anyway, after becoming the class teacher of the twelfth grade, he believed that he was responsible for them even though it hadn't been that long since he was appointed. However, in this particular instance, he didn't defend them because he felt responsible, but because the teachers' argument seemed petty and stupid that he couldn't even comprehend. "Like, what's wrong with kid's talking? If you can't stop them from talking, then it's probably your fault of not being able to control them, right?" He thought as he saw some teachers getting ready to dish out some counterarguments.

"What do you think about the girls and boys of twelfth grade mingling out in the public?" Someone asked.

Taro couldn't believe what he just heard. "They're freaking classmates, dude! What's the problem with them mingling out in public? That's so stupid!" He barked out.

"Romantic advances are prohibited in school compounds though!" Some other teacher shouted.

"Oh, man! Just because a boy and a girl are talking out publically, that doesn't mean that they're in love or something! That's some weird thoughts you have, dude! Haven't you talked to any girls publically without the intention of asking them out or something?" Taro called out the man who shouted the reply. However, the man silently slithered away.

"However, it's against our culture, you know?" Some female teacher came out this time.

"Argh! The culture is utter bullshit then. Like, which culture shuns upon a boy and a girl speaking on friendly terms? Why do you consider that so weird? I simply don't get it! And I forgot to say something before. Romantic advances are prohibited here? What's wrong with students asking another student out? What's wrong with them confessing their love to their crush? Why are you so against it? Isn't teenage love fun? Two idiots with no idea about literally anything falling in love for no reason, fantasizing about the life they'd have in the future before realizing that every dream they had of living together was stupid and deciding to focus on their careers rather than loitering around saying stuff like 'I love you' to one another. What not to laugh about that?" Taro asked. He wasn't particularly passionate about love or having a relationship with someone. However, that doesn't mean that he'll put a stop to everyone else's relationship fantasies.

Joanne seemed to be fuming from the reply that Taro gave. "I guess you might find it funny. However, things like that will destroy the student's future as they won't focus on studies and stuff. We can't do that! We are teachers! Our duty is to teach them about how to live in this society, not let them do whatever they like." She spoke.

"So, you're saying there's no such thing as love in this society?" Taro asked.

However, Joanne was at a stage where she denied listening to whatever Taro had to say. Therefore, she instead gave out her reply, without concerning herself with what Taro had to say. "I hope you listen to what we have to say and teach them to walk in the right path. Just friendly advice." Taro scoffed at the woman's audacity to say that everything she said was on friendly terms.

"Fuck, this is frustrating as hell!" Taro thought, before giving out his brightest smile to Joanne. "Oh, thank you for your 'friendly' advice, Mrs Joanne. However, choosing to follow up on your advice or not is purely my decision. Just like you have an opinion on my students, I'm sure that they have an opinion about you as well. So, I would like to hear that before taking sides with anyone here." He replied.

"Is that so?" Joanne was disappointed that Taro didn't get her point. And Taro never will. He thought that only the kids were slightly weird, however, it seemed as if the teachers rival them as well.

However, during all the commotion, Taro didn't notice that Mary slipped out of the staff room as he argued with the teachers. When she returned, she had Rita with her as well. "Mr. Sadanandan. The principal is calling for you!"

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Taro followed Mary and Rita to the principal's office where she asked him the reason for his behavior. However, he firmly replied that he said nothing unusual. Once the principal saw his resolve, she decided to leave the topic aside and talk about the students instead. She said that she had been receiving several complaints from people that the twelfth graders are not showing enough discipline and asked him to talk to the kids about that. However, he didn't really want to. But when the principal eyed him that the teachers won't back down if he doesn't do something like this, he reluctantly agreed. This action not only made the principal happy, but it made Mary happy too, because she thought of it as some big victory.

After getting out of the Principal's office, Mary said that she'll give him five minutes to advise the students before her class and left without waiting for Taro and Rita. While walking back to the staff room, he sighed. "Ha… I became an outcast now, didn't I?" He asked Rita.

Rita thought for a while before replying. "Maybe. However, I'm gonna be with you though! So, feel free to talk to me!" Rita smiled.

"Really? I'd take upon that offer someday!" Taro smiled back as well as they slowly walked back.

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