Vol. 1 - Ch. 3

The main job of a teacher is, of course, teaching.I remember being very nervous during my teaching practice, but as a hero, I had a good amount of courage, so that wasn’t a problem.

Of course, there were tons of small problems while preparing for lessons and actually teaching them, but that’s to be expected for a new teacher.

The students at Meiran Academy were generally so serious that I honestly wondered whether I was fit to teach here.

According to what I've heard, the top students normally go on to top universities, and most of the other students also go on to higher education. Why was I hired by a school like this?

While wondering about this, I headed to the martial arts studio after school.

The martial arts hall at the school was a decent two-story structure with two martial arts halls on each floor.

Unfortunately, the number of members in each of the clubs was small, with only 17 members in total for kendo, judo, and aikido.

Of course, one advisor would be in charge of watching them all together.

I had already met with the members of the club during spring break and had come to watch them many times, but to be honest, as an advisor, I had nothing to do.

In any case, practice is done by just the club members led by the club president, so I myself have little to teach them.

I am even confident that I am the strongest person on the planet if anything were allowed, but the optimum moves in a competition played within the rules are an entirely different matter.

I looked around the kendo, judo, and aikido dojos and after confirming that everything was in order, I headed off to the other dojo.

In the boarded-up martial arts hall, a tall student in a dojo uniform was engaged in endless individual kumite sessions.

"Looks like you’re not busy, Sensei."

The girl with bluish-black hair cut in a short bob stopped moving as soon as she saw me and said something very rude to me.

“Shinra Ririo.”

She is a student belonging to Class 2-1, of which I am the assistant teacher. She was one of the students who looked at me with an intense gaze on the opening ceremony day.

As the president of the "Mixed Martial Arts Club," she has permission to use this dojo, but I have never seen any of the other four members there.

“I’m not busy, but if you’re looking for a sparring partner, I can help you, Shinra-san?”

“Please do. I only have you as a partner.”

Saying this, Shinra tossed me the headgear and gloves that were on the floor.

I took off my tie and put them on.

She says that she is doing a martial art called “Shinra Ginga-style.”

I have never heard of this style, but it seems to be a martial art in which anything is possible, including striking, throwing, submission, and clamping, except that it is barehanded.

I lightly relaxed my joints and faced her.

I have felt since our first kumite match that she clearly has the demeanor of someone who has experienced "real combat." Perhaps the constant lack of light in her slitted eyes has something to do with that.

No, I think it's a bit of a problem to have a student like that.

“Here we go.”

At the same time as the words, her long limbs flashed one after another.

Thrust, thrust, mid-roundhouse kick, thrust, followed by a low-roundhouse kick and then an inner roundhouse kick with a change in the trajectory of her legs under the pretense of a thrust.

Not only does she show no consideration for “edging,” but it’s a technique that casually targets the head.

Or rather, she doesn’t hold back at all against her teacher. It seemed like she held back during our first match, but as soon as she realized I was stronger, she stopped holding back.

I would handle or guard against those techniques and return them appropriately.

Of course, I hold back enough. My fist is enough to crush a high-ranked Ogre’s face in one blow. There’s no way I can be serious.

We had been sparring for about 15 minutes.

Shinra, either satisfied or out of energy, huffed and puffed and said, “That’s it.”

I looked over and saw about 10 other members of the martial arts club standing at the entrance to the dojo, all of them with twinkles in their eyes.

Whenever I sparred with her, a group of observers would always show up to watch, but it seemed like they were there to see Shinra. She certainly looked like the kind of person who would be popular among her peers.

…I want to quickly forget the happy moment I first mistakenly thought, “Are they here for me?”

“Thank you very much. I think it was a good training session. The protective gear, please.”

“You’re welcome. I think your center of gravity is still a little off when you kick, so you might want to be careful if you want to put power into it.”

I gave the appropriate advice to Shinra, who didn’t look very appreciative, and I decided to return to the staff room.

“It’s been a while, Aiba-sensei? How are things at the high school?”

As I was leaving, my colleague Miss Shirane called out to me at the school gate.

She was supposedly assigned to the middle school division, but apart from the new recruit training, we hardly ever saw each other. It couldn't be helped since we were both busy.

"It's been a while, Shirane-sensei. The students are serious about their classes and club activities, so the work itself is easy. I'm not confident at all about whether I'm doing a good job or not, though."

"Hehe, I feel the same way. All the students are so serious and amazing, but on the other hand, I worry about whether I'm doing well or not."

"Now I wonder why I was accepted here.”

We were having a normal conversation, but actually, I was feeling quite excited, or rather my heart was pounding.

When I was a student, and even after I went to “that world,” I had hardly had any conversations with women my own age.

It was my own fault for running away from club activities when I was a student, but even in “that world,” women were kept away from me because of the intentions of those around me.

"Was it English you taught, Shirane-sensei? Do you think your students can speak English quite well?"

“Yes, there are two or three students in my class who have returned from overseas, and to be honest, some of them speak better than I do. I think the other students are definitely better than the average junior high school student.”

“That’s kinda scary. …… I can’t really relate well to that because I specialized in our native language (Japanese). Yeah, but I guess you’re still good because you go in deeper than expected when answering questions and stuff.”

“That’s right. By the way, aren’t you also popular with the students, Aiba-sensei? It seems like Matsunami-sensei has a really hard time. He’s always surrounded by girls.”

“Ah……”

Matsunami is a handsome young man who is also my colleague. Sᴇaʀch* Thᴇ ɴ0velFɪre.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

Indeed, it is easy to imagine him surrounded by elementary school girls.

I, on the other hand, was warned repeatedly in training not to make the mistake of thinking that young male teachers are popular.

“Oh, I should get going. Well, let's both do our best.”

I must have looked at her with a distant look because Shirane-san hurriedly got on her bike and rode off.

I heard that she cycles to the station and then takes the train back to her parents' house. I, on the other hand, can walk to work, so it’s easy for me.

I walked down the hill into the residential area, being greeted by students who had stayed behind for club activities.

I decide to buy some supper and head home, so I head towards the supermarket.

As I was walking along praying that there were still some half-price bento boxes left, something caught my constantly deployed sensing skills.

“What? Did a wild boar wander in?”

This boar doesn't have any super high-speed charging skills, but even so, if it rips your artery with its tusks, it could lead to death at worst.

Judging from the reaction, it seems to be a fairly big one. There are probably still students on their way home from school, so I’ll keep an eye on it.

I turned on my heel and started to run toward the place I had sensed it from.