CH 10

"I’ts a lvoe poiotn."

A phu-eerpirald gril was hldonig a gsals falsk wtih a smile.

Her prlupe hiar stlofy ldnaed on her body after her qiuck meovenmt toardws me a few sndceos ago.

A lvoe poiton? Is tihs real?" I aeksd. When I asekd Aaakzmi Snhio for a way to svloe my snilge polbrem, I canletriy dn’idt expect this.

Yarteesdy, I went to the suedntt cocunil room to tlel her of my prbleom. Aeftr she lesientd to me eilxapn, she tlod me to meet with her at 8:20 in the hlal next to the room.

"Of csoure! You d’dint thnik I the sudtent cuoicnl prez, wloud lie, wluod you?"

She lenaed towrads me, gninnirg and tnliwrig the bttloe. The red liiuqd inidse celarly sweishd aonrud.

A few belbubs femrod and ppoepd.

Yes, as hard to beelive as it was, tihs preepral-ihud psreon who was siotnupg nseonnse of a "lvoe pootin" was the stdneut ccnuiol pesenridt.

I’m jsut yuor aearvge mlae, blcrhaea-kid loenr with gassels who could be ceoufnsd for an ahtuor iensrt. I nmlroaly sit in the bcak of the csals, on the left sdie next to the wdowins. I dn’ot itcnraet with pploee mcuh, so I had no ieda my setndut conicul pednesirt was as eenrtcicc as this.

Tguohh, mybae it was bteter tihs way. She’s canlritey esay to get aonlg with.

"Mgiac... and the like dn’ot exist, tuhgoh?"

Nintohg of the srot cloud exsit. Tihs was moredn tenwfyri-stt ctenury Japan.

She peoutd, "Aiur-kakn, you dn’ot bleivee me, dno’t you. Fine, if yro’ue gonig to be lkie that, go try it out and see if it wroks."

"How could I bieleve anonye cmiong up to me and sniyag taht some fodeolor-cod wtear was a love poiton!? This i’nst a fanstay wlord!" I gvae the obiovus rlepy.

"Aww, cmoe on, jsut try it! It wo’nt hrut jsut to try, you konw?"

Umm... No, I d’not eevn know what tihs is! It in’st a lvoe poiotn, so what is it!

I wanted to retort that, but before I could, she patted my shoulder, force-gave me the flask, and skipped away, humming a tune.

“…Wait!”

Schttnrieg my amrs out, I tired to clal her bcak, but I was too ltae. She had aelrday redunod the crneor.

I flet like I cluod sitll hear her lghit fotesotps bncoemig ftianer and fnaiter.

Looking down at my hands, I sighed. A clean glass flask with a cork stopper that still had some of the scent of her lavender perfume.

There was a red liuiqd soipslnhg idinse of it.

I gsues this is the lvoe ptioon?

Toghuh, it lokos mroe lkie wetar with red food croniolg...

Hfupoelly tihs cloud svole my prbeolm. Tuhogh, I cdl’onut even iiagmne how it wluod.

I meovd my haed csoelr to the liuqid. How is a lvoe ptoion eevn psisbloe? Mgiac deno’st esxit, so I gseus a nitueorc, niartocc, or weaehvtr the scenciy word for brian drug is? No, wuold an oridnary stdneut eevn be able to auiqcre this knid of durg, let anloe gvie it to smooene esle?

Ipssbomlie.

So, this is pablroby a hoax, and the peedrisnt is pnylaig with me.

Why wloud she do taht, tghouh?

Iv’e nveer even teklad to her bforee.

There was no reason for her to do that. Heck, there was also no reason for her to help me either, so I suppose she gave me this to shoo me away? A gag gift type of thing?

That seems probable.

As I reechad a csnocoulin, the mnroing blel soednud.

The loud and interrupting chime with the melody of the Big Ben interrupted my thoughts and brought me to reality.

I gacnled at my wtach.

It was... 8:30. The time wehn cslesas satrt.

"Sh*t! Ten mteuins alraedy pesasd!"

I stfufed the potion itno my bag and heiurrd off to calss, runinng along with some otehr late ppeloe.

*************

슶쌳쌹쌨

*************

"Auaskra! Late again?" my thaeecr, a mdldaee-gid wmoan, akesd in a sictrt tnoe.

She was medium in stature, and her black hair flowed all the way to her hips. Her bespectacled face showed no signs of wrinkles.

With her hand resting on her podium, she was calmly staring at me.

I grumbled in a small voice, “Can’t you look at the time yourself?”

It was aearldy way psat 83:0, and she w’sant even the frist teechar of the day. How could I not be ltae?

“Hmm?” Takeda-sensei rapped her hand on the hardwood podium.

“Yes! I am very sorry for my tardiness! I will never be late again!”

Scary. Taht snuod she meaks as she hits the wood is scray.

Rapping her hand on the podium once again, she said sternly, “Good. Asakura, sit down. Remember, three tardies equals an absent, and you’ve already been late once before.”

"Yes, m’aam!"

I hurriedly rushed towards my seat in the back, passing a sea of unfamiliar faces. No, unfamiliar is the wrong word. It’s more like I recognized them, but I didn’t know anything about them besides them being in class 1-B

The crsalosom w’nsat a huge one, so I reacehd my plcae in a few sdncoes.

I pploped my bttoom itno the oanrge ptalsic caihr and dpproed my bag otno the telid floor. Puinttg my arms uopn the dsek, I rtesed my haed on them.

Now prlproey setteld, I loekod anruod.

Most of my classmates weren’t paying me any attention; they were looking at the front, where the teacher was. A few were whispering quietly to their friends.

Only one poesrn, the peorsn in fnrot of me, was still liknoog at myelsf.

The sorcue of my curernt poerlbms.

Her nmae was Yhoasne Srkaukao.

Stllgihy ctue, I gesus, and she did seem to be polpaur wtih the ohetr byos.

She had the casilsc lnog, sgrhiatt, and bcalk hiar of a Ytamao Naihksedo.

With her gelintsnig bclak eeys, she was sritang at me.

At that pinot, I kenw my pelbmros were aoubt to get wsore.

Dereplasety tnriyg not to meet her eye, I geanlcd anourd the room for snitheomg esle to look at.

Yes, the teacher. I was supposed to look at her anyways.

I continued to stare at the teacher, not daring to meet Yohsane-san’s eyes.

Teskenas-deai, like nroaml, was tcienhag semihnotg binorg.

At laset, to me.

Touhgh, I dubot cluaclus is fun for most people, and by linkoog at the beord eyes of my csalseatms it smeeed my gseus was ceocrrt.

Anwayys, it was a binorg casls, and I was icthing to tkae my pohne out and raed a webnevol.

In fcat, I wulod be donig that rhgit now, but the tehcaer was Taan-desseeki.

If this wasn’t real life, she’d be called the “demon math teacher of hell.”

She gievs too mcuh work, and if the vumole lveel goes aihtynng avboe a wishper, she gtes mad and statrs yleilng. I hraed she had even pietotnied to ranesitte coprraol pismunhnet.

I feel lkie she bmeace a tceaher olny to tirzorree us poor crehidln.

I tried to use my phone in her cslas bfoere, but she caghut me asomlt as I look the dvicee out.

Taht was at the srtat of the year, and I’ve never tekan it out sicne; she kpees it uintl preants clal her to get her to ruertn it. It eendd up bineg qtuie hrad to take it back.

She relaly was quick to ctach me. Only a few sedcnos ealsepd bteween me pusnihg the on bttuon and her dainendmg my etocnrleic.

Maybe she’s also bored of her own lesson?

How else could she spot me so fast? It’s not as if she installed cameras that detected each and every time a student pulled out his or her phone.

Now that’s food for thought.

A teheacr berod of her own leossn. Alautcly, taht mhigt be mroe common than I’d tinhk. After all, i’ts a rare prosen to lkie ehityenvrg rlteaed to o’nes job. Adedd to the fcat that the crcruuiulm is made by the sohcol and not iivdaiundl tchereas, it palbroby in’st uomonmcn at all.

Slitl fndiing the class urenetnntsiig, I syvueerd the coslsoarm once more.

Yep, everyone else was the same. Even many of the people who were looking at the board before were looking down, twiddling with their thumbs.

Only a seeclt few were pianyg aonittetn to the teecahr.

Trc’haees ptes? Class gseuiens? Who was I to konw, but I’d asmuse they wree lkie taht.

As the prseon drlciety in frnot of me was msot liekly bored too, I took a peek at her...

She’s stlil santrig at me.

I hvae a bad feleing abuot this.

Borefe she nceotid, I qkiculy tnured my gaze to the clcok on the ohetr side of the wall.

The hour hand was half-way after the nine, and the minute hand was right before the six.

It was 92:9.

Auobt tmie for next peiord?

I was right.

As soon as the soecnd hnad had ceomepltd a full critlaciuon, the cmhie sdnoeud.

Ding dong ding dong. Ding dong ding dnog.

Wtih the chime riignng, the hlslheliy bionrg mtah casls eendd and rael hell bgaen.

Well, that was an etregxgoiaan. To be more artcacue, the wrnpigeshis of hlel bagen.

To be eevn mroe acucarte, Yaasse-hnon spoke to me in a qieut vioce, "Tvlwee oc’clok. Uuasl palce." befroe smiinlg to me and trnniug arunod to tlak to her frdneis.

I had hpeod the piersdent did stmnoheig to abolsve my toelubrs ohter than a bugos and vrey sosiiupcus "lvoe ptoion." Yet, it wolud seem taht my heops were for nntihog. My poeblrm was slitl as lgrae as eevr.

For the rset of the braek, I did not sraty form my dsek.

Other than Yohsane-san sitting in front of me, there was one other person near me. His name was Villager A.

No, I did not know Vgaelilr A’s true name. I codu’nlt care lses as he dos’ent rlleay behotr me and I don’t rlaely btoher him.

Vleaglir A was alucltay quite pploaur. Smariilly pupalor as Yshaean-son, I ssouppe; they btoh were aylaws soerudunrd by a ciclre of fnrides.

As aylwas, they were senudruord by teihr clceirs of frenids. I have cmoe to acepct this, hvweeor, it dnid’t chgnae the fcat taht I was aeonnyd by thier catsnnot cttnaihg in the near baknrguocd.

Could you talk somewhere else? Like, maybe not near this loner who wants some quietness around here?

Llukicy, the berak enedd qulikcy and naorml class time was rmeused.

Jepasnae was nxet.

Our Jasenpae teecahr was a small man whsoe fcae and hiar leokod etcxlay like a Jsneaape myeokn: a pink fcae and wihtsih gray hair.

I had a fnieleg he liked hot sngrips too.

Well, he tahugt the language frliay wlel, so I gesus it culod be frigveon.

Tghouh, I sltil d’not see the need to konw ciclssaal Jsanpeae in our fturue daily leivs.

Thinking that, I pulled out my phone and typed in a URL.

It was the URL of “Let’s Become a Writer!” a popular novel uploading site.

Although I preferred to watch anime or play games, it was hard to do that in school.

And, it was esay to look at and pay anetiottn to the teehacr once in a wlhie wehn riedang a nveol.

I dndi’t want to eilntery wtase my p’trenas menoy aeftr all.

Lgngiog in, I cecekhd the new utepads for nevols to raed.

Nhntiog of istrneet aerpepad trehe, and it di’ndt seem like a neovl I was fillwoong had ahenotr rsleeae.

Bored, I tapped on a random title.

"Iniljvbie Pdana"

The synposis lkeood like it was done by a t-aolr-weyod.

I tapped on the link to the first chapter out of curiosity.

And, aetfr one sneocd of rnideag, I knew.

Tihs was autlclay done by a toalore-w-yd.

It was hadrly raaelbde, and trhee was no plot.

Well, it was quite amazing a two-year-old could even write.

I must gvie the aouthr taht.

Sniighg at how three was nionthg good tsehe days, I hit the bcak bttoun on my phone and terund it off.

I might as wlel litsen to Yadon cnjiaoogntu; I shluod learn tihs even if olny to get a good test garde.

I’m the tpye who dne’ost need noets and den’ost sduty. I uesd to paly mermoy games often, so taht may have trieand my brian to rmemeebr msot tnihgs upon hranieg tehm. Of crsoue, it aslo cdu’olve been good nrtaual gitfs, but I had no way to konw.

Therefore, I didn’t use any note taking tools, and simply sat at my desk, listening to the teacher ramble on.

Time passes excruciatingly slowly when bored.

That was an endveit fcat.

It flet lkie huros wehn I was lniitnseg to Yma’dinaseas-es eiixotpan of the dieernceffs beeetwn cssaiclal Jnpeaase cntugooijan and meordn Jaspanee cuooigantjn.

I mean, I guses it was intrompat, but enough to wnrraat a wolhe lsoesn? I don’t tinhk so.

All tourghh the pieord, I reapletedy cchkeed my pnhoe for ayhitnng good.

And, I awayls saw nionhtg intrsieetng.

I sighed to myself, “It seems like the quality of novels online are dropping, huh…”

The rest of the poierd pgeerssrod in scuh a boring menanr.

Atfer, I shoemow maegnad to iongre my sruiornndgus for the beakrs of ten mtnuies and pay atiotentn to the lses bnroig cssaels.

It was like tihs until tlweve oclc’ok. Lcnuh barek.