Chapter 74 Romantic Invitation

Kirisaki Sana's jaws dropped as the information was thrown at her without warning. At that moment, her excitement dwindled to the point that she wasn't looking forward to the outing anymore. Meanwhile, the principal didn't know whether he should laugh or not upon seeing Sana's genuine reaction. He never asked why though since he already knew why she hated them so.

"I'm not going." Kirisaki Sana said in such a gloomy tone. As much as he hated to do it, she also wanted to go to the amusement park. After all, she never had an enjoyable vacation in a long while.

"No, you're going... besides, don't you want more overtime? Think about it, you get paid overtime and you get to enjoy a little vacation. How's that? Sounds pretty reasonable, don't you think?"

Honestly, even with Satoshi in the group, Kirisaki Sana found the deal very tempting. Her hands shook as she continued extending it towards the handful of tickets that Principal Sai Tama is waving around. A part of her wanted that vacation but another part of her didn't want to associate herself with Satoshi. Because of that, her mind was fighting against each other as she pondered on her decision. She even went as far as to grab her hand with the other in hopes that that would make it stop.

But her other option weighed in her mind more. Principal Sai Tama was right on the money when he offered overtime pay because that put a lot of pressure on Sana's mind. In the end, her other hand inadvertently let go and it grabbed the tickets on Sai Tama's hands, slipping from his grasp like a piece of paper flying in the wind. As soon as Sana did that, Sai Tama withdrew his hands and put them under his desk. With that, Sana wouldn't be able to change her mind since she already grabbed it.

"Good choice," Principal Sai Tama smiled, returning to his usual duty of paperwork. There was no need for discussion as if he expected Sana to act that way.

"I... I'll excuse myself, then." Without further ado, she tightly gripped the tickets and bowed towards the Principal before peacefully going out of the office. Another smile was plastered on the principal's face as the doors closed in front of him.

When Kirisaki Sana got out of the office, she collapsed behind the door and put the tickets on her face. She didn't know how to react to her decision. On one hand, she felt elated that her momentary vacation has overtime pay but on the other hand, she felt like her stomach would churn at the presence of Satoshi. "Why did I have to accept that?! Then again, it's too hard to pass up on that kind of offer. Now that I think about it since when did I last go to the amusement park?"

As her mind drifted to her last memory of an amusement park... she realized that she only had bad memories of that place. The last time she went there was when she was still in college. She decided to confess to her crush when the Ferris wheel reached its highest peak. As the sunset and a tranquil atmosphere surrounded them, she expectantly stared at her crush's eyes and confessed all her feelings, pouring everything into her words.

Then... as it turned out, her crush was already engaged to someone else. Quite the tragedy for her very first confession (he wasn't her first love).

Remembering that depressing memory made Kirisaki Sana shake her head as if her head was about to fall off. At the same time, Jazz, the math teacher (also goes by the superhero name Silencer) passed by, wondering what happened to Kirisaki Sana.

"What are you doing?" Jazz asked out of the blue, almost about to touch her shoulders.

But before he did so, Kirisaki Sana bolted upright, almost making Jazz fall on his rear end. "N-n-nothing!" She bashfully said before running through the hallway.

"Oi! You shouldn't run in the hallway! Seriously," Jazz said covering his face with the back of his hand as he tried to hide his face reddening.

.....

The clear blue skies were already turning a light orange hue, encompassing the entire school with its warm glaze. There was something about this time of day that gives everyone the drowsy feeling, an early afternoon of relaxation, and a breath of fresh air. As the sun continued to dip down on the horizon, saying its last farewells on the day.

Kirisaki Sana tapped her foot in an inconsistent rhythm while waiting outside the Class 3-1's classroom. She bit her lips and lightly chewed on it due to nervousness, so much so that it reddened and bled a bit.

Then the school bell rang.

It's as if every nerve in Sana's body was electrocuted as she flinched and almost jumped five inches off the ground. A squeal left her mouth but she managed to catch herself by putting both hands on her lips. Glancing left and right, she was relieved that no one saw her in her shameful state. She sighed in relief, then cleared her throat before she stood in her place once again. With her anxiety growing by the second, she continued waiting, waiting for Satoshi, Hiroshi, and Kurogami to come out. She figured that asking them first would remove a great weight on her chest since she won't have to deal with them later.

When the flood of students came out (well, that was an exaggeration since there were only twelve students in Class 3-1), Kirisaki Sana's body stiffened while waiting for Satoshi to come out. When she finally saw her, her face reddened and she turned away. But before she could completely get her face out of Satoshi's sight, Satoshi saw her and wondered why she was acting quite suspiciously. Because of that, he carefully approached her. Even then, she kept on glancing behind her, not noticing Satoshi who was creeping right behind her.

The moment she caught her breath and regained her composure, she turned around and resolved herself to approach Satoshi while trying to maintain her calm nerves. But before she could turn around, Satoshi tapped her by the shoulder, making her squeal a second time before turning around in haste. "Red Velvet-sensei, what are you doing here?"

Red Velvet is Kirisaki Sana's superhero name, based on a certain classic dance group hundreds of years ago but still popular today due to their unusual music style. She clutched the hems of her skirt, exhaling before she addressed Satoshi. "Oh... uhm... " She stuttered.

When talking behind Satoshi's back, she could say a lot of things about him without a care in the world. Even on his first day of school, she was the one who told the principal that he should expel Satoshi for making light of the initial testing. If the principal had listened to her, then Satoshi would've been expelled right then and there. But then again, it's not like Satoshi did something wrong during that time. There were plenty more students who forfeited the match just like him. Nevertheless, now that she's in front of Satoshi, she started acting like the most bashful thing in the world. Fidgeting, she tilted her head to the side and handed Satoshi the tickets to the amusement park. From a third-person's perspective, it seemed like she was blatantly asking Satoshi for a date or something along those lines. Well, those who saw what transpired concluded the exact same thing and they steered clear away from the scene.

"U— um... what are these?" Satoshi asked, looking around. It took all of his being to not redden at the sight of Sana's bashfulness. Putting the best of his poker face, he stared at Red Velvet straight in the eyes, curious as to why she was handing her three tickets.

"I-it's... t-the principal... it's for the inter-high candidates!" Her voice almost broke as she slurred her last few words. "We're going there." She continued, pointing at the tickets before storming out of the way.

Midori and Hiroshi, who were always right at Satoshi's tail, saw everything that happened and they realized what Sana meant. Had they not known any better, they would've assumed that their biology teacher was actually asking Satoshi out on a date. They were almost speechless, watching everything unfold in front of them. For the first time in their life, they told themselves not to move nor flinch because that would unnecessarily interrupt the atmosphere going on between a student and a teacher. For some odd reason (because of Sana's uncharacteristic stutter and fidgeting), they really thought that their teacher had a thing going for Satoshi... a part of them didn't want to believe it though but they were almost convinced.

"So... we're going to the amusement park? Principal's orders?" Midori broke the silence that befell them. He didn't know what to say at first since he and Hiroshi were both trapped in a daze when Kirisaki Sana left the scene.

"A-apparently so," Hiroshi responded.