Volume 1 - CH 1.5

1

Shino kept the promise with Sandai, maintained a sense of distance close to prior their meeting, and didn’t get involved with him at all at school.

The rumors continued to fly about nevertheless, but around the time it became after-school, there were some who began to cool off like: ‘Maybe it was just coincidence they were together this morning, and we just had a weird misunderstanding…’

It was moving in a good direction.

Sandai finished packing up to go home, passed by Shino with a blank look on his face, and got out of the classroom while yawning.

And then got called by a female teacher wearing a white robe.

Nakaoka Kayoko—the homeroom teacher of Sandai’s class, and also a chemistry teacher. She should be in the age of thirty this year or… something along those lines.

“Heeey Fujiwara! Come over here!”

“…What is it?”

“There’s something I want a bit of help with, you see.”

“Help?”

Sandai got confidence in his own loner-derived stealth ability, and was a bit surprised as he had never been asked of something ever since enrollment.

Well, he had gotten a bit conspicuous lately due to his involvement with Shino, so it wouldn’t be strange for his stealth ability to become useless, however.

“You’re in the go-home club, right? I just thought you seem to have time. Anyway, just help me. You don’t have anything to do anyway, don’t you?”

“It’s not that I have none, though. I mean, I study and stuff.”

“…Speaking of which, you were first in the overall school year, huh. That said, it sure doesn’t seem like you were on your wits’ end desperately defending your rank. Don’t you have a lot of leeway in your study progress?”

“For the time being, I can at the very least get 80% on the National University Admission Test if I take it now…”

“That’s a top ranker level of super advanced high school if you can get that much now in your second year, alright? Just why someone like you is in our mediocre high school…”

“This place is the closest to my apartment, so I chose here. Studying can be done at any school. I suppose I also had the choice of advanced high school if I want to study hard and have an endless competition in the same space with people who are as good or better than me at studying, but it’s not like I’m looking for something like that, so…”

“So you made a rational decision that sat well with you, huh… Well, I don’t care about what your personal choice criteria is, though.”

“You don’t… Then why did you bring it up?”

“Too much studying isn’t good for the body either. I wanted to have a talk about something like that. Come on, let’s go.”

“Eh, wai—”

Grabbed by the collar of his school uniform by Nakaoka, Sandai was pulled and dragged away. Even if he tried to escape, Nakaoka’s strength was unexpectedly strong, so he wasn’t able to break free from her.

Where they arrived was the school history reference room. There were various things such as documents and stuff placed in a very disorganized manner. According to what he heard, it seemed she wanted him to work together with her organizing this place.

“…It would’ve taken me until dusk if I were on my own after all. You’re a lifesaver.”

Sandai would love to end this quickly and go home, so he began to organize matter-of-factly without even returning a reply. 

Though, “By the way Fujiwara, lately… you seem to be close with Yuizaki, huh,” it was Nakaoka’s fault for saying a weird thing that his hands stopped moving. “Actually it’s a hot topic among the teaching staff, you see. Even today there was a teacher who mentioned it in a small talk.”

“How should I put it… well, our seats are also back to back after all. That aside, let’s just get this place organized quickly.” Sandai evaded it and tried to let the topic drop.

Nakaoka, however, was unbudged.

“Don’t be cold like that. I just thought it was unusual that Yuizaki got involved with a man, you see. You might not know this as a loner, but Yuizaki avoids men, and acts hostile towards them at times. Male students are, of course, subject to this, and male teachers as well. …This thing is like, if she feels she’s seen as a woman for even a moment before getting to know one another, she will put up a wall. She seems to not care much about other people’s eyes, but at the same time, she is a girl who is awfully sensitive towards the oppposite sex.”

“…”

“Well, if you were that pretty, it’s not that I don’t understand, though. I’m sure there were times she was made to feel various unpleasant feelings. It’s a kind of self-defense.”

Nakaoka seemed to want to talk about Shino from the beginning; it was such a way of starting a talk. The ‘helping’ was just an excuse.

“However, half of the people in the world are men, and that’s an unchanging fact in spite of all the effort made. The grace period for high school students to become an adult is not that long, and legally they will become an adult while still enrolled; with the age of majority being 18 years old and all. Well, you’ll still continue to be treated like a child while still a student, and from there, the grace period will extend if you go to college, but… you’re going to go out into society sooner or later. Over time, you’ll encounter situations where you can’t be selfish and avoid men because you’re not good with them. It’s only now that you’re being forgiven, worried about, and taken into consideration for ‘being not good with X’.”

“That is… well… I suppose as you say.”

“That’s how it is. If I were to state it briefly and conclusively, this is how I would put it to you: date Yuizaki,” Nakaoka uttered something outrageous with a nonchalant look.

Sandai opened his eyes wide in surprise. “Wha…”

“What’s with that fish-brought-on-land face? For the record, I’m not suggesting this just for the fun of it, but also for a good reason.”

“Rea… Reason?”

“Because It will help in overcoming Yuizaki’s sense of ‘I’m not good with men.’ If she gets to know a man, she will not have to be pointlessly afraid of them. Even if it doesn’t reach dating, due to the process to arrive at that result, it would be a welcome thing if Yuizaki was able to get used to men even if only a little. Or what, are you trying to say to that cute little Yuizaki that ‘she should continue to suffer from being not good with and not understanding the sense of distance with men’? Is that what you’re thinking? Which is it? Hmm?”

“It’s so sudden, I don’t know how I should…”

“And then it’s also for your sake to get close to Yuizaki.”

“For my sake…?”

“Because you’re always alone and putting on a face that’s saying that school isn’t fun. It’s clearly visible from the teacher podium. If you take action, create some chemical reactions in your life, and turn that dull youth into a bright-colored one, school surely will also get a little fun.”

Nakaoka’s expression was soft and gentle; that was the face of a teacher thinking about her student. Even Sandai understood that the suggestion was out of Nakaoka’s own thinking—that no matter how it would turn out, it would be very likely to turn into a good outcome for them both.

Though, it was certainly not a suggestion that he could just unthinkingly nod his head to and say: ‘Yes, I understand.’

“I understand what you are trying to say, Sensei. But… there’s also Yuizaki’s feelings, and besides, I’ve also never thought about wanting to be in a relationship like that, though.”

“You hate Yuizaki?”

“I don’t hate her, but…”

“Then that means you like her. There’s no problem.”

“If you don’t hate it, then you must like it… Isn’t that logic a bit weird?”

“What a troublesome guy you are… Have you got no assertiveness? Huh? Have the guts to forcefully make her look back at you. Show enough desire to get her into a good mood and ravish her. Be a wolf! Rawr! Rawr rawr!”

“…Are you seriously saying that?”

“I’m serious.”

“I think it’s not good for a person to force themselves on someone, and besides I think normally you’d just get hated.”

“That will change depending on the prior likeability. Ascertainment is important, it’s the key here. You don’t try to understand the complex woman’s heart with logic, but grasp it with intuition.”

Shino didn’t seem to have that type of a troublesome personality, but all that aside, it was an intuition Sandai couldn’t grasp at all.

“I think intuition like that is kind of impossible for me to understand… Well, it doesn’t really matter, but no matter how much you try to fire me up, I don’t have the will for it. Even if Yuizaki did get involved with me somewhat, I think she is thinking that she really is not good with me either. I also know that Yuizaki is not good with men. So…”

“Inside Yuizaki, you are maybe… the first man she’s not at all uncomfortable with, you know? Or maybe… she’s waiting for you to approach her. Nah, it’s also possible she’s thinking of making a move from her end.”

There was a slight smile on Nakaoka’s face. In addition to being concerned about her students as a teacher, it was apparent that she was trying to have some personal fun by teasing a troubled youth.

“Maybe this, maybe that… In the first place, it was only recently me and Yuizaki made contact with each other, and the reason and time to come to like one another as well…”

Sandai frowned, and Nakaoka unnaturally shrugged her shoulders.

“Falling in love has nothing to do with reason and time. Virgins are quick to seek that in love, but it’s a bad habit. Are you happy to be told, ‘Actually, I’ve liked you for a long time,’? Even though ‘I didn’t like you enough to take action right away’ just equals being kept as a Mr. Backup. If the past events were deftly decorated, you’ll be tricked into thinking, ‘I see, so since that time…’ and stuff.”

“Isn’t that too suspecting of a view?”

“No, it isn’t. Also, it’s a terrible thing to say you like someone because you have a reason. Humans are multifaceted creatures; only if you truly love someone, only if you love their many faces, will you find it difficult to find the reason for liking them. ‘Like’ with a clear reason is too light if you ask me; because it means the ‘like’ is only that much.”

What Nakaoka was saying was undoubtedly outside of the typical common sense. However, It was strange as it sounded strangely persuasive when asserted this way.