CH 76

A New Teacher

Translated by HamletJr

Edited by HamletJr

“I’ll be studying here just like all of you starting today. I look forward to working with you.”

The holidays were over and school had started as usual, but today’s morning started a little differently than usual. Just as the morning assembly was about to begin, the homeroom teacher brought an unknown man into the classroom. Apparently he was a teacher in training called Shinjo, and he seemed to be very popular with the girls.

“Excuse me! Shinjo-sensei, are you married?”

“No, I’m not. I’ve always been lonely and single.”

“What kind of girl is your type?”

“The kind ones, I guess…”

“What do you think about me?”

“I’ll have to respectfully decline, because otherwise I’d lose my job.”

“That’s true.” The whole classroom, including the homeroom teacher, was filled with laughter. If one went with the assumption that this world was originally the world of those types of mangas, handsome trainee teachers who appeared in schools like this were often the evil villains…but even from Ryuichi’s eyes, he seemed to be the serious, hard-working type.

He seems like the type who gets pushed around by students but is still well-liked.

Apparently, Shinjo wouldn’t be involved with Ryuichi’s class all the time; he would only be teaching as an intern during world history. After that, he told the class he’d meet them again when he had time and left the classroom. After the morning assembly ended, the usual faces gathered by Ryuichi’s side in the short amount of time they had before the first period started.

“Pretty unusual to be getting a trainee teacher at this time of the year, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. Pretty suspicious, huh?”

“I don’t think it’s suspicious at all.”

Shizuna inserted a retort at Kaname’s words. While it certainly did seem odd considering the time of year, Ryuichi’s gut feeling about Shinjo told him there wasn’t anything too suspicious about it.

“Well, I don’t think there’s anything to worry about. Somehow, I get the feeling that he’s less troublesome than Hamasaki.”

“Ah, well that’s a relief.”

“That’s definitely relieving.”

“A relief, indeed.”

Hamasaki detested Ryuichi, but apparently he wasn’t very well-liked by Makoto, Kaname, or Shizuna either. 

Well, as far as Shizuna was concerned, Hamasaki’s reputation was at an all-time low because of the incident between him and Ryuichi, and it didn’t help that his actions were based on own self-imposed sense of justice, either.

“But he was pretty handsome, huh? What did you think of him, Rindo?”

When Kaname asked Shizuna this question, she opened her mouth blankly.

“What did I think of him? …Hmm?”

She seemed to have no interest in Shinjo at all. It wasn’t a surprising reaction since she had a boyfriend, namely Ryuichi, but in Shizuna’s case, it seemed that she wasn’t even interested in him as a person before she was interested in him as a member of the opposite sex.

“Man, when it comes to men other than Ryuichi…it really feels like she thinks of them like mere pebbles on the side of the road.”

“I get you. Well, she does talk to you and me… Oh, and Sohei too.”

“Did you call?”

Sohei, who happened to be nearby, joined the conversation. He, whom Kaname now referred to by his given name, had been talking to Makoto, Kaname, and the others more and more since their meeting at the nightclub. Sohei hadn’t explicitly stated that he was aiming for Mihara, but they could all tell that he had faint feelings for her, so they were rooting for him.

“…Hmm, I guess I really am just not interested. If they talk to me, I’ll respond, but that’s about it.”

Whilst the boys were noisily conversing with each other, Shizuna leaned in close to Ryuichi and spoke those words.

“Well, it’s better than just cutting them off entirely. It’d be one thing if they had bad intentions, but if it’s neither, then your response is all the more appropriate.”

“That’s right. And besides, there are some people like the manager who seem scary at first glance, but actually have a cute gap between their outer and inner selves.”

“That’s true.”

Ryuichi and Shizuna laughed together.

“I’ve also come to know many kinds of adults through you, Ryuichi-kun, so I’ve even wondered if, under those sweet features of his, he’s a pervert who thinks about eating up girls.”

“Heh, looks like I’ve been a pretty bad influence on you, huh?”

That Shizuna had now become wary of such men was also a byproduct of her relationship with Ryuichi, even though Ryuichi was originally the one who should’ve been in that position. From Shinjo’s point of view, it was a terrible misfortune, but from Ryuichi’s point of view, Shizuna’s wariness allowed him relief and peace of mind.

“Oh, and by the way, Sohei-kun…”

“What is it?”

“When you’re talking to Mihara-san, it’s not nice to glance at her chest. I’m sure she’s aware of that, too.”

“Urk?!”

Sohei jumped in shock, and Kaname put his arms around his shoulders to support him.

“Hey, come on now, Rindo, when there’s breasts before your eyes it’s only natural for your gaze to drift there, don’t you think? Besides, almost all of the women who work at the club have good figures and fully-visible cleavages. You can’t tell a guy our age not to look at them.” 

“K-Kaname-kun!”

“You two have really gotten close, huh?”

It was just… Although it had been conveyed to Ryuichi by Shizuna, apparently Sohei was now on very bad terms with his mother. The cause of it need not be said, but it seemed his mother somehow found out about Mihara.

“Are things all right for you? I’ve heard some stuff about the situation you’ve gotten yourself into.”

When he asked Sohei about it, he laughed with a troubled look, but strongly suggested that he not worry about him.

“It’s okay. Well, I do get where my mom is coming from, but… I couldn’t forgive her for calling Mihara-san a vulgar, nightlife woman. I thought it was wrong of her to just reject Mihara-san out of hand without knowing the full story.”

Although Ryuichi himself had no idea what kind of conversation they had had, he understood that Sohei had opposed her because of his feelings for Mihara… That was just how much he cared about Mihara.

“If you need anything, just talk to me, okay? I can help you, and so can Makoto and Kaname if you need them.”

“Of course, you can consult me too, okay, Sohei-kun?”

“…Yeah. Thanks.”

After that, the teacher for first period arrived, and they broke up and returned to their seats. Time passed, and eventually it came time for their lunch break.

“I’mma head to the toilet.”

“Alright, see you later.”

Ryuichi called out to Shizuna, then left his seat and headed for the restroom. When he came out of the restroom feeling refreshed, he just so happened to stumble upon Shinjo walking down the hallway with his teaching materials.

“Hi there. Haven’t seen each other since the morning assembly, huh?”

“‘Sup, teach.”

When Ryuichi answered him, Shinjo’s eyes widened in amazement before he shook his shoulders in laughter.

“Haha, I see now. You’re just as Hamasaki-sensei told me.”

“…Ah~.”

With that, Ryuichi could more or less understand the meaning of what he had just said.

So he’s been talking about me this much, huh.

Recently, he had tried to approach Shizuna and Sakie but his attempts ended in failure every time. Ryuichi thought Hamasaki had given up on him as well, but it seemed that he was still saying things about him behind his back. Well, Ryuichi had blended in quite well in class though, so Hamasaki now seemed to be disliked by the students who had a general understanding of the situation…

“I’ve heard a lot about you. The impressions Hamasaki-sensei and Someya-sensei have of you is quite different, but, well, I’m not very well liked by Hamasaki-sensei, either.”

“Hrm?”

There was still plenty of time left for lunch break, so Ryuichi decided to talk with Shinjo.

“Hamasaki-sensei told me a lot about you, but I don’t intend to say anything about that because I’m basically a delinquent myself. In fact, I used to be unruly and violent back in my high school days too, to the point where I even wonder why I decided to become a teacher in the first place.”

“…Seriously?”

He mentioned how he had been an unruly kid in high school, despite the fact that his appearance would lead one to believe that he had been an honor student in school.

“When I tell people this story, they usually say I’m lying, but I’m not really sure if that should make me happy or not. Well, because of that, when I heard your story, I thought you were just like me when I was young.”

“I see.”

Was it that Shinjo held no prejudice against Ryuichi because Ryuichi resembled his former self? In any case, if he was going to be spending time as a teacher in training from now on, there would probably be more chances for Ryuichi to meet him like this. He wasn’t sure what he’d do if he had to deal with another person nitpicking on his every fault like Hamasaki did every time, so it was good to know that Shinjo had accepted him like this.

“You’re pretty considerate, or should I say, you really care about your students, huh?”

“Well, yeah. If I’m going to become a teacher here, I wouldn’t want to do something that would make my students hate me, would I?”

“True.”

“And if not that, I think it’s always good to have a friendly relationship with your students.”

Apparently, he seemed like a very reasonable, down-to-earth man. Then, after a little more talking, they exchanged words of encouragement for each other and parted ways.

“…Hmm?”

This time, his eyes met Hamasaki’s, who was currently walking down the hallway to his next class. Hamasaki no longer got involved with Ryuichi—he only glared at him, but it still made him uncomfortable.

“Ah, if it isn’t Shishido-kun?”

“…Hey.”

By chance, he also happened upon Someya who was walking down the hallway with her teaching materials in hand. Someya also noticed Hamasaki and let out a troubled sigh.

“…I wonder why he’s so reluctant to trust his student.”

“Well, I guess that’s normal, considering what I used to be.”

“But that’s what you used to be, right? I think it’s important for him to look at your present self…”

Ryuichi realized once again that he was really starting to be viewed differently, not only by the students but also by the teachers.