YAY! Kano-chan finished her essay~!
@kawaii beam: yeah, that is most likely the reason... i'm such a computer nerd
hurrah for update!
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Chapter 8 The ticking of the clock was deafening in the silent room. It was about half a minute before the last class was officially coming to an end. At this point, no student was paying attention to Takahashi-sensei’s lecture anymore and was instead focusing on the clock. The teacher was well aware of this, but continued writing on the board anyway; her philosophy was that the students were responsible for their own grades, so it was their choice whether to pay attention in class or not.
But there was one student paying attention and furiously copying down the notes on the board; of course, it was none other than the class representative. The only time she took her eyes off the front of the classroom was to glance at her friend next to her. Risa was surprised to find the turtle not asleep for once; instead, she was concentrating on the clock like everybody else while clutching her cell phone. The bean could swear that the way Eri was staring at the clock probably could burn a hole through the wall.
Finally, a silent countdown before the end of class started. Although no one said anything, everybody’s mind was connected at the one moment with a steady time rhythm. The teacher finished up her last bullet of notes and closed the textbook on the podium. Eri started to tap her fingers nervously on her desk, receiving a suspicious look from the bean.
At last, the bell rang throughout the entire school building, indicating the end of another tedious school day. Takahashi-sensei shot a lovely smile at her students as she started to walk out the door.
“Minna-san, good work today!” she said brightly. “I hope you have a good afternoon!”
“Bye Sensei~!” all the boys said in unison, almost drooling like toddlers who had just received candy.
“Bye, Sensei!” all the girls chirped in a less creepy way than the boys.
All the students jumped out of their seats and grabbed their pre-packed bags. As everyone filed out of the classroom, Risa started to leisurely gather her things. Eri shot up from her chair, grabbed her bag, and turned to her friend.
“Um… Risa-chan?”
“Yeah?”
“I, uh… can’t walk home with you today.”
Risa turned her head and raised an eyebrow at the fidgeting turtle. “Does the fact that you spent the class time texting instead of sleeping have to do with this?”
“Um... yeah.”
“Does this have to do with that girl again?” Risa sighed. “What was her name… Tanaka something?”
“Tanaka Reina!” Eri exclaimed, a big smile spreading on lips from just mentioning the kitty’s name. “She told me to meet her at Café Buono at 4 o’clock! I have to go home and change really fast, so I’m going to run all the way.”
“Isn’t that the café that always has those weird events and contests every day?” Risa asked. “Anyway, I’m not in the mood for exercising, so you can go ahead. Have fun and bring some cakes back.”
“Okay! Thanks, Risa!” Eri squealed. She skipped towards the door before the bean suddenly spoke up again.
“Oh, and Eri!”
“Yeah?” the turtle answered, whirling around.
“Don’t ever forget who you are,” Risa warned in a serious tone. “No matter how much like a boy you dress, always remember that you’re a girl, and that you’ll have to tell her some day.”
“I… I know I’m a girl,” Eri said hesitantly, scrunching up her skirt with her fidgeting hands. “And I
will tell her someday… just not now.”
“I’m not saying that you have to tell her now,” Risa said quietly. “In fact, I’m not saying anything at all, really. It’s your choice on what to do, but I’m just putting my own opinion out there.”
“Okay,” Eri sighed. “I’ll see you later, Risa.”
“See you.”
As Eri left the classroom, Risa got up from her seat and slung on her backpack. Then, she started to walk around to room to straighten out the desks and chairs. She picked up garbage paper as well as lost pencils and erasers to put them at the front of the classroom for people to find. This job wasn’t required of her as the class representative, but Risa just hated seeing a dirty classroom at the end of the week.
Satisfied with her quick clean-up job, the bean marched to the front of the room towards the door. But before she could leave, something caught her eye. She whipped around to see a red book on the podium, which meant it was the teacher’s. She walked up to the podium to take a closer look, and realized it was Takahashi-sensei’s grade book.
Risa felt a strong urge to open it to see what was in there; after all, it was the book that held all the grades of everyone in the class, including hers. Being the nice teacher Takahashi-sensei was, Risa just assumed that the book would be filled with A-plus everywhere. But still… she was curious.
She quickly looked around to make sure she was the only one in the room. Then, Risa slowly flipped the book open, landing on a vertical list of students’ names. She gasped.
The book was filled with all kinds of terrible grades, even a couple “F”s. Risa checked the horizontal column at the top; each box had a date in it. This teacher graded each student based on their day’s work, and averaged everything for a semester! Risa exhaled sharply, shocked by what a harsh grader Takahashi-sensei really was, despite her outer character.
The name of a certain turtle caught her eye: she had a “B” for the day. It seemed like Sensei went a little easy on her, considering the grades other students who had packed up early and texted in class received. But Eri had that kind of friendly aura; people were easily charmed by her.
Risa’s eyes automatically started to search for a certain name. She finally found it in the long list and pressed her finger on the grade she had received for the day: A-plus. And the only A-plus too. Even Konno Asami, who also ranked in the school’s top 10 along with the bean, had received an “A” because she packed up early. The class representative grinned, satisfied with her grade. So Takahashi-sensei really
did take her job seriously, and was a pretty capable teacher too. She wasn’t the type to dawdle off and just give out good grades. Risa started to laugh silently, imagining the reaction of some of the boys in the class after they receive their terrible grades. Maybe they would finally realize that one has to work hard to earn what they want.
Now there was the problem of returning the grade book. Maybe Risa could just leave it there and the teacher would come and find it herself when she realizes she left it behind. After all, the bean didn’t have any special desires to see her history teacher again. But it didn’t seem like much of a chore to go down to the staff lounge either; Takahashi-sensei really didn’t seem half-bad anymore. She wasn’t the type to flirt or just throw out good grades to whoever called her “pretty”. In fact, Risa herself had been kind of rude to her before, but she still got a good grade because she was a good student. The teacher was harsh, but fair.
Deciding that she would be a good class representative, Risa closed the grade book and tucked it under her arm. She left the classroom and walked down the stairs towards the teachers’ lounge. But before she could even set her foot on the first floor, she met her history teacher, rushing back up the stairs.
“Gaki-san!” she greeted, smiling. “You didn’t go home yet?”
“I was about to,” Risa answered. “But… this is yours, right? You left it in the classroom.” She held up the red grade book.
“Oh, I was on my way to get it right now!” the teacher said, taking the book. “Thank you, Gaki-san. You saved me the rest of the trip up the stairs.”
“No problem,” Risa answered simply, not smiling but not frowning either.
“But… did you look inside?”
“Yes— no! No, no! Wait- huh?”
“I guess you did,” the teacher laughed.
Risa looked at the ground as she felt her cheeks burning up. Was the teacher going to yell at her? She didn’t want Takahashi-sensei to be mad at her… No, wait. That’s not the reason; she didn’t want this to affect her grade in a negative way… right?
“You’re a smart girl, Gaki-san,” the teacher grinned, “so I assume you found out my system of grading, yes?”
“… Yes…” the bean mumbled, admitting that she had looked inside the book.
“Well then, would you do me a favor and not tell any of your classmates yet?” The teacher whispered, holding up a finger to her lips. “I think teaching my students the hard way that they have to pay attention in class is a rather good method.” She winked.
“Well, I’m not going to be the one to question your system,” Risa sighed. “But… you’re not going to yell at me?”
“Why would I yell at you?” Ai said, looking confused. “Any other student would’ve done the same if they saw the teacher’s grade book just lying there. And because it was you who looked in the book, I don’t think I mind so much.”
What does she mean by that? Risa thought.
She doesn’t mind because I’m the class representative? Or because I’m a good student anyway? Yeah, that must be it… “I trust you to keep my secret, Gaki-san,” the teacher said, smiling. “But I’m willing to give you some hush money too.”
“Hush money?” Risa shrilled, eyes widening.
What the hell is this woman talking about? “I meant a drink,” the teacher laughed, clearing up the misunderstanding. “I was going to get a coffee from the vending machines; I’ll treat you to something.”
Before Risa could say anything, Ai turned around and started to walk back down the stairs. The bean stared at her teacher for a while before following after her. She wasn’t in any rush to get home anyway; maybe a soda wouldn’t hurt.
The two females reached the vending machines outside the building in the courtyard. Takahashi-sensei handed 150 yen in change to her student, and shoved some more coins from her skirt pocket into the machine. A paper cup popped out and started to fill up with black coffee. Risa popped the change into the vending machine next to the coffee machine, and bought a can of strawberry soda. As she cracked open the can, Takahashi-sensei brought the paper cup to her lips and sipped the hot drink.
“Sensei,” Risa suddenly said, “can I ask you something?”
“You can ask and I’ll try to answer,” the older woman smiled.
“Why did you decide to become a teacher?” the bean asked. “I mean, you’re only 23-years old, which means you’re practically fresh out of college… What made you want to suddenly teach?”
“That’s a good question,” Takahashi-sensei sighed, holding the warm cup with both hands. “But first of all, I’m not fresh out of college. I earned my college degree after two and a half years, because I got credits really quickly. Then, I worked for my teaching license until I came here to Haro Kotogakko.”
“You must’ve done very well in high school,” Risa remarked, surprised by how well her teacher had done academically.
“Actually, I almost flunked out of high school,” the teacher said, laughing when her student’s eyes almost popped out. “I wasn’t exactly a good girl back in the day. My first two years were pretty bad. But I straightened up in my third year and managed to study hard enough to graduate. Then I worked very hard in college to get where I am now.”
“Wow…” Risa breathed, gaining some new respect for her teacher. “That’s actually even more impressive.”
“Thank you,” Takahashi-sensei said, grinning. “So as to why I decided to teach… I guess I wanted to prevent students from going off to the wrong path, like I almost did. Everybody should be able to graduate high school and become who they want to be. I want to help students become a ‘good person’, simply speaking. Of course, things are a lot more complicated than the word ‘good’ but…”
“So if one doesn’t receive proper education,” Risa started, “you think that will lead him or her to become a ‘bad person’?
“There really is no such thing as a ‘bad person’ or a ‘good person’,” the teacher answered. “Just… people who make bad choices or good choices. I only said ‘good and bad person’ to speak in simple terms.”
“So… do you think you’re a good person or a bad person?”
Sensei looked at her student with a blank face. Risa bit down on her lip, wondering if she had asked the wrong question. Then, Takahashi-sensei’s face turned… sad. It was a face filled with sorrow and regret. She smiled a little.
“No doubt,” she whispered, “I’m a very bad person. But I’m a bad person working to be a good person, so I guess I’m improving.”
“Why do you think you’re a bad person?”Ju
“… I’ve made some bad choices in life,” the teacher answered slowly. “Wrong choices, that led to terrible consequences. It’s regretful, but I decided to keep moving forward. Who knows, maybe things will turn out better for me in the future than it did for me in the past.”
“… I don’t think you’re a bad person, Sensei,” Risa said quietly. Ai turned to look at her again with a surprised face; the younger girl just gazed back with honest eyes.
“Thank you, Gaki-san,” the teacher smiled. “You’re a very good person… and I hope you stay that way.”
“I plan to stay that way,” the bean grinned, receiving a laugh from Sensei.
“Good girl,” she complimented, ruffling Risa’s hair. The way she stroked the short strands felt nice; it was warm and comforting, in a way. It was a new feeling, but Risa didn’t hate it. She definitely didn’t hate it at all.
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just a little bit (REALLY little) of TakaGaki sweetness
Yes, I promise a TanaKame chapter next
EDIT: new page GETZ
Topic: Chigatte mo Iin da yo! ~Mainly TanaKame, TakaGaki~ [FINALE - Ch. 93 - (1/30)] (Read 408932 times)