@yukirei: yay! thank you~
@KirikomoriHime: lol *pet" Reinapapa???
@kano-chan:
I guess Reina's problems are over, right?
Don't jinx it..
@all6th: Nakky because of what happened before! check back to ch. 75
@oddball: True. It seems like cancer had to be reason for them to reconcile, but it's important to look to the future now, right? nothing you can do about the past...
@Kikk4r: LOL I like cookies though... so... split them?
@Shiawase_Honoo: lol thank you~ my gosh though, don't forget your own work!
@Haruka: lol yeah, i had a pretty mad party... filled with movies, anime, music, and games
@Kim-Eun: NEW PERSON
thanx so much for reading! aww this was your first post! that makes me feel special
@Fushigidane: PEACE IN THE WORLD
@shenlog: lol that's what it leads to in the end, huh?
@Bamtai: lol well, does Gaki want to protect her little turtle friend?
and thank you~~
@astro18: lol i like that expression "get their raburabu on"
@YumePouk: oshisashiburi~~ s'ok, as long as you're reading~~
WOW thank you SO MUCH for all the comments + thanks!!!
I half-thought, "... wow, it's gonna take me forever to reply to everyone..." and got lazy, but in the end i decided to reply to everyone. I thought that I had to show my appreciation somehow! And trust me, I appreciate every single one of my readers!
And without further ado, the next chapter!
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Chapter 77 Oh boy. Here we go again. Risa swallowed hard as she braced herself for the explosion of anger that was about to be unleashed. She could see the color of Nakki’s face slowly change from the usual peachy tone to furious red. Her eyes blazed with fury as she glared at Risa mercilessly. The sound of her teeth gritting could be heard by everyone sitting on stage, for the silence was too intimidating to be broken by anyone. No one dared to save the poor iinchou from the director’s wrath; it was never a good idea to get in Nakki’s way so soon before the show date. Risa knew that very well, which was why she didn’t bother to feel resentful towards her classmates for not rescuing her. No, the only person she felt bitter towards at the moment was Eri. That turtle soup was way overdue. She was sure Nakki would probably help her cook it, but if she didn’t get out of this situation first, that soup would come with a side of steamed beans.
Well, on the bright side, she didn’t see any faces on the stage that she didn’t want to see. She could only spot the angry face of her director along with the other frightened and worried faces of her classmates. The seats of the auditorium were completely empty as well. The only person who was not on stage was a single male student who had volunteered to supervise the lighting booth.
It wasn’t that Risa disliked her teacher now; she just felt that facing her wasn’t such a good idea at the moment. After the way she had told Takahashi-sensei off a week ago, she had avoided her at all costs. However, the truth was that she missed her lover dearly, yet she was scared to go on with this relationship without facing the issue first. And as she had no solution to this problem whatsoever, she was stuck.
“Well, Gaki-san?!” Nakki growled, making Risa cringe, “What is the meaning of this?!”
“Meaning of…?” Risa mumbled, feigning innocence.
“Oh, you very well know what I mean!” Nakki yelled. “Why is it that you are here alone,
without Kamei-chan?!”
“I told you already,” the bean shrugged, smiling nervously. “Eri… felt sick… so she went home.”
“You and I both know she’s not sick, Iinchou!” Nakki roared. “I saw her in class; she seemed perfectly fine!”
“She told me she was feeling unusually tired,” Risa said quickly. “That’s why she fell asleep during class.”
“She always sleeps in class!” Nakki groaned. “That fact that she was sleeping today again means that she’s perfectly healthy and normal, if nothing else!”
That Kame is seriously going to pay for this, Risa thought angrily. “Look, I’m sorry that Eri isn’t here, Nakki. There was urgent business that she had to attend to. But I promise Eri and I will get together by ourselves throughout this week and make our joint scenes perfect, okay?”
“… You promise?” Saki muttered.
“I give you my word as class representative,” Risa pledged. “And to the rest of you guys, I’m sorry for causing so much trouble. And I’ll make sure Eri is sorry for everything too, if she isn’t already.”
“It’s okay, Iinchou, we believe you,” Yurina grinned.
“Yeah, I’m sure everything will work out in the end,” Risako agreed.
“If anyone can perfect this, it’s Iinchou,” Chinami said, giving a thumbs-up.
“You mean if anyone can control Kamei-chan, it’s Iinchou,” Nakki sighed.
“Oh, that’s a good one, Nakki!” Makoto laughed.
“We all know Eri-chan is a handful, Gaki-san,” Asami smiled. “The play will be perfected by us, so just worry about the prince and princess’s joint scenes, okay?”
“Arigatou, minna!” Risa grinned, bowing. “Really, I’m indebted to all of you!”
“Just treat us to lunch next time or something, alright?” Maasa said.
“Yeah, I’ll do that,” Risa laughed.
“Okay, we’re going to run other scenes today then,” Nakki announced, rolling up the script in her hand. “We’ll check curtains, lights, and other backstage stuff. I guess… Gaki-san can go home for today. Make sure to reel in our princess!”
“Don’t worry, I’m going to give her a piece of my mind today,” the bean said in a low voice, scowling at the thought of her airheaded friend. “Well then, I’ll see you all tomorrow!”
Amidst the various farewells and goodbyes, Risa ran out of the auditorium and down the hallway. She noticed the sky beginning to darken as the gray clouds moved in. She was reminded of the weather report from that morning, indicating heavy rainfall throughout the night. Wishing to avoid the downpour, the bean scurried to the locker areas to grab her outdoor shoes and switch it with her indoor slippers. She quickly tidied up her hair and the wrinkled areas of her uniform as she made her way out to the fields.
From outside, she could see that there were many classrooms that were still lit up. It was understandable, seeing as the school festival was approaching at a fast pace, so most of the students were probably preparing their own exhibits to compete for that class karaoke party. The thought of the prize only made Risa feel the need to rein in Eri even more, as she didn’t wish to find out what kind of upset expressions the rest of her classmates could make in comparison to Nakki’s glaring eyes.
As she approached the main school gate, Risa spotted a familiar figure leaning against the brick wall. The woman was dressed in a light-blue button-down shirt with khaki-colored shorts and sneakers. Her long wavy brown hair was let loose, giving her a youthful image. One would’ve thought that the woman was a student in the school, if he or she was not aware of the fact that she was actually a teacher.
Risa stopped in her tracks as her eyes widened. She thought that she had successfully avoided Takahashi-sensei for one more day, but apparently she was wrong. And even more shockingly, Risa was definitely not expecting to see her teacher waiting for her at the school gates wearing casual clothes instead of her usual formal teaching attire.
Ai seemed to be deep in thought as she was staring at the ground, but one glance was enough for her to identify her girlfriend standing just a few feet away from her. She leaned away from the wall to stand on both of her feet as her lips pursed together. Risa sighed as a million different thoughts flashed through her mind. Yet, she was unable to come up with a decent plan that would get her out through the gates safely without facing her teacher. So she took a deep breath and walked over to the older woman as calmly as possible.
“Hey,” Ai greeted, smiling a little.
“Hi,” Risa replied, unable to make eye contact with her girlfriend whom she hadn’t seen properly in so long.
“Well, at least you’re talking to me now,” Ai laughed softly. “That’s a good start.”
“What do you think you’re doing, Sensei?” Risa asked in a low voice, ignoring her girlfriend’s efforts to lighten up the mood. “Dressed in casual clothes like that in school…”
“Teachers don’t always dress formally, Gaki-san,” Ai smiled.
“That’s not my point,” Risa explained. “If people see us talking with you dressed like that… it doesn’t seem like a normal teacher-student relationship. It’s too informal. We look too…”
“Close?” Ai guessed. “I thought we were.”
“You’re still missing the point,” the bean muttered.
“Well, that’s why I didn’t wait inside the school building,” the teacher said. “I figured you probably wouldn’t want to see me at rehearsals even more than other places… so I went home, got changed, and waited out here for you.”
Risa remained silent as she kept her eyes away from Ai’s face. It wasn’t everyday she got to see her girlfriend wearing non-business clothes, and the very event itself made her feel excited for some reason. But her insignificant joy had no place in her mood today, as she was determined to not let the problematic matter between them be overlooked. Sensing Risa’s rejection to associate with her, Ai slowly reached out and touched the younger girl’s hand, startling her a bit. Not wanting to overdo it, the teacher just held onto the very tip of Risa’s fingers ever so slightly, that if someone was watching from far away, they wouldn’t even know they were holding hands.
“I missed you,” Ai confessed, as Risa’s stiff expression relaxed a little. “Throughout the past week… I missed seeing your smile, hearing your voice… touching you like this… I really missed you.” She brought her young lover’s hand up to kiss it, not taking her eyes off of Risa for even just a second. “Please don’t lie and say you didn’t miss me.”
Risa bit down on her bottom lip, not willing to let her honest words escape through her mouth. Instead, she took her hand away from Ai’s face and gazed at her sadly. “You mean like the way you lied to me?”
Ai closed her eyes as she exhaled slowly, her face wrinkling in frustration. “Gaki-san, I already apologized for what happened last week. I was wrong, and I won’t do such a thing again. What more do you want from me?”
“I already told you that the reason I’m angry isn’t because you almost kissed Nakki!” the bean retorted back. “I’m upset because you won’t be honest about your feelings to me nor to yourself! You let your pride stop you from telling the truth, and I don’t want to be left in the dark!”
“Please, Gaki-san, I’ll try harder, really,” Ai pleaded, taking both of Risa’s hand in desperation. “You have no idea how much I love you… I’d do anything. Can’t we just… get over all of this and go back to the way we were before?”
“Avoiding the problem isn’t going to solve anything, Sensei,” Risa said, shaking her head. “When you’re not honest, I feel really distant from you. I don’t know… if we can go on like this, how much of this kind of relationship I can take.”
“Oh god, please don’t say things like that,” Ai begged, squeezing her girlfriend’s hands. She could practically feel her trembling heart about to drop down. “I promise I’ll change, Gaki-san. I’ll work harder… I don’t want you to ignore me anymore.”
“Then let me ask you a question,” Risa said quietly, staring at her teacher with unwavering eyes. “Do you still think… sometimes… that you’re still a ‘bad’ person?”
“… No…” Ai hesitated for a while before her lips pursed together, and opened again. “You told me not to.”
Risa exhaled sharply in disbelief. “You see? Wrong answer, Sensei!”
“What did I—”
“People’s way of thinking doesn’t change just because someone else tells them to change it!” Risa yelled, not bothering to hide her disappointment anymore. “You obviously still do think that you’re a ‘bad’ person sometimes and, as much as that upsets me, that’s not the main problem here! It’s the fact that you won’t be honest about it!”
Ai’s expression saddened as she came to a realization. “Gaki-san, I—”
“Why can’t you just admit your feelings?” Risa cried, unable to keep her words bottled up. “Why won’t you just say what’s on your mind? When you hide things like that… I don’t have the confidence to be by you anymore. It’s like you’re putting a wall between us. Why won’t you let me get closer to you?! I love you so much, Sensei, with all my heart and that’s why it hurts knowing that you still keep things from me!”
The young girl breathed heavily after ranting at her lover with all the frustration that had piled up inside her. Ai just watched her sorrowfully, knowing what Risa said was true. She had been dishonest all along; she had not revealed her true emotions to her lover and in the midst of doing that, she had managed to convince herself that the lies were facts. Sighing, Ai reached out to touch her girlfriend, but she stepped away.
“Don’t,” Risa said shakily. “I really…
hate… the Sensei right now.”
Before the teacher could respond, the younger girl ran off as fast as she could, disappearing through the grayness that was slowly turning into night. A couple droplets of rain hit Ai’s skin along with stronger wind chilling her body, yet she didn’t move. She couldn’t feel anything at the moment. All she could think of was Risa’s hatred… for her.
What do I do now…?~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yah... depression
*hides*
Topic: Chigatte mo Iin da yo! ~Mainly TanaKame, TakaGaki~ [FINALE - Ch. 93 - (1/30)] (Read 409945 times)