As she spoke, Eli Ayase thanked Senba Gari, then left with Nozomi Tojo.
"All right, I should go check out the class Kotori's in, too."
Watching Eli and Nozomi walk away, Senba Gari was about to leave as well, but then he remembered something.
"Wait, where's Kotori's class?! Damn it! I forgot to ask again! Aaaah! Looks like I'll have to search every classroom one by one."
With that, Senba Gari wandered down the hall in frustration.
--Lost Boy in Progress---
"Wah!"
In the infirmary, Honoka Kosaka sat up in bed. She looked around the room, then breathed a sigh of relief.
"What? It was just a dream. That scared me."
She got out of bed and left the infirmary. In the hallway, Honoka skipped along, humming a tune, and greeted the people around her.
"Good morning, Fumika, Mika, Hideko."
After Fumika, Mika, and Hideko saw Honoka greet them, they all looked at her with concern. Mika, one of the three girls, had short hair. She watched Honoka worriedly and said,
"Is she all right?"
"Maybe the news about the school closing hit her pretty hard."
Fumika was also worried as she watched Honoka.
Then, as Honoka walked past the bulletin board, her mood suddenly plummeted. She murmured,
"So it wasn't a dream after all."
"Clatter~"
When the classroom door opened, Honoka walked past Umi Sonoda and Minami Kotori with a gloomy expression and sat at her desk. Then she buried her face in her arms. Minami Kotori looked at Honoka with concern and said,
"Honoka looks so down. I didn't know she loved the school this much."
"No, that's not it. She must have misunderstood something."
"Misunderstood?"
Umi's words left Kotori puzzled. Then Honoka suddenly lifted her head and stood up. With tears in her eyes, she looked at her two childhood friends and said,
"What should I do? I haven't studied at all, and now the school's going to close. What if we have to take some kind of transfer exam? I'd be done for! And I love this place so much, so there's no way I can let the school close!"
"Ahaha, Honoka, calm down," Kotori said, breaking into a nervous sweat as she looked at the frantic Honoka. "There's no use saying that now."
"Kotori's right, Honoka. Saying that now won't change anything,"
Umi chimed in.
"I know that, but... but..." Honoka slumped over her desk, on the verge of tears. "I just hate it so much! I love everything about this school..."
"I love it too..."
"There's nothing we can do. I heard fewer and fewer students have been enrolling these past few years. By next year, no one might apply to Otonokizaka Academy..."
Umi sounded troubled, too.
"Who says? My little sister's applying to Otonokizaka Academy next year!" Honoka cried.
"One person won't change anything. Besides, the decision to close the school has already been made. Unless the application rate to our middle school is very high, then... And it's not just the students. A lot of the teachers have left, too. After all, who'd want to teach at a school that's about to close?"
"..."
After hearing Umi's explanation, Honoka lowered her head dejectedly.
"Ah... Speaking of teachers, have you heard? We're getting a new world history teacher," Kotori said with a smile, trying to change the subject when she noticed how heavy the mood had become.
"Huh? A new world history teacher?" Honoka stared at her in surprise. "I've never heard that. There hasn't been any talk about it at school."
"Kotori, is that true?" Umi looked just as surprised.
"Yeah, I just heard it from my mom. Apparently, she used to be an archaeologist, too."
"An archaeologist?! But will she really come after she hears the school's about to close?"
Umi sounded worried. But girls, are you sure you mean "she" and not "he"?
However, a voice from outside the classroom caught everyone's attention.
--Scene Change-
Outside the door of Class 2-B, Senba Gari spoke to the woman beside him. She was a teacher in her twenties, dressed in a gray office outfit.
"Thanks so much for showing me the way, Fukagawa. If you hadn't led me here, I don't know how much longer I would've been wandering around."
A few minutes earlier, Senba Gari had been trudging down the hallway in frustration when he ran into Fukagawa, who was on her way to class. After explaining the situation, he'd asked her to show him the way here.
(But let me ask you this: aren't there only two second-year classes?! How did you still get lost?!)
"Oh, it's no problem. But if you really want to thank me, come have dinner with me after work."
As she spoke, Fukagawa moved closer to Senba Gari, but he subtly pushed her away. Feeling awkward, he said,
"Uh, haha, there's no need for that. I'm very busy. Yes, extremely busy!"
"That's fine. If you can't today, then tomorrow. If not tomorrow, then the day after. I'll keep asking until you're free."
"No, no, no! I'm busy tomorrow, and the day after, too. I won't be free next year, or the year after that! And I suggest you climb into a fridge and cool off right now!"
"Clatter~"
"Bang."
Senba Gari opened the door, went inside, and immediately shut it, leaving Fukagawa outside.
"Honestly. But I'm not giving up on you~"
Then Fukagawa left.
"Whew! Good grief. Are older single women really all this scary these days? She nearly gave me a heart attack. I'll have to avoid her from now on. Uh, hello."
Senba Gari looked toward the door with relief, then turned around and saw all the girls staring at him in confusion.
'Isn't this an all-girls' school?! What's a boy doing here?!'
That was what every girl was thinking.
All the girls watched as Senba Gari walked slowly to the podium by himself. He set down what he was carrying, picked up the chalk from the podium, and wrote the three characters for his name on the blackboard. Then he turned around, placed both hands on the sides of the podium, and smiled at the girls, who were still staring blankly.
"Hello, everyone. My name is Senba Gari. Starting today, I'll be your new world history teacher and your homeroom teacher."
Girls loved to gossip. It was in their nature.
"Teacher, what do you like to eat?"
"Teacher..."
"Teacher..."
"Teacher..."
"...Oh, my god. Someone save me!"
Senba Gari was now clutching his head as he faced a group of girls with stars in their eyes and a barrage of questions. He couldn't answer them, but he couldn't ignore them, either!
Back to a few minutes earlier.
-Time Cut-
"..."
Silence. Utter silence. After Senba Gari finished speaking, the whole class fell quiet. He could've sworn he heard the wind blowing. But the next second, a tremendous uproar erupted in his classroom.
"Ehhhh?!"
"Whoa, my ears." Senba Gari clutched his ears in pain.
"Hey, aren't you all overreacting a little?!"
Down below, Honoka grabbed Umi by the shoulders, looking flustered.
"Umi, did you hear that?! Our new teacher is that boy!"
"I-I heard you, Honoka! Stop shaking me! I'm getting dizzy!"
Umi's eyes were spinning as she spoke to Honoka, dizzy.
"Hey, you over there. I know this might take a little while to get used to, but it's class time. Could I ask you to go back to your own seat?"
Senba Gari looked kindly at Honoka below.
"Oh, o-oh, sorry." At the sound of Senba Gari's voice, Honoka awkwardly scratched the back of her head, then returned to her seat. When she turned to talk to Minami Kotori, she noticed Kotori staring blankly at Senba Gari on the podium. Confused, Honoka shook Kotori by the shoulders and called out to her.
"Kotori, what's wrong? Kotori!"
"Ah! Honoka, what is it?"
In the end, Honoka had to shout to get her attention. Kotori snapped out of it, but the other girls were all staring at her. Senba Gari saw that Honoka had broken the silence. Though he was grateful to her, he looked at Honoka and another familiar figure with an exasperated expression.
"Hey, you there. Could you wait until after class to talk?"
"Ah, yes! I'm very sorry, Teacher!"
Honoka hurriedly sat back down and apologized to Senba Gari, while Kotori silently made up her mind about something.
"Whatever. I wasn't planning to teach anyway. I was just teasing you."
Senba Gari gave Honoka a mischievous smile.
"Really? That's mean. You scared me!"
Realizing the new teacher had been teasing her, she complained.
"All right, all right. I know it might be hard to accept right away, considering this is an all-girls' school and I'm a guy teaching here. So, if you have any questions for me, go ahead and ask."
Senba Gari had no idea how much of a headache those words were going to cause him.
"Really? Then, Teacher, how old are you?"
Hideko, who had her hair tied in a high ponytail, had asked that.
"I'm eighteen."
"Huh! Then you're only a year or two older than us!"
"Teacher, Teacher, I heard you used to be an archaeologist. Is that true?"
"Huh? How did you know?"
"Teacher, do you have a girlfriend?"
"Uh, well..."
Just as Senba Gari was about to answer, the other girls started asking questions, too. And so, the scene unfolded like this:
"Teacher, Teacher, what do you like to eat?"
"Teacher..."
"Teacher..."
"Teacher..."
"...Oh, my god. Someone save me!"
Down below, Umi watched with a dark expression as the other girls' questions overwhelmed their new teacher. Then she turned around and saw Honoka looking worriedly at Minami Kotori.
"Kotori, are you all right?"
"Huh? I'm fine. What's wrong, Honoka?"
"Well, you seemed to be staring at that new male teacher just now."
"Not really. I've met that new teacher before. And Umi has met him, too."
"What?! When have I ever met him?"
Umi, who had been eavesdropping on the two of them, suddenly turned around and asked Minami Kotori in confusion.
"Umi, don't you remember? He's the guy you accidentally bumped into when we went to see Honoka last time."
"I remember now. So it was him."
Kotori's words reminded Umi of her earlier encounter with Senba Gari. As she thought about it, her cheeks grew a little red.
Before you continue