Let's bring up old matters again for a moment. Setting aside her bad habits of smoking, drinking, being barbarically violent, and having a lifestyle more like that of a middle-aged man, Shizuka Hiratsuka should count as a beauty in most people's eyes... right? In fact, even at Sobu High School, where she ruled through violence, Shizuka Hiratsuka had quite a following.
At Toyogasaki, the only person whose popularity could probably compare to Shizuka Hiratsuka's was the equally serious Mafuyu Kirisu. Yeah, right.
Still, she couldn't get married...
Yet no matter how beautiful a woman was, she could not escape the ravages of time—especially a female teacher like Shizuka Hiratsuka, who smoked, drank, and had a completely chaotic daily routine. Though she refused to admit it herself, from a student's perspective, Hachiman could see that Hiratsuka-sensei's crow's feet had become increasingly distinct.
Perhaps that was one reason why fewer and fewer people wanted her? After all, no matter how beautiful a woman with crow's feet was, how much longer could she remain beautiful? What man wouldn't like an eighteen-year-old girl? But if he married the domineering Shizuka Hiratsuka, he probably could forget about ever having anything to do with eighteen-year-old girls for the rest of his life...
Ahem, putting that aside, what had Hachiman Hikigaya noticed? In the past, no matter how much Shizuka Hiratsuka tried to hide it, a woman nearing thirty could not possibly be as full of collagen as an eighteen-year-old girl.
But now? Hachiman Hikigaya even felt that Hiratsuka-sensei was deliberately dressing herself to look older. Yet even so, he could still sense an overwhelming youthfulness from her—this was the Hiratsuka-sensei who was nearly thirty and still unmarried?
For a moment, Hachiman Hikigaya suspected that he had not fully woken up. He felt that if Hiratsuka-sensei dressed