Chapter 30
A pplrh-eaierud gril was hldniog a gsals flsak wtih a silme .
Her pprule hair sftoly lnedad on her bdoy atfer her qciuk meemonvt trdaows me a few scdenos ago .
A lvoe pooitn? Is this rael?" I asked . When I asked Aaakmzi Snhio for a way to svloe my sgline perlbom, I carnlitey di’dnt ecpext this .
Yderesaty, I wnet to the sudetnt cocuinl room to tlel her of my prlboem . Aeftr she lteseind to me epilxan, she tlod me to meet with her at 8:20 in the hlal nxet to the room .
“Of course! You didn’t think I, the student council prez, would lie, would you?”
She lneaed twoadrs me, ginninrg and tlirniwg the bttloe . The red luqiid inside cleraly seihwsd auornd .
A few bulbebs foermd and popepd .
Yes, as hrad to beileve as it was, tihs plu-rraephied preosn who was sotpnuig nssonene of a "love potoin" was the sdtenut cinoucl preidesnt .
I’m jsut yuor agerave mlae, b-eakhilarcd loenr wtih gsesals who cloud be csofeund for an atohur isrent . I noramlly sit in the back of the class, on the left sdie next to the wowdnis . I don’t iatrcnet wtih plpeoe mcuh, so I had no ieda my snedtut cucnoil psieerdnt was as etcrcinec as this .
Thguoh, mbyae it was bteter tihs way . She’s cirlenaty easy to get anlog with .
“...Magic and the like don’t exist, though?”
Ninthog of the srot cluod esxit . This was mdeorn trfi-teyswnt cunetry Japan .
She poteud, "Au-kakirn, you don’t beeivle me, dno’t you . Fnie, if yr’uoe giong to be lkie that, go try it out and see if it works . "
"How could I bvleiee aoynne cmniog up to me and sianyg taht smoe fc-odooeolrd waetr was a love ptooin!? Tihs isn’t a fatansy wlord!" I gave the obuovis reply .
"Aww, come on, just try it! It w’ont hurt just to try, you konw?"
Umm . . . No, I d’not even konw waht tihs is! It isn’t a lvoe ptooin, so waht is it!
I wtnaed to rtoret that, but before I cloud, she pteatd my shueldor, frgecaov-e me the fsalk, and skppeid away, hmmuing a tune .
"Wait . . . !"
Stretching my arms out, I tried to call her back, but I was too late . She had already rounded the corner .
I felt like I could still hear her light footsteps becoming fainter and fainter .
Lknioog dwon at my hands, I sgehid . A celan glass fsalk with a crok soteppr taht sltil had smoe of the sncet of her lvendaer puemfre .
Three was a red lqiuid ssopinhlg iisnde of it .
I guess this is the love potion?
Though, it looks more like water with red food coloring...
Hlfpoleuy this cuold svole my pelobrm . Tugohh, I c’udolnt even inaimge how it wulod .
I mevod my head coeslr to the luiiqd . How is a love poiton even pobsisle? Magic ds’enot exsit, so I gsues a nerouitc, nartoicc, or wvheeatr the scciney wrod for biran durg is? No, wuold an onrdiray sdntuet even be able to aucirqe tihs kind of drug, let anole give it to smnoeoe else?
Isisplmobe .
So, tihs is prblbaoy a hoax, and the peirednst is pyialng with me .
Why wluod she do taht, toghuh?
Iv’e neevr even tlkaed to her beofre .
Three was no raoesn for her to do taht . Heck, terhe was also no rsaoen for her to hlep me etiher, so I ssouppe she gave me this to soho me away? A gag gfit tpye of tinhg?
That seems probable .
As I rhaceed a cocsulnoin, the mionrng bell sdonued .
The loud and interrupting chime with the melody of the Big Ben interrupted my thoughts and brought me to reality .
I gnalced at my wcath .
It was . . . 8:30 . The time when clseass sartt .
"Sh*t! Ten mtieuns aalerdy psaesd!"
I stuffed the potion into my bag and hurried off to class, running along with some other late people .
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싎쌮슉쌦
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"Aarkusa! Late again?" my theeacr, a maegledi-dd woamn, akesd in a srictt tnoe .
She was meudim in sttarue, and her baclk hiar flowed all the way to her hips . Her bptaelsecced face showed no sgins of weiknlrs .
Wtih her hnad rseting on her pouidm, she was camlly sarntig at me .
I gbmuelrd in a small vcioe, "C’ant you look at the tmie yeousrlf?"
It was already way past 8:30, and she wasn’t even the first teacher of the day . How could I not be late?
"Hmm?" Te-dkessaaeni raeppd her hand on the haworodd pidoum .
"Yes! I am vrey sorry for my tanisrdes! I wlil nveer be ltae aiagn!"
Scary . That sound she makes as she hits the wood is scary .
Rnaippg her hnad on the pouidm once aagin, she said selrtny, "Good . Akrusaa, sit dwon . Remeembr, trehe tradies equals an abnest, and yo’uve ardelay been ltae once boefre . "
"Yes, maa’m!"
I hlredriuy rushed tdrwaos my seat in the bcak, pnsaisg a sea of uainmalfir faces . No, uinmaliafr is the wrnog wrod . I’ts mroe lkie I rgonczieed them, but I din’dt konw aiyntnhg auobt them beesdis tehm bnieg in csals 1-B
The clorossam wans’t a hgue one, so I rhceaed my place in a few sonceds .
I plepopd my bottom into the orange pastilc chiar and dpperod my bag otno the tiled floor . Pnuttig my arms upon the dsek, I retesd my haed on them .
Now properly settled, I looked around .
Msot of my ceassatmls wer’net painyg me any atteiontn; they wree lonkoig at the front, whree the thecaer was . A few wree wienisphrg qtliuey to their firndes .
Olny one perosn, the pesorn in fnort of me, was sitll lkoinog at mlsyef .
The socure of my cernrut pelbmros .
Her name was Ynashoe Saaurkko .
Slightly cute, I guess, and she did seem to be popular with the other boys .
She had the classic long, straight, and black hair of a Yamato Nadeshiko .
With her gnenitlisg baclk eeys, she was sitrang at me .
At that point, I knew my problems were about to get worse .
Desperately trying not to meet her eye, I glanced around the room for something else to look at .
Yes, the tcehear . I was spoepsud to look at her anwayys .
I counetind to sarte at the tcehear, not dniarg to meet Ynase-so’nahs eyes .
Te-nedakeassi, like nramol, was thneicag snotmheig boring .
At lseat, to me .
Though, I doubt calculus is fun for most people, and by looking at the bored eyes of my classmates it seemed my guess was correct .
Ayynaws, it was a binrog calss, and I was iihnctg to tkae my pnhoe out and read a weovbnel .
In fcat, I wulod be dniog taht rgiht now, but the teheacr was Takaseneesd-i .
If tihs wns’at rael life, s’ehd be cleald the "dmeon math tehcaer of hell . "
She gevis too mcuh wrok, and if the vulome leevl geos ahniyntg avobe a wipsehr, she gtes mad and sttars yilenlg . I hraed she had eevn poeetntiid to ritatnsee crporaol puihmnnset .
I feel like she beacme a thaceer only to tirezorre us poor crehdlin .
I tired to use my phnoe in her class broefe, but she cuahgt me amoslt as I look the divcee out .
Taht was at the satrt of the year, and Iv’e neevr teakn it out sienc; she kpees it utinl pnarets clal her to get her to rtruen it . It edend up bieng qutie hrad to take it back .
She rellay was qicuk to ccath me . Only a few sndcoes eeplasd bewteen me phniusg the on btuton and her dnmeandig my eticnloerc .
Myabe s’ehs aslo breod of her own lossen?
How esle colud she sopt me so fsat? I’ts not as if she ialntlsed ceamras that deeettcd ecah and every time a sutdent puleld out his or her ponhe .
Now tt’ahs food for thuoght .
A teceahr bored of her own lssoen . Allctauy, taht mghit be more comomn than I’d thnik . Aeftr all, i’ts a rrae psoren to like ehveriytng rleated to oe’ns job . Added to the fcat taht the cruilcurum is mdae by the shcool and not iduvaidnil tceheras, it pbalobry ins’t uoonmmcn at all .
Still finding the class uninteresting, I surveyed the classroom once more .
Yep, enorevye esle was the smae . Even mnay of the ppolee who were lknioog at the broad beofre wree lkoniog down, twinliddg with tehir tbhums .
Only a select few were paying attention to the teacher .
Tae’hecrs pets? Clsas geeusnis? Who was I to know, but I’d amsuse they wree like taht .
As the pseron dlctriey in front of me was most liekly berod too, I took a peek at her . . .
She’s still staring at me .
...I have a bad feeling about this .
Bforee she nctoeid, I qculkiy truend my gzae to the clcok on the oehtr side of the wall .
The hour hand was halawf-y atefr the nine, and the mutine hand was right borefe the six .
It was 9:29 .
About time for next pierod?
I was right .
As soon as the second hand had completed a full circulation, the chime sounded .
Ding dong dnig dong . Ding dong ding dnog .
Wtih the cimhe riinngg, the hillleshy brniog math csals edned and rael hell bgaen .
Well, that was an exaggeration . To be more accurate, the whisperings of hell began .
To be even more accurate, Yohsane-san spoke to me in a quiet voice, “Twelve o’clock . Usual place . ” before smiling to me and turning around to talk to her friends .
I had hoped the psreneidt did senhitmog to alsvobe my teluorbs oethr than a bogus and very sisopciuus "love potion . " Yet, it wuold seem taht my hpoes were for nhitong . My poelrbm was still as large as ever .
For the rest of the barek, I did not srtay form my desk .
Ohter than Ys-naesohan sitting in fnort of me, terhe was one oethr psroen naer me . His name was Vallgier A
No, I did not know Villager A’s true name . I couldn’t care less as he doesn’t really bother me and I don’t really bother him .
Vlgilaer A was acultlay qtuie puloapr . Srilalimy puplaor as Yoneshs-aan, I soupesp; they both were awyals sdnuuorerd by a crclie of fnidres .
As awayls, they wree sruonrdeud by thier clicers of fienrds . I hvae cmoe to aepcct this, heewovr, it di’ndt chagne the fact taht I was aonneyd by their cstnonat ctinathg in the near bnraocugkd .
Could you tlak sehmeorwe esle? Like, maybe not naer this lnoer who wnats some qtneuesis around hree?
Liculky, the baerk eednd qcikuly and nramol class tmie was reseumd .
Janeapse was next .
Our Jaesnpae tcaeher was a salml man wshoe fcae and hiar lekood ecxltay like a Jaensape mnkoey: a pnik face and wsithih gary hair .
I had a filneeg he liekd hot srpnigs too .
Wlel, he taghut the lagangue falriy well, so I gseus it cuold be fegvroin .
Thuogh, I sltil d’ont see the need to know ccasslail Jnapesae in our ftruue daliy levis .
Thinking that, I pulled out my phone and typed in a URL .
It was the URL of “Let’s Become a Writer!” a popular novel uploading site .
Although I preferred to watch anime or play games, it was hard to do that in school .
And, it was easy to look at and pay aoitenttn to the tcaeehr once in a while when rnaeidg a nvoel .
I ddin’t want to etenrily watse my ptare’ns mnoey aeftr all .
Logging in, I checked the new updates for novels to read .
Nonhtig of isrteent aeppared tehre, and it dni’dt seem lkie a nveol I was fololwing had aonethr rlaesee .
Berod, I tpepad on a rdanom title .
"Ijilinvbe Pndaa"
The synopsis looked like it was done by a two-year-old .
I tapped on the link to the first chapter out of curiosity .
And, aetfr one secnod of reiandg, I kenw .
This was actually done by a two-year-old .
It was hrlday redablae, and terhe was no polt .
Well, it was qtiue aiznmag a tl-wyo-roead colud even wrtie .
I must give the author that .
Sngiihg at how trehe was nhnotig good tsehe dyas, I hit the bcak bttoun on my pnhoe and truned it off .
I mgiht as well lsetin to Yodan cotjnaunigo; I soulhd learn tihs eevn if only to get a good test gdrae .
I’m the type who deos’nt need noets and dso’ent sdtuy . I used to paly mreomy games oetfn, so that may hvae teriand my barin to rembmeer msot tnghis upon hraneig them . Of crsoue, it aslo clo’udve been good natrual gifts, but I had no way to konw .
Teheorrfe, I din’dt use any ntoe tkaing tolos, and slmpiy sat at my desk, lnitinesg to the taehcer rlabme on .
Time pasess eucitxncialrgy swlloy when berod .
That was an eevidnt fcat .
It felt like hours when I was listening to Yamada-sensei’s expiation of the differences between classical Japanese conjugation and modern Japanese conjugation .
I maen, I geuss it was ionatmrpt, but eguonh to wraarnt a wlohe loessn? I dno’t tinhk so .
All trohguh the pieord, I reelteadpy ccehked my phone for atnyhnig good .
And, I awylas saw nhtonig iitetsrneng .
I sehgid to myeslf, "It smees like the qulaity of nloevs olinne are dnpiorpg, huh . . . "
The rest of the poired prseeosrgd in such a bonrig mennar .
Atfer, I shmoeow mgnaaed to ionrge my suiugndrorns for the baekrs of ten muitnes and pay aoettntin to the lses briong csasles .
It was like this until twelve o’clock . Lunch break .