I work as a teacher at a girls' school in Tokyo

Chapter 199 The Last Rejection

Summer vacation is summer vacation after all, not all students have time to come to school.

Extracurricular tutoring, or other activities, or something.

Therefore, during the summer vacation, the practice of the Moritani Playing Department is generally free and loose. From Monday to Friday, it only needs to be present for three days, and you can ask for leave directly if you have something to do.

Moreover, the practice method is also biased towards voice part practice and individual practice, rather than group ensemble, and the practice time is not completely fixed.

Those who want to practice can practice from [-]:[-] am to [-]:[-] pm. It’s okay to come later or leave early if you have something to do.It's summer vacation.

But this is the student's request. As the instructor of the performance department, Hirakawa Tetsufumi cannot be so free.

Every Tuesday and Thursday, he will be on duty, arriving at [-]:[-] a.m. and leaving at [-]:[-] p.m.

As for Suzuki Ogasa, she is on duty every Wednesday and Friday.

On Monday, two people come together, and let the students come as much as possible. This is the time for ensemble practice once a week.

For the national competition, this is a necessary time commitment.

Therefore, on Thursday, July 7, when Hirakawa Tetsufumi met Shinohara Shiori, it was in the morning, not long after the sun appeared on the horizon.

The morning wind and the light passing through the gaps in the leaves, the two met under the shade of the tree.

"Long time no see, Teacher Hirakawa."

The girl with the golden trumpet in her hand made a clear voice as always.

"Well, good morning."

Walking through the school gate, the girl followed him naturally.

Hirakawa Tetsufumi didn't respond. He just glanced at her right foot and asked, "How's Shinohara-san's foot? Did you get injured the second time because you played too aggressively during the competition?"

"There's nothing wrong with it." Shiori Shinohara walked briskly, and she really didn't look injured. "Besides, I miss Mr. Hirakawa, so I came to school earlier."

Hirakawa Tetsuwen treated the second half of the sentence as non-existent: "It's fine if there is no problem."

"Thank you Mr. Hirakawa for your concern."

"Should be."

"Then, does Mr. Hirakawa miss Shiori these days?"

"If you just think of Shinohara-san, there is. If Shinohara-san refers to emotional miss, then there is no."

"Is that so? I miss Mr. Hirakawa - emotionally."

"Okay." Hirakawa Zhewen coped calmly, and his tone could only be described as "coping".

But Shiori Shinohara didn't care and continued talking.

"Moreover, Shiori has been thinking about how to get Hirakawa-sensei to agree to this kind of question in the future."

"Hmm. Did that come to mind?"

"Hmm..." Shiori Shinohara pondered, then nodded, "I think about it."

"How about it?"

"secret."

"Ok."

"I believe there will be such a day. After all——Ms. Hirakawa has already felt Shiori's liking for you, right?"

"..."

The aisle on the campus is so empty that there is only the echoing wind, and the girl beside her is wantonly showing her heart.

In the past, Tetsufumi Hirakawa should have firmly denied such a problem, saying, "Absolutely not", such words to express his position.

Shiori Shinohara was ready for such a rejection, she opened her mouth, and next to her, Tetsufumi Hirakawa nodded uncharacteristically.

"Naturally, I've felt it."

"..." Shiori Shinohara was stunned for a moment.

"What's wrong?"

"...No." Shinohara Shiori shook her head after a pause, "I just didn't expect Hirakawa-sensei to admit it."

"There's nothing to admit." Hirakawa Zhewen kept his tone calm.

In the lofty sky, the wind is light and the clouds are light. Among the blue, only the sun is shining.

Uncharacteristically, there must be a reason.

Shinohara Shiori looked suspiciously at Hirakawa Tetsufumi's side face, and after thinking for a while, "Did Hirakawa-sensei have something to say to me?"

Although it was a rhetorical question, but judging by the look on his face, it was already affirmative.The clever young lady guessed the truth at once.

Hirakawa Tetsubun looked at Shiori Shinohara's reaction, and then—

"That's right, I have something to say to Shinohara-san." He nodded steadily.

"...If you guessed right, it should be something bad."

"For Shinohara-san, there may indeed be some bad words." Hirakawa Tetsufumi did not deny it.

"..."

There was a little silence.

The girl's original, slightly joyful pace because of the reunion after a long time no see, gradually calmed down.

The aura of "something to say" carried by Hirakawa Zhewen became more and more obvious.

Finally, he spoke.

"Xiaoyuan-san, in the past few days, it seems that you have been thinking about how to get me to agree. In fact, I have been thinking about a question."

"..."

Hirakawa Tetsuwen's eyes focused on the front.

"I was thinking, how should I deal with the love from Shinohara-san? After much deliberation, this question has been lingering in my mind since I heard Shinohara-san's confession. In the past few days, I finally have some ideas. "

"However, before I give the answer to this question, please let me tell a short story, Shinohara-san."

"..."

In Hirakawa Tetsuwen's unhurried tone, the pace of the two is slowing down.Slow to a little heavy.

Shinohara Shiori pursed her lips, Hirakawa Tetsufumi fell into some kind of memory.

After taking several steps at this slow pace, he came back to his senses and apologized.

"Sorry, this memory is a bit long, give me some more time."

"..." Shiori Shinohara didn't reply.

The memory seems to be really long, very long. Although the teacher around him, although his face is young, but in a trance, it seems to be an old man who is struggling to dig out the memory.

He kept thinking about the picture, until a smile recalling the past appeared on the corner of his mouth.

"All right."

Hirakawa Tetsubun said so, indicating that the memory was over, and then he used a question as the opening remark of this story:

"Xiaoyuan-san, do you know why a lazy person like me became a teacher—a teacher who should represent the word 'hard work' in the eyes of most people?"

The memories from the previous life that had been buried in the depths of my mind resurfaced.

Hirakawa Tetsubun spoke in an inherently gentle tone, telling about this memory that couldn't be longer.

"A long time ago..."

"It doesn't seem right to say that. It should be said that when the teacher was still a junior high school student."

"Does Shinohara know what I was like back then?"

"I can ask that. Obviously, you should be able to guess that I was not a good student at that time."

"Well, that's the truth."

Hirakawa Tetsufumi looked forward, and an old movie from about 30 years ago was playing in his mind.

The picture is broken, the sound is no longer clear, and the face is all blurred.

"Even if I look at it now, I was definitely a student with serious problems at that time... I should be called a bad boy."

"The character is inherently lazy, I hate studying, and I feel that learning is anti-human."

"I like playing games and reading novels—martial arts novels, all kinds of interesting novels, etc. I don't like reading textbooks anyway. In order to integrate into the so-called small groups, I even skipped classes, game halls, fights and so on...everything. "

"At that time, I was such a terrible person. Let alone being a teacher who teaches and educates people, it would be good if I didn't harm the society when I grow up."

Hirakawa Zhewen smiled self-deprecatingly, and continued talking after laughing.

"Actually, this sentence is wrong-after all, at that time, I had no idea about growing up and the future, and I didn't know what to do at all. I was muddled and muddling along, and that was almost the state I was in."

"Then, in such a state, the teachers in the class at that time basically gave up on me-it's normal, even now, I think it's normal for these teachers to give up on me."

"Until the third grade of junior high school, we changed the class teacher for some reason. The teacher was very young, and he should have just practiced. Indeed, she said that we were the second class of students she led."

Hirakawa Zhewen tried his best to recall the face of the young teacher, but the memory after a lifetime was already dilapidated and blurred.What is clearly remembered in my mind is only the memory of this life.

to no avail.But fortunately, Hirakawa Zhewen still remembered what the teacher said.

He went on with the story.

"Not long after she took office, she interviewed us students with the lowest grades one by one, asking us why we did this, what we thought, and so on."

"I told her that reading is not interesting, but games are more interesting."

"Actually, the answers at the end of our cranes are similar, and they are all the same. I don't know why—"

When Hirakawa Zhewen recalled this incident now, there was still doubt in his eyes.

"Among several people, she only told me that she thought I could still be saved."

"I asked why, and she replied that she looked and found that among the few people, only my textbook had their name written on it, and none of the others had it."

"Well... I have reason to believe that she just found a reason to trick me. After all, among a dozen textbooks, I actually only have one with my name written on it."

"The reason is because after writing down the first name, I became lazy and felt tired, so I ran to play games."

"It's just right, the only textbook is a Chinese book, and she is a Chinese teacher."

"Maybe it's because of this? Because of such a coincidence, in short, she somehow firmly believes that I can still be saved."

"I don't understand her. Until now, I don't know how she can say that sentence with such certainty."

"But after I got home that day, I found a pen and wrote all the rest of the book with my name—"

When talking about this, Hirakawa Tetsuwen laughed, a little heartless.After slowing down, the conversation changed:
"—I went to play games immediately after I finished writing my name, and I didn't write my homework that night, um."

"When I went to school the next day, she came to the class, looked through my book again, and then she said that sentence to me again, she said that I really can still be saved."

"I answered her, last night, I went to play games after writing my name, and didn't do my homework. She said it's okay, and she believed that she wouldn't read the wrong person."

"It's still an inexplicable trust that I don't know where it came from."

Hirakawa Zhewen's tone was very emotional, but after a while, he continued to speak.

"To be honest, at that time I had some secondary illnesses, um... you know the secondary illnesses? It's good to know."

"So in the next few days, I was playing a game, a certain game about the Three Kingdoms. I watched Romance of the Three Kingdoms because I was interested. After watching it, I suddenly thought of this."

"So I ran to her and told her that a scholar should die for his confidant—the brain circuit of the second disease is a bit magical, so don't worry about why I did this."

"She didn't bother about it, she just asked me if I had read the Three Kingdoms, because children of this age should be very interested in the Three Kingdoms, and I said yes. She asked me if I had read the book or something, and I replied that I had just read the book on the weekend."

"Then she smiled and said that I don't need to die, just study hard. I promised her."

"However, I underestimated the difficulty of learning a little bit. At that time, I had no foundation at all. After learning for two days, I came to her again and told her that I think it is easier to die than to study. As a result, she said If not, ask her."

"I asked at the time: Is math and English both good? She answered me, do you think the teacher hasn't been to junior high school?"

"After all, he is still a young teacher, and the knowledge he has learned has not been forgotten."

"After that, I like to ask her questions about any subject. She tutored me from scratch."

"The story ends here, and many things happened later, but I won't go into details. In short, this story ends with me living up to the teacher's trust."

"Under her guidance, I gradually changed from a poor student at the bottom of the crane to a student with excellent grades in the eyes of ordinary people."

"When I applied for university after graduating from high school, I went back to junior high school to ask her opinion. She asked me what I wanted to be in the future. I answered that I would be an outstanding teacher like her, and she said yes."

"so--"

The persistent smile on Tetsubun Hirakawa's face turned to Shiori Shinohara who was silent.The girl held a golden trumpet in her hand.

"Shinohara-san, can you understand?"

"..." Shiori Shinohara didn't answer.

Hirakawa Tetsubun said to himself.

"Although this is a slightly clichéd story, poor students gradually change and grow with the help of teachers, and finally aspire to be teachers."

"The clichéd plot structure, even so clichéd that you can already guess the direction of the story just by telling the beginning."

"But it's not a story, it's my life."

"Therefore, the profession of a teacher is of great significance to me, and the duty of teaching and educating people is extremely sacred to me."

"At least, I can't live up to that trust."

The tone is flat from beginning to end, but hidden in the flatness is undeniable seriousness.

"Of course I can understand what Shinohara-san said. Liking is irrational. Maybe at a certain moment, in a certain event, I suddenly like someone. This kind of liking is out of control."

"I'm also really apprehensive about Shinohara-san's liking, the famous young lady, she has an outstanding appearance, excellent grades, and is perfect in every way except for her possibly a little bad personality—"

"Capricious, arrogant, and a little bit hard to listen to other people's ideas, knowing that it is wrong, but still insisting on your own point of view."

"However, actually, thinking about it carefully, such a personality is quite suitable for a young lady like Shinohara-san. It's quite cute."

"If the time and identity were changed, for example, if I was still a student, I'm afraid it would be really difficult for me to refuse the love of an outstanding person like Shinohara-san."

"But there is no if."

After finishing this sentence, his tone became more serious, and the smile on Hirakawa Zhewen's mouth disappeared.

"Although what I said before, I can't change Shinohara-san's mind, not even a clear rejection."

"But this time, I hope Shinohara-san can understand this and how important being a teacher is to me."

"I'll say it again, it's not allowed between teachers and students, no matter what. I don't want to tarnish my identity as a teacher, and I don't want to be ashamed of my responsibility as a teacher."

"Also, even though I can't see that teacher anymore, I don't want to betray her trust. I told her that I want to be an excellent teacher like her."

"So, Shinohara-san, I hope this is my last rejection. After that, enough is enough."

"I'm glad to be liked by you, and glad to be your teacher, but that's all."

"I am willing to perform my duties as a teacher, and I am willing to help Shinohara-san solve everything within the capacity of a teacher."

"As for the other aspects...sorry."

Tetsubun Hirakawa bowed to Shiori Shinohara who stopped walking.Then, he turned around and walked into the shoe cabinet, gradually disappearing from sight.

(End of this chapter)