I am a teacher at a girls' school in Tokyo

"What an old-fashioned statement Mr. Hirakawa made."

"..."

Hirakawa Tetsufumi was like a cat whose tail was caught. He stopped lazing around and sat up, very seriously: "Teacher Hisada, you can't say I'm old-fashioned."

"...Yes, yes, yes." Hisada Maki responded, "Then what was the condition that Mr. Hirakawa was about to mention?"

"Well... the condition is that I want to see Hisada-sensei on my birthday."

"..."

After a moment of silence, Hisada Masu turned her eyes away subtly without saying anything.

Tetsufumi Hirakawa explained.

"It's true that I have too many birthdays... but most of the time I'm alone. I suddenly thought, if Hisata-sensei could come..."

"……Um."

Hisada Masu replied softly.

Afterwards, I picked up the cup of water countless times.

The jasmine tea in the cup has petals floating on the water surface at the small mouth of the cup, and a sweet scent emanates with the hazy white mist.

-

It was a rainy day on the 11th. The rain stopped for a while at noon, and then it was cloudy and rainy again for the whole afternoon.

Even when Tetsufumi Hirakawa went to the wind orchestra, looking out from the corridor, rain was still falling from the sky.

The plum rain season started relatively early this year, at the end of May, so it should be over by the end of June.

There is still half a month left, looking forward to sunny weather.

This kind of weather is inconvenient. It’s hard to travel and clothes are hard to dry.

It's better to end it early.

and--

In the concert hall of the wind orchestra, Tetsufumi Hirakawa stood in front of the students.

He glanced at the students who were sitting and listening attentively, then opened his mouth and announced.

"Regarding the roadshow I mentioned yesterday, it will be held in late June. The specific time and location will be notified later, so please be prepared."

In late June, when the rainy season ends, the roadshow begins.

"Yes."

There were responses from the students.

Hirakawa Tetsufumi ignored them, turned around, nodded to Ogasa Suzukiko, and walked away.

-By the way, because of what happened last night, Tetsufumi Hirakawa always feels guilty whenever he looks at Suzuki Ogasa.

Twins are twins after all, they look exactly the same and can't be told apart, so much so that he began to suspect for no reason whether the Ogasa Suzukiko in front of him might be Ogasa Sayiko... or something.

Of course it’s just wishful thinking. How could I let my twin sister take my place at work...right?

"..."

-

The afternoon wind band practice still lasts until seven o'clock in the evening.

When Tetsufumi Hirakawa walked out of the wind band and went home after work, the voice of a certain young lady appeared behind him.

"Teacher Hirakawa."

Hirakawa Tetsufumi knew who it was without even looking back: "It's Shinohara-san."

"Yeah." The girl responded, then asked, "Is the roadshow scheduled for the end of June?"

"Yes."

"Location?"

"Maybe Tokyo Station?"

"Teacher Hirakawa said yesterday that there are other aspects, right?"

"Yes."

"what is it then?"

"This - we'll talk about it later."

"..."

"..."

After that, there was no more topic of conversation, and silent footsteps went down the stairs of the club building.

In fact, there is a natural gap between students and teachers. Many times, there is nothing to talk about.

——Maybe, but it’s hard to say it out loud.

This is really an unpleasant fact.

Shinohara Shiori lowered her head and looked at the stairs. After a long silence, she finally raised her head.

"Teacher Hirakawa."

“——Hmm?” Tetsufumi Hirakawa responded, as if he had just come back to his senses from something.

Shinohara Shiori stared at his profile, hesitated for a moment and then asked, "You seem to be worried about something, right?"

"No, how could that be?" Hirakawa Tetsufumi turned his head to respond to the girl, smiled, and casually denied it.

However, Shinohara Shiori still said with certainty: "Yes. I saw it during the practice just now. Teacher Hirakawa is obviously thinking about something."

"Eh..." Hirakawa Tetsufumi seemed a little troubled, "Is that so?"

"Ah."

"…Why is Shinohara-san focusing on the teacher instead of practicing?"

"..."

Shinohara Shiori fiddled with her long hair very naturally.

"It's just because Mr. Hirakawa's appearance is so obvious that you can tell at a glance."

"Is that so..." Hirakawa Tetsufumi thought of Hisada Maki at noon. "Okay."

The female teacher could easily see that he was worried.

"It's just a personal matter of the teacher."

It's just a personal matter that I want to ask.

Shinohara Shiori thought so as she looked at the teacher's profile.

What she wanted to touch upon was the teacher's daily life.

Chapter 180: Tetsufumi Hirakawa found the answer

Shinohara Shiori already knew that if she only focused on the wind orchestra, there would be no progress.

There will be nothing.

So, she has to go further, further, and touch the daily life in order to seize that tiny chance.

Perhaps too much attention would cause similar vigilance as "Why are you focusing on the teacher for no reason?", but she had to do it.

This was her decision after she returned from visiting the patient.

Following her inner thoughts, she asked aloud at this moment.

"Mr. Hirakawa, Shiori, I'd like to ask, what is this matter?"

The tone was gentle, but within the gentleness, was hidden the girl's unknown thoughts.

Being able to share and even solve troubles for her teacher Pingchuan is a great opportunity to get closer to her.

She must seize this opportunity.

It can even be said that if this worry touches on a personal secret, she would be able to share this secret with Teacher Hirakawa, which would bring them closer to each other to a greater extent.

This is what Shiori Shinohara was looking forward to.

In response to the girl's question, Tetsufumi Hirakawa seemed a little hesitant.

"This one……"

How should I put it? As a teacher, he had no intention of telling his personal affairs to his students. However, after thinking about it again and again, especially since this question was asked by Shinohara Shiori, the thought still popped up in his mind -

Perhaps, I could really ask this young lady for advice on this matter - this idea.

After all, they are all girls, so they should understand better than him, right?

So, after a moment, he asked the question.

Still using the same excuse from noon.

"Shinohara, I want to ask, if you accidentally offend a woman because of something, how should you apologize? In your opinion, how can you show your sincerity?"

"..."

Miss Shinohara, who was looking forward to sharing the worries with her teacher Hirakawa, had her inner thoughts shattered at once.

"Huh? What's wrong?"

Hirakawa Tetsufumi looked at the girl next to him in surprise; her expression looked quite strange.

"...No, it's nothing."

Shinohara Shiori took a deep breath and shook her head silently.

Come to think of it, it’s really… baffling.

It seemed that every time she made up her mind, she would encounter something that frustrated her.

It was like this every time, and this time was no exception. Just when I thought I could get closer, I encountered such an annoying problem again.

However, what is even more sad is...

She's used to it.

Well, several setbacks actually made her somewhat accustomed to it.

Ah.

Facing the questioning gaze of the teacher beside her, Shinohara Shiori smiled self-deprecatingly with the corners of her mouth curled up.

Hirakawa Tetsufumi: “…”

Hmm... why did she suddenly laugh, and it was a sarcastic laugh. What was she doing? Were she laughing at him?

Tetsufumi Hirakawa felt hurt inside.

"Um, Shinohara-san, it's a bit rude to laugh at the teacher..."

Shinohara Shiori sighed and walked down the last step of the club building with a bit of tiredness.

"Nothing...it's just that I didn't expect Mr. Hirakawa to do something like this."

"...can't you?"

"If I'm not mistaken, Mr. Hirakawa is probably getting stuck in a rut."

"Huh? Why do you say that?"

"After all, according to common sense, Mr. Pingchuan is not the kind of person who can't read the air. I just think that you shouldn't be stumped by such a small matter."

On the contrary, this teacher, who always deals with various students and their parents, is not so sociable, but at least his social skills are not so poor that he can't even apologize.

Therefore, this speculation can only be a dead end - or some conditions are concealed.

However, there is no need to guess about unknown things, as this will only complicate the problem. You just need to infer based on known conditions.

"right?"

Shinohara Shiori asked back.