I am a teacher at a girls' school in Tokyo

"Teacher Hirakawa, you have to know that not every question needs to be answered. Okay, please start." Hisata Masu urged.

"What a cunning answer." Tetsufumi Hirakawa said helplessly.

However, after another sound of flipping pages, the sound, peaceful, lazy, like the breeze blowing in the evening, still rang in Hisata Masu's ears.

Singing a Japanese poem softly.

"It's so confusing, I don't know if it's a dream or not, I'll leave it to the world to discuss."

……

"In the dream, we embraced each other, but the love passed by in the dark and we turned around to find nothing. How could it be better than in a dream?"

……

"Deep in the night, the moon's shadow crosses the sky. People look at the moon and the moon shines brightly. Suddenly, we meet again."

……

One Japanese song after another floated gently into my mind along with the clear voice of this Chinese teacher.

Until.

"The spring clouds are blooming on the mountain cherry blossoms. I never get tired of seeing the flowers even after visiting them many times. Your face is more beautiful than the flowers."

"..."

I don’t know how many Japanese poems I have sung, but I don’t know where the moon behind the clouds in the middle of the night is now.

But, as if by tacit agreement, after this poem, Tetsufumi Hirakawa stopped talking and waited quietly for something.

"..."

There was no sound in the receiver, only the faint sound of breathing.

Time is flowing.

three……

two……

One.

Counting silently, on time.

A voice rang out, the gentle and caring voice of a female teacher appeared in my ears at this moment.

"Happy birthday, Mr. Hirakawa."

A faint smile appeared at the corner of Hirakawa Tetsufumi's mouth. He paused for a moment, then spoke softly with a smile.

"Thank you, Mr. Hisada."

"Uh-huh." The female teacher replied playfully.

"I have waited for this moment for a long time, Mr. Hirakawa."

"I've been reciting waka poems for a long time in preparation for this moment."

"..."

The night is dark.

Chapter 182 Birthday, before the beginning

The next morning.

It's getting light.

A little light came in from the gap between the two unclosed curtains. In the dim environment of the bedroom, there was only a faint light path on the ground.

Tetsufumi Hirakawa rubbed his eyes and sat up from the bed. While the remaining sleepiness still enveloped his soul, he stared blankly at the light on the ground in the room that was so quiet that only the sound of his gentle breathing could be heard.

Only after sitting for a while and yawning deeply, his dry eyes became slightly moistened, and he was almost awake.

He propped himself up and sat up a little straighter, his hand groping around the pillow for his phone. After searching for a while, he picked it up and turned on the screen.

The brightness in the bedroom was too bright, causing Tetsufumi Hirakawa to squint his eyes subconsciously. However, this did not prevent him from knowing the current time.

7: 55.

It's not too early, nor too late. It's about the same if I get up now.

Tetsufumi Hirakawa turned off the screen, threw down his phone, and lifted the thin quilt.

However, when his feet stepped on the slippers on the ground and he listened to the gentle breathing in his ears, Tetsufumi Hirakawa suddenly realized something.

His eyes moved from the ground to the bed, to the place where he had dropped his phone earlier.

At this moment, on the phone.

The slight sound of breathing flowed gently through the receiver, filling the room and drifting to my ears.

It was the sound of Hisada-sensei's breathing.

"..."

-

In Hisada Masu's room, the early morning light outside was not bright, and the only light in the room was hazy and dim.

The dim light creates a tranquil atmosphere, and in the tranquility, the rustling sounds in the ears become clearer.

"..."

Hisada Masu wakes up.

She was holding a brown bear, with her legs clasped around a pale blue sheet. Her loose cartoon-patterned pajamas were a little messy, revealing a patch of white skin.

Her long hair spread on the pillow and her eyes were a little dazed.

She turned her body, tilted her face to the side, and looked at the outline of the mobile phone close to her eyes on the pillow.

There was a slight noise coming from inside.

But after a while, the sound stopped and silence returned.

"..."

"..."

This silence lasted only a few seconds.

Then, a tiny, tentative voice came from the receiver.

"... Mr. Hisada?"

"..."

Hisada Moshu blinked her eyes, and Mihu's eyes became much clearer.

He raised his head slightly and stared at his phone.

The voice came from the receiver again.

"Hiroshida-sensei...are you awake?"

"..."

-

Not awake yet?

Tetsufumi Hirakawa looked at the phone in his hand hesitantly. The call interface on the screen displayed the current call time in real time: 8 hours and 27 minutes.

Apparently, the call from the teacher last night was not hung up for some reason.

In this way, the sound of Mr. Hisada's breathing accompanied him through the night.

Come to think of it, it's really...

No, the question now is, should I keep the call going or hang up?

After all, this female teacher hasn't...

"Mr. Hirakawa... Good morning~"

Awake.

"..."

My thoughts were interrupted by the words coming from the phone.

The female teacher's voice floated into my ears, but it was a little different from her usual voice.

Lighter, with a hint of a lake that hasn't quite woken up yet.

In a quiet room, this subtle difference can be easily heard.

Gentle yet cute.

Let people...

Then all things begin to wake up.

This greeting should be regarded as the dividing line for the beginning of a new day.

Thinking this, Tetsufumi Hirakawa raised the corners of his mouth and responded to the female teacher who should not be fully awake yet.

"Teacher Hisada, please, please say it again."

Please solemnly.

"..."

Lying down in bed again, holding her phone in one hand and the sheets in the other...

"……Eh?"

A slightly troubled voice was heard in response to this request in the receiver.

"Teacher Hirakawa, what are you doing?"

"Um... nothing much, Mr. Hisata, good morning."

"…Um—good morning?"

This is June 15th, Tetsufumi Hirakawa’s birthday, the beginning of a new day.

-

After the greetings, the topic naturally returned to the phone call that had lasted all night.

"Teacher Hisada, the phone has been on all night."

There was a cute little yawn, and then.

"Yeah, I think I forgot to hang up."

"We talked too late last night."

We were talking about where to go today, and while we were chatting, I seemed to fall asleep for no apparent reason.

"Ah."

"..."

"..."

"Happy birthday, Mr. Hirakawa."

After a period of silence, blessings suddenly came again.

Hirakawa Tetsufumi chuckled.

"Okay, thank you Mr. Hisata."

"That's it, time to get up." said the female teacher on the other side of the phone.

"Yes, okay." Hirakawa Tetsufumi responded.

"See you later, Mr. Hirakawa."

"Well, see you later."

Just like that, the call, which lasted for more than eight hours, was hung up.