I am a teacher at a girls' school in Tokyo

Afterwards, she gently held up the cup of water under the morning sun with both hands, brought it to her lips, blew lightly, and the misty water vapor dispersed.

In the misty water vapor, she took a sip of tea.

Putting it down, the bottom of the cup touched the table lightly, making a low sound. Then, the female teacher seemed to have finally noticed his arrival.

After spotting him out of the corner of his eye, Hisada-sensei slowly turned his head, his cheeks puffed up a little, before he had time to swallow the tea.

"..."

"..."

Hirakawa Tetsufumi smiled, and Hisada Masaki blinked blankly. After waiting for a moment, the puffiness on her cheeks disappeared with a "gulp".

"Teacher Hirakawa?"

"Ah."

"You're here?"

"Yes."

"How long have you been here?"

"Well... about ten minutes?" Tetsufumi Hirakawa said it as if it were the truth, with a serious look on his face.

"Eh?"

Hisada Masuki blinked several times, as if trying to understand what these ten minutes meant.

After realizing what was happening, she blushed.

"You were looking at me for ten minutes?"

"Yeah." Nod.

"…Hey, what are you looking at me for?"

"I want to see how long it will take Hisada-sensei to find me."

"... Mr. Hirakawa is a bit childish."

Tetsufumi Hirakawa just smiled and didn't deny it.

Hisada Masu sighed helplessly.

After a long time, Hirakawa Tetsufumi looked at Hisada Masaki who had turned her head and was staring out the window.

"Good morning, Mr. Hisada."

Belated hello.

"..."

"..."

A moment's wait.

"Good morning, Mr. Hirakawa."

In the end, Hisada Masu gave him a helpless and gentle smile.

Her smile is full of healing. It's great to have a female colleague like her.

It can be said that a major motivation for coming to school every morning comes from Teacher Hisada’s sweet smile.

Tetsufumi Hirakawa also picked up a pen, took out the lesson plan from the folder, and started writing.

I kept writing until the bell rang for class.

"Teacher Hisada, let's go."

"Okay."

There is a morning meeting before the first class, and they have to attend as the head teachers of classes A and B respectively.

Just like that, I went to class with Hisada Masu, and then we separated at the door of Class B.

Tetsufumi Hirakawa walked into the door of Class A.

Class A, which had been whispering all the time, suddenly became quiet.

"good morning students."

"Good morning, Mr. Hirakawa."

A neat greeting rang out in Class A.

This is the beginning of the day and the beginning of the week.

Standing on the podium, looking at the classmates in the class, especially Shinohara Shiori and Amemiya Yo.

This week might be busy.

"Please take a seat."

Tetsufumi Hirakawa said.

Chapter 40: Solo of the Wind Ensemble

The morning sun rises high into the sky, pushing time towards noon, and then in the following time, it gradually falls towards the other end of the horizon.

In the afternoon, the sun is still the "sun" rather than the "sunset", and no colorful glow has appeared in the clouds.

At this time, with the ringing of the school bell... twenty minutes later.

Tetsufumi Hirakawa walked out of the office.

There's no point in going to the orchestra too early, right? No one's there yet, so it's better to go a little later.

Walking into the connecting corridor leading to the club building, there was no one around me. Those who should go home had already gone home, and those who should go to the activity room had also gone there.

The shouting from the playground began to echo in my ears again, as if it would never stop.

Tetsufumi Hirakawa walked down the corridor, entered the club building, and came to the fifth floor.

The moment I walked out of the stairwell, I suddenly heard some kind of blowing sound in my ears across the concert hall. It was a solo.

With Tetsufumi Hirakawa's knowledge of musical instruments, he had no idea what instrument it was.

What number is it probably?

he does not know.

But he still subconsciously slowed down his pace.

Even a layman can hear that the sound of the blowing next to his ears is loud, clear and high-pitched, as if it has turned into tangible sound waves blowing towards him.

Under the impact of this sound, Hirakawa Tetsufumi walked to the door of the concert hall. When he closed the door with his hand, he hesitated for a moment, wondering if he would disturb the solo if he pushed in.

But he was obviously overthinking it.

The loud and powerful music will not be affected by simply opening the door.

When he gently opened the door of the concert hall, the music, without any obstruction, rushed in all at once, like a horse with its reins released and able to gallop across the grassland.

My ears were completely occupied by this sound. The never-ending shouting in the playground was no longer noticeable, let alone the sound of the door opening.

The strong and sharp tone cuts through the air, irresistibly covering up all other sounds except its own.

The player was still playing solo in ecstasy.

The audience is still intoxicated by this sound.

No one noticed his arrival.

The sound of music echoed throughout this exquisitely decorated concert hall, turning it into a silent jungle.

And in this silent forest created by the soloist, the high-pitched cry of the lark breaks through the obstruction of the heavy trees and resounds through.

Straight up to the sky.

……

……

The song is over.

The forest is gradually collapsing.

Before my eyes, in my field of vision, the figures of the concert hall's wind orchestra members appeared one by one.

But no one spoke, no one even made any extra movements, they just sat there.

Everyone looked at the girl standing in the center.

She had long hair and held her instrument in her hands, brilliant gold.

There was a drop of sweat on her delicate face, with some of her hair sticking to it, and her face was a little red.

The lark, which had been singing loudly before, now looked a little tired.

She breathed softly, and in this quiet concert hall, even the pleasant sound of her breathing spread to the distant walls and entered everyone's ears.

After that, in the silence, the girl held her breath and bowed gently.

"Teacher Hirakawa."

"..."

The silent scene, the stagnant time, the heart beating again, the sound that I couldn't help but put away for fear of disturbing the player's breathing, also emerged at this moment.

The audience, engrossed in the performance, all looked in the direction where the girl was bowing, towards the door.

Hirakawa Tetsufumi: “…”

As a teacher who has been teaching for many years, I don’t know how long it has been since I felt flustered under the gaze of my students.

However, now, my mind was flying away along with the sound of the music, and before I could bring it back, I was suddenly greeted by this baptism of gazes like a waterfall. I felt a little bit of panic for the first time in a long time.

It reminded him of the first time he stepped onto the podium and faced 56 faces.

But only for a moment.

Years of experience helped him regain his composure in an instant.

"Hello, Shinohara-san and all the students."

Shinohara Shiori's lips briefly flickered with a silent smile, like a dragonfly skimming the water, and then she sat down lightly, reaching out her hand to tidy up her slightly messy long hair.

Hirakawa Tetsufumi also withdrew his gaze from her.

Shinohara-san is truly amazing.

Even he could tell from the solo just now that the level was definitely not low.

With such emotion, he looked towards Mr. Ogasa who was standing in front of the crowd.

Faced with her somewhat surprised gaze, Hirakawa Tetsufumi just nodded slightly, then retreated to the corner, indicating that he was just there to listen, just like last week.

Teacher Ogasa obviously received this message, so he clapped his hands, attracting all attention.

"Everyone."

"What do you think of Shinohara-san's solo?"

"Very nice, isn't it?"

"You should learn from Shinohara-san."

"Okay, let's start practicing."

"Starting from verse 23."

"..."

——The dividing line of practice——

Tetsufumi Hirakawa was listening and observing from the side.

This week's wind band practice was just as relaxed and enjoyable as last week, and the communication between Teacher Ogasa and the students was also very harmonious. It seems that last week was not a coincidence.

Also, Tetsufumi Hirakawa discovered something very strange.

Among the members of the wind band, there was a girl who kept looking towards the corner where he was for some unknown reason, which made Tetsufumi Hirakawa extremely confused. He even turned on the front camera of his mobile phone to take a picture of his own face, which was nothing special except that he looked a little handsome.

Everything was normal, nothing noteworthy.