I am a teacher at a girls' school in Tokyo

After a long silence, there was naturally an explosion.

Shinohara Shiori, who was listening, finally couldn't help it.

"Mother."

"Hmm? Shiori, do you have anything to say?"

Shinohara Shiori faced her mother's inquiring gaze. She hesitated for a moment, but finally gritted her teeth and asked.

"You said you respected my opinion, but in fact you never respected my ideas at all, right?"

"how come."

Still in denial. A light denial.

Then, with a "bang" sound, the teacup fell to the ground.

Shinohara Shiori stood up.

Chapter 9 A Knife Named Gentle

Traditional Japanese room with tatami floor, wooden table, cushions, and a classic feel.

As a reception room, the lighting and ventilation are well set up. Not far away, the open wooden Japanese sliding door allows you to see the courtyard in the evening.

The dim outdoor world only served to highlight the brightness of the overhead chandelier. The bright light sprinkled on the clean and tidy ground, illuminating a pool of dazzling water.

Next to the water mark, the exquisite teacup rolled slightly a few times, then stopped and became silent.

Then the whole room became silent.

Everything was silent and quiet, just like an ordinary winter evening. But the scene before him was definitely not.

The air seemed to condense, freezing everything in the space. The scene before Tetsufumi Hirakawa's eyes became a still painting.

Next to the wooden table, a girl wearing a Western-style uniform, a plaid skirt, black stockings and a bow tie stood up and looked directly at her mother.

Opposite her, the lady dressed in an exquisite traditional kimono sat dignifiedly, her expression unchanged and a gentle smile on her lips.

This static picture continues until the sound of wind blows through the courtyard.

The cold winter wind blew the green plants in the courtyard, making a rustling sound, and at the same time, Shinohara's mother spoke.

Her voice was as gentle as before, without any unnecessary ups and downs, and her tone did not contain the slightest bit of blame: "Shiori, this is so rude."

"..."

The opposite is Shinohara Shiori.

A famous writer who has hundreds of pseudonyms once wrote:

"Either explode in silence or perish in silence."

For a long time, the seemingly gentle respect from her mother, the respect that made her unable to resist, the respect that made her feel heavy and suffocated and silent, enveloped her like a whirlpool, drowning her in the water and unable to make a sound.

And now, some meddling teacher gave her a hand, and she surfaced.

"Is it disrespectful?"

A rhetorical question in a very sarcastic tone.

"Of course it's too..."

"What is impoliteness?"

"Like now..."

"Me like this?"

"certainly……"

"Or like mother?"

"..."

The girl interrupted her mother repeatedly, and her cold questions echoed in her ears like the air conditioning in winter, and her rhetorical questions were filled with the resentment that she had been unable to express for a long time.

Disrespectful, what does it mean to be disrespectful?

Is it rude of her to do this now, throwing the teacup on the ground in anger?

Or is it impolite to interrupt my mother?

"If mother's disrespect is this, what I am doing now. Then I admit that Shiori was indeed disrespectful, absolutely disrespectful, and I apologize to you."

"but--"

The corner of Shiori Shinohara's mouth was filled with a sarcastic smile, which was completely different from the smile on her mother's face who was still smiling.

"But if Mother's faux pas means something like yours..."

"I mean, maintaining the so-called, false surface of etiquette like you do..."

"I mean, you hypocritically approve of everything your daughter does..."

"It's about your desire for control that hides under your gentleness! It's about your words that no matter what I do, I have to follow your instructions and if I disobey you, it's considered disrespectful!"

The girl faced her mother, gritting her teeth.

"I'd rather be rude!"

"Shiori..."

"What on earth are you doing?"

I couldn't bear it anymore, and my eye sockets turned red after this sentence.

"Mother, I don't need your false respect at all!"

"I would rather you be angry with me and disagree with my ideas. I would rather this than you agreeing with me on the surface and then forcing me to change my mind later!"

"You know what! Shiori really doesn't need your respect. She really doesn't need it. She absolutely doesn't need it. No matter what, she doesn't need it!"

As if venting her emotions, the girl shouted at her mother with all her might.

"Please, can you please listen to my heart?"

"Just this once, my daughter really begs you to stop maintaining superficial respect like this, okay?"

"Please listen to my request!"

I was shouting, but I couldn't see clearly in front of me, and I couldn't tell what expression was on my mother's face. My eyes were blurry, and my body was drained of strength.

“Please…”

Bowed deeply.

The tears that made the face feel cold in the winter fell to the ground, "click", "click", two sounds rang out in succession in the quiet room.

There was a long silence. An uncomfortable silence.

"Shiori."

I don’t know how long the silence lasted before my mother finally spoke.

"Yes……"

Shinohara Shiori responded with a weak voice.

"are you tired?"

"..."

The girl did not respond, but she could still hear her mother's questions.

"Do you need to go back to your room to rest?"

"..."

"Go ahead, I'll call you down for dinner later."

"..."

Shinohara Shiori finally raised her head to look at her mother with the last of her strength, but her eyes were still blurred and she couldn't see her mother's expression.

"Mother mother..."

"Hmm? What's wrong? Um... did you want to ask me what I think about the point Shiori just made?"

"……Um."

"That's it."

Through blurred vision, the mother nodded slightly.

"Of course I respect your opinion."

Her tone is as gentle as ever, like that of a gentle lady.

"You are my daughter. I respect your opinion no matter what, right?"

"..."

"..."

In the blurry world, the mother's face could not be seen clearly, but Shinohara Shiori clearly outlined a smile as always from it.

She no longer had the energy to argue, she had absolutely no energy left.

He had no strength to speak or stand, and his body was swaying as he was about to collapse to the ground.

She had never escaped from her mother's prison, a prison woven by her mother's desire for control. She stood in the prison, waiting for a knife called gentleness to carve her into a shape that satisfied the carver with its seemingly harmless gentleness.

She would never have the chance to get away from it again. Not before, not now, and never in the future.

Shinohara Shiori thinks so.

She lowered her head again, looking at the clean and tidy ground, and the glaring water marks on the ground.

In the reflection, the bright light from the ceiling entered her eyes.

It is now mid-February and the third semester is about to end. When spring semester starts in April, she will have to say goodbye to the wind orchestra.

Ok.

"..."

"..."

"Student Shinohara."

"..."

"Shinohara-san?"

"..."

She didn't notice the passage of time, and she didn't know how much time had passed. Shinohara Shiori, who had completely given up, suddenly heard someone calling her. At the same time, the dazzling light in the water was covered by a shadow.

She raised her head and a figure appeared in the blurry world.

"Teacher Hirakawa..."

"Yes."

A gentle, comforting tone.

"It's okay, Shinohara-san, let's go rest for a while."

"I……"

"It's okay. You've done a good job and expressed your wishes thoroughly."

"But……"

"Don't worry, it doesn't matter if it's not accepted. We agreed that I will convey the wishes that Shinohara-san failed to convey."

Although I couldn't see it clearly, I could feel that there was a warm smile on Teacher Pingchuan's face. This smile was definitely different from the gentle smile I usually saw on my mother's face.

"Ah."

Not sure what she was thinking, but Shinohara Shiori nodded.

Chapter 10 Mrs. Shinohara, you don’t want your daughter to be bullied at school, do you?