I am a teacher at a girls' school in Tokyo

"A lot of things? Okay. Do we have to wait until later?"

"Yes." Shinohara Shiori didn't want to discuss what happened next in the office.

"Then I'll just have to trouble you to wait for a moment."

"Ah."

"Oh, right..." Hirakawa Tetsufumi suddenly thought, "Shouldn't Shinohara go to the wind band for practice today?"

"Because of the midterm exam, the next practice is suspended."

"I see." Tetsufumi Hirakawa nodded.

Quiet down for a while.

The next time I spoke was because—

"It's Shinohara's homework." Tetsufumi Hirakawa looked at the handwriting on a workbook.

I didn't look up the name specifically, but Shinohara Shiori's handwriting was recognizable at a glance.

The eldest daughter of a famous family must have learned calligraphy. Every stroke and the structure of the characters are as exquisite as the young lady herself. The handwriting is just like her.

As a teacher, I can definitely tell the handwriting of students in my class, especially those that are particularly beautiful and those that are particularly ugly.

A positive example is Shinohara Shiori, and as for a negative example... it seems that none of the students he is currently teaching have handwriting that is too ugly.

It seems that the handwriting of female students rarely appears too "elegant".

In contrast, for example, in his previous life, there were always a few male students in every class he taught whose handwriting was truly "dragon-flying and phoenix-dancing".

Hmm... I really don't know what to say.

After being distracted for a while, his thoughts refocused on the exercise book belonging to Shinohara Shiori on the desk.

By the way, as a teacher, if students happen to be next to you when you are marking homework, then——

Tetsufumi Hirakawa carefully reviewed Miss Shinohara's homework word by word, at a speed many times slower than that of marking other assignments.

It is quite interesting to point out the problems in a student's homework in front of her and see her embarrassed expression because of the wrong questions.

It can add a lot of fun to the boring task of correcting homework.

But it was obvious that Tetsufumi Hirakawa was disappointed.

No matter how carefully you look, you can't find any problems in this young lady's homework. All that can be found are circles drawn in red pen.

In Japan, a “circle” is correct and a “check mark” is wrong.

So in the end, looking at the red circles on his face, Tetsuwen Hirakawa wrote an "A" in the upper right corner of his exercise book with great regret, muttering to himself.

“All of them are correct.”

"..."

Shinohara Shiori glanced at the teacher and then said, "Mr. Hirakawa, as a teacher, you should use a tone of praise when facing your students."

"Hey, Shinohara-san is really good."

Hirakawa Tetsufumi agreed casually, feeling somewhat regretful for not being able to find fault with Shinohara Shiori.

There is a sense of frustration of losing.

After all, this student found many faults in him.

Shinohara Shiori pursed her lips with a hint of amusement.

Teacher Hirakawa is a bit childish.

-

A teacher’s work is not just about correcting homework. In short, by the time everything is done, it is already past five o’clock.

During this period, I also asked the girl next to me whether I should tell it directly or talk about it tomorrow.

But she was very determined and decided to wait until he finished his work.

I had no choice but to follow her.

Fortunately, it's finally okay now.

He turned the pen around, threw it on the table, and stood up.

"get off work!"

Chapter 108 Shinohara Shiori likes the sunset, and also likes... whatever she sees

The teacher who had to work overtime because of his own procrastination finally got off work.

So what she thought before was correct. This teacher's daily routine was probably just slacking off in the office every day, so there would be no problem even if she fired him.

Shinohara Shiori stood in front of the shoe cabinet, changing her shoes absentmindedly, thinking about all kinds of things in her mind.

However, if I fire him, wouldn’t the punishment be too severe?

The girl suddenly changed her mind.

After all, even if I was lazy, I still chose to work overtime to complete the work.

As a reward for making amends, as a punishment -

"Shinohara-san?"

Outside the shoe cabinet, the teacher who had already changed his shoes asked.

"Yes."

Shinohara Shiori responded, and the reverie in her mind dissipated like smoke. She quickened her pace and put the indoor shoes she had just changed into the shoe cabinet.

She stood up and walked out of the shoe closet.

At around five in the evening, the sky was filled with rosy clouds.

Hirakawa Tetsufumi was standing in front and turned to look at her: "Shinohara-san, you're a little slow."

Shinohara Shiori walked into the golden light and walked forward with the teacher, without denying: "Yes."

"what happened?"

"I'm thinking and preparing for what Mr. Hirakawa said."

"I see. Have you thought about it? It's already this time, you can finally tell me, right?"

Shinohara Shiori nodded slightly.

However, she did not speak immediately. Instead, she looked up and looked at the sky at the moment.

The dense clouds are not closely connected, and between the gaps is the gray-blue sky of the evening.

The setting sun hung obliquely on the skyline, painting the large clouds into a very beautiful crimson color.

In my ears, I could hear the lingering noise of the campus after school, as usual, and the familiar, slow footsteps.

It was the daily routine of the past.

It was a daily routine when the wind band finished practice and walked to the school gate with the teachers around them.

Of course, it was the same look as last semester when the teacher was preparing to visit her home.

When I think about it this way, it seems like it’s always sunset.

But Shinohara Shiori doesn’t hate the sunset, she likes it very much. “The orange afterglow of the sunset brings a touch of nostalgic warmth to everything”, it is true.

The girl began to recall the past and couldn't help but smile.

"Shinohara-san?"

After being immersed in memories for a long time, the teacher beside her began to remind her again.

"Yes, that's right." Shinohara Shiori turned around, smiled and nodded slightly.

She found a very good entry point: "Teacher Pingchuan, do you remember what happened last semester?"

"Last semester?"

"Three-party talks."

"Of course I remember this."

It should be said that it was a very impressive thing, as it was the first time that Tetsufumi Hirakawa faced the crisis of losing his job.

"I still remember that in the office, Shinohara said, 'If you insist on interfering with my will, please find your next job in time'——"

Tetsufumi Hirakawa recalled the scene in his memory and suddenly imitated the girl's cold and serious tone. In the end, he couldn't help laughing himself.

The unexpected answer, especially the teacher's affected tone, made Shinohara Shiori's smile disappear in an instant, and her face became expressionless.

"Teacher Hirakawa."

Hirakawa Tetsufumi was still laughing: "Sorry, I didn't have to bring it up, but Shinohara-san really left a deep impression on me at that time."

Shinohara Shiori didn't want to talk.

After a while, Hirakawa Tetsufumi stopped and said, "Okay, okay, what did Shinohara-san bring up?"

"..."

Shinohara Shiori turned her head away and replied, "Actually, what I want to talk about is, Mr. Hirakawa, when you visited my home that day."

"Home visit, um, what's going on?"

"Thank you very much, Mr. Hirakawa."

It was clearly words of thanks, but because of the interruption by Tetsufumi Hirakawa, the girl's tone was clearly bland.

Hirakawa Tetsufumi looked at the student's face, which had turned cold when his dark history was mentioned, and smiled again: "Does this tone count as gratitude? The teacher was prepared to lose his job when he went there."

"..." After a moment of silence, Shinohara sighed, and finally adjusted her mood. She said very seriously: "I am very grateful to Mr. Hirakawa."

"Actually... it's okay." Now that the student thanked him sincerely, Hirakawa Tetsufumi became humble, "This is the teacher's duty."

“Knowing it is impossible but still doing it—I remember this sentence too.”

"That's good."

"Since that day, Mr. Pingchuan has always been the teacher I respect the most."

"……Um?"

Tetsufumi Hirakawa was stunned for a moment, and looked at the girl next to him in surprise, only to see a pair of extremely serious eyes.

"If it weren't for Mr. Hirakawa, I would have quit the wind band by now."

"This……"

"Thank you so much."

Shinohara Shiori stopped and bowed properly to Hirakawa Tetsufumi.

Hirakawa Tetsufumi felt a little embarrassed and stopped walking: "Okay, okay, Shinohara-san, it's OK, the teacher understands, please stand up."

Then Shinohara Shiori stood up, looked him straight in the eye, and emphasized again: "What happened that day will always be in my mind. No matter what happens in the future, my respect for Mr. Hirakawa will never change."

The girl's tone couldn't be more serious, without any falsehood.

Especially the word "respect", which was spoken with particular solemnity.

This reminded Tetsufumi Hirakawa of something.

After a pause, he turned around and walked forward again, smiling and responding: "Okay, Shinohara-san, the teacher got it."

"Yeah." Shinohara Shiori followed.

"Why do you suddenly want to bring up this matter?" asked Tetsufumi Hirakawa.

"I was talking to my mother before and we talked about Mr. Hirakawa."

"Hmm? You talked about me?" Hirakawa Tetsufumi became interested. "What did you say?"

Shinohara Shiori pretended to be indifferent and repeated what her mother had said: "I seem to have heard that Mr. Hirakawa has not been managing the affairs of the wind orchestra recently. If Mr. Hirakawa is so busy, do we need to change the instructor of the wind orchestra?"

"..."

"..."

There was a long silence.