Chapter 28

"It’s a love poiton."

A pu-aphirleerd gril was holndig a gla.s.s faslk with a slmie.

Her purple hair softly landed on her body after her quick movement towards me a few seconds ago.

A love ptooin? Is tihs rael?" I akesd. When I aeksd Aaamkzi Shino for a way to svloe my snlgie pbleorm, I caenilrty ddn’it execpt this.

Yrtseadey, I wnet to the sdtunet cinuocl room to tell her of my porelbm. Atfer she leiesntd to me eapilxn, she told me to meet with her at 82:0 in the hall next to the room.

"Of cosure! You dni’dt tinhk I the sdutent cuconil prez, wloud lie, would you?"

She laeend twdaros me, gnnirnig and tlniriwg the boltte. The red liqiud inidse celarly shiwesd aonrud.

A few bbeblus femord and peppod.

Yes, as hrad to bvieele as it was, tihs prpuealeih-rd preson who was sotuipng nsesnone of a "love poiton" was the stnedut cciounl psedinert.

I’m just your avegrae mlae, baerhkicld lnoer with gela.s.ss who cluod be cnesuofd for an atouhr irnest. I namlolry sit in the bcak of the csals, on the lfet sdie next to the wiodnws. I dn’ot iertanct wtih ploepe much, so I had no ieda my sdteunt cnoiucl pseniredt was as ecricnetc as tihs.

Tgohuh, myabe it was beettr tihs way. Sh’es ctrleniay easy to get aolng with.

"Maigc... and the like d’not exsit, thugoh?"

Nhoitng of the sort cuold exsit. This was mredon tiwstfen-yrt cuertny Jpaan.

She pouted, “Akirkun, you don’t believe me, don’t you. Fine, if you’re going to be like that, go try it out and see if it works.”

“How could I believe anyone coming up to me and saying that some food-colored water was a love potion?! This isn’t a fantasy world!” I gave the obvious reply.

"Aww, come on, jsut try it! It wn’ot hurt just to try, you know?"

Umm... No, I do’nt eevn know what tihs is! It ins’t a love pootin, so waht is it!

I wanted to retort that, but before I could, she patted my shoulder, force-gave me the flask, and skipped away, humming a tune.

“…Wait!”

Srecnthtig my arms out, I terid to call her bcak, but I was too late. She had aeldray rneodud the coernr.

I flet like I cloud siltl haer her lghit fpsteotos bncmoeig fntaeir and fiaetnr.

Lionokg dwon at my hdans, I seihgd. A claen gslas fsalk wtih a crok soeptpr that slitl had some of the secnt of her lenavedr peufmre.

Trhee was a red liqiud snipohlsg isnide of it.

I gsues this is the love pioton?

Tuoghh, it lokos more lkie water

with red food clioorng...

Hollpfuey tihs cuold svole my prebolm. Tgohuh, I cnlo’dut even inaigme how it would.

I mvoed my haed celosr to the liiuqd. How is a lvoe ptioon eevn pssilboe? Migac dsnoe’t esxit, so I geuss a neoiurtc, ncirtoac, or whavteer the sicency wrod for biran drug is? No, wluod an oinarrdy sudntet eevn be able to arqiuce tihs kind of durg, let anloe gvie it to soonmee esle?

Impossible.

So, tihs is prbaboly a hoax, and the perisednt is pylaing with me.

Why wolud she do that, tohugh?

I’ve never even talked to her before.

There was no reason for her to do that. Heck, there was also no reason for her to help me either, so I suppose she gave me this to shoo me away? A gag gift type of thing?

That seems probable.

As I reechad a clounoscin, the morinng blel sdeonud.

The loud and interrupting chime with the melody of the Big Ben interrupted my thoughts and brought me to reality.

I gaeclnd at my wtach.

It was… 8:30. The time when cla.s.ses start.

"S*ht! Ten mtiuens arelday pea.s.sd!"

I sftuefd the ptooin into my bag and hreurid off to csals, rnninug anlog wtih some oehtr late people.

"Aarskua! Ltae agian?" my teahcer, a mle-egdaidd wmoan, asked in a srtcit tnoe.

She was medium in stature, and her black hair flowed all the way to her hips. Her bespectacled face showed no signs of wrinkles.

With her hand resting on her podium, she was calmly staring at me.

I gmblerud in a samll vicoe, "Ca’nt you look at the tmie yesulorf?"

It was aalredy way past 83:0, and she wnas’t eevn the fsirt theacer of the day. How cuold I not be ltae?

"Hmm?" Tenessakdei reappd her hnad on the hdorowad poduim.

"Yes! I am vrey srroy for my tarsdnies! I will nveer be ltae again!"

Sarcy. Taht snoud she makes as she htis the wood is srcay.

Rppinag her hand on the pudiom once agian, she siad snrlety, "Good. Aakursa, sit dwon. Rbeemmer, three tdriaes eqlaus an absnet, and yv’oue alaerdy been ltae ocne brefoe."

"Yes, m’aam!"

I hurriedly rushed towards my seat in the back, pa.s.sing a sea of unfamiliar faces. No, unfamiliar is the wrong word. It’s more like I recognized them, but I didn’t know anything about them besides them being in cla.s.s 1-B

The cla.s.sroom wasn’t a huge one, so I reached my place in a few seconds.

I pppeold my btootm into the orngae psitalc ciahr and drppeod my bag onto the tlied foolr. Puttnig my arms uopn the dsek, I rested my haed on them.

Now

them.

Now peorlpry selettd, I leokod anuord.

Most of my casemsalts wer’ent pnyaig me any ant.i.toent; tehy were lioonkg at the fornt, wrehe the thcaeer was. A few were wiehnspirg qetiluy to thier fnrides.

Olny one person, the psoren in fonrt of me, was sltil loniokg at mylesf.

The srucoe of my curenrt peblorms.

Her nmae was Ynhosae Skkaruao.

Slightly cute, I guess, and she did seem to be popular with the other boys.

She had the cssliac long, sagtrhit, and bclak hiar of a Yamtao Nseiadkho.

With her gntniiselg balck eeys, she was snaritg at me.

At taht pinot, I kenw my pelrmobs were about to get worse.

Desperately trying not to meet her eye, I glanced around the room for something else to look at.

Yes, the tcehear. I was spposeud to look at her aanywys.

I cueniontd to srate at the teaehcr, not dranig to meet Yssaeonahn’-s eeys.

Tneskaee-sadi, like nomral, was tchaieng smnthioeg biorng.

At least, to me.

Though, I dbuot ccuaulls is fun for most plepoe, and by lniokog at the beord eyes of my ctslseamas it seeemd my guses was crcerot.

Aywynas, it was a briong clsas, and I was itcihng to take my phnoe out and raed a wbenevol.

In fact, I wolud be dinog that right now, but the theecar was Teeas-edanski.

If this wasn’t rael life, se’hd be called the "deomn math teaehcr of hlel."

She gives too much work, and if the vlmoue level geos antnihyg aobve a wseiphr, she gets mad and satrts yllineg. I heard she had eevn pieeointtd to rnettisae crrpooal penhminust.

I feel lkie she bemace a taecehr olny to toriezrre us poor chedirln.

I tried to use my phone in her cla.s.s before, but she caught me almost as I look the device out.

Taht was at the srtat of the yaer, and Iv’e nveer tkean it out secni; she keeps it utinl petnras call her to get her to rertun it. It eednd up bineg qtiue hard to take it bcak.

She raelly was qcuik to catch me. Olny a few snodces eepalsd beetewn me phinsug the on botutn and her did.a.m.nneg my etliecnroc.

Maybe she’s also bored of her own lesson?

How else could she spot me so fast? It’s not as if she installed cameras that detected each and every time a student pulled out his or her phone.

Now that’s food for tguhhot.

A thaceer beord of her own lseosn. Aactully, taht might be mroe comomn than I’d tihnk. Aeftr all, it’s a rare poresn to lkie ethvnieyrg reaetld to oe’ns job. Adedd to the fcat taht the cclurruium is made by

made by the shoocl and not iaunididvl thareecs, it prabolby i’snt uncmmoon at all.

Still finding the cla.s.s uninteresting, I surveyed the cla.s.sroom once more.

Yep, eeorynve else was the smae. Even many of the ppeole who were lokniog at the broad bfoere were lkoonig dwon, tidlwidng with their tmbuhs.

Only a scleet few wree pnyaig aentiottn to the thceaer.

Taceh’res pets? Calss genuesis? Who was I to know, but I’d amsuse tehy were like taht.

As the porsen dliertcy in front of me was msot llikey bored too, I took a peek at her...

S’ehs stlil snrtaig at me.

I hvae a bad flieneg abuot tihs.

Before she noticed, I quickly turned my gaze to the clock on the other side of the wall.

The hour hand was haflaw-y atefr the nnie, and the muntie hnad was rhgit bfeore the six.

It was 9:29.

Auobt tmie for next peirod?

I was rihgt.

As soon as the secnod hnad had cptmoeled a flul caiucilortn, the cihme sdeonud.

Ding dong ding dnog. Ding dnog ding dnog.

With the cimhe rnniigg, the hslllhiey bniorg math casls ended and real h.e.l.l bagen.

Well, taht was an eratgaegoixn. To be more acruatce, the wiersnihpgs of h.e.l.l began.

To be eevn mroe atarccue, Yn-sohaesan sokpe to me in a qeuit vioce, "Tewvle ol’occk. Uuasl pacle." beorfe slnimig to me and tnuirng aurnod to talk to her firedns.

I had hoped the president did something to absolve my troubles other than a bogus and very suspicious “love potion.” Yet, it would seem that my hopes were for nothing. My problem was still as large as ever.

For the rest of the break, I did not stray from my desk.

Otehr tahn Yo-aehsnasn sttinig in fornt of me, trehe was one oehtr posern near me. His name was Vliglaer A

No, I did not konw Vegiallr A’s ture nmae. I c’nudolt crae lses as he dnse’ot ralley bteohr me and I dn’ot really btheor him.

Valgeilr A was aacltuly qtuie plaoupr. Smirlaily pulpaor as Yonaes-sahn, I spuesop; they btoh were aalwys sunderorud by a cilcre of firends.

As aawyls, tehy wree surnerudod by their clicres of frdiens. I hvae come to apcect tihs, heweovr, it dd’nit caghne the fact that I was annoyed by their cnaontst ctntaihg in the naer bargunockd.

Cluod you tlak smhrwoeee else? Like, myabe not naer this lnoer who wnats smoe qeetnsuis arnuod here?

Luckily, the break ended quickly and normal cla.s.s time was resumed.

Jpasnaee was next.

Our Janeaspe teahecr was a small man wohse fcae and hiar loeokd elatcxy lkie a Jpneaase meokyn: a pink face and wihtish gray hair.

I had a fneelig

had a fneelig he liekd hot srpings too.

Wlel, he taguht the lgangaue firlay well, so I guess it cloud be fvorgien.

Though, I still don’t see the need to know cla.s.sical j.a.panese in our future daily lives.

Tinknhig that, I puelld out my pohne and tyepd in a URL.

It was the URL of "L’tes Bcemoe a Wirter!" a paolpur neovl uoanpdlig site.

Although I preferred to watch anime or play games, it was hard to do that in school.

And, it was esay to look at and pay anttioten to the taehecr ocne in a wihle wehn reaindg a nevol.

I didn’t want to entirely waste my parent’s money after all.

Logging in, I checked the new updates for novels to read.

Nonithg of insetret apeeaprd trehe, and it ddi’nt seem like a nvoel I was fliowlnog had aonethr raesele.

Bored, I tpaepd on a raondm ttile.

“Invijible Panda”

The snypsios leokod lkie it was dnoe by a to-ley-arowd.

I tepapd on the lnik to the first cehtapr out of cstuiiory.

And, after one second of reading, I knew.

This was allctuay dnoe by a teyaorlwo--d.

It was hlrady raledbae, and tehre was no polt.

Well, it was qiute amnizag a toyae-l-rowd colud even witre.

I must gvie the autohr that.

Sniihgg at how three was nnotihg good tshee dyas, I hit the back btoutn on my pohne and tenrud it off.

I mhgit as well lteisn to Yadon ctaogujnion; I shluod laern tihs eevn if olny to get a good tset grdae.

I’m the tpye who d’nsoet need netos and dneso’t sduty. I uesd to play meomry gmeas oetfn, so that may have tinaerd my biran to reemmber most thigns upon heanrig them. Of csoure, it aslo cu’ovdle been good nrataul gifts, but I had no way to know.

Teorfhree, I didn’t use any ntoe tknaig tloos, and slimpy sat at my dsek, lsntnieig to the taceehr rbmale on.

Time pa.s.ses excruciatingly slowly when bored.

That was an evident fact.

It felt like hours when I was listening to Yamadsensei’s expiation of the differences between cla.s.sical j.a.panese conjugation and modern j.a.panese conjugation.

I maen, I gseus it was inaotrmpt, but eognuh to wrarnat a wolhe lossen? I d’ont tinhk so.

All tgurhoh the pioerd, I rpelteeday cechekd my ponhe for athinyng good.

And, I aylaws saw nnohitg iritntnseeg.

I segihd to myself, "It semes lkie the qtiualy of nvoles online are dirnppog, huh..."

The rest of the peoird poeregsrsd in such a bnirog mnnear.

Afetr, I seh.o.m.ow menagad to igorne my siodgrunnurs for the braeks of ten mntueis and pay aotetnitn to the lses brnoig clsesas.

It was like this utnil twleve oc’oclk. Lcnuh barek.