Tuesday
Night
AS SOON AS I TRANSFORMED that night, I rushed to the school. I had no idea when Motoda and his goons planned to show up, which meant that it could happen today. Having a group of boys and one girl all alone in the school at night could become an issue even outside of bullying.
As I arrived at the classroom, thinking how throwing a monster into the mix might only exacerbate things, I found that Yano-san had yet to arrive.
How strange, I thought, since it was already during the time that she referred to as midnight break. Perhaps she was depressed about what had happened during the day and had decided not to come for once. Now that I thought about it, that would be perfectly reasonable. The incident with Iguchi was one thing, but to be pinned as a criminal for a crime that no one could ever prove, to be called out and have accusations tossed at her that no one would even think to take back…
“Wah!”
“Gwahh!!”
As I took my seat in the back of the classroom as always, I was startled by a loud sound from behind and let out a shout. At the same time, the black droplets of my body went flying out as they had once before, knocking over the nearby desks. The violent sound of the chairs striking the floor overlapped with the sound of the cleaning supply cabinet closing.
“Hey.”
A few seconds after I called out, the cabinet creaked open. Inside was Yano-san, tittering evilly, her eyes two crescent moons.
I grew immediately annoyed. That was becoming something of a nightly occurrence. And here I had been worrying about her. “Quit it. For all we know those guys might show up today.”
“Do you know…when Noto-sensei’s birthday…is?”
“Now, look…”
She really needed to be more serious about this, I thought, and then stopped myself. Surely this bad habit of not listening when others spoke had been thoroughly ingrained over the dozen-odd years she had lived up until now. I could see in her eyes that she thought absolutely nothing of my warning.
Still, why on earth was she talking about Noto-sensei’s birthday?
“I dunno. How come?”
“It’s…next week.”
“And how’d you learn when her birthday is?”
“I…asked her. She’ll be…thirty-three.”
Two things about that surprised me. The first was that Noto-sensei was thirty-three. Kasai had already told me that she was probably around thirty, but I had been thoroughly convinced that she was still in her twenties. And I wasn’t the only one—all of the students called her “Non-chan,” like it was nothing. The second was that Yano-san was on good enough terms with Noto-sensei to be discussing her birthday with her. Maybe she escaped to the nurse’s office to take breaks when she got overwhelmed, like Noto-sensei was always encouraging us to do.
Of course, what one counted as “overwhelmed” was a matter of perspective.
Yano-san clambered out of the supply cabinet and swayed her way over to her seat. Now, we were in our usual positions.
“I was thinking…of giving her…a present.”
“Seriously?”
The idea of giving a birthday present to a teacher was shocking, but now that I thought about it, plenty of girls gave chocolates to the young male teachers on Valentine’s. It really wasn’t all that strange a notion. There was just something very peculiar about the idea of Yano-san being the one to do it.
“Well, I guess that’d be good?”
“Are you…the kind who pushes something you like…on other people…as presents? Or the kind…who gives people things…that they like?”
“I’m the type who gives something appropriate that won’t cause trouble for them.”
“Is appropriate…different from adequate?”
What do you think? I thought, shaking my head side to side. “Appropriate means thinking about how the other person might react and choosing a gift that most people would be a least a little bit happy to receive.”
“Hmm… It’s hard to…live, when you have to think about so many different…things.”
To me, it would be much harder to live without considering all of these things, but that was a topic I was not about to broach.
“I want to try to live…a bit more simply than…that.”
“Yano-san…don’t you think things would be better if you did think about things a little more?”
That much of a warning was appropriate, I felt.
“But then things would…be as hard for me…as they are for you.”
“…My life isn’t all that hard.”
Not like yours, I meant.
“It’s fine. Don’t worry so…much, Acchi-kun.”
No, I had just said that my life wasn’t hard. Listen for once. Being needlessly comforted was truly grating.
I tried to make what I thought was a slightly unhappy face, but Yano-san continued.
“Noto-sensei was saying…something.”
“What?” I asked.
Still sitting in her chair, facing me, Yano-san patted her chest. Perhaps she was imitating Noto-sensei or something. “Difficult things can be good…for you. Keep on…living. You can live a bit…more freely, once you’re an adult.”
“…”
“What do…you think? Moving…isn’t it?”
Yano-san, reveling in it all, appeared to mistake my silence for deep emotion. It occurred to me that demanding someone be moved was a surefire way to break the mood.
I wasn’t silent though. I was dumbfounded that Yano-san had so proudly related those words.
Noto-sensei knew what was going on with Yano-san, and she had given that advice to her. Somehow, she knew all about how Yano-san was treated by the class, what her daily life was like at school.
If she knew, then why hadn’t she done anything? Why had she only given her those knowing words, instead of stepping in to save her? She was a teacher, wasn’t she? An adult.
My whole body shuddered.
“What’s…wrong?”
“Nothing,” I said.
Honestly, I got it. I understood. If Noto-sensei knew about it, then that probably meant that she couldn’t interfere. Within the bounds of the classroom, within the bounds of the class, within the bounds of our shared unity, teachers and other adults were outsiders through and through. Those of us on the inside knew that better than anyone else.
Nothing could be done from the outside. If anyone were to meddle, things might just end up much, much worse.
“Are…you hungry?”
“Wait, now that I think about it, doesn’t talking about Noto-sensei count as talking about the daytime?”
I offered up her usual retort, forming a grin with my monstrous mouth. Of course, it was not that I actually intended to do her any harm. More than anything, I thought that employing her usual mysterious logic might give me some kind of escape, or maybe she’d pretended not to hear me and I could change the subject or something. Either one would distract her from my silence, so either one was fine.
However…
“It’s not a daytime topic, so it’s…fine,” said Yano-san.
“…What do you mean?”
“C’mon, Acchi-kun, let’s fix…the desks. You’re the one who knocked them…over, after all. The…poor things.”
As usual, she had no interest in actually talking, so I said nothing more, silently fixing up the desks. Yano-san clumsily tried to help, but her hands kept slipping, sending the desks tumbling once again to the ground. Pity the poor furniture that suffered at her hands.
“Be careful. What’ll you do if someone hears that noise?”
“Who?”
“The guards, or those other guys, if they came here.”
“Isn’t it good if the in…vade…ers find us?”
It took me about ten seconds to reconstruct that word in my head into “invaders.” Honestly, that seemed like a term better applied to a kaiju.
“You want them to find us?”
“If not, then how…will you chase them off, Acchi…kun?”
“Ah, gotcha. If I don’t scare them off, they might set up base here.”
“Yes…ob…vi…ously.”
Seriously?