She never did finish the tea.
She would have liked to file a complaint or two, saying something like, “Don’t serve such lousy tea to customers,” but Azuri dutifully paid the bill and left the restaurant.
The snow had stopped, but a chill caressed Azuri’s cheeks. Firmly adjusting the strap of her bag on her shoulder, Azuri began to walk through the town. It was just past one in the afternoon. The rest of the world was on winter vacation, and nobody took notice of a young girl walking by herself at this time of day.
In fact, several young boys and girls—about the same age as Azuri—were going to and fro. Other than the fact that she was wearing clothes that were a bit more expensive than those worn by the average fifth grader, Azuri completely blended in with the rest of town. Of course, she probably wasn’t conscious of her appearance.
By now, it had most likely become apparent that she was gone from the house. She didn’t want to neglect caution. The adults would search for her. She needed to make sure that she wouldn’t be found.
“…Ah.”
Just as she was reminding herself to be careful, she ran into a familiar face.
“Huh? Azuri?”
It was her school teacher, Harakami Seigo. He was a young teacher who taught art to Azuri’s class. He wore a gray coat over the suit he always wore at school. His collar was pulled up.
Does he think he’s being fashionable? Azuri thought.
Seigo asked a very typical question in his very typical manner. “What are you doing here? Shopping?”
This might actually turn out to be a good situation for Azuri. This guy was different from the other teachers and adults she knew. He seemed a bit detached from the world and never appeared to work very hard at school. In fact, the first impression he gave was that of a useless adult.
But in truth, it wasn’t as if he was cutting comers. He simply didn’t want to burn any excess energy, so he was always being natural.
He called his students by their first names, like “Azuri.” And he would say, “You don’t need to call me ‘sensei’ or anything. I’m not that type anyway.”
So the students would casually call him “Seigo” or “Seigo-chan” or “Sei-chan.”
Not that they were belittling him or making fun of him, mind you. His looks weren’t bad, and since he was young he was actually quite popular. He kept his clothes and appearance neat, and even now he wore his suit well. There was an enormous difference between him and the P.E. teachers who wore sweat suits all the time.
During lunch break, Seigo would even play serious soccer with the boys. The other teachers, even the P.E. teachers, would never do a thing like that. In fact, they would most likely protest, saying things like, “What if you get hurt, playing so hard like that?” The PTA would complain too.
At such a prestigious institution, where the rules were worshipped, this man stuck out like a sore thumb.
But if one were to debate the rules, what about teachers who wear sweat suits then? Azuri thought.
Azuri didn’t dislike Seigo. But it wasn’t as if she particularly liked him either.
He’s not my type is how she felt about him. However, Azuri did like his drawings.
The class had once gone on an excursion to do some sketching, as an extracurricular activity. Seigo, instead of sketching the scenery, had drawn the faces of the students as they sketched things around them. The rough drawings he’d made had emanated warmth and a gentle nature.
It wasn’t about whether Seigo was good or bad. He just seemed nice. That’s it.
To Azuri, there was one other thing that made Seigo different from the other adults. He didn’t look at her with pity in his eyes, nor did he try to sympathize with her as the other adults did. He simply approached her the way he always had before.
Azuri stared straight into Seigo’s eyes. For some reason, the teacher began to stutter. “Uh, well, this. Uh, no… It’s, uh, well, uh…”
Hm…?
Azuri looked in the direction from which Seigo had come, and the reason behind his stuttering dawned on her. Right in front of her was a pachinko parlor.[1]
Ah, so that’s it.
Complaints from other teachers were one thing, but if he was caught playing pachinko, he would suffer a deluge of complaints, this time from parents. He would surely be sacked under the pretense that he was setting a bad example. He was already having trouble conforming to the norm, so he probably wanted to avoid any further lectures or negative incidents.
“Uh, y’know. It’s like… I can’t very well deal with all this stress now, can I?” He was obviously trying very hard to squeeze out an excuse. “So… like I said, it’s stress relief. Yeah, I’m the stress-relief king.”
Azuri found it hard to understand; was he just joking or what? Seigo could do nothing but laugh nervously under the girl’s cold stare.
“Seigo-kun,” Azuri said. “Hang out with me for a bit… I have money.”
✦ ✦ ✦
—Ring.
The white shadow stood by, as if it were one with the snow.
“What are you going to do?” asked the black cat standing next to it.
The white shadow cocked her head, indicating that she had no clue. “Who knows…”
The black cat dexterously folded his forepaws together in irritation. “You always say that,” the cat said. “But you do know.”
“Well, I really don’t know anything. I’m sure that girl knows, though.”
The white shadow melted into the snow.