"Thank you for the massage, sensei. I had no idea I needed that."
If there was one thing that I should be thankful for, it would be Hayashi-sensei not being as strong as Eguchi-sensei or Ayu. Despite her best effort to discipline me, it only made me grimace a bit before I could start enduring it. Eventually, I turned to the woman and grinned, teasing her out of her mind.
"You're such a…" Not finishing her sentence, Hayashi-sensei soon gave up and sighed. "Nevermind. I'm just going to stress myself over you if I continue."
Leaving my head alone, she plopped back on the comfort of this couch.
Looking at her like this, it kind of peeled her image in my mind as someone hard to interact with. I mean, she's mysterious in my eyes at first then she turned out to be the Director of this school and Shizu's mentor. I only started becoming bold with her when I became aware of her connection to my parents.
But at this moment, she's more like herself without the attached 'Director' or 'Mysterious School Nurse' in her name. And with her great attachment to anything related to my father, she's now like an open book to me.
That's why it's this easy to tease her.
"I'd say, great decision, sensei. You saved yourself from being teased to death."
Upon saying that, I glanced at Hayashi-sensei. Not surprisingly, her annoyed gaze remained focused on me or just on my frame that, if I wasn't wrong, was similar to my father during their time. I couldn't help but notice that hint of melancholy in her eyes. Maybe she's looking back to their past when my father was still attainable for her.
Really, she's not getting younger. For her to be stuck to her first love for that long, it's kind of amazing. Most women will have already moved on and made their own families.
She has the time and money yet she remains stuck in time.
Although that probably started moving now that she decided to give up, it wouldn't be easy for her…
My presence here also won't help her. In fact, I am probably slowing her down further.
In my defense, I'm not the one who approached her. I didn't even visit her for the advising sessions that Shizu arranged when the girl introduced me to her. Hayashi-sensei herself called out to me to give me that task.
And now, we're here at this point.
"Stop staring at me like that, you brat!" Perhaps noticing my contemplative gaze fixing on her, her arm suddenly whipped out and grabbed my shoulder.
As her grip tightened around it, I sensed a pulling force that wanted to drag me with her.
I could easily resist that but just this once and maybe to catch her off guard, I didn't fight back against it.
A moment later, my back was cushioned and burrowed to the softness of this couch's backrest.
And as I expected, Hayashi-sensei who probably thought I would be resisting went wide-eyed when she easily pulled me down. Shifting my head a bit to the side to face her directly, I soon stretched my lips into a grin as her expression scrunched up, not knowing how to react.
"What's the matter, sensei? You don't like what you're seeing? And here I thought you had something planned." I playfully asked.
"You brat. Your face keeps reminding me of your father. Turn that away."
My father again, huh?
I still have to open the box to see what kind of reward she prepared but somehow, I found my curiosity over her obsession with my father rising in my head.
"Hmm… What if I don't want to? You know. I can still take another reward if sensei will give it to me."
"Shut up, brat. Follow the words of your elder." Hayashi-sensei snapped. Her eyes also started to shake as if something was bubbling up inside her.
"Sensei, you know that's not going to work, right? At least use your authority over me. Right now, I cannot see past the woman who was in love with my father." I paused for a moment, before lowering my gaze. Not at her the valley that was exposed to me at this angle but at her shoulder, "That aside, I can use a pillow. Is it fine to lean my head on your shoulder?"
"No!"
What a swift answer.
Following that, she straightened up her back and fixed her posture. I had no idea if it was intentional but by doing that, her shoulder lined perfectly on my head, inviting my head to rest on it.
After thinking for a moment, I accepted the unspoken invitation, settling my head on it before whispering, "Thanks, sensei. I thought you said no."
"I did say no, you brat. Who told you to put your head there? Ugh. Never mind. You still managed to stress me with all your shenanigans. I don't care anymore."
She huffed and audibly sighed. But even without looking up at her current expression, I could somehow sense contentment from her bodily movements. Perhaps if she let go of what was going on in her head at the moment, she'd probably place her hand on my head to pat and lock me in her arms.
"Alright. I'll stop trying to tease you, sensei. But then again, I believe you need this just based on my observation of you."
"What observation?"
"That my presence alone keeps reminding you of him. So, I thought… why don't I act like my father for you? At least just for this moment. While I'm borrowing your shoulder."
Before she replied, Hayashi-sensei stifled her laughter and flicked my forehead. Owing to the fact that I wasn't looking directly at her and I didn't expect that, I failed to prepare for that.
"Shameless brat. Indeed, you remind me of him. However, I'm still not at the point where I need someone to act like him. You're as shameless as him but you're still immature in my eyes."
Immature, huh? Now that's new. I was always called too mature for my age. It's a surprise that Hayashi-sensei would call me that.
Ignorance really is bliss.
"I see… Then I guess there's no need for me to worry, huh?"
"You? Worrying about? Hah. Brat, you're really extraordinary."
Hayashi-sensei shook her head and this time, her hand finally landed on my head. As she started patting it like she wanted to convey her gratitude for my concern, she added, "You know what? Thanks to this, you completely separated your image from your father in my head. That idiot had never expressed this much concern over me."
A moment later, she sighed once again but this time, it was a relieved one as if she managed to air out the discomfort she was nursing inside her.
Little by little, her pats became gentler and instead of just holding my head down, she also started brushing my hair with her fingers.
And while she was doing that, none of us uttered another word.
However, the situation couldn't stay this way, right? And so, after gauging that it was time to move the direction of our conversation back to its original path, I raised my hand that was still clutching the box Hayashi-sensei gave me.
"Uh… By the way, what is in this box, sensei? Should I expect a ring or something?"
"You fool. It's not. Why are you still not opening that, anyway?" She clutched my hair and reached for the box.
And with her hand movements being a little impatient, she opened it up to reveal what was inside it. A small badge depicting the logo of the school is strapped into a large key. Not a door key but possibly a gate key.
And to confirm my guess, she continued, "Aren't you going to renovate that one clubhouse? You can use that to open the back gate if you're going to deliver furniture. Just don't use that key to do something shady. If something happens, I'll hold you accountable."
Yep. It's really a key. A very convenient one. Mutsumi-senpai will probably be happy to hear about this. She won't need to smuggle things inside the school grounds anymore.
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