Chapter 1711 Interrupted Quality Time
Going down the Administration Building, my feet turned to the direction of the faculty. I peeked into the room in hopes of catching Shio and Eguchi-sensei. That way, I wouldn’t look suspicious when I walked straight towards their office.
Unfortunately, none of the two women were inside the faculty but someone else found and approached me before I could walk away.
It’s the 2nd-year PE Teacher and the Advisor of the Volleyball Club, Orimura-sensei.
“Did you get called by Ryouko again?”
That’s the first question she brought up as soon as she pulled me to the side to stop me from blocking the door.
As always, she looked like she was not pleased to see me but at the same time, there’s this hint of amusement hanging over her head. If I had to describe it, Orimura-sensei was like parents who caught their kid stealing candy from their candy jar. A wicked grin rose from her lips and most likely, she was already imagining me making all sorts of excuses. Hence, the amusement.
Well, apart from seeing her from afar these past few days, we didn’t have a lot of encounters. And I was thankful that she had yet to walk in on Eguchi-sensei and me when we were cuddling each other in her office. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be this amused to see my face.
“Yes. I was late to school so she told me to look for her. I see that she’s not here.”
That’s a valid reason. But Orimura-sensei stared at me for a few seconds, perhaps trying to ascertain whether I was making it up or not.
Obviously, she leaned more on not believing my excuse as her grin stretched further to the side. Well, she’s turned like this upon finding out what her friend feels about me. It’s like she wanted to protect her from making a mistake but at the same time, she couldn’t really rob Eguchi-sensei of the only male student she managed to get comfortable with.
Crossing her arms, Orimura-sensei seemed to be weighing something else. Then, she peeked her head in the faculty, shouting to another teacher who she was conversing with earlier, saying she’d have to step out for a while.
Once that was done, she faced me again and said, “She’s in her room. Let’s go, I’ll accompany you.”
With the way she didn’t wait for my response and stepped past me to start walking in the direction of the private rooms, she was not going to take no for an answer.
Uh. I guess it’s my fault for being caught by her. But then again, it’s probably better this way than having her catch us in the act.
Upon arriving there, we were welcomed by Eguchi-sensei’s cheerful smile.
Ah no. She was probably only expecting me and when she found her friend, that smile froze for a moment.
Thankfully, Orimura-sensei failed to notice something wrong with it and Eguchi-sensei skillfully recovered from that.
I noticed a slight hint of disappointment in her eyes though. She’s probably looking forward to my appearance but with Orimura-sensei here, we wouldn’t be able to act according to our current intimacy with each other.
Orimura-sensei walked in ahead and continued to the same sofa she often laid on.
With her back temporarily turned to us, that gave me the chance to draw closer to Eguchi-sensei. I walked over and whispered, “Don’t worry, Ryouko-san. I’ll make it up to you next time.”
Understanding what I meant, Eguchi-sensei nodded before furtively clasping my hand. I responded by letting my fingers fill the gaps in her hand and hiding our connection.
We then walked over to Orimura-sensei who was once again about to lay down on it.
Perhaps thinking of ways to prolong our connection, Eguchi-sensei pushed her friend to the side, opening up the space for us.
And with that, the situation turned out a little awkward as the three of us occupied the long sofa. Moreover, because of our linked hands that we continued to hide behind us, I ended up sitting in the middle of them.
With our shoulders touching due to how limited the space became, Orimura-sensei raised an eyebrow as she stared at me suspiciously.
I put on a silly and awkward smile causing her to sneer. But upon seeing Eguchi-sensei acting calm and unbothered, she didn’t continue snarling at me. She released a resigned sigh though.
I mean, even without explicitly stating it, it wouldn’t be hard for her to get a hint on the reason why we ended up this way.
“Ryouko... Is this how you’re supposed to scold him for being late? Sandwiching him between us?”
“No. I improvised, Sanae. You’re here with us so I thought... why don’t I employ your help as well?”
Upon hearing that, Orimura-sensei stared at her friend for a long while before breaking into a forced smile, “This is unusual of you, Ryouko. You normally want to dole out punishment yourself but with this idiot... Ugh... Alright. Forget I said anything.”
Shaking her head, Orimura-sensei didn’t continue with her words. Looking at my side and how her grip tightened, Eguchi-sensei’s pressure-filled gaze must’ve cowed her to relent.
A moment later, I could feel my side being pinched by a strong grip. It’s not painful but it’s also not your normal pinch using a thumb and a forefinger but a whole hand gripping tightly on my side.
Yep. It’s Orimura-sensei taking out her frustration on me.
Reading how tumultuous this situation had become, I opened my mouth in an attempt to calm the waters down.
“Uhm. Can I say something?” I raised my hand, drawing both of their attention.
Eguchi-sensei embarrassedly nodded. She probably understood what she did. On the other hand, Orimura-sensei simply put me under her sharp gaze while keeping her hold on my side.
“It feels a little hot in here. Should I get us some refreshments?” Upon saying that, I let go of Eguchi-sensei’s hand before walking over to her mini-fridge.
Maybe not expecting that move from me, both teachers stared at me in disbelief before their eyes landed on each other. A few seconds of silence later, the two of them burst into a peal of joyful laughter.
“Yeah. Get me a beer, shameless boy.” That’s Orimura-sensei. Her eyebrows relaxed and she’s more amused now than suspicious. Well, she’s still suspicious about us but she probably decided not to openly act like that anymore.
As for Eguchi-sensei, she clasped her hands together and released a long breath before answering me, “Um. I’ll take water, Onoda-kun. Get yourself a drink too. I stock up on soda and juice there.”
She got her head in order too. I mean, she became a little impulsive there. I only planned to hold her hand for a bit since there was Orimura-sensei in the same room as us but Eguchi-sensei pushed the situation to the point that she became a little confrontational at Orimura-sensei’s presence here – which also gave more hint that my visit here wouldn’t just be because I was going to be scolded for being late.
Maybe they’ll have another talk about this later with just the two of them but at the moment, they decided to let go of the issue.
After taking a bottle of water, beer, and soda from the fridge, I walked back to them and handed them their drinks.
Following that, I sat back down in the middle, squeezing myself in between the two teachers.
This time, Eguchi-sensei didn’t hesitate to open up more space by moving her body a bit to the side, allowing the side of her bountiful front to press against my arm. As always, it was a heavenly feeling.
As for Orimura-sensei, she rolled her eyes at me before taking a huge gulp of her beer. Even if she wanted to berate me or comment on how close we’d become, she already knew that it would be like nagging to the air. It’s a hopeless endeavor.
With this, although Eguchi-sensei and I didn’t get our ‘quality time’, we got into a pretty interesting conversation that produced laughter from us three. And during it, the boundary between our role of being teacher and student faded a bit.
Yep. In the end, despite her nagging suspicion, Orimura-sensei stopped looking at me through the lens of a teacher. In her eyes, I became the shameless guy who charmed her best friend. She wanted to tear me apart but she knew she wouldn’t be able to do it because of Eguchi-sensei.
As for the supposed scolding, let’s just say Orimura-sensei handed it out using her snappish remarks every time I would say something shameless.
Follow current nov𝒆ls on freew(𝒆)bnov𝒆l.(c)om