Chapter 32: Old Acquaintance

Chapter 32: Old Acquaintance

Monday, a Monday without sunlight shining everywhere.

Instead, a light rain was falling.

As though it were a continuation of yesterday’s thunderstorm.

With no other choice, Yatsuno Gen opened an umbrella. In truth, he really did not like using umbrellas very much, not because he found it tiring. It was just that the already muggy weather, combined with the damp air, made it feel as though even one’s clothes would trap a sour smell inside them.

Of course, this did not show on Yatsuno Gen. After all, with the support of his cultivation method, there was no corner on his body where filth could hide.

Calling him a fragrant, soft, beautiful young man would not be an exaggeration at all.

He was still the most eye-catching young man on this bus, and there were still girls of a similar age secretly taking photos of his profile as he gazed out the window.

With a casual look at the forum, one could see that every day, someone posted photos of him from all kinds of angles on the school forum, making Yatsuno Gen almost think the school forum had become a gathering place for his fans.

Of course, there were also photos of other people, such as Kazama Sakura, and also Asagiri Rin.

But why did their discussion seem lower than his?

On the bus, he casually glanced at Self, looking through the latest news as well as the newest works of borderline provocative bloggers.

Then there was Kiyono Mitsuki: [Is it raining outside?]

Yatsuno Gen: [Your legs can’t move. You’re not blind. Can’t you see?]

Kiyono Mitsuki: [Can’t I just be unable to see clearly?]

Yatsuno Gen: [It is raining, Your Highness.]

Kiyono Mitsuki: [Did you bring an umbrella?]

Yatsuno Gen: [No. Are you going to bring me one?]

Kiyono Mitsuki: [Go die.]

Looking at his phone, Yatsuno Gen could not help laughing out loud, causing some of the boys and girls beside him, who had already been secretly paying attention to him, to cast even more direct gazes his way.

Fortunately, the bus had already reached the stop.

Yatsuno Gen put away his phone.

To be honest, if all his chat records with Kiyono Mitsuki were made public, people would probably condemn him for discriminating against people with disabilities, and for PUA toward women, right?

But he did not care much about that.

Or rather, speaking to Kiyono Mitsuki this way was exactly what proved he was not giving her special treatment and was completely treating her by the standards of an ordinary person.

Holding his umbrella, he entered the school, and someone greeted him.

“Yatsuno!”

A familiar voice, so familiar that he could almost never mistake it. Holding his umbrella, Yatsuno Gen turned around and saw Miura Akihiko, also holding an umbrella, grinning at him cheekily.

Miura Akihiko stepped carelessly into the small puddles on the ground with his expensive sneakers, as though it did not matter how dirty they became.

Just watching him made Yatsuno Gen feel a little distressed.

In this world, some people struggled to the point of exhaustion for a few hundred yen, while others did not treat money as money. One could not exactly blame anyone, nor could one demand that everyone possess saintlike kindness and empathy.

“Good morning.”

Yatsuno Gen returned the greeting.

Miura Akihiko smiled and moved closer to Yatsuno Gen, only to see Yatsuno Gen quietly take one step back.

The young man instantly felt rather hurt and looked at him.

“Why did you step back?”

Yatsuno Gen answered calmly, “I was afraid you’d splash water onto me.”

Miura Akihiko said in annoyance, “Why are you acting like a girl? Why do you love cleanliness so much?”

“It’s not as if anyone said boys have to be sloppy, right? Don’t tell me you think being covered in dirt is what masculine spirit means.”

Miura Akihiko asked strangely, “Isn’t it?”

“...”

“I’ve always thought that smelling of sweat after exercise and having a beard is what makes a real man.”

“Then your aesthetic taste is a little too advanced. It’s more suited to dying alone.”

“Hey!”

“All right. Tell me why you’re so happy.”

After teasing him a little, Yatsuno Gen changed the subject as they walked toward the classroom together.

“Because every school day when I get to see you makes me instinctively happy.”

Yatsuno Gen glanced at Miura Akihiko beside him.

Miura Akihiko blinked deliberately in a cute manner.

“What?”

“Although I haven’t started dating yet, that doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with my sexual orientation.”

“Screw you! You’re the one with something wrong with your sexual orientation. Isn’t this me showing the bond between us brothers?”

“What kind of brothers show their bond like that? You’re not a television drama, so why are you trying to sell male intimacy as fanservice?”

“Speaking of which, do you also think television dramas nowadays really like selling male intimacy as fanservice?”

As they went upstairs together, the hallway was noisy with human voices, and the sound of ohayo could be heard everywhere. [NOTE: ohayo is a casual Japanese morning greeting meaning good morning.] Remembering that the last time he had heard that sound so frequently had been long ago when he watched anime, Yatsuno Gen suddenly felt like chasing after his lost youth beneath the setting sun.

Yatsuno Gen nodded.

“Isn’t that the trend nowadays? Good-looking male celebrities were already a kind of commodity, it’s just that the ways they are used have become increasingly skewed. Or perhaps one could say that there are now more and more women in society who like to flaunt their unusual sexual orientations, which has become one factor influencing the market.”

Miura Akihiko looked at Yatsuno Gen strangely.

“What are you talking about? Why can’t I understand any of it?”

Yatsuno Gen held back the urge to roll his eyes, then said calmly,

“Put simply, current market demand requires television dramas to present elements of male intimacy as fanservice, so there are more and more dramas like that.”

“Wouldn’t I have understood if you’d just said it that way? I’ve noticed you also really like making simple things sound complicated so people can’t understand them. My dad likes talking like that too.”

Yatsuno Gen looked at the young man beside him.

“Then do I look like your dad?”

“I think you’re asking to taste my iron fist. By the way, why do people talk like that? And why do they like it more the older they get?”

“Very simple. Because it makes them look like they understand a lot.”

“Oh, like those famous sayings in textbooks?”

“That’s different. Famous sayings are complicated because the speaker is afraid of being wrong, so they speak comprehensively.”

“No, no. If this topic keeps going, I might fall asleep in first period.”

Realizing that the topic was becoming increasingly strange, Miura Akihiko stopped it in time.

In truth, Yatsuno Gen did not like talking that way very much either, because it was rather long-winded.

And just as Kazama Sakura had said, speaking that way made him sound like a little old man, which seriously did not match his appearance.

When they arrived in the classroom together, there were only a few minutes left before morning self-study.

At Shoujitsu Private High School, morning self-study was either organized reading by the class monitor, or a short meeting organized by the homeroom teacher.

However, the position of homeroom teacher was still vacant, and Yamazaki Jihei was still lying in the hospital, so the students in the class seemed to have become somewhat unrestrained in their joking and playing around.

“By the way, over the weekend, it seems some classmates organized a visit to the hospital to see Teacher Yamazaki. Did you go?”

“Why would I go? I really don’t know him well.”

“Who talks about their own homeroom teacher like that? But I can’t stand Yamazaki Jihei either. It was like he only had female students in his eyes. Too disgusting.”

“Did you go see him?”

“No. I heard he’s basically in a vegetative state now, with no possibility of waking up in the short term. That vice principal uncle of his is completely overwhelmed. Someone heard him call Yamazaki Jihei a burden.”

“How do you even know that?”

Yatsuno Gen was genuinely amazed by Miura Akihiko’s intelligence-gathering ability. Good grief, if he kept investigating, would he eventually find out that the mastermind was him?

Miura Akihiko raised his brows with great pride.

“No helping it. My father has a little connection with the school’s board members. He mentioned it during idle dinner conversation at home. He also said choosing our class’s homeroom teacher has given them quite the headache.”

“Is changing to a new homeroom teacher really that troublesome?”

“I heard from my dad that because Yamazaki Jihei accidentally fell from a building, the police also investigated some other things. It was related to his private life. Apparently the impact was pretty bad, but the board members still took action to suppress it and keep it from leaking, so they plan to be careful in choosing the homeroom teacher.”

Hearing Miura Akihiko say this, Yatsuno Gen nodded.

“Then your dream of a young, beautiful, heaven-sent female teacher coming to our class probably won’t come true.”

“Why?”

“Since they think a young male teacher like Yamazaki Jihei caused a bad impact, the new teacher will naturally be someone older and more steady.”

“Eh, now that you say it, that really makes sense. Forget it, forget it. Life isn’t a light novel or anime after all.”

Miura Akihiko was speaking with a regretful expression.

At that moment, the noisy playing in the classroom clearly quieted down.

At the door, the year-group leader surnamed Takamiya appeared at the classroom entrance with measured steps, frowning as she looked inside.

“So this is your discipline without a homeroom teacher? Your class’s noise can be heard throughout the entire corridor!”

Yatsuno Gen froze for a moment.

Why did those words sound so strangely familiar, as though time and space had overlapped?

When he looked in another direction, the girl who had just been quietly chatting with the girl beside her seemed to share a tacit understanding with him and looked over.

She blinked, revealing a secretly delighted smile.

He had no idea what she was smiling about, but she looked rather pretty.

Yatsuno Gen stared straight at her, all the way until Kazama Sakura blushed slightly and could not help turning her head away first.

At this time, Teacher Takamiya had already stood on the podium. Only after the voices below had completely died down did she speak.

“All right. Today, I am here to introduce your new homeroom teacher for the coming period.”

“A new homeroom teacher came so quickly?”

“Isn’t that how it should be? After all, Teacher Yamazaki has basically become a vegetable, so there is probably no chance of him returning to work.”

“Who is it, who is it? A male teacher or a female teacher? I’m so curious! Please let it be a male teacher even more handsome than Teacher Yamazaki!”

“Enough with Yamazaki. Let it be a mature and beautiful female teacher. That way I’ll have more motivation to study!!”

Below, the class had already become noisy again, and the young men and women in their seats could not help raising their heads to look toward the door.

As for the year-group leader, Teacher Takamiya, she took a step back, turned sideways, and looked toward the door as she said,

“Teacher Sakuraba, please come in.”

When the sound of high heels rang out at the classroom entrance,

naturally, every gaze was drawn over.

As if to satisfy the expectations in so many eyes, like a game where before drawing cards, one had to bathe and burn incense, completing every ritualistic preparation before the system finally answered one’s prayer. [NOTE: bathing and burning incense before drawing cards is an internet joke about doing elaborate rituals to improve luck in gacha games, which are games where players spend currency for random character or item draws.]

The most precious card appeared before your eyes.

Slightly curled long hair draped over both shoulders.

That delicate face wore black-rimmed glasses that emphasized her intellect.

Her tall, well-proportioned figure, not overly slender, walked toward the podium.

The young and beautiful woman stood there with a gentle smile, looking at every face that gazed at her and unconsciously revealed surprise.

“Hello, everyone. I am your new homeroom teacher from now on, Sakuraba Yuki. I look forward to your guidance in the days ahead.”

“Sakuraba...”

Seated there, Yatsuno Gen looked at the radiant young woman on the podium.

His gaze seemed able to cross time and space.

The blackboard behind her began to turn dim and old.

But her gaze was still gentle and lingering, like lazy afternoon sunlight.