Chapter 37: Let’s Pretend It Never Happened

Chapter 37: Let’s Pretend It Never Happened

“H-hello. I’m homeless. Could you take me home, please?”

At the entrance to the subway station, a girl pulling a suitcase looked at the boy carrying a school bag with shyness and hesitation on her face.

This world was very different from the Japan in his memories in many ways, such as place names, architecture, and certain customs that had arisen because of historical events.

However, there were still many things that matched the stereotype.

For example, girls pulling suitcases around places like subway stations.

Yatsuno Gen glanced at her.

“Sorry, I’m just a student.”

The girl looked at the boy anxiously.

“I-it’s okay! I can help with housework. I... I don’t eat much, and I don’t need new clothes often. I can do anything.”

Girls like this usually stood quietly to the side like most of the “colleagues,” or squatted or sat on the steps, waiting for middle-aged men who looked ugly but had a bit of spare money to approach them and start a conversation.

Actively seeking people out like this did not seem all that common.

But regardless of what it was, Yatsuno Gen’s attitude was simple.

“If you can do anything, then go home, or earn money with your own hands. Of course, you can also keep waiting for your market value. It has nothing to do with me. Goodbye.”

Yatsuno Gen left calmly.

Ignoring the girl’s earnest pleas and calls behind him, he walked into the subway station.

In truth, some situations that had once been difficult to understand all had specific reasons for existing.

There was no need to blindly despise or hate them.

Just like life itself, it was life that fundamentally turned everyone into different kinds of people.

Yet its most ingenious deception was making people tormented by fate in different ways hate one another and fail to understand one another.

Some perhaps had their hardships.

Some perhaps simply liked making themselves suffer for no reason.

No matter what, they were all different ways of choosing to live.

Just as when Yatsuno Gen had lived in the orphanage, he had not chosen to attach himself to anyone or become part of someone else’s family, instead choosing to grow up and live alone until now.

Whether others saw him as admirable, pitiful, or merely pretentious did not matter.

Being able to live a life in which one could smile was already a form of success.

The school was still packed with people.

Before the class bell rang, the excitement and noise resembled an amusement park.

After the bell rang, it became as quiet as a prison.

“Hey, hey, hey.”

As soon as he reached his seat, Miura Akihiko leaned over.

Yatsuno Gen looked at him.

“What’s wrong? You’re this excited first thing in the morning. Did you take medicine?”

“You’re the one who took medicine. Let me ask you, why did Teacher Sakuraba call you to the office alone yesterday?”

Miura Akihiko’s eyes were filled with curiosity.

Yatsuno Gen knew that this boy always managed to obtain all sorts of strange information.

Whether it was teachers or students, he seemed to possess “first-hand” intelligence.

Though perhaps his intelligence gathering method was simply asking people directly like this.

Yatsuno Gen also noticed the hidden excitement in his eyes.

It was not merely a desire for gossip.

“She just talked to me about my studies and hoped I would maintain my current grades and things like that.”

“Eh? Just that?”

Miura Akihiko sounded disappointed.

Yatsuno Gen laughed.

“What else were you expecting?”

Miura Akihiko cautiously looked around, apparently worried someone might hear what he was about to say.

Then he leaned closer and lowered his voice.

“Nothing pleasant happened? You’re so handsome, and Teacher Sakuraba is so charming. At such a hot-blooded age, with a lone man and a lone woman in a room together, and the classic forbidden combination of teacher and student...”

“Wait. I’ll repeat that sentence word for word to Teacher Sakuraba.”

Miura Akihiko:???

He immediately grabbed Yatsuno Gen’s arm, his eyes turning pleading.

“You’re joking, right?”

“Of course. If you’re willing to buy me the four-meat, two-vegetable deluxe lunch set at noon.”

“...Damn it!”

It was perfectly normal for Miura Akihiko to have fantasies like that.

In this country and this era, young people were exposed to such information extremely early.

Moreover, a teacher like Sakuraba Yuki was simply too devastatingly attractive to young men.

They could sense the gap between themselves and Sakuraba Yuki, and thus knew she would never look at boys like them.

As a result, they began projecting those fantasies onto outstanding people around them.

Replacing themselves with someone else somehow made the imagined story seem more reasonable.

Hm?

Why did that sound a little strange?

While they were talking, the classroom gradually quieted down.

Because Sakuraba Yuki had already entered carrying her teaching materials.

She looked unchanged.

The same light makeup.

The same dignified and intellectual temperament.

Even the smile on her face showed no trace of gloom, as though yesterday’s drunkenness had not affected her in the slightest.

Had it really not affected her?

Sakuraba Yuki herself knew exactly how much effort she had spent early that morning applying makeup to conceal any swelling or abnormal complexion.

Perhaps because she was still young and physically healthy and recovered quickly, the problem did not seem as serious as she had imagined.

Nor had she experienced the headache and dizziness of a hangover.

Naturally, she did not remember how Yatsuno Gen had helped her sober up, nor how he had eliminated those aftereffects after she regained consciousness.

Now that she had entered the classroom, the first person she saw was the handsome young man lounging lazily at his seat.

All she could think about were the scenes of herself drinking too much and getting drunk in front of him the previous night.

She could not clearly remember how she had gotten home.

The clues told her that it must have been this young man who had taken her back.

Then during that process, what had she been like when she could not remember?

Had she been dead drunk?

Or had she acted like many drunkards and caused trouble for the young man?

There were no signs that anyone had taken advantage of her.

Everything remained intact.

She was still completely innocent.

But why had she felt so safe getting drunk in front of him when she had never before drunk herself unconscious in front of anyone else?

Was it some instinct from her subconscious?

Or was she simply starved for something?

The tangled and complicated thoughts made her feel inexplicably embarrassed whenever she saw this young man.

Beneath the intense regret seemed to hide a kind of excitement she could not clearly explain.

It was the secret anticipation of standing on the edge of a forbidden boundary and wanting to take a step forward.

She immediately looked away and began the morning homeroom session in a normal voice.

It was as though no one noticed anything unusual.

Of course, except that while teaching, she suddenly saw Yatsuno Gen unusually pick up his water cup and take a large gulp.

Drinking water should have been the most normal thing in the world.

Everyone drank water.

People could even spit water.

But his actions did not look like drinking water.

They looked like drinking alcohol...

“Ugh!”

In an instant, the nauseating urge to vomit surged up.

The hangover symptoms that had not appeared all morning seemed to arrive only now.

She had to pause for quite a while and take several deep breaths before suppressing the nausea.

“Teacher, are you okay?”

A student below noticed and asked with concern.

Sakuraba Yuki’s complexion gradually recovered.

She shook her head.

“I’m fine. I probably didn’t sleep well last night. Don’t worry. That’s why you should all remember that sleeping early and getting up early is the best way to maintain your health. Getting enough sleep can prevent ninety percent of illnesses.”

After saying that, she secretly glanced at the young man.

Yatsuno Gen had already put down his water cup and was looking at her.

The smile on his face was one of teasing amusement.

The woman’s cheeks heated unnaturally.

That little bastard was actually teasing his teacher now.

Bad student!

At noon, Miura Akihiko honestly treated Yatsuno Gen to the most luxurious meal available in the cafeteria.

To Yatsuno Gen, who ate salmon the way others chewed beef, it did not seem particularly delicious.

But seeing the faint pain on Miura Akihiko’s face made him feel extremely satisfied.

“Do you really need to make that expression? You’re a young master, after all. Surely you don’t care about this little bit of money.”

Miura Akihiko rolled his eyes.

“Do you think my dad is generous with me considering our family situation? I might actually live worse than you. I can only look at the money, not spend it. It’s basically useless paper.”

Yatsuno Gen nodded approvingly.

“That’s the most philosophical thing I’ve ever heard come out of your mouth.”

“Oh, screw you. I buy you lunch and you still mock me? Try being human for once, Yatsuno Gen!”

“Hahaha.”

Just as he was laughing, a message suddenly popped up on Yatsuno Gen’s phone.

He glanced at it and put the phone away.

“You keep eating. I’ve got something to do.”

“What is it? Don’t tell me Kazama is looking for you.”

Miura Akihiko said in a strange tone.

Yatsuno Gen laughed at him, stood up, and patted him on the shoulder.

“Adults’ business. Don’t ask so many questions.”

Miura Akihiko:???

Growing more depressed with every bite, Miura Akihiko suddenly thought of something.

Eventually, he put down his chopsticks and made a phone call.

After cautiously saying something to the person on the other end, a middle-aged man’s roar erupted from the phone.

“Plastic surgery?! Plastic surgery my ass! Is looking like your father that embarrassing? Let me warn you, if you keep thinking about this nonsense, I’ll send you overseas to study and only give you two million yen a month. I’ll starve you to death!”

Naturally, Yatsuno Gen, who was walking along a school path lined with lush greenery, knew nothing about that little episode.

Even if he knew, he would not have any particular thoughts about it.

The fantasies of young boys changed every day, each newer than the last.

He did not go anywhere else.

Instead, he headed straight for the office, which was usually empty during lunch break.

The woman in professional attire sat there.

The heels of her shoes were not particularly sharp.

The long legs wrapped in black stockings reflected the sunlight.

“Teacher Sakuraba.”

Yatsuno Gen greeted politely.

Sakuraba Yuki glared at the young man.

“Is pretending really that fun?”

Yatsuno Gen looked surprised.

“Why do you say that? Oh, did I do something wrong during class?”

“Stop pretending. You did it on purpose, didn’t you? Drinking water like that on purpose, making me remember last night...”

At that point, she abruptly stopped.

The woman’s expression became somewhat unnatural.

Meanwhile, Yatsuno Gen seemed completely unaware and instead looked at her curiously.

“What happened last night?”

Sakuraba Yuki looked into the young man’s beautiful eyes.

Back when he had still been younger, she had not paid much attention.

Now that he had truly become an adult, she realized those eyes really were uniquely blessed.

They were neither especially large nor especially small.

Their color was ordinary.

His pupils were normal as well.

Yet when one looked into them, they seemed to contain an alluring vortex that drew people deeper and deeper.

Like the unknown, simultaneously frightening and fascinating.

Her cheeks became even hotter.

Unable to stop herself, she looked away and began meaninglessly tidying the already spotless desk, as though trying to appear busy.

“About... last night. Did I do anything strange? I mean... after drinking.”

Hearing that,

Yatsuno Gen hummed thoughtfully.

Sakuraba Yuki’s heart instantly rose into her throat.

Yet Yatsuno Gen did not answer immediately.

Instead, he pulled over a chair and sat down.

The action looked very abrupt.

Like someone her own age.

Gone was the reverence a student should have toward a teacher.

Instead, he looked at her beautiful and intellectual face, now carrying a trace of panic, and said:

“Teacher Sakuraba, let’s pretend nothing that happened last night ever happened.”

Sakuraba Yuki:???

Sakuraba Yuki:!!!