Chapter one of a new series I am working on- more chapters will follow, maybe I'll even release chapter two today if I'm happy about it.

It's a Tanaka Youichi x Murao fic and for now it's based on the manga, so it will contain spoilers! It will follow the storyline of the manga but in the later chapters it will lead its own way. This is not just about how Murao fell in love with her teacher but also how she learned to open herself and make friends.
It will all just be more about Murao than Yoshioka and forgive me, I changed a few things. It will still be my own story after all.

I hope you'll enjoy it and please leave a review! Even just one word can brighten a writer's day!

Angel

One day during her third year of middle school Murao's world suddenly changed. When she came to school one morning Nana, from her group of friends and usually surrounded by them, sat by herself. Something must have happened, but when Murao asked about the reason she got a kind of vague reasoning reply:

"Lately, Nana just pisses me off, you know..."

This seemed illogical to her, but on the other hand, it was none of her concern. It's not like Nana ever did anything to her and thus Murao decided that she wouldn't ostracize anyone. Nana seemed to be thankful for Murao's kind words when she explained her thoughts to her classmate, she was a little less left out now. But doing that lead to something Murao never expected to happen to herself.

The next day Nana was surrounded by their classmates again, they were cheerfully laughing and talking— until Murao entered the classroom. Their angry glares fixated on her, except for Nana; she just quickly averted her gaze and crossed her arms in front of her body as if she felt insecure, or guilty about something. Something bad. It was that exact moment that Murao realised what was going on and that her life wouldn't be the same again. It looks like I've been betrayed...
Her classmates ignored her for a full day. The girls around her even moved their tables away from her and abruptly stopped what they were doing when Murao got too close. A little childish perhaps, but for third graders this kind of treatment seemed to be the ultimate punishment. Murao had never felt this alone before.

After the last bell echoed through the building Murao got called outside, for the first time that day someone actually admitted her existence.

"I heard you told Nana you think I act like a boss or something?" The girl who said that Nana pissed her off yesterday snarled at her. Well you do, Murao thought, but she didn't say it out loud. She had never said that to anyone else either, everyone knows that the girl acts like a snob, but no-one ever dares to say it, not even to each other.

"I don't right?!" She turned towards Nana who was standing behind her as if she was trying to hide behind the girl's huge ego. "N-No..." she said, a little too quickly, but no-one besides Murao seemed to notice or they just pretended that they didn't. "Right! Just so you know, Murao, I'm not going to forgive you for this!"

It became all clear for Murao. Basically, Nana couldn't care less about which one of them got frozen out. By following her sense of justice or whatever, had Murao done something wrong? She defended her friend and the next day she got stabbed in the back by that same person, but that's maybe just how all girls are. Honestly, she doesn't want to waste her time hanging out with those idiots, she doesn't need to be a part of their small, meaningless world.

But, what does this make "me"?

...

"Well..." a voice drags Murao back to the present. In front of her is sitting a teacher, wearing a shirt with a mushroom on it and a simple black vest. On the table between them lies her 'Future Plans Survey' which is, except from her filled in name and class, empty. And she only filled those in because she absolutely had to.

"although I can understand why you'd find it hard to write up university and career wishes even though you only just entered high school, but turning this in blank is still a bit..." Murao stopped listening there. Why does she have to get her guidance session from Tanaka-sensei, he's not even her homeroom teacher. He's only substituting for the original guidance counsellor due her maternity leave. A novice teacher, and still in his twenties, completely unsuitable to have a conversation about this matter with a student. Whose absurd idea was it to give him this task? I want to go home.

"You can still change whatever you write now later, you know. Going to university for example, or finding a job." Tanaka-sensei doesn't seem to be the type to give up easily. "Well you handed this in already so it's okay for now." Lazy. "Could you tell me what your feelings on this topic are right now?" Murao sighs, maybe if she answers his question she might be able to go home at least. "I won't go to university and I won't find a job."

"Huh?"

"After I graduate I'm going on a journey to find myself. So please just write that."

Tanaka-sensei's smile doesn't fade, not for even the slightest moment. "So basically, you plan to run away? 'A journey to find yourself', then I take it you've already properly searched through the place you are right now?" What kind of question is that, what is he trying to achieve? Murao can't see through him and it makes her feel a little uncomfortable, long ago she came to the conclusion that everyone is the same, so why does it now feel so different with him?

"If not, then how will you find anything if you keep adding places to look? You'll just end up more lost than ever..., or that is at least what I think, personally." He confuses her, what is this about him that she can't place, and why does he keep smiling like that? Murao had ignored him the first ten minutes of their conversation, she had been looking around- anything to avoid looking at him and yet his smile remained unchanged.

"I mean, why do people go 'looking for themselves' in the first place? Then who is the person in front of me right now?" Hasn't he been listening to her? She doesn't know who she is, that's what she just tried to explain. The reason she couldn't fill in her future plans is because she first has to find out who she is. She was right after all, everyone is the same, no exceptions. They don't listen and then claim that they don't understand when asked about the matter. They play dumb, they use you and then stab you in the back. This is exactly why she doesn't need friends anymore, she's better off alone.

"You're Murao Shuuko-san, aren't you?" His expression changes, is he challenging her to answer that question? If that's so then she won't, that is not how it works for her. She doesn't need a lecture, not from a person with bed hair as if he just woke up and weird clothes with childish prints. But... she kind of likes the position of his mole.

Suddenly his eyes flicker open and meet hers, she's unable to look away this time. His reaction after surprises her, he covers his mole with his hand. "Ah, were you looking at my mole? Is it weird?" Maybe he got bullied in the past?

"I'm sorry, that's not... I just thought that it was kind of nice..."

Tanaka-sensei's expression changes from embarrassed to his usual smile again and he shuts his eyes. "Then, as a special service..." he leans in over the table, closer and closer to Murao's face. She has never felt this uncomfortable before and she can feel the red colour spreading over her cheeks. Then he stops and points to his eye. "Look! I have a mole in the fold of my eyelid as well! You usually can't see it 'cause my eyes are open, right?" Is that man stupid? He got unnecessarily close to her, and what bothers her even more is that her heart started racing all uselessly, and that all because he wanted to show her a mole? "Was there a need to close both of your eyes just to show me that?!" Unintentionally, she raised her voice.

Tanaka-sensei closes his eyes again and this time there forms a frown on his face, it looks like he is...concentrating on something. "... Actually, I can't wink." Is he pretending to be an airhead? "Do you always try to endear female students like this?" Tanaka-sensei jolts back on his chair, his face red like the mushroom on his shirt. "What?! What do you mean, always?" He leans back forwards and rubs with his hand over his nape. "Murao's the first one whom I've showed it to."

Murao abruptly shoves her chair back with a loud, clattering noise and stands up. "I'll fill this out properly and hand it in to you again later. I'm going home now." Tanaka-sensei, still a bit shocked from her sudden reaction just nods, too staggered to speak. Murao heads towards the door but stops then to look over her shoulder. She gives him such an intense gaze that it could easily have been mistaken for a glare. "Ah, and also, you shouldn't use that method to show off your mole anymore. It could lead to some awful misunderstandings." After saying that she shoves the door shut with just as much racket and force as she used to shove her chair back earlier. Tanaka-sensei chuckles softly when she's gone, using his hand to scratch the back of his head. "Such a fierce girl, I wonder if that was a threat."

The next day after school Murao heads to the Staff Room to hand her survey to Tanaka-sensei as she promised to do yesterday, filled in this time. She had spent an hour and a half thinking of what she should write down, and eventually, after thinking back of the whole conversation with her teacher; it became all clear to her. Murao already knew what she wanted the moment she left the classroom. "Tanaka-sensei."

"Ah, Murao!" The teacher looks up, he's wearing a shirt with a penguin printed on it this time and he cut his hair. Secretly, Murao misses his bed hair already, it actually looked quite good on him. This makes him appear even younger than he is, and yet...

"I filled it out, the form." She says while she hands it to him. "Ah, good, thanks." He puts his coffee mug down to take the folded paper from his student. Murao's eyes rest on the mug, 'eldest son' is written on it. It is probably his own mug, did he take that from his own house just to drink coffee? Maybe it was a present from his mother for his first day at work. When the teacher notices Murao isn't leaving he looks up again. "Have you shown anyone your mole after that?" She asks then, this question had been on her mind all day.

"Hm? Nope, I haven't?"

"You absolutely can't show anyone, okay?" She turns around with a faint smile of relief and quietly adds to it: "to anyone but me."

Tanaka-sensei takes a sip from his coffee and unfolds the format Murao gave to him.

'Future Plans Survey

Name: Murao Shuuko

1st wish: Tanaka-sensei's wife'

Tanaka-sensei chokes on his coffee and spits it out over his desk after reading it and seeing the huge heart drawn around his name. The other teachers look up from their work, alarmed by the strange noise. "Tanaka-sensei, what are you doing?" Murao just smiles, leaving the flushed red Tanaka-sensei behind between his disturbed but mostly worried colleagues. They are slowly getting used to the young teacher's weird habits by now, but somehow he still manages to surprise them once in a while.

'Tanaka Shuuko',

she thinks to herself

doesn't sound too bad.

Murao found herself caring more about her teacher every new day. Whenever she had a problem she turned to him, they had gotten so close that she even dared to tell him about what had happened to her in the third grade of middle school. He didn't laugh at her reasoning when she told Nana she still wanted to be friends with her before the incident. He even supported her decision and told her that she is a very nice and kind person. He didn't make fun of her for closing herself for the people around her, he showed sympathy and concern instead. In the weeks after he tried to support her with opening up to her classmates but his efforts had the reverse effect. By spending this much time with Murao she shut herself out even more, she didn't need her classmates to be her friends, she had Tanaka-sensei. He understood her better than anyone ever did.

Even though she didn't want to have anything to do with her classmates some still noticed her, Kominato Aya for example, one of the boys of their class. He seemed to notice that Murao was more cheerful than ever on some days, but when he asked about it she either pretended not to hear him or told him as politely as she could to fuck off.

She didn't have time for young boys trying to get her attention and crushing on her, because with every day that passed, she fell a little bit more in love with Tanaka-sensei.