The day is Friday, the school seems to be in good shape. Students are looking forward to the temporary escapade they call 'weekend'. Meanwhile the teachers, they were practically in hell right now. The sun is slowly going down but the office appears to be full of – or rather deprived of, life.

"Whew, that's class X-B done, moving on to X-C. Kami, when will this suffering end?" Kamitani-sensei muttered as she slowly flipped the pages of essays submitted by the students. She can already imagine going home and taking a deep, warm bath before going straight to sleep.

"You still going there Kamitani-sensei? Must be tough huh?" asked Sawatari-sensei gently.

"Yeah, the usual. These brats can't seem to write to save their lives. Oh! You're already done?"

"Yup! Since my husband's coming home early tonight, I'm planning to make him his favorite food. So I worked super hard today."

"You truly are fantastic Sawatari-senpai. I don't even plan on cooking tonight"

"Hehe, well I gotta go now, do your best!"

"Thanks! Good work today!" With that, the two mothers parted ways. On days like these, Sawatari-sensei used to be the one who always accompanies her. Not today apparently.

*Sigh* I'm soo tired, and I can't even gossip with Sawatari-sensei now! What should I do now? A lightbulb appeared above hear head, Maybe some other miserable teacher is still here? She looked around, scanning the room for any signs of life-form. There! She screamed to herself. When her eyes finally managed to focus on the person sitting in the corner of the room, though she senses a weird aura coming from that person.

"Hello, umm…Sensei?" She spat out nervously.

"Yes?"

It all makes sense now. Most of the teachers are already married by now, and the younger ones usually still lives in their parent's house. Which means that the only ones who have the time and energy to work overtime are the single workaholics – which qualifies herself and-

"Kamitani-sensei, please do not waste my time with that oblivious face of yours." He said sternly.

A migraine suddenly appeared, perhaps it's because of how tired she is – or maybe because of that naggy guy. "Urgghh…Hebihara-sensei, with all due respect, your face doesn't look too good yourself – especially with those bags under your eyes."

"If you're here to engage in some pointless chit-chat, please finish your work first and then find a person who'll put up with you." He replied.

Why does that sentence reminds me of a certain student? She thought. While she can't quite get it out of her tongue, but what she can do is strike back, "Hmph! It's not like I was planning to converse with you, booriing!"

Taizou didn't bother to reply, he just turned his back on her and continued to mark everyone with his favorite red pen. A couple of minutes passed by, the windows were left open so they can still feel the evening breeze flowing in. The sky turned orange and the laughs and whispers of the students cannot be heard anymore. A lot of people wonder what keeps Hebihara-sensei going, he doesn't go home to anybody – hence why people are curious of where the money goes.

The answer is – he ruffles his right pocket for a bit, and finally managed to grab a pack of Snickers. People say that the ads are a ton of crap, but not for Taizou. A bite of those will completely freshen him up. With this newfound energy, he swiftly marked all of the papers before he reached an odd one.

"Kamitani-sensei"

"…."

"Kamitani-sensei?"

"…."

He turned to check in on her, expecting her golden eyes to glare back at him. But no, her head can't even be seen anymore. With a sigh, he walked over to her desk only to find the biology teacher sleeping peacefully. It was really cute, he even thought of photographing her only to realize that it's a violation of privacy. Instead,

"Ahem"

"T-Taizou-san?"

His heart skipped a beat, what did she say?

"Taizou, what're you doing over there? Come on the bed, it's really cold today" She mumbled.

MAYDAY! MAYDAY! He remembered this scene clearly. It was a cold morning in early January. Hayato was playing outside with a couple of his friends, while the both of them decided to stay in for the day. No, no, if I let her continue, she's going to say something embarrassing! His head felt like it's burning up, while his brain is probably already fried.

"But you promised that if I make some Kajiwamoji you'll cuddle with me!"

"SHIZUKA!"

He broke character. The calm and collected Hebihara-sensei yelled to the top of his lungs. Finally, the sleeping-hot-headed-short-haired princess snapped back to reality. She ruffles around a little bit, slowly regaining his consciousness and observing her surroundings.

"Hebihara-sensei, why is your face so red?" she asked innocently.

His heart was beating fast, if only she had heard what she was saying, she'll do too. He took a deep breath, desperate for some composure, "N-Nothing! Anyways, what are you doing sleeping in a workplace? How incompetent."

Shizuka just glared at him with a straight face, "Hebihara-sensei, if you're here to engage in some pointless chit-chat, please finish your work first and then find a person who'll put up with you."

Seeing that smirk of her set him off, he was about to get to one of his annoyingly-long-lecture about how one should act – before he remembered his original intention, "It's about your son."

She crossed her arms and stretched her seat backwards, "Hayato? What's with him? Didn't submit one of your 'reflections' again? Give him a break…"

"No, although that is a problem, I'm currently talking about this." He said, as he handed a piece of paper with a red mark on it.

"He failed one of your assignments (again), I'll scold him later, but what's different this time?"

She then took the paper from his hands and began reading it.

"Pfftt…Ahahahah! Yup! That's Hayato!"

"What's so funny about that?"

"He really does take from you Taizou-san." She said after a moment of laughter

Taizou gently rubbed his chin, he folded his face and started to read it one more time. This assignment's topic was about atomic structure and bonding, but instead, Hayato submitted a scientific paper about the advantages of baseball. But he's a chemistry teacher. His mind can't quite compute or even grasp what his son's trying to achieve right here.

His thought process was interrupted by Shizuka putting her hand on his shoulder. She began to chuckle, "So that's why he stayed up late last night! He was saying things like, 'I'm gonna prove him wrong!' You should see how angry he was at the time."

Taizou pondered again for a bit, "Well, if I recall correctly, I did tell him that pursuing baseball is absolutely useless and the chances of him actually succeeding in that field is slim."

Before long, her fist had landed on his head, "You idiot! Don't you remember how much into baseball he was and still is. He used to ask you to pitch but you were so bad that you refused to play with him afterwards!" Her eyes brimmed with tears as she tries to stomach her laughter.

Slowly, his lips began to curl, but not into the usual frown – instead, a genuine smile, "At least it makes sense now, and I see that your sense of humor haven't changed an inch too."

Out of nowhere, a glint of pink was present across her face, Shit! Stop blushing idiot! You're not a high school girl.

Suddenly, a drape of steps can be heard from outside – and before they were able to react, the wooden door had already been pushed inwardly, creating a screech that filled the room, "Good eveni – Oh my! What an interesting sight we have here!" It was Kumatsuka-sensei who barged in on the two while she was looking to print her newest script.

"W-Wait Kumatsuka-sensei it's not-

"Oh! Do not flutter Kamitani-sensei, this bud of love by summer's ripening breath, may prove a beauteous flower when next we meet" With that, she announced her exit as fast as her entrance.

The sound of the door closing gave room for an awkward moment. The 2 of them were stuck there staring into each other's eyes, "Heh, don't worry about her, she's a drama teacher – that's why she talks like that." Said Shizuka, trying her best to break the atmosphere

Taizou's eyes widen in curiosity, "No, no, love really is an interesting thing. If we break it down to its barebones, love has the same chemical reaction as when you're eating chocolate – and yet, it's completely different. You could be living your organized life when suddenly the irrationality that is called love hits you."

"Well, yeah – it really is a pain in the ass" she replied.

"Not actually, it is a pain in the ass from the outside, but from within – there's something that science just couldn't explain. Suddenly the individual cannot live without thinking about the person whom he loves."

"You don't fall in love, you simply realize that you've fallen in love," she added. Somehow, they just share that exact idea, that understanding of what the concept of love is.