CHAPTER 20:
WELCOME TO ANOTHER CHAPTER! (after two weeks of unexpected hiatus, that is)
Thank you for reading A Not So Ordinary Life of a Background Character!
Disclaimer: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn
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Fighting to get into the classroom past the numerous fangirls and fanboys was expected. Thanks to some of the popular males being on the Science route, it might be less than before, but there was still a considerable amount of them. A few lingering to catch a glimpse of their homeroom teacher was also expected. Vongola Giotto was still arguably the most handsome male on the high school campus, especially now that Renato Sinclair is in college.
What Natsumi didn't expect was getting called to her homeroom teacher's office that lunch break. Vongola-sensei looked grim.
"This morning, two first years overhead three senior students conspiring against you," Vongola-sensei informed her.
Her ducklings! "The firsties! Are they alright? They didn't confront the senior students, did they?" Natsumi asked, a bit frantic.
Vongola-sensei's expression softened, "One nearly did, but the other one was level-headed enough to get them out of there before they get caught eavesdropping. They reported to their teacher instead, which was how I found out about the conspiracy."
Natsumi visibly sighed in relief. Judging by the confrontation in the washroom last trimester was anything to go by, her poor ducklings might have been threatened into silence if they had been discovered.
"Upon further investigation, we found that they were three of the five seniors that attacked you at the start of the school year," Vongola-sensei continued.
Natsumi bit her lower lip. Now that she remembered that washroom confrontation, she kind of wanna kick herself for not reporting.
"Emiya-san," the teacher suddenly called out, "Did anything come to mind?" His eyes were sharp, and it felt like his gaze was boring holes into her soul.
Natsumi deflated and confessed about what happened and the subsequent threatening to silence her…about a conspiracy against her. Yeah, not her brightest moment there.
"Emiya-san," this time there was reprimand coloring Vongola-sensei's voice, "I thought we had an agreement that you would report immediately if anything happens."
"But nothing happened! They just talked about doing something!" she reasoned, but it sounded like a weak argument now that she had said it out loud. Why did her reason sound more convincing inside her head?
"Nothing happened then. It's happening now," the teacher countered, and it made Natsumi shut her mouth, "As much as I care for them as my former students, I care about you too. You have agreed to give them a chance. Even I know that was already asking a lot since they endangered your life, and from what you said, they had the gall to brag about what they did to you. That was the last, the only chance I am willing to give them. And they threw that chance away."
Natsumi was silent for a while, not to process what Vongola-sensei said but to articulate what she felt about what was happening. "I –" Natsumi took a deep breath "–I'm scared of what they'll do. I don't–I don't want to be in the same position as I was last trimester. Please tell me whatever it was they were planning, it won't happen." She looked pleadingly at Vongola-sensei.
The teacher's face hardened before morphing into a reassuring expression, "From the information relayed to me, they seem to be setting up their plan as we speak. The Disciplinary Committee and many of our school staff are currently working together to catch them in the act and dismantle whatever they had planned. We had hoped for it to be over by lunch break, but their current plan was even more elaborate than the last one. You being here is a safeguard. I won't let anything happen to you. I promise."
"Thank you," those two words can't encompass the relief and the gratefulness that Natsumi felt. A moment later, she hesitantly asked, "Do you–what did they plan?"
Vongola-sensei's face hardened once more. The smile afterward looked more forced as he said, "You don't have to worry about it, Emiya-san."
It made Natsumi feel even more afraid. She was torn between wanting to know more and wanting to be coddled from the details as her teacher decided. "That bad?" she asked in a low tone.
The forced smile turning into a severe expression was answer enough.
Natsumi ended up needing to snatch her lunchbox from her bag real quick (with a surprisingly discrete Kusakabe Tetsuya trailing after her), so she could eat her lunch in Vongola-sensei's faculty room. It was an awkward affair. The teacher cleared his table of paperwork as much as he could. He had tried to convince her earlier that he could order from the cafeteria for both of them, but she pointed out that it would be a waste of the food she brought.
Natsumi didn't see who brought the lunch and could only hear Vongola-sensei thank the person. The two settled at the opposite side of the tables. The teacher cheerfully suggested they could exchange side dishes, and the brunette could only agree. Comparing the two's lunch side by side, it was apparent that the cafeteria uses higher quality rice than Natsumi does. It was also quite obvious that the side dishes were fancier than her budget version of them. Natsumi didn't know if Vongola-sensei didn't notice it or politely didn't bring it up. Either way, she felt embarrassed at what she thinks were fake praises coming from the teacher.
After all, Vongola-sensei probably only ate food cooked by five-star chefs.
Then lunch break was a few minutes away from ending, and there was still no one giving the all-clear to them. Unfortunately, from the class scheduled pinned on one of the cork boards, the Math teacher was scheduled to teach the other sophomore class after lunch.
Natsumi didn't need it spelled out to her that Vongola-sensei furiously typing at his phone meant he was either looking for someone to replace him in teaching the class or replace him in babysitting her.
A minute later, Vongola-sensei looked up at her with a pleased little smile and informed her, "Asari-sensei had agreed to stay with you until he leaves for the last lesson of the day. By then, I should be available to exchange with him. That is if this goes on until late this afternoon."
"That's–that's great!" Natsumi replied. She would have thought it would be Hibari-sensei, but Asari-sensei was a surprise. Not a bad surprise per se. In fact, she could distinctly remember how her brother pointed at Asari-sensei as someone trustworthy.
Oblivious to Natsumi's little mental monologue, Vongola-sensei continued, "He should arrive before I had to leave for my next lesson. Of course, even if he isn't, I wouldn't mind being a few minutes late."
Natsumi couldn't help the grateful smile she gave her teacher, "Thank you, Sensei. But, is it okay for me to miss my afternoon lessons?"
"I've already notified your teachers for the afternoon. We didn't really think it would take more than an hour to dismantle the whole operation–I mean, stop their plan, but it was more elaborate than we thought. They really planned for this better." Vongola-sensei then slumped. "They did have the whole trimester and summer break to stew on their grudge on you. I shouldn't have–" He cut himself off and gave a helpless expression as he stared at nothing in particular.
It made Natsumi feel terrible for her teacher. "It's not your fault, Sensei. You did the best you could to give them a second chance. They're the ones who trampled on your efforts."
The Math teacher just gave her a forced smile but remained silent. Evidently, he didn't believe her. He must have felt like his trust was misplaced. Really, why blame himself when it was those brats being ungrateful?
"Look, Sensei, you did what you could for them. When you found out that what they did could get them expelled, you mediated on behalf of them, right?" Natsumi waited for him to nod before continuing. "You even went as far as to negotiate with my brother and his girlfriend, and I heard Ara-nee could be quite scary, right?" A twitch of Vongola-sensei's mouth and a nod. "And, I knew for sure Hibari-sensei and Hibari-sempai weren't exactly happy with the 'security breach' or something like that, but you talked to them on behalf of your students, right?" This time it was a wince before Vongola-sensei nodded. "You also had to talk to the teachers and the Disciplinary Committee about their six-week-long punishment, which was basically Unhappy Hibari's Part 2. Not to mention you ran yourself ragged to cover everything up so that they won't have anything permanent on their records. And with something like 'almost killed their kohai' in their records, they could probably kiss goodbye to any of the good schools. You did all of that just so what happened last trimester wouldn't tarnish their future. They are the ones who threw all your efforts away. That is NOT your fault. If I may be blunt, Sensei, they were pretty lucky you'd go so far for them. Only, they were stupid enough to spit on that second chance you got for them."
Natsumi couldn't really interpret what exactly Vongola-sensei's expression meant. Just that it looked somewhere between poleaxed and disbelieving with a dash of bashfulness. Frankly, the way those emotions twisted the Math teacher's face was somewhat funny, but it's not like she was going to point it out right now. He already looked like he was a few seconds away from either wailing or having a mental breakdown. Or both.
Vongola-sensei opened his mouth before closing it again, then opened it again, "I…."
"Did everything you could," Natsumi oh so helpfully supplied when he trailed off.
Before Vongola-sensei could reply to that, there was a knock on the door. The teacher was so relieved to get away from the current discussion that he practically sprinted towards the door. "Ugetsu!" Vongola-sensei happily greeted, "Great! I'll go to my next class then. Bye!" The blond teacher then left just like that.
Wow. Vongola-sensei really didn't like their conversation.
"Happy teaching!" Asari-sensei called out at the speedwalking teacher before turning to greet Natsumi, "Emiya-san! Good afternoon!"
"Good afternoon, Asari-sensei," Natsumi greeted back as the Literature teacher entered and closed the door behind him. Only then did she notice the books he was carrying.
Asari-sensei dropped the books at an empty space on Vongola-sensei's table before sitting, "I remember I gave you my word that I'd help you with your kanji, yes?"
Natsumi blinked at that. The details were blurry, but it was kind of like that though not really exactly. "Yes?" she replied unsurely.
Asari-sensei picked up one of the thinner books, "This is the 2,000 common kanji which I'm sure you already knew–"
I'm pretty sure the kanji I know wasn't that many, Natsumi thought but didn't dare say out loud.
"–so we'll just skim through it." Asari-sensei then picked up a thicker book. "Our goal is to get you familiarized with the 20,000 kanji in this book by the end of the trimester."
Natsumi's jaw slackened. "20,000?" she asked because maybe she misheard.
"It's not much, I assure you–"
What do you mean 'not much'?!
"–There is over 50,000 kanji after all." Asari-sensei looked expectantly at her.
Natsumi forced a smile, "That's uh…a lot. I hope I can learn 20,000 by the end of the trimester."
Asari-sensei beamed at her, "That's the spirit! But for this afternoon, we'll review the common ones." He then opened the thinner book.
The sophomore looked at the thin book, of which she probably didn't know some of its content. It was looking to be a long afternoon. Natsumi leaned to take a peek at the first page.
BANG!
Natsumi startled, almost knocking herself off the chair. She turned at the door, which was slammed open, and saw a frantic-looking Vongola-sensei.
"I forgot my teaching materials!" the Math teacher yelled before scrambling inside, grabbing a stack on his table, and then hurrying out again. The door was closed much more gently than when he opened it.
Natsumi looked at the door with a bewildered expression while Asari-sensei just laughed.
Natsumi wanted to be swallowed by the floor.
Why…do we live…just to suffer?
"It's alright, Emiya-san. I'm sure you'll just need a few supplementary lessons!" Asari-sensei tried to cheer her up.
A few minutes in, and it became apparent that Natsumi only knew nine of ten kanji in the book. Every time Natsumi confessed she didn't know what she was looking at, the surprised and confused look on Asari-sensei's face made her feel worse and worse.
"I'll give you a list of books to familiarize yourself with the common kanji," Asari-sensei said as he appropriated a sheet of bond paper from Vongola-sensei's supplies before snatching a pen from an old mug doubling as a penholder.
Natsumi read the list as Asari-sensei wrote it and nearly teared up when she realized the titles sounded like children's books. Still, she took the list and sincerely thanked the Literature teacher.
"I have a copy of most of the books in that list at my house. I'll lend them to you," Asari-sensei told her, "Are you free this afternoon after club activities?"
Natsumi nodded, "Yes, Sensei."
"Good! Hopefully, this whole debacle would be over by then." Natsumi winced at the reminder as to why she wasn't in her class right now. "Now, why don't we go over the kanji you don't recognize?"
"That…that would great, Sensei. Thank you," she replied, already looking warily at the thin book that had fast become the bane of her existence.
Natsumi's eyes widened when she suddenly felt Asari-sensei ruffling her hair. The Literature teacher didn't seem to think much about it, though, as he went back to page one and began to explain the first kanji she was unable to identify.
The sophomore inwardly shrugged and began to pay attention.
Five minutes before the last class of the day starts, Natsumi had been piled with several exercises and workbook titles. She listed the workbook titles on the same bond paper, mentally thanking Vongola-sensei for lending her a pen.
Asari-sensei was looking worriedly at the clock now and then, making Natsumi wince inwardly. The Literature teacher probably needs to leave for his class by now but didn't want to because Natsumi would be left alone.
One minute before the last class starts and the door suddenly burst open once more. This time, Vongola-sensei was smiling widely instead of looking frantic. "It's done! Everything's done! I mean, they're caught! And by that, I mean you're safe now, Emiya-san!" the Math teacher babbled excitedly.
Natsumi felt like she could breathe deeply for the first time since she heard about the firsties eavesdropping on some seniors. "That's great, Sensei! Thank you for your efforts. I'm grateful for everyone's help."
Vongola-sensei beamed and ouch, sparks. This was the first time in a while that Natsumi got hurt by a single person's sparks.
Natsumi blinked the black spots away before asking, "Does this mean I can go back to class now?"
Vongola-sensei looked at her in momentary shock and confusion before answering, "Ah, no. Hibari-sensei said not to attend his class."
Oh, ouch. "Where…do I go for the next hour then?" because, you know, it's not like Natsumi could leave without her bag, which was still in the class she was told not to attend.
The blond teacher looked like his brain blanked for a few seconds before hesitantly offering, "You can…just stay here?"
Awkward silence.
Then Asari-sensei broke it by laughing lightheartedly and ruffling Natsumi's hair. "That's great! You can continue with the exercises I gave you. I'll lend you this book for reference." He then handed her the thinner kanji book.
"Um, thank you, Asari-sensei," Natsumi absentmindedly thanked as she took the offered book.
"Well then, I gotta run to my next class," Asari-sensei said before literally taking off running.
"No running in the hallways!" Vongola-sensei yelled after him, only answered by a laugh.
Another awkward silence.
"So, exercises?" Vongola-sensei asked as he finally closed the door behind him and strode into the room.
"Asari-sensei is–was helping me with my kanji," Natsumi confessed.
The teacher-student pair went back to their classroom for the afternoon homeroom session. When asked about where Natsumi went after lunch, Vongola-sensei said something about discussing her scholarship requirements. Like that single discussion could take a few hours. Natsumi's classmates ate it up anyway except for a few observant ones that probably also noticed that afternoon's commotion.
During the allotted time for club activities, Natsumi went to the library as usual. She went to the usual tutorial spot and nearly gaped when she found most of the first years there. Said first-year students immediately flocked her, and they made so much commotion that the librarian had just about kicked them all out. Natsumi had never uttered so many excuses in under a minute, not even that time when her father found that box of makeup when she was 11. Not that those excuses stopped her father from throwing the said box out–wait, where was she? Oh, right.
After a few minutes of calming down the firsties, Natsumi finally got to stir the topic back to the afternoon tutoring sessions.
Vongola-sensei did discuss with Natsumi about her scholarship, but it wasn't about the requirements. Her homeroom teacher was concerned she wouldn't "join a club and enjoy her high school life" this trimester either because she was too concerned about maintaining her scholarship and gave her until the end of the week to join a club.
Because of this new development, Natsumi had warned the freshmen she might have to make the tutoring sessions on a "by schedule" basis since club activities would probably fill up her afternoon by next week.
The poor first-year students looked disappointed at first. Then one brave soul recommended the club he was in. After that was fifteen to sixteen-year-olds shouting over each other on what club Natsumi should try out first.
Needless to say, this time, they were not so kindly "asked" to leave the library.
Natsumi was talked (read: dragged) into checking a few clubs by overeager first years. She managed to visit the Chemistry Club, the Newspaper Club, and the Cooking-*cough*-Future Chefs Club.
They were…interesting. The Chemistry Club tried to impress her by making a mixture blow up. Then they found out she was in the Literature Route, and she was immediately escorted out. Poor Masahito-kun was so indignant for her that he was ranting about quitting. Natsumi had to reassure him that she wasn't offended in any way before making Masahito-kun promise that he wouldn't color his perception of his club with what happened that afternoon.
The Newspaper Club barely noticed Natsumi was there. They noticed Chrome-chan with her, though. The poor girl was immediately saddled with typing an article and was swept away before Natsumi could even react. From what Natsumi could understand from the panicked yelling, Spade Daemon-sensei apparently gave them a deadline for 6:00 PM that day. Not wanting to bother them more, Natsumi waved goodbye at Chrome-chan before leaving.
The Future Chefs Club was…intense. And by that, Natsumi meant intensely competitive. She didn't even know half the herbs they kept adding into whatever they were cooking. Natsumi discretely ran away before they could decide to rope her into their impromptu "cooking battle."
Visiting those three clubs occupied time, though, and in no time, it was 5:00 PM. Natsumi knocked on Asari-sensei's faculty room door.
On Asari-sensei's prompting, Natsumi discussed the exercises she did as the two walked. She took this opportunity to ask about certain kanjis, clarify the meanings of some, and asking for tips on how to familiarize them.
Natsumi was so focused that she absentmindedly just followed the teacher. She barely noticed how long they had been walking until they stopped in front of a traditional house with a great wooden gate and brass knockers in the form of a Chinese dragon.
"Come on in, Emiya-san," Asari-sensei's voice snapped her out of staring at the Chinese dragon.
With an embarrassed mutter of "excuse me for the intrusion," Natsumi entered the gate. Only to gape at the beautiful garden. The Sakura tree might no longer be in bloom, but it was still a sight to behold. The pond was bordered with large smooth rocks, and in one corner has a small waterfall that was probably the disguised water filter. Natsumi swore she saw a flash of a golden tail, making her believe there was at least one koi in the pond. There was also a water basin with a bubbling bamboo fountain. The garden was a sight to behold with carefully trimmed grass, cobblestone paths, stone lanterns, and rock towers. Everything screamed Aesthetics™, and her eyes were feasting on the view.
Natsumi was not even embarrassed to say that the first thing she noticed about Asari-sensei's house was the rain chains at the entrance. They were in the shape of upside-down lotus flowers not yet fully bloomed. From what she could tell, it seems to be made of stainless steel. They were adorable, okay? The sight of them made her contemplate removing her own house's more common rainwater gutters just to install some rain chains.
Upon entering, Natsumi saw a wooden shoe cabinet to the left. The tataki, or foreground, was concrete instead of the traditional packed earth, not that Natsumi was complaining. It was all fascinating to her. The raised floor was made of tatami, and the windows were shoji-styled. The room she was asked to wait in has a sliding door and an open view of the garden. She sat in a seiza position on a zabuton in front of a chabudai while waiting for Asari-sensei.
It felt surreal that Natsumi was inside one of her teacher's homes instead of those traditional Japanese inns.
When Asari-sensei returned, he was carrying more books and reading materials and a tea set with two cups. He set them down on the chabudai and sat on the zabuton opposite Natsumi. She looked at the tea she didn't remember asking for. Or did she ask for it? She could at least admit to herself that she was quite distracted for some time now. The Literature teacher smiled at her and inquired, "Where were we on our discussion again?"
Natsumi blinked at that. Oh. She then opened the book of 2,000 common kanji about ten pages from the end.
By the time they made it to the end of the book, the ceramic teapot was empty, and the sky was darkening.
Natsumi was entirely grateful and very, very sorry about how much of Asari-sensei's time she occupied even after hours. She stated as much while she gave the teacher a 90º bow after he escorted her to the gate.
"You're welcome," Asari-sensei replied, "It was my duty as your teacher to help you when you're having difficulties with your studies. Besides, you were a pleasure to teach, Emiya-san."
Natsumi straightened and beamed up at him. With a few more words of farewell, Asari-sensei gave her the plain blue reusable bag containing the books he lent. The teacher had kindly carried it for her to the gate. It was a little heavy, and the less time Natsumi has to carry them, the less chance she'd be waking up tomorrow with sore arms.
Natsumi then faked casually looking at her phone. On her phone's screen, Google Maps was open with the direction to her house highlighted in blue. Memorizing until which block she needed to turn, she returned her phone in her bag, waved one last goodbye to Asari-sensei, and started walking.
Thank the heavens for Google Maps. Natsumi was not paying much attention while on their way to her teacher's house. She was lucky Asari-sensei was a genuinely good person.
Tatsuya cannot know how absentminded Natsumi had been this afternoon.
(Push comes to shove, Natsumi could just point out that Tatsu-nii said Asari-sensei could be trusted.)
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So yeah…an unexpected short hiatus. I'd like to apologize for that—no excuses, other than terrible time management.
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END OF CHAPTER!