Disclaimer: I own neither the characters nor the series. The original サヨナラを教えて series is owned by FOOO嘉

School is closed during summer and winter break.

In high school, I spent such time studying or working part-time jobs. When I entered university, I spent less time on such things and more on the thing called "friendship".

Of course, as all things so, with friendship also came expenses. Although most of my family's debt had been settled in high school, it was always still necessary to make money.

"Everyone looks to be having so much fun! It's so exciting."

"They're all just messing around with each other, aren't' they?"

"Typical Uesugi-san."

I looked away from a smile that didn't betray the slightest hint of cold.

Just by looking at her decked out in a Santa miniskirt outfit given by the manager chilled the bones of my body. It was definitely not because I was peeping on what laid below such a miniskirt.

Yotsuba had joined me as at my, what felt like, yearly part-time job as a Christmas cake seller.

I didn't think such a thing was necessary for her anyways but I could her respect her reasoning of "I wanted to buy things with my own money".

Even if I've done this every year, the task of selling cakes to people outside in the cold was a simple but boring one. However, this year's job passed in the blink of an eye thanks to having someone to chat with in between the gaps of work.

"Uesugi-san! Do you want to go shopping?"

When our job finally finished, Yotsuba came out of the changing room with a long yellow-green scarf wrapped around her neck. Her ribbon was also back up, something she couldn't wear over a santa hat.

If it was anyone else but her, I would have balked at such a joke. Unfortunately, I've learned just how seriously stupid she could be.

It was already 9 o'clock.

All the food would have been sold by now.

"Let's buy some chicken!"

There were definitely only a limited number of things we could purchase right now.

"It's a Christmas party!"

We did a good job.

I was tired. We were even able to sell out all our stocks of cake. Something, I hadn't been able to do for all the years I've been selling these things. Having a girl beside me dressed in a Santa outfit shouldn't have made such a difference.

I just wanted to take a hot bath then go to bed.

"We should go to XXXXXX supermarket. It should be empty at this time."

...however, there certainly was a store nearby Yotsuba's apartment.

It seemed she was also thinking of the same one as she took my hand and pulled me towards the store's direction in a hurry.

"If you want a salad, I have a good recipe. We could make it back at my place!"

"When was it decided that I go to your place in the first place?

"It's no good then?"

"It's fine. I don't have anything planned for tomorrow."

"Shi Shi Shi. Then let's go!"

Smiling and laughing, Yotsuba felt a little different than usual.

"Hey."

"Yeah?"

"…if you hurry too much, you'll slip."

"Okay."

Her palm gripping my hand was soft and it warmed my cold hand just a little.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Hey, Sensei, why don't you go out with me?"

"What, did you get in a fight with your boyfriend again?"

The student who should have been working on her print-out was twisting the ends of her hair with her fingers.

Naturally, I didn't listen to such idiotic words.

"I hate kids. Older men really are better, ne?"

"Wasn't he a university student."

"College kids are still kids after all."

"Is that the reason for your supplementary lesson?"

"Hai hai."

She lazily looked over her shoulder, clearly uninterested in the paper before her.

I wonder how much service overtime pay I'll end getting from this girl who could only have become addicted to supplementary lessons with how often she got them.

"When did you fight?"

"Yesterday."

"You got stupid after the test then."

Unfortunately, her supplementary lessons were not the boyfriend's fault. Even the past me, who rejected romance, would be able to see that such temporary factors had no effect to something so constant.

That fact made me sigh.

"I got into a fight with my boyfriend, had to go to school on Christmas, take refresher lessons and now a quiz. I have to wonder if I did something wrong to deserve all of this."

If you asked me what was wrong, it was that the test results were bad.

If you asked me what you did wrong, it was because you didn't pass.

"I'm so sad that I can't study at all. So please warm up the heart of this cute student!"

Such an ugly temptation gave me more fatigue than excitement.

"You shouldn't make such careless remarks."

"Are you going to give me a sermon? Like 'Cherish yourself more'?"

"It's more for my own social life."

"It's okay if you don't get caught!"

I have no intention to entrust all of my social life to a student to have such a low sense of danger that she'd calmly try to tempt a teacher while being tutored in the staff room.

If there's a teacher who would come to school on such a day, they should be working seriously.

"If you have enough time to say such stupid things to a married person, you have enough time to work on your studies."

While flapping her feet in the air, she turned back to the print-outs. I took the opportunity to check my phone for any messages.

There was one new.

[Merry Christmas!]

[What happened]

[It's Christmas!]

[You're a bit too excited]

[How is Uesugi-san not excited? Christmas is Christmas!]

[Don't just say it over and over]

[I'm at work because of some idiot. I don't feel any excitement]

[Poor Uesugi-san…]

[Aren't you the same?]

[Ah! That's right. I'm also working～(/□≦､)!』

It seems that there were also people who wanted to move their bodies on Christmas day which is said to be a night of sex for couples. Well, it's also cheap with a membership fee.

This health-oriented trend shouldn't be made fun of however as the increase of people interested in it meant more work for Yotsuba.

"Hey sensei, what are you grinning about?"

"I'm not."

"I saw it just now! It's was a nice smile."

I wanted to retort that it was her who was the one grinning at the moment but such words would just be wind at this point. Instead I stretched my back against my chair's backrest.

We're not even halfway done at this point.

"Ah, I give up. I guess I can't do this."

"Why do you sound so convinced?"

"I'm more interested in the wife of Uesugi-sensei."

"Ha?"

Did she just say wife? I looked down at what she had currently written down on her print out:

It's Christmas. Your wife is preparing a feast for you and waiting for you at home, right? Come back soon, a-na-ta~. Or is it perhaps a dinner at a hotel after a date?

I can't help but be irritated at the cheeky grin on her face as I looked back up.

In the first place, it's not my fault a student had to study at school in Christmas. If she had gotten a decent score, then we could have both easily stayed at home. However, the scenario she imagined isn't true as my wife is also at work anyways.

Do students not realize that when Christmas lands on a weekday, most people still have to go to work?

"I head that Sensei's wife is cute. Hey, don't you have any pictures? Show me, ne?"

"Why? You're wrong here."

The answer was wrong and all she had written were less than forty words.

It's a problem when the question asks for at least eighty words and it becomes a genuine mistake when a person couldn't even write half of it.

Even for the nicer graders, an answer that lacked the minimum word count would be given half points.

Of course, because I'm kind, I gave an [X].

"Well, let me see! If you don't, it'll get in the way of my studying."

"There are too many other facts that you should fix first."

What about the concentration and focus you showed in your club activities?

Well, there's no other way than.

As a teacher, it is important to restore the motivation of the students so they could work on their studies rather than waste time on things they can't do anything about.

I showed the wallpaper of my smartphone without hesitation.

"Oh, they're all cute…don't all five have the same face?

"My wife is a quintuplet."

It was a picture taken at the inn owned by my wife's late mother last year.

"Wah, they're all beautiful…everyone has big boobs too! And, isn't that Nakano Ichika-chan!"

"It's just as you said."

Of course, it's a completely private picture so she didn't bother with her usual disguise. On top of that, I had forgotten such a high-profile actress would be well known among high school girls. Hopefully, it wouldn't end up too troublesome.

"Hey, show me more pictures!"

"Study."

Show me more. Just a little more…"

"Hm…"

I displayed more appropriate pictures from my phone's gallery.

This one was a photo of all of us when we had a party for Raiha passing her university exam.

"Oh, thank you. Who's this girl? A mistress of Sensei?"

"I'll smack you."

Certainly, Raiha wasn't a little girl anymore but a mature girl where one could easily glimpse the beautiful woman she would grow into. However, it is unforgivable to call my little sister the mistress of anyone, especially myself.

"Nihihi. Just a joke. She's Sensei's sister then? You're both similar. Wow, their faces really are the same even though all their hairstyles were different from before."

"My wife and her sisters."

"Hmm~ So this is sensei's wife?"

Brightly colored nails pecked the screen

"…wrong. C'mon, let's continue."

"Hai~"

We've wasted enough time. I couldn't relax too much or the sun would set soon.

We're only halfway done

.

"You're really bad at this."

"I'm real not good at this, right? I'm just writing down the things that I want to say clearly but then I need to come back to say more stuff."

It feels like we're writing a novel on word at a time.

"A lot of problems can be solved if you simply look at how the sentence is presented in the examination."

"I want coffee."

"Oy."

"I'll make for you too, sensei."

"Oy."

"Do you want sugar?

"Two cubes."

"Milk?"

"None."

As it was normal to review lesson plans inside a pod of the staff room, instant coffee was always ready on standby. As if handling a trusted secret mission, she brought over two steaming mugs.

I let my mug rest by the table for the moment.

"Isn't sensei's taste a bit childish? Kihihi!"

"Only a child would think adults only drank their coffee black."

The bitterness of instant coffee is at the level of a weapon. True adults have the ability to push themselves away from danger without overdoing it.

Now, questions such as "Write what the author thought of this scene" and "Write within eighty characters what the author wanted to covey through this story" what do think is the answer? Are we able to ask the author?"

"I dunnow."

"I'm sure the author himself doesn't actually think that way."

As a writer, I would take great pride in seeing each person's perspective or take on what I've written.

"Right?"

"Roughly speaking, the answer to the current question is to derive it from the greatest common divisor."

"That's a bit…lame."

"Well, it is often that the interpretation that the majority of people will have will be thought of as the most educational and thematic "correct" answer."

Of course, I don't intend to say that in front of other teachers.

They'll only think such an answer could come from a guy with an annoying selfishness or a guy who couldn't read the air. Of course, the former is known but I try to minimize the latter.

"In other words, you should read the air and write it as your answer."

"It's strange when Sensei is the one who says it."

"I just don't want to read it, is all."

Regardless of my high school days, I've at least gained some social awareness a social cogwheel. Just the bare minimum required for working people.

"Isn't that something only people with Communication Disorder say…but somehow I understand."

"That's fine."

"I understand well enough that such thoughts shouldn't be reflected in everyday life."

"What a shame. It's a new year so I thought I'd try to give you all less homework. It hurts my heart that I'll have to triple it."

I have all of winter break to consider whether I should give a level of challenge to the students or not. I have to become a demon because their current hardships will become their food for the future.

It can't be helped.

It's nothing personal.

"Sensei, I really love you. As expected, adult men are attentive!"

"I'll just double it. Let's hurry this up."

"Hii...!"

Still, as I looked at the answer sheet filled with X's, I couldn't

"Hmm…"

"What?"

"You don't use your eraser that much. You don't have that many questions where you rewrote the answer

"Because that's what I think is right. If I think that's the right answer, is there something I can do about it if it turned out to be a mistake? So, I just let what I feel is right decide."

"Are you an animal? Don't rely on instincts but your knowledge. How did you get into this school?"

Back entrance examination? No, she's not rich unlike those five. I do recall she's part of a middle-class family.

"Don't rely on your intuition too much. You can't always rely on it."

"You always tell me to believe in myself."

"I'm telling you to believe in the accumulation of your studying. There are a lot of factors that can create mistakes such as skipping the problem statement, misunderstanding the choice, and so on. Carefully tackle the problem than review your answer. But, apparently, that's only up to 30 points in your case."

"I don't have time to review."

"It's an evidence of your lack of basic academic skills."

"I'm sure sensei has always had perfect scores. You don't make mistakes because you're so careful and solid, after all."

"It's true that I get perfect scores but I also make mistakes. It's necessary to revise and repeat and repeat and revise. After all, learning is simply repetition. Don't you take foundation training seriously first in your club before you're allowed to be at the front?"

"If you don't have foundation, you can't do anything."

"Make use of that to your studying. It's like how you train your motor nerves when you're doing sports."

"I see. I see. I understand."

"Just look at me. I've definitely accumulated all of my knowledge and I've come to the right answer in choosing my beautiful wife from her sisters."

"You're too much of a love brain, Sensei. Well, just from this topic, I can't get any work done…"

I'm amazed at the sudden change in the flow of conversation. It seemed that it was still too difficult to determine what a girl her age is thinking.

"Because you're boasting about your hot wife and sisters-in-law to a high school girl who just had a fight with her boyfriend!"

"You were the one who asked…"

Was it wrong to show the picture?

"Also, Sensei, can I ask you one thing?"

"What?"

"A little while ago, when I guessed which was your wife in the picture…"

"Yes?"

"What was up with your reaction?"

"It was just a strange pick. You were close though."

My wife was right next to me in the picture.

Nevertheless, it was not my wife that this student pointed to.

"Oh, but that person was really close to Sensei. Are you sure she isn't Sensei's wife?"

What she pointed out,

"Let's go back to work. I won't be able to go back until you're finished."

"Ah! So I was right?"

It was Yotsuba smiling behind, her hands on my shoulder.

TN: I actually quite like Uesugi-sensei. I mean, in real life he'd be pretty awful, But in anime land he's pretty amusing.