Chapter 26: Answers (First Half)
(Hiratsuka Hitsuji POV)
My name is Hiratsuka Hitsuji, a foolish man who got cheated on by his wife but finally got himself over the depth of despair and avoid committing suicide thanks to his former teacher.
My older sister, who I thought would be too busy moaning about being single, contacted me out of the blue a few days ago.
She asked me whether I know where our certain former teacher lives right now.
Luckily for her that I'm currently specifically working under him so I told her that.
But what I didn't expect was that the students who gave her so much trouble that she has to go this far were in fact the sons of the teacher Big Sis planned to visit herself.
What a coincidence. I've heard about his sons from Rokuji-san a lot and I would like to meet them myself.
They're not much different from what I have heard from Rokuji-san.
When they're with Rokuji-san and especially Gocho-sensei, they no longer point their interest to others, I mean they even give no damn about who I am at all.
No wonder why Big Sis has so much trouble with them that she has to resort to Gocho-sensei. They are serious rebellious type.
However, that doesn't mean things would turn out as easy as Big Sis thought it would, especially at this moment.
"Hiratsuka Shizuka. Is it true that you involve punching your students in your teaching?" asked Gocho-sensei.
There's no emotion in his voice but that's what pressures Big Sis the most.
"N-Not really…" said Big Sis, guiltily trembling.
Seriously, who would buy that?
"Hiratsuka Shizuka. Is it true that you involve punching your students in your teaching?" asked Gocho-sensei for the second time.
"A-A-As I s-said, n-n-not really…" said Big Sis, her eyes rolled back and forth panickingly.
How hopeless you are, Big Sis? Also, don't glance at me for help.
"Hiratsuka Shizuka. Is it true that you involve punching your students in your teaching?" asked Gocho-sensei for the third time.
If she doesn't answer honestly even after the third time, Gocho-sensei will terminate his conversation with her right away.
It's not like he would get upset or anything, he just won't associate with anyone who avoids giving him honesty for three times straight.
In case that happened I would have to escort Big Sis out of this place myself.
Why? Because the triplets in question released the aura that says they're so ready to throw her out themselves.
Big Sis lowered her head in defeat.
"Yes…" confessed Big Sis.
Congratulations, Big Sis. You've avoided getting thrown out of this place, however…
"Your action is unsuitable, inappropriate, undeserved, neither something a teacher is supposed to do nor applicable as a teacher. Why did you choose to involve violence which is undeniably the symbol of uneducated, unloving, unkind, rude, delinquency and barbarism in your teaching? Regardless of the reasons and intentions, teaching is supposed to avoid using violence or lies to solve the problems as much as possible, not finding the opportunity to involve them in it. Even if there's some teachers out there who relied on violence or lies in their teachings, you should remind yourself that you must not take a page from that part of their teachings. Even if some students learned good things from doing so, there's also an undeniably incomparably large amount of bad things they learned from that very same teaching style as well. Even if there's some students who neither listen to you nor show you respect as a teacher from not involving violence or lies in your teaching, it's not a good reason to solve the problem by including violence or lies in the teachings. Instead of helping students, your way of teaching will plant the uneducated, unloving, unkind, rude, delinquency and barbarism traits into students since they're under the impression that violence can be an available option to solve a problem or a passable excuse which will lead to more uneducated, unloving, unkind, rude, delinquency and barbaric people being produced than it already is and eventually destroyed their futures. The moment that happens, not only that you're partly to blame for those chaotic results but also can't fully believe that you're actually doing something a good role model is supposed to do for students yourself. That kind of teaching you use won't gain respect from any students who have yet to show their respect to teachers and won't gain more from those who already show their respects which lead to the problem revolving around that issue kept occurring. Please remember all of that." said Gocho-sensei.
Big Sis shrank down upon listening to every word Gocho-sensei has said.
If there's a big hole nearby, I wouldn't be surprised if Big Sis happened to hide her whole body in it, not even letting a strain of her single hair be seen.
It can't be helped, even our parents have never scolded her that much and long in her life.
But what's more amazing is that Gocho-sensei not only didn't use any vulgar language against her but also said all that with a straight face and was void of emotions.
He's not angry with Big Sis as he only criticized her ill actions not her in person, but he definitely couldn't let her go without getting scolded and lectured for her ill-actions, especially when she's no longer a mere innocent little child or a child cladded in an adult body.
Not let his own emotion govern himself so that he wouldn't waste his concentration, that's what kind of person Gocho-sensei I know.
"Since you've come here for the sake of your students it can be considered you're not slacking off on your teacher duty which is admirable despite there's numerous rooms you need to fulfill to become a full-fledged teacher. Teachers are supposed to give their students proper advice, educate them properly, teach them properly, properly introduce them to friends and protect them properly. Not overdoing it, nor being too ignorant about it. Just like how the hen hatches its eggs, it's not the hen's job to dictate when the hatchlings would hatched or how the hatchlings hatched from its egg must turn out to be, the hen's job is to keep properly hatching its eggs and thoroughly flipping them to make sure they get enough warmth, when the time has come, hatchlings will break their shells with their beaks and getting themselves out to face the world by themselves. Even if there's bad students who are still rebellious towards the teacher who already did his or her part properly, that teacher isn't always the part to blame since students aren't always archive the same amount and quality of progression despite being given the same amount of time, some have problems following directions, some are slow learners, some has low capabilities, some have false beliefs which interfere with them personally, no matter how perfect the teachings one's claimed them to be, there's exists the students who couldn't get through them. Please remember well, Hiratsuka Shizuka." said Gocho-sensei.
Big Sis can only nod in agreement exhaustingly.
"And by the way, Hachiju, Hassen, Sanshokuin family reported to me that you two did something cruel to the daughter of both Shiromeguri and Ebina family for some reasons, is it true?" asked Gocho-sensei.
I also have heard of that, it seems like one of them just merely opposes the engagement while another one accepts it in order to make his fiancée the receiving end of his wrath.
"Even if they didn't report behind our backs, we already planned to confess that we did it to you anyway, father." admitted both eldest and middle triplets.
"Even though I can't praise you two for doing something like this, I can at least say that you two took a slightly better decision in avoiding lyings than your childhood selves. However, I believe I have scolded you two a long time ago that you shouldn't resort to cruelties just for seeking the answers you're looking for from others, especially by forcefully set them up like how you two did with the daughter of those two families despite the fact that you were the one who got forced." said Gocho-sensei.
"Eh?" said the girls, confused.
"To put it in an easier way, we did that to see what people would normally do when they're in such situations, just like experimenting. They would suggest some sort of compromise solution, however… " explained the eldest triplet.
"In the end, what they actually do isn't what they have said they will. There's no way we could play along with their hypocrites, could we? That's a tall order." added the middle triplet.
I can't help but think that this room is more and more like a church for sin confession or something for some reason.
"Indeed, and I'm not planning to ask you to play along with such things to begin with and never will. There's no way someone should follow the other's hypocrisy. However, you two still have done more than necessary to the point of being too cruel which will lead you to be more and more improper human beings and might end up doing something irreversible in the future if you keep it up without putting your efforts in quitting. Please reflect on your actions and find a way to deliver your apology to the people you hurt while you are at it." said Gocho-sensei.
"We will put our efforts into it." said the triplets.
"Are you guys for real?" asked Big Sis in disbelief, in which the girls reacted the same way as her.
"Please don't misunderstand, Hiratsuka-sensei. We said we would put our efforts into it, not going to fulfill it right away. We're not that capable, at least in this kind of field." said the eldest triplet.
"If we were able to do such a thing right away, then you would have no idea how many promises we broke up until now." added the middle triplet.
"Even though the reason why you failed revolves around your family being antagonized or something along those lines…" added the youngest triplet.
"Even if the result still couldn't reach the satisfactory level, it's already good enough if the progression keeps increasing instead of stay still or regressing despite the fact that it doesn't look that way to others." said Gocho-sensei.
"If this is how they are when there's some progression being made, I don't want to imagine how horrible they would have become if there's no progression made…" muttered Yukinoshita-san, in which other girls nodded along.
"Assuming that there's a blinded-eyes man was given a dim-colored cloth full of dirt by another man and was told by him that the given cloth is pure white and high quality. The blinded-eyes man happily wore that cloth he got and announced to others that he's currently wearing the high quality pure white cloth. One day, an ophthalmologist came and healed that blinded-eyes man's eyes which ended in succession. The blinded-eyes man is no longer blinded and now can see everything clearly. Here's a question, what would that man do if he took a look at the cloth he has worn for a long time?" asked Gocho-sensei.
"He would throw away that cloth and search for the guy who tricked him to kill?" said Big Sis.
"That's right. During their childhood, to them, they're the same as that blinded-eyes man who got tricked when they believed in people, life lessons which most people gave them aren't that much different from that cloth, as for those people themselves also not much different from the guy who tricked that blinded-eyes man for so long. Their trust decreasing rate is extremely high compared to others, especially Hachiju and Hassen. It doesn't matter how something worked out for others, if it doesn't work out for them like they were guaranteed then it's just a mere lie for them. It's not like they listened to absolutely nothing but my words as you may have thought they are, they just don't want more of that [dim-colored cloth full of dirt] but most people either give off the vibes of trickers or have nothing else to give them. At some point they're under the impression that [pure white and high quality cloth] is probably one of the world's fantasies. If that wasn't the case, the idea of playing villains wouldn't be in their options in the first place." said Gocho-sensei.
"Now that you mentioned it…" said Yukinoshita as if she understood something.
The other girls looked like they tried to argue but no words came out of their mouths.
"However, I am aware that they shouldn't be keeping their problems unsolved so I promised to Hachiju and Hassen something that will help them take a huge step to clear up their problems. But before that, I would like to know how all of you define my sons' problems so please list them to me." said Gocho-sensei as he looked at Big Sis and the other girls' way.
Gocho-sensei took out his notebook and pen, prepared to write.
"Let's start from you, Yuigahama-san." asked Gocho-sensei.
"Eh? Ah… Erm… I don't know much about Hikki's brothers myself so… I think Hikki's problem is… he's kind of a loner, not sociable and sometimes he's mean…" said Yuigahama-san in which she lost her words quickly.
"If that's all then… Yukinoshita-san." said Gocho-sensei.
"My opinions are mostly the same as Yuigahama-san's with additions of him having twisted personalities in which his brothers have more about that. But I have to admit that some of his bad qualities aren't something I could actually make fun of despite the fact that I sometimes get creeped out by them." replied Yukinoshita-san.
"Well then... Isshiki-san." said Gocho-sensei.
"I don't know much about them myself so I can only say that his bad points really bother me but his good points somehow win me over without me knowing that." said Isshiki-san as she pointed her finger at the eldest triplet.
"Finally… Hiratsuka Shizuka, let's hear from you." asked Gocho-sensei.
"Hikigaya is rebellious over trivial things while his brothers make a huge fuss over them. Also, all three of them are too determined to be pessimistic, foul-mouthed, asocial loners. As if that wasn't bad enough, the two eldest brothers are way too much for me to overlook." said Big Sis.
"Hmm… I see. Most of these definitions aren't so far from my predictions but at the same time they're not really close to mine." said Gocho-sensei.
"Eh?" said Big Sis.
"This is just my guess. The reason why you had trouble with them is that your reasoning isn't thorough enough and probably due to being short-tempered which resort to violence that makes things worse than it already is." said Gocho-sensei.
"Ugh…" muttered Big Sis.
I'm totally convinced that the short-tempered part and violence hit her home.
"For example, the matter of my sons being the loners, it's pointless to even start the discussion of which is better between being a loner or being a people person from the get-go." said Gocho-sensei.
Gocho-sensei put down the note he wrote before he opened his mouth.
"At the very least, I wouldn't count being a loner and asocial person as the problem. If the surrounding itself isn't good enough then living as a loner without causing problems is obviously better. That's why even though a loner tends to lead a tough and inconvenient life, I can't say that it's always the wrong option, so I can't really act like some sort of forceful tyrant who either doesn't let my children have freedom to choose or instruct them to not go down that path despite it sounding wrong to others." said Gocho-sensei.
"But… Gocho-sensei… that...!" said Big Sis.
"Be it a loner path or a social butterfly path doesn't make the one who chooses it good or evil which is the matter that everyone should prioritize over such things like convenient life. Most people may take this matter as a hassle and try making as many friends as they can without distinguishing good and bad, yet when they end up doomed or getting betrayed they couldn't brush off their pains like the hassle they once brushed off easily." said Gocho-sensei.
Hearing that, the triplets casted their gaze down and gritted their teeth in pain.
Seeing that, the girls showed their sympathy for them.
"Given how many difficulty levels distinguishing a person's heart is, some would take the loner path because it's much easier but that would make them live with the pain of being overly cautious. So if there's a possibility that there's at least one or two of your surroundings that are good enough then you should be at least approach them, if it's totally hopeless even though you put efforts to search for such people then you could live as a loner for the time being." said Gocho-sensei.
"Live as a loner for the time being?" asked Big Sis.
"If you want friends, they better be good enough or put efforts to be good enough to be. Good people aren't some kind of extinct species, they're just so low in number and found possibilities compared to the ones who aren't good enough so there might be a chance to be able to meet one or two in one's life. There's many variety of good people, but they're all have things in common; they refrain or work hard on refraining from destroying life, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying, divisive speaking, malicious speaking, senseless speaking, holding covetousness, holding ill will, and holding wrong view. It does sound too picky but it is better than getting dragged down to the abyss from making reckless decisions of choosing who you associate with, not to mention that the requirements are normal, right?" said Gocho-sensei.
Well, most people can keep the first three requirements but the same thing couldn't be said to the remaining seven requirements.
"B-But does it have to be that picky? Like senseless speaking, it's not like people would harm others through it and they just did it for fun so that they could form friendship through it." said Yuigahama-san.
Isshiki-san almost nodded along but stopped when she noticed that the triplets sitting next to her had a look of disagreement on his face.
"It's not as small of a deal as you think it is, especially when friendship bonding isn't all about such things. The light consequence of constant lying is to be accused with false words, the light consequence of constant divisive speaking is to have friendships broken, the light consequence of constant malicious speaking is to get to hear unpleasant sounds, the light consequence of constant senseless speaking is to make your words lose credibility. How can these be considered good deeds? If you happen to be blamed for something you're not responsible for, do you think you can get yourself out of it when your words lose credibility due to the consequences? How could the friends you make through it help you when they can't believe your creditless words? Can you guarantee you won't have any trouble running any kind of business while having your words lose credibility? How will you save innocent people from being falsely accused when your words hold no credibility? After all these possibilities do you still think that this is just a small deal? Is it really something worth doing? Is it really something you should recommend others to do? Is it really something you should praise and give your support to? Is it something you should be proud of doing? Is fun and friendship something that should be gained from doing that? Can you be proud of yourself when the consequences of those actions happen on others because you recommend or urge them to do all those things?" said Gocho-sensei.
And the next thing Gocho-sensei said resonated with the thought that crossed my mind.
"The merits you may have gained from not refraining from doing that will never be worth suffering from even the light consequence. The same thing could also be said to the other nine things you need to refrain from doing." said Gocho-sensei.
Yuigahama-san had her entire face faced down and went completely quiet like the lifeless statue.
You better not argue with him now, kid, unless you want him to elaborate how horrible 'heavy consequence' is.
Assuming that the most painful suffering humans can ever suffer is worth six or seven pebbles, your suffering definitely worth less than that yet you want to escape that suffering by doing things that just get you the new one that is worth more than the whole rock mountain?
And then he started to elaborate on the heavy consequences of killing. It's horrible to the point I abandon all of my previous thoughts of kill myself and my frustrations immediately, seriously, anything but that!
"Also, not just the loner-friend topic, even the matter of which is better between change and not change is also pointless from the get-go. It's a common thing to change what's broken, however, the problem is even if you know what is broken doesn't always mean you know the right way to fix and change it. People change because they have a reason to change, people keep their characters also because they have a reason to keep it. If you're going to accuse someone for being stubborn, you have to make sure that you have already given them the right reasons as to why they must. And unfortunately, up until now, none of you have yet to say the right reasons why they should fix and change themselves." said Gocho-sensei.
Gocho-sensei placed the note he wrote earlier on the table so that everyone could see it.
It contained the entire conversations that happened ever since he picked up the note until he stopped writing.
"Your answers contain too many trivial matters. I don't know how you handle my sons so far but it's no wonder you tired yourselves out unnecessarily since you yourselves have too many expectations and biases. Elaborate the good and bad about their behaviors clearly without biases and let them choose whether they should continue behaving like that or fix themselves. And in case they decide to fix, you will have to elaborate the good and bad about that clearly without biases and let them decide whether to go with it or choose the different ways themselves. Has those thoughts ever crossed your mind when you wanted them to be fixed?" said Gocho-sensei.
This time, Yukinoshita-san went silent and casted her gaze downward.
Then Gocho-sensei clapped his hands three times, signalling me to bring him the things he has finished preparing for his sons since the day before yesterday.
I brought him what he asked me to; a dozen identical books.
"Honestly speaking, even an ordinary person won't always be fixed easily, much less my sons. And even I couldn't wrap up everything in a single day so today I will at least do something about them." said Gocho-sensei as he handed one of the book to the youngest triplet.
"H-Heavy!" said the youngest triplet.
Of course, that book is 2.5 kilograms each.
"Hachiju, Hassen, Hachiman. The things I promised you, the things that can improve you, the things that can help you, the answers you have always longed for, they're all in here." said Gocho-sensei.
"Um… father… if that's the case, why do you prepare twelve and not just three?" asked the eldest triplet.
"Just in case you want to share that with your family or someone else. Now that my children's problems could be considered settled for the time being, if anyone else still has any questions after all this then I don't mind answering them if I can." said Gocho-sensei as he drank the milk his sons brought for him.
Assuming that they can bear to hold a conversation with him after all that.
(Hiratsuka Hitsuji POV Ended)
(Hiratsuka Shizuka POV)
He still intended to talk more even after all those recent verbal bombardments?!
I have never imagined the father of interaction haters like Hikigaya and his brothers would be this much of a talkative monster of logic, especially when he's in his 70s!
At this point, I will have to take the case regarding these rebellious brats over before I have the urge to resign from being the teacher myself.
"Um… How can someone be with someone they like?" asked Isshiki.
This kid is so bold, probably influenced by her boyfriend whose eyes still fixed on the book.
"At first people have to close the distance between each other. There's four main factors that determine the length of distance between people; faiths, precepts, generosity and wisdom. People who have these factors on par with each other will attract each other and have their distance close. If you have different faiths, different precepts, different generosity levels and wisdom compared to the one you like, your relationship will eventually fade away. Even if it's just one out of four being so much different could determine whether the relationship will develop or regress. The factors that you are superior don't need to be toned down but the ones that you are inferior should be improved. You may start from faith, once you've done that, you might figure out what to do next on your own." replied Gocho-sensei.
"That's why my chance is…" murmured Yuigahama.
No wonder, Hikigaya's faith and wisdom are too different from hers, not to mention that with Hikigaya's brothers and Yukinoshita, whose faith and wisdom are on par with him, around making her distance with him only closer than being strangers easily. Poor girl.
But when thinking about it, those four factors of mine also did not match with anyone up until now either.
My question about why I still stayed unmarried was answered without me asking. How sad.
So if I want to get married I have to look for a person with those four factors that match mine from now on, huh?
(Hiratsuka Shizuka POV Ended)
A/N: Chapter 26 for you readers, sorry for the late update.