Chapter 2: The Mysterious Teacher
They saw him around every so often, but he didn't teach in their class again.
Every time Sunako saw him, her heart seemed to beat faster than it had in ages.
Two months passed.
One day, an announcement was the cause for the entire school to stare at Sunako more than usual.
"Sunako Nakahara, Takenaga Oda, Noi Kasahara: report to the teacher's lounge after school today."
Sunako and Noi exchanged confused and worried looks; they glanced at Takenaga, who shrugged.
Yuki, Ranmaru, and Kyouhei came to their classroom during lunch. "What's going on?"
"What did you three do?"
"I bet Sunako did something illegal, right?"
"Shut up!" Sunako snapped at Kyouhei.
"Yeah, Kyouhei, that was out of line," Noi lectured.
"Now, now," Takenaga said. "I'm sure we aren't in trouble. If we were, we'd be called immediately, not told to go after school was over."
After lunch ended, Sunako tried to pay attention, but she kept feeling the stares of her classmates—it was getting entirely disconcerting and she felt as though, if they didn't stop, she would scream.
Finally, the bell rang and Sunako ran to the teacher's lounge, not bothering to wait for Takenaga and Noi.
She knocked on the door and was let in. "Oh, Nakahara-kun, Yamato-Sensei is waiting. Over there," her old math teacher said, motioning to the teacher in question.
Sunako's heart skipped a beat.
It was the teacher from the first day of class.
Sunako approached him, trying to keep herself calm.
"Sensei?"
He looked at her, his thumb pressed to his bottom lip. He had a strange way of sitting—he balanced on his feet, devoid of shoes and socks.
"Take a seat, Nakahara-chan," he instructed.
Sunako sat across from him the table.
The door opened again.
Noi and Takenaga entered and joined Sunako at the table.
"Now that all of you are here, I can tell you why."
None of them pressed him for an explanation, so he went on.
"I've been looking for some brilliant students to school for a year…for a project so to speak."
"So we're just your project?" Noi snapped.
"All three of you are smart, spunky, and quite interesting. But you're not quite as brilliant as your teachers seem to think. I've gone through some of your work last year and I'd like you to look at the critiques I gave you," he handed them each their own notebooks with works that they had done the previous year.
Sunako scanned them, apart from the original grades, written in red ink, in blue were Sensei's. He even crossed out other comments, saying where she was wrong and where she was right with utter ruthlessness.
Takenaga slammed his notebook shut. "Are you implying," he growled, "That the three of us are idiots?"
Sensei blinked, smirking. "No. Not one of you is an idiot, but you aren't using your heads as well as you could. For example, I know two boys who match my intellect and are just a couple years younger than you are. I think you, especially, Oda-kun, could surpass even me. It's just a matter of figuring out what helps you're reasoning."
"Sorry, Sensei, but I don't understand," Noi said.
"Both boys have their own quirks. The first boy, whom we will call M, works best when he's eating chocolate."
"I can go with that," Sunako muttered, smirking.
"The second boy, N, is good at coming up with theories and scenarios when he has some toys to play with. As for me, I'm not entirely like the first boy. However, if I'm eating something sweet and sitting the way I am right now I have a better chance of coming up with the correct answer."
"So you think we have some sort of quirk like that?" Takenaga asked.
"Maybe," Sensei admitted. "Nakahara-chan seems to be the most likely, but you never know. I intend to help you all surpass even your teachers."
"Eh?" Sunako asked. "Me?"
Sensei nodded. "Starting tomorrow, you will begin private lessons with me after school for two hours every day. Saturdays also when I deem it necessary. You're dismissed."
Sunako, Noi, and Takenaga stood, bowed, and walked out of the teacher's lounge.
Before closing the door, Sunako looked back at him.
He had stood and was getting his things together.
She closed the door and followed Takenaga and Noi.
As they walked home, Takenaga was muttering angrily under his breath.
Noi was just letting him go on with his tirade and Sunako was lagging behind, her mind reeling.
She'd see him every day.
She'd be studying under him.
Sunako sighed and Noi stopped, letting Takenaga go on ahead.
When Sunako caught up to her, Noi resumed walking.
"Are you feeling alright, Sunako-chan?"
Sunako looked at Noi. "Huh?" she asked.
"Are you alright?"
"Oh. Yeah. I'm fine," Sunako said.
Noi frowned.
Sunako elaborated. "I've just been thinking. Every time I'm around Sensei my heart skips a beat or starts pounding really fast." Sunako touched her sternum. "It sometimes starts to hurt, but other than that, I'm really fine."
Noi wasn't totally convinced, but she linked arms with Sunako and pulled her away from the street, walking towards the shopping mall. "Let's go have fun, Sunako-chan. The boys can order pizza or something."
"Noi, what are you doing?"
"Come on! Let's go shopping!"
"But—"
"I want to just try something with you, Sunako-chan," Noi said, stopping and turning to her, eyes wide and her bottom lip trembling.
Sunako's shoulders slumped. "Alright…"
"Yay!" Noi dragged her to as many stores as possible. "You'd look so cute in this!"
Sunako was forced into a black Gothic Lolita dress.
"Kya! You look so cute, Sunako-chan!"
"Noi…please…don't…"
"We're getting it!"
"But I can't afford it!"
Noi smiled at her deviously. "That's fine! My treat," she said, tapping her card against her cheek.
"No! I couldn't possibly—"
"Get changed back into your school uniform and we'll get the dress. It's the closest I can get to shopping with you. If I have to pay for it for you, then it's worth it!"
Sunako tried to stop her, but Noi wouldn't listen.
Though Noi urged Sunako to forget about it, Sunako couldn't help feeling guilt.
They returned to the mansion and Noi called her parents, getting permission to spend the night with Sunako.
When Sunako went to bed, Sensei flashed through her mind.
She hid her head under her pillow and muttered under her breath.
oh dear, Noi was able to get Sunako to go clothes shopping! It's the APOCOLYPSE!!! Yeah...a teeny bit of ooc...