It was then that he realized he couldn't make it. No matter how hard he resist. No matter how hard he tried. Because his sight, right now, was fading, slowly but surely, as the result of the previous battle.
Even so, he mustered the remainder of his strength to speak, because the least he could do now is to make his hammering heart at ease, "...Aizu." He muttered, his voice came out throaty and scratchy, "Shinpachi was waiting for me... I need to hurry...to Aizu..."
The ageless demon beside him answered plainly, briefly, to the dying man, "I see."
"...hang in there, my dear warrior." The sting of the surgery needle pierced through the skin of his wounded limbs, making him thrashed on the mattress, feeling nothing but the overwhelming scorching pain.
And the feeling of the soft small hands soothing his squirming torso.
Still lingered somewhere in the abyss of his subconscious mind even after he woke up from one of those nightmares.
Another damn nightmares.
"Number one-two-two-four, counter two."
The sound of the intercom sounded as he stepped into the pharmacy. Smells of medicine was everywhere. Light yet sharp smell of tablets wafted around the air. He pressed his thumb on the panel to get his turn. A small printed paper rolled out from the machine. 1232. He looked back at the screen displaying the current number. 1224.
Great. Only eight more to go.
Compared to the last time he was here, he had to wait for his turn for about twenty numbers before his own finally being called almost two hours later. Not only that, he even went out of the pharmacy empty-handed for his father's medicine currently was out of stock. Should he know it sooner, he had long leave the premise and went back to the Academy to finish up some work.
Taking a seat far at the back, he smiled and dipped down his head a bit to the elder next to him, where the elder replied back with the same friendly smile and looked back to the front.
"Number one-two-two-five, counter three."
He leaned back to the chair, pulling out a receipt he received three days ago from his chest pocket and searched for the name of the pharmacist but he found none but a mere indiscernible scribble at the signature spot at the right side of the receipt. Folding back the paper, he crossed his hands over his broad chest, then resort to look for the strangely familiar face of the woman directly at the counter.
Counter one, No.
Counter two, No, not one with the mustache.
Counter three, Again, she doesn't have any mustache.
Counter four, Crap. Did she just wink at me?
Counter five,
...closed?
One week later
She scrolled through the screen, deep lilac irises was focusing on the moving plummeting graph on the screen, then a finger tap on the tab written 'commodities' up at the top, brows furrowing a bit, then closing the app to open the real current market stock.
"-sensei?"
NASDAQ... Then ShangHai, NIKKEI 225... Creases already formed on her forehead, one hand scratching her temple, baffled and disappointed all at once.
"Toshimi." A rough elbow dug to her midriff, made all her sneaking activities stopped at once. Sneaking her phone back to her pocket, she then calmly turned to her colleague, Shinpachi who was making a weird face, pointing with his mouth to the blonde adult man who for some reason was calling himself as the president of the students council at the podium, which was also looking at her, waiting for her response before then she realized all eyes were darted to her.
All the sensei sitting on the same line as her and the students down the stage, staring at her.
"Ahem." Kazama cleared his throat, getting a bit flustered when his question went unanswered. He then spoke again, "Regarding the matter we spoke earlier, Ishigaki-sensei, perhaps you have anything to add or suggest about? We'd be honored to hear from the student of the prestigious Tokyo University regarding the problem." There were whispers of awe and amazement in the air among the students and for some unknown reason, a smug smirk plastered on Kazama's face as he spoke the final sentence.
She froze. Tongue tied. All eyes still stamped on her, anticipating her answer.
What the heck did he talked about just now?!
"I, uhh," She stammered, inwardly cursing herself for not paying attention to the President's mundane speech, "That, err, I think... That... sounds great! Ahahaha... Maybe you just should-"
In the next moment, she knew she had messed it up right in the first day when she heard a unison, harmony laughter broke from the students, from Kondo-san, and Shinpachi who was slamming her back practically hard, laughing boisterously and even Sano who apparently was struggling to muffle his laugh under his calm features.
Up until the end, she didn't know what is it that made them laugh so hard because even when she asked Sano about it, he just shook his head amusedly and said, "It isn't something a woman should hear about but if you do, your life won't be the same as before."
It really struck her that she's now in an all-boys school.
So she chose not to ask again.
"Vice Chancellor Award? Impressive." Kondo-san beamed on his chair, holding Toshimi's resume, "I heard only a few students get awarded by this honors in Tokyo University every year. Shinpachi," He then turned to Shinpachi who was busy scribbling on the newspaper, "You're from the same university as her, right? Haven't you received any award like this?"
"Me?" He shifted his attention to the Principal, grinning widely, "Of course I do. I didn't mean to brag but I even received the greatest award of all where no one had ever beat me even after I've graduated; The One With The Highest Absence Award! Harharhar! C'mon, Kondo-san. Laugh with me."
"We never have Biology subject before in the Academy and I'm afraid she won't be here for long." Hijikata spoke, his voice and face was serious as usual, attracting the Principal and the Calculus teacher's attention, "Vice Chancellor Award or whatnot, if she failed to get at least twenty students from the First Year and the Second Year students to take the subject, then she have to leave."
"But Toshi," Kondo-san spoke, "Didn't we already conduct a survey on the students last week? It couldn't be less than twenty in a batch, right?"
"It is less than twenty. Wait up. Let me get the report first," He searched through the pile of papers on his desk before finally found the report of the survey, "For First Year students; only five out of seventy four students wanted to take the course. As for the Second Year," he glanced briefly to Kondo-san then to Shinpachi before he announced, "Zero out of eighty two."
"3.205%." Shinpachi prompted, suddenly into the mood of a Calculus teacher, "The chance of her to stay here as the new teacher is only 3.205%. It's pretty slim, I'd say but hey," he chirped brightly, "this is one of the top student of the number one university in Asia we're talking about. So don't worry and just sit back and relaaaax." He smirked then, leaning back to his chair and looked back to the horse race bets, "I will write a letter to the Dean myself to take back the title off of her if she failed right in her first test."
Her step towards her first class on that morning halted when her phone in her coat vibrated, calling for her attention.
Sighing, It's only the alarm.
She tap on the bell icon to silence the alarm and before she knew it, the schedule of her timetable of the day suddenly popped up.
Introductory Toxicology - 08:25, Lecture Hall B
Pharmacy Practice Management I - 12:10, Annex 101
Pathophysiology and Clinical Biochemistry - 14:00, online class.
A heavy, remorseful expression flashed on her face as she read through the screen. With the most reluctant, slowest movement ever, she highlighted the whole screen and tap on the dustbin icon.
Delete selected items?
A heavy sigh slipped pass her lips.
Yes.
"You okay there, Toshimi?" Sano inquired, voice echoed in the hallway. She turned off her phone and quickly walked up to the homeroom teacher. She was hesitant at first to look up to this strong, powerfully masculine aura this man radiated but when she saw the gentle smile on his face, she changed her mind.
"Harada-san - I mean Harada-sensei, about last week..."
"I beg of you. Please don't tell Toshi-nii anything you heard from the pharmacy." Never in his faintest idea to get knelt upon in front of Hijikata's apartment on that day by the absent pharmacist at the closed fifth counter.
"He's the one who paid for my tuition fees and the one who supported me before I get the scholarship so if he knows I'm about to get expelled from the college, he'll be very, very sad. So please do me a favour and keep this as a secret."
"Your secret is safe with me but only with one condition," he paused, emphasizing, "For the time being, you've to earn yourself a place in this Academy as a teacher and play the role as one as long as you're at it. Easy, isn't it? So what do you say? Are you up to it?" His eyes clashed with hers, brows wiggling, teasing, challenging.
And without a second thought, "No problem."
A/N: Sorry it took so long for me to update. And no. Toshimi in this story got nothing to do with me. I just randomly chose it for my username and I don't think I will change it since I've been using that for almost a year. Just think of this Toshimi as the genius one and me... hmm just your average college girl who could only dream achieving a 4 flat but never get one. Lol. I hope this story would inspire readers out there who is struggling in their daily busy life, of how it means to achieve something but one can easily lost it in a blink of an eye and I think this story won't centered much around romance though. I thought it is more interesting to add the student-teacher relationship or colleagues development between the teachers but we'll see :)
Sorry for rumbling and thanks for tuning in! A positive review and constructive criticism are highly appreciated!
~toshimi-chan~