More Than Just A Teacher

Chapter 4: A Beloved Wife & Friend

"What's that?" Akari asked as she suddenly yanked the picture from her teacher's hand.

"H-Hey, that's--" Y/N tried reaching to grab the photo, but couldn't reach it in time to get it back.

"Ehhh!? Who's this woman? She's ABSOLUTELY gorgeous! Hey, hey! Tell me who she is!" Akari asked as she was completely stunned by the woman in the photo.

The woman in the photo was an absolutely beauty in the eyes of Akari. The woman from the picture had almost porcelain clear skin and long flowing, luscious brunette hair that passed her shoulders. She had a petite body and the clothing she had on in the picture were fairly loose and seemed to be flowing around possibly because of wind. She wore a white blouse that had the sleeves puffed up and a long red skirt that reached her ankles. There was a red bracelet that was visible on her left wrist and in the same hand she held a pair of red shoes and wore a sun hat that had a red ribbon tied around its top and she was giving an ear-to-ear smile to the camera. The background of the picture almost made it seem like this was a professional photo shoot as well, being on the beach where the tide came in not to far from where she stood. Akari felt her cheeks slowly heating up from the picture as she stared at it with awe, but a second later the picture was taken from her and she had realized the rudeness of her actions.

"A-Ahh, sorry...I got too excited and handsy...Sorry!" She apologized to me with her hands clapped together and her head bowed.

"...It's fine, I'll tell you." You said as she raised her head and you took your cigarette and pressed it into the ash tray next to you to put it out before turning to her. "That was my wife...She's dead..." You said in a tone that only she could hear.

The instant you said that to her, a breeze blew across the rooftop you were all on as Akari's face turned to a look of surprise and nervousness. She was beginning to sweat as she instantly bowed her head in regret once more.

"I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have poked my nose into something so personal. I'll leave now--." Akari was about to turn on her heels and head straight back to her friends, but you cut her off.

"Shichimiya-san, I said it's okay." You cut her off as she fell silent and the next thing you said threw her off. "Do you wanna know more about her?" You asked as she looked up at you with surprise. "Talking about her may help for the day." You said while staring out to the distance as you went and leaned against the rail of the roof once more, and hearing a pair of arms lean on the rail next to you, words began to flow from your mouth. "My wife's name is Elizabeth. She was 23 in that picture, and today she'd have been 27." You said as Akari was surprised.

"Really? She looked like she could've still been in her teens. Wow..." Akari said as you nodded and hummed in agreement.

"Aging has been good to her, and she held the same beauty she had when we met in High School. Once we graduated and left to join the same university, I finally asked her to be my girlfriend. Two years later we got married and moved to the apartment here that I'm still living in. After that, our plan was to buy a two-story house somewhere a bit more quieter. Hokaido, maybe." You talked about some background about how you got together with your wife.

"Heh? Sounds nice. I hope someday that I marry someone and we can do something like that. Hey, Sensei..." Akari leaned turned her body a bit and gave you a cheesy smile while propping her head up on her left arm. "...Wanna get married? Ehehe." She giggled as you sighed in slight irritation and she turned back to look out at the distance. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to. That was a joke. You're too scary looking on the outside, I'm surprised you got married in the first place. She must have been able to see something in you that she liked...I'm sorry for asking, but..." Akari started as she hesitated for a moment and began to lightly tap on the rail with her finger. "...how did she die?" She asked nervously as she readied herself and expected you to scold or get mad at her, but those outcomes never came.