Absent Student | KomaHina

Chapter 20

It’s already the time. I looked nervously at Nanami, she seemed much more composed than me. Though I was sure that deep down, she felt equally anxious. We looked at each other and nodded.

“Aren’t you two going back home?” Yukizome asked us with a worried expression. “Do you need my assistance with something?” Nanami looked at me expectantly probably not wanting to be the one to take the lead. Well, I was already expecting that. I crossed my arms and breathed out slowly. I couldn’t afford to be a nervous wreck. 

“Yeah, we do actually. You can sit down, if you rather, it might take a while after all.” I advised. She seemed to be somewhat weirded out. “I’ll be glad to help you two.” Her smile was very honest. “So.. it’s about Komaeda.” I stated and quickly added. “And Mahiru.” She covered her mouth with her hand and looked at me with widely opened eyes.

“Did you two find a way to help him?” she asked concerned yet hopeful. “I’m sad that he hasn’t been forgiven yet, even though he did nothing wro–“ I quickly interrupted her. Talking about him wasn’t going to change anything at the moment. “I want to confirm something with you.” I looked at her seriously. “Did you take advantage of Mahiru?” I truly hope that there’s some other explanation to what have happened. I truly wanted to believe in her. 

Yukizome was quiet for a long while, she was looking into the distance visibly shaken by my question. “I-it wasn’t like that! It really wasn’t. It was all just a misunderstanding..!” she shouted in desperation, tears falling down from her bright eyes. “I-I.. I have no way of proving otherwise, but..” I decided to listen to her excuses, however, once you lose respect for someone, it’s hard to take their words seriously.

“I really don’t think I did anything wrong.” She said calmly trying to compose herself. “All I did was try to cheer her up.. I thought that.. pretending to be a couple would give her the confidence to eventually confess to her object of interest. I of course never did anything unspeakable to her, I’d never dare to. I treasure my students.” She stated with confidence. I didn’t doubt that much, but I didn’t really suspect her of that either.

I was going to say something, but Nanami was quicker. “Emotional abuse is also a crime, you know? Not to mention grooming an underage girl into a relationship.” it might’ve been the first time I saw Nanami mad like that. “You said it was all a make-believe, right?” Yukizome nodded unsurely. “Why the fuck did Mahiru die then?” I could sense that rage was slowly overwhelming her.

“I don’t want to hear any ‘oh, because she learnt it was a pretend relationship and just killed herself’ bullshit.” She hit Yukizome’s desk with her fist with a loud thud that sent a chill down my spine. “Wasn’t it because you were actually hoping to continue being in a relationship with her? And she didn’t fucking want to because she felt uneasy about it..?” I could see that Nanami’s words had a great impact on her.

“I’ve never said she committed suicide and I’d never hope for that..” she muttered nervously and slowly straightened up making eye contact with her. “I’m a decent person, Nanami-san. I’d never desire to have a real relationship with a student at any point.” She insisted. “It was all just an unfortunate turn of events.. I admit that I shouldn’t have gotten involved with Mahiru, but in the end.. I’m just as sad as you are about her dying in such an unfortunate way. But Komaeda didn’t do it on purpose and I’m sure you both know it.” She looked at us seeking for understanding.

“Heh.” I scowled at the teacher. She really wasn’t that kind person she appeared to be. Before she was on Komaeda’s side and now from ‘he didn’t do it’ she went to ‘he didn’t do it on purpose’ just to defend herself. I won’t let her get away with it.