the sun and the sky | gojo satoru

an unexpected invitation

A little over two weeks had gone by after that rainy day.

When the news came out about Sato's arrest, it wasn't unexpected for parent phone calls to suddenly burst in—some were concerned about Daiki, while others berated the teachers for their lack of attention—they feared that if something were to happen to their child, the faculty wouldn't care enough to notice.

Hina couldn't exactly blame them for that. Imai took it quietly, contained and repressed—and Hina told her that she could always talk to her, but Imai just always said she was fine.

So Hina let her be. It wasn't hard to notice the change in Imai's teaching style—the way she paid closer attention to her student's needs, or how she constantly asked them how they were doing—and she wasn't the only one. They were all paying closer attention—Shimizu, Fujiwara, Kikuchi, and of course, Hina was too.

All they could do was hope that all their students were well-cared for, at school and at home.

"So, I thought a good way to watch over the kids is through a survey." Shimizu announced in the staffroom. "We could make it into a game or something, you know? So the children can understand."

"It could work." Kikuchi nodded. "But, uh—what if they talk to their parents about it and it leads to them assuming that we are assuming that they are supposedly . . . you know, when they're actually not?"

"Also, what if they just . . . don't answer truthfully?" Another teacher added. "They're still pretty young, you know—like, in the single-digits. Also, would it even be appropriate for us—"

"And why wouldn't it be?" Shimizu asked bluntly.

"Well I don't know! Invasion of privacy, maybe?"

"If they're abusing their children, then we should be invading their privacy!" Fujiwara yelled.

"Okay, guys calm down." Hina said. "Let's just—Shimizu, just put that on the board and we'll think about it."

"Alright." Shimizu nodded, ripping off a marker cap.

"Imai-sensei," Kikuchi called out hesitantly. "Do you have any more suggestions?"

Imai shook her head.

Shimizu huffed. "Alrighty—"

"She already gave us a ton of good ideas." Fujiwara pointed out, interrupting Shimizu. "And it's been a long day, so we can just pick this up tomorrow."

Everyone nodded, exhausted from the long day as they made their way out of the room. Hina picked up her things, slinging her bag over her shoulder. She glanced at Imai, who wordlessly left the room.

"She's blaming herself too hard." A voice said beside her. Hina turned her head, surprised to see Kikuchi walking next to her.

She looked down at the floor, nodding. "She is."

"Shimizu-san said she saw bags under her eyes." Kikuchi added, voice low. "I—I'd hate to think that she isn't sleeping enough."

"Me too." Hina agreed.

"I'd hate to think that any of us are having trouble sleeping—I'm not saying that we shouldn't, after all, what happened two weeks ago was a lot, but it's just not . . . healthy, that's all."

"Yeah." Hina swallowed.

"Are you having trouble sleeping?"

Hina blinked, slightly taken aback by the question. "What?"

"No, no, I mean," He coughed. "Well, actually I mean what I just said but it was more out of concern and not actually knowing—"

"I'm sleeping well enough." Hina answered, a quick smile flickering across her lips. "I'm fine, Kikuchi-san. And you?"