Sleeping Bunny

Chapter 2

 Touzai High that Kouichi attended was a recently built private high school. It didn't require any special entrance exams and the GPA that earned you acceptance wasn't very high, not to mention it was located at the center of the town, so the total number of students was a huge number of nearly 2000 students. There were nearly 100 teachers as well.

Each grade had a different section dedicated to it, so there was no reason to bump into the freshman's teachers unless you were moving from class to class or walking near the teacher's lounge. 

After yesterday's incident, Kouichi saw him just after a day, which was today. During lunch, Kouichi was standing in frnot of the only juice vending machine in school. He was about to insert a 100 yen coin, but like a fool he had dropped it. So he had lowered his body to pick it up. At that moment he had felt the presence of someone passing behind him.

He straightened himself and turned to look. When he realized that it was the man from yesterday, his heart grew cold. The man numbly wandered down the hallway wearing streotypical teachers' clothing of brown pants, long-sleeved shirt and unfashionable neck tie. His head was lowered. 

He passed by Kouichi, who was just one of the students, without recognizing him. Even though they were within touching distance of each other, even though he had said "I want to meet you" to him yesterday, he did not recognize him. It was a strange feeling.

After he returned to his classroom, a straw attached to the pack of juice in his mouth, Kouichi took out the post-it with phone number written on it that he had stuck in his wallet. After he went home yesterday, he kept thinking about it--should he call him or not?

If he called and told him honestly, the man would get hurt for sure. But Kouichi wouldn't continue to feel guilty over this. If he didn't call him, this whole incident will fade out. It'll be easier to do, but he'd continue to feel bad about it.

Even though it was annoying, he really should give him a call. Just when he decided that, the crinkled note was snatched from his fingers.

"What the heck is this?"

He tried to take the note back, but Kakimoto flipped his hand over like a butterfly.

"Just whose phone number is this? Since a while ago you kept glaring at it and looked constipated, so you were getting on my nerve."

"None of your beeswax; give it back."

Ignoring troubled Kouichi, he lightly flipped the note over. Kakimoto sat across from him and whispered near his ear: "Is it Endou's phone number?"

Watching Kouichi's startled eyes grow wide, Kakimoto grinned.

"Not that I really wanted to see, but I happened to see the two of you walking together in a really friendly manner. I think Endou has strange hobbies, but everyone has his or her tastes, so it's cool."

Kouichi wrinkled up the note in his hands and bluntly replied, "It's not a girl's phone number."

Kakimoto frowned for a second. Kouichi hurriedly avoided his eyes. Kakimoto was a man with almost frighteningly sharp instincts and Kouichi had never lied to Kakimoto before.

"Whose phone number is it then, a man's? Come to think of it, weren't you supposed to meet that letter dude yesterday?"

"I, uh, have to go to the bathroom for a sec."

He stood up, but Kakimoto hung on to his right hand tightly. When Kouichi turned to look at him, Kakimoto smiled up at him. But his eyes were not smiling.

"I'd like to hear what happened yesterday in detail."

*

"You MORON. What, is your brain filled with sex?"

Kakimoto glared at Kouichi, deeply frowning. The rooftop was windy and cold, so no one else was there. Kouichi got angry and yelled, but in the end he roughly confessed what happened yesterday. However, he didn't tell him that the other guy was their school's teacher.

"No matter how much you wanted to go out with Endou, just what are you going to do from now on? I've already advised you against this mess."

Kouichi retorted in a small voice.

"He just wouldn't give up. I made him wait for so long... And he liked me..."

"No matter how sorry you feel, it's not like you can go out with him. Then it's kinder to tell him right then and there. But don't you think it's so cruel to say things to him so he'd look forward to the next time? If he's such a diligent, straight-forward man like you say he is, he'll probably wait for your call every single day."

At Kakimoto's announcement, it really felt like that's how it would be.

Kouichi clutched his head in his hands and muttered, "What do I do?"

"Call him, even today, and tell him the reason and end this. That's called good manners."

As if chasing after Kouichi, who had lowered his head, Kakimoto heavily sighed.