Teacher

Chapter 2 : The plan

" Do you know what it's like to cry, Shiho?"

Shiho remembered looking up at her mother. " No." she said.

Her mother smiled.

" It's when you feel pain," her mother said, a strangely bitter smile on her face. " When you feel anguish and pain."

Shiho raised her eyebrows. " Pain?" she asked coolly. " And what's that?"

Her mother opened her mouth to say something, but shut it once more. " Never mind." She said. " Never mind."

" Miss Miyano? Miss Miyano?"

Shiho looked up, noticing a young boy propping a book up to her face. She rubbed her tired head and nodded at him. " Yeah?' she asked.

He raised his eyebrows.

" Er. . ." he said uneasily. " You told me to meet you."

She looked at him for a moment before nodding and clicked her tongue. " Oh yeah." She said. " Your last assessment was the lowest in class. It was disastrous I must say, and your class is already bad enough."

The boy blinked. " How so?"

" You couldn't even tell the difference between a molecule and an atom, the most basic of the basic for your age. I know kids at your age are naturally stupid, but you're fifteen, so please just grow up."

The kid bit his lip and nodded, most likely to run off to cry in some toilet, no doubt. Shiho watched him go before walking towards the recess hall, ready for lunch. She nodded as three schoolgirls said good morning to her, and walked on, reaching the teacher's table, where she was greeted.

" Hey, Miss Miyano!" one of them said cheerfully, patting the seat next to her. She said nothing and sat down, propping her chin on her wrist, sighing. The other teachers looked at each other and shrugged.

" Did any of you hear about the 3B class incident?" one of them said.

" Yeah." Said another, letting out a belch. " One of the students beat up the other to almost beyond recognition. What was the reason again?"

" The boy insulted his father." One of them said.

" That's just nasty." One of them said.

Shiho blinked.

" When you feel anguish and pain."

" The same thing happened with him, I suppose." She muttered to herself.

" Huh?" one of them asked.

" Nothing." She said.

Tears were flowing down his face.

" I love her." He burst out. " I love her so damn much. But-why doesn't she love me back?"

Just then, Shinichi, Ran and Sonoko walked past, laughing. She blinked. ' He's simply wearing a mask.' She thought. ' Just hiding his true feelings away from everyone around him.'

She got up, and walked towards her classroom.

The other teachers looked at each other and shrugged.

" That's one weird ass woman." One woman said.

" Yeah." A male teacher said. " She's lucky she's hot."

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" We are studying molecules at the moment, and I would like to touch up on the subject on fire." She said, writing on the whiteboard lightly. "The first thing I would like to hit on is the point of drenching a fire with water. Water pouring over a burning log rapidly removes heat from the places where combustion occurs. This lowers the temperature below the activation point at which combustion takes places. Does anybody not get this? This is third-grade stuff."