Teacher

Chapter 3 : Stuck

" What's wrong, Shinichi?" Ran asked, raising her eyebrows at him.

He blinked, turning to her direction. The three of them, him, Ran and Sonoko, were at the school canteen during recess, Shinichi's face was looking outside at the sky, almost totally not at the same table from the other two. " Yeah," Sonoko agreed, chomping her way through the meat bun in her hands. " You've barely said a word for the whole day, and it's almost half over. Are you okay?"

Ran looked at him worriedly. Was it because she had ditched him?

He noticed her gaze, and just grinned at her. " I'm fine." He said. " I'm just feeling kind of tired that's all. No biggie."

That was only half true. He barely slept a wink last night, thoughts of Miss Miyano's agreement, Ran breaking his heart swarming in his mind. He went back to his noodles, popping a slice of fishcake into his mouth. What kind of things would she teach him? He wondered as Ran and Sonoko stopped staring at him and finally went back to their previous conversation.

She had always seemed cold to him from the moment she stepped into the classroom until the very moment. But the way she smiled at him, the way she had wrapped her arms around him in comfort and the way she just stayed there in the classroom, allowing him to pour his guts out just affected him in a way he never thought he would before. He blushed and shook himself.

No.

That couldn't be it.

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" So how's Miss Miyano coping with the environment?"

Mister Maki rubbed his chin, biting his lip. " Well, you wouldn't say that she was hated," he said. " But you also wouldn't say that she was liked either. There are a lot of people who will love to make friends with her, but she just bounces their comments and greetings off like a bowling ball on a trampoline. It's almost as if she didn't want to make friends at all."

" Ah, yes." The principal said, nodding furiously. " That's true. I had the exact impression on her when I met her yesterday on the grass field found just above the soccer pitch."

" Soccer pitch?" Mister Maki asked, puzzled. " What was she doing there?"

The principal bit his lip, frowning. " I think she was looking at the game." He said. " But she asked me for the name of one of the players there. Kudo Shinichi."

Maki's eyes widened.

" Why?"

An unknown smile slid up upon the principal's lips.

" I guess she thought she saw him before." He said.

Maki raised his eyebrows, but no question came out of his lips.

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" Goodbye, Miyano-sensei!"

She nodded, and the class slowly walked out of her classroom. She dropped down to her chair, rubbing her sore temples. Teaching people from different levels certainly was tiring. That was one thing that she noticed that the teachers had a worse time off that the students, and that was that the students could sleep and slack anytime they were tired, whereas the teacher had to stay abrupt and alert, ready to catch anyone who was, ironically, sleeping or restless.

She looked at the clock.

Great.

It was the end of school.

Kudo Shinichi would be coming in the door any minute now. But most likely he forgot about it or was going to come late, so might as well give herself some shuteye before he came. And before she knew it, she had fallen fast asleep.