The May Experiment

Log 1 - Day 16 (AM)

Log 1 -Day 16

January - Week 3

Morinaga T, Tatsumi S

   Morinaga had fallen into routine.

   He'd wake up with the birds every morning, then he'd start breakfast. He'd eat and clean then dishes, and he'd pack his leftovers into a bento because as much as he'd like something else for lunch then he ate for breakfast, he just couldn't seem to cook only one serving. There was always food for two in his apartment with one resident.

   Next he would see to his hygiene and getting dressed, and then he was out the door and off by 7:45 every morning from Monday to Friday.

   He let Tatsumi-san know he was present before setting up his classroom for the day -- his -- and taught his first two periods of which he thoroughly enjoyed.

   Morinaga had taken a liking to two students in particular from each class and them to him.

   Fukimora Hana had been nothing short of an absolute joy in class. She wasn't his start student or anyothing of the sort, but something about her drew Morinaga to her; she seemed like the little sister he never had to him. She would stay after class and help Morinaga straighten up the desk, clean the board, and organize any papers he hadn't gotten around to putting up himself yet. Morinaga had the feeling that she was drawn to him as well because she did all of this and kept him company after hours expecting absolutely nothing in return. It was nice. He heard some of her friends teasing her about having a crush on "Tetsu-sensei", but if his intuition was leading him on correctly he highly doubted that was the case.

   And Watanabe Enryo. Morinaga knew he was from a small, traditional town, but he still had never heard a name such as his. The characters for it had thrown him for a loop on his first day, and he only managed to scrape by with pronouncing it correctly because of the Hirigana written (by Souchi) under each student with a more complicated Kanji for their family or given name.

   Watanabe absolutely adored Morinaga's class and often showed it. He'd be the first person to raise their hand when Morinaga wrote a practice problem on the board or proposed a question (which sometimes got out of hand and proved itself embarassing for the boy on multiple occasions when his arm shot up at a rhetorical statement. The class would giggle at his enthusiam to themselves, and Watanabe would lower his hand down slowly as if to gradually divert his classmates' attention from him, and a large, but light, blush would dominate his face for a few minutes, but since he is Morinaga's finest student he never stayed deterred for long). As if that wasn't enough, at least two or three times a week he would also stay after to either thank Morinaga for the lesson and compliment his instruction that day without having the class's eyes bore into him thinking "suckup",  or to ask a complicated question that typically exceeded the content of what he had taught earlier which typically led them to having very draw out, intellectual conversations that Morinaga appreciated because it kept him on his toes in the field, and he had feared he'd lose some of his wits just following his planning. Watanabe liked having a teacher who didn't lose his wits.

   Often times he, Hana, and Enryo -- they insisted they all be on first name basis -- would be in his classroom together in the afternoon, and though they had only made this their tradition in the three weeks Morinaga had been there, Morinaga deeply loved those afternoons and knew he would miss them after they had graduated.

   When the lunch bell rang, Souchi and Isogai would come into his room, pull up desks and allow him the pleasure of watching their daily bicker after Isogai led their three way conversation astray. When lunch was over, Isogai would rush out the room claiming to have to relieve himself  before he faced the masses again leaving Morinaga and Souchi alone for a few minutes every day to clean up.

   Morinaga started to think that this alone time was Isogai's intent after a couple of days and he silently thanked him dearly for it.

   The two of them didn't always talk much during these times, but it was still nice nonetheless; familiar and the mundaneness of it consistently left Morinaga in awe. Whenever the older man left, Morinaga was convinced he'd linger at the door longer than need be to say their midday fairwells. Call it wishful thinking, but he was certain.

   After his party had left and before was off to his next class, he'd pull out his prescription bottle and pour out two pills to do-

   "Shit, I left my -- What the hell are you doing?!"

Souchi came back today.

   "I only got one ass cheek out the door and you're popping pills?! At school?!"

Souchi was outraged.

   "Tatsumi-san... I- Will you visit me after the last bell today?"

Morinaga was seemingly unphased by what just occurred.

  Souchi, on the other hand, was unsettled by his cool demeanor, and it just made him even more upset.

   "You bet your ass I will, and I expect a pretty damn good explanation, and if I don't get it you can expect an appointment at the unemployment office."

   Morinaga finished his day as if his senior didn't catch him with drugs. He found Hana and Enryo and told them to go straight home today since he was busy.

   Then he walked back to his desk where Souchi stood leaning against the mahogany looking at the small school garden outside waiting impatiently.

   "Tatsumi-sensei, why don't you have a seat, ne?"