p l a g u e

c l e a n - u p

(Warning: filler chapter im sorry)

"What do you mean teach?"

Her tone conveyed fear and an ounce of curiosity. Terushima had come into the house again only to give a strange suggestion. Or was it a request?

"I mean, teach! Like what you and Umi do!" He beamed as if the idea was something she had already agreed to. 
"I haven't even given you my opinion on this why are you so excited?" She crossed her arms over her chest, her expression was a mixture of confusion and worry. 
"Because I know you're going to say yes. Umi lets me help out when she's teaching."
"But that doesn't mean I'm letting you."
"Why not?"
"Teru you're seventeen, you have a whole life ahead of you."

Terushima groaned, his excitement shrivelled up into a little raisin of disappointment. They've had this fight before and every single time it ended in Y/N making him drop the conversation. But not this time, it was his chance to finally help her out. She wasn't going to keep refusing his help, she wasn't going to keep saying no to his offers. 
"You can't refuse, I'm the only one who can help you!" He shouted, his voice firm. 
"I'm already making hiring posters,  Terushima," she started. "Go home, you can do so much more for yourself you don't have to stay--" 

"Stop treating me like Umi!"

Y/N froze, she was pushing him away like he pushed Umi away. But this was only because he was a kid, there was more to life outside of this dusty old town. But he was also asking to help her. He was right, he was the only one left who could help her. No one comes to this town, not unless they were a bunch of dumb teenagers who did those 'Haunted Town Gone Wrong' videos.
 
She let out a deep sigh if she couldn't change the course of things then she was just going to have to go with it. 
She walked over to a little file cabinet she kept at the corner of the room and pulled out a stack of files with cute bunny stamps on them. 
"These were her files, it's every lesson and activity plan she's made for the kids and it's worked every time." She said, handing him the files. "You have to read through them and pick which to use, they're already paired together so the activity matches the lesson," she turned and grabbed an ink pad and a box of stamps. 
"Her stamps," She opened the box revealing a variety of cute animals and letters. "I'm sure you know how she uses it."

Terushima took them all and held them to his chest, Umi's perfume was all over them. He flashed a smile towards Y/N, "You can count on me," he beamed. "Besides, I'm turning 18 in a few days so I can start working then," he pressed a kiss to her cheek and walked to the door. 

"I'm sorry... for shouting at you like that,"  His voice came out as a whisper. "I just wanted you to know, she would've wanted me to help you."
Deep down something snapped in her, "You wouldn't have known what she wanted..."
"Neither would you." He snapped back and left without another word. 

She groaned and dug her face into a pillow, I'm so stupid, she thought. Don't I know how to shut up? She punched the pillow and got up, she had work to do. 
She changed into a clean shirt and pants and headed out, she had to clean up at the school after being out for 2 days. She grabbed her bag and her set of files and headed out. 

'You're cleaning up without me? How cruel.' 

"Shut up..." She cleared her throat and looked over her shoulder hoping no one was around to hear that. Y/N could hear her voice, it was like a ringing in her head that needed to be answered. If she didn't, she'd spend the rest of the day with an aching headache. She knew what it was like to walk these streets alone but this was the first time it felt lonely. 
The familiar scent of coffee and maple syrup was nowhere to be found, the sight of bright red hair bouncing atop a pair of tired shoulders made this place look like a black-and-white movie. It was like the world had shoved her into a new timeline; one without Umi. 

Another sigh left her lips, today was full of deep sighs and uncomfortable changes. Just like most deaths, this one didn't shake the world but it shook her to the core. It was a wake-up call. 
She walked into the school, the scent of erasers and chalk wafting through the air. She flicked on the lights and walked down the hall to her class, one day without a teacher and they've taken advantage of the chalkboard. 

The square was still there but it had the answers to the question inside of it. She took a photo of the board and rubbed it off. As usual, she was going to read them out to the class and ask for their opinions on it. It was good to hear their opinions every now and again. 
She looked around the room, the tables and chairs were tidy but there were bits and pieces of trash here and there. 
So came her usual task, she picked up the trash, wiped down the tables and chairs, sprayed the room with freshener and then moved on to Umi's classroom. 

Her classroom was cleaner, more organized as if she came to clean it one last time before saying goodbye. She taught the preschoolers and yet she had the cleaner and maybe more responsible class.
She looked around hoping to find some things that were left behind. Student files on her desk, student activities and papers under those, and under her table were more items.
Candy wrappers, bags of chips, some boxes labelled 'Big kids only' and a couple of other items. She cleaned it out and wiped up whatever dust was under there.

There was nothing else after that, the room was already very neat and tidy. Y/N left the room and walked down the halls and out of the building, it was still early, what could she do today to fill in for the extra time. She could think about how to break the news to the kids that their teacher was gone, but she didn't know how to without breaking down herself. 
She pulled out Umi's phone from her bag, there were still more days in the diary before her last entry, I'll just read it on my way home, I'll start the night work early. 

Day 10; Month 2
6:00 am 
Y/N and i woke up early today to go pick up the students who want to go to school to make sure they stay safe, she was really determined on making sure none of them had to walk alone to school!!! 

i am so excited aidufhcpasiwrhdsflwsdn i hope i become a cool teacher

10:40 am 
lunch time for the kids!! theyre all so cute i cant help but want to squimsh them!!!! upon agreement, i teach the preschoolers and  Y/N teaches the middle schoolers, it went well for me today, i hope its the same for her <3 

2:00pm 
first day of school went great !!! i went to go see Y/N and she was drawing a big box in the middle of her chalkboard, she called it the thoughts box and on top of the box was the question "what do you love to do" 

she said she's starting easy because its the first day of school, shes so cool

Y/N re-read a sentence a couple of times, 'she's so cool', What was it that Umi saw in me that made her feel for me over just being friends? I don't understand, she continued reading on.

The next few days after that were just recordings of her day and more little comments about Y/N, she was reading through the days, watching as the girl she was always around slowly fell in love with every part of her. How simple comments that mentioned Y/N being beautiful and amazing started to make sense on those days when Umi spaced out while looking at her. 

She arrived back at her apartment and began to gather all her things. She slipped on her outfit and threw Umi's phone onto the bed. Right now wasn't the time to think about her best friend being infatuated with her, it hurt too much to think about.

Y/N took one last look at the mess she left behind before making her way onto the fire escape and up to the roof of the building. It was where she always started.
The view looked better at dusk but she couldn't complain.

"Time to get to work."

°°°
im back <3