Welcome back, everybirdie! The poll is in and it was a close race, but narcoleptic teacher Kazuaki has won. A fine choice, if I say so myself.
From early in the year, we have little interest in our fellow students. We’re gonna have a chat with teach.
“Umm… I wanted to talk to you, sir.”
“Your friends are all here. Why not talk with them?”
“Do you not want to talk to me?”
“No, that’s not what I meant… You’re a—”
Kazuaki’s head nods precariously.
“— funny —”
And again.
“girl… Thielle… … zzz.”
“Wait! No! I haven’t said anything yet!”
And so I took a nap with mister Nanaki. I wonder if he has some sort of illness? I hope he’s okay…
He’ll be fine, I’m sure. The year is pretty quiet again until Tanabata, where we see quite a curious… “wish” hanging from the tree.
It seems Kazuaki is something of a scatterbrain, which isn’t too much of a surprise. As it happens, after hanging our own wish, we run into him as we’re about to head home.
“Mister Nanaki!”
“You should be careful out this late! It can be dangerous for a girl, you know. I was about to head home. Would you like me to walk you to your place?”
We’re quite capable of making the trip ourselves, of course, but such a gentlemanly offer shan’t go unappreciated.
“Yes, please!”
“All right.”
Mister Nanaki demonstrated some extreme sleeping on the way home, but we arrived eventually.
“I like it this way!”
“It’s wonderful to have a place to come back to, isn’t it? Wonderful indeed…”
Kazuaki’s gaze seems to drift a little, staring off into nothing in particular.
… he looks a little sad.
“Umm, sir—”
“See you tomorrow! Don’t forget your homework.”
And so he left, a somewhat hollow-sounding farewell echoing behind him. Or was it just my imagination?
Who’s to say?
A month later, the summer festival has arrived, and we invite mister Nanaki to join us.
“Umm… sir! Today’s the summer festival! Want to go together?”
“The two of us? I wouldn’t mind, but wouldn’t it be more fun with someone your own age?”
“I think it will be plenty of fun with you, sir! Let’s go!”
“A-are you okay, sir…?”
“I’m fine, don’t worry. I’m just not very used to crowds.”
With a bang, the sky is filled with lights.
“Have you studied redox color reactions, Thielle?”
Some people have trouble leaving their jobs at work.
“Oh, yes! In middle school. Copper turns green, and sodium turns red, and that sort of thing…”
“No, no! Sodium turns yellow, right?”
“Oh, that’s right. Teehee, silly me.”
“Anyway, that’s how fireworks work. Mmm, so beautiful…”
Sensing an opportunity, the protagonist moves in for the kill.
“Though… … y-your eyes are even more beautiful, sir.”
“… zzz.”
He fell asleep!?
Swing and a miss.
He held up pretty well, but I guess he gets even sleepier than usual as soon as the sun goes down… … and besides, I think the girl is supposed to get told she’s prettier than the night, not the man. Oopsie!
Sadly, our daring reversal of gender roles fell on sleeping ears anyway.
Soon enough, summer ends, and the protagonist turns up at school a day early again, to Kazuaki’s mild amusement. Other times, we’d simply head home upon realising our mistake, but today we’re taking up Kazuaki’s offer and helping him mark some exams.
“This tea is very good!”
“It has mango in it. I do like sweet tea…”
A pleasant way to spend an afternoon. Shortly, school resumes in earnest.
The classroom is filled with a cloud of dancing feathers. Did somebody eviscerate a down pillow, or something?
“Ryouta, what…?”
“Maybe they didn’t clean up properly yesterday…? It’s molting season, so… Well, one little breeze and it looks like this unless we make sure to keep everything clean.”
Now that I look closely, Ryouta’s headfeathers are looking a little loose, too. I guess everybirdie’s growing themselves new outfits.
“Good morning, everyone!”
“Sir! Can we clean up a little before homeroom?”
“Cleaning in the morning?”
“This atmosphere is quite distracting. Who was suppoesd to clean yesterday?”
“Coo!”
(Okosan!)
Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised.
“Wretched mongrel! Can’t you even fulfill the duty given to you!?”
“Come on, arguing won’t solve anything. It’ll be easy if we all pitch in!”
And so we swabbed the room down before homeroom.
“It certainly is more than usual… Did they come in the window, perhaps…?”
A curious smell follows Kazuaki.
“…… huh? Sir, umm… did you spill some chlorine on yourself?”
“Chlorine? We don’t use that kind of detergent…”
“But, umm, you really smell like it…”
“Oh, that would be the bleach.”
Well, that would explain it.
B-bleach…!?
“S-sir! Are you one of those degenerates who bathes with bleach powder!?”
The protagonist is awfully judgmental.
“No, no, I dozed off and got stuck in the washing machine last night, that’s all.”
“Th-that’s dangerous! Sir, please be careful!”
“Mmm, yes, I’ll… zzz.”
I guess there wasn’t any way he was going to stay awake after helping us clean the room.
Class dismissed, then. And update dismissed, all of you! We’ll reconvene shortly. Until next time, everybirdie!