12. You don't want to worry your mother either, do you?

“Sorry for causing you trouble, Kyosuke-kun.” Shoko Nishimiya lowered her head slightly and handed a notebook to Kyosuke Hōjō.

“Have you put on your hearing aid? Do you need any help?” Kyosuke asked with concern before responding to Shokoya’s note.

“I already have it on,” Shoko replied obediently.

“Then you don’t have to use the notebook when talking to me. Just speak directly—I’ll do my best to understand you.”

“And why are you apologizing? This isn’t your fault at all. If anyone’s to apologize, it should be someone else.”

“But all this happened because of me. The hearing aid is mine…” Shoko began.

“That’s not true!” Kyosuke interrupted, reaching out to ruffle her fluffy brown hair.

“Don’t think that just because you have a hearing impairment, you’re a burden to others. And stop saying sorry all the time!”

“But…” Shoko’s eyes instantly welled up with tears, likely because Kyosuke’s tone had turned a little stern.

“If you really think you’re causing trouble, then make yourself stronger instead of just saying sorry. The first thing you need to do is learn to speak properly with me!”

“Yes! I’ll work twice as hard, Kyosuke-kun.”

I mustn’t disappoint Kyosuke-kun! Keep going, Shoko!

Hearing that Kyosuke wasn’t blaming her but genuinely cared, Shoko smiled again and made a firm decision in her heart.

Nearby, Naoka Ueno felt even more unsett by Kyosuke’s words. Hearing Teacher Takeuchi’s voice earlier had already made her heart skip a beat, knowing the recent conflict arose because she had demanded Shoko’s hearing aid.

In that fleeting moment, she imagined being called as a parent, her grandfather bowing repeatedly before the teacher, filling her with regret. She regretted giving the hearing aid to Masaya Ishida and resented him for what he did.

Why did things have to turn out like this? I just wanted to get closer to Kyosuke, but now he speaks to me like that. Though she understood it was her fault, Naoka couldn’t help but blame Shoko.

It’s all her fault. If it weren’t for her, my daily routine with Kyosuke wouldn’t be disrupted. His after-school time wouldn’t be taken up, and I could talk to him more.

Now, hearing Kyosuke say, “If anyone’s to apologize, it should be someone else,” Naoka’s heart grew even more conflicted.

After a moment’s hesitation, Naoka followed her heart and wrote a note, handing it to Shoko.

“Sorry, Shoko-san. It’s all my fault for throwing your hearing aid to Ishida.”

As if never having heard “sorry” from anyone else before, Shoko was momentarily at a loss, waving her hands vigorously near her chest.

She instinctively wanted to say, “I should be the one apologizing,” but recalling Kyosuke’s words and the impatient expressions she had seen on classmates’ faces when she wrote “sorry,” she quickly wrote on the notebook:

“It’s okay. Naoka-san was just curious. It was Ishida-san who tried to throw my hearing aid away.”

“But if I hadn’t thrown the hearing aid to Ishida, none of this would have happened.”

“It’s alright; Naoka-san didn’t mean it.”

“Do you really not blame me, Shoko-san?”

“Mm-hmm, it’s not a big deal.”

Shoko smiled serenely, even drawing a simple smiley face after her last written sentence.

“…” Naoka lowered her head, feeling conflicted.

If Shoko had complained to her bitterly or kept saying sorry like yesterday, Naoka could have continued to hate her without guilt.

But now, feeling Shoko’s gentle, all-encompassing warmth, she suddenly understood why “men like women who are pitiful and quiet.”

However, she kept these thoughts to herself and turned to Kyosuke.

“Sorry, Hōjō-san. It’s because of me that Ishida hit you.”

“Haha, no need to apologize to me. Ishida didn’t even hit me. I should thank you for giving me a chance to deal with him.”

Hearing that, Naoka’s heavy mood instantly lifted, and she chuckled.

“Can I join you in teaching Shoko to speak properly too?”

Kyosuke was a little surprised. He sensed that Naoka disliked Shoko somewhat, but why was she volunteering now?

No matter the reason, he welcomed having one more person join.

“Of course! That would be great. What do you think, Shoko?”

“That’s wonderful! Thank you, Naoka-san!” Shoko clasped her hands to her chest joyfully. But once happy, she forgot others couldn’t understand her words.

Realizing this, she quickly lowered her head to write in her notebook.

“No need to write, Shoko-san. From now on, I’ll try to listen to you as carefully as Hōjō-san does.”

Exactly—that was Naoka’s good idea just now. Since she couldn’t stop these two from hanging out after school, why not join them?

Putting aside her previous negative feelings, Naoka was delighted to put her plan into action.

Finally, my everyday life with Kyosuke won’t be taken away. Though regrettably, Shoko is in the middle of it.

Sigh, well, might as well think of it as doing a good deed.

Naoka glanced at the still gleeful Shoko and sighed inwardly.

Meanwhile, in the office…

“Masaya Ishida, what’s going on with you?”

Takeuchi sat on a chair, facing Masaya Ishida, who hung his head low.

“Nothing.”

“What do you mean ‘nothing’? Why did you get into a fight?”

“I didn’t hit anyone!”

Hearing this and recalling how he failed twice to strike Kyosuke and ended up hurting himself, Masaya defensively argued.

“So you got hit?”

At that, Masaya suddenly felt pain all over, though he hadn’t noticed it before. Unfortunately, he was uneducated enough not to realize it was adrenaline wearing off.

“I didn’t get hit either.”

“Then how did you fall and knock over the locker?”

“I just, I fell myself.”

“How can you have this attitude?”

“I’m telling the truth.”

“Have your mother come to school tomorrow.”

Masaya, who had been indifferent, suddenly panicked, recalling Kyosuke’s earlier words: “At least don’t cause trouble for her.”

“This is my own business. Why should my mother come?”

Masaya raised his head stubbornly.

“If you can’t speak properly to me, then let your mother talk to you.”

“I’m telling the truth, I didn’t hit anyone, I fell by myself.”

“Then why are Kyosuke Hōjō and Shoko Nishimiya surrounding you?”

“Because…”

“It seems your mother really needs to come to school.”

“Because I wanted to hit Kyosuke Hōjō, but he dodged me, so I fell into the locker!”

After saying this, a wave of humiliation washed over Masaya. Thankfully it was class time and only he and Takeuchi were in the office; otherwise, it would have been even more mortifying.

“…”

Hearing Kyosuke’s name, Takeuchi fell silent for a moment, feeling some sympathy for Masaya. Why did you have to pick on him?

“Why did you want to hit Hōjō?”

“I wanted to throw Nishimiya’s hearing aid out the window, and he stopped me.”

Masaya had resigned himself to whatever came next; the most important thing now was to avoid a parent-teacher meeting.

Takeuchi’s veins throbbed, and his vision darkened.

“You bastard, why are you bullying Nishimiya again?!”

Yesterday, the principal had summoned all sixth-grade homeroom teachers to discuss which class Nishimiya should be assigned to. All the other teachers had avoided her like poison.

In the end, Takeuchi had to bear the burden for the principal’s brother-in-law because, not long ago, he had caused a mess and only got away with it thanks to his brother-in-law. So now he had to grudgingly accept Nishimiya.

Having such a special student in the class, he was mentally prepared for last place in the choir competition, just hoping for no other trouble.

Who would have thought that Masaya Ishida, usually just a little mischievous, would become a terror when facing Nishimiya—and even awaken the fighting spirit of another terror, Kyosuke Hōjō?

In less than a day and a half, these two had clashed twice because of Shoko.

Thinking this over, Takeuchi looked carefully at Masaya, who grimaced, clutching his arm, with bruises visible on every exposed patch of skin.

The only luck was that he couldn’t beat Kyosuke.

“Do you want to go to the infirmary first?”

Being a teacher, seeing Masaya’s pitiful state, Takeuchi sighed.

“No need, Takeuchi-sensei. Does this mean I won’t have to call my parents?”

“Sigh, Ishida…”

“Yeah.”

Hearing the homeroom teacher’s voice grow serious, Masaya grew nervous, unsure if Takeuchi would lecture him like before or still call his parents.

“You wouldn’t want your mother to worry, right?”

“Yeah.”

At the mention of his mother, Masaya lowered his head again, feeling he’d caused her trouble once more.

“Then don’t bully Nishimiya anymore, and don’t provoke Hōjō either. That’s my advice to you.”

Hmm? He understood not to bully Nishimiya, but what did “don’t provoke Hōjō” mean? Though puzzled, Masaya quickly nodded in agreement.

“Okay! I won’t bully Nishimiya anymore!”

“You… fine, just be careful.”

Takeuchi detected Masaya’s defiance toward Kyosuke in his words. He wanted to say more but gave up, thinking he was starting to sound like a genuinely responsible teacher.

End of pages 1 to 3.