“That’s really strange…” she muttered half to herself and was finally torn from her thoughts by her best friend Lena.
“Aki-nee, we’ll see each other tomorrow, OK?” Lena was looking forward to going to his house with her boyfriend Shokudaikiri and was thinking about all the things they could do together.
“We will. Have fun today ~!” Aki winked at her before she saw Shokudaikiri standing next to Lena.
Aki decided to wait a bit in the classroom and heard the noisy sounds gradually die down. Now she was alone in the room. Silence enveloped her. She looked at Tsurumaru’s things once more and decided to pack them in his bag.
“Why isn’t he here?" she was starting to worry. Even though he probably drove her to despair sometimes with his teasing, she knew that he wasn’t a bad person. Instinctively she turned into the next corridor to look for him.
“Tsuuuru-kuuun!” her voice echoed off the walls, but no one answered.
Aki continued walking through the school building and looked in every corner. But she was unsuccessful. Sighing, she stepped out of the front door to continue her search around the building. As their steps led them behind the house, her gaze stopped in shock at one point. It was Tsurumaru, sitting leaning against the wall. She had finally found him. But Aki was horrified that he was covered in blood, bruises and scratches. She quickly rushed to him and crouched down by his side.
“What happened to you???” But suddenly he grinned happily at her: "Hey, what are you still doing here...? Haha! I was just about to leave.”
He tried to act as if nothing had happened, but was visibly struggling to get up.
“You’re not going anywhere except to the hospital room! Come with me…” Aki ordered. “It looks worse than it is, REALLY!” Tsuru tried to downplay it, but Aki didn’t believe him and pulled him along with her.
“There doesn’t seem to be anyone else in the hospital room, so I’ll try to get you some bandages…” Aki paused – this was all a bit uncomfortable for her now. Alone with Tsurumaru in a room.
He sat obediently on the hospital bed and waited. Aki quickly dug some cloths out of the closet to treat Tsuru’s wounds, as well as bandages and plasters.
“So, are you going to tell me what happened now?” Aki asked again as she cleaned the wounds. Tsuru looked away, embarrassed. He actually didn’t want anyone to know, and Aki of all people caught him like that.
“Well, well…” he stammered, “I was bored… I was just playing a prank… it was a really good one! If you know what I mean… Haha! Then one of the idiots started arguing and suddenly I had the whole gang against me. That was really unfair!” he lament.
“So you got beaten up because you went too far with your pranks?”
“Heeh, when you put it like that, it sounds like it was my fault.”
Aki looked skeptically at Tsuru as she stuck the last plaster on. “Okay, Tsuru-kun, everything is ready. We can go.”
Surprised by the suddenness, Tsuru thought for a moment and said, “Oh, actually I still feel bad.” With that, his body sank onto the bed. With one eye open, he looked curiously at Aki. But she saw through him.
“That’s not true. You’re already feeling much better.”
Tsuru sighed resignedly and slowly stood up while muttering: “Anyway, I should challenge myself more often in situations like this…”
“How?”
“Oh, nothing, no!” Tsuru suddenly grinned cheerfully at Aki again. “I’m just really happy that you took such good care of me today.”
Blushing, Aki quickly left the room. “Let’s go.”
---
Tsuru stared at Aki's back as she hurriedly left the hospital room. He sighed, running his fingers through his messy hair. He looked so uncool in front of her in that moment, not a good look, but he tried to make the best out of the situation.
The places where Aki stuck the plasters, Tsuru still felt her lingering touch. That made him smile. He knew she did care about him, then. So all his efforts were not wasted after all.
Maybe his next prank could be more... romantic, he chuckled to himself, as thanks to Aki for caring for him. That settled it! He was going to sneak a bunch of rose petals into her locker, so that when she opened it, they would all fall onto her like a bright red declaration of his gratefulness.
---
“Okay, Shoku-kun, I have to hang up now. The doorbell rang. Bye bye!”
Lena regretted that she couldn’t talk to her boyfriend any longer on the phone, but the tutor her grandma had ordered was already waiting at the door. She wondered if that was really necessary. Just because she had to stay in detention and had completely messed up her essay on Oda Nobunaga, her grandma now insisted that she get tutoring on the weekend.
“Let’s get this over with…” she
muttered as she opened the door.
“Yooo! I’m the super tutor! Let’s start!”
That voice…that stature… Lena was shocked when she realized who she was looking at. “S-Sensei Munechika!”
She almost didn’t recognize him, he really looked different in his free time. When he taught, he
looked much older with his hair styled back. Although Lena had to admit that his hair, which was now falling in his face, looked pretty good.
“Haha, please… You don’t have to call me that, not here. I’m Mikazuki.”
Lena’s heart skipped a beat. She should actually call her teacher by his first
name? “Okay…M….Mikazuki-san…”
It felt really weird for Lena to call him that. But he insisted.
She invited him in as Lena's grandmother came out of the back room.
“Oh, how nice that you’re
here to teach my granddaughter. Please look after her. She’s a handful... The other day she
came home late because of detention.”
“Grandma…! Do you have to tell everyone everything about my life?” Lena complained, blushing. Of course, she immediately remembered the incident when she tried to prevent Sensei Munechika from falling backwards and fell on him herself. And afterwards, when she touched his back to check that he hadn’t sprained his spine.
Mikazuki grinned knowingly. “Ahahaha, you can safely entrust your granddaughter to me.”
“Ohohohoho, what good manners from a young man like you!” Granny exclaimed enthusiastically. She was very pleased with her choice of tutor and was thinking of thanking her friends later who had recommended this man to her. Then it burst out of her: “Are you still single? Do you have a girlfriend?”
This comment earned her a horrified look from her granddaughter. Lena wanted to sink into the ground out of embarrassment.
“I’m single and I don’t have a girlfriend,” Mikazuki answered honestly.
Granny couldn’t believe it… “Whaaaat? Such a handsome young man like you? I can’t believe it… ohohohoho!” and stared at Lena.
“Okay, time for you to go, Grandma!”
They both sat down at Lena’s desk in silence.
“Good, now I’m here,” Mikazuki began to break
the silence.
“…Yes…now you’re here.” Lena replied nervously.
“I’ll help you study for your final exams in the next few weeks. But first…” he pulled out a piece of paper that looked very familiar to Lena. “…I’ll go through your essay with you.”
‘Of all things…’ thought Lena and looked away.
“Let’s see… If I were a warlord, I would unite Japan by…” he quoted before Lena interrupted him pleadingly: “Stop! Please!” But he continued reading and commented finally: “I understand. So
you would decide to do things this way… I must admit, very interesting, even if it didn’t correspond to the assignment.”
Lena sighed and noticed how Mikazuki’s gaze lingered on her.
“Hmm. If you were a warlord and I were your vassal, I would gladly serve under your command."
Lena quickly looked away again. “You enjoy annoying me…! A-anyway, are you feeling better
now? Your back…”.
“Ahahaha!” he laughed amusedly. “Yes, actually, I don’t have any back pain at the moment. You must have worked wonders.”
---
Before class started, Aki wanted to quickly get her textbook out of her locker. She hastily opened
the door. But instead of books, she was met with lots of delicate rose petals dancing wildly
around her. Surprised, she stood rooted to the spot and watched the swirling activity. She could
already guess whose idea it was. Lost in thought, she did not notice that someone was staring at
her while she was standing in the rain of red petals. A new student entered the school building
and could not take his eyes off this impressive scene. Only when the last petal gently slid to the
