Onee-san Sensei wa Danshikousei ni Edzuke Shitai

“Ah… I’d love it if Female Knight-sensei personally scolded me. It would be really great if she told me, “I’d kill you” or something like that.”

“I’m sure that won’t ever happen, sensei won’t say those kinds of words. Hmmm… what happened? Why did you become silent all of a sudden?”

Suddenly, Jun’s face became serious. Then, as if he were going to say something important that he wants no one to hear, he puts his shoulder close to mine.

“Hey, you’re being watched by Female Knight-sensei, right? Then I believe if you reconcile with sensei, we will get a chance to observe the swimming team’s practice.”

“You’re still saying that? You must really want to watch their practice that much, huh? Also, if I did that, it would make me look like I really wanted to see them practice.”

“Well, your grades are really high, and if you told Female Knight-sensei that if you could watch the swimming’s team practice, you would be motivated enough that you could get the first place in the nation’s mock exams. When you say that to sensei I don’t think sensei would be able to refuse you.”

“On top of you relying on me for your perverse tendencies, what you are asking me is quite impossible.”

At Anegasaki High School, the exam results are being posted on the bulletin board. My grades are at the top of my class, and where my rank can be counted on one hand, I can get the top spot on individual subjects, but on the overall rankings, being in third place is the best I can do. Therefore, being number one in the country is quite unrealistic at this point.

When I graduate and get accepted at the university where I want to go, I plan to leave my home; that’s why I’m studying so hard. Also, I’m working a part-time job now so I can save money in preparation for my independence when the time comes. It’s not that I have a bad relationship with my parents that I want to leave our home; it’s just that the university that I want to go to is outside our prefecture and is far away.*

Many students are doing club activities, but for me, I often go to my part-time job after school; that’s why I don’t have time to socialize with other students, and I was seen as a bit of an outcast; also, there were some that think that I was doing something bad. In our school, it’s not forbidden to do a part-time job, but since there aren’t that many students that do it, as a lot of them are doing either club activities or attending a preparatory school, it was really difficult for me to say that I’m working afterschool.

“Well then, how about this? Why don’t you clean the pool? When Female Knight-sensei sees you, say to her that you had a change of heart and you wanted to change; when that happened, sensei would be moved out so much that she would forgive you, when that happens, say to her that you want to see their practice.”

Hey, I didn’t do anything that made Sensei hate me. Also, I have no recollection of me engaging in banditry that I would need to be subjugated by Female Knight-sensei. That’s what I would like to tell him, but I don’t think this guy will listen to me anyway.

“Even if I asked sensei, it would be really impossible if the female club members refused.”

“It’s really impossible, huh? Then what about the other clubs, like the Kendo club, for example? Isn’t it really great to see them take off their armor after their practice? Ah, the photography club is also great since, if you join them, you can visit their club room all year long. Wow, why didn’t I ever think of all of that until now.”

I sighed in disbelief as I was looking at Jun, who feels like he’s Algernon when it suddenly increases its IQ.*

I wonder if he thinks that he can just join the photography club out of the blue so that he can take photos of the different athletic clubs. Unless he has some hidden talent when it comes to photography, then it would work out; otherwise, it would be really hard for him to join that club.

“Oh, sensei is already here. Watch me, Umihara, I’ll do my best to join the photography club.”

“I see. Well, do it in moderation though.”

Our homeroom teacher, Fujita-sensei, comes in, and our homeroom begins. I went back to my seat at the back of the classroom, near the windows. When I passed by my classmates on my way to my seat, they were really nervous, even though I wasn’t trying to be intimidating.

I’m aware that I’m unfriendly, so people often think that I’m scary or that I’m always in a bad mood. But I’m just like anyone else, so it’s really unfortunate that people think that I’m like that.

However, it’s quite difficult to change one’s own perspective on someone else. People’s impressions of someone aren’t something that would change easily just because the school year is new.

I don’t want to accept my image of someone who looks bad despite having good grades, but rather than change the impression of my classmates, I’d rather spend my time studying and working part-time. That’s why I didn’t join the brass band club, which I continued to do until the end of my junior high school. That’s what I think.

Shortly after our homeroom ended and the break time began, the smartphone on my pants suddenly vibrated.

While I was preparing for the first subject, I took out my cellphone and opened the chat app while being careful not to attract the attention of my classmates.

Kishikawa-sensei: Good morning. Did you come to school today as well?

Chatting with sensei is nothing special. Sensei’s display name was originally written in Hiragana, but I changed it to Kanji since I thought that even in that way I should respect her.*

Sometime after we got to know each other, an incident occurred that made it necessary for us to exchange our contact information. That’s why I have sensei’s contact information. We were allowed to use our cellphones inside the classroom, so there’s no problem with us chatting like this.

Kishikawa-sensei always checks on me if I’m at school every morning, and I think that it shows sensei’s discipline, or rather, her serious personality.

Myself: Yes, I’m going to school properly.

Kishikawa-sensei: I’m glad that you are doing fine.

Kishikawa-sensei: Is your lunch today bread as well? Knowing you, you usually eat bread for lunch every Wednesday.

Myself: Yes, that’s true.

I replied nonchalantly, but I’m already nervous as I feel this is a premonition of something.

It’s not that Kishikawa-sensei is stalking me or investigating what I eat, it’s just that I told her that I would eat bread three times a week. I bought bread from the convenience store or somewhere else on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday since I live alone. I sometimes make my own lunch box, but that is very rare.

Notes:

1. Prefecture, is a term used to call the regions of Japan.

2. Algernon is a refence from the Flowers of Algernon, a short story about Algernon a laboratory mouse who has undergone surgery to increase its intelligence.

3. To elaborate at first it was written like this きしかわ先生 then MC changed it to this 岸川先生. It’s both read as Kishikawa-sensei