Convenience Store

"Sensei? What are you wearing?"

If looks could kill, Akamine-sensei's gaze would've killed Hajime right now as she stared down at him with all the intent to kill, or so that's what Hajime felt. In truth though, Akamine-sensei was just embarrassed that Hajime saw her at such a wrong time and she immediately assumed that Hajime had already jumped to certain conclusions after seeing her outfit. Such wasn't the case though since all that Hajime could think right now was to get out of Akamine-sensei's vicinity. She was glaring at him with such intensity after all.

"D-d-don't misunderstand, I didn't have any clothes left and I badly needed to buy some food from the convenience store." She cleared her throat before stumbling over her words, adding to the embarrassment she initially felt. "How about you, Satoshi, what are you doing out here this late at night? And why are you still in your uniform?"

"I could ask you the same thing, sensei," Hajime returned the question, suppressing a smile that almost wore itself on his face. He knew that an outfit is a sensitive topic for the ladies and as such he was careful with his words. He didn't want to bring up the word tracksuit while he was having a conversation with his homeroom teacher.

"Sigh~ you got me." She said, "Do you want a popsicle?" She asked, opening the door to the convenience store and signaling for him to go in with her.

Hajime thought to himself that he doesn't have that much of a choice. That's why he nodded with reluctance and hesitantly followed sensei into the convenience store.

Unbeknownst to him, however, Akamine-sensei only offered to treat him as a front. Now that someone who knew her saw her wearing something so humiliating, she decided to not let anyone else recognize her by using Hajime as a cover. With him with her, she didn't have to worry about anyone trying to pry about her identity.

There was something wrong with that line of thought, however, since she overlooked the heaps of misunderstanding that would follow on the off-chance that someone did recognize him. And what's more, what would that person think if he or she saw her with Hajime? Of course, the first and easiest assumption to come up with would be their relationship. One would assume that they were probably dating.

For some odd reason, that thought totally flew through Akamine-sensei's mind.

"I just need a couple of cupped noodles and beer. How about you? Do you want to get anything? Consider it my treat aside from the ice cream." Akamine-sensei willingly offered. She felt guilty using Hajime so she returned the oblivious favor to him by offering to buy some food.

"Um... I guess I'll humor you with some cupped noodles as well, sensei." He responded. The thought of offending Akamine-sensei... well, he didn't want to think about it. That's why he accepted the offer without thinking twice.

"Right," She continued. "Pick the ones you like,"

The cold wind from the air-conditioner blew right at Hajime's face as they entered the cupped noodles aisle. Akamine-sensei didn't waste any time picking out a couple of cupped noodles before offering Hajime to pick some. At first, Hajime only got one, reaching out to the nearest cupped noodle he could grab his hands on. Akamine-sensei insisted on him getting a few more though, and since he didn't want to get anymore, Akamine-sensei brought it upon herself to get half a dozen cupped noodles for him. "That's enough, sensei, you didn't have to get me anything." He lightly complained.

"I know you haven't been eating that much lately. And you've gotten thin over the past month." Akamine-sensei pointed out, twirling her fingers around and causing Hajime to gulp after he was just told the truth.

In retrospect though, he had been eating more often these past few days. As if Akamine-sensei would believe that if he were to tell her.

"You live nearby?" Akamine-sensei asked out of the blue.

Hajime nodded.

"I see, I'll walk you home." She offered, just when she put all her items by the counter.

The convenience store worker behind the counter eyed Akamine-sensei skeptically before he started punching in the items. One by one, he went through the food and drinks that Hajime and Akamine-sensei chose together. His brows furrowed, judging by the uniform that Hajime was wearing, and the tracksuit that Akamine-sensei had on, he could tell that they were high school students. There was no need for him to ask since he could basically judge them by their appearance.

After he finished going through the purchases, he stared at the supposed couple once again with contempt before putting everything in a bag. Just as he was handing them their goods, however, he extended his right hand and gestured something that Hajime and Akamine-sensei didn't understand. He had to voice out what he meant. "ID, please, we don't sell alcoholic beverages to minors."

"One second." Akamine-sensei confidently said as she rummaged through her pockets. That's when all the colors drained from her face. She only brought her purse and not her wallet where all her IDs are. With a crestfallen expression, she looked at Hajime in hopes that he brought even just one ID with him. She was fairly confident that Hajime is not a minor anymore, and that's why she'd hoped that he would help him with their current predicament.

Akamine-sensei didn't need to say anything since Hajime understood completely well what she implied. 'Using your student's ID to buy alcoholic beverages? Wow, that's pretty good sensei.' Hajime said in his mind as he teasingly grinned at sensei. Before she could react to his provoking expression, Hajime flashed his ID towards the worker, to which he responded with a nod.

Clink!

The door chime rang as the two of them got out of the convenience store. After walking three steps, Akamine-sensei turned around and eyed Hajime, her cheeks flushed as she pouted. "Don't tell anyone about this, okay?"

"You mean, how you coerced a student to use his ID so you can buy booze?" Hajime said with a smile.