19 It's You?

Another brand new day arrived.

Himari was currently sitting in her own seat, checking her students' papers. They were related to the work she gave them during their lesson in the school garden a few days ago.

Almost all of the short stories written by the students of her class were amusing. Because of that, she gave them a task to further elaborate the story they initially had written.

Sure enough, their English level was quite high compared to the standard third graders. This had to be attributed to their parents' early exposure to English as well as the tutors that came to give them after-school lessons.

Aye, when she was in the third grade, she only knew how to play with the mud.

Himari heard that the parents didn't particularly care about their children's grades because it was still too early but, they put special attention on their children's ability in English.

After she was done with one exercise book, she took another from the stack on a corner of her desk.

"En?"

Himari's finger paused from flipping the pages of the book. Her brows almost knitted together when she saw the book didn't have anything written inside. She looked back at the name of the owner of the book.

"Izumi?"

The boy's face flashed in her mind.

Himari bit her lower lip. Her mind was reminded of the homework that was given before the spring break, the one that Izumi didn't finish.

She asked him after class. At that time, Izumi answered he had forgotten about the homework.

After giving him a reminder and asking him to finish it, Himari put an end to the case because Izumi handed her the homework the very next day.

Now, it happened again?

"Teacher Kato, why are you sighing?"

"Huh?"

Himari lifted up her eyes. She saw her neighbor, Teacher Ayase who had just returned from her lesson.

"Oh, a student in my class didn't finish his homework. It has happened twice," She murmured.

"Have you talked to him?" Teacher Ayase put her books down on the table. She took out a flask from the drawer and poured hot water inside a mug.

"I've spoken with him before. He said he forgot but..."

Izumi was a good student. Himari couldn't help but feel that something was off.

The other thing that she realized was, his exercise book would always change into a new one. Although it was the standard exercise book issued by the school with its logo printed on top of the cover, it was obvious he kept on using a new book.

The exercises from before didn't leave any mark on the new book.

"Try to talk to him. He might have problems at home or at school," Teacher Ayase gave a piece of advice.

She had been teaching for more than a decade. It was not an overstatement to say that she had experienced all kinds of problems involving the students and their parents.

"I'll keep that in mind," Himari nodded absent-mindedly.

Soon, it was time to get off work.

"Ah~ I wish I could go home now," Teacher Goda stretched out his limbs while letting out a yawn, "If not for the coming friendly match, I would be going home straight to bed right now."

His words were answered by the collective laughter of the other teachers.

Himari suddenly was reminded of something. She quickly went to Teacher Goda.

"Teacher Goda, may I ask you something?"

"En?" Teacher Goda rubbed his eyes, "Sure. Just ask me."

"Hayashi Izumi is one of the players, right? May I know if you trained them until late in the evening?"

What if Izumi didn't finish his homework because he was too focus on the match? Although it was not a good answer for the constantly changing of his exercise books.

"Ah, that brat? Yeah, he's one of the players. I just trained them until five in the evening. Well, there's no need to over exhaust themselves since it's just a match between third graders."

"Okay, I understood," Himari nodded, "Thank you, Teacher Goda."

Seeing that the young teacher just ended there, Teacher Goda plopped on the nearby couch, "En, I want to sleep for a moment."

Himari quickly left.

Soon, the teachers' room was deserted except for Teacher Goda who was napping.

As Himari was walking under the eaves of the teaching building, her mind kept going back to Izumi.

Even though her experience as a teacher was only for three years, Himari did encounter such cases in her previous school.

Once, a good student from the fifth-grade class kept delaying in sending his homework. After his homeroom teacher investigated, it was found that he was busy helping his mother selling noodles.

Apparently, his father left their family for a rich woman, leaving only him and his mother without support. Because of that, he went to help his mother to avoid putting more strain on his mother's back.

Since then, the school helped to report his case to the welfare council. With the support from the school and the council, the student's life got better even though there were still hardships.

This kind of situation didn't fit Izumi.

To be able to attend this school, together with his sister, Izumi's family should be particularly well-off. Although his father was recorded as living abroad, the siblings lived under their uncle's care.

Did something else happen?

Himari didn't realize a dumpling was running toward her.

"Teacher Kato~ Teacher! Wait!"

Himari stopped. She was startled, "Chiharu? What are you doing here? Where's your brother?"

Himari looked around. There was no sign of Izumi anywhere.

"Hehe, Big Brother is practicing. Teacher Kato, follow Chiharu? Chiharu have something for Teacher," Chiharu was smiling widely as she tugged on Himari's hand, "Hehe, it's good that we meet here! Chiharu wanted to find Teacher in the office actually."

"Have something for me?" Himari pointed at herself.

"Yes! Yes! Quick!"

The little dumpling with two dumpling buns on her head continued tugging on Himari's hand. She had no choice but to follow the little girl.

Chiharu brought her all the way to the main gate of the school. Once they arrived at the gate, Chiharu was happily waving at a direction.

"Uncle~ Chiharu has brought Teacher Kato here!"

Himari was dumbfounded. Her eyesight followed where, or who Chiharu was waving at.

A dark gray sedan parked under the rows of trees. Himari saw a man was standing with his back against the car. Because the sun was back lighting the man, his face was obscured under the shadows.

"Chiharu, don't run," The man started nagging at the little dumpling, "You have just fell down the other day."

"Hehehe~ Uncle, don't be mad," Chiharu answered cleverly.

The man walked nearer to them. The three of them met in the middle.

The man smiled lightly at the little dumpling's answer. He slowly lifted up his eyes, revealing his face bit by bit.

Himari was surprised once she saw the man's face.

The man was no better than her. A look of astonishment flashed quickly in his eyes.

"It's you?"

Both of them blurted out the same words at the same time.

Himari couldn't react for a moment. Her brain instantly recalled the day when she met this man inside the store a few days ago.

Because they talked for a bit at that time, it was easy for her to remember his face.

"Hello, are you Teacher Kato? I'm sorry for not introducing myself sooner," The man was quick to regain his calm expression, "I'm Hayashi Kazuya, the uncle of Izumi and Chiharu."

"Ah, yes," Himari was pulled back from her shock. She curved up a smile as she responded to the man politely, "Hello, Mr. Hayashi. I'm Kato Himari, the homeroom teacher for Izumi's class."

While the two adults were interacting, the little dumpling started to tug on the man's jacket, "Uncle, hurry~ Where is it?"

"Hold on, don't pull me like that," Kazuya bent down and patted the little dumpling's head, "Uncle will get it now."

Before he turned around to the car, he looked back at the baffled Himari

Kazuya smiled lightly when he thought of the gifts waiting for the young teacher.

He opened the trunk of the car and brought out something. He walked back to where Himari and Chiharu were standing.

"It seems like, you're really fated to have this," He chuckled.

Himari's eyes went down to the paper bag. Once again she was surprised.

This paper bag had the logo of the store!

"Mr. Hayashi, what do you..."

"Teacher!" Chiharu pounced toward Himari. Her short hands quickly hugged one of her legs, "Chiharu asked Uncle to buy a gift for Teacher! Open it! Chiharu knows Teacher would love it!"

Under Chiharu's anticipating eyes, a vague guess came into Himari's mind.

Himari didn't accept the paper bag. She kept both hands on the strap of her sling bag, "Excuse me, Mr. Hayashi, but, is there a need to give me a gift?"

Although Himari could only point it out to the day the siblings came to her house before, she didn't think it was enough for their guardian to give her a gift.

Kazuya swiftly understood her words, "Teacher Kato, I'm sorry if you feel uncomfortable but, please take it as my appreciation for you," Kazuya used a soft approach to make her to accept the token of hie niece's good thought.

"But..."

"En, could we talk somewhere else?" Kazuya looked at the grinning Chiharu, "Chiharu is hungry. I plan to let her eat first but she insists for me to meet you right now."

Chiharu smiled foolishly when her stomach grumbled at the same time.

"En, okay," Himari nodded.

She realized that, without knowing why, the teachers who passed the gate were looking at her with interest.

Then, she followed the uncle and niece pair inside the car.