Sunday Smile

"What?! Really?!"

"I'm not lying!"

My sister was being annoying. Every time we finished a performance, my sister and her friend would throw a party in the apartment. I was actually nervous during the performance. Everyone watched it, but we couldn't see ourselves perform. I thought of nothing while at the stage. But I wanted to see us performing too. We were always on stage, so we never knew how we performed. Perhaps if there was a mirror in front of us, we'd be able to watch ourselves… Well, that was a strange idea…

Anyway, my sister and her friend had already started drinking a can of Suntory beer. We were all tired, but we still had it in us to drink beer. Well, I don't usually drink alcohol, but the only drinks available were beer and cola. So I just mixed both. Everyone was drunk, their faces were all red. I was okay, but I couldn't say the same for my sister.

"Pukakakaka~!"

What an annoying laugh… But I didn't mind. That's because there was a quiet person beside me which negated her noise.

"Hey, haven't you drunk too much?"

"My goodness, Kaori… You really won't stop, will you?" Nana said to my sister.

"Huh? Nana… Why are there… Two of…"

She was a sloth of a sister. But she worked hard today, so I didn't blame her. I did not utter a single word. Not a single smile. Eventually, everyone noticed that about me.

"Eeey, Suzume, whaiii aren't you smaaailing?"

"I-I can smile!"

"Okay then, show me!" my sister responded.

I tried smiling, but…

"Hahahaha!!! What the heck was that?!"

Yes… I, Bungo Suzume, cannot smile.

"You… you should drink more!" Nana said.

Once again, I did not say a word. For one, everyone in the room were girls. The guys were busy, apparently. Well, that's what they said, but I didn't believe them.

"Mah God, Suzume… You never smile! So boring!" my sister commented.

"S…sorry…"

Suddenly, my senior stood up beside me.

"Stop that already!"

"S-senior…"

Then my sister apologized, "Aight, aight, my bad~"

Hanazawa was such a kind woman. She would always come to my rescue. She sat down afterwards and took a sip from her can of beer. I did too.

"So, when are you gonna get married?" Nana abruptly asked.

"Well, I'm still studying in the university, so perhaps after I've found a stable job-"

"Naw fair!" my sister interrupted.

So you may be wondering, "Why aren't you responding?". That's because… I hate conversations. I was a chatter mouth back when I was still a kid. To my family, friends, classmates. But growing up, I realized that everyone was a liar. Words were simply used as words, and its meaning had been lost. For example, when people say "I'm fine" when in reality, they're not. People lie to make the other person happy. People lie for their own sake. Only one person benefits from it.

"Anyway, Kaori…" Hanazawa asked, "We have a job tomorrow at the kindergarten."

What an admirable person, that Hanazawa.

"I'm… I'm not going!" my sister answered.

"W-why?!"

"It's a drag!"

"S-sis!"

And then, my sister suddenly fell asleep.

"It's… a drag…"

"Hey Kaori! Wake up!"

As expected of her… Well, there was no helping it.

"Well, we better be going."

And so I carried my sister, but she was too heavy.

"Can someone… please help me?"

"Can't." Nana said, "I can't even stand up anymore."

She was the reason my sister fell like a rock. Couldn't she had taken responsibility for that by helping me out? Thankfully, Hanazawa lent a helping hand. She grabbed on to my sister's right arm and prepared to carry her.

"1, 2, 3, go!"

And together, we were able to carry my troublesome sister. We moved towards the door step by step. And when we reached the door, I turned the knob and quickly opened it. Ah, finally free from a room of girls. A lot of people think that being trapped inside a room with girls is paradise. If only they knew how annoying women could be when they're drunk…

We carried my sister to her apartment, which was on room 308. Thank goodness, it was so close. If she didn't live in the same apartment, it would be troublesome.

"We made it…" Hanazawa said as we reached the front of the door.

"Yeah…"

I opened the door and we laid my sister in bed.

"Will she be okay?" Hanazawa asked.

"She'll be fine."

And we left her room quietly. As we closed the door, I told Hanazawa:

"Umm… I should go home too…"

"Really?" she reacted.

Staying up late was not a problem. But staying out late was. I was still unsure if the town was safe after dark.

"Then I should go as well." She replied.

"N-no, I can go by myse-"

"No! I can't let my junior walk home alone at night!" she exclaimed.

I admit, that was nice of her to say that. But by the way she was dressed, she was in more danger than I was.

"No, really. I don't want to trouble you."

"I see… Well then, I'll see you to the exit." she said.

"Thank you."

We walked to the apartment exit. While walking I could feel that she was troubled.

"What's wrong?"

"O-oh! It's nothing!" she responded.

Based from her expression, I knew she was lying. But what could be troubling her? I was curious. Then I remembered her talking about working at the kindergarten.

"Is it about the kindergarten job?"

"You knew about that?" she asked.

"You were talking about it with my sister a while ago."

"Oh, I see…"

It was a good thing I wasn't drunk. If I was, I wouldn't have remembered.

"I wanted her to experience something other than drama. But she rejected it. I even said that they would pay us." she explained.

My sister threw away a great opportunity. Did he not like kids? It was too late to know. But I didn't want the opportunity to pass, so I took it.

"Umm… If it's okay, I can take the job."

"Really?!"

"B-but it's not like I need the money-"

"Great! We'll have a great time!" she said.

We? That was a word I heard every day. But why did hearing it in that moment feel different?

"So… Where is the kindergarten?"

"Ah, don't worry! Just come by again tomorrow morning and someone will pick us up."

"I understand."

Then we arrived at the lobby. That was perhaps the longest conversation I had ever had with Hanazawa. She was always busy, you see.

"Thank you for today."

"Same here. I'm looking forward to working with you!" she said as I left the building and headed home. Thinking back, I didn't really know why I took the job. At first, I thought it was to take responsibility for my sister's negligence. But now, there seemed to be something more. And when Sunday arrived, I finally understood what it was…

I woke up earlier than my alarm again. To be honest, I didn't remember why I had an alarm. It was Sunday, so I could've slept more. But my body told me to wake up, and so I did. Then I remembered why I woke up early. I was going to meet my senior again at her apartment. So I changed my clothes, brushed my teeth and took a slice of bread as I left the dormitory.

"I'm off!"

I realized how cliché that exit was. Having bread in your mouth and running to the destination. There was no need to rush. It was Sunday. It's not like I'll be scolded by the gatekeeper. I arrived at the apartment and waited for Hanazawa to come down. Eventually, she did.

"Oh, you're here!" she reacted.

"Y-yeah…"

I expected her in a pure-colored dress, like how she usually dresses in the university. But she dressed a little casual, with a striped shirt and skinny jeans. Perhaps I should've also changed into something uncommon. For example, wearing something other than a hoodie.

"Were you waiting long?" she asked.

"Only a minute."

"I see."

And then there was silence. I didn't know what else to say. I wasn't the type of person who starts a conversation. Heck, I hardly have conversations with anyone. Then suddenly…

"Ah! That's right!" Hanazawa exclaimed.

"W-what?"

"Do you know the dance?"

"Dance?"

"Yeah, the dance that we will show to the kids."

There's a dance? I was not informed of that. I thought we were just going to teach kids. Actually, I didn't know what we were supposed to do. But I assumed we were going to teach because it was a kindergarten.

"Umm… what exactly are we gonna do there?"

"Teach them polite words." She answered.

Wait, it was that simple? Then I guess it won't be hard. But why was there a dance? Before I could ask, however, she began instructing me the moves to the very childish dance that we were going to perform. As a drama club member, I didn't mind how ridiculous the steps were. But the song that came with it… that's a different story… in just 5 minutes, I learned the whole dance. It was a very simple dance.

"So, you think you can do it?" she asked.

"I'll try my best."

"Great!"

At that moment, a white car slowly stopped in front of us. We didn't see it coming.

"Uwaa! When did-"

Then the car's driver called us out from the window.

"Good morning!" she said.

"G-good morning..."

The cheerful person who greeted us was the kindergarten teacher that asked for our help.

"Ah! Hanazawa! Mornin'!"

"Mornin'!" senior greeted back.

Wait… did they just greet each other informally? Were they friends? Anyway, she called us into her car and we went in.

"It's been a while, Kyouko."

"Same here!"

Judging from her appearance, she must've been older than Hanazawa. But that wasn't the case. It turns out they were the same age. I couldn't believe it. Or perhaps my senior simply looked younger. Anyway, while we were on our way to the kindergarten, Kyouko turned to me and asked:

"So you'll be helping us today."

"Y-yes ma'am!"

"No need to be formal. We're co-workers as of today."

"Ah, I apologize…"

"It's fine! It's fine!"

That was awkward. Still, I couldn't help but treat her more formally. So in the end, I didn't get to address her informally.

"You're in university too, right? What do you major in?"

"Foreign language."

"Wow! That's amazing!"

"N-no, it's not…"

Then she turned to my senior, "And Mari, you're taking Japanese?"

"Yes, that's right."

It was so ironic. I took foreign language yet I have trouble in conversations. But I wanted to travel to different countries, so I took that as a major. Hanazawa's case was much more noble. She wanted to study Japanese because she believed that there were more meanings in the Japanese language than most people think. And she hoped that people would not treat them as trifles.

It wasn't long before we arrived at the kindergarten. I expected it to be small, but it totally blew away my expectations.

"T-this is the kindergarten?"

"Yep!" Kyouko answered.

It was hard to believe. It stood 30 feet high and was about 75 feet long. Heck, it could be mistaken for a small elementary school.

"Now, help me carry these stuff inside." She ordered.

"Understood." Hanazawa answered.

"Ye ma'am."

And so we did. And again, the inside blew away my expectations. I thought that the inside would look childish, with bright colored walls and light-toned rooms. I was completely wrong. It looked nothing like a kindergarten.

"…Are you sure we're on the right place?"

"Of course! Didn't you see the sign?" Kyouko answered.

I did, but it was still hard to believe. Anyway, we placed the luggage in the classroom and prepared the materials that we would use. Then, one by one, small toddlers entered with their parent. And almost immediately, Hanazawa entertained each one.

"Waa~ So cute!" she uttered as she admired the chubby baby on the other side of the room.

Meanwhile, I stood in front of the blackboard, watching the kids enter. Then, one boy approached me and asked, "Who are you?"

I tried my best to answer, smiling, "My name is Suzume, and I'll be your teacher for today. What's your name?"

"Didn't you see my nametag?" he asked, crossing his arms.

And so I looked at the nametag on his chest and it read "Shouta��� but my foreign language classes got the best of me and read it as:

"Xiangtai?"

"Huh? Who's that?"

"A-ah! Sorry!"

"Wow, you're stupid!"

Hearing him say that made me want to insult him back. But That wasn't the proper way to act since I was the teacher for the day. Plus, it was partially my fault, so I let it slide.

Once everyone was complete, we began the session. First, Kyouko greeted everyone a good morning the way a preschool teacher would: by raising her voice and pretending to be excited.

"Okay everyone! Are you ready?!"

And the children responded in agreement. So did the parents.

"Today, we have special guests." She said, "let's welcome teacher Suzume and teacher Mari!"

Then she gave us the spotlight. Being the confident lady that she was, she introduced herself first.

"My name is teacher Mari, and I'll be your teacher for today! Everyone! Let's have a great time!"

Then she ended with a smile on her face. Everyone smiled as well and responded in a positive manner. She really knew how to attract people's attention.

"What a cheerful girl…"

"She looks nice…

"I'm sure my kid will have a great time…"

Kyouko gave more info about her, "Teacher Mari is currently studying Japanese at Isayama University."

The parents simply nodded their heads. But the kids really seemed to like her. Next, it was my turn to introduce myself.

"My name is Suzume. It's nice to meet you."

Then I ended with a bow. Everyone just stared at me with boredom and responded in a negative manner. Yes, it was the complete opposite of Hanazawa's.

"What a weird name…"

"He looks too serious…"

"I think I'll let my kid play with teacher Mari instead…"

Then Kyouko gave more info about me, "Teacher Suzume is also studying at Isayama University. He's taking up Foreign language."

All of a sudden, the parents had a different reaction. They were all impressed by the course I took. But I couldn't say the same for the kids.

"Today, we'll be learning about polite words!" Kyouko said to the kids, "And the first word that we'll be learning is…"

Then she took out a piece of paper. Written on it was the word "thank you". Together, the children said the word out loud.

"Now teacher Mari will teach us what 'thank you' means."

Hanazawa stood in front and, with a gung-ho expression, she explained what that word meant.

"When you receive something from someone, you say 'thank you'. Or when someone helps you when you're in trouble, you say 'thank you'."

I expected a much deeper explanation, but I understood why it was so simple: because she was teaching kids. But then it still wasn't over. She continued her explanation with the same smile on her face.

"When your parents play with you, you say 'thank you'. When you make a friend, you say 'thank you'. When you get a prize, you say, 'thank you'. You can say 'thank you' in so many ways!"

I never really thought about that. It sounded like a simple explanation, but it was deeper than presented. I hardly use that word for simple things. I only said it as a sign of respect most of the time, but rarely of gratitude, especially of those everyday occurrences. The kids listened to her intently. They were really interested in what she was saying.

"…And teacher Suzume will tell us why!" Hanazawa ended her speech.

All of a sudden, everyone's eyes were on me. I didn't know how to follow that up. I just stood there, thinking of what I should say. Then to cut the silence, Kyouko asked what 'thank you' in Chinese was.

"Xiexie."

Then the parents widened their eyes. They were immediately interested in the topic at hand.

"How do you say it in French?"

"Merci."

"In Spanish?"

"Gracias."

Then they bombarded me with a lot of languages. Thankfully, I was able to answer them all.

"German? Italian? Korean? Filipino?"

"Grazie. Danke. Gomabseubnida. Salamat."

It got a bit out of hand since the attention was no longer on the kids, so Kyouko told everyone that we were going to perform a dance. And so we did. Everyone seemed to enjoy it and joined in on the dance as well. After that, everyone went to the kitchen to make lunch. They only prepared simple food that the kids made. Then we all ate together. Then the kids went to the library after washing up. Yes, time went on so fast because I wasn't paying so much attention to my surroundings. But time suddenly moved normally when one of the kids approached me and gave me a book.

"Read!" she said.

And so I took the book and sat down on the floor, preparing to read it for her. I was so anxious since it was my first time reading to a child. But I didn't have to read anything because the book she gave me was "Find Waldo".

"Umm… This isn't a reading book…"

"Read!" the child insisted.

And then she started searching for the man in a striped shirt from the complete mess of the page. I decided to get another book for her to read, but when I was about to leave, she tugged on my shirt.

"Don't leave!"

I thought that if I left, she would've cried. So I stayed for her sake and helped her search. The book was fairly easy since it was made for kids, so I found a few in a matter of seconds. I also learned that the girl's name was Mana. It was written in Hiragana, so it was easy to read. She seemed to like search books rather than picture books. Then in the middle of our search, Hanazawa came to check on us.

"So, how are you doing?" she asked.

"I don't know. Is this what I should be doing?"

"Hmm… I wonder…"

"What does that mean?"

"Here!" she said as she pointed on the page of the book, exactly where the striped guy was.

"Oh, you found him."

Mana cheered for her and then turned to the next page. Almost immediately, I found the striped guy.

"Found it."

Mana cheered for me and again, turned to the next page. Hanazawa was smiling, but I could tell she was a bit irritated that I got that one. Before we knew it, it became a competition. We would see who would find the checkered guy first and look forward to who Mana was going to cheer for. Eventually, all the kids wanted to join in and it became a collaborative effort. Then Mana flipped to the last page, and it was the hardest so far: find the real checkered guy out of all the striped guys in the page. We searched as hard as we could, but we couldn't find him. And then, someone finally pointed out his location. And the person who found it was Shouta.

"Yes! I did it!" he exclaimed.

Mana cheered for her, so did the other kids. As a reward, Mana gave the book to him.

"Here."

"Thanks!" Shouta said.

Then he went to the door and brought the book with him.

"Wait! You can't bring that home!" I exclaimed.

"But it's my prize!"

Eventually, we resolved the misunderstanding and got the book back. Time flew by so fast, and I didn't know why. Before I knew it, the kids were saying goodbye to us.

"Bye!"

"Today was a lot of fun!"

Then Shouta approached me one last time and said, "you're not stupid after all!"

Again, I restrained my anger since it was the last time I was going to see him anyway. Then he ran to his mother and told her that today was fun. I turned to Hanazawa, who was crowded by the parents and kids telling her to come by again. Then she looked at me and smiled. And for some reason, in that one second, my heart skipped a beat. Why did that suddenly happen? I didn't know. But to distract me from that feeling, someone tugged on my shirt and called me out. I turned around and saw Mana.

"O-oh, hi there..."

She clamped both hands together and said, "Umm… thank you…"

Once again, I felt something so uncommon. It was a word I use and hear every day. But when she said it, at that moment, I realized that it held a special meaning. It wasn't your ordinary 'thank you' anymore because hearing it made me feel calm, appreciated, and happy. Simply hearing that made all the troubles I faced earlier worth it. And she waved to me one last time before finally leaving the school grounds.

"Good job today!" Kyouko said to me from behind.

"Ah, thank you very much."

"Although you could've done better…"

"I know…"

I began to wonder why the kids had classes despite it being Sunday. And so I asked her. As it turns out, this wasn't their ordinary classes. The Sunday classes was optional, and only those who wanted to attend would attend. And also…

"Because everyone's happy on Sundays!"

It sounded like a ridiculous reason, but I couldn't deny it. I mean, the kids left with a smile on their face. So perhaps that reason was sufficient.

"Ah! I forgot your pay in my office! Let me just get it!" she said before quickly running to the faculty room.

I took a seat on the bench on the hallway and waited for Kyouko there. Then while I was seated, I heard a voice from my right.

"Good work today."

I turned to my right and saw Hanazawa, still smiling after a hard day's work.

"Good work to you too."

Then she sat beside me and said, "Today was fun, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, it was…"

"You wanna know the best part?"

"What?"

"I finally saw you smile."

"Ah… eh? Eh? Eeeeeh?!"

I was smiling? I didn't even realize it! When did it happen? I couldn't seem to recall that ever happening. But if it did happen, then Hanazawa must had seen how bad my smile was. And so I turned the other way and avoided looking at her.

"Sorry you had to see that…"

"Why are you apologizing?" she asked, "I think you have a nice smile!"

And at that very moment, I finally felt happiness. It wasn't forced or fake, but authentic. I always thought that smiles were just beautiful lies that hid the ugly truth. But after hearing that, I finally understood that smiles can be innocent, and it can come from the most unexpected times. And so I had this urge to thank her, but this time, with a better understanding of that expression.

"T-thank you! Really, thank you!"

"You're welcome!"

It took a caring senior, an over exaggerated preschool teacher and a bunch of kids for me to honestly say that I smiled that day.