Late Realization

Most of the time, Akamine-sensei would drag her feet to work as a homeroom teacher. Noted, everyone in her class is the cream of the crop and individually, their grades are actually on top as seniors. It was only by chance that these students were assigned to one class and she get to be their homeroom teacher. But that's not the reason why she drags her feet to work every single day. It's because she was always tired the day prior and the lack of sleep adds in to her exhaustion. Couple that with a lot more yesterdays and one would get an endless cycle of exhaustion and sleep deprivation.

In a sense, she felt a great deal of pride that her students are doing well— well, except for one, of course. In hindsight though, it's not like she could complain about him. While he barely keeps his grades up the line of a passing mark, he's almost at the point where he'd have to repeat the year. 'I wonder if h— sigh, he's going to miss the morning classes again, is he?' Akamine-sensei remembered her only troubled student and she felt more fatigued than ever.

'Quite frankly, it's commendable that he's developing good work ethics at such a young age... but does he really need to work his rear side off? It's not like the tuition for Dai Yama High is expensive. A regular convenience store job could pretty much cover his food expenses as well as tuition fees if he's living alone. I mean, it would be understandable if he's living in a dorm but from what I heard from Megumi... he's got his own house. Why does he need all that money? Is his family drowning in debt? No, that shouldn't be.'

'Now that I think about it... I haven't met his parents. This is my first year as a teacher here so I don't know...' Furrowing her brows, she started thinking harder, coming up with the most absurd reasons why Hajime needed the money. At one point her face even turned a nice shade of red as she shook her head vehemently.

"Yeah, and for once you're attending the morning classes. Did you eat something weird?"

"Probably, how about you? It's a first for you to offer me a ride."

"Stop it, you! Just you wait, I'll get back at you, big time."

"And how would you do that? By following me around again? You should know better than that, Megumi."

"Grr... don't you call me by my first name!"

It wasn't just Natsumi who stopped in her tracks when they saw the sight of Hajime and Megumi walking together to school. Even Akamine-sensei stopped walking, rubbing her eyes to see if she was dreaming or not.

No.

Actually, it wasn't just Natsumi and Akamine-sensei whose jaws dropped at the sight, the entire student body did. They could hardly believe what they were seeing— Hajime, the famous delinquent who doesn't attend morning classes, actually did attend, for the first time after all these months.

...

As it turned out, Hajime was actually more popular than he initially thought. And now that it had become obvious, Megumi eventually realized what she had just gotten herself into.

"Wow, everyone's looking at me. What's their deal?" Hajime whispered to himself, scratching his head. He was used to all the attention but right now, the attention he garnered was over the top. It's as if the entire school was looking down on him as if he was a fine display in a museum.

Megumi, who had the second spotlight shone on her, drooped her head down before she screamed at Hajime. "AND DON'T YOU WALK BESIDE ME!" She screamed before storming off. At that moment, she could already foresee what sort of rumors would emerge from that point on. 'How could I let my guard down? Me, walking with him to school?! ARGH! Stupid, stupid, stupid! You're so stupid Megumi!' She berated herself inwardly, her eyes turning into slits as the second-hand embarrassment got the better of her.

However, there was nothing she could do but make a beeline for the classroom and quietly sit in front of her desk. (No way would anyone forget what happened that morning, but getting out of that scene as quickly as possible should've alleviated the consequences— or so that's what Megumi assured herself.)

... ...

"..." Hajime didn't speak, instead, he put his hands in his pockets and hung his head down low as he entered the school. Since he didn't address everyone who was shooting lasers off of their eyes, they soon dispersed with the situation now over...

... All of them, except for Akamine-sensei and Natsumi, that is.

"Haji— " Natsumi saw her chance and she took it. But even then, she was interrupted and Hajime didn't even notice her in the background.

"So, what made you decide to attend my morning classes?" Akamine-sensei asked, putting a hand over Hajime's shoulder.

Biting her lips, Natsumi walked away, clutching what seemed to be a particularly bento box in hand. She completely turned into a background character, fading away from the corner of the eyes as the film of life panned out, refocusing on Hajime who was trying to get Akamine-sensei's hand off his shoulder.

"Eh? Eh?!" Akamine-sensei egged him on, tightening her arms and drowning Hajime on her bosom. She wasn't that big on the aforementioned areas but it was sizable enough that Hajime felt it. His face reddened, but he continued to maintain his poker face all throughout the humiliation.

"I figured you'd call me to your office again... and I was getting tired of being called there." Hajime let out an obvious underlying reason. "And shouldn't you get inside a student's personal space?"

"What's the big deal?! You chose to attend my morning classes for the first time!" Akamine-sensei was oddly exhilarated and energetic as usual... or rather, this was the first time Hajime saw her genuinely elated.

'I guess she's that happy that I finally attended the morning classes, huh.'

"You know what! This calls for a celebration, lunch's on me! Eh? What do you think?" Akamine-sensei blatantly offered.

"I mean... it's not every day I get treated to lunch." Hajime shrugged, a smile briefly appeared on his face.

"You smiled! You just smiled haha!"

If this were a movie, the camera would've scanned to the side, right by the corner of the aisle where Natsumi stood, hesitating. She overheard their homeroom teacher's lunch offer and it made her clutch the bento box even more. "No fair," She muttered to herself.

"Natsumi? What are you doing over there? Come on, the bell's already rung." Fuyumi called out to her best friend. "It's so unlike you to space out like that. Are you all right?"

"Mhmm, I'm fine... I think." Natsumi muttered as her friend dragged her toward class,