Chapter 31: Hiratsuka Shizuka Senses Something Strange
"Do you think that's the kind of answer I want to hear?"
Hiratsuka Shizuka looked calmly at Hikigaya Hachiman.
However, Hachiman could clearly feel a thick killing intent emanating from this voluptuous older woman in front of him.
"Something happened last night, and it made me lose sleep…"
Alright, feeling forced, Hachiman had no choice but to reveal a little more information.
But clearly, Hiratsuka Shizuka was not satisfied with this kind of answer.
"That's it?"
"That's it…"
There was no way Hachiman would say anything more, not even under threat of death.
"Fine, let's leave it at that for now."
Seeing the rare resolute expression on Hachiman's face, Hiratsuka shrugged her shoulders and decided to temporarily set aside the matter of him not sleeping at night.
"Then, let me tell you some good news."
As she spoke, Hiratsuka took a medal from her desk and handed it to Hachiman.
"Second place?"
Seeing the text on the medal, Hachiman raised an eyebrow in slight surprise.
He had only participated in that contest because Hiratsuka had forced him, and now he had actually placed…
"This is the national essay contest's second prize!"
Seeing Hachiman show no reaction at all, Hiratsuka especially emphasized the word "national."
She had only forced him to participate because she saw his talent in literature and wanted to help him regain confidence and pull him back from the edge of despair.
She hadn't expected him to actually win a prize—let alone second place in a national competition!
"Yeah, I got it."
However, even after hearing her emphasis, Hachiman's expression remained flat, not showing the excitement that Hiratsuka had expected.
"You really are hopeless…"
Even a national award couldn't excite Hachiman.
Hiratsuka couldn't help but sigh.
Helping Hachiman change his withdrawn personality was truly a long and difficult road.
"Well, since you know that, could you please stop always targeting me…"
Of course, Hachiman also understood Hiratsuka's good intentions.
But he didn't want to change himself just for that, to become someone who wore a fake smile.
If being cheerful meant having to suppress yourself, cater to others' interests, and treat wrong as right, then he'd rather continue being that loner that others saw as a weirdo.
At least that way, he could live a little more freely...
"Yeah—no way!"
Hearing Hachiman's words, Hiratsuka nodded, then flatly rejected his request.
"Why not?"
Hachiman frowned.
He believed that being alone didn't cause any harm to the class.
So why did Hiratsuka insist on pestering him?
"Because I'm a teacher!"
At this, Hiratsuka scratched her long hair in frustration.
"If I let a student with no social skills enter society as-is, wouldn't that eventually become a danger to society? Besides, watching my student rot away right in front of me—well, that's just not how I do things..."
"......"
Hachiman hung his head and said nothing.
After more than a year, he and Hiratsuka had gotten quite familiar with each other.
In his words, Hiratsuka was just a fool who had given all her kindness to her students, and that's why she hadn't found a partner yet.
Clearly, if she just gave up on him, her job would be so much easier.
But instead, she kept spending her extra energy trying to bring this antisocial guy back onto the normal high school student track.
Even knowing it was futile, she still stubbornly persisted...
Bang!
Just as Hachiman was feeling moved by this, Hiratsuka suddenly punched him hard in the stomach, sending him collapsing to the floor.
"Wh-why?!"
Clutching his stomach, Hachiman got up and looked at the just-now-praised-for-her-kindness Hiratsuka in shock.
Return his touched feelings!
"You just badmouthed me in your heart, didn't you?"
Hiratsuka looked at Hachiman with surprise in her eyes as well.
Even though she had only used about 30% of her strength, she thought that one punch would at least keep Hachiman down for three seconds.
But not only did Hachiman get up right away, his complexion was rosy and his breathing wasn't even ragged.
'How did this guy's physical resilience suddenly get so much better in just a few days?'
Raising an eyebrow, Hiratsuka pushed aside the doubt in her heart.
She could look into why Hachiman had become more durable later, but the fact that he said she couldn't get married—that had to be dealt with immediately!
"I didn't just now…"
Hachiman was about to defend himself when the memory of what he had just thought popped up in his mind.
'A fool who hasn't found a partner yet…'
Crap. Not only did he call Hiratsuka a fool, he'd also touched a taboo subject. He was totally dead!
"Wait, that's not right!"
Just as Hachiman was preparing to accept his doom, he suddenly realized something.
He had only thought those words just now—he hadn't said them out loud. So how did Hiratsuka know?
"Just by looking at you, I can tell exactly what you're thinking, alright?"
Hiratsuka sneered coldly as she rubbed her hands together ominously.
The next second, a blood-curdling scream echoed through the office...
After standing up and straightening her clothes, Hiratsuka glanced down at Hachiman, who was lying on the floor, her expression one of complete refreshment.
Sure enough, at her age, she needed to vent from time to time.
"Alright, stop pretending to be dead. Get up and get out of here!"
Sitting back in her chair, Hiratsuka held the certificate and the envelope containing the prize money in her hand as she urged Hachiman to stop faking.
Hearing her words, Hachiman, who had originally planned to lie on the floor for a while, immediately jumped to his feet, respectfully accepted the items from Hiratsuka, and quickly slipped out of the office after giving a quick farewell.
"He really has gotten tougher, huh…"
Taking a cigarette out of her pocket and lighting it, Hiratsuka squinted as she recalled the scene of roughing Hachiman up just now.
Every time her punches landed on Hachiman, some invisible force seemed to absorb most of her power.
And since she hadn't been serious to begin with, every punch that hit Hachiman ended up feeling like just a soft tap—there was basically no real force behind them.
However, Hiratsuka had no intention of digging deeper.
After all, every student has secrets they don't want others to know…