Episode Three: Not Too Pretty? ―July 2032―
The casual chat with my teacher after the extra lesson was far more enjoyable than I’d imagined.
I’d assumed there’d be a bit of a generation gap since we’re seven years apart, but it turned out to be nothing like I expected.
“Uehara-san, you’ve got oil on your lips. Did you have fried chicken for lunch?”
“Fried chicken⁉ This is lip gloss, you know⁉”
“S-sorry. I really don’t know anything about makeup at all…”
The teacher and I were completely different in every way – where we were born, where we grew up, our values, our hobbies, our tastes. The only thing we probably had in common was that we were both human women.
“How clueless can you be… Hey, Miss. Don’t you ever want to change yourself?”
“Are you trying to recruit me for something?”
“Oh, come on, no. Just, hold out your hand?”
“Are you going to perform some sort of magic ritual?”
“I can’t tell if you’re joking or serious! I just thought I’d make your nails look pretty! You’re probably not used to it, so polish should be fine, right?”
“You mean putting something on my nails… Is that really okay? I’ve heard it might prevent them from measuring blood oxygen saturation levels in an emergency.”
“Just prioritise looking stylish for now, please. Any favourite colour? Pink’s fine?”
The teacher’s nails were just as I’d imagined – neatly trimmed short, looking like they needed no clipping. She polished the surface with a shiner from the cosmetics pouch she always carried, finished the prep, then applied a base coat.
…Actually, when I’m moving my hands, I inevitably fall silent. Without conversation, I just focus on the teacher’s hands and fingertips… I thought, she has such slender, long fingers. I wonder what ring size the teacher wears.
She’s probably around 160cm tall, right? Students say she has a small face, long legs, and a great figure, though she’s quite understated. If she paid more attention to her style, she could enjoy all sorts of fashion. Such a waste.
“Right, alright. Leave it like that until it dries. Be careful not to touch it.”
“I feel like the waiting time is a waste. It’s unsettling.”
“They say beauty isn’t achieved in a day, right? You’re not a child, so just wait a little.”
“Isn’t that supposed to be ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’?”
“…It’s definitely a play on that origin, but you’re going to nitpick that?”
The teacher’s nickname – ‘A plain, serious, inflexible, boring teacher’ – flashed through my mind.
“Hey, while it’s drying, can I just do your face a little?”
Even so, I’d switched on. Faced with the teacher’s hidden potential, my curiosity was unstoppable.
“Even if I say no, you’ll probably go ahead anyway. …Just don’t make it too flashy, alright?”
“Yes! Leave it to me.”
With a flutter of excitement, I pulled out my cosmetics pouch once more. Taking out the foundation, I stared straight at the teacher seated in the chair.
“…Blimey. Teacher, you really are bare-faced.”
“I do apply sunscreen, at least.”
No, but isn’t her skin just too flawless? She’s twenty-four, right? Is it even possible she doesn’t need foundation?
“…Right then, let’s begin. Take off your glasses.”
Watching the teacher remove her glasses as I instructed, I found myself unable to look away.
My eyes hadn’t deceived me after all. Even after over a year of lessons, even after a week of one-to-one tutoring, I’d never noticed before. Or perhaps no one else at this school had either.
—That the teacher was incredibly beautiful.
“Uehara-san?”
I snapped back to reality at her call. I couldn’t believe I’d been staring so blankly.
“S-sorry. Close your eyes.”
I applied a light dusting of powder to the teacher’s obediently closed eyelids. Adding dimension with eyeshadow and lining the lash line instantly created a dramatic effect. Her long lashes made the curler easy to use. After applying lengthening mascara to the easily curled lashes, it was complete.
“It’s simple, but I finished it. I tried to match the makeup to your age and aura. What do you think?”
Looking in the mirror, the teacher seemed both bewildered by her unfamiliar appearance and satisfied.
“Thank you. …Do you think people will find me cute like this?”
Perhaps caught off guard by the magic of the makeup, the teacher revealed a glimpse of the affection one might feel for a first love – something I hadn’t known before.
A voice tinged with shyness, unlike her usual self. Words she would never normally utter.
The teacher, who rarely showed a smiling face to her students, now had her cheeks relaxed, completely unguarded.
“…Wait a moment?”
What was this feeling?
“What is it?”
“I’ll just fix it a bit.”
Under the pretext of touching up my make-up, I moved closer to the teacher so I could see better. Choosing brown long-lasting mascara had been the right call. Her lashes caught the light, appearing almost translucent, perfectly accentuating the teacher’s pale irises. I must say, I have good taste.
“Hmm… never mind. You look absolutely gorgeous, teacher.”
The sense of unease I’d felt earlier must have been because I was seeing the teacher differently than usual.