‘Love Gathers in the Classroom After School’ – A Story Based on the Original Concept
Supporters-Only Article To All Our Supporters
Thank you so much for your continued support!
I am always grateful for the gifts you send. I’ve been wondering how best to thank you, so I’ve decided to release a previously unpublished draft of ‘Love Gathers in the Classroom After School’ exclusively for you.
This depicts Rio’s state of mind after receiving Meisa’s confession. Ultimately, I didn’t include Rio’s perspective (this is written in the third person). In the initial concept, Rio wasn’t a teacher whose ‘first love had gone sour’, but rather, like Meisa, a teacher who ‘didn’t understand what it meant to fall in love’. After tinkering with the concept in various ways, it evolved into the current version that was published.
I hope you enjoy seeing the differences from the printed edition.
Having parked her car in the convenience store car park, Rio Kakei couldn’t move a muscle until the ice in the iced coffee she’d bought had completely melted.
It wasn’t the first time I’d been confessed to. In my twenty-four years of life, men had confessed their feelings to me three times.
When I asked them why, their replies were: ‘Because I fancied you’, ‘Because you’re my type’, or ‘Because you didn’t seem used to romance’. To Rio, they were all baffling and left her scratching her head.
Why would someone confess their feelings to someone they barely knew, someone they couldn’t even remember speaking to?
Or perhaps it was simply that I couldn’t understand because I myself had never experienced romantic feelings; perhaps it wasn’t a matter of logic at all. When people fall in love, does a shock like being struck by lightning run through their entire body, rendering them incapable of rational control?
Whilst teaching within the confines of the school, surrounded by students in their formative years, I realised once again that, despite being only fifteen to eighteen years old, a remarkable number of them already had partners.
If there are so many within the scope of Rio’s observation, then if we include those keeping their relationships secret or harbouring unrequited feelings, one can surmise that around eighty per cent of the students are in some form of romantic relationship.
When I thought, ‘Kids these days…’, I shook my head. No, wasn’t it the same when I was in secondary school? Whether adult or child, people simply cannot help but fall in love.
That’s why novels and TV dramas often contain romantic elements, and why celebrity love scandals frequently make the news.
The world is brimming with love far more than Rio realises. The sheer volume and speed of it all seemed to leave Rio, a twenty-four-year-old with no experience of love, far behind.
‘…I don’t really understand what it feels like to fall for someone, you see.’
So I was genuinely surprised when Uehara Meisa confided this in me.
Although we had no connection other than me teaching her in the Classics class, she was a prominent figure within the school.
With her striking, eye-catching appearance and a figure far beyond what one would expect of a high school student, Despite her flamboyant outfits that skirted the edge of school rules, her grades were among the very best in the school; this striking contrast made her a celebrity, frequently discussed not only among the students but even amongst the teaching staff.
In school days, simply looking good is enough to earn you respect.
Surrounded by friends with clear voices who were always on top of the latest trends, and with boys constantly approaching her, Meisa was a frequent sight in Rio’s line of vision.
And yet, Meisa was just like her. Despite her own assumption that Meisa must have plenty of romantic experience, she too had admitted that she didn’t understand what it felt like to fall for someone.
The car, with the engine switched off, had become so hot that Rio could really feel the heat, and she hurriedly turned the key. There was no point in standing there in a daze. She had work tomorrow. She had to get home.
But even as she drove, memories of Meisa and her recent confession kept spinning round and round in her head, and she realised she was losing concentration. People often misunderstood her, saying she didn’t show her emotions much, but deep down, she was thoroughly shaken by Meisa’s declaration of love.
She’d started talking to Meisa more often just before the summer holidays, following some one-to-one extra tuition sessions.
I knew the students were mocking me behind my back, calling me a boring teacher. Since most of them kept their distance from me or looked down on me, it didn’t feel bad at all when Meisa started approaching me out of affection.
I suppose even back then, I must have been subconsciously treating her differently from the other students.
When I heard about Hisako-san’s marriage and retirement, and when I felt the need to talk to someone, Meisa was the first person who came to mind.
I was amazed at how limited my social circle was, and I thought it was embarrassing to rely on a student seven years my junior.
But even if I’d had other close friends, and even if Meisa had been ten years younger, I felt certain I would still have spoken to her. I simply couldn’t shake that feeling.
‘I like you. I really like you, Sensei.’
When Rio heard that confession, her mind was filled with question marks. Yet, despite her confusion, the hand Meisa was holding didn’t pull away. On the contrary, her body seemed to find the physical contact with Meisa, her body heat, quite pleasant.
Whether it was during extra lessons, when she invited her home, or when they slept together.
Rio was aware that she found it difficult to feel any resistance when Meisa entered her personal space.
Yes, she had to admit it.
The reason Rio considered Meisa to be a special presence, different from the other students, was no longer simply because she looked up to her… that teacher-centric notion had long since vanished.
But Rio didn’t know if these feelings were love. Even if they were, she couldn’t imagine anything developing whilst they remained in their current teacher-student relationship; and no matter how many times Meisa confessed her feelings to her in the future, or even if something happened to make Rio’s heart waver, she would never accept her affection.
At least, whilst Meisa was still at secondary school. That was the choice made by Rio, a teacher and a fully-fledged adult.
No matter how quiet the road, if the traffic light is amber, Rio will always stop the car. She has never once in her life driven on through it.
A humourless, serious, inflexible, dull and plain-looking teacher.
Kakei Rio’s catchphrase and identity remained unshaken, even when she received a confession of love from a special pupil.
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It may be irregular, but I am thinking of doing something again in the future, exclusively for my supporters.
Thank you for your continued support! Hibiki Tsuzuro