Mission: Demonstration

It was one of those days where even the screeching of chalk on the blackboard grated on the nerves. Even the eyes of a dead fish seemed livelier than those of the students in front of him. It was understandable. It was already end of the week, their batteries were almost done, waiting for the weekend to reload.

Takeshi walked through the rows of students, gesturing and explaining a few things. When he reached the third row, he stopped, his gaze drifting between two students. A moment of silence passed. No one moved, waiting for him to continue. But what came next, no one expected.

“Congratulations, Yamada-san,” he said in his usual expressionless tone.

“W-what?! Uh… What do you mean?” replied the student with messy hair. He was an unremarkable guy, not exactly known for his popularity and looked at Takeshi, seemingly bewildered.

“You have a girlfriend, don’t you?” he looked at the girl next to Yamada, “Sae-san?”

She wore glasses and had a long-braided ponytail. Both of their faces turned bright red, as if all the blood in their bodies had rushed to their heads. Sae shifted nervously in her seat, and Yamada was at a loss for words. Both exchanged quick glances trying to communicate.

Silence, then—

“EEEEH?!” The entire class erupted in uproar. Whispers everywhere, gossip, and some even questioned the couple directly.

“Since when??”

“You didn’t tell us anything!!”

“You two? Really? And how does Katou-sensei know?! Did you talk to him about it?”

Takeshi turned his attention back to the whole class.

“Please. Please… calm down. No need for the noise. It was obvious.”

“O-obvious?! W-why?” stammered Yamada, his face still a tomato.

“You told someone?! We agreed to wait!” Sae hissed at him.

“N-no! I didn’t say anything!”

Yamada frantically waved his hands. But Takeshi stepped in.

“Don’t worry. He didn’t say anything. But his body language gave it away… and yours too.”

“Huh?!”

“You need to explain that, Sensei!” Mari interjected spitefully from the side.

“Yamada-san has been arriving four minutes later than usual for the past three days, exactly the same time each day. He used to be punctual, so he didn’t oversleep. He had a reason. A regular meeting, perhaps? Also, his hair is slightly damp, which means he’s showering in the morning. That’s new for him. Suddenly, he’s giving extra attention to his appearance.”

And… vanilla. A hint of vanilla, although almost no one here wears perfume or anything like that.

“Secret glances at a certain person, more intense and warmer than usual.
The conclusion: meetings before school, attention to physical appearance, and unusual behavior point to a shift in emotional focus.
All that could be coincidence, but Sae-san wears the same perfume? Or… did it rub off?”

A slight glance at Sae was enough.

Heavy silence fell over the room. No one spoke, and if you listened closely, you might have even heard crickets chirping.

“Um… that’s kind of creepy,” a student murmured from the back row.

Everyone looked around, dumbfounded, skeptical, or in disbelief.

“I’m not sure if that was weird or cool…” another whispered to his seatmate.

Naomi leaned toward Kameko in front of her.

“Hey, I hope he doesn’t look at me like that…”

“Yeah, seriously, is he some kind of mind reader or what?”

Naomi nodded vigorously.

“Not a mind reader. Just logic,” Takeshi replied to the two. “Anyway, I’m happy for you both, Yamada-san and Sae-san. Now back to the lesson.”

Although Takeshi tried to redirect the focus to the lesson, he had already lost the students. Most of them were fidgeting in their seats, waiting eagerly for class to end so they could talk. Shortly after the school bell rang, a crowd immediately formed around the newly revealed couple.