Chapter 9

The next morning a pleasant smell woke me up. I sniffed several times. It wasn't food...what could it be?

I also noticed that my bed felt warmer than usual. It wasn't uncomfortable though; it was a pleasant kind of warmth, like I was wrapped up in a loving embrace.

...

I looked under the blankets and saw Sayaka. She slept with her hands drawn to her chest, her expression entirely at peace. She wore only her panties.

"Sayaka!"

She rubbed her eyes and let out a soft sigh.

"Morning," she mumbled.

"Why are you in my bed?"

"I was doing a little research and I found a whole bunch of light novels that guys like to read."

"What's your point?"

I didn't read a lot of light novels, so I had no idea what she was talking about.

"In those light novels, the female protagonist always somehow get the guy to touch her boobs, and always slips into his bed while he is sleeping. All of it is really unrealistic because no real girl would ever do that, but when I woke up in the middle of the night to drink some water, I saw you sleeping so peacefully, and I thought it might be worth a try."

"You didn't have to strip though."

"I always sleep like this. I hate the feeling of pajamas."

I sighed.

It would be a lie to say that it was unpleasant to wake up next to a cute girl. But after what happened yesterday, I was in no mood for this.

Today was the start of a new week, which meant that I had to go back to work and face Hina-sensei.

I got out of bed.

"Don't you feel anything?" Sayaka asked.

"Huh?"

"There is a naked JK in your bed, and you don't feel anything?"

"Here's another thing that is different from manga, movies and light novels," I said. "Unlike manga, no guy would feel sexually aroused when he wakes up. In fact cute girls and sex are the last thing on our minds when we wake up."

"Eh? Then what do men want?"

"A coffee, breakfast, and the bathroom."

Sayaka pointed at my underwear.

"What about that?"

I looked down at my underwear.

"...this is different."

"Is it? How? Show me." She reached for my boxers.

I ignored her and rushed off to the bathroom.

"Alright, I'm off."

"Please work hard. Have a nice day~"

Sayaka handed me my briefcase with a gentle smile on her lips. She wore an apron over her school uniform.

Our exchange was exactly like as if we were newlyweds. It felt strange, but not in a bad way.

When I arrived at the faculty office, Hina-sensei immediately began to make comments about me.

"Hehhh...I guess that's why your shirts have been pressed and ironed lately...you have a cute high school girl staying with you."

"Hehhh...I've been wondering why you have a nice and healthy bento with you these days...did Sayaka make that for you?"

"Hehhh... Is your apartment nice and clean these days? It must be nice to have someone do the chores for you."

Fortunately there was no one else in the office, otherwise I would've been in deep trouble.

"Just because Sayaka is staying with me doesn't mean that she is doing all the work," I said.

"Isn't she?"

Hina-sensei looked me in the eye.

"She is...but still, just because — "

Hina-sensei cut me off by letting out a loud sigh.

"I knew it."

"Why do you sound so certain."

"Just call it a woman's intuition. Maybe Sayaka's plan is to get you to identify her as someone you can't live without, and then you two could get married, and she could skip university. It's not the most original plan, but still..."

There wasn't much I could say because Hina-sensei had kind of hit bullseye; Sayaka came from a parallel universe where she and I were married, and then she skipped university.

"She is almost eighteen, so you wouldn't have to wait long to marry her, Lolicon-sensei."

"Please don't call me that."

"Japan allows girls to get married when they are sixteen if they get permission from their parents, so I guess you could do it right now, Lolicon-sensei."

"Anyways, we should get ready for class."

"See you later, Lolicon-sensei."

I couldn't tell if Hina-sensei had really lost respect for me, or if she was just teasing.

Regardless, there was something else to worry about.

Now that both Hina-sensei and Tanaka knew about Sayaka, would anything change? That is what I needed to find out.

Around lunch time, I got a call from Hiroshi-senpai. He asked me how things were going with Sayaka. This was the first time in years that he has called me directly. Even when we met up last time, he had invited me over LINE messaging. He must be really curious about Sayaka.

I told Hiroshi-senpai that one of the other female teachers found out that Sayaka was living with me.

"I know a guy in the yakuza, maybe he can help you find a body disposal expert."

"Wait a moment! What are you talking about? And why do you know someone who works for the yakuza?"

"Hahaha, the world of central Tokyo dark and dangerous, you know? A soft government worker like you would never survive in the ruthless world of business."

"Anyway, I don't think there is a problem with my colleague knowing about Sayaka. I talked to her about it, and I think it will be fine."

"You don't sound very convinced."

"There isn't much I can do about it."

Hiroshi-senpai sighed on the other end of the phone call.

"I'll just have to trust your judgement, Sato-sensei."

"Please don't call me that, it feels creepy."

"Hahaha~"

I abruptly ended the call, because Hina-sensei came into the office and looked directly at me.

"Seiji-sensei, do you want to have lunch together with me?" She said those words with the sweetest smile I had ever seen on her face. I felt the other male teachers look at me with envy. It was common knowledge that lots of male teachers had a crush on Hina-sensei; she was young, pretty and had a good personality. She was what many would consider a good, modest, hard working woman.

"Uhm...I still have some work to do."

"Eat with me, Seiji-sensei~"

She approached me, and I finally saw that there was a calculated coldness in her seemingly wholesome smile.

“R-Right, let's have lunch together."

Hina-sensei dragged me to the rooftop. Usually the rooftop was locked for safety reasons, but Hina-sensei had somehow gotten the keys. When I asked her how she managed to get the keys, she said, "The less you know, the better," with an evil twinkle in her eye, which led me to shut up like a good boy.

We sat down on the concrete floor, beneath the cloudless blue sky. Summer hadn't arrived yet, and the breeze was cool and pleasant, neither too hot nor too cold.

Hina-sensei looked at my bento.

“I can sense Sayaka's love in this bento."

"Your woman's instinct telling you that?"

"No... It's just looking at your bento gives me this feeling that someone made it with lots of love and sincerity. I can practically hear Sayaka screaming, 'Sato-sensei, I love you~' when looking it."

"Why are you so sure that Sayaka has a crush on me? I told you last time that Sayaka was having trouble at home, and she is simply staying at my place for now."

"High school girls are smarter than they look, you know?" Hina-sensei said. "They know that they hold a special status in society. I mean just look at all that high school cosplay in Akihabara."

"What's your point?"

"My point is that a girl like Sayaka knows that she cannot carelessly stay at a man's apartment because of her desirable status as a high school girl. And she should also know that she can use her special status to get what she wants."

"You make high school girls sound awfully cunning."

"They aren't cunning... This is hard to explain..." Hina-sensei folded her arms and scrunches her eyebrows. "It's like... imagine you are a girl, and based on a lifetime of conditioning and positive feedback, you know that acting cute and looking cute will get guys to like you, and will get other people to treat you better. You don't know this consciously, but subconsciously you act on this."

"Hmm, I remember studying positive feedback in a psychology course in university."

"What I'm saying is that it is the same for high school girls. Subconsciously they are away of their special status, and they can make use of it."

"Right, I understand that now. But what's your point?”

"Hnghhh! Why are you so stupid?!”

"Stupid?!"

"Basically what I'm saying is that as an adult, you shouldn't fall for the charms of a high school girl!"

"Don't worry about that. I've already told you last time."

Somehow I had a feeling that we had this conversation at the Italian restaurant.

Come to think of it, Sayaka did mention that back in her native universe, she was afraid that her special status as a high school girl would make it difficult for her to fight off Hina-sensei.

But Hina-sensei here was arguing that Sayaka would use her high school girl status to her advantage.

"Hmmmm..." Hina-sensei looked at me. "I guess I should believe you. Anyways, how is life living with together with a cute, youthful, almost-legal high school girl?"

"You make me sound like a lolicon."

"Lolicon-sensei, answer the question."

"...it's fine, living with her."

"Ehh~ More details, por favor."

"Why are you speaking French?"

"I majored in French in university."

"And you ended up teaching social studies at a public school?"

"Turns out there isn't much demand for Japanese-French translators."

"Why don't you teach French?"

"Japanese people don't even want to learn English, who is supposed to take French classes in the middle of Japan? Anyways, answer the question."

"Living with Sayaka is fine...I mean, the apartment is a bit small for two people, but we keep it neat and tidy, so it doesn't feel too cramped."

"Does she cook for you?"

I nodded.

"Heh...must be nice to have someone waiting for you to come home every night, and then eat a home cooked meal after a day of hard work."

"It's not like that...you make it sound like we're married."

"But is my description wrong?"

"Well...I can't say you are completely wrong."

"See?" Hina-sensei finished her lunch and put her chopsticks away. "Sayaka is smart; most girls her age are just starting to develop the instincts of a woman, but it sounds like she is ahead of the game."

She took out a ten thousand yen bill out of her wallet and looked at me. "Seiji-sensei, do you want to bet that you will marry Sayaka?"

"You - !" There was a lazy smile on her lips. "You are betting against me?"

"I just think that in the end, Sayaka will find a place in your heart, and you will end up marrying her; is that what you mean by betting against you?"

"Yes."

"Hahaha," Hina-sensei laughed. "I'm not betting against you! I'm just rooting for Sayaka."

"I thought you were against this whole thing."

"Hmm, I suppose so. But if you develop a relationship with her on the basis of sincere affection and not because of some high school girl fetish, then I don't see anything wrong with it. We should love whomever we love. Just don't do it with her until she is eighteen."

"Right..."

"I'm against a high school teacher dating a student, but I like supporting a girl on her quest to conquer a man's heart."

I stared at her. I couldn't figure out Hina-sensei's moral compass — or lack thereof.

Come to think of it, Sayaka said that in her universe, Hina-sensei was her main rival; it seemed that in this universe, Hina-sensei didn't have any feelings for me. Otherwise she wouldn't be so supportive of Sayaka.

I sighed inwardly. Somehow I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed about that. It wasn't as if I wanted Hina-sensei to have feelings for me, but finding out that another me from a parallel universe managed to attract Hina-sensei while I couldn't didn't really sit right with me.

We finished our lunch, and then headed back down to teach afternoon classes.