Chapter 18: Next Target

Next Target

"Hmm, what should I do...?"

"Phew," I sighed.

They say happiness flees with each sigh, but once it's out, it can't be stopped anyway.

I can't help but feel depressed when I think about the class I'm in charge of.

"Hanabi-san, she really stopped coming..."

My class isn't exactly unified, perhaps because the students underestimate me, and don't exactly see me as a teacher. However, there are three students in particular who could be called problematic.

The first is Miyama Karen. She frequently causes trouble in class, bringing the lesson to a halt. She seems a little immature, and has trouble keeping her frustrations and interests to herself...  She doesn't seem to like studying, so she immediately tries to make small talk with her friends.

The second is Ryujin Kazaha. She's a rare delinquent, a girl who behaves like a delinquent girl these days. She frequently gets into arguments and fights with students from other schools, and as her homeroom teacher, I have to step in every time. She seems to belong to some kind of delinquent group, and perhaps prioritizing that, she rarely comes to school and is frequently absent without permission.

And then there's the third.

The other two are also problem children, but it's this girl that's really bothering me at the moment.

Hanabi Kagari.

It seems she's failed to build relationships, and since summer vacation, she's been missing school more and more often. I've tried various things to stop her from becoming a truant, but...

The results have been unsatisfactory, and she hasn't come to school even once since winter vacation ended. When I spoke to her parents, they said she hadn't even come out of her room and had become a hikikomori.

I wonder if I was treating her wrong. I've tried everything I could to help her get along with the other kids.

If this continues, she'll have to repeat the year. She's managed to get enough attendance up to now, but if she doesn't take the final exams at the end of the semester, it'll be hopeless for her to advance to the next grade.

If that happens, Hanabi-san will surely drop out of high school sooner or later.

In this country, Japan, it's difficult for high school dropouts and hikikomori to reintegrate into society. Due to the widespread adoption of universal education and the relatively small economic disparity between average households, most people at least graduate from high school, and university graduates are the majority among the younger generation.

As a result, the average talent pool is high and strong. While this is certainly desirable for national growth, it poses a cruel barrier when it comes to individuals.

If we leave Hanabi-san in this state of isolation, she'll likely be faced with ruin in the not-too-distant future. As a teacher, this is not a good outlook for a student.

So, at the very least, at the very least.

I want to support her until she graduates from high school. As a teacher, there's nothing I can do for her beyond that, but I want to do everything I can for her while she's in high school.

Dropping out of high school and graduating from high school are both below average academically for people her age, but there's a world of difference between the two. It also opens up a huge range of employment opportunities.

Of course, I want to support her not only in graduating from high school but also in going on to university, but first I want to support her until she's able to graduate from high school.

To that end, I'd like her to at least take her final exams.

"...Hmm."

The result was a crushing defeat.

The other day, I visited her house, hoping to talk to Hanabi, but she wouldn't say a word.

But that's not all. The eyes she peeked out from the crack in the door for just a moment were incredibly sharp.

It was as if she hated me.

Was I mistaken? Was I not able to be there for her? Perhaps she wasn't just an outsider, but was actually being bullied?

I don't know, I don't know, I don't know.

I don't know.

It's a laughing matter that someone who doesn't know anything like this is working as a teacher just because they have a teaching license.

...Come to think of it.

"On the other hand, Narumashi-san suddenly became cheerful, didn't she? What could that be...?"

Narumashi Suiren.

Like Hanabi-san, she also didn't fit in with her class and was always alone.

Recently, probably around November of last year, she'd started to approach strangers on her own.

Narumashi-san's shy personality and stuttering way of speaking caused people to distance themselves from her, and she'd been alone since spring. I wanted to do something for her, but unfortunately, I just couldn't get around to it. Then, before I knew it, she'd changed.

What kind of change in her mindset had occurred?

Perhaps she realized that interacting with students her own age would produce better results than meeting with older teachers?

"Tachibana Yuri is involved in Narumashi Suiren's change."

"Huh?"

A sudden voice from behind me made me turn around. Standing there was...

"The Student Council President, um..."

"Ah, we don't need the name for now. Anyway, I'd like to talk about Narumashi Suiren."

A dignified female student with long, waist-length blonde hair. Last year, despite being a second-year, she defeated the third-year students in the voting, becoming a charismatic figure and successfully taking the position of student council president. Apparently, that hair color isn't dyed; it's natural. I'm pretty sure I heard she has British ancestry on her mother's side.

But, Tachibana-san is involved?

It's true, even in our class full of problem children, she's one of the few with a conscience, a kind-hearted girl who often helps me out. I never expected to hear her name here. 

"Since around October of last year, Tachibana Yuri has often been in contact with Narumashi Suiren after school, visiting the library to read alone, and they've been deepening their friendship."

"I've never seen Tachibana-san and Narumashi-san behaving like that before..."

"Wouldn't it be surprising if the two of them were suddenly acting friendly in the classroom? That would be cruel to Narumashi Suiren with her personality."

Indeed, Narumashi-san would probably faint if she suddenly became the center of attention in class.

So, did Tachibana-san take that into consideration and practice conversation with her after school, training her to help her build her confidence and communication skills so she could fit in with the others?

If that's really the case, Tachibana-san, you're really...

"You really are such a kind-hearted person."

Not only do you support my incompetent lessons, but you also help out with students I couldn't reach. You also achieved something I couldn't, empathizing with the students.

In that case, then...

Maybe she could do the same with Hanabi, even though I wasn't able to do it properly...

I swallowed my pride and decided to consult Tachibana-san.

"--The only thing that can be said is that the cause of her change is Tachibana Yuri."

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"...This is Hanabi-san's house."

Sumire asked me for advice and asked me to talk to a child who had become a hikikomori. I don't know how it leaked, but a teacher heard that I was involved in Suiren's recent changes and asked me to help.

It's really a pain, isn't it?

Even being a good student can be a pain.

They ask me to at least allow a child who became a hikikomori because of bullying to take their tests, but all I can say is that's impossible.

Hanabi was bullied pretty badly. Sumire didn't even notice, though. Bullies are really good at hiding things like that from teachers.

They pretend to get along well in front of the teacher.

Well, it's sad that she was bullied, but the bullied person had their own issues too.

She is a mild compulsive liar, so she lies often. It ranges from small everyday things to big-scale things like changing classes.

After her failed high school debut, the hatred caused by her compulsive lying fueled the bullying. There's one person in my class who really hates that kind of thing.

I'm talking about Karen, of course.

Yes, that's right. The main bully of Hanabi Kagari was my childhood friend and oshi, Karen-chan.

Irritated by her quick and unnecessary lies, Karen would hit her hard, as if to relieve her daily stress. She actually did things like splash water on her from above the bathroom stall. Or maybe it's because this is the image that comes to mind when thinking of bullying that it actually makes her more vulnerable.

She didn't want to make a big deal out of it, so she kept quiet about it from the school or her family, but apparently she couldn't take it anymore and stopped going to school.

Oh, of course I'm not taking part in the bullying. Unlike Karen, I'm a good kid with good sense, yup.

And because I'm a good kid, I came here at the teacher's request. The request was to get Hanabi-san, who's become a shut-in, outside so she could at least take the test.

"Well, but..."

I don't intend to do that, though ♡

She's a shut-in, and this is the first time I've encountered a monster egg like this. Since she never goes outside, I have no way of contacting her.

Right now, she's just a shut-in, but I have only one goal. That's why I came here today.

To raise a shut-in monster that will constantly thrive on its parents.

With that determination in mind, I rang the doorbell with my right index finger.

The new heroine is the Truant Girl. Due to her character's nature, it's hard to find other characters, so we'll move on quickly.

Character Profile: Hanabi Kagari

A girl who failed at her high school debut and stopped attending school frequently after summer vacation. She hasn't been to school at all since the end of winter vacation. She had a sufficient attendance record, and her grades were good until she stopped coming, so if she just took the tests, she could advance to the next grade... Sumire-chan-sensei thought.

But when she heard from the student council president that Suiren-chan had recently started talking to others more, Yuri was to blame for her change. She begged Yuri to go and meet her, despite her embarrassment, and this is how the two began their friendship.

She has a tendency to lie, which also contributed to creating a wall between her and those around her.