Chapter 7: The girl who looks like a Painting (Part 1)
You know what they say about 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned'?
I've never doubted that saying. I have spent a major part of my life living with my grandparents, and can safely say that the hierarchy in our house was decided by Grandma's mood. If she was in a good mood, she would let my grandpa play the role of the patriarch of the house. But if she even got a slight tingling to what Grandpa was up to, which usually was nothing good, the hierarchy in our house would switch.
There's also that homeroom teacher of mine who despite being extremely pretty, is still unmarried at the age of thirty. I have experienced her fury many times, hell, the bruise on my stomach from a day ago still stings you know!
Even so, the fury I'm witnessing at the moment makes even Hiratsuka-sensei's anger look like a child's tantrum...
"Yoshihiro, would you mind explaining what that was about?"
I put my thoughts aside for the moment, and turned my attention back at my arts teacher, who was currently giving off a really scary vibe. She gave me a 'sweet' smile which told me that somewhere in the world, a puppy had died.
Long story short, she looks freaking terrifying.
"Sensei, I don't know what you're talking about." Despite panicking internally, I tried my hardest to not show it on my face. It's one of my signature moves, 'Poker face'.
When I left the convenience store with my Kouhai, or to be exact, got dragged away by her, we reached the school on time due to her practically sprinting towards the building at breakneck speed. That girl can run really fast, no kidding.
We said our goodbyes to each other, or at least she did, I just nodded at her. After we both separated, I moved towards my classroom with a slight smile on my face. Talking to Miyamizu in the morning did wonders to improve my mood. At that moment, I felt that nothing could make this smile leave my face.
I shouldn't have tempted my fate like that.
Before I could even step a foot into my classroom, a voice that sounded too melodious to be true, reached my ears, making all the colour drain from my face because I recognised that voice.
There, standing behind me with her hand on my shoulder, was none other than Sengoku Chihiro, who looked like she wanted to kill me. She all but ordered me to follow her to the teacher's office. In a lame attempt to save my life, I told sensei that I had classes at the moment but she didn't listen. At that moment I realised, it was too late.
I was going to die!
And that brings us back to our current situation....
"You don't know what I'm talking about?" Sensei's eyes twitched in irritation, "Yoshihiro, you're running on a landmine here. Stop with your foolish attempts to act like an innocent buffoon! You're anything but innocent!" Wait, does that mean I'm a buffoon?
"...I..Uhm, yeah." What the heck kind of response was that?
Oh right, I'm low on battery due to holding a conversation with my Kouhai this morning. God, I hate socialising!
Thankfully, Sensei didn't hear me blabber those words due to her own ranting at the moment. I decided to conserve some energy and settled down to keep quiet. It works wonders when you're getting scolded.
"Are you even listening?!" I answered Sensei's inquiry with a nod of my head. Taking it as her cue to continue, she proceeded to tell me the reason for me being here, "Not only did you rudely cut off our conversation in Sakurasou by leaving all of a sudden, you even dared to leave me with those dirty dishes of yours? I had to scrub them myself because of you!"
I should really not tell her I did that on purpose.
"Uh- I, I was going to... you know..." Very smooth Yoshihiro, very smooth. Stutter some more and show her how scared you are! My battery is taking too long to be refilled! I need a charger now!
"C'mon, speak up! What? No smart excuses coming in that rotten brain of yours? Do you want that kid with dead fish eyes to help you with that?" Poor Hikigaya, being remembered by a teacher like this just because he has rotten eyes. Still though....
I don't think he'll be much of a help in this scenario. He is even more of a coward than me.
~
Somewhere in class 2-F, a boy with an ahoge between his hair, sneezed making a few students turn in his direction. Feeling those stares on himself, the boy bashfully turned his head away and wondered whether he caught a cold.
'Time to activate stealth Hikki to escape these stares.'
~
[ •Back at the Teacher's Office• ]
Not receiving any response from me, Sensei's glare hardened to a dangerous degree. Seeing as how close she was getting to throwing hands with me like a certain homeroom teacher I know, I decided to do the first thing that any person should do in this scenario.
I apologised.
"Sensei, I'm sorry for leaving so abruptly like that. I promise I won't do it again." I bowed my head to show my sincerity.
"Huh? That's surprising. I thought you would put up more of a fight..." Why do you look disappointed huh, oh teacher of mine? You just wanted to hit me didn't you? Ha! I destroyed your plans!
"Of course Sensei. I know I was in the wrong for making you clean my dishes. For that, I apologise. Also, thank you for doing that in my stead." I kept on bowing my head in her direction.
"W-wait-, that's not what I-!" Gee, she must have gotten flustered because of me acting out of character all of a sudden. I'm in the wrong here, so I know how to behave okay?
To be honest, this bowing pose is really helpful in many cases. You just need to bow your head, and Voila! You're safe from any sort of danger that might come your way!
Getting out of her flustered state, Chihiro-sensei fake-coughed in her hands. I'm assuming that's what she did, my head is still in a bowing position after all.
"You can raise your head." I did as she told and raised my head. Sensei gave me a smile, seemingly satisfied, "Well, at least you know what you did wrong. Don't do it again, ever."
That 'ever' at the end was spat in a way that I could tell was a threat. So even though I wanted to make a snarky remark, I decided to hold my tongue and instead gave out an apologetic smile.
"Alright Sensei. I'll keep it in mind from now on." I tilted my head as my voice turned a bit confused, "Should I go now or...?"
"No."
Hearing that response coming from her mouth made me straighten my back. What now? I've to go and take my classes you know! Hiratsuka sensei doesn't even know I'm present yet!
"I want you to do something for me. I was about to make Kanda do it, but seeing as how you made me wash your dishes, don't you think you should repay my kindness?"
"I'm not going to marry you." I replied with a straight face.
"Who's asking you to marry me?!" Sensei shouted with a red face, clearly from anger more than embarrassment.
"For the record, I'm a top class beauty you know! I can get any man I want. I don't need to use underhanded tactics like this to get a brat like you into marrying me!"
"Keep telling yourself that."
"You're really walking in a landmine here kid. If you don't shut up now, I would make Misaki throw another hammer at you, and this time it will land." That shut me up instantly.
The room turned silent after that. Chihiro sensei was trying to get herself to calm down after my verbal assault, whereas I was cursing myself for speaking out loud again. After a few moments which felt a bit longer than that, Chihiro sensei cleared her throat to grab my attention. I looked towards her to notice she was holding out a photo in her hand.
Upon seeing the questioning look on my face, Chihiro sensei handed me the photo before explaining.
"This is related to what I want you to do. Take a look at the photo."
I looked at the photo to see it was of a fair girl wearing a large hat and dressed in a completely white western-style dress. She looked to be about 5 years old. There was no expression on her face— She didn't even smile at the camera.
I don't know why, but to me, it felt like her eyes were looking somewhere beyond the camera.
"I'm not kidnapping a child for you."
"Yoshihiro...."
I felt another foreboding feeling in my gut. Trusting those instincts of mine, I reluctantly looked up from the photo in my hand, only to get subjected by the fiercest glare I've seen in my life. Crap! I overdid it this time!
"Don't you dare start again." I gulped in fear before nodding my head in rapid succession.
Sensei gave me another glare before heaving out a sigh. She massaged her temple then took out a cigarette from her drawer. Wait, isn't that Hiratsuka-sensei's—?
"The girl in the photo, she is my cousin." Sensei took a puff from her cigarette, "She is going to be living in Sakurasou starting today. Her name is Shiina Mashiiro." I feel like I'm talking to a crime lord, not a teacher...
"Okay? What do you want me to do? Play house with her or something stupid like that? Let me tell you beforehand, I'm terrible with kids!"
"No surprises there. They say kids are a good judge of character after all."
"Hey!"
Sensei giggled at my offended expression before lazily waving her hand. She is not glaring at me anymore, so that's a plus.
"What I want you to do is something simple that even you can do." Oi. "We were supposed to meet at the station right at six, but I got busy with something else. So I want you to go get her for me at that time."
I stared blankly at Sensei's face after hearing her words. This woman is seriously pissing me off, shoving her responsibilities on me like that. Have you no shame?!
"What's a little girl like her doing all alone in the station? Are you mad?" I didn't mean to, but rude remarks just come out of my mouth on their own when I'm annoyed.
Sensei, instead of getting angry, looked amused at my words. Somehow I felt like there was something hidden beneath that amusement, as if she knew something I didn't. Suspicious.
"Don't worry about that. Her family won't let her come here alone. Someone will definitely be accompanying her." She smiles a knowing smile, "You'll see what I mean when you get there. So be a good boy and get her."
I didn't answer her for a few seconds before reluctantly nodding my head in her direction. I guess I won't be able to sleep my day off, but oh well.
I just have to pick up a little girl from the station and bring her to my dorm. How hard could it be?
"Alright, I will do it." I bowed in Sensei's direction before deciding to take my leave.
Just as I was about to reach the door's handle, Sensei called out to me from behind.
"Wait! Before you leave, I want you to come and have dinner with all of us tonight! Think of it as a welcome party for both you and Mashiiro! That's all I wanted to say, now close the door on your way out!"
After that, I left for my classroom with a thoughtful look on my face.
*
And....Cut!
Just one more chapter till we get to see Mashiiro, and the story will start for real! There are going to be many anime in this story, and the characters are going to be participating in each other's events. It's not going to be only the MC who gets affected by this crossover, instead, the whole world will.
Overall, I can say it's going to turn into a real crossover. I'm planning on making characters from different anime hold a conversation with each other, as this world won't look that nice without it. Why do they interact with only the protagonist around? It feels as if the world stops for them when the protagonist is not there with them.
Hikigaya Hachiman is going to have a huge role in this story. I'm not sure how, but I'll think of something.
That's all.
Peace.
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