Normally, Haibara of course wouldn’t be in the mood to care about her students, to chat about sensitive, coming-of-age topics like their psychology.
She wasn’t that motivated a teacher, nor did she care all that much about her students.
There were teachers who would show a bit more care and attention to special students like Sakaki Chika, but Haibara simply wasn’t that considerate.
It wasn’t that Haibara wasn’t snobbish—she was just plain lazy.
Maybe it was because she was in a better mood after getting drunk today?
That’s right—Haibara was, in fact, still drunk at that very moment.
And the reason her appearance was still its usual self was that she’d used magic to alter it.
Of course, though they called it chatting, there really wasn’t much for the two of them to talk about.
It was nothing more than Sakaki Chika asking Haibara how she should study, what to do about the midterm exams, and topics of that sort.
Surprisingly, Sakaki Chika cared quite a lot about her studies.
As a teacher, all Haibara could do was think it over seriously and answer.
At times like these, Sakaki Chika would produce a little notebook from who-knew-where and start jotting things down.
“Are you getting along all right with your classmates?”
Ever since Sakaki Chika had returned to her class, Haibara felt the classroom corridors had grown a good deal noisier every day, with plenty of people crowding around Sakaki Chika to talk about all sorts of things.
Of course, there were also students from other classes—even upperclassmen—who came to confess their feelings to Sakaki Chika.
Whenever Sakaki Chika didn’t know how to turn them down, Kirishima Ai would step forward and chase away everyone who came to confess.
“It feels like… everyone’s really kind.
Sometimes I don’t know how to respond, but I’m really grateful for how the other students look after me…”
Sakaki Chika clasped her two hands together, her fingers lightly intertwining.
In the past, they’d have been painted with different colors of nail polish, but ever since she’d returned to school, she no longer had to do that.
Over these past few days together, Haibara had also watched Sakaki Chika’s performances as an idol.
Apart from her appearance, you could hardly tell she was the same person.
Someone who normally could barely say a complete sentence to another person—how could she be like that on stage?
The one on stage seemed less like Sakaki Chika herself and more like the magical girl Star Flower…
Just then, Haibara suddenly recalled that she too had used magic to change her own appearance right now.
“Not good at talking to people?”
As if realizing something, Haibara tossed out the question casually.
“Mm… even when I want to talk to someone, I get nervous, and then I don’t know what to say.”
She’d been like this ever since she was little, which was why she’d never once made a friend.
“Then why did you decide to become an idol?”
This question really fell outside a teacher’s purview, but it was idle chatter anyway.
“Because……” Sakaki Chika was about to answer when her face suddenly went pale, as though she’d thought of something unpleasant.
She stammered out a few words that Haibara couldn’t quite catch.
“Back then… at home… some things happened.”
As for the specifics, Sakaki Chika didn’t say.
“And also… I… really love seeing other people smile.”
As she said this, Sakaki Chika’s expression brightened a little, and she let a faint smile show. This chapter is updated first at g.com.
Haibara, for her part, was somewhat puzzled.
Smiles?
“My grandmother told me… that smiles are a wonderful thing.”
“When other people smile, I don’t feel so nervous, and I can work up a little courage, and I feel happy.
So I thought—it would be great if I could do something to bring smiles to others.”
“So, that’s why I became an idol…”
Smiles were a wonderful thing, proof of happiness, and so Sakaki Chika loved to see other people smile.
Haibara watched her with an expressionless face.
It didn’t sound like a lie.
While talking with Sakaki Chika, Haibara had actually been quietly studying Sakaki Chika’s body.
It wasn’t that she had some peculiar fetish.
It was just that, once again, she’d noticed some discordant bruises on Sakaki Chika’s body, looking as if they’d been left there over the past few days.
Just as she was about to take a closer look, the girl’s voice interrupted her train of thought—
“So, Teacher, what made you become a teacher in the first place?”
Sakaki Chika lifted her head, revealing a curious expression like a little fawn’s.
Haibara went blank for a moment.
It was the first time anyone had ever asked her a question like that.
Truthfully, as an educator, at a moment like this she probably ought to give some upbeat, positive answer—say, that she loved children, or that she wanted to contribute to society.
But she really didn’t much like children, nor was she terribly keen on dedicating herself to society.
Haibara looked out the window at the sky that had already gone dark, her eyes as hollow as she herself was—dull and indifferent:
“…Before I knew it, by the time I came to my senses, I was already a teacher.”
This answer left Sakaki Chika a little puzzled.
“How should I put it…” Haibara mulled it over for a while.
“My life has been very ordinary—always drifting with the current, always half-pushed, half-willing into things.”
“Because all the college classmates around me went into teaching, I just followed along and became a teacher too.
There wasn’t any special reason.”
It was only that sort of very ordinary reason.
So she had no passion for this job, and no sense of belonging.
Nor did she feel she had to be a teacher at all.
Though this profession was highly respected in this country, it wasn’t that respectable people became teachers—rather, it was becoming a teacher that made one respected.
Back in college, there’d been plenty of morally mediocre, disliked sorts, and afterward they’d all gone on to become teachers as well.
Which just went to show this profession wasn’t really anything special.
Probably one day, sitting alone in her rented room, she’d suddenly realized her life had already turned out this way—she was an utterly ordinary person, doing an utterly ordinary job.
No matter how fiercely her soul yearned for the extraordinary, in the end it was bound within this most ordinary of shells.
But that, too, was merely an illusion.
…
When night came, Sakaki Chika walked alone down the deserted streets, nothing but a single, lonely shadow left behind.
Even this late, she didn’t want to go home.
Going home was an awful thing, but if she didn’t go home, something even more terrifying would happen.
Still, today her mood was a little better than usual.
Ms.
Haibara seemed far gentler than she’d imagined.
Before, she’d thought Ms.
Haibara was a bit frightening, but after chatting for a while, she found that Ms.
Haibara was actually a very nice person too.
Gentle… She liked her.
What’s more, Ms.
Haibara taught her classes well, too.
Though everyone found them a little boring, if you listened carefully you’d discover the material was laid out very clearly, with the important parts all made perfectly plain.
It would be nice if she could get to know Ms.
Haibara a little better someday.
Today, though, she’d actually lied to Ms.
Haibara.
Becoming an idol wasn’t for some noble reason like wanting to bring smiles to others—that was merely her own self-deception.
She’d simply had no choice but to do it.
Because her family was short on money—or rather… in debt.
At the time, the only avenue her family had left was an agency they’d been introduced to.
Had she not gone, Sakaki Chika didn’t know whether she might have ended up doing something even more terrible.
But with a personality like hers—someone who’d never had even a single friend to talk to since childhood, who didn’t dare dance or sing in front of others—she could barely keep at it.
The other members of the girl group all disliked her too, and often froze her out—hiding her shoes during practice, for instance, or tampering with her clothes.
Just when she was on the verge of despair, perhaps a miracle, perhaps the good fortune that follows a long run of misfortune, something incredible happened to her.
She became a magical girl.
It was a keepsake her grandmother had left behind for her.
When her spirits were at their lowest, the pendulum her grandmother had left her began to blaze with light, turning her into a magical girl.
Her Magic Tool, the Magician, possessed all sorts of wondrous powers—among them the ability to change her own appearance.
Once she donned the disguise called “Tachibana Airuru,” she could become like the magical girl Star Flower—confident and brave.
After that, her path as an idol began to go smoothly, too.
The debts her family owed were paid off, she no longer had creditors hounding her day after day, and lots of people came to like her.
After becoming a magical girl, everything seemed to be getting better.
And yet, that was nothing but an illusion…