Ever since the midterm exam results came out, Sakaki Chika’s mood had been low—depressed, even.
For a while, she felt lost, with no idea what she should do next.
She had truly tried her hardest, but she’d fallen so far behind during her time away from school that there was simply no catching up.
She couldn’t understand a thing the teachers explained, and during exams she was just as much at sea.
…Should she just give up, then?
With grades like these, there wasn’t much point in staying in school.
She didn’t want to keep being hounded over debts, either.
Maybe it would be better to go back to work and pay off the new debt as quickly as possible.
Sakaki Chika held her head in her hands, her thoughts a tangled mess.
“Ms.
Haibara…
didn’t she say before that…
if your grades slipped, there’d be a home visit?”
She stammered the words to herself.
Kirishima Ai, sitting beside her, glanced over and offered some comfort:
“There’s no need to be so down about it.
Ms.
Haibara may have said she’d do home visits, but she basically never will.”
She could hardly imagine Ms.
Haibara being motivated enough to actually visit a student’s home over their grades.
At most, it was just an empty threat to scare people.
Hearing Kirishima Ai’s words, Sakaki Chika’s expression brightened a little.
At least she probably wouldn’t have to deal with a home visit…
Sakaki Chika breathed a sigh of relief.
And so, Sakaki Chika kept up her gloomy air and low spirits until the end of the school day, when, as usual, she prepared to head to the infirmary, planning to stay there until nightfall as she always did.
But not long after she’d stepped out, a cold, neutral voice called out to stop her:
“Sakaki, where are you going?”
Sakaki Chika turned around, puzzled, to find the expressionless Ms.
Haibara standing there.
Ms.
Haibara had already shouldered her bag, looking every bit ready to leave the school.
“…I was going to spend a little while in the infirmary.”
She answered honestly.
She didn’t want to go home too early today, either.
But today, Ms.
Haibara didn’t seem as gentle or easy to talk to as before.
She only said, coldly:
“Don’t go to the infirmary today.
Take me to your house.”
Sakaki Chika froze for a moment, thinking she must have misheard.
“…Eh?”
Haibara paid no mind to her dazed expression:
“Your grades are terrible.
As I said before, I need to have a talk with your guardian.”
“Since you never left a parent’s phone number, I’m going straight to your house today, with no prior notice.
Any objections?”
Today’s Haibara was probably the cold, difficult teacher who lived in most students’ impressions of her—tolerable when she was in a good mood, but pretty much like this whenever she wasn’t.
Unyielding, and unreasonable.
With her timid nature, Sakaki Chika had no idea how to refuse.
Her eyes darted left and right, and her mouth opened, then closed again.
In truth, her mind had gone completely blank.
Why did the teacher want to visit her home…
She hadn’t even told that man about this yet.
Absolutely not…
“Today…
my…
my family isn’t home.”
“I don’t want to waste time, and I won’t be in the mood for a home visit later, so it’ll be tonight.”
Haibara adjusted her glasses, leaving Sakaki Chika no room to refuse—after all, she wasn’t in the mood to say much to a problem child like this.
In the end, Sakaki Chika could only nod, her expression somewhat dazed.
*
The whole way there, Sakaki Chika’s mind stayed blank, all sorts of emotions churning together in a chaotic mess, crushing her spirit bit by bit until she was on the verge of breaking down.
She couldn’t…
she absolutely couldn’t let the teacher into her home—but why was this happening?
What was she supposed to do…
If the teacher saw what her home was like, she had no idea what would become of her.
Would she even be able to keep going to school after that?
Sakaki Chika was very nearly in despair.
Behind her was the expressionless Haibara, still lazy and cold as ever, seemingly indifferent to her student’s mood and just wanting to get this over with quickly.
Under the dark night, the two of them walked on toward Sakaki Chika’s home.
After walking for a while, they arrived at the door of Sakaki Chika’s home, and she came to a stop, suddenly noticing a slip of paper stuck to the door.
Sakaki Chika’s body stiffened for a moment, at a loss, and she could only silently tear down the IOU while pretending nothing had happened.
Over the past couple of days, she’d had a key made for herself, so she no longer needed to knock.
She turned around to look at Ms.
Haibara, who stood some distance from the door:
“Teacher…
let me speak with my family first.
Could you wait outside for a bit?”
Haibara nodded, agreeing.
Sakaki Chika unlocked the door with her key, pulled it open less than halfway, and slipped inside on light feet.
But not long after she’d entered, she caught a very strong smell of alcohol.
Her heart went a little cold.
This time, there was no telling how much that man had drunk again.
In fact, the reason she came home late was that, if she was late enough, that man might be a little more sober.
Not long after coming in, Sakaki Chika saw the man, dead drunk.
The man’s face looked especially grim today.
It seemed he’d been beaten as well—there were injuries on it—and on top of that, he’d drunk a great deal…
“…Where’s today’s money?”
The man quickly noticed Sakaki Chika, then slurred at her indistinctly.
“…”
Sakaki Chika stayed silent for a moment, then uneasily placed her hands in front of her skirt, her fingers tugging at one another:
“The money…
I’ll give you the money soon.
Today…
a teacher’s coming to the house, so could you…
I mean…
I’m begging you…”
Hearing her words, the man stood up and came closer, and Sakaki Chika instinctively backed away—but any farther back was the door.
“Then…
hic…
what about now?”
He held out his hand, demanding money from her again.
Sakaki Chika opened her shoulder bag and dug out her wallet—a soft, white, rabbit-shaped wallet.
But once opened, it was completely empty, yielding only a few scattered small bills and coins.
Afraid he’d snatch away her living expenses, she’d left most of her money at school…
Seeing that deflated rabbit, the man’s expression turned a little more terrifying.
At a loss, Sakaki Chika said:
“This…
this is all that’s left right now, but tomorrow I can borrow some from a friend…”
If she borrowed from her manager or her colleagues in the idol group, she should be able to scrape some together…
But this only angered the already-drunk man, who reached out and slapped the hand Sakaki Chika was holding the wallet with.
“—Don’t you look down on me!
You’ve definitely still got money, so hand it over!”
The man roared.
Sakaki Chika’s rabbit wallet was knocked to the floor in an instant, lying there pitifully.
She cradled her hand, nodding numbly:
I’m sorry, but I really don’t have any right now.
In…
in a little while I’ll go borrow some…”
“Don’t try to trick me.
Aren’t you an idol?
You’ve got so many fans—go ask them for money!”
The man suddenly grabbed Sakaki Chika’s arm, tugging at a wound left from before, and her face twisted with pain.
“My money really all went to paying off the debt…” Sakaki Chika said, aggrieved.
“Don’t they send you gifts?
Give me all that stuff—some of it’s got to be worth something!”
Sakaki Chika’s expression turned frantic in an instant:
“Just…
just not those…
I won’t give you those…”
The man’s expression twisted with rage in an instant.
He glared viciously at Sakaki Chika, then seized a fistful of her hair.
Sakaki Chika’s eyes welled with tears from the pain as he yanked her whole head this way and that.
“Don’t think I don’t know how you got famous.
You really think you’re some popular idol?”
There was no way for her to resist.
She watched as the man raised his fist again.
Sakaki Chika quickly realized what he was about to do.
Terrified, she shut her eyes, bracing for the beating this man was about to give her.
But the pain she’d imagined never came.
Confused, Sakaki Chika opened her eyes…
Before her, a slender, delicate hand had caught the fist the man had been about to swing.
And beside her stood that usually cold and lazy Ms.
Haibara.
The man’s hand had been caught by Haibara.
The man seemed confused at the sight of the woman who’d suddenly appeared, and the hand gripping Sakaki Chika’s hair loosened.
Haibara said coldly—
“Scum.
Don’t touch my student.”
This time, her tone was icy cold, carrying a rare hint of anger.
After catching the man’s hand, she landed a punch to his face, sending him straight into the wall beside them.
“Teacher…”
Sakaki Chika froze, seemingly never having imagined things would turn out this way.
Haibara didn’t look at Sakaki Chika, only staring at the drunken man before her with a look of disgust.
The man was dazed from the blow, clutching his red, swollen face.
“Those injuries on you—were those from him, too?”
Haibara’s tone toward Sakaki Chika wasn’t particularly kind, either—a touch colder than before.
Sakaki Chika, a little frightened, nodded uncertainly.
“I see.”
Haibara said this simply, then walked over to the fallen man.
She grabbed the man by the collar with one hand and hauled him up.
Then she drove her other fist into his face—the sound almost loud enough to crack—splitting open the wound already on his face until it bled.
Sakaki Chika heard the man scream.
But right after, Haibara drove her knee into the man’s stomach, then grabbed his head with her hands—
“—Bam!”
“—Bam!”
“—Bam…”
She slammed his head against the wall several times, until it was bloody and broken, before Haibara finally pulled back, her anger somewhat vented.
She dusted off her hands and looked at the dumbstruck Sakaki Chika.
“What are you standing there for?
The home visit’s over.”
Haibara adjusted her glasses and said flatly.