Restia always conducts her classes sincerely and very enthusiastically.
When asked about the class content after the lesson, she looks very happy that someone has shown interest in her class.
Even if most students aren’t listening to the class, she never cuts corners and strives to make the content easy to understand, interesting for students, and engaging.
She doesn’t just read from the textbook and write on the board, but actively incorporates experiments using real plants in her classes. She even prepares experimental materials for all students in advance.
It’s not something that can be easily prepared by one person’s effort, and sometimes she ends up with bags under her eyes from lack of sleep, but she has always been working hard on her classes even though most students don’t take them seriously.
She does this so that as many students as possible can enjoy learning the plant magic she teaches.
Shion liked “people who are passionate about something and take pride in what they do even if they aren’t appreciated by others.”
Even if not highly valued by society, the “magic to grow and multiply various plants” and “alchemy of plants that become raw materials for medical drugs” that she teaches are undoubtedly useful to people.
That’s why he takes Restia’s class seriously. He believes that Restia’s class should be taken seriously and is undoubtedly worth it.
While maintaining a composed expression, he concentrates on listening to the class, takes notes, and visits Restia after class to ask about things he doesn’t understand.
Since no other students visit Restia to talk about the class, he naturally became the student who interacts with Restia the most in the class.
……At one point, he frankly told Restia:
“I like your class more than any other class, teacher. If it’s okay, please let me help you prepare for the classes.”
For Restia, who had been conducting classes earnestly despite students hardly listening, receiving no appreciation from anyone, and almost giving up many times, but still continuing for the sake of her students,
how much of a relief must Shion’s words have been? That day, when Restia returned home, she couldn’t help but burst into tears.
Due to this background, Shion, who interacts with Restia the most in Class C and knows her well, is often asked by Restia to help prepare for classes.
“…Excuse me.”
When Shion knocked on the door of the faculty document storage and entered, his homeroom teacher, Restia, was on a stepladder, taking some books from the bookshelf.
“Ah, Ichinose-kun!”
Noticing Shion’s arrival, Restia turned around and called out to him.
“Thank you as always… Don’t hesitate to refuse if you’re busy, okay?”
“I’m doing this because I want to, so you don’t need to hold back, teacher.”
“…!?”
When Shion said this, Restia’s eyes widened in shock for a moment, and then suddenly lost focus.
“Ah, awawa… A white dress, a church overlooking the sea surrounded by flowers…, a modest but smile-filled home…”
“…What’s that about?”
“Ah! I’m sorry, it’s nothing… Just…”
“(Just…?)”
Although his expression didn’t change much and his tone was flat, it was clear to Restia that his earlier words were his true feelings. His words were always genuinely pleasing to Restia.
“(H-He said he likes, he said he likes me, right!? Just now, he said he likes me, right!?)”
Restia’s face was so red that steam seemed about to come out, but she turned back to the bookshelf to hide it.
“By the way, teacher, your footing looks dangerous. I’ll take over.”
Restia was reaching for a book that was just barely within her reach, but her footing was unsteady, and the stepladder was wobbling.
“It’s okay, it’s okay. This is the last one… Just a little more… ngh…”
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As Shion noticed the ladder wobbling, he approached to steady it. Just then, Restia managed to grab the book she was reaching for, but in that moment, she lost her balance.
“Kyah!?”
“?!”
Shion instinctively caught Restia as she fell from the ladder, but he too lost his footing and collapsed onto the ground, scattering the books Restia had been holding.
Restia ended up on top of Shion, their bodies almost entirely pressed together.
Shion, who had hit the ground hard with Restia, nearly grimaced in pain but forced himself to keep a composed expression, trying to maintain his cool demeanor. He made a face as if to say, “I’m perfectly fine.”
Right in front of Shion’s eyes was Restia’s face, so close that their noses were nearly touching.
“…Ah…”
“…”
Their breaths gently brushed against each other’s faces.
The suddenness of the situation left Restia’s mind completely blank.
Her heart pounded loudly, echoing through her entire body, and she could feel the intense pulsing in her ears.
They stared at each other in silence for a few seconds. Once Shion had recovered from the shock of the fall and could finally speak, he opened his mouth.
“…I’m sorry, Sensei. I couldn’t catch you properly. Are you okay?”
As he spoke, his breath lightly touched Restia’s lips.
At that moment, Restia snapped back to reality, her eyes widening as her face flushed red all the way to her ears. She hurriedly pushed herself up in a panic.
“I-I-I’m fine! I’m so sorry! I totally fell on you…!”
“Don’t worry about it. I’m pretty sturdy, so I’m okay. I’m just glad you didn’t get hurt, Sensei.”
Shion said this coolly, but of course, his words were a lie. In truth, he’d hit his back and the back of his head quite hard and was now filled with a strong desire to express his pain.
But he buried those pathetic feelings deep down, and still sitting on the ground, he extended a hand to the flustered Restia.
“Ah, thank you…”
Restia took his hand while looking down and stood up.
“…Is this all the books you need to carry?”
“…”
Shion, still completely composed, gathered the scattered books from the ground in his arms and turned to Restia to ask.
“…Sensei?”
“Y-Yes? D-Did you just ask me to marry you!?”
“No, I didn’t. I asked if these are all the books you need to carry.”
“Oh, right! The books! Yes, that’s all of them… As usual, could you take them to my office? I’ll carry these and go ahead…”
With that, Restia grabbed a few books that had been stacked nearby and left the archive room ahead of Shion.
“…?”
Shion watched Restia’s hurried retreat with a puzzled expression.
“(She seemed a bit off… Did she hit herself somewhere…?)”
Restia rushed back to her office and slammed the books she had brought from the archive onto her desk with a bang. She then covered her face with her now free hands.
“Ugh! This is way too stressful…!!!”
Remembering what had just happened, Restia’s face turned red as she scowled.
“…Ichinose-kun’s breath touched my lips, and I could smell his nice scent up close… If a single woman like me gets that close to a man’s face, he can’t complain if I kiss him, right!? Next time something like that happens, I won’t hesitate to kiss him!”
She tried to calm herself down, but her heart continued to race uncontrollably.
“…I mean, why is it that I’m the older one getting all flustered for no reason, while he’s so calm? It’s really embarrassing…! And frustrating! Ugh!!”
With her cheeks puffed out in frustration, Restia angrily waved her arms up and down.
“…Oh! Right, Shion-kun will be here any moment… I need to calm down…”
After a brief bout of sulking, Restia began preparing her special blend of tea to soothe her nerves.
“…I guess being seven years older means I’m not even a romantic prospect for him…”
…Lina-Restia, Shion’s homeroom teacher, was still quite young at just 24 years old.
She was so youthful in appearance that if she wore a school uniform, no one would doubt she was a new student. Her long, beautiful flaxen hair, her lovely light green eyes, and her stunning figure made her a true beauty.
Yet despite Restia’s soft body pressing against him and their faces being so close they could feel each other’s breaths, Shion hadn’t shown the slightest change in expression.
Only Restia, who was supposed to be the older one, reacted with any sign of seeing him as the opposite sex, while Shion remained completely unaffected.
This made Restia feel pathetic, and she began to resent Shion slightly for what seemed like a lack of interest in her as a woman.
But it wasn’t that Restia lacked feminine charm. It was simply that her target was a poor match.
Ichinose Shion, during the adolescent period when boys and girls usually develop feelings for the opposite sex,
had experienced a strange twist in his sensibilities. During his adolescence, this part of him had changed in an extreme way.
As a result, Shion lacked the “awareness of the opposite sex” that most people his age naturally possess. That’s why he hadn’t reacted at all to his close contact with Restia.
…Ichinose Shion was a tragic figure, a boy whose adolescence had twisted him into something of a sad monster.
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