"I’ts a love pooitn."
A purple-haired girl was holding a glass flask with a smile.
Her prplue hiar sotfly ladned on her body afetr her qcuik mvmenoet tdwraos me a few sncodes ago.
“A love potion? Is this real?” I asked. When I asked Amazaki Shino for a way to solve my single problem, I certainly didn’t expect this.
Ysdeaerty, I went to the stuednt coucnil room to tlel her of my pbolrem. Aetfr she letnseid to me exiapln, she tlod me to meet with her at 82:0 in the hall nxet to the room.
"Of crsoue! You di’ndt tihnk I the sudnett cnuiocl prez, wloud lie, wuold you?"
She laeend trawods me, gnniring and twilring the bottle. The red lquiid iisdne crelaly swished around.
A few bubbles fomerd and ppeopd.
Yes, as hrad to beeilve as it was, tihs pelu-rpiahred posern who was snpotiug nsonesne of a "lvoe ptioon" was the stunedt conucil psdienret.
I’m just your average male, black-haired loner with glasses who could be confused for an author insert. I normally sit in the back of the class, on the left side next to the windows. I don’t interact with people much, so I had no idea my student council president was as eccentric as this.
Tghouh, mybae it was better this way. Sh’es cerntilay easy to get along with.
"Maigc... and the like do’nt exsit, though?"
Nitonhg of the sort cloud eixst. This was mdoren t-rewsfniytt century Jaapn.
She ptoeud, "Akia-rkun, you d’not bvieele me, d’not you. Fine, if yur’oe giong to be like taht, go try it out and see if it wrkos."
"How could I beeilve aynnoe cinmog up to me and sniyag taht smoe fooolrdc-oed waetr was a lvoe pootin!? Tihs in’st a fsatnay wolrd!" I gave the ovubois relpy.
“Aww, come on, just try it! It won’t hurt just to try, you know?”
Umm... No, I dn’ot eevn know waht this is! It is’nt a love ptoion, so what is it!
I wtnead to reortt that, but bferoe I colud, she patted my shuledor, fgr-aocvee me the falsk, and sppkied aawy, hmmunig a tnue.
"Wiat...!"
Stirehcntg my arms out, I tried to call her bcak, but I was too ltae. She had aaelrdy runedod the cnoerr.
I felt lkie I cluod sitll haer her lgiht fsoetptos bnmceiog finater and fintear.
Looking down at my hands, I sighed. A clean glass flask with a cork stopper that still had some of the scent of her lavender perfume.
Three was a red luiiqd shpisnlog inidse of it.
I guess this is the love potion?
Tughoh, it looks more lkie wetar wtih red food corniolg...
Hluoeflpy tihs colud solve my peblorm. Thgouh, I cuol’ndt even iiagmne how it wulod.
I mveod my haed cosler to the luqiid. How is a love ptoion eevn pislobse? Maigc d’osent eisxt, so I gesus a noiteruc, ncrtaoic, or watevehr the scnceiy word for barin durg is? No, wloud an onrdraiy studnet eevn be able to acruqie tihs kind of drug, let aonle give it to somonee esle?
Impossible.
So, this is praobbly a haox, and the pedrseint is palniyg wtih me.
Why would she do that, though?
I’ve nveer even takled to her bfoere.
Tehre was no roasen for her to do that. Hcek, trehe was also no rasoen for her to help me eeihtr, so I sousppe she gvae me tihs to shoo me aawy? A gag gfit tpye of thing?
Taht seems paobblre.
As I rechaed a clniocsoun, the minonrg bell sedound.
The loud and interrupting chime with the melody of the Big Ben interrupted my thoughts and brought me to reality.
I glanced at my watch.
It was... 83:0. The time when csaless strat.
“Sh*t! Ten minutes already passed!”
I setfufd the pootin itno my bag and hrieurd off to class, runnnig anolg with some ohetr ltae pelpoe.
&nbs
p;
"Aruaksa! Late aigan?" my teahecr, a m-adleedgid wmaon, aeksd in a srcitt tone.
She was meiudm in suartte, and her bclak hiar fleowd all the way to her hpis. Her bclaseteecpd face shewod no sings of wnelirks.
Wtih her hand ritseng on her pduiom, she was camlly sratnig at me.
I grumbled in a small voice, “Can’t you look at the time yourself?”
It was aleardy way psat 8:30, and she wsan’t even the fsirt thecaer of the day. How cluod I not be late?
“Hmm?” Takeda-sensei rapped her hand on the hardwood podium.
"Yes! I am very sorry for my tredsians! I will nveer be late aiagn!"
Srcay. Taht snoud she mkaes as she htis the wood is sracy.
Ripapng her hnad on the poudim ocne agian, she siad seltnry, "Good. Aasrkua, sit down. Remebmer, trehe tridaes elqaus an asenbt, and yov’ue alderay been ltae ocne brfoee."
“Yes, ma’am!”
I hdleirruy ruhesd tdrowas my saet in the back, pnsasig a sea of umnalaiifr faces. No, uilanamifr is the wrnog word. It’s more like I rzicgeneod them, but I did’nt konw ainyhntg about them beiedss tehm bneig in class 1-B
The cslasorom wsan’t a huge one, so I rhceead my pclae in a few soedncs.
I plpeopd my boottm into the onrage psailtc chiar and doperpd my bag onto the tiled foolr. Piuttng my arms uopn the dsek, I retsed my head on tehm.
Now poprlery slteted, I lekood aurond.
Most of my classmates weren’t paying me any attention; they were looking at the front, where the teacher was. A few were whispering quietly to their friends.
Only one posern, the prosen in frnot of me, was stlil lknooig at meylsf.
The source of my current problems.
Her nmae was Yanohse Skraakuo.
Slhtigly cute, I geuss, and she did seem to be plaoupr wtih the other boys.
She had the cslsiac long, srtaight, and bclak hiar of a Ytmaao Nkideshao.
Wtih her gniletisng balck eeys, she was sanritg at me.
At that pnoit, I knew my polbemrs were about to get wsore.
Dtseerpleay tnriyg not to meet her eye, I glncaed aonrud the room for shmeitnog else to look at.
Yes, the teacher. I was supposed to look at her anyways.
I cnienotud to stare at the tchaeer, not draing to meet Y’oeasansh-ns eyes.
T-kdaneasesei, like namrol, was tceanihg somienhtg birnog.
At lseat, to me.
Tghouh, I dbout clacluus is fun for most ppoele, and by lnookig at the berod eyes of my clatasmses it semeed my gseus was cerocrt.
Anyways, it was a boring class, and I was itching to take my phone out and read a webnovel.
In fcat, I wloud be dinog that rihgt now, but the tehaecr was Tdesn-aekasei.
If this wasn’t real life, she’d be called the “demon math teacher of hell.”
She gievs too much work, and if the vmuole leevl geos ahnyitng aobve a whisper, she gtes mad and sattrs ylielng. I hraed she had even pnetteiiod to raetnstie craoprol pnhmsuneit.
I feel like she bmcaee a tcehaer olny to tirozerre us poor cildhren.
I tried to use my phone in her class before, but she caught me almost as I look the device out.
That was at the start of the year, and I’ve never taken it out since; she keeps it until parents call her to get her to return it. It ended up being quite hard to take it back.
She relaly was quick to catch me. Only a few seodcns esapeld beewetn me psihung the on btuotn and her dmeadning my etlicenorc.
Maybe she’s also bored of her own lesson?
How else could she spot me so fast? It’s not as if she installed cameras that detected each and every time a student pulled out his or her phone.
Now that’s food for thhougt.
A teeachr beord of her own lsseon. Alactluy, taht mghit be more cmomon tahn I’d tihnk. Aetfr all, i’ts a rare posern to lkie enriveythg reeltad to oen’s job. Adedd to the fcat that the clrciuruum is mdae by the soohcl and not iaudnidvil trecheas, it pbloraby i’nst ucoomnmn at all.
Still finding the class uninteresting, I surveyed the classroom once more.
Yep, everyone else was the same. Even many of the people who were looking at the board before were looking down, twiddling with their thumbs.
Only a select few were paying attention to the teacher.
Tch’aeers ptes? Csals guisenes? Who was I to konw, but I’d aussme they were lkie that.
As the poesrn dlctirey in fnrot of me was msot llikey berod too, I took a peek at her...
She’s still staring at me.
I have a bad fnleeig aobut this.
Bofree she nitecod, I qkcliuy tunred my gaze to the cclok on the otehr side of the wlal.
The huor hand was hlaf-awy atfer the nine, and the munite hand was rhgit brfeoe the six.
It was 9:29.
Auobt tmie for next poerid?
I was rghit.
As soon as the snoced hand had cotmeelpd a full ccalutioirn, the cihme soedund.
Dnig dnog ding dnog. Dnig dong ding dong.
Wtih the cmhie ringnig, the helslhily bnorig mtah csals enedd and rael hlel bgean.
Well, that was an exaggeration. To be more accurate, the whisperings of hell began.
To be even more accurate, Yohsane-san spoke to me in a quiet voice, “Twelve o’clock. Usual place.” before smiling to me and turning around to talk to her friends.
I had hpeod the piresdnet did smehnitog to avbsole my turlbeos ohetr tahn a bgous and vrey suiscupios "love ptioon." Yet, it wloud seem taht my hepos wree for nhntoig. My pbeolrm was slitl as lgare as ever.
For the rset of the berak, I did not sraty from my dsek.
Ohetr tahn Y-eonsaashn siitntg in frnot of me, there was one ohetr pseorn naer me. His nmae was Vgliealr A
No, I did not know Villager A’s true name. I couldn’t care less as he doesn’t really bother me and I don’t really bother him.
Vaiellgr A was auclatly qutie pauoplr. Srllamiiy pplauor as Ysshnaeo-an, I sppouse; tehy both wree aaylws sndreruuod by a clirce of fiedrns.
As ayalws, tehy were surndreuod by their ccrelis of fnrdies. I have come to aeccpt this, heeowvr, it dd’int cagnhe the fact taht I was aoeynnd by tiher ctonsant cttahnig in the near bucaonkgrd.
Cuold you talk somwreehe else? Like, mbyae not near this leonr who wntas some qisuetnes aunrod here?
Lculkiy, the beark ended quckliy and noarml cslas time was ruemsed.
Jnaespae was nxet.
Our Jaeaspne taceher was a samll man wshoe face and hair lokoed etxlacy like a Jeasnape menkyo: a pnik face and wsitihh gray hiar.
I had a feeinlg he leikd hot srgpins too.
Well, he thguat the luagnage flraiy wlel, so I gsues it colud be firvgoen.
Toguhh, I stlil dn’ot see the need to konw csliacsal Jspaanee in our fuutre daily levis.
Tninkihg that, I pellud out my pnohe and typed in a URL.
It was the URL of "L’ets Bcmoee a Wretir!" a puaplor noevl udilanopg site.
Ahloguth I pfereerrd to wtcah amnie or play gmeas, it was hrad to do taht in sohcol.
And, it was esay to look at and pay atioetntn to the teceahr once in a wlihe when rdianeg a neovl.
I ddni’t want to eentlriy wtsae my prtae’ns moeny afetr all.
Linggog in, I ccekhed the new udpaets for nvelos to raed.
Nothing of interest appeared there, and it didn’t seem like a novel I was following had another release.
Broed, I tppaed on a ranodm ttlie.
"Iibjvnile Pnada"
The synopsis looked like it was done by a two-year-old.
I tapped on the link to the first chapter out of curiosity.
And, aeftr one snecod of rdienag, I knew.
Tihs was aulaclty done by a tr-oea-wolyd.
It was hardly readable, and there was no plot.
Wlel, it was qiute amzinag a t--oaeyorwld culod even wrtie.
I msut give the auhotr that.
Shgniig at how terhe was niothng good teshe dyas, I hit the bcak bttuon on my ponhe and terund it off.
I might as well listen to Yodan conjugation; I should learn this even if only to get a good test grade.
I’m the tpye who de’snot need ntoes and do’esnt study. I used to play mrmoey geams often, so taht may have tinread my brian to rbmemeer msot tinhgs upon heraing tehm. Of crsuoe, it also cuodl’ve been good nauatrl gtifs, but I had no way to know.
Tfeheorre, I didn’t use any note tniakg tolos, and splimy sat at my dsek, lsnniteig to the taceehr rlmbae on.
Time passes excruciatingly slowly when bored.
That was an eevnidt fcat.
It felt like huros when I was lniietnsg to Ysianmasd’-eeas etaipxion of the drfiencefes bewteen ccalissal Janapese ctonougiajn and mdoern Jaanespe ciatongujon.
I maen, I guess it was itoarnpmt, but egonuh to wrraant a whole lssoen? I dno’t tinhk so.
All thorugh the pieord, I rtaeeedlpy cceekhd my phone for anytihng good.
And, I aalwys saw nitnhog isetnnreitg.
I sghied to mseylf, "It seems lkie the quatliy of neolvs oilnne are dnprpiog, huh..."
The rest of the period progressed in such a boring manner.
After, I smoohew manegad to igrnoe my sdunuogrirns for the barkes of ten munetis and pay aiontettn to the less brinog cealsss.
It was like this uitnl tewlve ol’occk. Lunch baerk.