CHAPTER 10 - Juvenile January (3)

[BOYS' INTEREST]

After changing from gym clothes, Kayano left the restroom with some of the girls. They were on their way to the classroom when she recalled that moment when Okajima attempted to take a peek at them before. To avoid that, they took turns keeping watch outside the restroom while the rest changed inside every P.E. class.

"Why are the boys all about pervy stuff?" she whined.

"I agree with you, kid," Irina chipped in alongside them. She was also heading to the room to teach the next class. "But for some reason, that straight-laced Karasuma was not at all affected by my advances. I'm starting to think that maybe women are not his type."

With a knowing look, Nakamura placed both hands on her hips. "Unlike some guys, there are those who are not expressive about their interests and desires unlike some," she said.

"Yeah. Generally, all boys are actually erotic," Okano seconded as a matter-of-fact with a disapproving look.

"That's not true," Hayami said. "I know that Chiba is not like that."

All pairs of eyes were fixed on her.

The blonde prankster arched her eyebrow as a grin crossed her face. "You don't need to defend your boyfriend, Rinka."

"He's not my boyfriend," Hayami corrected to which Nakamura snickered with her hand over her mouth.

Then Okano interjected, "How are you so sure about that?"

Nonplussed by Okano's biting remarks, Hayami stated, "Throughout the time that we're together, I've never seen him take an interest in that stuff."

The brown hair was not convinced. She was about to object when Kayano beat her to the punch. "Well, you are always with him so you would know him better," the green-haired said.

Nakamura tutted with a beam while wagging her finger. "Not necessarily. He might be thinking about it without you knowing it."

Having enough of their debate, Irina flicked her hand with the other arm across her chest. "Listen, girls. It is okay for boys to like perverted things. It is in their nature. It is part of puberty. What's condemning is whether they act decently about it or not," she reasoned nondescriptly.

Hayami mulled over what the two blondes have said. If that was the case, then, there could have been moments when Chiba had been thinking about those things. He was just prudent enough not to be like Okajima and a few others.

With her gaze over her shoulder, Kataoka slid the door open as she began to say, "For me, it's enough that the boys act accordingly like gentlemen." She faced the front before turning stiff when her eyes had lain upon the scene before her.

Huddling up in the middle of the room were the majority of the boys. Korosensei was at the center, holding an adult magazine while the others were poring over it with him. Standing behind them was Chiba with another magazine dangling in his hand; its cover was a girl in a bikini. Okajima and Maehara were beside him, struck frozen upon seeing the girls in the doorway.

Veins popping on her forehead, Kataoka put up her raging fist. "What the hell are you guys doing?!" she growled.

"So shameless," Okano grumbled as she cracked her knuckles, flames flickering in her background.

"Aha!" Nakamura spouted before rushing to Chiba's side, the magazine still in his grasp. Pointing at him, she turned to the orange-haired sniper. "Hayami, what were you saying earlier?" she taunted.

Chiba recoiled at the sight of Hayami merely gawking at him. Without a word and eyes dead ahead, she started walking towards her seat. His gaze followed her as she passed by him.

After that, the boys were battered with fists and kicks combined with a lengthy lecture from the female class rep. Some of the girls went after Korosensei, who luckily escaped at the speed of light.

***

/start of flashback/

While the girls were still changing in the restroom, Okajima whipped out an adult magazine and browsed over its pages with drool coming out of his mouth.

"Whoa. What a beauty!" Maehara exclaimed upon walking by Okajima's seat.

The semi-bald pervert cocked his head at him and said, "Right?"

As the two eyeballed the photos of women in alluring clothing, some of their male classmates joined in on the party until the magazine was snatched from Okajima.

"Bringing this type of reading material is forbidden in school," Korosensei told them off when his puny eyes zoomed in on an opened page and blurted out, "BOOBS!"

A minority of the boys with sane minds hopelessly watched them feast on the magazine with their own teacher as an accomplice.

With everyone clustered around Korosensei, the 'magazine' rather, Okajima was having difficulty taking a good look even though it belonged to him. And so, he sneaked out a second one from his blazer when someone elbowed his arm, causing him to drop it on the floor. He bent down to pick it up only for it to be accidentally kicked away by Maehara.

"Oops. Sorry, man," Maehara said with a rub on the back of his neck.

Chiba was playing shogi with Karma when something slid on the floor near them. "Wait a sec," he said to his opponent before standing up.

When he had picked it up from the floor, he was approached by Okajima, who said, "Thanks, Chiba."

Before the semi-bald pervert could take the magazine back, all heads flew to the door gliding open. The guilty boys' faces paled upon catching sight of the girls.

"Aha! Hayami, what were you saying earlier?"

Chiba glanced at the item in his clutch and was startled to find out what it was. He, then, turned his gaze to his sniping partner.

'Crap', he thought.

/end of flashback/

"So that's what happened," he finished before taking a look at her as they trekked down the mountain.

"I see," she said with a straight face. "But you don't need to explain yourself to me."

"I don't want you to misunderstand."

Although Chiba was innocent on the 'magazine incident', it did not mean that Hayami would once again believe that he was completely detached from any perverted thinking as the words of Nakamura and Irina emerged in her mind:

["He might be thinking about it, you know, without you knowing it."]

["It is okay for boys to like perverted things. It is in their nature. It is part of puberty."]

"Don't worry, I'm not mad. I understand that it is natural for boys to think about that stuff," she said.

He stiffened as he looped his head towards her. "I-Is that so?" he stuttered, which was a first as he was usually passive about almost everything.

Her eyes flicked towards him. "Isn't that the case?" she asked.

He cleared his throat and nodded. It caught him off-guard that she would be talking about that. He was not open to discussing such matters compared to certain people. Whenever Okajima had talked about his erotic interests, Chiba would either change the subject or shrug it off.

Sweat rolled down his forehead when she had smiled and said, "I won't hold it against you" since he did not know what to decipher from that when in fact she wasn't implying anything.