Chapter twenty. Autumn, nature and a lot of joint trials

"The school informs you that your child is taking part in a special outdoor event from November 25 to November 28. Absence is allowed only for medical reasons. In case of absence without a valid reason, the school management will be forced to take the most severe measures of influence, up to and including expulsion."

The tone of the letter sent to the parents was very harsh, so even those parents who were not particularly enthusiastic about their child's trip to nature in late autumn had little choice. Earning an exception three months before graduation was very short-sighted. Those of the parents who were able to make inquiries were informed that the children were already one step away from being excluded due to "unethical behavior." To what extent this corresponded to the truth, none of the parents wanted to find out.

***

— Mizuri-san, you are already quite an experienced mentor, even if you came to our school so long ago.— Lanti-san could not afford to let someone else have this conversation since he was the initiator of the fact that Mizuri-san would have a very difficult three days in the coming week, — Therefore It is absolutely impossible to let someone else accompany your class. Perhaps we should have had a serious talk about your class and its troubled students a little earlier.

What Lanti-san meant was that although Mizuri-san is a fairly young teacher, she must be called experienced. And that the problem of bullying could not be allowed to take its course, even if one of the violators was his nephew.

—And I apologize," Lanti—san bowed briefly, "for not paying enough attention to this problem.

"I also apologize," Mizuri—san bowed even lower, "And I hope that this way, the problem will be solved."

The ritual phrases allowing both to save face were said. Mizuri-san sacrificed herself for this trip, but in return, the problems in her class and her failure to take action against bullying will not be discussed.

***

— We repeat it as in training on the bus. We pulled the tents out of the bag. Laid with the dark side down — this is the floor. We have assembled the rod; its parts are on a string, and they should not be lost. What?! Have you lost a piece of rod? I broke the string last time… Well, look in the bag, as soon as you collect the rod, call. For everyone! Put the rod through the eyelets and put it on the hooks at the ends of the rod. Motoyama-san, the rods are criss-crossed, not on the sides. Manomoto-san stepped down from the middle of the tent. Otherwise, you won't be able to secure the rod. Yes, yes, Mizuri-san, I'm already betting. Kenta—sensei's calm and balanced voice flew over the relatively organized crowd of lost schoolchildren, hurrying, calming, and correcting mistakes.

For class 3-2 and its homeroom teacher, a trip to nature in late autumn turned into a real nightmare, which everyone remembered with horror and pain for a long time.

The bus that left the city early in the morning did not travel that long, but it passed the traces of the last large village already at the first hour, and they stopped when two had already passed. Everyone got off the bus and pulled out both their belongings and the requested inventory provided by the school, or rather, by the director himself. After that, the bus left, and in front of Kenta-sensei, there was a dissatisfied but silent crowd of students who cast unhappy glances at him, then at Hideki, then at the class teacher, who did not look confident in herself and shivered a little from the wind.

— Do you know why you're here? — Kenta Sensei did not bother to explain but decided to put the question straight away.

The students of this rather gloomy-looking class, with its equally gloomy headmistress, all in winter school sports uniforms and light jackets, looked unfriendly at Kenta-sensei. To no one's surprise, all these glances were up to the belt buckle or a little higher.

"Because no one warned Ame—san?" Finally, someone from the back row braved the teacher's gaze.

"That doesn't answer the question of why," replied an even more gloomy Kenta-sensei. "I don't need a reason; I need a purpose. And this goal is your unity!

"Well, or to make you completely fucked up." Kenta-sensei thought to himself.

— It's a pity that the director did not give more time — the students and Mizuri-sensei blessed such a kind director with this phrase. — But this means that in three days, everyone needs to rally even more. And I'm making the most of these days for your benefit.

It cannot be said that the students did not rally. Their solidarity in hating Kenta-sensei as the main tormentor and Anpan-kun as the main cause of torment has grown to simply unimaginable proportions. However, even on the first day, they understood very well that showing real feelings is a very bad idea. And the fact that Hideki was running and suffering like all of them did not help his classmates calm down at all. However, soon, they were not up to it, but everything led only to a temporary freeze of the negative, which was clamped and ready to spill out later. Perhaps if Kenta-sensei had more time, or if he was a homeroom teacher monitoring the mood in the classroom, or if the students were older and more sane, he would have been able to reason with them. But so far, all he has achieved is that Hideki and Kyoko's classmates have learned to hide their feelings better. They stopped the boycott, at least outwardly; no one really wanted to communicate with Kyoko and Hideki, and Hideki and Kyoko themselves did not particularly want to communicate with anyone.

The class has learned a lot and felt a lot during these miserable three days. How wonderfully motivating it is after hiking for hours in the forest in the morning to know that "another five kilometers" and we will come to the camp where we can relax. How to put up a tent in the rain, and how good it is to be inside when it is already set up. It may not be very warm inside, but although there is no wind and no rain. How hard it is to drag kerosene heaters and a supply of kerosene in sealed container bags through the forest, how hard it is to open them without a knife to get fuel. How can you go from tent to tent in search of matches or lighters, and what happiness is it when what you are looking for is found, which means that you will have warmth in your tent? The students re-appreciated many of the amenities that they had previously taken for granted. Still, the main lesson that Kenta-sensei tried to hammer into their heads was never learned.

The outward signs of the boycott had disappeared, but the atmosphere in the classroom was still very unhealthy.

So a month flew by, Christmas and New Year passed, which Hideki and Kyoko spent together, as well as went to the temple together for the new year… And the end of the year was already looming, graduation and the end of their vegetating in this school. But suddenly, Kyoko and Hideki almost unanimously chose the committee responsible for preparing for the holiday after the end-of-the-year ceremony. And if Hideki saw this as just another opportunity for their class to mock them one last time, then Kyoko found it all much more dangerous. If not deadly, then somewhere very close. And since Hideki did not share her concerns, she decided to check everything herself.

And now Kyoko was going to beat the answers out of the one who first proposed their candidacies to the committee, which means she couldn't know about it.

It was a no-brainer to make head girl Yamagawa stay at school until dark since Kenta-sensei made it a custom from time to time to communicate with her and Hideki to see if everything was all right. All he had to do was casually complain to Kenta-sensei that he and Hideki had been forcibly shoved into the holiday committee. The headman had also imposed additional duties on them on this occasion. Then, come to a "conversation" with the homeroom teacher Mizuri-sensei. To calm the tense Hideki. To go home with Hideki and go back to school alone. And to talk.