Nakahara Sensei

"Izumi," whispered Aoi softly.

Aoi patted her cheek lightly, and her eyes quivered slowly, opening them.

Her jet-black eyes revealed like they contained myriads of stars amidst the vast, black space.

It was mesmerizing, but Aoi missed it.

Izumi was leaning her head to his shoulder after all, and Aoi was becoming impatient – restraining it to appear calm and collected – knowing the pre-try-out training of the football club of their high school would begin at any minute.

He needed to be there before it started and play to prove he could be their player this year.

Izumi, sensing Aoi's impatience, pulled her head away from him, and stared at Aoi in curiosity.

Aoi glanced at her eyes, dazed for seconds, and then realized he had to leave now.

He said, "I need to leave and attend the pre-try-out training of the football club."

Izumi's eyes widened and asked, "You want to be an athlete?"

Aoi was embarrassed and nodded.

"Yeah, I wanted to, badly."

Izumi nodded, still having many questions on her head, but appearing that Aoi was getting impatient, she replied, "Alright. But, can I watch it?"

Aoi asked with furrowed eyebrows, "Didn't we have a lesson?"

"Well, there should be. But it's the last lesson. Since the teacher hasn't appeared for thirty minutes, he might not attend now."

Izumi tilted her head.

"Have you forgotten?"

Aoi refused to answer, turned his head away from her, and stood up.

The system's voice echoed inside his head, adding points to the Ego Points, but he ignored it.

He grabbed Izumi's wrist – a bit gentler – and tugged her.

"Let's go now."

Izumi stood up.

She saw Aoi getting impatient as seconds passed by, so she touched Aoi's hand on her wrist with her other hand and said, "You should go there first. I don't want you to be late because of me. I'll be there later. I'll bring my friends with me."

Aoi stared at her for a while and nodded.

Aoi was about to run when Izumi suddenly said, "Ah! Bring my hair tie with you. Your hair is too long. It might distract you later once you play the game."

Aoi turned his head, glanced at Izumi's pink hair tie, and was about to refuse.

However, he recalled his long hair and thought it was indeed long – sufficient to reach his shoulder back.

His hair was not that long before he returned to the past, so it would really distract him later once he played.

Hence, he accepted it, sniffed into it for a while, smelling the addictive scent of Izumi's hair, and pushed it to his wrist.

He stared at Izumi's flushed face and smiled.

"I gotta go now."

Before Izumi could even react, he vanished.

***

Aoi was running down the hallway as he was currently on the second floor.

When he descended the stairs, arriving on the ground floor, he saw the vast field through the window.

Aoi saw the football club players gathering beside the football field, with a middle-aged man at the center.

Aoi was taken aback, remembering him.

"Nakahara Sensei."

Nakahara was the physical education teacher of Aoi's class, a terror for the students who dislike exercising.

Nakahara was always harsh to students who liked to neglect their bodies, not even trying to be physically fit.

He always says that the students should be grateful that they have a complete body and must make use of it – make it more beautiful instead of wasting Kami's effort to create a perfect body.

Instead of trying to be physically fit – bringing out the potential of a human body – students liked to spend their day lying in bed, scrolling on phones, ending with their bodies deteriorating, and gaining unnecessary fats.

Their body should not be wasted because of their poor habits.

As a result, Aoi, who loved to isolate his body in his room the whole day, playing games to stay up late at night, disliked exercising very much, and eating junk foods, had his sensei, Nakahara, as his arch nemesis.

Until now, he trembled when he saw Nakahara, as his memories flashback to when he suffered from him.

Push up, pull up… all those memories popped up like a trauma to him.

He was momentarily stunned, before pushing his body to run and meet him.

In the future, he will be interacting with him more, so he must treat his PTSD as much as possible.

He knew what would happen if he suddenly stated his intention to Nakahara later.

"Fuckening…" He cursed under his breath as he accelerated even more.

***

At the same time, Oka and Kaga were among the students who encircled Nakahara.

There was distance between them, even though they used to talk a lot.

Most of the time, Kaga would be asking about Izumi through Oka, since the latter has more interaction with Izumi aside from Aoi.

Oka would entertain him, but inwardly, he was laughing.

Now that Kaga was putting distance between them, Oka had an idea or two.

He grinned.

"Oka! Are you listening?" Nakahara shouted.

Nakahara was incensed, evident by the veins bulging on his forehead.

It took some effort for the pre-try-out training to commence early, even asking the other teachers to excuse the students who applied for the football club.

He did not bother announcing it either, or all students would lie just to leave early from school.

Thankfully, the other teacher respected his decision. The classes were still two weeks old in the academic year anyway, so they did not bother putting him in a difficult position.

Furthermore, the football club was promising, almost making it to the National High School Football Tournament.

Since teacher Nakahara was apparently putting in some effort this year, they gladly accepted his proposal.

As a result, Nakahara was a hundred times more serious than before, scolding even the promising playmaker of the club, Oka.

Oka was embarrassed, scratching his cheeks, and nodded.

"I'm sorry, Sensei!"

Nakahara nodded and continued speaking.

"Last year, we failed. But this year, we will play in the national!"

Oka, Kaga, and the rest erupted with cheers.

Their heart boiled at the thought of attending the national as a player…

Not just watching and cheering with the crowd…