November 29th
Weather: Clear
Recorder: Suzumoto
Well then.
During lunch break, I encountered Mr. Hibiki, the advisor of the chemistry club. It was just a brief encounter in the hallway, but he gave me some unwelcome news.
In short, the message was this:
“I’m not going to be at the club today, so please take care.”
“Huh? What do you mean you’re not going to be here?”
“It can’t be helped.”
When I reported this to the club, I got a tongue click from Hagasaki-kun. Stop that. It’s not my fault.
…Hagasaki-kun. He’s one of the club members. He’s also in the same class as me.
To describe him briefly, he’s a “difficult prodigy.”
It’s needless to say he’s good at studying, but he generally comes across as difficult.
Even when he’s not in a bad mood, he looks like he is. It’s like only anger from his emotions shows on his face, making him look perpetually irritated. He smiles and gets happy like a normal person, though. Hagaski-kun.
…Well, as I watched his disappointment and dejection perfectly morph into irritation, I started on my math homework. If I were alone, I’d be doing homework, but with two people, we chat. When three of us gather, we play Daifugo or Uno. That’s us.
“So, we can’t do anything today.”
Hagasaki-kun, knowing the situation, sat across from me, ready to chat.
…Technically, it’s not like we can’t do anything. Even if the teacher isn’t here, we can still proceed with experiments.
But right now, we’re stuck on an experiment. Today’s plan was to discuss with the teacher to find a solution.
“…So? Why isn’t the teacher here?”
“The reason is what was mentioned this morning.”
“…Huh?”
Good grief. Of course.
Hagasaki-kun probably either didn’t listen to the morning announcement or forgot about it, thinking it didn’t concern him. So, I had to tell him the not-so-great news.
“There’s a pervert around.”
The homeroom teacher had said in the morning homeroom to be careful of a pervert. It’s a common warning, but something you rarely encounter in daily life.
Basically, it meant exactly that. “Be careful of a pervert.” Someone suspicious has been lurking around the school, so be cautious.
…And, “especially girls should go home early and in groups.”
Apparently, several girls had already been molested. Their reports revealed the existence of this pervert.
“Oh, yeah, they said that.”
“And Mr. Hibiki has been assigned to patrol the route to the station.”
“Ah.”
Hagasaki-kun looked extremely indifferent, as if the teacher’s disappearance was a bigger issue than the molestation incidents, and I agreed with him.
“Honestly, using the teacher for something like this is just stupid.”
“What’s important is not solving the issue but showing that measures are being taken. In this day and age, doing nothing could lead to complaints.”
Our school’s parents aren’t the type to make unreasonable complaints. However, some nearby residents are the kind who live for making such complaints.
“Oh, I see. But I still think it’s questionable.”
“I agree.”
In any case, in these times, it’s best to navigate without attracting complaints.
That being said, I do feel it’s regrettable that our important advisor is being pulled away.
So, we busied ourselves with planning future experiments, mass-producing metal plate fragments for the experiments, and eventually, out of boredom, starting a game of cards. Then the door opened.
The door was opened without any hesitation or thought, and the one who peeked in was Kadomi-kun.
…There isn’t much to say about Kadomi-kun. He only started talking around the end of summer.
I used to keep my distance, feeling a sort of barrier between us due to his muscular arms and legs, which seemed out of place for a cultural club member. But mainly, it’s because he’s silent. Kadomi-kun doesn’t talk much.
Recently, I discovered that he doesn’t dislike talking. He’s a bit shy, but more than that, he struggled to join our fast-paced conversations. Once he started talking, he seemed to get the hang of it and has gradually begun to speak more often.
Through these conversations, I’ve also realized that he’s quite, well, ‘innocent.’ He has a strangely sheltered, untainted quality about him, and his reactions are sometimes startlingly pure.
Kadomi-kun glanced around the laboratory before coming in, looking troubled.
“The teacher isn’t here… do you know where he is?”
“Oh, Kadomi-kun. Mr. Hibiki isn’t here today. He’s gone.”
“He disappears all the time.”
Incidentally, Mr. Hibiki, the chemistry club advisor, frequently vanishes. Even when we want to ask him something, he’s often gone before we know it. We struggle to find him each time.
“Ah, let me correct that. He’s not just gone; he’s been mobilized.”
“Eh…? Forced labor…?”
“Why would you think that?”
We explained the situation about the “beware of the pervert” warning and how Mr. Hibiki was mobilized to patrol the area, trying to stop Kadomi-kun’s imagination from running wild.
“Ah… because the teacher is young…”
“Well, he is a young male teacher, so he’s probably called upon for things like this.”
“Even though he’s already in his thirties.”
“Compared to a teacher nearing retirement, he’s still young.”
Mr. Hibiki is a giant over 180cm tall. And since he enjoys gourmet food, he is definitely not ‘slim.’ Recently, he has been gradually expanding sideways.
It’s probably his youth that helps him maintain this state, but as he ages and his metabolism slows, he’ll undoubtedly spread out even more.
…So, just describing his appearance, he’s perfect for patrolling the school route to deter perverts. No pervert would want to face him head-on.
Given that there are only a limited number of young male teachers with a certain level of intimidation and actual physical ability, it’s inevitable that Mr. Hibiki would be mobilized.
After some more chatting, the seniors showed up and left immediately after hearing that the teacher wasn’t there. They’re quite decisive.
We considered leaving too, but continued chatting.
“…It would be nice if the pervert disappeared.”
Eventually, Kadomi-kun muttered softly.
Being the innocent one in the club, he probably said this quite sincerely.
“From the world? That’s impossible.”
“Well… uh, at least from our school route… The rest doesn’t concern us…”
Let me correct that. Kadomi-kun also focuses only on the immediate and personal issues. Typical of a chemistry club member.
“…Hey, um…”
Kadomi-kun’s gaze turned towards the open door.
“Hey, hey, do you know where the teacher is? He wasn’t in the staff room, the computer room, the chemistry lab, the sunny spots in the courtyard, or by the heater in the corridor.”
“Is the teacher a cat or something to you? Are you stupid?”
“Hagasaki, was there any need to add ‘Are you stupid?’ at the end? Is your ‘Are you stupid?’ like the rabbit’s ‘kinda’ or the penguin’s ‘y’know’ in Animal Crossing?”
The person who entered was our club member, Maito.
Maito. The first thing to mention about this person would be their gender.
She’s a girl. The only female member in the chemistry club among our peers. Well, recently, she became the ‘only’ one.
So, for that reason, we are somewhat unsure of how to gauge the distance between us and her.
But lately, we’ve realized that it’s best to interact with her without overthinking. Maito herself seems to feel bad about being overly cared for, and we aren’t naturally good at being considerate either.
Therefore, we don’t think too much about it and approach her based on common interests rather than ‘male’ or ‘female’—more like ‘not even human.’ She does have a peculiar, almost alien quality, so it’s not entirely inaccurate. Probably, she was a Tsuchinoko in her past life.
When Maito entered the lab, Kadomi-kun looked troubled and muttered, “Um… you know, Maito…”
Let me correct myself. Kadomi-kun is an innocent and considerate friend.
“I can’t imagine her being harassed by a pervert.”
Hagasaki, neither innocent nor considerate, said this out loud even with Maito sitting next to him. In a sense, he is considerate of Maito. Maito tends to feel bad about being overly cared for.
“Huh? What are you talking about?”
When we explained the situation to Maito, who was out of the loop, she nodded and declared,
“I see. Indeed, I can’t imagine myself being harassed.”
Kadomi-kun looked conflicted, and Hagasaki nodded with a sullen expression.
“With the teachers patrolling so much these days, how could a pervert even commit such acts? No way.”
Indeed, she had a point.
It was a completely correct answer, ignoring both Kadomi-kun’s worries and Hagasaki’s intentions.
Generally, it is said that perverts are wary of being seen by others. Well, I can’t say for sure since I’ve never heard an actual pervert’s story or seen one myself.
Anyway, as long as the teachers are patrolling, even if a pervert were to appear, they would probably pass by without doing anything.
Perhaps some might evade the teachers’ eyes, but that’s a highly unlikely event. Worrying about that would be like worrying about getting hit by a falling flowerpot.
“By the way, do perverts appear that often? Even if there are many incidents, they don’t happen every day, do they?”
“Exactly.”
And I don’t think perverts appear every day. If an incident happens, they would probably wait at least a day before reappearing to avoid getting caught quickly.
Perverts aren’t stupid, and we can likely go home without worrying about perverts today.
“That said, I’m heading home. Without the teacher, I can’t get the delivered chemicals…”
“…I’ll go home too.”
Maito, apparently giving up on the club activities, grabbed her bag and stood up, followed by Kadomi-kun. He probably wanted to go home quickly rather than being worried about Maito. It was revealed in our previous chat that Kadomi-kun is very into a recently bought shooting game.
“Then I’ll go home too. It should be fine to skip today, right?”
“Sure… I guess I’ll go home too.”
In the end, we all went home without doing any proper experiments that day.
And then, on the next activity day.
“Everyone, listen.”
Right after entering the lab after school, I said,
“Today, Mr. Hibiki is also not here.”
“Oh, another pervert today? Give me a break.”
“Don’t tell me. Apparently, it’s an emergency staff meeting.”
It seems that despite the teachers’ patrols, another pervert has appeared.
And because another student fell victim, they had no choice but to hold a staff meeting.
“That pervert’s got some nerve. Don’t you think they’re almost respectable, guys?”
“Well… respect… hmm… in a way…?”
Maito’s words might have a point. It is almost refreshing. Despite multiple teachers patrolling, there was still an incident.
“By the way, where did this happen? Outside the school route?”
“No, probably on the school route… I heard some girls in my class talking about it.”
“Really?”
Kadomi-kun dropped some startling information.
“On the school route… um, you know, where we cross the river. Around there, I think…”
So it was on the school route. That’s impressive. Were the teachers’ patrols just sloppy? Or is the pervert as skilled in sneaking missions as a legendary mercenary?
“How long will this problem continue?”
Maito’s expression clouded as she rested her cheek on the desk.
“If this keeps up, with the teacher always gone, we can’t have our club activities. It’s troubling if they don’t solve it soon.”
“That’s true.”
If the teacher is continuously dragged off for patrols and meetings, our club activities will be hindered. That’s a fact.
But catching the pervert doesn’t seem very realistic either…
“…This problem won’t solve itself if we just leave it.”
Hagasaki-kun suddenly said.
“Uh, um, what do you mean by that?”
“Can’t you figure it out by just thinking normally?”
Hagasaki-kun sighed and looked around reluctantly.
“…The teachers can’t solve it. Or rather, they shouldn’t solve it.”
“…Huh? Um, what do you mean?”
“So, if we want to solve it, we should do something about it ourselves, right?”