novelraw Chapter 746: Bento
Chapter 746: Bento
As the familiar class dismissal bell echoed through the school once again, the chime that relaxed the atmosphere of the entire teaching building pierced through the headphones Fisher was currently wearing, blurring the sound of the text being played inside,
"Inspired by the eponymous 1989 novel"
"If you have more than one girlfriend, you'll probably die."
Listening to the voices from the headphones, Fisher blinked, suddenly staring blankly at the textbook in his hands. Only then did he clearly see that the text above was simply a topic of students asking each other if they were dating.
And the recording on the cassette tape merely replicated this sentence; what he heard earlier was just an auditory hallucination...
Fisher's brow twitched. He unconsciously closed the English dictionary he had spent the entire morning memorizing. On the desk also lay Jasmine's previous English exam paper.
Written on it in red pen was: 69/100.
Hmm... it feels even worse than his, a beginner's.
He looked at the desk next to his. No one was sitting there, but a nameplate hung beside the desk,
"Externally Hired English Teacher, Helaire."It was all because of that woman. The stunt she pulled in the club activity room left Fisher with lingering trepidation even after returning.
Fortunately, after returning, Jasmine didn't seem to leave the classroom to find him, seemingly due to classes. However, correspondingly, Helaire, the culprit, hadn't returned to the office either. He didn't know where she went.
"..."
Just as Fisher narrowed his eyes at the ID photo of the angel-faced woman smiling brightly on the office nameplate, a touch of warm breath suddenly brushed against his earlobe, sending a tingling itch like an electric shock.
He hastily turned his head and suddenly saw that, at some unknown time, Jasmine, wearing her school uniform and clutching a small cloth bundle, was looking at him with immense curiosity.
"Jasmine?"
Fisher froze slightly, pulling back his body that was leaning slightly towards Helaire's desk next to him. Seeing Fisher's easily startled appearance, her expression couldn't help but become a bit suspicious.
But to Fisher's surprise, she didn't directly ask anything. Instead, she raised the small cloth bundle in her arms, puffed her cheeks, and said to Fisher,
"Mo... didn't I agree with Teacher Fisher earlier to eat bento together on the rooftop during lunch break... I waited up there for Teacher Fisher for a long time but didn't see you..."
"..."
Fisher glanced at the small box in her arms, roughly guessing it was something like lunch. As for otherworldly terminology, he wasn't very clear either.
He smiled apologetically and said to Jasmine,
"Sorry, Jasmine, I was preparing lessons just now and forgot..."
"I see..."
Jasmine looked understandingly at his English textbook on the desk. Without making much of a fuss, she reached out, grabbed Fisher's sleeve, and pulled him up, walking towards the outside of the office,
"But eating is very important. You can't just casually skip meals because of work, right, Teacher Fisher?"
Watching Jasmine lecture him on lifestyle habits like his own teacher, Fisher chuckled dumbly. Yielding to her pull, he stood up and followed her outside.
Currently, it was the lunch break right after class. Many students had opened food brought from home in the classrooms, or bought some drinks and snacks downstairs before sitting together with their companions, chatting while enjoying lunch.
Looking at those peers in groups, Fisher's mind suddenly recalled the words Asuka Karasawa had said back then.
She said she had very few friends at school.
Fisher, whose sleeve was being pulled by Jasmine, looked at her back. The youthful beauty paved by that long black hair made the images of Jasmine and the Asuka Karasawa of the past gradually overlap, casting that same sense of regret upon her as well.
"Jasmine... do you have any particularly close friends in class?"
Hearing Fisher's sudden inquiry from behind, Jasmine tapped her chin and said while walking,
"Of course I do. For example, Isabelle and Milika are my good friends... It's just that they are exchange students and went back to their school this semester. I don't even know when I'll be able to see them again..."
"..."
Could impressions that weren't swallowed by the contamination also appear in the dreamscape?
And manifested in such a rational manner...
While his understanding of how this dreamscape operated deepened, Jasmine had also led Fisher to the top floor. The stairs leading to the rooftop were blocked by a tightly locked iron door. Yet, Jasmine familiarly pulled a key from her pocket, unlocked the door, and opened the space leading to the rooftop.
Following another flight of stairs and pushing open an unlocked wooden door, the fenceless rooftop revealed itself.
Because there was no fence, the iron door below was locked.
People are always afraid of heights yet revere them, because standing high allows one to see far. And amidst the circulation of rising gases, the upper atmosphere is the first to refresh its weather. Thus, the air here was crisp, and the scenery was excellent.
Looking out from the height of the seventh floor, the post-rain atmosphere of a winter day enveloped the hazy, towering metropolis in the distance. However, no boiling human voices came from the direction of that metropolis; it merely brought Fisher a sense of silence, an overriding tranquility that didn't belong to civilization.
"Teacher Fisher, hurry up and come eat."
Turning his head back, Jasmine had already used the oversized cloth that wrapped the bento to spread out on the ground in a dry spot under the building's eaves near the stairs. It formed a rectangular space just like a picnic blanket. Then she opened the two lunch boxes wrapped inside and laid out the utensils on top.
As for herself, she had already taken off her shoes and sat duck-style on the cloth. Her two little feet in black socks were tucked beneath the curved contour of her skirt-covered hips, looking incredibly cute.
Jasmine first glanced at the lunch boxes, then her eyes lit up as she looked up at Fisher. Smiling, she picked up his portion and said in pleasant surprise,
"Mom cut fish balls today, they look so delicious."
"Fish balls, huh..."
Otherworldly food, don't understand.
Fisher blinked and sat down across from Jasmine. He watched her skillfully pick up the utensils made of two wooden sticks to grab the food in the lunch box. However, the utensils prepared for him only consisted of a spoon, taking into account the factor of him being a foreigner.
Fisher felt curious. Looking at the utensils in Jasmine's hand, he asked doubtfully,
"I've been wanting to ask earlier, what are these utensils called? They look very convenient."
"These are chopsticks... Does Teacher Fisher want to try? But when I taught Teacher Fisher how to use them before, it just wouldn't work no matter what..."
Jasmine still had rice chewing in her mouth, her cheeks slightly flushed and puffed out, making her look like a hamster hoarding two peanuts. Hearing Fisher ask this, she generously handed the chopsticks in her hand to him.
Fisher tentatively took the two wooden sticks from her hand. First, he held one in each hand, then replicated the steps Jasmine had just performed operating them simultaneously with her fingers. But unlike Jasmine's deft maneuvering, Fisher only felt as if two heavenly pillars were jammed between his fingers; no matter how he used them, they felt awkward.
"..."
He unsteadily supported the lunch box with one hand while struggling to grab the fish balls inside with the other. Who would have thought those fish balls were incredibly slippery; no matter how he grabbed, they slipped, impossible to pinch securely.
Just as Fisher was considering whether to switch to a simpler target to try, a slight mishap with his fingertips caused the gripped fish ball to suddenly launch out as if spring-loaded.
"Boing!"
Oh no...
Fisher froze slightly, instinctively reaching out to catch the flying fish ball. However, the Jasmine before him had already preemptively opened her mouth. Her body didn't move, but her neck tilted slightly, biting at mid-air like a kitten, and the fish ball landed flawlessly in her small mouth.
"Awoo!"
She even foolishly and subconsciously began to chew. Only when the aroma of the fish ball wafted out did she realize afterward and blush. She said somewhat embarrassedly,
"I... I was afraid of wasting it... I'll give mine to Teacher Fisher to eat..."
"It's fine... Besides, yours was completely eaten by you right after opening, where's my portion?"
"...I'm sorry, wu wu..."
Jasmine glanced at her bento, noticing the large fish ball that had vanished into her stomach at some unknown moment, and instantly became even more embarrassed. She could probably only blame that fish ball for acting wickedly on its own, crashing against her lips and teeth and trespassing into her belly without permission.
The fish ball is guilty of a capital offense!
Fisher didn't mind either. There were still two fish balls in his lunch box anyway. This actually dispelled his idea that he could master these otherworldly utensils right away.
By comparison, the language of this world was simpler. As long as he understood the logic and spent a morning memorizing the common vocabulary and grammar, using it wouldn't be a problem. With more practice, mastery was merely a matter of time.
Fisher somewhat helplessly returned the chopsticks to her. Seeing Fisher a bit discouraged, Jasmine thought for a moment and smiled comfortingly,
"This is indeed a bit difficult for foreigners. We only got used to it because we've used it since childhood. It's okay, Teacher Fisher... Our school has so many foreign teachers, and I heard only Teacher Helaire knows how to use them. Many more are not even accustomed to the food here..."
Listening to these seemingly unintentional comforting words, the radar in the battle-hardened Fisher's mind suddenly rang.
"Ding ding ding!"
Warning, murderous intent detected!
Just as Fisher was about to scoop up a fish ball with his spoon, the fish ball suddenly hovered in mid-air. Yet the Jasmine before him had already started moving her chopsticks, picking up a small clump of rice and putting it into her mouth. Then, as if suddenly remembering something, she looked at Fisher and said,
"Oh right, Teacher Fisher... this morning, the students in Class A said they saw you pulling Teacher Helaire away... Was there an urgent matter?"
Here it comes!
Fisher's expression remained as usual, but the words Helaire had said earlier resounded in his mind once again.
Even though Helaire's words shouldn't be fully believed—she had a long track record of deceiving people, and believing her usually meant falling into a trap—Fisher deeply agreed with the things she said solely regarding Jasmine and this dreamscape...
Why?
Because as Jasmine uttered this sentence, the post-rain sky that had just cleared of its dark clouds unexpectedly began to eerily gather dark clouds again. Flashes of lightning flickered within, yet no thunder was heard, profoundly filled with crisis just like the casually asked words from Jasmine at this moment.
But conversely, having a warning was better than none. Relying entirely on empiricism to judge a female's psychology inevitably led to pitfalls. Now that he had a natural sense, perhaps it would allow Fisher, a powerful newcomer, to respond more freely?
Hearing this, Fisher didn't answer and instead suddenly looked at Jasmine before him.
While not answering, he suddenly reached his hand out toward Jasmine's face.
Jasmine didn't dodge, only subconsciously trembling her shoulders, causing her face to slightly sway,
"Don't move."
"Eh?"
Jasmine blinked her large, watery eyes. In the next second, Fisher's finger gently made contact with the muscles by her lips, delicately plucking a clinging grain of rice like picking a flower.
"Did I get... rice on the corner of my mouth?"
"Ah..."
Seeing the rhythm of her questioning disrupted, Fisher instead smiled at her and asked,
"Is the matter regarding Teacher Helaire so important that you didn't even notice the rice stuck on your face?"
"N-no, it's not that... It's just because I heard what the classmates said, so I was a bit concerned..."
Jasmine lowered her head with a slightly flushed face, placing her bento on the ground as her fingers involuntarily pinched her skirt.
"Maybe it's my problem... every time I see Teacher Fisher bring up other women, I feel a lack of security... Classmate Renee was like that. If it were just Classmate Renee, it would be fine, but Teacher Helaire... she comes from the same country as Teacher Fisher, and she's so beautiful, generous, cheerful, lively, and kind. Because she's teaching, I worry that Teacher Fisher will forget about our past..."
Ah no... what exactly is Helaire's image in your heart?
Fisher's face darkened, but he roughly knew where this thought stemmed from.
Ten thousand years ago, Helaire gave the greenhorn Asuka Karasawa too huge of a shock, so it inevitably left a trend of change in her heart. Who could know that beneath that angel-like exterior and enthusiastic words lay a soul akin to a demon?
Fisher rubbed the bridge of his nose, couldn't help but sigh inwardly.
Even within her own sweet dream, Jasmine still carried a trace of lack of confidence. This was something that couldn't be remedied by any words, because she truly felt this way in the bottom of her heart. No matter how much comfort was given, it would be of no avail.
Fisher fell silent for a moment before suddenly reaching out his hand, gently pinching her baby-fat cheeks, squeezing her beautiful face into a pout, making her look like a little red octopus.
Using his spoon, Fisher scooped up another fish ball, placing it into her small mouth as if feeding her. Seeing her eyes widen, he drew the spoon out of her mouth and said to her,
"That's the last one. I'm keeping this one for myself."
Jasmine chewed and pouted simultaneously, stubbornly saying,
"Teacher Fisher clearly fed both of them to me himself... Mo... why did you suddenly change the subject? The matter regarding Teacher Helaire isn't even finished yet..."
Fisher smiled faintly but neither agreed nor disagreed. He merely chuckled, patted Jasmine's head, and said to her,
"If it's Jasmine, just being Jasmine is enough... The cheerful you right now is truly more beautiful than anyone else... Really, Jasmine."
Fisher gently reached out and traced the corner of her mouth. Previously, she consistently carried a melancholic timidness, and only in this current dreamscape did the corners of her mouth frequently curve into an arc.
But this bright, curving arc alone could perhaps already be considered stunningly beautiful.
Fisher couldn't resist bending down, wanting to place a kiss on her, but couldn't bear to let his kiss deform that arc. Especially since that fellow Helaire had just been in contact with him earlier; who knew if she had left behind some hidden trick similar to the "strawberry mark" from last time. Thinking about it carefully, he decided to pass,
"But Jasmine, I'm serious... from now on, both you and I must absolutely stay far away from Helaire, understand?"
"Eh? Although hearing you say that reassures me, but..."
"..."
However, right as Jasmine and Fisher were enjoying lunch on the rooftop, whispering sweet nothings, they failed to notice that behind the slightly ajar door nearby, in the quiet stairwell, a young woman also wearing a school uniform was carefully peeking at the two of them through the very narrow crack...
Looking closely, who else could the young girl with slightly pursed lips be but Renee?
Yet, compared to her manipulating and arrogant demeanor outside the dreamscape, right now, as she watched the intimacy between the two outside, the feeling of inadequacy surged in her heart once again.
Ah...
They're eating bento together...
She had actually heard from the students in Class B earlier that Teacher Fisher lived with Classmate Jasmine, so eating bento together should be very normal, right?
Wu, I really want to eat bento with Teacher Fisher...
What exactly does a fish ball fed personally by Teacher Fisher taste like?
Renee's throat moved slightly, and the saliva in her mouth involuntarily secreted more abundantly.
And in her arms, there had always been an extra portion of bento prepared, she simply never had the opportunity to share it with the person she had prepared it for.
Seeing Fisher and Jasmine outside the window frame making movements to get up, Renee, who was entirely enthralled and whose thoughts were pleasantly wandering, fantasizing about a lovey-dovey scene with Teacher Fisher on the rooftop herself, finally awoke as if from a dream. She hurriedly clutched her skirt, stood up, and fled downstairs like a defeated soldier.
Terrified of being discovered by the two behind her, our Renee, reduced to a loser by the dreamscape, fled pitifully downwards. Unexpectedly, upon dodging around a corner, she crashed head-on into a figure walking upwards.
"Thump!"
Ouch, this collision directly knocked the head-lowered, caught-off-guard Renee flat on the floor. The bento she held in her arms, prepared for Teacher Fisher, also hit the floor with a thud. Fortunately, it didn't scatter everywhere, only the lid popped open.
Revealed inside were red beans nestled in the rice, meticulously arranged forming a line of text,
"Teacher Fisher, LOVE!"
"Ugh, it hurts so much..."
Renee clutched her leg, sitting on the staircase. Yet out of the corner of her eye, she suddenly caught sight of the open lid beside her, and her face instantly turned beet red.
"W-who is it? Which blind bas..."
She frantically reached out to close the opened lid. Flustered and exasperated, just as she was about to fly into a rage out of shame and scold the person before her, entering her vision was a golden-haired beauty dressed in an OL outfit, wearing tights, who seemed to have just finished her lunch.
"T-Teacher Helaire?"
Students possess a natural fear towards teachers. Even an existence like Renee, who was bestowed the identity of an ostensibly unruly student in the dreamscape, couldn't help but lose her momentum at the sight of the teacher, instantly becoming timid and submissive.
However, the foreign teacher before her wasn't angry. She merely smiled, cupping her cheeks with her hands as she looked at Renee, and chuckled softly,
"My, my, it seems like I've seen something quite extraordinary, Classmate Renee~"
Renee gaped, her face beet red, while simultaneously recalling that Teacher Helaire and Teacher Fisher seemed to be foreign teachers from the same place, and even shared the same office...
If...
If it was leaked out by Helaire, she might as well just drop dead!
Instantly, Renee's eyes welled up with tears. Forcing a smile, she extended a trembling hand and grabbed Helaire's shirt. Even her voice vibrated up and down as if she was shaking like a sieve,
"U-um... T... Teacher Helaire... I beg you, please, please don't tell anyone... okay?"
"Oh?"
Helaire smiled, looking at the teenage Renee before her whose secret had been exposed, as if she had discovered something extremely fascinating. Then, acting on a whim, she glanced up at the clock on the nearby wall before inviting Renee,
"Sure, but why don't we find a quieter place to have a detailed chat first? Who knows, maybe Teacher Helaire, as someone with experience, can offer you some useful advice?"
Renee was initially disheartened, but upon hearing Helaire's words, her eyes suddenly lit up again.
Someone with experience...
As expected, being a teacher is indeed reliable. I feel like... I can absorb important experience from Teacher Helaire...
Originally intending to refuse, Renee somehow remembered her pathetic defeated dog appearance just now, only able to peep at their happiness through the crack of the door. This caused her heart to ache, feeling that something wasn't right...
Therefore, after a moment of hesitation, Renee carefully picked up the bento from the floor beside her. With her head lowered like a small beast, she looked at the Helaire before her and asked,
"T-then I'll be in Teacher Helaire's care? L... let's go..."
"Sure, come this way."
Helaire clapped her hands like an understanding older sister. Then she took the lead, guiding the timid yet emotionally stirred Renee behind her toward the opposite direction of the office.