Chapter 19 Counterattack

Counterattack

Takayanagi’s PoV

Aono made up his mind and started talking to me.

“Sensei, you know that I was dating Miyuki… Amada Miyuki, right?”

“Yes.”

So it all starts with romance. Speaking of high school students’ problems, many of them are related to romance.

“Actually, I had promised to go on a date with Miyuki on my birthday, August 27th. But I got a call that she suddenly couldn’t come. A little frustrated, I didn’t go home and took a short walk in the city and that’s when I saw her. I saw Miyuki walking hand in hand with a man in the entertainment district….”

I feel bad when I hear his stories.

Did Amada cheat on him? Kondo is a member of the soccer club. He’s the ace of the soccer club, popular with the female students. I think his parents are council members. I also heard that he was invited by a strong soccer university. His grades are not bad either.

But he’s far from being an honor student.

To be honest, he has a bad reputation among the teachers. At first glance, he seems to be a fresh young man on the soccer team, but he tends to get into too many romantic problems.

The problem is that he’s quite a manipulator.

Cheating is evil no matter how you look at it. It is morally unacceptable. However, as long as it is a man and a woman who are not married, it cannot be legally condemned.

If one of the spouses has an affair, alimony can be obtained, but if one of them cheats on the other in a normal lover’s relationship, alimony cannot be obtained.

Of course, it is an unforgivable act as a human being. That is the basic premise.

However, if there is only cheating and no clearly illegal behavior such as violence, drugs, or shoplifting, the school cannot immediately punish the student.

Even when Kondo’s homeroom teacher warned him about his romantic relationship last year, he protested, “What right does a teacher have to interfere in a student’s love life?” Instead, his teacher was threatened with the opposite. Several students’ lives have been ruined by a romantic relationship in which the school has no right to interfere.

Has it finally gotten them into trouble?

“I went up to them to question them and grabbed Miyuki’s arm. I didn’t think I used that much force, but she was in pain and… then Kondo-senpai, who was standing next to her with his arms crossed, suddenly….”

Aono chose his words painfully.

It was a terrible thing for a high school boy to talk to a teacher about his lost love.

I tried to tell him that he didn’t have to talk about it, but he looked me straight in the eye and said, “It’s okay.”

“He punched me in the face and… he said “this violent man. You’re a stalker,” …”

“…”

Aono’s next words left me speechless. What is he talking about, Kondo hit him?

Then this is no longer just a romantic problem, but a violent incident.

“Then Senpai asked Miyuki if she would choose him or me. So… I….”

Eyes downcast, Aono shivered.

“She chose Kondo?”

I immediately regretted saying those words without thinking. I shouldn’t have said them. What was I trying to do, push Aono into a corner while he was suffering? How stupid.

“Yes… she chose Kondo-senpai.”

My vision involuntarily blurs as I see Aono’s unspoken scream.

I am flooded with thoughts that might be too blue for me, a single teacher over 30 years old.

“It was painful, wasn’t it, Aono? Thank you for telling me.”

Judging from Aono’s character, he would not have gone to the hospital after the beating. He must have tried to hide it from his parents somehow. If there had been objective evidence, such as a doctor’s note, Kondo could have been punished immediately.

But in the absence of such evidence, it is difficult to punish this cunning ace of the soccer club. There is a strong possibility that he will lie to justify his actions. I can see him making excuses with a grin on his face, such as “I only helped her because she was being violent with her ex-boyfriend’s stalker,” or “I pulled him away easily, but he said I hit him.”

If this is the case, we have no choice but to gather as much information as possible, find inconsistencies in Kondo’s claims, and try to cut them down.

“It’s okay. From now on, it’s an adult’s job.”

And the number one priority should be how much less harmful Aono’s future school life should be. Forcing him to attend classes as he does now, with the malice and hostility directed at him just for being in class, will only create lifelong psychological scars. There is no point in deepening them.

The principal said, “It is not a solution for a victim of bullying to choose to leave school or not attend school. Nor should they be disadvantaged by not being able to attend classes.” He has asked the subject teachers to make arrangements so that Aono will not be penalized if he misses class for tutoring or assignments. But it is clear that the longer we prolong the problem, the more difficult Aono will be.

“Sensei, I’m sorry. I’m causing you a lot of trouble, aren’t I?”

Really, this guy is all about worrying about the people around him, leaving his own self who suffers the most….

“How can I be annoying? Listen, Aono? You may think that this is just your problem, but it’s also my problem as a teacher, and it’s the whole school’s problem. So it’s not a nuisance for me or any other teacher to do something about it. Besides, you’re too responsible and too nice.”

“…”

He looked at me strangely.

“That’s a virtue, but because you can be nice to others, people around you always want to help you.”

“Is that true?”

“Yes. To love someone is, in a sense, the purest of feelings. If that feeling is trampled upon, even an adult’s heart will be torn to pieces. This is even more true for you young people. So when you are in pain, rely on someone. It could be me, Mitsui-sensei, or another teacher who cares about you. It could be a friend like Imai, a parent, or a sibling. If you’re in pain, put yourself first. Please.”

With a few ‘blue words’ that make me feel ashamed of myself, I renew my determination to put all my energy into solving this problem.