Chapter 44 Parent-teacher Meeting

Parent-teacher Meeting

“Thank you for always taking care of him.”

“No, no, I’m always indebted to Hiiragi-kun for all the help he gives me…”

Today was the day of the scheduled parent-teacher meeting.

So I asked Aoi-senpai to go home first. She told me to tell her immediately if anything happened, but I didn’t think anything would happen during the parent-teacher meeting. …

“Then please take a seat over there.”

As Sensei instructed, I sat with my mother in the seat prepared for us.

Sensei is sitting across from us, holding some kind of material. It was probably my grades.

I don’t want to show my mother, Aika-san, my grades because they aren’t as good as Yoka’s.

However, once this time is over, she won’t have to think about me anymore, so I want her to be patient just for today. I apologize for the inconvenience…

“What I want to talk about today is Hiiragi-kun’s career…”

“About his career?”

“Yes.”

Sensei changed the mood from before and addressed Aika-san with a serious expression.

“Hiiragi-kun, it seems like he wants to get a job instead of going to college, but his grades are pretty good and we teachers think it would be a waste…”

Saying this, Sensei showed Aika-san the materials.

The grades were clearly inferior to those of Yoka, who had entered this school at the top of her grade. I had nothing to do but study, but I only got grades like that…

“Is that so? Shuu?”

“Yes. If I went to college, it would cause trouble for Mom and Dad, so I thought it would be better if Mom and Dad used the money for Yoka.”

When I said that, Aika-san rolled her eyes and looked at me with a tearful expression on her face.

I don’t know what Aika-san thinks. But I think it must be the right thing to do, considering the way she has treated me so far.

Even though the way she treated me has changed since the false accusation incident, still, I’m still sure this is the right thing to do.

“Hey, it’s okay Shuu. You don’t have to worry about money, and if there’s a college you want to go to, I want you to go there. It’s okay. I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.”

“It’s okay. There’s no college I want to go to. …”

As I was about to say that there wasn’t one, I suddenly remembered Aoi-senpai’s words.

“I’ll support Hiiragi-kun no matter what path you take, but I’ll be happy if I can go to the same college with you.”

“Me and Aoi-senpai go to the same college?”

“Yes, I’ll graduate from this school and go to college in half a year. Thanks to Hiiragi-kun, I was able to express my feelings to my parents, so I started my own way. But if possible, I want to spend my college life with you, Hiiragi-kun.”

She said that to me before.

I don’t even know if those words are true, but if Aoi-senpai considers me a friend, then it might be true.

“What’s wrong, Shuu? Do you really not want to go to college?”

“Well…just a little. But it’s okay. I can’t cause you any trouble.”

“Hey, it’s okay. You really don’t have to worry.”

Aika-san let a tear fall from her eye.

I wonder what those tears were for? Is it because I was selfish? Or is it because I got a disappointing grade?

I can’t read her true intentions and my mind goes blank.

“…Hiiragi-kun, you have good enough grades to get into a good university if you keep working hard…”

And then Sensei called out to me, looking worried.

Aika-san suddenly noticed it too and hid her tears by turning her face away. She took a handkerchief out of her pocket and wiped her tears, and after a few dozen seconds, she turned her head to Sensei.

“Sensei, we’ll go home and discuss this first…”

“Understood. If he still doesn’t change his mind, we’ll support his decision…”

“Understood, thank you very much.”

After bowing to each other, we stood up from our seats.

“Well then, please be careful, and thank you for your time today.”

“I’m the one who should be thanking you. Thank you very much.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

We said goodbye to Sensei and left the classroom.

Aika-san looked at me and opened and closed her mouth to say something…

“Emm, uh, hey, Shuu…”

“Yes, Mom?”

“Don’t worry about the money. It’ll be fine. You can do whatever you want…”

“but…”

“It’s really okay. It’s okay.”

Aika-san’s eyes watered again and she looked desperate.

I don’t know what to say to her. It’s not that I don’t care about my problems, so I can’t tell her that I’m okay either.

I just don’t know.

I thought for a while that I might be a little better after being with Aoi-senpai and Shinomiya-san recently, but that was not the case at all.

The smiles of Aoi-senpai and Shinomiya-san suddenly came to my mind, and I wished I could hear their voices. I shouldn’t think like that, though.

I had to talk to Aika-san right away…