Sobu High School, west academic building, third floor, faculty office.
After following Eiren Kanagawa to the faculty office, Kotomi Izumi happened to run into Chihiro Sengoku, who was preparing to leave for class.
"Kotomi, how is she? What do you think of your new homeroom teacher?" Chihiro Sengoku greeted her half-jokingly.
"She's all right. At least we already knew each other from my last trip to Kyoto. Ms. Kanagawa kept trying to persuade me not to go through high school one year at a time. She wanted to recommend me directly for admission to Kyoto University. I just never expected that after trying so hard to lure me into Kyoto University, she would fail and instead resign from Kyoto University herself to come to Sobu High School."
Kotomi Izumi spoke with a cheerful grin, then added meaningfully,
"We absolutely can't let Kyoto University find out about this. If they did, they might think I was the one who lured Professor Kanagawa away. I'm not nearly that capable~" Kotomi Izumi's final remark clearly carried a hidden implication.
"Exactly, exactly. I truly wonder who could possibly be capable enough to lure a distinguished professor from Kyoto University's Department of Fine Arts into becoming an art teacher at Sobu High School. Most importantly, Professor Kanagawa herself came entirely of her own free will~ How strange." Chihiro Sengoku nodded, strongly agreeing with Kotomi's words, so she joined in and made several sarcastic remarks at Eiren Kanagawa's expense.
"Exactly, exactly. How very strange," Kotomi Izumi said.
"Hey, the two of you are ganging up to bully a newly arrived art teacher. Won't your consciences condemn you?!" Eiren Kanagawa wiped at nonexistent tears in the corners of her eyes with her fingertips, speaking like an innocent white lotus who had stepped straight out of an absurd romantic melodrama.
Eiren Kanagawa and Chihiro Sengoku were old friends, so they did not need to hold back when joking with each other. After hearing this, Kotomi Izumi and Chihiro Sengoku exchanged a glance, then said,
"Kotomi, do you have a conscience?"
"No. Do you?"
"What a coincidence. Neither do I."
"Heh heh heh!" Kotomi Izumi laughed sinisterly.
"Am I supposed to interpret this as two local tyrants of Sobu High School trying to intimidate me?" Eiren Kanagawa said gloomily.
"Oh, that accusation is entirely misplaced. I'm no local tyrant of Sobu High School. I'm only a pitiful art teacher whose classes might be stolen at any time. The difference between a high school art teacher and a university fine arts professor is like heaven and earth. Even putting salary aside, at least a university professor's classes won't be casually taken over." Chihiro Sengoku stretched lazily as she complained.
"I was fairly lucky today. At least no teacher from another subject took over my art class."
"Oh, spare me. Back when I complained to you about all the pointless meetings universities held, weren't you the one who bragged that you could openly slack off at work? You said that every morning after arriving at school, you would sit in the office eating snacks, playing on your phone, and wondering whether to go out for lunch or order delivery. Then, after lunch break ended and all the other teachers left the office to teach their afternoon classes, you could continue lounging around at your desk. Once the dismissal bell rang, it meant your workday was over.
Your job was so leisurely, and your salary still arrived on time every month. Do you have any idea how envious I was when I worked as a university professor?"
Faced with Chihiro Sengoku's sarcasm, Eiren Kanagawa walked directly over to her and pinched her cheek hard. Although both of them had graduated many years ago, the way they interacted remained exactly as it had been during their student days.
"Ah! Don't tell me you resolutely resigned from Kyoto University because you envied the daily routine of a high school art teacher that I described to you?!" Chihiro Sengoku suddenly considered that possibility.
She and Eiren Kanagawa had a good relationship and had known each other for a very long time. They had been acquainted since their student years and could be described as close friends who talked about everything.
However, when Chihiro Sengoku asked why Eiren Kanagawa had resigned from Kyoto University this time, Eiren Kanagawa gave an extremely vague answer. It sounded as though she had responded, but upon closer examination, she had not answered anything at all. As a result, even now, Chihiro Sengoku still did not know why Eiren Kanagawa had resigned from Kyoto University.
Eiren Kanagawa held two fingers a tiny distance apart and said with a smile,
"Your earlier description played a very small part. As for the remaining reasons, I'll definitely tell you when I feel like talking about them. Of course, if I accidentally forget, then I may never tell you at all. So it would be best if you weren't too curious about why I resigned."
"What is with all this mystery? Anyone who didn't know better might think you'd become an undercover agent carrying out some top-secret mission." Chihiro Sengoku complained, then said farewell.
"Ah... It's almost time for class. I'll head to the art room and prepare. Since I finally have the rare opportunity to teach an art lesson, I need to cherish it. Kotomi, remember to keep an eye on the time while talking to her. She's incredibly talkative. Once she gets going, she definitely won't notice the time, so you'll have to watch it yourself. Remember to return before the next class begins."
"Mm, I'll pay attention." Kotomi Izumi nodded.
After giving that reminder, Chihiro Sengoku left the faculty office.
In truth, there was still plenty of time before second period began. If Chihiro Sengoku had wanted to pursue the matter to the bitter end, she had more than enough time to remain there and continue questioning Eiren Kanagawa.
However, Chihiro Sengoku understood Eiren Kanagawa's personality. She knew that if Eiren Kanagawa did not want to talk, no amount of questioning would make her reveal anything. Since that was the case, Chihiro Sengoku decided not to waste any more time and left the office.
After watching Chihiro Sengoku depart, Eiren Kanagawa chuckled somewhat guiltily.
"I always feel a little sorry for Little Chihiro. She's only showing concern for me as a friend, yet I keep hiding things from her."
"Just from hearing that, anyone could guess that your reason for resigning from Kyoto University wasn't something simple." Kotomi Izumi abruptly remarked.
"After all, Ms. Sengoku also said that you're extremely talkative. Under normal circumstances, you would never pass up a topic like the reason behind your resignation, something you could discuss for ages. Yet you refuse to talk about it now. That must be because you don't want to tell anyone the real reason you resigned."
After listening to Kotomi Izumi, Eiren Kanagawa froze briefly, then released a long sigh.
"Sigh... Shizuka Hiratsuka and Chihiro Sengoku are close, so naturally, I also know Shizuka Hiratsuka. I once asked her out of curiosity what kind of girl you were. Her answer was that you were a girl who always left people astonished. I didn't completely understand what she meant at the time, but now I do. Putting everything else aside, your mind can sometimes be so sharp that it's frightening.
"Honestly, Kotomi, even though I'm no longer a professor in Kyoto University's Department of Fine Arts, my advice to you remains exactly the same. Don't spend your time going through high school one year at a time. Your intelligence far exceeds anything I can imagine. To put it harshly, spending three years in high school would be a complete waste of three years!
"With your current abilities, you could directly attend an interview at a prestigious university and skip ahead to become a university student. Then, while everyone your age is preparing for their university entrance examinations during their third year of high school, you will already be far ahead of them and preparing for graduate school entrance examinations."
"Ms. Kanagawa, you're no longer a professor in Kyoto University's Department of Fine Arts, so why are you still so determined to persuade me to skip grades and attend university? Before, when you advised me as a professor to skip ahead, it might have been because you would also benefit if I became a student in Kyoto University's Department of Fine Arts. But now that you no longer work there, even if I really did skip grades and enroll in Kyoto University's Department of Fine Arts, you wouldn't gain anything from it, would you?" Kotomi Izumi did not answer her. Instead, she responded with a smiling question of her own.
At that point, she did not forget to add. "Besides, skipping grades and entering university isn't something that can be accomplished merely by talking about it. The required procedures are extremely troublesome without a recommendation letter from one of the university's professors. If I followed the standard process honestly, I might nearly finish my second year of high school before the grade-skipping procedures were finally approved. Since you've already resigned, you can't write me a professor's recommendation letter anymore, can you?"
In reality, something like the formalities for skipping grades would not pose the slightest inconvenience to Kotomi Izumi. More precisely, they would not pose the slightest inconvenience to the Izumi family.
For an ordinary person, completing the necessary procedures might take a long time and require participation in all kinds of interviews. However, if Kotomi Izumi wanted to skip grades and enter university directly, she would only need to mention the idea to her parents.
As long as they agreed, Kotomi Izumi would not need to concern herself with the matter any further. She would only need to decide which university she wanted to attend. After choosing, she would tell her father, and he would call the chairman of that university.
Once the call ended, Kotomi Izumi would officially become a student at that university.
If the university Kotomi Izumi selected happened to be one in which the Izumi family had invested, the process would be even more convenient. She could simply choose a day she liked and begin attending classes there. Put simply, as long as Kotomi Izumi wanted to skip grades, it would be effortless. She had absolutely no need for a professor's recommendation letter.
However, she did not show off about it. It was not because she was modest. She simply could not be bothered to explain. Furthermore, Kotomi Izumi had never seriously considered skipping grades in the first place. Rather than attending university immediately, she preferred to enjoy all three years of high school before moving on to university.
"That's right. I truly am no longer a professor in Kyoto University's Department of Fine Arts. However, I have a good relationship with one of the department's current professors. As long as you want to skip grades, I can call her and ask her to write a professor's recommendation letter for you. As for why I still want you to skip ahead... perhaps it's because my personality makes me dislike wasting time. I dislike wasting my own time, and I also don't want other people wasting theirs."
"Thank you for your kindness, Ms. Kanagawa, but I don't believe I'm wasting my time right now. The three years of high school are the most crucial and important stage of a student's life. Rather than skipping ahead and entering university directly, I would prefer to finish all three years of high school before attending university." Kotomi Izumi politely declined with a smile. Seeing that Kotomi had already expressed herself so clearly, Eiren Kanagawa could only nod helplessly.
"All right. It seems I'll have to abandon the idea of persuading you to skip grades."
"Then I'll be heading back~ That is, unless skipping grades was not the only reason you called me here," Kotomi Izumi said.
"Don't be in such a hurry. There's still plenty of time before second period begins, and there's one more matter I want to discuss with you. Chihiro is the only one in a rush, insisting on going to the art room to prepare this early." As Eiren Kanagawa spoke, she walked toward the desk assigned to her.
After becoming the homeroom teacher of Class 1-F, Eiren Kanagawa was naturally assigned to the same third-floor faculty office in the west academic building where Shizuka Hiratsuka had once worked. However, their desks were in different places. Shizuka Hiratsuka's desk had been beside the window, while Eiren Kanagawa's desk was now positioned near the door. Before sitting down, Eiren Kanagawa did not forget to fetch another chair for Kotomi so she could sit as well.
"Ah—I suddenly miss the office I had as a university professor. University professors each get their own private office." After sitting down, Eiren Kanagawa stretched lazily.
"You could always see whether Kyoto University would take you back, since you miss it so much," Kotomi Izumi said with a smile.
"Haha, I just resigned. Even if Kyoto University's president were my biological father, I couldn't behave that capriciously, much less when he isn't." Eiren Kanagawa joked, then rummaged through a drawer and said,
"After passing Sobu High School's interview, I came here early to organize my desk. After all, I may remain at Sobu High School for a long time, so naturally, I needed to arrange my workspace first. By the way, all the computers your school provides its teachers run Microsoft Windows.
"Microsoft is certainly fine, but I'm still more accustomed to using a Mac. Still, I'll probably become used to it after a while. Of course, none of that is important. The most important thing is that I placed plenty of delicious snacks in my desk drawer. Whenever you want something to eat in the future, you can come directly here and take some. Would you like anything now?" Eiren Kanagawa pulled the drawer open, revealing that it was indeed filled with snacks.
Kotomi Izumi glanced inside, then refused without the slightest hesitation.
"No, thank you."
That was because nearly all the snacks inside the drawer were chocolate!
And chocolate was the food Kotomi Izumi disliked most.
Of course, Kotomi still loved Tohato chocolate biscuits. She did not know why, but those were the only chocolate biscuits she could eat without feeling repulsed. In fact, she liked them very much. That was right, they were the chocolate biscuits Crayon Shin-chan loved most.
"Huh—I remember you being quite the little glutton. That's why I deliberately bought extra snacks."
"I don't like chocolate."
"What?! There are actually people who dislike chocolate? That was certainly an oversight on my part. Fine, by the next time you visit, I'll replace the snacks in the drawer with something else."
"Except for Tohato chocolate biscuits. I still really like those."
"Are you Crayon Shin-chan?"
Eiren Kanagawa could not resist making the remark, then asked,
"If you don't want snacks, I also have several bottles of Coca-Cola. Would you like one? Surely you don't dislike cola too? No one can resist the delicious taste of cola!"
"I love cola."
"Then would you like a bottle?"
"But I only drink Pepsi!"
"...All right. By the next time you visit, I'll replace all the Coca-Cola with Pepsi."
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