Chapter 67: Punitive Assignment
The following day, the sky was overcast and dim, looking as if it might start raining again at any moment. However, the distinct scent of rain didn't linger in the air, and the droplets refused to fall.
Dark clouds simply hung there in the sky as if they were fast asleep, making people feel uneasy and forcing them to carry umbrellas whenever they stepped out.
Sobu High School.
Chishima Akishin was teaching the second period in Class 2-J. After roughly a month of instruction, almost all the students in Class J had become proficient in using Pinyin. Consequently, Akishin had begun teaching some simple Hanzi characters.
"Everyone, pay attention. This is a crucial point that I will be explaining many times. Three words: 'Ta' (he), 'Ta' (she), and 'Ta' (it). The pronunciation is identical, but the meanings they represent are different. 'Ta' (他) refers to a human male. And remember this radical—this is called the person radical (Danrenpang)..."
"In Mandarin, the majority of characters have radicals. These radicals basically relate to the meaning being represented. For example, 'La' (to pull), 'Ti' (to lift), 'Che' (to drag). They all use the hand radical (Tishoupang), which means the definition is related to the hand. I'll explain more on this later..."
Akishin held the chalk and taught with a serious expression at the front of the class. The chalkboard was already filled with Mandarin characters. Although his handwriting wasn't exactly beautiful, it radiated a sense of sharpness, and the students had grown accustomed to it.
The students below listened intently. Chishima-sensei's lessons were excellent—clear, easy to understand, and his voice was pleasant to the ear...
There was one more thing: they didn't dare offend Akishin. Even though Akishin maintained his usual demeanor, the students' attitude toward him had shifted to become far more respectful.
However, that didn't cause their relationship to grow distant. On the contrary, due to Akishin's deliberate efforts, his rapport with the students was steadily improving. During unimportant moments, he could joke around and mingle with them.
But when it mattered, Akishin didn't allow his students to lose focus. Like right now!
Work is work, and play is play; the two had to be clearly separated. When it was time to study seriously, then you study, and when it was time to play, Sensei didn't mind being teased by his students.
Today, however, there was a shocking exception in the class. Many students were stealing glances in a certain direction with looks of confusion and suppressed laughter.
—Yukinoshita Yukino wasn't listening to the lesson seriously today. Even though she was still sitting upright, her eyes looked vacant and unfocused. It was obvious she was thinking about something else.
Akishin had noticed Yukinoshita Yukino's condition from the very beginning. But since she was a model student who rarely ever lost her focus, Akishin wasn't in a hurry to remind her, assuming she would snap out of it on her own.
Yet, after five minutes had passed, Yukinoshita Yukino remained in that state; her hands hadn't moved a single inch.
Akishin was forced to put down his chalk and turn around—the students who had been stifling their laughter immediately sat up straight, though the corners of their eyes remained fixed on Yukinoshita Yukino, waiting for a show—he patted the chalk dust off his hands and called out to her.
"Yukinoshita-kun."
"..."
No response. Akishin raised his voice slightly. "Yukinoshita-kun."
"..."
Still no response, as if she were a wooden statue. Akishin struck the teacher's podium with his palm, producing a loud 'bang,' and then called out again with a louder voice:
"Yukinoshita-kun!"
Nearly every student in the class jumped in surprise. Yukinoshita Yukino finally snapped out of it. She stood up immediately from her chair, staring at Akishin—who wore a slightly cold expression at the front of the room—and then glanced at her classmates who were holding back laughter. Her face paled slightly.
"Sensei, I apologize."
Being Yukinoshita Yukino, she wouldn't act disgracefully. Even in a situation like this, she maintained her usual cold composure and offered a serious apology to Akishin.
Akishin tapped the podium with his finger and said, "Yukinoshita-kun, you were daydreaming. Do you know what I've been teaching during this lesson?"
Yukinoshita Yukino looked toward the chalkboard, hesitated for a moment, and then answered, "I do."
"Then tell me."
And so, Yukinoshita Yukino explained the meanings of the three characters on the board one by one. Her explanation was slightly different from what Akishin had delivered because it was material she had studied on her own from the textbook yesterday.
Hearing that, Akishin nodded. "Good preparation..."
A few students in the class chuckled softly. Yukinoshita Yukino's expression grew even colder.
Akishin shifted his tone. "However, that is no excuse for you not to listen to the lesson seriously. Besides the material in the book, I also teach related knowledge. Otherwise, what's the point of having a Sensei here! As punishment, Yukinoshita-kun, you must compose a sentence using these three characters. It must be entirely in Mandarin, and it must contain a story, characters, and a plot. Hand it over to me before school ends."
This punishment would be extremely difficult for any other student in the class since they had only just finished the Pinyin material. But for Yukinoshita Yukino, it was only slightly challenging. She seemed to have studied Mandarin for a short time before—many Japanese people have a habit of studying Mandarin as an artistic hobby.
Precisely because Akishin knew this, he gave her this punishment, so the other students would feel the punishment was fair.
Educating students was, in reality, a form of social science.
Yukinoshita hesitated for a few seconds, then nodded in agreement.
"Then, let's resume the lesson."
Akishin told Yukinoshita Yukino to sit back down and continued explaining the basics of the characters. Yukinoshita Yukino stared at Akishin's back, shaking her head to clear away unnecessary thoughts, and began following the lesson seriously.
Before long, the bell for the end of the period rang.
Akishin gathered his textbooks and glanced toward Yukinoshita Yukino. She had already pulled out her notebook to start composing the sentence. There were several female students around her staring at her with smiles.
However, Yukinoshita Yukino simply focused on her own business.
And those smiling girls only dared to watch from a few meters away without venturing to let out a single laugh.
Akishin returned to the office and checked the teaching schedule. Today's last period for Class 2-F was physical education under his supervision.
Since he had no classes in the morning, he greeted Shizuka-chan briefly and walked toward the Service Club in the adjacent building. He went inside, pulled out a large piece of cardboard, and sat cross-legged to meditate.
He simultaneously entered the system space to fight. This time he achieved his best result yet; he managed to reach the eighth round and was pursued by eight master swordsmen...
In the end, he died along with the eighth Ronin swordsman. He managed to drive his sword into the opponent's neck, but the opponent also succeeded in stabbing his sword through Akishin's heart...
Coming to the Service Club to meditate wasn't a first; it had become a regular occurrence. If he had no classes in the morning and had enough time, Akishin would meditate here for an hour or two—meditation was actually quite comfortable and could enhance mental strength—until the noon bell rang and Yukino Yukinoshita and Yuigahama Yui arrived, at which point he would leave.
The two girls had also grown used to seeing him there when they opened the door. There were even two occasions when Akishin had just emerged from a fight in the system space and hadn't had time to hide his aura, which had terrified the both of them.
...
In a meditative state, the perception of time seemed to vanish. After an unknown amount of time had passed, Akishin heard a familiar voice and Yuigahama's characteristic greeting:
"O-hayou, Chishima-sensei."
"Hello, you two."
Akishin opened his eyes, stood up while carrying his Shinai, tidied up the cardboard used for meditation, and prepared to leave as usual.
"Wait a moment, Chishima-sensei." Yukino halted Akishin's departure, pulling out a sheet of note paper and handing it over. "This is the assignment Sensei gave earlier."
Akishin accepted it. Written there was a single sentence: [Tā ràng tā dàizhe tā qù chǒngwù yīyuàn zhì bìng.] (He told her to take it to the pet hospital for treatment.)
"Good, you completed it very well, Yukinoshita-kun."
Akishin gave his praise sincerely. Since there was no word count limit, any length was acceptable, but if it had been too long, he wouldn't have liked it.
"Wait... Chishima-sensei... there is one more thing." Yukinoshita Yukino stopped Akishin again just as he was ready to head out.
Akishin paused and turned back, his brow furrowing slightly. "Yukinoshita-kun still has business?" As it turned out, Yukino really was being strange today. He could more or less guess the cause.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
50 Power Stone = 1 Bonus Chapter (Up to 5 bonus chapters per week).
Read ahead and support the story on Patreon: patreon.com/FaaanzKun
✅ 130+ chapters ahead of WebNovel
✅ 6 new chapters every day (Monday–Saturday), exclusive on Patreon
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —