Our Teacher is a Yakuza Princess

Chapter 16

Note: Obaa-chan means auntie/grandma

Shin hated his brain sometimes. Sure, it was fast and smart, but it also kept pointing out things that Shin was sure he had no interest in. Like how nice Yankumi looked when she smiled. Or when she looked confused. Or when she pouted. And when he firmly told his brain that he didn't care how she looked, it responded almost spitefully by remembering how she looked at her house, with her hair half up and no glasses, and how she didn't look dorky or scary there, but sort of...

Stop it, he commanded his brain irritably.

"Shin!" He finally heard Uchi shouting his name.

"Hmm?" He asked, lifting his head from his arm to see his friends staring at him.

"We said, it's study hour. What do you want to do?"

Shin shrugged. "Whatever." A discussion of every possible option (besides actually studying) ensued.

"Ooh! We could tell ghost stories!" Noda suggested, and received a loud chorus of agreement.

Minami nodded, then thought a moment. "Does anyone know any good ones?"

The room went silent with thought, then Kuma said, "I don't. Hey, Shin, do you know any ghost stories?"

Shin, who had gone back to arguing with his subconscious, absently answered, "Yeah, some."

"Really?" The rest of the class asked with a mixture of surprise and excitement.

Oh crap. He was in for it now. Before he knew it, the guys had covered the windows, pulled candles and a lantern out from who knows where and lit them on the desk. They crowded around eagerly, and Shin sighed. Might as well. It would at least keep his brain from thinking weird things.

"The Seven Mysteries of Shirokin Gakuin." He started in a low voice. The first ghost story he told was about a vengeful mother who locked her son in a basement for failing school. The second was about a student who got private tutoring from a teacher for a month before realizing the teacher was actually dead. By this time, the whole class was entranced, thoroughly frightened, and ready for the third 'mystery'.

"Number three," he said, staring fixedly at the flames. "Over ten years ago, a student committed suicide in the 2nd floor bathroom. 'His ghost still appears', one student warned the others. 'Oh, that's just a rumor,' a senior replied, laughing. But...one day, the senior had to use the bathroom on the second floor. He was washing his hands, and he looked up at the mirror," Shin paused dramatically, "to find..."

But before he could draw out the story any more, a girlish scream came from his right. He turned to find Yankumi, who had somehow snuck into their group again, with her hands over her ears and shrieking loudly. The rest of the class, already on edge, joined in the screeching.

He glared at Yankumi, annoyed that she had ruined the actual frightening part of the story and that she had been popping up in his mind all day.

"Quiet!" He told her sharply. She looked at him in confusion, then tried to hide how scared she had been.

"Hey, you guys," She told them in a shaking voice. "turn the lights on! Get rid of the curtains too! Don't just sit there." Eager to get some light into the classroom, she pulled down the flag that was covering the window (squealing loudly when it dropped on her), and Shin starting blowing out the candles. Yankumi, despite growing up with men who looked like nightmares, was obviously someone who became terrified at the first few words of a ghost story.

"Ah, just when it was getting really good..." One of the guys complained.

"Yeah, don't ruin it!" Kuma shouted.