Lesson Learned

She's clearly doing something wrong

Mitsuko breathed in a deep breath before she made her way down the stairs. She straightened her tie and tugged at the end of her skirt before she walked into the kitchen where her brother and father were already sat down.

Mom was washing up some pans, having finished making breakfast; her light hair was tied up for a change and there were fewer bags under her eyes.

I guess last night was a good night.

Mitsuko glanced over at her seat in-between the Principal and Gakushuu. Her breakfast was already laid out with a glass of orange juice in its usual place.

"...Morning," she said, walking over to her seat.

None of them looked up.

"Morning," Gakushuu replied dully, taking a bite of his eggs.

The Chairman lowered the newspaper he was reading to glance at her. "I trust you both have a full schedule today?"

"Yes." She and her brother replied stiffly.

The Principal smiled blandly. "With some minor adjustments to yours, Mitsuko?"

Mitsuko held her fork tighter. "Yes."

E Class students were limited, if not all out banned, with extracurricular activities. The only ones of hers that had managed to survive the purge was volunteer tutoring at the local Cram School, Physical Training with Gakushuu, and a few volunteer charity work functions.

That left nearly a whole 5 hours of free time on some days in the week, not counting the weekend. She'd never had so much free time on her hands, it made her feel restless.

I need a real hobby.

"Then it looks like you'll have even more time to get your grades up." The Principal had returned to his newspaper.

It was almost like he'd read her thoughts.

"I suppose so," she replied dully, not rising to the bait.

"What's your new teacher like anyway?" Gakushuu spoke up, surprising her; not much talk ever happened during these meals. Even their mom paused and looked over.

Mitsuko tensed. "Um...excuse me?"

Her brother arched an eyebrow while their father lowered his newspaper a fraction.

"Your new teacher, since Ms Yukimura disappeared," Gakushuu said shrewdly, narrowing his eyes. "Or do they not have a name?"

Does Mr Target count?

She quickly tried to regain her cool and rolled her eyes. "Don't be ridiculous of course he does." She stuffed some eggs into her mouth to buy her time and sent her father a sharp look.

Their father smiled pleasantly. "I believe Mr Karasuma is his name."

Mitsuko nodded, swallowing down her rice and egg in one gulp.

Gakushuu clasped his hands on the table. "Then why hasn't he been to any assemblies?"

"He's busy." She shrugged, dabbing her mouth with a napkin. "He spends a lot of time grading our test results, plus he has a lot to catch up on since he's a late starter."

Her brother's brow furrowed as he looked back at her and the Principal, trying to suss out the lie. "Oh, really?" He leaned back, keeping his gaze on Mitsuko.

Mitsuko made sure she didn't look away. "Why do you even care what the teacher's like? It's not like it's going to make a difference."

Gakushuu scrutinised them both—his right eye twitched involuntarily, something he tended to do when angry or irritated in a way he couldn't verbally express.