✓ 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒂 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒓 ‣ INARIZAKI ¹

𝐌𝐄𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐔𝐌

･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.

every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.

- seneca the younger (c. 4 BC - AD 65)

Iori promised that, every third Saturday of the month—when homeroom was at the end of the day—her students could ask her whatever they wanted. Whether it be an oddly personal question (she'd made it very clear that it couldn't be too personal), or something general, she would give her best answer.

Her students seemed to enjoy it the first time she did it, so it had become a tradition of sorts. Her third-year class, class 3-4, had about 11 months to figure out the most they could about Iori. This was month four, and, in her opinion, they'd been doing quite well.

"Maeko, go for it," she said, leaning against the front of her desk.

"What's your favorite animal?"

"Cats! Kenjiro, you're up."

"It's true that you know Kodzuken? Like, actually?"

"Since high school, yup! Ruri?"

Ruri had always been pretty quiet, despite the fact that she had more friends than Iori could count. She seemed a bit hesitant about her question, but Iori had seen Shusaku and Keitaro hyping her up to ask earlier.

"Um, I found a picture in my shoe locker," she started, standing up. There was a small, unevenly-cut piece of paper in her hands; it was thin, and there was a bit of washi-tape stuck to the top. "Do you know who it is? My friends were freaking out about it, and it says 2012 at the bottom..."

Iori pushed herself off the front desk, stepping forward to make Ruri's walk just a tiny bit shorter. She held out the piece of paper, and sure enough, there was a little date at the bottom that said 2012 in fancy, Times New Roman lettering.

"Wow," Iori snorted, laughing. "Yeah, the Miya twins. I went to school with them. One of 'em is the arrogant-looking guy that you see on all those billboards in Tokyo."

"And the other one?"

"He runs Onigiri Miya, not too far from here..."

"Oh, we went the other day!" Shusaku exclaimed. "Man, it was good."

"Tell me about it...yeah, we go pretty far back," Iori hummed. "It's funny, actually, because I actually took that picture. Interhigh nationals, 2012, against Itachiyama."

"What? Mrs. Kita, it looks like a professional took it!" Ruri suddenly exclaimed, looking up at her teacher. "Weren't you only in your second year here, in 2012?"

"Yup! I was being held at gunpoint by my club members, who were adamant about the fact that Miyas were the only reason Inarizaki had a newspaper, but they weren't really wrong."

"Oi, no fair! Ruri got three questions!"

Ruri was terrified by Miwako's sudden exclamation, understandably, so she scurried back to her seat next to Shusaku (Iori had absolutely placed her there on purpose), sinking back into her chair in slight embarrassment.

"Go ahead, Miwako," Iori said, returning to her comfortable leaning position on the desk.

"Mrs. Kita, there's a rumor going around..." she started, giggling as she spoke. Iori rose a brow.

"Which is?"

"Are you...pregnant?"

"That's the stupidest rumor I've ever heard," Iori scoffed playfully. "The answer is no, I hope to the God above that I'm not."

"Awe," Miwako groaned. "Well, tell us when you are, all right?"

"That was two questions, Miwako!"

"Oh, shut up!"

･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.

-- FIN --

many thanks to everybody who read this book!
i had a wonderful time writing it, and i'm so
glad i got to share it with everyone.

a specific thanks to:
jt, for making sure i didn't die while writing

rin, who came up with this idea in the first place

and allyssa, who also made sure i didn't die while writing