It's dark.
Why is it so dark?
"Nagisa."
Why is that voice so familiar?
"You'll be good, won't you?"
*
"Are you sure about this?"
"N... yes, I'm sure, Karma."
"Make sure to call if something suspicious happens."
"Okay, I'll see you."
Nagisa quickly opens the car door, trying to get out of his boyfriend's car as fast as possible so he wouldn't change his mind. With a silent sigh, he closes the door, watching the red head start to slowly drive away, leaving him behind in front of the large school.
"Nagisa-sensei!" a tall younger boy greets him with a wide grin, instantly cheering up the student teacher. "Was that Karma-kun?"
"Yeah," his eyes nervously darts around, checking his surroundings to see if anything was out of the ordinary. As usual, students who was quite early were hanging out outside, sun bathing in the bright light.
"You okay? You seemed pretty distraught at the end of the trip," he leans down a little, briefly looking over the shorter yet older boy's face.
"I'm fine, I'm fine, I have to go now, I'll see you in class, Miyake-kun," he gives him his regular gentle smile and begins walking towards the school entrance, the boy with dark red hair smiles back at him as he starts heading towards the small friend group that consisted of a few students from younger grades.
It was quite peaceful, just like most early mornings inside the school, though it would definitely change once all the other students arrives.
"Good morning, Nagisa-kun!" a young teacher beams as she passes the younger student teacher who seemed to freeze up before giving her a small wave with a smile. "What happened to your face?"
"Good morning, Kurumi-san, and nothing big really, I just tripped," chuckling lightly at her cheerful personality, one that could surely cheer up even the grumpiest beings. "Did something good happen?"
"Does something good have to happen for someone to be happy?" a wide smile spreads across her blushed cheeks, her right hand patting lightly on the blue head's shoulder. "Let's have lunch together, you know, as teachers."
"I always eat inside the classroom though," he unconsciously rubs his neck, looking up at the tall woman in front of him.
"You've spent three days just hanging out with the students, spend some time with us teachers for once! How about eating on the roof? It has quite the nice view," she chuckles lightly, swinging her bag back and forth playfully. "Well, gotta get going, I'll see you at lunch, Nagisa-kun!"
"Sure, uh, see you, Kurumi-san," the tall teacher skips away, waving at a group of students walking past her who simply chuckles and greets her back.
With a sigh, he continues his walk towards the teacher's room. It was his regular routine, go to the teacher's room, get all the needed information for the student's upcoming lessons from their actual teacher, who usually spent his mornings there and later on spent his time somewhere unknown. Of course he should be fired, though being related to the principal seems to have it's advantages.
*
"Ah, Shiota-kun, good morning," he was only a few meters away from the teacher's room as a tall black haired man in a suit walk up to him, a small grin visible on his relatively young features. "You okay? That bruise looks like it hurts."
"Oh, Yasuhiro-kun, I'm alright, it looks worse than it actually is, and good morning," he returns the smile just as they arrive at the teacher's room.
"There you are, Shiota-san," a raspy voice sighs out, catching the attention of the two who had just walked through the door.
Nagisa instantly starts walking over to the older man, his gaze switching from his face to the papers in hand. "These are the plans for the week, I have to go now, there is a.. family emergency I have to get to," it was quite surprising he actually gave an excuse for once, though the many teachers giving him a nasty look might have been the cause for it.
"Okay, hope you get it sorted, Teramoto-san," with a scoff, the balding man stands up and walks out, leaving the papers on his desk.
"That man definitely isn't suited for a teacher," an older woman sighs out, giving the blue head an apologetic smile. "Did the trip go well, Shiota-kun? I see you got hurt."
"Yeah, better than I expected, and I just tripped a little, it'll probably disappear in just a few days," a small chuckle escapes his lips as he looks down at the papers, picking them up and reading through them, it was the usual planning, pop quizzes, which chapters to read, such things.
"That's good, I was quite worried that it would be hard to take care of so many students alone, but you said you had friends with you, right?" she leans her head in her hand, looking at the young student teacher beside her.
"Yeah, I think they got along quite well," he looks up at the older woman who gently smiles at him, she had given him small advice here and there on how to keep the students interested in the subject, which over time seemed to work.
"I suppose you do have an advantage since you're all so close in age," she giggles a little as her attention drifts from Nagisa to her own work. "Well, this isn't going to get done if I'm just here talking, have a good day, Shiota-kun."
"You too, Tanabe-san," he walks over to the small desk that had been arranged for him, laying the papers down and thoroughly reading through them to make sure he wouldn't miss something in the upcoming lesson.
There wasn't any differences from how the previous plans were laid out, only a few more quizzes, which would definitely be bother for the students, but what could he do? Exams weren't that far away and they had been away for three days.
After a while of going through the papers, he pulls out a small book, reading it to pass time, which seemed to by uncomfortably fast as he suddenly was about to be late for the lesson of one of the teachers hadn't brought him out of his reading.
He quickly shuffles all the papers and the book inside his bag and hurries out, walking in a moderately fast pace towards the classroom.
Walking into the relatively large room, nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary, most students were present, only a few absent which wasn't really strange, some skipped and some were late, particularity a pair of twins who always arrived late.
"You seem tired, Nagisa-sensei," a female student points out, her lips pursing a little as she studies his appearance.
"Oh, I must've just had a bad night or something," he lets out a small laugh as he walks towards the desk in front of the students. Opening his bag, he reaches in and looks for the class list, though he had remembered everyone's names, he still wouldn't want to forget someone when roll calling in which the class list comes into place.
"Araki Hana?" the chances that even one of the twins would be present or even come before roll call had ended were slim, though they did surprise him at the class trip so he didn't exactly know what to expect. "Araki Umi?" once again, silence.
"Arashi Misa?" a feminine hum answers his call, his eyes travel over the student before landing on a black haired girl, her hand was slightly raised as she seemed to be half asleep on her desk.
With a sigh he continues, calling the list of names on the list, he got at least some form of answer from almost everyone. The only one that wasn't present was Naru Kenko, though he could just be home because of a simple cold.
"Alright, then please start with some silent reading while I'm gone," he takes the class list with him as he walks out the classroom door, passing the two twins who were walking through towards their classroom.
"Morning, Nagisa-sensei!" the now purple head waves with a smile, her sister waving as well before continuing her walk to the classroom.
"Please try to come on time next time," sighing quite loudly, he continues walking towards his destination. It was quite unusual seeing the empty hallways, even in the early mornings you could at least spot a teacher or student walking through them, though when lessons kick in it was all empty.
"Shiota-kun?" a low masculine voice almost echoes in the empty hallways, scaring the short blue head. His body whips around as his heart beat quickens, a tall man now standing in front of him.
"Oh, you scared me Yasuhiro-kun," his breathing steadies as a apologetic smile spreads across the tall man's face.
"Sorry, Shiota-kun, you just seemed so carefree," a small chuckle leaves his lips as he looks down at the noticeably shorter homeroom teacher, a very nostalgic feeling spreads through the blueberry's gut. "How come you aren't in the classroom?"
"Oh, one of the student's weren't there so I was planning to check if his family had called him in sick," he smiles gently at the dark haired man, pointing with one hand towards the teacher's room.
"Same, let's go so we don't leave the students waiting," he starts walking, Nagisa hurrying after him. Yasuhiro Ohashi had been another one of the teachers who had given him a few advises since his actual teacher were never present. All the teachers advises together was just enough for him to actually make it through a day without that many questions.
*
"There aren't any voice messages from any of the contacts written," his eyebrows were slightly brought together as there were only a few voice mails written on the small list beside the telephone, two of them being from Ohashi's class.
"I suppose this could be a good lesson," he picks up the paper that Nagisa had gotten from the absent teacher's desk, all the contacts that had been given for the students were written on it.
"It's not that strange to have the family forget to call in sick for them, we simply just have to give a call to their home phone, if they don't answer then we just leave a voice mail and hope for the best," he starts to type in the number written on the list, careful to not accidentally press the wrong button. "If they haven't called in then it's probably nothing serious, though we always wanna check."
"Okay, and if they do answer?"
"Just ask what the reason of absence is, nothing big really, just don't ask in a way that could be mistaken for rude or something similar, learn't that the hard way," chuckling little, he gestures for the blue head to pick up the phone.
"I've got to leave now, don't wanna leave those kids alone for too long," with a small grin he walks out, leaving the young student teacher alone.
He breathes out for a quick second before bringing the phone to his ear, pressing the call button it the process.
Luckily, he didn't have to wait many seconds before someone picked up.
'Hello?' a brittle voice answers, though it had a feminine tone to it, it definitely belonged his student.
"Naru-kun?" even though he was quite relieved to hear his student's voice, he was also quite concerned just by hearing how it sounded.
'N-Nagisa-sensei,' he sounded relieved as well, which just concerned the homeroom teacher even more.
"Is something wrong, Naru-kun?" he bites his lip slightly as a crease forms between his eyebrows.
'N-No, everything is fine.'
"You sure?"
'Yeah, s-sorry I couldn't come today, I, uh, have a cold.'
"Do you have someone there to take care of you?"
'N-No, but it's not really anything that serious, I'll probably get back in just a few days,' his tone sounded rushed.
"Okay.. well make sure you get lots of rest, I'll see you in a few days, Naru-kun."
'W-Wait!'
"Yes?" an urge to simply leave the school and go check if he really were okay washed over him, but of course he didn't do it.
'I-It's n-nothing, bye, Nagisa-sensei,' he definitely didn't want to hang up and he didn't have to as the student hanged up instead, leaving him standing there, awfully concerned for the student.
With a anxious sigh, he puts the phone down, writing down the reason for absence on the list beside the phone. His legs move against his will as he starts walking back to the classroom, this uneasy day couldn't get any worse.
╘[◉﹃◉]╕
Wasn't quite sure about how to approach this chapter though I hope I at least created something decent.
As always, please leave feedback and suggestions in the comments!