Chapter 49 - Cleaning Duty (1/2)

Cleaning Duty

“Sanada, sorry but, I leave the rest to you!”

“Sorry, I can’t be late to club!”

So on and so forth, the four boys and girls from my class all made some sort of excuse as they left once after school came. It seems all of them wanted to skip out on cleaning duty, and even though there were supposed to be six people, the last person was nowhere to be found. Well, my guess is they went home.

Still, it would be hard to clean the classroom alone. I’ll just finish this up quickly and go home.

“Sanada-kun, you’re alone?”

With a bright voice, Hiiragi-chan came into the classroom.

“Yeah, it’s just as you see it.”

“You’re really doing your best.”

“… When school’s over, aren’t you normally working in the staff room?”

“Don’t be so cold. I saw that Sanada-kun ended up alone, so I was wondering whether you were lonely.”

I didn’t want to work hard on this, before I was even able to follow through with the plan, I was stopped. Even if I wanted to skip, I can’t anymore. It can’t be helped. I can only seriously do the cleaning.

It didn’t seem like Hiiragi-chan intended to help, as she had brought her laptop onto the teacher’s desk, and started to do work.

“Sorry, I’m a little backed up on work. I really wanted to help though.”

“No, it’s okay.”

After moving the desks, I began to use the broom to sweep the floor. Hiiragi-chan was unusually quiet, as she took glances at me, and and tapped away at her laptop in order to enter something. It really feels like she’s doing work. Every once in a while, she would go hmmmm or mmmm as she made a slightly troubled face and continued her work.

“The sound of my cleaning, isn’t it a little noisy?”

“It’s okay. Don’t worry about it. It’s fine for there to be a bit of noise.”

So she says.

“Inside the staff room, there’s always the voices of people talking and students coming and going, making it surprisingly loud.”

While speaking her hands never stopped. It was quiet after school. From far away, the muffled sound of music from the band could be heard. Adding onto that was the sound of keys being pressed. Light from the western sun came in from the hallway, dying the classroom in an amber color.

As Hiiragi-chan was concentrating on work, she made a face that I didn’t recognize as she stared at the screen. For me, I had only known Hiiragi-chan as she was in class, or as my lover, but seeing this side of her was refreshing.

“What is it? Sei—Sanada-kun, you keep looking over here.”

“It’s nothing. It’s just, I thought it was nice.”

“What is?”

“Sensei working her hardest.”

“… D-don’t try to seduce me.”

Hiiragi-chan hid behind the screen.

The rule between HIiragi-chan and I basically meant that being in lover mode in a closed setting was alright. Other than that, we would be in teacher and student mode. There was no telling when or where someone was listening. The classroom was on the second floor, but it wasn’t like it couldn’t be seen from the staff room. As such, we were currently in teacher and student mode.

“… D-did you end up falling in love?”

After Hiiragi-chan peeked out and met eyes with me, she lifted her screen up to use as a shield.

“If that was the case, what would Sensei do?”

“…. Me too… I’ll… no, I’m a teacher.”

With a mature voice, Hiiragi-chan reproached me.

“Why?”

“I mean, I already have a boyfriend.”

She looked at me with upturned eyes.

“I see. That’s too bad.”

Understanding what was going on, I made a big show of dropping my shoulders.

“Yeah. Sorry. You should really give up. … I really like him.”

The sound of keys being pushed stopped, it seems like she was awaiting my response.

“What do you like about him?”

“That, I’ll tell you after you finish cleaning.”

After cleaning the back half of the room, I started cleaning the front half of the room. Hiiragi-chan, whose face was slightly red, once again started to concentrate on work Since it was bad for me to bother her, I moved my hands in order to finish the cleaning faster.

“Sanada-kun, what type of person do you like?”

“Me? … Asking me again is a little bit troublesome…”

“Troublesome?”

It didn’t seem Hiiragi-chan got the answer she wanted as she pursed her lips.

“A person who’s good at cooking.”

“Yes yes, and?”