Side Story 36: A Sensei’s Duty.
Yo, Kyouya, lets go already!
Mhmph?
Stop eating! Co on! Well be late for that tournant if you keep stuffing your cheeks with pockies and lonpans! Argh, co on!
Hmm, they sure were different when they were kids, huh?
Tokyo, oh, Tokyo. I was born and raised in Yokohama in the Kanagawa prefecture, so a trip to Japans capital only took around 40 minutes. As a teacher who worked in Tokyo, that still ant I needed a total of 80 minutes to commute from ho to my workplace and to return. Considering I had to wake up early at 6 AM and get ready to go to work, it was still extrely inconvenient for , but money was money, right?
However, after only reliving my ti on Earth through my mories all this ti, it was a sight for sore eyes for to see the familiar buildings and sights of a modern Japanese city. You could call nostalgic. My garm mother showed my ho again, but I still felt surprised to see Earth through the mories of one of my students.
Co on, run! Lets go!
Haaa, yeah! Ahaa, I cant, Tatsuya. Its too hot!
What was even more surprising was that one of my students was dreaming and inspecting his mories when he was still an elentary schooler. Specifically, these were Kyouyas mories of when he was still a kid.
I knew Tatsuya and Kyouya were childhood friends, but I didnt know much else from that. I was their teacher, yes, and while I could say we had a nice enough relationship to be called friends, I still had to keep a certain distance since I was their teacher. I couldnt be too close, otherwise, people would talk about it. My position as a teacher was too important for to jeopardize it.
Now, that I wasnt their teacher anymore since my human self who was employed as a teacher had died I could proudly say my forr students were my friends. Still, I had no idea about their pasts. I didn't know what Kyouya faced before he beca my student.
Kyouya, left, left, left! Normal special. Grab, dude!
Gottem, gottem, gottem! Hey, hey, hey, keep him off the ledge!
The two friends were playing in an arcade right now, spamming buttons on so arcade ga I had no idea about. They had joined a tournant to earn so tickets for sothing, and were now playing against other kids their age. Monts later, they won.
That fatty really did it?! Clutch!
Ah, co on, how was that clutch? Tatsuya led him around like a puppet with his shot-calling. No way can he think without the other. Like so pawn.
Unfortunately, snickers were coming from the audience. Not only from elentary kids, but also young teenagers and high schoolers. While they praised Tatsuya, most of them were being rude to Kyouya.
Children could be cruel, especially if there was sothing they could bully you for. In Kyouyas case, as a kid, it seed he was quite overweight. In addition, from what I saw, he had an eating disorder, as the mont the two boys won, he would take out snacks they just bought from a combini a convenience store.
Co on, dont let them get to you.
Mhmm. Yeah Kyouya nodded to Tatsuyas wide smile, trying to comfort his best friend. However, Kyouya just cowered from everybody and began eating so pockies. I got nothing to worry about with you around. Well win this, alright!
Yeah!
And they did. They won the whole tournant, even beating so older kids. The two friends cheered as they got their tickets, but they didnt stay inside the arcade for too long. Smart, since the snickering and backhanded jokes on behalf of Kyouyas appearance was increasing more and more.
The two kids escaped to a nearby park, resting themselves on the grass in the shade of a tree. It was sumr, so they were sweating a bit. For a couple of kids with CEOs as fathers, they really acted like any other elentary kid I knew about. It seed they had a good childhood.
Cant believe you got that last hit off. That was too close! I really thought you would die right there. Kyouya grinned as he praised Tatsuyas gaming skills.
What? Ha! Of course I wouldnt blow it at the finals! As if, dude, haha! But Tatsuyas boastful expression quickly vanished as his smile fell into a frown. The atmosphere between the two changed. Mhmm. Not when this is our last day together. I had to give it my all.
I didnt want to leave. One of Kyouyas lingering thoughts resounded in this dream of his. This was his real thought.
From the look of it, Kyouyas father wasnt the CEO of his company at this ti. For his promotion, he was requested to lead the opening of a new branch. However, this branch was located in a different prefecture, and due to the importance of his job, he decided it would be best for him and his family to move. And looking at the future, this decision allowed him to secure his familys financial security.
However, this ant Kyouya and Tatsuya had to say their goodbyes. Sure, they had phones and computers, but to those two boys, being able to et in person and going to the arcade was what their friendship was about. Tatsuya played tough when Kyouya cried, but I could see the forr tearing up a bit, also.
Stay strong, alright, Kyouya! If sobody calls you fat or whatever, just give a call, alright? Ill have my mom drive over and Ill give them
I know, but dont alright! The people at the arcade are right. I have to stop relying on you so much. Dont worry about , Tatsuya! When we et again during sumr, Ill show you how much better I got in the arcade, yeah?
Deal!
However, the flashbacks told a different story. Bullied not only by his new schoolmates but also his cousins who lived close to the city his father worked at. They body shad him, which caused him to gain even more weight as he tried to eat his stress away. A fact I knew quite a bit from my ti as a teacher, but due to all the stress, I lost more weight despite how much I ate.
Eventually, his father bought him a mbership and also a personal trainer to help him out with his weight. Kyouya disliked it at first, but he quickly grew fond of the burn. However, during this ti, from all the training, Kyouya decided to not visit Tatsuya during sumr or even for winter break. They were still friends, but it seed they drifted off a bit.
You would like to join the track team?
Yes, please!
During his last year of elentary school, Kyouya began to participate in sport clubs, which he continued even into middle school. He was changing, not only physically but also ntally. His interest in otaku activities slowly dwindled and he was becoming more and more a training enthusiast.
Looks good. Feel good. Cant hate this, right? Kyouya told himself as he inspected himself, but, as his teacher I had the responsibility to not look at him when he was half-naked. Just a bit more bulking, and nobody can say anything anymore. Last bits of fat and Ill look reliable as hell. Yup! Gotta keep on going.
It was only when Kyouyas family moved back to Tokyo in his last year of middle school where his interest in gas was reignited when he reunited with Tatsuya. The two friends had a lot to catch up on, even if they t often on social dia. However, not only Kyouya but Tatsuya also changed during all those years. He wasnt addicted to coffee when he was a kid, but when the two friends t again, Tatsuya had his usual coffee thermos with him.
I should have stayed! I should have told Papa I wanted to stay!
Why didnt you tell , Tatsuya? Why did I
The two friends made up and even acted like extrely good friends again, however, from the sound of Kyouyas thoughts, it seed they kept so distance between each for a while. Even into high school, where I beca their teacher.
For a long ti, Tatsuya hadnt told Kyouya about the court case between his mother and Akabanes father, which so happened to have occurred in that very month the two t again. Kyouya didnt seem to hold much of a grudge, but it seed he had so lingering regrets at not being relied on.
And then, Peolynca happened. A magic circle appeared and transported my whole class to this world, all while I probably died. I saw my students talk about being late. I still had mories of leaving the house and being in the teachers lounge, but I couldnt find out how I died in this mory. A sha.
[There you are, Saori.]
I turned around.
Oh, hey, Mother.
It was my garm mother.
[You were fastidious,] Mother suddenly told , making instantly realize what she did.
Do not pry too much into his mories, Mother. It is already rude that I am here, doing this. I shook my head, feeling slightly ashad I was interfering in my students personal life right now.
However, Mother thought differently. [Its been three weeks since they were trapped in this dream by Goddess Kronnaz. You care for your pack, so its important for you to help them.]
Its been a week since I accepted Belzacs offer to help my train, aning, I was currently undergoing his full shadow training. To beco a proper fenrir, I needed a fenrir to train , similar to how Hestia needed her Mother to acquire her full draconic abilities. But, most importantly, it was to improve my control over shadows.
I was currently having a break, and I decided to help out Kyouya and Tatsuya with their trials. For so reason, both of them havent broken out of their dreams yet, forcing Vivachel to perform a blood transfusion to give them nutrients. I was worried about blood type and so on, but it seed a hemomancer like her could bypass those rules. Magic, I guess.
Regardless, the point was I was currently in Kyouyas dream, or, to be more specific, I was inside the dream bubble of Tatsuya and Kyouya. Like the one Ilsaphone made around , it extracted the mories inside our soul and released them as a vivid dream. mories were part of our souls, as Hestia could attest, and for the Goddess of Death bringing out our mories wasnt a problem for her.
Belzac manipulated my dream bubble to test with an illusion, however, for Kyouya and Tatsuya, it was about them trying to find a reason to continue fighting. Of course, they had one to return ho to Earth but Kronnaz, who was monitoring them, wanted to extract another reason from them. And because they were stuck in this problem, I decided to help.
When I ntioned this dream bubble also encompassing Tatsuya's dream, I wasnt lying. With one command, I could transport my consciousness to his, however, Ive watched him struggle with his problem too often now. His hatred for Franz Akabane began to affect , also.
That was why I was inside Kyouyas dream. It was still sad, but it wasnt as infuriating to watch. My garm mother also decided to be here, but from her actions, I believed she simply wanted to watch their mories to learn more about . Similar to how she extracted and created an illusion of my mother my human mother.
I wished she would ask directly about it, but from the look of it, Mother was shyer than I thought. She was a garm of little words and was more sneaky than confrontational. She would rather look into Tatsuyas mories to watch teach them, than to simply ask what my favorite sleeping position was I still had no idea why that was worth knowing, but I guessed it was garm stuff.
Not to ntion, ntally speaking, Mother was technically younger than , since she was nine when her body died and I was 26 when I died on Earth. Honestly, I wished it was more straightforward, like Hestias and lloxtressas relationship.
Dammit!
My attention shifted from Mother back to Kyouyas mory, who was smashing his fist into the ground. At this point in ti, he had not made contact with . From the look of it, it was after their trip into the Belzac forest, where their group was almost overwheld by a horde of grimgarians.
Why am I so goddamn weak!
He blad himself for not being able to turn the tides when it mattered the most. He planned on sacrificing his life to save everybody else, by taunting every grimgarian towards him, but before they could do anything, he was saved by Tatsuya. Similar to their first Church Quest, where Tatsuya saved him from bandits. Once again, he had to rely on his best friend for his survival.
Nothing has changed Dammit
He was envious of Yorshka. He was envious of Hestia. He was jealous of how much stronger they all were, and blad himself for not training enough. He had gladly given up the unique skill the demonkins attached to him as a tracker, knowing it would be best if he severed all ties with the Church of Aurena, but he was lanting how he didnt know where to go now.
It mirrored Ellaines chagrin, in my opinion. Watching stronger people around you succeed, it felt like you were holding everybody back. I could sympathize with them, but power didnt co around magically.
Hestia trained hard to adapt to her new body, and so did I, even if I felt too weak compared to Hestia. At this point, though, I knew my path forward required to have patience and dedication. Tasianna understood it also, with her training with lloxtressa. Ellaine, although she accepted KleaHatmas demonic abilities as a power boost, at least she was training and making it her own at this point. Not to ntion, Grimnir using his ingenuity to weapons and creation none of us could have done without him.
As such
GO TO HELL!
You arent the only one, Kyouya
I turned my head around and transported Mother and myself into the neighboring dream, where I watched Tatsuya screaming like a wildman as he was being arrested by so policen. In front him was a knife and a young man who was extrely hard to forget with his gray-white hair. He had an unimpressed, stoic expression, glaring at Tatsuya as he was being transported into a police car.
Die, you bastard! Go die with your damn father! Fuck you for doing that to my mom! Fuck you!
But, Franz didnt respond. After all, this wasnt the actual Franz, but only an illusion Tatsuya created himself in this wonderland. I honestly couldnt understand why he was so angry about Franz, to the point he would actually try to murder him. What was this idiot boy thinking?
But before I could continue assessing the situation, the environnt changed. We werent in the middle of the streets anymore, we were now in Tatsuyas house. In his bedroom, Tatsuya pushed himself out of his bed. He was awake, again as the loop continued once again.
Honey, I dont know anymore
All we can do is continue, dear. Akabanes goal is and my position in the company as the CEO. Im sorry. Haaa, I didnt think they would send that demon at like that.
No, dont! Its alright well weather through this. The lawyer said all the evidence is flimsy at best, and the best way forward is to make sure we discredit them.
Mr. and Mrs. Nagata Tatsuyas parents. Every morning, Tatsuya would listen to what they were discussing about the court case his mother had versus Yoichiro Akabane, Japans most prominent criminal case prosecutor.
From having listened to this multiple tis, Tatsuyas mother was being sued by Akabane due to an incident in her coffee shop where the latter was given so bad coffee. And when he went to the toilet, he got into an accident from a fallen chandelier, of all things. As vindictive as he was, Akabane didnt want to absolve this out of court and sued Mrs. Nagata to bring down her establishnt.
It was absurd to when I first heard all of this. It was crazy and seed so far-fetched until I realized how I was reborn in the body of a garm. Stranger things could have happened, not the ntion how the Mr. Nagata believed this was an orchestrated accident just to bring him down as the CEO of the company he worked at.
From how it all proceeded, it seed Akabane pulled so strings to make sure he would win, essentially obstructing justice and faking everything for him to win his case. Not only was the whole case already nerve-wracking, when the judgent was issued, but Mrs. Nagatas heart also fainted when she heard the damages she had to pay.
Mr. Nagata paid for everything, in the end, but it still brought his wife down at what was happening. From my etings with them during the teacher-parent etings, I found them still happy together, so this incident probably didnt affect them too much, down the road. However, it seed it affected Tatsuya quite a bit, to the point he couldnt forgive Franz or his father for all of this.
But why, Franz? He wasnt involved in any of this. I thought Tatsuya was blaming an innocent, only to learn he was holding a grudge for Franz because the latter rejected trying to persuade his father to give up the case. Enemies could be made with lesser reasons.
After all, who was to say Franz could have done anything in the first place? It was irrational of Tatsuya, and this irrationality affected his dream. He was trying to find a way to solve this situation in his mind, seemingly carrying a trauma from seeing his mother crying from all the stress and being worried her coffee shop would be closed. His love for coffee ca from his mother, and he beca even more addicted to it when he learned his mother could lose her business.
And all of this culminated in him looping his days over and over again. He was fixated on a ridiculous goal. His hatred for Franz was growing more intense with every loop, and it was to the point where the killer instincts he had nurtured in his days in Peolynca was coming out.
Even now, he was trying to sneak up to Franz with a knife. He was going mad.
Stop.
Huh?!
Ive seen enough. I couldnt watch Tatsuya sabotage himself any longer. With no intention of allowing him to continue this alone, I grabbed his arm and disard him in one quick move. Tatsuyas looked shocked as he noticed , before I released his hand.
S-Sens
Enough is enough. Three weeks have passed at this point and you are still stuck in this ridiculous loop of yours. Wake up, Tatsuya-kun.
He tilted his head. He was confused at what was going on. Spending three weeks in this fantasy of his probably corrupted his brain and sense of reality.
Oh goodness I facepald myself before I thought what Kronnaz had been doing, believing this was the best path for these boys to grow. Such a barbaric thod of teaching was just idiotic!
There was only one way to deal with this and that was the right way.
Mother, please assist .
[Just as I showed you.]
The first thing I learned from Belzac [Shadow Armant] expansion. Instead of covering a single item or a person, the next step for strong monsters was to expand their elental presence around the area. To give yourself a ho advantage wherever you fought, you needed to spread your elental mana into the very land itself.
Shadow Armant. Yomi! (Japanese underworld)
With Mother helping control my shadow around a wide area, I began to cloak Tatsuyas dream in a dark veil. Using what I learned from using [Smokey Haze], it was actually pretty easy to spread the [Shadow Armant] around, but it beca harder the further it went. It would beco unstable.
And that was why I needed Mothers help with this. Similar to an elentalist, or how Hanazawa could use dark spells with her garm onnikais, Mother was helping by stabilizing my control until I beca more adept with it. To ensure I wrapped this whole area in my shadow.
And once I did, I could play around using the law of my shadow manipulation. As long as things were covered in my shadow, I could manipulate them in any way I wanted. And in this case, I grabbed the ground and began rging Kyouyas and Tatsuyas dreams together.
Woah! Woah, Sensei?!
The world beca dark for a mont until the light re-appeared for all of us. The first thing I did when I could see again was to snap my eyes towards a single person.
Kyouya-kun! Look up!
Huh? HUH?! Sen
Give a mont. Yomi!
Once again, I spread my mana around, this ti-consuming Kyouyas whole dream before landing on the ground. Grabbing the ground, I pulled the shadow up into the sky, shrouding everything like a curtain. Darkness had claid out sight once again.
Please, take a seat, you two.
H-Huh?!
But in the next mont, we werent in the darkness anymore. We werent in the training field where Kyouya was or the street where Tatsuya wanted to kill Franz. However, we were still in their dreams. The only difference was, the two dreams were now rged and I did so temporary changes.
Now, we were inside a very familiar room for any Shiroko High student. We were inside the counselor's room.
I took a seat on the couch. Please, take a seat.
Huh, where are we Woah! Sensei, there is a ghost garm behind you! Tatsuya cried out.
Oh, she? Let introduce you two to her, this is my mother. I gestured to Mother, who was laying behind the couch, barely fitting in the room. Now, please, take a seat, you two.
H-Hold on, I was just inside a forest. Then you two ca flying from the sky
Take a seat.
Eep!
So [True Wolven Bloodlust] and you can cajole anybody~
With both of them seated, I allowed them to ask their questions.
Sensei, where are we? I thought I was still Kyouya wanted to speak out but he beca silent all of a sudden.
If you are wondering if you are still inside your dreams, then, yes, you are. Both of you have been stuck inside this dream bubble for three weeks now, I answered to push the conversation forward.
Three weeks?! You have to be kidding Urgh, n-now, I rember. Tatsuya looked away from , looking like he was ashad of himself. I-I T-That wasnt , Sensei. I hate Daisy, b-but I wouldnt. I wouldnt do that, please, you have to believe .
Mhmm, I do, Tatsuya.
You do?
Of course, there are many things we would not want to show others in fear of them judging us. It is an entirely normal human action. I nodded to Tatsuyas elation. After all, looking through the mories of the both of you I really have to question the things you both mastur
Stop! Uwaarrrrgh!!! Both boys cringed. We were all adults here, there was nothing to be embarrassed about.
After the two cald down, Tatsuya was the first to speak up, again. Alright, alright, I really dont want to go that way, but can you tell us why the hell you would just look through our mories?
Oh, I was not the one who was looking through your mories. At worst, my mother looked through them and was trying to share them with . Believe , I sure did not want to learn your fetishes. Both boys groaned, but I ignored them. In any case, the two of you were showing your mories by reliving them. As I said, you have been here for three weeks now. It is ti for the both of you to wake up, so that is why I am here.
How will you help us? Kyouya asked, slightly hesitant to know the answer.
I smiled and then began gesturing around the room, presenting it as my reply. Shouldnt it be obvious? It has been a while since we have done one, but I believe you two need it, right now. Let us talk about your future~
It was career, slash, Job counseling ti.
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