The Destiny

Ms. Hiratsuka retrieved a Seven Star from a ****** pocket that looked like

it was about to burst and tapped the filter twice on her desk. It was something

a middle-aged man would do. When she was done packing the tobacco, she

flicked her cheap lighter and ignited the cigarette. She exhaled some smoke,

an extremely serious look on her face as she fixed her gaze upon me once

more.

“You haven’t tried joining any clubs, have you?”

“No, ma’am.”

“Do you have any friends?” she asked, knowing full well I don’t have

any.

“M-my motto is to treat everyone equally, so I have a policy of not

keeping anyone particularly closer than anyone else!”

“In other words, you have no friends?”

“I-if you want to be that blunt about it…,” I replied.

Ms. Hiratsuka beamed with motivation. “I see! So you don’t after all! Just

as I thought. I could tell the minute I saw those rotten, sordid eyes of yours.”

You saw it in my eyes? Then why ask?!

Ms. Hiratsuka nodded to herself, satisfied, before giving me a sheepish

look. “Do you…have a girlfriend or anything?”

“Or anything?” What was that supposed to mean? What would she say if I

said I had a boyfriend? “Not right now.” I tentatively included some hope for

the future in my emphasis on the words right now.

“I see…” This time when she looked at me, her eyes were somewhat

moist. I want to believe that it was just irritation from the cigarette smoke.

Hey, stop that. Don’t point that tepid, patronizing gaze at me.

But seriously, what’s with this line of questioning? Does she think she’s in

some kind of inspirational teacher movie? Next, are we gonna hear some line

or other from the rotten delinquent? Is the dropout going back to her old

school as a teacher? I sure wish she would go back.

After Ms. Hiratsuka finished pondering, she expelled a smoke-filled sigh.

“Okay, let’s say this. You do your report over.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Sure, this time I’ll just spew out some completely

inoffensive paper, like something a pinup idol or a professional voice actress

might write on her blog. Like Today I had…curry for dinner! What was the

point of that ellipsis? Nothing that followed it was surprising at all.

Everything she’d said up until that point was to be expected. What camenext was beyond my imagining.

“But still, you were callous, and your attitude toward me was hurtful.

Were you never taught not to bring up a woman’s age? So I’m ordering you

to do some community service. Wrongdoing must be punished after all,” Ms.

Hiratsuka announced gleefully, her manner so perky I couldn’t imagine she

was remotely hurt—actually, wasn’t she even perkier than usual?

Oh yeah…and the word perky just happened to remind me of another

word—breasts. Much like my train of thought, my eyes strayed from reality

and toward the teacher’s boobs, pushing up from underneath her blouse. How

depraved. But what kind of person gets so giddy about punishing someone,

seriously?

“Community service? What do you want me to do?” I asked timidly.

Based on her demeanor, I expected her to order me to clear ditches or stage a

kidnapping or something.

“Come with me.” She pressed her cigarette into an ashtray already filled

to capacity and stood. She’d offered no explanation or preface to her order, so

I paused. Noticing from the doorway that I wasn’t moving, she turned back to

me. “Come on, hurry up.”

Flustered by her glare and furrowed brows, I followed

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