Chapter 270 Unspoken Concern
".Akai-sensei, why did you choose to go abroad?"

"Because I didn't meet the standards of the universities here, I failed the written test, so I could only rely on the little money I had saved over the years to try to go to the United States. In fact, when I went to the United States, I worked hard and was admitted to the Ithaca Conservatory of Music. I still had hope for my future, hoping to improve myself. But later, as I said just now."

"."

"Sorry, I think I said too much."

"Akai-sensei, are you okay?"

Akai Muzi waved her hand calmly, "It's okay, what's the problem? I understood this a long time ago. I should say I've gotten used to it. I'm just saying it now because there hasn't been anyone suitable to listen to me nagging about it."

"."

"Okay, okay," Akai Muzi reached out and patted Hiiragi Rinka's back, then said to her with a smile, "Let's go eat. After dinner, I'll help you with your homework."

After saying this, Akai Muzi stood up and went upstairs carrying the beer cans she bought on the way.

Hiiragi Rinka just watched her go up the stairs step by step, and the light of the setting sun fell on her back at this time.

dinner.

Just like yesterday, the three of them sat around a small table.

Rinka Hiiragi heard Aunt Akai ask Mr. Akai about today's blind date.

"We met, had dinner, and then walked around the street."

"What happens next?"

"Gone."

"It's gone?"

"Ah."

"Did you leave your contact information?"

"No."

"You didn't even leave any contact information?!"

Akai Shiori was immediately disappointed when she saw her daughter's indifferent attitude. She asked again:
"Muzi, do you think he's not good enough, or do you think his looks don't suit your taste? Being a doctor in Sapporo's central hospital shouldn't be too bad for you, right?"

"Not bad, everything is good. He even brought me a gift when we first met, although I didn't accept it."

"Then you don't even leave contact information?!"

Akai Muzi ate her meal calmly: "I simply have no interest in him."

"."

Akai Shiori was now completely speechless, but also became even more silent.

After taking a shower at night and going to bed, Rinka Hiiragi pulled the quilt to her chest and kept looking at the unfamiliar ceiling above her head.

The past that Akai-sensei talked about this evening can't be shaken off from my mind.

As soon as she closed her eyes, she seemed to be able to see the image of Mr. Akai in high school.

She tried her best to keep the promise, but she was always trapped by the mediocrity of her own talent. No matter how she wanted to move forward, there were always people who did better than her.
Rinka Hiiragi inexplicably thought of her past self.

She dropped out of the wind orchestra in junior high school because she felt she couldn't keep up with everyone else, right?
Everyone has made progress and everyone can keep up with the instructor's training, but I am the only one who is lagging behind.

This kind of self-blame and the feeling of being talked about behind my back accumulated little by little, and eventually dragged down my confidence, so I chose to quit.

Teacher Akai must want to catch up with Teacher Fujii very much, right?
After all, for Akai, Fujii is the first ray of light in her life.
The next morning, Rinka Hiiragi got up in a daze. After washing up, she found that Teacher Akai had also gotten up and was making breakfast in the kitchen, so she thought about helping her.

Just as Rinka Hiiragi approached, the spatula that Akai teacher was using to stir the eggs suddenly fell to the ground. Then she held her forehead and her body staggered as if she was about to fall backwards.

"Akai-sensei!"

Hiiragi Rinka hurried forward to support him.

"Are you okay?"

"Rinka."

"Teacher Akai, you look like you're not feeling well. Didn't you sleep yesterday?"

Akai Muzi held her forehead, frowned and shook it off, "It's okay, I just slept a little late last night."

"How about you take a leave, Mr. Akai? I noticed that you were not in a good state yesterday. You are also helping Mr. Fujii to teach so many classes. Mr. Fujii has too many classes to begin with."

"It's nothing. I'm rushing to school now. I can take a nap for half an hour. No need to say more."

"."

Seeing that Akai Muzi didn't listen to her advice, Rinka Hiiragi had no choice but to step forward and lend a hand, helping to make breakfast.

When we got to school, the first class was English.

Akai Muzi needs to make preparations in advance.

"Teacher Akai, Teacher Akai!" A teacher from another office suddenly walked up to her and spoke to her.

"what happened?"

"Teacher Fujii didn't come today, right?"

"He had a high fever and stayed away for an extra day. He is still in the hospital."

"Then you will still be taking his class today, Mr. Akai, right?"

"Ah."

"I switched classes with Mr. Fujii a few times before because of the exam preparation. I'm telling you about this."

Akai Muzi frowned. No wonder she felt that the course schedule written by Ashu yesterday did not match, and the progress was a little inconsistent with other classes.

"Then today"

"I'm going to give it back to Mr. Fujii today! Well, to be honest, I really have to trouble him. He has fallen behind, and the class exams will definitely be affected. But the students in Class A are also amazing. Even though they have fallen behind in Chinese class, their grades are still ranked second in the grade. I'm going to trouble you, Mr. Akai, today."

"."

Akai Muzi originally wanted to refuse, but she had fallen behind in her Chinese class and must find time to catch up.

After all, Jubei strictly prohibits teachers from conducting private activities such as tutoring classes.

If we fall behind in progress, we have to fall behind in progress. We can’t take up students’ rest time. We have to find a way to solve the problem ourselves.

If I let Ashu postpone these two classes.
He has already prepared all the lesson plans, and he doesn't know how much work he will have to rearrange in the future. Eighty percent of the lesson plans will have to be revised just to speed up.

"That's fine."

"Sorry to bother you, Mr. Akai!"

"fine."

There were four classes in a row at noon. Akai Muzi finished her lunch quickly, and then took advantage of the lunch break to open the lesson plan given to her by Fujii Itsuki and began to review his lesson plan so that she could understand it.

The most difficult thing about what Fujii Itsuki writes is that everything he writes is too summary.

Just like a long program, even if you are also a programmer like the person who wrote it at this level, it still takes some time to understand and comprehend the code that he has not commented on.

If even the teacher can’t understand it, how can he teach the students?
You can't just read from the script, right?

The headache for Akai Muzi is that the teacher just mentioned this matter this morning, so she has to hurry up and read more of what Fujii Itsuki wrote.

She didn't sleep for a moment during lunch break, and finally got all the things out in time for class.

I simply re-read it and arrived at Class A classroom five minutes late.

Matsumae Koharu: "Stand up!"

As soon as the monitor called out, the other students stood up, bent down, and said "Good afternoon, teacher" at the same time.

Akai Muzi didn't say much. After seeing that all the students were in the classroom, she picked up the chalk and started the class.

According to the schedule, the text to be studied today is "Kokoro" by Natsume Soseki, and the excerpt is the core conflict between "Mr." and "K" outside the protagonist's perspective.

Akai Muzi held the chalk above her head and wrote down each word stroke by stroke. But halfway through, she realized something was wrong.

Why does this word seem to be floating?

Like a little elf.

Floating and dizzy. She subconsciously held her head and turned around, only to find that all her classmates looked frightened.

Many of them stood up, and some were even shouting “Akai-sensei!”?
That's how it should be shouted, right?

Confused, but Akai Muzi didn't delve into it because she didn't know why she was particularly sleepy.

"fine."

"Akai-sensei! Just now."

"It's okay. I just feel a little dizzy. I'll go to the bathroom and continue with the class when I come back." Akai Muzi held her forehead and left. Hiiragi Rinka became more and more worried as she watched from behind.

About ten minutes later, Akai Muzi returned to the classroom.

As before, I will continue to teach you.

When school was over, Rinka Hiiragi saw that Akai Muko looked a little unhappy in the club.

She tried to approach and start a conversation.

".Akagi-sensei, how about taking a day off tomorrow?"

".Need not."

"But you were so tired during class today, teacher!"

".That's because I didn't sleep long enough yesterday. Go to bed early today."

"."

When it was time to go home from school, Rinka Hiiragi still went home with Muko Akai.

She kept observing Akai Muko when she returned home.

Fortunately, the situation is still normal and nothing happened.

Just when she was almost home, she saw Akai-sensei casually bought a can of beer at the convenience store, and she only took a small sip while walking on the road.

Hiiragi Rinka's eyes suddenly widened, "Akai-sensei!"

Akai Muzi fell on the grass.

Hiiragi Rinka quickly dropped her schoolbag and began to shake Akai Muko, while shaking, she kept shouting loudly:
"Akai-sensei! Akai-sensei!"

*
"tsk"

I don’t know how long it took, but I just had a headache.

When Akai Muzi opened her eyes again, she found herself lying in the hospital.

The sky outside the window seemed to her to be dim just now, but in a moment, it was already dawn?!

Hiiragi Rinka was sitting in front of her bed, head down, looking drowsy and as if her head was about to fall off.

Akai Muzi tried to prop herself up.

hiss.
My head hurts when I move.

"Ah? Mr. Akai, you finally woke up."

"here."

"It was in the hospital. Yesterday evening, Mr. Akai was walking on the road when you suddenly fell to the ground! You scared me!"

"Is it."

Hiiragi Rinka lowered her head: "The doctor said that you were overly tired, and you drank too much alcohol. The fatigue accumulated was too much, so you fell to the ground. Aunt Akai is going to get you food now."

“At the school.”

“Today is Saturday”

"Saturday? Forgot to thank Rinka."

"No, it's okay. Teacher, you took care of me these two days. I should be the one to say thank you to you."

Akai Muzi lay back on the hospital bed and closed her eyes.

"Has Mr. Fujii recovered from his high fever?"

“I don’t know, but it should be fine.”

Akai Muzi didn't say anything.

Hiiragi Rinka secretly glanced at her several times, then mustered up her courage and whispered in her ear:
"Teacher Fujii still doesn't know that you, Teacher Akai, are in the hospital."

Akai Muzi turned sideways, with her back facing Hiiragi Rinka.

"No need to tell him."

"Ah?" Rinka Hiiragi was quite surprised as she looked at Akai Muko's back.

"Nothing, I just fainted accidentally, it's nothing important."

"But, Mr. Akai, you fainted from exhaustion because you were substituting for Mr. Fujii."

"."

Akai Muzi still had her eyes closed.

She was silent. Hiiragi Rinka was timid. She thought for a long time but didn't know what to say, so she could only remain silent.

At this moment, she felt that the back of Mr. Akai lying on the hospital bed was so lonely.

"."

"Rinka."

"Yes!" Hiiragi Rinka quickly agreed.

"You know why I don't want him to know?"

".I don't quite understand."

"Given your teacher Fujii's personality, what do you think he will do after he finds out I'm in the hospital?"

"I will definitely bring gifts to see you, teacher."

"Do you understand what I'm resisting?"

".Teacher Akai, you. don't want Mr. Fujii's attention." Rinka Hiiragi replied.

"He is the most caring person and can't bear to see people around him needing him. If he knew I was in the hospital, he would definitely come over and find out from me why I was in the hospital.

"As a friend, it doesn't matter that he cares about me. But I can't stand his care, and I can't stand him feeling a little guilty about me.

"After all, no matter how much he cares, I still have to stay in this hospital alone to recuperate.

"Instead of feeling bad and wanting to drink later, it's better to stop doing this now."

"But. But!"

Hiiragi Rinka's voice suddenly became much quieter, "Teacher Akai, you must also want Teacher Fujii to come and see you, right?"

"fine."

".Before you fainted yesterday, Mr. Akai, you kept saying you were fine."

Akai Muzi: “.”

"Rinka, I want to rest now."

".Then, I'll be leaving first."

Rinka Hiiragi bowed towards Akai Muko's back and then walked out of the ward.

Instead of going anywhere else, she leaned against the door of the ward.

She lowered her head and stared at her toes.

She was wondering what kind of mood Akai-sensei was in.
Teacher, she should have expressed her feelings to Mr. Fujii more than once, right?

It’s just because the teacher knows that she will not be accepted by Mr. Fujii, so she has always been in this state.

Now Fujii-sensei is also responsible for Xiaoyue and the others' feelings. He definitely can't agree to Akai-sensei's request.
Rinka Hiiragi looked through the crack in the door and glanced at Akai Muko's back in the ward again.

No matter how you look at this figure lying alone on the hospital bed, it is distressing.

Hiiragi Rinka shook her head.

She felt that this would definitely not work.

If Akai-sensei has never communicated seriously with Fujii-sensei again, Akai-sensei won't even be able to resolve his heart knot.

I will definitely keep it in my heart for the rest of my life.

She didn't know if what she was doing was right, but if she didn't try to speak, nothing would change.

at least
At least this time, we have to let Mr. Fujii know that Mr. Akai is in the hospital.

Rinka Hiiragi looked at Akai Muzi's back on the hospital bed again, put down her phone hesitantly, turned around decisively, went downstairs and left the hospital.

(End of this chapter)