Mister Inokori

VII: Interesting

The bell rang as Sora sat down in his usual seat, but he noticed right away that something was different. A piece of paper was placed on his desk. He looked back and forth for anyone looking at him to maybe give him a clue but at that time, Inokori had stood up and begun a ritual that Sora Yoshitaka had never seen before.

Inokori stood up and walked around his desk so that all the detention bond students could notice his towering figure. He opened his mouth and asked, "Why are all of you here?"

All the students stood up and Sora Yoshitaka slid the piece of paper into his pocket as he followed suit. He was a few seconds behind but no one dared comment on his delay. "To learn my lesson and to renew my knowledge," they answered with a bow before they sat back down. Robots were everyone who served in detention, robots.

Another hour of punishment. How could these students survive being still for a whole hour? Why did it have to be like this? Why did he have to do this? Sora did not know. He didn't have to go to Inokori's detentions but for some reason, he went. The only thing he could move was his eyes. The only thing that kept him sane for the hour was making observations of the room. Everything detailed was etched into his brain.

The walls were a light grey with a shade of grey that was a bit darker than the green of the English textbooks that were stored on the shelf. Shelves lined the walls on both sides of the room. To the left were the wide windows to freedom where short shelves started a few inches under where the windows sills ended. To the right were tells shelves. Half of these were open shelves and the other half, the ones on the back were covered with glass, perhaps the better term for them was cabinets. Sora didn't know.

Finally, Sora caught the eyes of the E-2 English teacher; his crush, and his (hopefully) future lover. He could stare into the man's eyes all day if he wanted to but perhaps an hour a day of detention would be fine if he got the chance to stare into that man's eyes. His eyes were as black as the night sky with all of its vast space and as deep as the abyss or chasm. Sora Yoshitaka wondered if he could ever find the real Inokori in his crush's eyes. What was he really like? Surely he wasn't as mean and heartless as this English teacher in front of him. Did he like walking on a warm beach or a snowy forest? What did he like to do after school and on the weekends? And most importantly: did Inokori like him back? Sora did not know if he could ask that question to his crush and maybe someday.

"Sora," came a voice it was soft but firm like a father telling his daughter off for disobeying her curfew rule but keeping it low to not wake up anyone else in the house. Yoshitaka looked up; it was Mister Inokori. "Sit up straight," was all he said.

Sora Yoshitaka's face lit up like the red lights on a Christmas tree as he mumbled a jumbled response that not even he could decipher.

***

Sora could only take a breath as the bell rang at four post meridian signaling the end of detention. Just like yesterday, everyone stood up then Inokori said, "I hope you all learned your lesson." The students bowed their heads and silently exited the door after bowing their heads again for Mr. Inokori at the door and saying, "My knowledge has been renewed" when they were standing once again.

And just like last time, Mister Yoshitaka was spotted by Mister Inokori. "I'm sorry for using your given name," Inokori said, his emotional side slowly being shown. "It was rude of me, but you gave off the impression to me yesterday that you did not want your occupation known to the students." Inokori turkey looked sorry for his actions which only made Yoshitaka want to hug him more.

"Oh, it's okay, Inokori, I don't mind if you call me by my given name at all, whether it is in front of the kids or just the two of us." A breath of blush touched his checks as the last part of his sentence faded away.

The two of them just stood there, an awkward zephyr floating between them.

"Well, I guess I should head home," Mister Inokori said, as he slowly grabbed his bag and slung it around one of his shoulders.

What?! It can't end like this! How awkward is that? I felt as though something happened here. I won't let him get away! In an act of impulse, or perhaps stupidity, Sora Yoshitaka grabbed Mister Inokori's hand stopping him from packing up. The other man froze at the sudden touch and looked down at their hands then upwards at Yoshitaka. Sora's eyes went wide, what had he done!

Quickly, he retracted his hands and hand then up in the air like he was rendering to the police. "Would you like to come over to my house to discuss teaching plans?" was the first thing that scrambled out of his mouth. He covered his mouth and then said, "I-I'm sorry!" before turning and running through the doorway and into the bathroom.

He slammed the door shut and in a mess, sunk onto the floor. He looked as red and as "juicy" as a tomato. Sora tried to fan himself to calm himself down but his heart was beating way too fast and he could not get over the fact that he actually asking him out on a date. What had he done indeed?

After a few minutes of taking deep breaths and splashing his face with water, Sora noticed a little piece of paper. In all the craziness, he had completely forgotten about it. After he rubbed some paper towels in his hands, he read the note aloud to himself.

"Meet me on the rooftop after detention tomorrow."

Who was it from, what did they want to talk about, and why did they want to talk to him specifically? The handwriting looked very neat which pointed itself to being a girl but that didn't really mean anything. Boys could have nice handwriting as well. He did. Sora Yoshitaka guessed that he would have to wait until after school tomorrow to find out.