𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟓𝟖: 𝐓𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫’𝐬 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐋𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧

Why.

Why has it come to this?

Why has it ended up like this?

ㅤ

“Cough. . .”

ㅤ

A clot of blood spills from my mouth.

My heart must have been pierced by the sword, damaging my lungs.

Blood flowing from my lungs through my windpipe seems to be overflowing from my mouth.

Probably, I can’t be saved anymore.

ㅤ

“. . .”

ㅤ

With my last strength, silently, without changing my expression at all, I look at the face of the child who pierced me with the sword.

Mamoru Honjo-san.

A student I, as a teacher, couldn’t save.

And a student who ultimately became a murderer.

ㅤ

“. . .S. . .ry.”

ㅤ

I’m sorry.

But even the words I intended to say didn’t become a voice, blocked by the blood stuck in my windpipe.

And perhaps due to the bleeding, my consciousness keeps fading.

Just before dying, memories of my not-so-long teaching career floated in my mind.

Is this what they call a life flashing before one’s eyes?

ㅤ

ㅤ

🔹𝐀𝐰𝐞𝐛𝐬𝐭o𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬.𝐜𝐨𝐦 ― 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐥𝐠𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞c𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 “𝐝𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐮𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬” 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐝v𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬🔹

ㅤ

I was a novice, only in my first year of a teaching career.

The class I was first entrusted with as a newly appointed teacher.

At that time, I was full of motivation and enthusiasm.

I was determined to guide these kids to grow up to be fine individuals.

ㅤ

However, such ideals were shattered in an instant.

ㅤ

One of the students, Mamoru Honjo-san.

Even from my same-sex perspective, I thought this student was incredibly beautiful, yet she was suffering from intense bullying.

I tried to counsel her many times, but her eyes were clouded, she wouldn’t listen to my words.

ㅤ

Then, not even a month after I became the class’s homeroom teacher, Honjo-san became a non-attender.

I visited her home many times and discussed it with her parents, but Honjo-san never showed signs of leaving her home.

As time passed, and then ━━ that incident happened.

ㅤ

During a home-room session one day, a strange light suddenly appeared on the classroom floor.

Swallowed by that light, me and the students were transported to an incomprehensible place called another world, as nonsensical beings called heroes.

ㅤ

And then, we were told to fight against a terrifying entity called the Demon Lord to save the world.

I can’t involve the students in such danger.

I have a duty to protect the other students, even for the sake of Honjo-san, whom I couldn’t protect, and to make up with Honjo-san someday.

ㅤ

Despite that, the students were enthusiastic about the fight.

I don’t understand.

I don’t understand the thinking of the young.

What’s so fun about a life-threatening battle?

ㅤ

Still, I somehow negotiated and ended up borrowing the power of Shindou-kun, but at the very least, we made a promise not to force students who didn’t want to fight.

But that’s all I could do.

All else I could do was keep training my unique skill [Spatial Magic] to prevent the fighting students from dying, so I could escape with them at any time and follow them to the battlefield.

ㅤ

And battles were terrifying.

Even if it’s against monsters, seeing the moment a life is lost was truly scary. Seeing students happily taking the life of monsters was scary too, but I couldn’t be the only one to run away.

My job is to return everyone to Japan without losing a single person, reflect on the case of Honjo-san, and get back to a normal school life with everyone.

I’ve been trying my best, reminding myself of that.

ㅤ

As a result, I’m on the verge of dying like this.

And by the hand of a student I was supposed to save.

Ah, truly, I’m an incompetent teacher who couldn’t accomplish anything.

ㅤ

The direct cause of what happened was my speaking to three students, Sakuma-san, Hagakure-san, and Ishijun-kun, who had been acting suspiciously.

These three were a close-knit group and non-combatants.

After the debut ceremony tomorrow, it has been decided that they, along with other non-combatant students, will evacuate to a country known as the EhrfleIt Sacred Nation, said to be the safest in the world.

ㅤ

When the people from the Goddess Church came to escort them, I felt. . .a mixed emotion. It was something like relief, yet somewhat unpleasant.

I didn’t want the students to be scattered in this world, but considering their safety, it was the best decision.

ㅤ

However, before leaving this country, the three of them expressed a desire to take a walk freely in the city, just once.

They said they were fed up with being cooped up in the castle, only going outside when it was time to level up.

ㅤ

Thinking that they too were stressed, I agreed, on the condition that I would accompany them.

No matter what dangers we might face, as long as I was there, we could escape instantly with Spatial Magic’s 《Teleport》.

But in hindsight, this was a bad decision.

It was inappropriate to act on our own on the eve of an important ceremony.

Maybe my thinking was impaired due to fatigue and stress.

ㅤ

So, we sneaked out of the church where we were staying overnight for tomorrow’s event, hidden by Hagakure-san’s Unique Skill [Spirited Away].

Hagakur-san, with her low MP due to insufficient level, couldn’t sustain her energy-intensive Unique Skill for a long time. She deactivated the skill after exiting the back door.

However, there were no guards at the back door, so we could easily get out.

ㅤ

As we were secretly moving through the back alleys, she appeared.

ㅤ

“It’s been a long time, teacher.”

ㅤ

A voice that shouldn’t be here.

The figure of a student I had wanted to meet but couldn’t, a student I had tried to save but failed.

She looked at me with an expressionless face, like a mask.

ㅤ

“Hon. . .jo. . .san. . .”

ㅤ

In contrast to me, who froze due to the sudden reunion, Honjo-san slowly walked towards me.

And with a very natural movement, she pulled out the sword at her waist, and――pierced my chest.

ㅤ

“Eh?”

ㅤ

I couldn’t comprehend what happened.

But the pain in my chest was real.

The fact that she had stabbed me was real.

I kind of understood that I was going to die.

My life flashed before my eyes.

Finally, the thought that “Ah, I was hated after all,” crossed my mind.

ㅤ

“. . .so. . .rry.”

ㅤ

I’m sorry.

The words I wanted to say disappeared without becoming a voice, and my consciousness began to fade into the darkness.

Oh.

In the end, I couldn’t do anything.

I really am a terrible teacher.

I’m really sorry. . .for being such a terrible teacher. . .Hon. . .jo. . .san. . .

---