"Through consistent response and lack of evidence," the principal concluded, "Shizuka, the school board is letting you off with a warning."

I heard a slight audible sigh from Hiratsuka-sensei. There were no words I could really think of saying, I just stood there, hands joined behind my back.

"Hikgaya-kun," he digressed,"Do you have anything that opposes the board's decisions?"

"Huh? Uhh, nothing. They are all completely false and misunderstood. Hiratsuka-sensei devotes a generous amount of time to help me after school hours are long over. Her efforts are the main reason behind my recent academic improvement."

"I see, well then...Shizuka-san, see to it that these kind of speculations are never to rise again. Next time, it'll have to be your career, I'm sorry. Have a good day you two."

We both bowed and turned to walk out the room.

I sighed a sigh of relief. The tension seemed to be over. I was relieved, ready to, hopefully, start anew. Hiratsuka-sensei, she walked out of that room changed. She came out different from the young woman who walked into that office but thirty minutes ago.

She paced ahead of me, not once really looking back, not saying a word. Her, hands linked behind her back as she walked, her head down. She continued a her solemn walk, straight out the front door and past the staff parking lot, hanging a left at the street and continuing down for a long while. She had a car, does she intend to walk home?

Soon we were quite a distance from the high school in a deserted area of a park. I grew tired of this.

"Why won't you say anything-"

"Stop following me," she said, continuing to walk.

I was confused. Why?

"Hiratuska...Shizuka!"

She didn't even twitch at the sounding of her first name. Normally, it'd snag her attention whenever I'd say it.

"Shizuka," I emphasized, grabbing ahold of her hand, gripping it tightly.

She stammered and paused her walk. I held her hand tightly and I tertwined our fingers. "Sensei, what- What is wrong? Why aren't you saying anything? Aren't you glad? Usually, the average person would be joyed at success."

"Hikigaya-kun...I am happy. Truly- But, that's the thing. If I get caught, or even just speculated to be in this situation, a relationship between teacher and student, and I will lose my career!"

She quickly glanced around, thoroughly scanning the surrounding area for students or staff. No signs of anyone.

Her grip on my hand tightened, and she inverted her palm revealing her fingers. They were bare, plain where most any other adult of her age would have a golden ring.

"Sensei. I will graduate soon. We can be together. Legally! No more judgement. It'll all work out. We can get what we want! You can have what you want!"

"Hachiman...you've gotten so soft, so OOC..."

Of course she'd use terminology from countless readings of shounen manga in real life.

"Yeah, okay maybe I've gotten a bit softer. It's because I'm with you!"

She stuttered.

"Graduation is just a few mere months away, literally just one or two! So what? We can make this work!"

She let out an outburst scream. I immediately stopped. Her grip on my hand tightened.

"Hikigaya..." she said turning to me, "it's not that simple...everything I've stived to be, my reason for existence, it's all on the line." There were tears streaming down her face, dripping onto her lab coat. "All my life I've been working so add to get my teaching credentials. I've endured so long, and lost so much," she sobbed.

She brought our linked hands up. "Normally you'd see a ring, right? The reason why Im not like everyone else is because I always focused on work. Hikigaya...us together...I've been genuinely happy, the most I've been in a long time, but...my career as an educator, if I continue I could lose it. Hikigaya...it's all I have," she whimpered,"but I don't want to lose you either..."

She crumpled to the ground. I took her in embrace and held her tightly.

Her teaching career. It was all she had in her life. The last remaining source of happiness in her life. If she loses it, her world would basically be over, and there is no telling what kind of dark end may affect her if she loses it. There's no telling what kind of dark ending she'll do to herself for the matter. I'd always viewed Sensei as a strong and independent young woman, however the closer I'd gotten to her, the more I've come to realize just how fragile she actually is. Teaching, life as an educator of Japan's future, this is all she had. She'd almost given up everything. This career, it is her one remaining bullet to make a mark and leave behind a legacy. If she loses it, she loses everything. It's as if she never had existed.

All this being said, she was lonely. She just indicated to me that this was the happiest shed been in a long time, the last time most likely being her commissioning as a teacher at the school, which was probably some many years ago. Her story almost brought tears to my eyes. Ironically, it was me, her student, who was now holding her future in my hands, who is supporting her, and is there for her, comforting her, literally right now.

I held her tightly and brought her in closely.

"I won't let them..." I spoke.

She continued to cry into my blazer, although with a lower frequency, so I knew she was listening.

"I won't let them take your career away. It'll be you, it has to be you. It'll have no meaning if it's anyone else. When I graduate...Sensei, it's going to be you that stage when I go up. It's going to be you, calling our class to stage. I wil be sure of it."

I ran my hand through her soft hair and held her tightly.

"I'll stand by you," I said,"I'm not leaving, nor will I let them take your career away. I'll fix this."

I brought her in closer than close. The heat between our bodies was really starting to accumulate.

Time to have a little chat.