About twenty minutes had passed by since I began waiting for Charlotte to arrive at the scene when the door to the staff room was violently flung open.
When my eyes reflexively turned towards the door and landed on the sweating Charlotte, she seemed a lot different from the beautiful appearance of hers from this morning.
Her breathing was rough, making her seem very tired.
From her appearance, it is clear that she was looking for Emma with all that she had.
“Emma? Where is Emma!?”
“Calm down, Charlotte. Your sister is sleeping over there.”
In contrast to the frenzied Charlotte, Miyu-sensei calmly points behind her back where Emma is sleeping.
Emma was extremely tired, and as such, about five minutes earlier, she had sat down on the chair and entered the land of dreams.
Looking at her sleeping sister, Charlotte’s knees gave out as she fell on the floor.
“Are you okay…?”
She suddenly sat down, so I worriedly called out.
Charlotte, who was called out by me, looked in my direction. However, since she was on the floor, she had to look at me with upturned eyes.
Probably because she was worried about Emma, her eyes were teary and a bit red.
…Honestly. She’s way too cute.
“I am really sorry… I was so relieved that my knees gave out.”
“Yes. I understand how you feel. If I returned home and found my sister missing, I would also freak out and desperately search for her. And when I finally find her, I’d be relieved from the bottom of my heart.”
“You’re right… When I got home and couldn’t find her, I felt blood leaving my whole body… Aoyagi-kun, you found her, right? Thank you very much.”
Charlotte politely bowed as she expressed her gratitude. She can speak Japanese pretty fluently. However, her speech resembles that of a young lady’s. [1] Who was the one that taught her Japanese? I am curious about how she learned Japanese, but I have other things to worry about right now.
“You remember my name?”
I don’t remember introducing myself to her.
Well, she must’ve overheard my name since the teachers and classmates have called my name several times, but I didn’t think she would’ve remembered it.
“Ah, it’s because you helped me when I was in trouble. Also, Hanazawa-sensei told me to rely on you if I ever had a problem, so I knew your name. It’s just as she said, you truly are a reliable person.”
Charlotte suddenly complimented me, and I turned my face away. My face was probably red, so I didn’t want her to see it.
By Hanazawa-sensei, she means Miyu-sensei, but I never expected to be introduced to Charlotte like that. Despite being a little embarrassed, I am honestly happy. It makes me think that maybe it isn’t so bad to be used by Miyu-sensei on a daily basis.
“Aoyagi, it’s unusual for you to be flustered. Isn’t your face bright red?”
…I regret feeling grateful to this person even for a moment.
“Stop being noisy. I’m not flustered.”
“Oh~? Is that so~? Should I send Aki a picture of your face?”
“Why are you bringing Aki up in this conversation!? Oh, shit! I forgot about Aki!”
I was about to contact Aki, but I forgot to do so because of all the teasing ever since I entered the staff room. It’s obvious at this point, but it is already long past the scheduled time. I gently retrieved my smartphone from Emma’s hand in order to not wake her up, and checked to see if there were any notifications.
――As expected, notifications of multiple missed calls and messages filled the smartphone display. Naturally, the one on the other side of all of these is Aki.
“You’ve really done it now…”
“Why are you acting like this has nothing to do with you, Miyu-sensei…? This is half your fault, you know?”
“…Oi, Aoyagi. I’ll give you some money, so buy a cake and give it to Aki for the time being.”
Miyu-sensei admitted that it was her fault as well and handed me a thousand-yen bill. I believe this will be enough to restore Aki’s bad mood. Of course, the one who would be most affected by Aki’s mood is none other than Miyu-sensei.
“Thank you. Well then, I should go already. Charlotte, I’ll see you tomorrow—wait, Emma!?”
When I tried to leave the staff room after receiving money from Miyu-sensei. Emma, who was supposed to be asleep, grabbed the hem of my clothes. I have no idea why she is grabbing my clothes.
“Onii-chan, where are you going?”
Although it seems she is still half-awake, Emma is looking at me with an uneasy expression.
“Sorry, I have to leave. Your sister is here, so it’s alright.”
In order to keep her from worrying, I gave her a smile and turned my eyes towards Charlotte. Emma followed my gaze and looked in the same direction, and after confirming that her sister was standing there, her face brightened up.
“Onee-chan!”
She joyfully called out to her sister and rushed to her side—or so I thought, except, she was stubbornly holding onto my clothes. Why doesn’t she let me go…?
“Emma. He seems to have something important to do, so you should let him go. Let’s go home together.”
Despite being very anxious, Charlotte had a gentle smile on her face. I think it’s important to scold her, but from her attitude, I can discern that she’s as kind as she looks.
“…No!”
Emma, who was asked to return to Charlotte’s side, turned her face away from Charlotte for some reason. This behaviour of her’s confused Charlotte.
“Emma, what is it? Don’t you want to go home with your sister?”
“Emma wants to be with Onii-chan… I will go home with Onii-chan…”
“““““Eh!?”””””
“What? What happened?”
Everyone in the staff room was surprised at Emma’s sudden declaration. Only Miyu-sensei, who doesn’t understand English, cocked her head in confusion.
“Ah… Well… Emma wants to be with Aoyagi-kun… So she’s saying that she wants to go back with Aoyagi-kun…”
After realizing that Miyu-sensei doesn’t understand English, the kind Charlotte made an interpretation. I feel like it would be better to pay attention to your sister rather than Miyu-sensei.
“I understand… There is that thing with Aki… But it’s fine. Aoyagi, go home with them.”
“Are you serious? There’s no way I can do that!”
“Why not?”
“No, it shouldn’t even need to be explained. Even if I end up sending her home, she’ll probably just throw a tantrum again over there instead of here.”
“Well, I can’t really say anything back to that. Aoyagi. For the time being, go back to your own house with the two of them. You’ll notice something interesting.”
“Huh…?”
What do you mean when you say go home with them? Are you telling me to invite them to my house? No, that’s impossible, you know? Charlotte probably has some misgivings about this after all.
While wondering what Miyu-sensei was talking about, I tried to confirm with Charlotte, but she seemed convinced for some reason.
Hey, wait a minute… Am I the only one who doesn’t understand what’s happening…?
“I’m really sorry about this, Aoyagi-kun. If it’s alright with you, can you please go home with us?”
“Are you serious!?”
“Yes, please.”
Charlotte was bowing towards me. What should I do? I can’t keep up with the situation at all. Although Miyu-sense is someone who jokes around with other people, why did she tell me to take the two of them back with me?
My head is already a mess.
For now—
“Okay…”
――Since I was tired of thinking, I decided to go with the flow.