"I will report you to the Board of Education. I will say to them that my child got sick due to a problem with her adviser's teaching method."
"...That's..."
She may be a monster parent, but I couldn't leave Kishikawa-sensei alone while she was being cornered and blamed for the things that she didn't do.
There was no guarantee that if I helped her the problem would be solved, but even so, I wanted to help Kishikawa-sensei, so I thought about what I could do to help her in that situation, and what I came up with was...
"Umm, excuse me. May I have a word with you?"
"What?... Who are you? Are you an acquaintance of Kishikawa-sensei?"
When I called out to her, not only the mother of Yoshida but Kishikawa-sensei were surprised with what I had done. Well, that's only a natural reaction, as suddenly an unknown student interrupted their conversation.
"I'm a freshman at this school. Can you allow me to apologize on her behalf?"
"Huh? Even if you, an irrelevant person in this situation, apologize, my daughter is still..."
"With all due respect, I've heard your story. If Yoshida-san didn't do anything wrong, then I don't think sensei did anything wrong either. But since you want her to apologize to you and to your daughter, then I will bow my head to her. I sincerely apologize."
I couldn't come up with another way. And I knew it was wishful thinking to think that an apology would appease an angry person.
"E.. even if you bowed your head like that... Se.. sensei, say something also!"
Sensei couldn't remain silent and she put her hand on my shoulder, I still didn't raise my head, because if I did that and I immediately obeyed her, the parents would think that what I had done was just a farce.
"You don't have to do that as this is a problem with the swimming club. Youshida-san is always absent from the club. That's why the other members are starting to get worried about her... Also, just because she was absent from the club activities doesn't mean that I have been too strict on her. "
Even promising athletes sometimes turn their attention to something other than club activities.
In fact, Kishikawa-sensei knew that Yoshida-san had been playing with her friends when she wasn't participating in club activities, but she still didn't say anything back because she was afraid that the conversation would get more complicated than it was.
Also, if the relationship with the parents deteriorated, there was a possibility that Yoshida-san would leave the club. Kishikawa-sensei told me later that she wanted to avoid that.
"...Ah, if you apologize, then that's fine. I just need you to give my child some consideration so she can easily participate in practice. "
I still kept my head down. After the guardian said something like a throwaway remark and walked away, I slowly looked up and stretched out.
Sensei was looking at me. I felt unsettled and apologetic.
"Sensei, I'm sorry I did something unnecessary."
It was hypocritical of me to think that I could help sensei by doing this. So I immediately tried to walk away.
"Wait!"
She held me by the sleeve of my uniform as she tried to stop me.
I turned around nervously and I stopped thinking for a moment... then I looked at sensei's expression.
She looked a little angry as her cheeks were red while her eyes were moist.
I didn't know Sensei's exact age at that time, but I had never imagined that a grown woman could make a face like that.
"Why did you bow your head? It was a problem that I should have solved on my own."
I had expected this to happen the moment I tried to interfere with them.
It's not a good idea to get involved in adult problems. I knew that, but I thought that I needed to do something.
"I thought that sensei shouldn't have to bow down on her. And if I bow my head down, then nothing will really change in me. Also, it's just a gamble to see if she will back down after that. But even so, I'm sorry. It was thoughtless of me to do that. "
"... Why, did you do so much... You don't even know me."
"Even if I didn't know you, I know that what you've said isn't wrong. And I thought sensei had better things to do with her time than go through all that trouble."
Sensei's eyes widened when I said that. I was aware that I was being cheeky and I thought that her reaction wasn't good.
But I didn't feel bad because I said what I thought was right, and if that made sensei angry, so be it. I was used to being disliked, though it was really hard to be stared at by a beautiful woman like Sensei, but considering my personality, I had no choice.
The only people who like me are those who are extremely fond of me.
However, despite what I had thought, the next expression Kishikawa-sensei showed me was a smile.