How to Be Raised by a Pretty Older Sister
“Teacher, I heard you’re thinking about getting a pet?”
“Oh, you heard about that? Well, living alone for the first time after leaving home turned out to be lonelier than I expected. But more importantly—”
“Raising a pet takes a lot of work and money, doesn’t it? Are you okay with that?”
“…Well, I’ve raised a dog back at my parents’ house, so I’m confident about that part. It’s not like I’m short on money, and once you start raising one, they become family. No, that’s not the important thing right now…….”
Hearing the teacher’s words, I thought it over again, and it seemed like a good idea.
She really did seem like a decent person.
Steeling my resolve once more, I gathered my courage, took the teacher’s hand, and pressed it against my face—specifically my right cheek—as I spoke.
Of course, I didn’t forget to keep locking eyes with her the whole time.
“Then… what about me?”
The teacher’s eyes, which had already been wavering from the moment I took her hand, began to tremble even more violently after hearing my words.
“Wh-what are you talking about?! L-let go of my hand! Just a second!”
“People say I look cute enough that everyone calls me adorable, and I can be plenty affectionate. You can just feed me whatever leftovers you have, and I won’t cause any trouble even if I’m left home alone. I can hold it when I need to go, and I can take myself out for walks. On top of that, I can actually talk, so wouldn’t I be better than a dog or a cat at this point?”
Whether it was because she was doing something a teacher shouldn’t, or because she was conscious of me as a member of the opposite sex, the teacher’s face had turned quite red.
“Ugh…. I-I don’t really understand what you’re suddenly saying, but a boy shouldn’t do things like that, okay? I’m not trying to discriminate, but you have to take care of your body, right? Jokes like this aren’t good—”
I had expected exactly this kind of reaction from her, so I cut her off quickly and licked the fingers I was still holding as I continued.
Just like a puppy craving its owner’s affection.
“…Teacher, you know at least a little about my situation. Right now, if you reject me, I have nowhere left to go… so I’m really desperate. Please. I’ll be good…. Won’t you raise me?”
“Ch-Chan, just calm down for a second. It seems like you’re really confused right now… so first, the hospital—let’s go to the hospital and get you checked out, okay?”
Unlike the composed figure she always showed at school, the teacher was flustered and speaking with her face flushed a rare shade of red.
Since I had already made a nuisance of myself, I steeled myself to see it through to the end.
I wanted a home too. I wanted to be loved too. I wanted a family too.
So I’m sorry, Teacher. If I become your pet, I’ll take really, really good care of you.
Just look the other way this once.
“…Is that so? I see…. In the end, you’re the same as everyone else, aren’t you, Teacher?”
“…Huh?”
“Someone like me doesn’t matter no matter what happens to them. A brat who’s just a hassle. I don’t even know why I’m alive, so I might as well just drop dead—”
“St-stop! Stop it! I get it, so just stop!”
I’m sorry, Teacher. If I was going to quit at this point, I never would have started.
“Yes? What do you get? What should I stop? I… was just telling the truth….”
“……Fine. I’ll listen to what you have to say, so first let’s go to the hospital, okay? After that—after that I’ll hear everything. Chan, you’re bleeding a lot right now. This isn’t the time to be doing this here….”
Good. I had cleared the hurdle.
When I gave a small nod, the teacher called the other teachers who had come out on patrol with her, then led me to her car.
“You buckled up? Then we’re off.”
“Master, do you usually patrol all the way out here?”
“Ah, I don’t normally come this fa— Wh-wha?! M-Ma?!”
“What, ah… Master? I’m a pet now, after all. Do you not like the title?”
Startled by the word “Master,” the teacher looked over at me even while driving.
“Teacher, if you don’t watch the road, we’ll both die. That wouldn’t be so bad either, but now that I’ve become a pet, I’d like to live a little longer.”
“You… you, teasing an adult like this from earlier…! You’re going to get in big trouble!”
She faced forward again at my words, but her face had grown even redder.
As I’ve said repeatedly, Teacher, of course I’m deliberately poking at you a little bit at a time, so even if you say that, I have no intention of stopping.
“If you don’t like being called Master, then what should I call you?”
“What should you call me?! You should call me Teacher!”
“Does that mean… you’re not going to raise me?”
“…Do we really have to settle that right now? You’re not in your right mind, okay? You’re a little confused and made a mistake. Once you get treated at the hospital, you’re going to be so embarrassed.”
As expected, the teacher seemed to be trying to brush it off somehow.
Of course I didn’t think she was in the wrong—if anything, I thought she was a very devoted and kind person who cared about her students—but I had not the slightest intention of backing down like this.
Even if it made me look a little rude, I couldn’t give up after coming this far.
“Ah, I see. So that’s how you were thinking about it.”
“…Why did your voice suddenly drop like that?”
“No reason. Ah, please let me out. Right now.”
“What?! Didn’t you hear me? You need to go to the hospital right now! This isn’t a joke!”
“No, I don’t want to go, so let me out.”
“Don’t be stubborn…!”
“…Teacher. Unless you’re my Master, what are you to me that you’d try to drag me somewhere by force when I say I don’t want to?”
“What…?”
I had just said it.
If you want to drag me all the way to the hospital,
“I’ll listen if it’s my Master’s words, but if it’s just a teacher speaking, I’ll have to politely decline. What will you do?”
You’ll have to quietly become my Master.
Haa… How did things end up like this?
I just had a bad feeling today and decided to patrol somewhere I don’t usually go….
And there, Chan was, bleeding from his head and crying.
I did what any teacher would naturally do.
That should have been the end of it….
“I’ll listen if it’s my Master’s words, but if it’s just a teacher speaking, I’ll have to politely decline. What will you do?”
I had tried somehow to get away from that topic, but he went and said something like this.
Honestly, at this point, even with a student I doted on, I should have been thoroughly fed up—but because of that damn face of his, I couldn’t get any angrier.
What is this, some kind of anger suppressant…? Is it even legal?
And I kept remembering the softness of his cheek from earlier and the cool, pleasant sensation of his tongue, so I couldn’t string together a proper thought.
Seriously… he’s disgustingly handsome…. Ah, no! What am I thinking about a student…! B-but he smelled nice too… it didn’t seem like perfume, maybe fabric softener…?
“Teacher?”
“No no! I absolutely was not thinking that you’re handsome or that you smell good!”
“Yes…?”
“Ah…?”
“Um… thank you?”
“…….”
“Ahem, that aside, could you decide quickly? It’s a little awkward to be out this late with a teacher who isn’t my Master….”
Chan, with a prim tone and a prim face, boldly using his own body as a threat.
Th-that little… all the way to the end…!
Either way, as long as Chan was speaking like that, I did have to choose.
Deep down I wanted to force him to the hospital and pretend I never heard any of that talk, but the other party absolutely refused to drop the subject.
No, haa…. Still, getting the kid to the hospital first seems like the right call, doesn’t it?
The blood had mostly clotted so it wasn’t gushing from the wound, but Chan’s eyes were already quite unfocused.
And if he’d hit his head hard enough to bleed, there was no telling whether the inside was damaged too.
If a blood vessel had burst inside his head, there was no time to be hesitating like this.
Chan being Chan, he should have known that at this point he himself was in a pretty dangerous state, so why on earth was he being this stubborn….
It was behavior bordering on a heinous crime—and doing it to that handsome, cute kid no less—so guilt welled up from deep in my heart, but I forced it down by telling myself it was unavoidable, and spoke.
“Huu…. Fine. Master, whatever, I’ll do it. So now listen to me, okay?”
“Ah….”
“What? Having second thoughts already? Then—”
“No! No, no, no! Yes…. I’ll be your pet—hehe, Master’s adorable pet! I want to!”
The very moment I was about to take back the words I’d only said as a joke, Chan lifted his head with tremendous force and, as if to show how excited he was, bounced his whole body around while shouting vigorously.
It was a sight hard to believe belonged to the vicious student who had been half-threatening his teacher just moments before.
Ah, he’s so damn cute for no reason…. I didn’t even say “adorable,” and wait, was he always this kind of character? What do I do…? I have to endure… I have to endure…!
“Oh? Master! Your face is all red! Are you feeling sick?”
“Ughk!”
Chan pinpointed the weak spot of a teacher who had gotten worked up looking at her student.
The fact that he asked with such an innocent face made it hurt three times as much.
“Aargh! I-it’s not that! Then, we’re heading out again!”
“Ah, yes! Anywhere at all, as long as I’m with Master!”
“Ughk!”
I… can hold out until we reach the hospital, right…?
There was no way this wasn’t a truly wicked pet who tormented his owner.