A Smile Like a Flower Bloomed on the Face of a Child Greeting Spring
The hospital the teacher led me to by the hand.
The moment they saw the blood streaming from my head, the hospital staff rushed me into a battery of tests. The doctor explained that the head was an extremely sensitive and delicate area, and that a great many examinations would be necessary.
I still can't forget the look on that doctor's face when he first saw me — the sheer shock, and the way he asked how on earth I'd managed to walk all the way there in my right mind.
Well... even I didn't know it was that bad...
Honestly, I'd thought the teacher's reaction had been a bit over the top — but compared to the doctor who'd actually seen the wound, she turned out to have been the calm one.
The tests dragged on late into the night, and still the teacher waited for me.
"Ah, Ju— wait, no. Teacher!"
"Ah— oh! Huh? What are you doing here? What about being admitted?!"
"Ah, the doctor saw how much blood there was and figured I'd been seriously hurt, but thankfully — miraculously — there's nothing wrong internally. Just a lot of scraped-up skin. He said I don't need to be hospitalized."
"Ah... that's really a relief."
"I know, right."
I decided I ought to apologize to her first.
"...Teacher, I'm sorry."
"Huh? For what?"
"I was being pretty stubborn, wasn't I. Ah — not pretty. Really, really stubborn."
"Ha, so you do know? I knew it was a mistake. As long as you understand, I'll take you home. Let's go."
"...What? Ahh~ To your house, Teacher?"
"Huh?"
"Eh?"
Something had gone sideways in the conversation. Silence settled in after the words. Our eyes met, both of them full of bewilderment.
"Um... why are you suddenly abandoning me...?"
"Abandoning?! Don't say such terrible things...!"
"Then... why home.... Ah, ahh! You mean I should pack my things?"
"Uh... just now, about the pet thing — weren't you saying that was a slip of the tongue?"
"...No?"
"Huh?"
"Eh?"
There seemed to have been a rather enormous misunderstanding.
I gave the teacher a brief account of my circumstances. Explaining everything would have taken far too long, and I also felt it was still too soon to dump the whole of it on her at once, so I decided to leave it there for now.
From the middle of my story onward, little droplets of water had begun to hang from the teacher's eyes. Having a beauty like her looking at me with that expression... it felt strange somehow.
"Sniff... Yeah, you... really had it... hard, sniff...."
"Teacher... I'm not even crying. Why are you crying..."
"I'm sorry... A woman shouldn't cry.... B-but... I thought you were just some damn brat who kept fooling around and being stubborn without knowing a thing..."
"...You thought that about me?"
Of course, looking back on how I'd acted, it was only natural she'd think so — but hearing it straight from her mouth dealt critical damage right to the chest.
Tsk. Had I relied too much on my looks...
Well, the teacher wasn't the sort of person to get swept up by a student's appearance out of lust, after all.
While I was reflecting deeply on the inside, she went on.
"I'm sorry..."
"No, Teach. This isn't something you need to apologize for—"
"I cursed you out for knowing you're handsome and acting cocky, relying only on your looks.... And even thought about wanting to hit you just once, even though you're a guy..."
"There's still more?!"
"I'm s-sorry... sob sob...."
"...Teacher, please stop crying."
I'm the one who wants to cry right now.
After that, I spent a long while telling her it was fine and patting her on the back, and eventually she settled down. This time she seemed unsettled for a different reason than before.
Crying in front of a student — and a student of the opposite sex at that — of course she'd feel unsettled...
Having once cried in front of her myself, and even received comfort for it, I asked her with a warm smile.
"Feeling better now?"
"Ah, y-yeah.... Anyway, so that means you can't go home today."
"Well, it's not that I can't go in — but if I do, I'll probably end up with an arm or a leg broken."
"...That's the same thing."
However strangely I may have put it, please don't look at me with those pitying eyes. I just heard your inner thoughts a moment ago, so even little things like that deal critical damage, you know.
"Okay. Then, setting that aside — that... pet talk. Is that connected to this too?"
"......About that, Teacher — do you remember the counseling session last week?"
"...Ah. I see."
"Yes... I think last week's counseling is closer to what I meant by the pet thing than what happened today. Today's events feel more like a catalyst."
"......"
"Honestly, it's not like I love you massively or anything, but embarrassingly, when I think of you, that thing from last time......"
"I'm fine, so go ahead and say it."
"Yes... um, during counseling, when you said I could think of you as a mother... that keeps coming back to me..."
"Ah, I see... so that was it. I see..."
"Yes... that was it......"
Then came the second silence since the hospital. But our time now was deeper than before, and our eyes held a silence of mutual understanding, different from the last. It was a quietness I would probably never forget for the rest of my life.
"Alright. Shall we go...?"
"Home?"
"Yeah. Our home."
"Hehe. You're right. Our home..."
I don't know when the last time I smiled this brightly was. Even when I smiled, there had always been anxiety and loneliness tucked away in some corner of my heart — but those feelings that had lived in that corner were nowhere to be found now, no matter how hard I scrubbed my eyes looking for them.
The weather in March this year was very warm. It was the warm season of liberation, free at last from a long, long, piercingly cold winter. It was the happiest spring of my life — the one that came after winter ended. A spring warm enough to melt even the snow that had lingered in the shade. A spring where beautiful flowers bloomed from seeds I'd thought were dead.
Our home was about a five-minute drive from the hospital. At a glance, it looked like a rather expensive place.
"Teacher, didn't you say you live separately from your family?"
"Huh? Yeah, I live separately now. Mom kept asking how long a girl was going to freeload at home..."
"Ah, yes..."
What I'd wanted to ask was how she managed to live alone in a house this nice — but the teacher shared her own family troubles with me instead. It wasn't the answer I'd been looking for, yet I found myself taking it rather well. At school she'd always seemed so stern, and now here she was complaining about her family situation to me. It made me feel we'd gotten much closer.
"Then... want to come in?"
"Ah, yes."
And so we stepped inside. My first impression was, in a word—
"It's dirty..."
"Urgh..."
"Teacher...?"
"W-well, it can't be helped! You wouldn't know since you're a guy, but women who live alone are designed to live like this! Yeah! Women evolved this way, so it's not my fault!"
"...Teacher."
"Urgh! I-I'm actually on the clean side, okay? Really! My little sister is twice — no, five times — worse than me!"
Now she was even selling out her own little sister. Not knowing I was a guy from a reversed world, the teacher kept rambling on. I hadn't even particularly said anything, and this was her reaction.
"Teacher, I get it, so calm down a bit. I'm not criticizing you. Even if you said this is our home, ultimately I'm freeloading on your kindness — what right do I have to give you a hard time over something like this?"
That much was obvious. Even if I'd called myself a pet, my true form was nothing more or less than a freeloader who just ate food. Rather, the fact that I could be helpful to her in this regard made me smile.
"I-is that so...?"
"That's right. Go wash up first. I'll get used to the place a bit."
"Ah, okay."
And so I sent the somewhat weakened teacher into the bathroom. I'd used getting used to the place as an excuse to send her off, but of course I had no intention of merely adapting. I planned to clean the house a bit while she washed.
If she'd stayed out here, she would have tried to tidy up while watching my reaction — and that wouldn't do. Even if my actions were well-intentioned, if she felt uncomfortable, it would all be for nothing. That would be putting the cart before the horse.
"Alright then. Shall we begin?"
Honestly, I don't particularly hate cleaning. If anything, I seem to feel a little better every time I do it. Somehow, watching dirty things gradually disappear always gave me a sense of pleasure.
I started by gathering the trash she'd piled up, sorting it by type. Among the collected refuse, delivery containers were everywhere. She seemed to order takeout an awful lot — so I should cook for her later, too.
After that, I threw the trash out, ran the vacuum, and while I was at it, wiped the floor as well. There was no mop for the job, so I had no choice but to bend over and wipe it by hand, but there was nothing to be done about that for now. I'd have to ask her to buy one later.
Thinking that, I wiped away in a trance, and around the time the cleaning was finished, the teacher came out of the shower.
"Ah, Chan. Come to think of it, I should have let you go in first — sorry... Wh-what?! Where is this?"
It's not like I'd cleaned so much she wouldn't recognize the place. Just how long had she been living without cleaning?
"What do you mean, what? It's our home. Ah — water's dripping from your hair, so dry it properly and come out. I'll fix some food in the meantime."
"No, no! You don't need to do that! I'll—"
"Water! Is dripping! Go dry off and come out! If water spills on the wooden floor and ruins it, the whole floor will warp — hurry!"
"W-wait! Ah, that hurts?! How much strength—"
—Bang!
"If you come out without drying properly, I'll send you right back in, so figure it out."
"Hngh... I'm an adult, and a woman.... Something feels different......"
I ignored her muttering from the bathroom. Now it was time to win over her stomach to my side.
"Hehe. I'll marinate you with my cooking until you can't abandon me...!"
"Ch-Chan, no matter how I think about it...!"
"Ah — dry your hair properly and come out!!"