The School Nurse's Supplementary Lesson
It was a warm April day, sunlight spilling gently through the windows. At lunch hour the nurse's office filled with that soft golden light, and the whole room felt almost unbearably cozy.
"Ah…!"
"……."
"Wow…!"
"……."
"No way…!"
Lua sat at the nurse's desk, crunching her way through a Scotch candy. No students had come by, and she had no work left to do—she should have been free to savor the perfect spring afternoon. There was only one thing spoiling it.
From the curtained bed came a steady stream of delighted little exclamations.
"Aaaah…!"
"Hey, Himari."
The moment Lua spoke, the curtain whipped open with a sharp shhk.
Himari was sitting perfectly upright on the bed with a book open in her lap, and she turned toward Lua with excitement still written all over her face.
"Yes, Teacher. You called for me?"
"Look, reading is fine and all, but…"
"Yes."
"Could you maybe… keep it down a little?"
"Ah—my apologies. The material was simply so new and fascinating that I couldn't help myself."
"R-right…"
What Himari was reading was none other than a children's educational comic from the Why? series—the volume on puberty and sex. Lua had borrowed it for her after Himari's catastrophic lack of common knowledge had led to a truly unfortunate misunderstanding inside a gate.
As the school nurse, Lua probably ought to have explained things herself. She'd chosen the book for one reason only.
She simply did not have the courage to say those words out loud in front of Himari.
Still, it was a recommended title packed with solid information, so she had high hopes it would plant proper sexual knowledge in Himari's head.
"Everything else is fine, but…"
"Yes, Teacher."
"Why are you reading it here?"
Himari tilted her head at the question, as if she genuinely didn't understand what was strange about it.
"I am Teacher's moon. Is that not only natural?"
"……."
Right. She had said that.
Like the moon orbiting the Earth, she would stay at Lua's side at all times, watching and learning.
If I'd turned her down, her affection would have tanked on the spot. I didn't really have a choice.
Himari was the dealer Lua had chosen for the final battle. If she ever wanted to recruit her into the party later, she had to accept the proposal.
But Lua preferred being alone. Himari had gotten close enough now that they could talk almost as easily as she did with Sua—yet the shut-in instincts were still very much intact.
"Don't you have class?"
"There are still thirty-four minutes remaining in the lunch period."
Clearly she had no intention of leaving the nurse's office before the bell.
"…Fine. But you have to read quietly."
"I will bear that firmly in mind."
—Shhk!
Whether she had taken the warning to heart or not, not a single sound came from behind the curtain after that.
Finally feels like I've got the place to myself.
Lua sank deep into the chair back, switched on the computer, and started poking around. With nothing better to do, she was just browsing the internet.
Peace, however, did not last long.
"Teacher."
—Shhk!
The curtain flew open again, and Himari's face appeared.
"I have a question."
"Hm? What is it?"
Himari held up the book and pointed to a spot on the page.
"It says that mastur…bation is natural, but that doing it too often is bad for the body."
"?!?!"
"I do not fully understand what sort of act it is. Might I trouble you for a supplementary explanation?"
"Ah… uh…"
Lua's words died in her throat. Of course she knew what it was—but how was she supposed to explain it to someone as blank-slate as Himari? She could explain it. Getting the concrete details out of her mouth was another matter entirely.
"So, basically… you take your hand and… down there…"
"Teacher, your face has turned red."
Himari slipped off the bed and came closer, peering into Lua's face with complete innocence.
"I-I'm fine, really."
"That is a relief."
Lua took a steadying breath and chose her words with extreme care. She was going to explain this in the least stimulating language possible.
"Um… Himari, do you… h-have someone you like?"
"Someone I like?"
Himari thought for only a moment before answering without the slightest hesitation.
"You, Teacher."
"…Ngh."
Lua looked away, fidgeting with her fingers. Hearing something like that right to her face, there was no way not to get flustered.
"Is something the matter? I became your moon precisely because I like you, Teacher."
"Y-yeah! I know that…! I mean a different kind of feeling! Love—yeah, someone you're in love with! You're a girl, so maybe a boy in your class, or…"
"Hrm…"
Himari tipped her head, gazing into empty air.
"I have very little interest in boys."
"I-is that so?"
"Yes. I have never felt love, either."
She said it flatly, without a trace of embarrassment.
The circumstances were a little different, but Lua was in the same boat. An unexpected accident (?) had turned her into a girl, but originally she had been a guy. She had zero interest in other men. That was also why treating the female students always made her more nervous than treating the boys.
"Okay, then… whether it's a boy or a girl, let's just assume that someday someone like that appears for you."
"Understood."
"You can't think about anyone else. Even in a crowd, that person is the only one you see."
"Hrm…"
"Without even realizing it, you want to hold them, want to be with them. You following?"
"…Yes."
She answered, but Himari still looked like she didn't quite get it.
"A-anyway, while you're thinking about that person, your hand kind of… m-m-moves down there on its own, and… th-that's what masturbation… is."
Face flaming scarlet, Lua forced the explanation to a close.
How on earth had she ended up explaining something this dirty to a girl—and not just any girl, but Himari, a character from a game she used to love?
—But Lua's ordeal was far from over.
"When you say 'down there,' where exactly do you mean?"
"Uuuugh…"
Lua squirmed, at a total loss for what to say.
"So, like… h-h-here…"
In the end, the method she came up with was to point with her finger toward "down there"—
—Knock knock knock!
Salvation arrived.
The nurse's office door opened, and a familiar face stepped inside.
"Unnie, you busy?"
"……!"
Sua took in the sight of Lua, face bright red with one hand drifting toward her lower body, and Himari sitting demurely in front of her—and for several seconds she could only tilt her head.
"S-Suaaa."
Lua practically sobbed the name as she bolted toward her.
"What's wrong? Did something happen?"
Sua's eyes sharpened for an instant as she flicked a look at Himari, who had risen from her seat—but when Lua shook her head hard, the edge drained out of her gaze.
"I-it's nothing. The world is just… hard sometimes."
"……?"
Sua sat down in the chair, then scooped up the Lua who refused to peel away from her and settled her onto her lap. Lua perched there as snugly as a stuffed bear. That alone was enough for her composure to come trickling back.
Himari watched the sisters for a moment, then spoke in a slightly stiff tone.
"So you are the upperclassman."
"Mm. And you're a first-year?"
Sua's eyes went round with surprise when she read Himari's name tag.
"An exchange student? I didn't know. How do you read these characters?"
"Hoshikawa Himari."
Still seated, Himari dipped her head in a polite bow.
"Ah, I've heard about you. They say you came in first? That's amazing."
"You flatter me."
Himari looked back and forth between Lua's face and Sua's.
"Is the upperclassman Teacher's blood relative?"
"Yep, that's right. I'm the little sister. Nobody ever believes me when I say that, though."
At Sua's joke, Himari's lips curved in the faintest smile. Hearing that she was Lua's younger sister seemed to lower her guard a notch.
"Did you come to the nurse's office for treatment, Hoshikawa-ssi?"
"I did not."
Himari shook her head in denial.
"I sought out the nurse's office because I am Teacher's moon."
"……?"
Sua turned to Lua with a look that clearly demanded an explanation.
"It means… she follows me around and watches and learns from me."
At Lua's inadequate summary, Sua's eyebrow climbed.
"From you, Unnie? Learns what?"
Himari answered without the slightest hesitation.
"Today, I was learning about masturbation."
"……."
"……."
In that instant, the temperature in the nurse's office dropped about three degrees.
"…Did I mishear that, Unnie?"
Sua turned to her sister with eyes that had gone completely unfocused.
"S-Sua, it's not what it sounds like…!"
Lua waved both hands in a frantic denial.
Between Lua's disastrously flustered attempts at explanation and Himari's complete lack of shame in her word choice, clearing up the truth for Sua ate nearly the entire rest of the lunch period.
"Honestly. You should have just said that from the start. I almost completely misunderstood."
"I'm sorry."
"So the two of you weren't doing anything weird, right?"
"O-of course not! What kind of imagination do you have?"
Lua cooled her face—red for what felt like the hundredth time that day—and hastily changed the subject.
"So, Sua, what did you come for? Are you hurt?"
"No. I happened to stop by the faculty office, and the student affairs teacher asked me to bring Unnie an official notice. Here."
The document Sua held out bore the seal of the academy's chairman.
Seal of the Chairman of Felix Academy affixed.
"A physical…?"