Sasaki and Peeps - Volume 8 - Chapter 6.1

Despite all the crazy incidents, we’d reached the end of our ski classes safely.

We’d traveled by bus, and we’d be returning to school the same way.

By far the happiest person on our ride home had to be Ms. Futarishizuka. This had been a very fruitful three-day, two-night stay for her. She’d even made a promise with Magical Pink when we parted ways to meet back up at her Karuizawa Villa later.

“It’s nice to get in a little skiing now and then, eh?” she said, turning to me. “What do you think about going again next week?”

“Thanks, but I’ll pass,” I replied. “I can’t even imagine myself looking cool on skis.”

“In that case, I wouldn’t mind giving you some very attentive tutoring.”

“Could you please refrain from sexually harassing me in front of the students?”

My coworker was more talkative than usual on the ride back, and having to respond to her was a real pain in the butt. She was smiling—I could tell she was sincerely enjoying this.

In contrast, Ms. Mochizuki was in a terrible mood. She had revealed all sorts of things while possessed by the Fairy Drop, and she must have been feeling pretty uncomfortable. She said almost nothing on our way back. She just sat in her seat, tense and reserved.

Naturally, the two of us said nothing to each other. Would I have to continue teaching under these conditions? I could feel my enthusiasm plummeting just thinking about it.

As for our relative positions, things were somewhat different from the trip out. This time, Ms. Mochizuki sat at one end, followed by Ms. Futarishizuka, myself, Captain Mason, and Miss Inukai. Ms. Mochizuki had purposely sat far away from me, affecting everyone else’s positions.

“Oh!” said Captain Mason in his stereotypical foreign accent. “Ms. Futarishizuka, please allow me to come skiing with you!”

“I’ll think about it once we make a report to our boss about all this,” she replied.

“I think everyone’s boss would be happy if you gave me an answer right now!”

For Captain Mason, the off-campus class had been a total bust. Everything he’d said since getting on the bus had been sarcastic. Thanks to him, Miss Inukai was pretty on edge, too.

Two or three hours later, the buses arrived back at school. Nothing happened on the way, and we weren’t forced to take any detours. We took care of all the end-of-day announcements during the trip so the kids could go home as soon as they disembarked. The students spilled out of the bus, got their things from the luggage compartment, formed groups with their friends, and then went their separate ways.

The students in sports clubs were already out on the grounds—class had ended a while ago. The sun was low on the horizon, and the western sky was a deep madder red. There was probably about an hour left of light.

In the middle of all this, I saw a student approach Type Twelve.

“Hey, Twelve, could you come with me for a sec? Let’s go behind the school building.”

It was one of the boys in her class. Hayashida, number twenty-one on the class roster, was one of the more attractive guys in the bunch. While Nakajima was fashionable with something of a wild streak, Hayashida had an androgynous charm and looked almost like an idol. I got the impression he was the girls’ favorite.

“Acknowledged. I wish to hear what you have to say.”

Type Twelve happily followed him around the building. I couldn’t see any change in her expression or body language, but from her immediate agreement, I could tell she was full of anticipation. She probably had some idea of what was about to happen.

“Hey, hey,” said Ms. Futarishizuka. “Should we just let her go?”

“Abaddon, would you mind helping us out?” I asked.

“Consider it a request from your Disciple, too,” said my neighbor. “If she makes any more waves in class, it will only add to my stress. The others worked hard to get me into this school, and I want to stay here until graduation.”

“Right. Leave it to me!”

We went around behind the bus and availed ourselves of the demon’s mysterious powers. Now hidden, we followed Type Twelve and Hayashida.

They headed behind the school building, just as the boy had said. The area was pretty much deserted—the perfect place for secret conversations. From Type Twelve and the boy’s perspective, they were completely alone.

However, we weren’t their only stalkers—several girls had followed the two of them as well. They hid themselves behind the building’s wall and watched the scene unfold.

“Is Hayashida seriously gonna confess?”

“I don’t know how to feel about this.”

“Yeah. You like him, don’t you?”

“There’s plenty of other girls who feel the same way.”

“Well, Twelve is very pretty.”

“But you can’t judge a book by its cover.”

“If I were a boy, I would only have eyes for Kurosu.”

“Oh yeah, I get that.”

The girls seemed more interested in Hayashida than in Type Twelve. All the students, male and female, had spent the bus ride home talking about confessing to someone they liked on the last day of ski lessons—and it seemed the moment had arrived.

Type Twelve and Hayashida stood facing each other. They were close enough to touch if they reached out their hands.

Looking nervous, Hayashida said, “Twelve, will you go out with me?”

It was a development we’d all seen coming. I swallowed as I watched. The one receiving the confession was now in a state of pure bliss.

“Ah, affection soothes my heart so.”

From her point of view, this was the culmination of all her hard work at school. She’d probably been hoping for something like this to happen ever since she transferred in.

“If you don’t want to, maybe we could start as friends…”

At the same time, something misty wafted over Hayashida’s face with a pshhh sound. He seemed to notice it and covered his nose and mouth with a hand. However, he quickly brought his arm back down, making it seem like he’d just wiped at his face. He was in the middle of confessing to a girl. The gesture was so subtle I began to wonder if I’d imagined the whole thing.

“It is not that I do not want to. However, I would like time before answering.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“In just a few minutes, the truth will become clear.”

“…The truth?”

Type Twelve had begun saying things that didn’t make sense. The boy was confused, too. They watched each other, not saying anything.

A few moments later, Hayashida, who had been wearing a friendly smile ever since they arrived, seemed to have trouble maintaining his expression. He still appeared to be smiling, but to me, it looked more like a tense grimace. He reminded me of someone struck with sudden stomach pain but unable to rush to the bathroom.

Two or three minutes passed after that.

“Um, Twelve, if you’re not sure, you can just tell me tomorrow…” His smile was coming apart bit by bit.

Upon seeing this, Type Twelve finally spoke up.

“I would like to ask you again. Is the affection you direct at me real?”

“Yes, it’s real. O-otherwise, I wouldn’t have confessed to you!”

Where was that confidence from earlier? He seemed almost desperate now.

Type Twelve watched him, then responded flatly. “Confirming heart rate and body temperature increases in the target.”

It was just like that competition on board the UFO where we’d all spoken to her as representatives of our species. It seemed she was monitoring Hayashida’s vitals just as she had done with us. Maybe there were small, invisible pods floating around us, too, and we just couldn’t perceive them.

“I ask you once more,” said Type Twelve. “Is your affection real?”

“……”

Then Hayashida, still looking at her, went quiet. His smile was completely gone. He clamped his mouth shut and glared at her.

What happened to the confession? At this, we all started talking.

“The boy seems to be acting odd, wouldn’t you say?” mused Ms. Futarishizuka.

“It looked like some kind of spray appeared near his mouth,” said my neighbor.

“You saw that, too, huh?”

My neighbor and Abaddon had also witnessed the mist. Had it affected the boy in some way? I didn’t want to intervene, though, since he and the alien were having a sensitive conversation.

But while we were hesitating, Hayashida’s behavior changed drastically. He drew in a deep breath, then shouted, “I-if you already realized it, then why didn’t you say something?!”

“Realized what?” asked Type Twelve.

“You know! That I don’t actually like you!”

His voice echoed behind the school building. People inside could probably hear through the glass.

This was a total one-eighty in only a few minutes. There was no need to go this far if he just needed to use the bathroom. Why had he lied to her about his feelings? Had he lost a bet with his classmates or something?

“My confession was fake! I was lying!”

But wasn’t he being a little rude for something like that?

It had only been a few days since I’d taken over teaching Class 1-A, but from what little I’d seen of him, Hayashida was a sunny extrovert who was kind to everyone; his conduct was beyond reproach. This behavior wasn’t like him, and it raised a lot of questions in my mind.

But a moment later, we heard the answer.

“I had to! Or else they were gonna kill my family!”

Apparently, it was Type Twelve’s turn to be honey trapped. It sounded like Hayashida’s family was being held hostage—something similar had happened to Suzuki.

I’d already informed my boss about the latter situation; Bureau members had probably identified the criminals and were on their way to arrest them. Depending on how large the group was, we might end up asking Captain Mason for help, too.

“Besides, I’m a huge sadist!” the boy continued. “I’m not into attention whores like you!”

Wasn’t that a little more information than necessary? He really could have kept that to himself.

“Like the girls I’m dating now, for example. I love toying with Asami’s sensitive body, and Oozaki loves to be spanked. And Mitsuya! She developed a thing for anal sex all on her own. Isn’t she the greatest?! They’re all way more attractive than you!”

He definitely should have kept all that stuff to himself. Or maybe he got a kick out of exposing them.

Either way, Hayashida didn’t seem to realize a bunch of the girls from their class were watching. As the teacher in charge, I was quite concerned about how all this would play out the following day.

And yeah, his family might have been taken hostage, I thought, but I think he’s a little too excited.

“Ms. Futarishizuka,” I said, “the Fairy Drop didn’t breach containment, did it?”

“You were there when I gave the bug to Magical Pink, weren’t you?”

“Well, yes. But then what’s going on here?”

As we discussed it, Type Twelve and the boy’s conversation continued. Hayashida’s mental state was clearly not normal. He was practically raving about his sexual preferences. When there was a break in the exchange, Type Twelve spoke up.

“…I understand the situation.”

“So what? You think you know anything about me?”

“Humans are lying creatures. As expected, they are not worth trusting so easily.”

Type Twelve’s wording had gotten awfully blunt compared to our time at the resort. There was no visible change in her expression or behavior, but it was easy to see her expectations regarding the male students were currently in freefall.

It reminded me of the exchange we’d had just before the crater appeared on Earth’s surface.

“I really don’t like how cold she’s being,” said Ms. Futarishizuka, clearly concerned.

“I think we should have her talk to Miss Hoshizaki as soon as possible,” I agreed.

At that point, the eavesdropping girls burst out from their hiding place and ran up to the boy.

“H-hey, Hayashida! What was all that about?!”

“You said you liked me! Why are you going out with Oozaki?”

“Wait a minute! You said you broke up with Asami!”

“Asami, aren’t you dating Tanaka?”

“Excuse me? Tanaka’s going out with me!”

“Oozaki, you were with Yamagishi last night, weren’t you?”

“Yamagishi came to see me on day one, too.”

“Uh, I’ve been going out with Yamagishi ever since he confessed to me during summer break.”

“Also, Mitsuya, you got into anal sex by yourself? That’s so gross.”

“Hey, uh, shouldn’t we be more worried about Hayashida’s family here?”

My class was totally falling apart. This was very, very bad.

Amid the chaos, Type Twelve turned away from the boy. Without saying a word, she started to leave. Naturally, the girls angrily called after her.

“Don’t run away, Twelve!”

“Yeah! What just happened with you and Hayashida?!”

“What does he mean, they’re gonna kill his family?!”

“I bet you did something to try and attract his attention.”

“If you’re gonna run, I’m…I’m gonna call the police!”

“You’ve always pissed us off, you know!”

“For real! You keep trying to use your looks on all the boys!”

“What, do you think you’re some kind of princess or something?”

“And the way you talk is so weird. Are you LARPing?”

“Don’t think we’ll forgive everything you do just because you happen to be a little pretty!”

“If you keep it up, we’ll strike back starting tomorrow, so get ready!”

“We’re not going to show you any mercy just because you know Kurosu.”

Even now, the girls were trying to take Hayashida’s side. People would forgive almost anything if a guy was attractive.

But Type Twelve never stopped walking. She headed straight toward the front gates.

And while the girls shouted after her, they didn’t try to follow. They seemed to think talking with Hayashida was more important. When they saw his pained expression, they started trying to console him.

“Well, she’s done a magnificent job,” mused Ms. Futarishizuka. “And she’s taking the whole grade down with her.”

“I wonder what she’ll do tomorrow.”

“Probably go crying to her mother and become a delinquent truant. I can’t see this going any other way.”

“Her dependency on Miss Hoshizaki is growing by the day. It’s starting to worry me.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t tell her that, huh? Our esteemed senior can’t keep a secret to save her life.”

“You’re right about that.”

This conversation was getting me down in the dumps, too. My relationship with my assistant teacher was already in the gutter, and now this.

“I guess I have to face the fallout at school tomorrow, huh…,” said my neighbor.

“Hey, you’ve already established yourself as a gloomy introvert. You’ll be fine no matter how the cookie crumbles!”

“I won’t argue with that assessment, but I don’t like the way you said it.”

Still floating in the air, we set off toward home. Unfortunately, we were unable to do anything about the students’ confusion.

The total collapse of my class and my rock-bottom relationship with the assistant teacher notwithstanding, the family’s rules were absolute. With the ski lessons behind us, we came together to eat a meal for the first time in three days.

We sat down around the low table in the house aboard Type Twelve’s UFO and began dinner.

Ms. Futarishizuka was on cooking duty that day. Thanks to her, the meal was elaborate and delicious. In my opinion, these moments were the best part of pretend family life. These were also the only times Peeps finally stopped throwing out jabs at my colleague and devoted himself body and mind to devouring his meat.

A little while after we began our meal, Type Twelve found a lull in the conversation and broached a new topic.

“The youngest daughter has something to tell Father.”

“What is it?” I asked.

“I no longer wish to go to school.”

“……”

She looked at me, sitting the same way she always did, in a perfect formal kneeling position. Her spine always remained straight, and she never once hunched over. The way she placed her chopsticks on her bowl and lowered her arms was the very image of a tea ceremony teacher.

While her attitude would have come across as formal and respectful to just about anyone, her hard tone of voice lent her an oddly serious impression. We’d all seen how her campaign to be class princess had ended, and I found myself at a loss for how to respond.

“The youngest daughter has apprehensions about potential bullying at school,” she said.

“Bullying?” I asked.

“Bullying is an act which makes the heart very lonely.”

“As your teacher, I can’t say I’ve ever seen anyone bullying you.”

If I told her we’d spied on her, it would probably only make her sadder. Instead, I kept my answers noncommittal. We hadn’t planned it, but this conversation was actually quite typical for a real family. I got the distinct impression we were closer to being a family right now than we’d been at any point since this whole thing began.

“According to information available on the internet, such acts among students commonly go unnoticed by their teachers,” she stated.

“What kind of bullying are you experiencing, exactly?”

“At the present time, all attempts have failed.”

“Then why don’t we wait a little while and see what happens?”

“Please understand that if the youngest daughter were to be hurt in the future, I would immediately file a report with the prefecture’s teaching committee and disseminate all the facts of the case to the relevant groups and administrations. I would also circulate video evidence on the internet, thus prompting a call to action that will place me on the side of public opinion, all while I thoroughly ostracize the perpetrators, and—”

“Wait a moment!” interrupted Ms. Futarishizuka. “I think that’s a little too proactive, dear! Try to calm down, would you?!”

No matter what we said, it seemed the mechanical life-form was done with school. I could already sense her firm resolve on the matter.

In that case, I would give her a reply based on my own feelings. That way, I would win some points as the understanding father and kill two birds with one stone.

“If you really feel that way, Type Twelve, then there’s no need for you to keep going.”

If she stopped attending school, Ms. Futarishizuka and I could finally quit teaching. I could forget about my relationship with Ms. Mochizuki, and I wouldn’t have to keep teaching a class on the brink of collapse. While I felt bad for the students, I couldn’t do anything about their sex lives.

My only real concerns were regarding Suzuki’s and Hayashida’s families. But I’d already contacted my boss about them and heard back that they were all safe. According to him, the bureau had worked with the JSDF to secure them, and they’d remain under state protection until the organization responsible could be identified. Apparently, they’d be receiving a juicy compensation package, too.

So, in a way, I’d already done everything I could. Perhaps I wasn’t leaving things better than I’d found them, exactly. But at the very least, I’d nullified all the disadvantages that came with getting a new homeroom teacher. Ms. Mochizuki could handle things going forward.

Incidentally, it turned out that Ms. Mochizuki was the informant in the Little Mika incident. It seemed she’d simply been telling the angel’s group what we were up to in exchange for a bit of extra cash. Miss Inukai had questioned her and shared all this with us.

“I had faith that you would say so, Father. You understand your child well, and this makes me very happy.”

“Huh? Wait, hold on. You can’t suddenly stop attending school!”

However, Miss Hoshizaki was not as approving. She didn’t have a good grasp of what was going on at school and had only just forced her way in as a custodian. She sounded desperate.

“Mother? Why are you being so hard on the youngest daughter?”

“Because it’s only been a week since you started going!”

“I have been placed in a situation that cannot be fully explained by the passage of time. The youngest daughter’s heart is on the verge of experiencing something awful. Mother, you are mostly isolated at your school. It is for that reason that I believe you cannot understand the youngest daughter’s feelings.”

“L-look, this isn’t about me!”

Type Twelve had just unexpectedly exposed the reality of Miss Hoshizaki’s lonely school life. The latter looked awfully embarrassed as everyone turned to stare at her.

“If you ask me,” said Ms. Futarishizuka, “you brought this one on yourself, dear.”

“Grandmother, I cannot ignore your statement.”

“But hey, if you’re serious, then I think you should go ahead and quit. You were the one who wanted to enroll in the first place. We don’t have any reason to force you to keep going.”

“But this follow-up viewpoint is very good.”

I was pretty sure Ms. Futarishizuka hated getting up early every morning just as much as I did. You really have to be a morning person for that job.

“As your elder sister, I want to support your decision, too,” said my neighbor.

“Yeah! I think it’s fine!”

Since my neighbor planned to keep attending her school, it was probably in her best interests to purge Type Twelve from the class as quickly as possible. And I could sense Abaddon’s anxiety from how quickly he jumped in to agree with her.

“With Father, Grandmother, Elder Sister, and Elder Brother in agreement, we have a majority vote. The youngest daughter’s schooling will end as of today. Beginning tomorrow, I will stay with my family in the household as a truant.”

“For being a truant, you could stand to have a little more shame,” remarked Ms. Futarishizuka.

“Wait a second!” said Miss Hoshizaki. “I still haven’t agreed to this!”

Our family was divided, as always. But maybe this was how real families were. If they had no internal hierarchy, anyway.

“……”

And in that case, wasn’t this kind of an ideal family, in its own way? Or maybe that was just my opinion as a single man.

Ultimately, what won Miss Hoshizaki over was Type Twelve playing back a recording of her time at school—specifically her conversation with Hayashida behind the school building. As my senior colleague watched the female students close in on him, she heaved a sigh.

“Yeah, that is awful,” she said. “In a bunch of ways.”

The video was playing on one of the mechanical life-form’s midair displays, hovering over the low Japanese table. Seeing this made Miss Hoshizaki aware of what was really going on. Rather than bullying, she’d gotten an eyeful of Type Twelve’s princess attitude.

“Right? Keep going,” said Ms. Futarishizuka.

“But that boy was acting pretty weird, wasn’t he?”

“We’re not sure what happened there, either,” I told her.

Everyone’s attention shifted back to Type Twelve.

“Regarding the change in the target’s mental state,” she said, “I used the culinary ingredients Elsa brought here.”

“Huh?” Lady Elsa gasped, visibly surprised at this sudden inclusion of her name.

Type Twelve ignored her and continued her explanation. “Humans are lying creatures. Both written works and video documents point out from many different angles that words of love must be thoroughly verified. Mechanical life-forms place heavy emphasis on certainty, so I needed to confirm the target’s true feelings.”

“Wait,” said Ms. Futarishizuka. “Did you use the stuff we hid in the kitchen without asking?”

“Grandmother, your thinking is correct.”

Ms. Futarishizuka stood up and rushed over to check. A moment later…

“It’s true! All the herbs we put in here are gone!”

She and I had personally tasted the effects of those otherworld herbs. Now the change that had come over Hayashida made perfect sense. Type Twelve had probably listened in on our conversation in the kitchen. It would have been easy for her to swipe them without us knowing.

“The effects seemed a lot more intense than when we ate it, though,” I pointed out.

“After removing extraneous components, such as moisture and plant fiber, I added a compound to stimulate the target’s metabolism. When prepared this way, the agent activates in the target’s body much faster than if they simply ingest it.”

“I think I get it.”

Was this what parents felt like when they discovered their kid had smuggled a video game into school? If I’d known it would come to this, I would have explained things to her beforehand and forbidden her from using the herbs.

“Elsa, I would like to apologize for using your ingredients without telling you.”

“Well, I don’t really mind, but…”

Lady Elsa looked troubled as her gaze flitted between us and Type Twelve. It wasn’t a big loss to her. We already knew that the herbs weren’t very valuable.

“In recompense, please tell me if there is anything you desire. The ingredients you brought were extremely beneficial to me. As an apology for using them up without asking, I would like to prepare something for you as payment.”

“I’m happy you feel that way,” said Lady Elsa. “But I can’t think of anything off the top of my head.”

“You may consider my proposal at your leisure. When you are in need of something, talk to me again.”

“Um, okay. I will.”

With that, Type Twelve and Lady Elsa’s conversation came to a close. Filling the vacuum, Ms. Futarishizuka made a jab at the mechanical life-form.

“You made a big deal about your experiment with the Fairy Drop,” said Ms. Futarishizuka, “but this was your real aim, wasn’t it? You wanted a convenient lie detector for when the boys made advances on you.”

“I assert my right to silence.”

Sounds like a bullseye.

Type Twelve turned away from us to look at Miss Hoshizaki.

“And I’d just gotten used to my new custodian job, too,” she said. “I suppose I’ll have to quit today.”

“Mother, from today forth, I want to spend time with you at home.”

“As a bureau employee, I’m not too sure about that, but okay…”

She was probably concerned that this proposal would get in the way of all the extra work she wanted to do. Still, I figured this was a lot better than any of the wild suggestions Type Twelve had made in the past. Personally, I’d be happy to spend some leisure time with Peeps, I thought, half-watching some serial drama on the living room TV.