What happened on the playground was already common knowledge.
However, seeing it in person and hearing about it afterward were completely different experiences. For example, his classmates only heard that Hayashi-sensei was kicked, and then saw him acting normally, so they thought the rumors outside were exaggerated.
Tōga's kick was nothing more than that.
What was more intriguing was why Tōga suddenly attacked Hayashi. To this, Hayashi-sensei's answer was always:
"Too handsome, got targeted."
Reasonable and convincing.
Hayashi-sensei thought that when Tōga was taken away by the police, the truth would surely come out. The principal holding a school-wide meeting was to give an explanation to the whole school, and he would improvise then.
The students who had been in class didn't even know that a gun was fired in the administration building. After asking Hayashi-sensei a few questions, they lost interest and went about their business.
Zhengzhi was also like this. He was only more concerned about Hayashi-sensei's physical condition than others. After getting the answer from the person involved, "No harm, how could he hurt me?", he sat alone, melancholic.
This made Hayashi-sensei wonder, this guy usually jumps around like a husky, why is he making such a face today? Shouldn't the melancholic handsome man persona be on him, Hayashi-sensei?
He looked again, Zhengzhi's guitar was placed aside. Although he still carried it with him, it was no longer in the precious state of yesterday. Hah, men, they can only last three minutes after all.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
It was fine if he didn't ask, but once he did, Zhengzhi's belly full of grievances was about to spill out.
Before he even spoke, he stood up abruptly with a burst of anger.
"I went to the Light Music Club to ask them to admit me, and the club has already replied. They actually refused! The reviewers are afraid that I will grow stronger in the Light Music Club! And have romantic affairs! That's why they deliberately rejected my request!" Zhengzhi kicked the leg of the table with a bang, wincing in pain: "Hayashi! Take my guitar! Challenge them! Make them pay!"
Hayashi-sensei was not bored to that extent.
"Is the Light Music Club full?" he asked.
"No!" Zhengzhi said, "When I went, I even saw a recruitment notice posted at their door!"
"Then why..."
"The senior in charge of recruitment asked me about ten questions, and I answered all of them, but I didn't get the last one right, so he wouldn't let me join!" Zhengzhi gritted his teeth, looking as if he wished to perish together with that senior.
"What was the question?"
"He asked me if I could play the guitar," Zhengzhi said.
"And then?"
"I said no."
Hayashi-sensei nodded in sudden realization, then asked, "What were the first ten questions?"
"Name, class, gender, date of birth, and so on. I answered all of them perfectly," Zhengzhi said painfully, "Only the last question!!!"
Hayashi-sensei pursed his lips and smiled, gently comforting him: "Serves you right."
"Hayashi, you bastard!"
"Stick your head out," Hayashi-sensei said with his hands behind his back.
"What for?" Zhengzhi asked.
Hayashi-sensei, like playing Wing Chun, tapped his head continuously more than ten times with a 'da da da da da da da da' sound.
Although it didn't hurt much, it made Zhengzhi retreat repeatedly, at a loss:
"Hayashi, are you crazy!?
"Do you know what it means?" Hayashi-sensei said profoundly. Zhengzhi shook his head.
"I tapped your skull twelve times, which means I want you to come to the rooftop at twelve o'clock noon today, and I'll teach you how to play the guitar," Hayashi-sensei continued, with his hands still behind his back, speaking like an otherworldly master.
Zhengzhi's eyes lit up, and he laughed as he went to put his arm around Hayashi-sensei's shoulder: "Good brother! I knew you wouldn't just stand by!"
"Get off me," Hayashi-sensei said, swatting his hand away in disgust.
He actually wasn't very interested in teaching, but the guy's previous act of running twenty laps for him was just too stupid. He hoped music could activate his intelligence, Hayashi-sensei thought to himself.
On the rooftop at noon, the sky was very blue.
The gentle breeze carried a lazy, spring-like scent.
Hayashi-sensei and Zhengzhi sat side by side on the rooftop, the guitar temporarily placed aside. Both of them were still enjoying their lunch... To be precise, Zhengzhi was still eating 'yakisoba bread', while Hayashi-sensei had already put aside his half-eaten bread.
It wasn't wasting food, nor did he find it unpalatable... He just felt quite full at the moment and couldn't eat anymore.
Zhengzhi chatted as he chewed:
"Speaking of which, I heard something near my house recently that I think you, Hayashi, might be interested in."
"Oh?"
"Near my house, there's a family where the husband married a beautiful woman, but that beautiful woman was already three months pregnant before she married in," Zhengzhi said.
It hardened, Hayashi-sensei's fist hardened! "Then?"
"The husband knew about this, but he didn't mind," Zhengzhi said.
Grass (a plant)
Hayashi-sensei thought to himself, it seems there's no shortage of 'cuckold's delight' in any world.
"As a result, after the daughter was born, she's almost eight years old now and has a serious illness requiring a blood transfusion. It was then suddenly discovered... the husband was the daughter's biological father," Zhengzhi recounted with great relish, chewing his bread.
Hayashi-sensei tilted his head, gradually forming a question mark.
Was this a cuckold story, or a 'cuckold's delight' story, or a pure love story?
"Isn't it strange?" Zhengzhi asked, "I still don't understand what it means."
Hayashi-sensei thought for a long time, then summed it up in one sentence:
"They had matched with each other in a free-for-all mode before starting a duo queue."
Zhengzhi leaned back tactically: "When you explain it like that, I completely understand!"
After Zhengzhi took a sip of water, it symbolized the end of their casual chat.
He picked up the guitar: "Where do we start?"
"Start by adjusting your posture. You don't hold a guitar like that. Put your right leg over your left leg. Then place the most concave part of the guitar body... Yes, right there, on your right leg, with the back of the guitar body against the right side of your chest," Hayashi-sensei pointed and instructed: "...And also..."
Zhengzhi was a bit impatient; he wanted to learn more useful things: "Is posture that important?"
Hayashi-sensei didn't answer, he just lifted his eyes and glanced at him, and Zhengzhi immediately cowered:
"Important, important, posture is the most important thing. Without good posture, how can you get pleasure... And then?"
Hayashi-sensei continued to point and instruct: "And then..."
Then a light, graceful figure approached silently with cat-like steps, covering Hayashi-sensei's eyes with her slender white hands from behind him.
"Guess who I am?"