Bonus Story: I’m Beggin’ Ya, Teacher!

Bonus Story: I’m Beggin’ Ya, Teacher!

Bonus Story:

I’m Beggin’ Ya, Teacher!

N OT FAR FROM THE STATION, AT AN IZAKAYA RUN by a local nerimono manufacturer, two young women sat at the bar. They clinked their glasses together.

“And that’s another Tsuwabuki-fest! Cheers!”

“Cheers.”

The first was a minuscule girl, but she drank like she was twice her size. She clunked her glass down. “Another draft, please!”

Amanatsu Konami, Tsuwabuki High School social studies teacher, was twenty-six and proud. A fact she wished she didn’t have to constantly show her ID to prove.

“I’d slow down if I were you. Unless you’re hoping for some stranger to swoop in and take you back to his place.” Konuki Sayo, the school nurse, smiled coyly, running her fingers along the rim of her glass.

Amanatsu, somehow already tipsy, glared at her friend. “Yeah, right. Not everyone’s gotta beat guys off with a stick like someone .”

“They’d have to drag me to theirs if I got as drunk as you get, Konami.”

“You sure? I know you’re a lightweight, but weren’t you always leaving bars with dudes back in college or am I crazy?”

“Oh, I was only ever pretending.”

Konami grabbed her second glass and froze. “Huh. I always wondered how come you got drunk at the most convenient times.”

“I know better than to drink too much at a mixer.” Konuki finished her first glass and ordered another.

“Wait, those were mixers? I only ever went to those things lookin’ like something the friggin’ cat dragged in.”

Konuki froze this time. “I thought you were doing that on purpose. I always assumed you were going for something kinky.”

“Hey, if that’s someone’s fetish, give them my number… Actually, never mind. Don’t.”

“Wise. Not for beginners, those types.”

The waiter carried over a glass of sake inside a wooden box. Konuki took it and sipped down the near-overflowing liquid. Shikaiou Junmai Ginjyo. Her favorite.

Konami admired her serene profile as she drank. She couldn’t blame the men for trying. “Off topic, but how’re those literature club kids? Things going all right on that end?”

“They are, as a matter of fact. It’s an interesting experience, being a supervisor.” She gazed through her cup, past the clear liquid, reminiscing. “Nukumizu-kun in particular is an interesting one. First aid is something I can manage, but matters of the heart? Those, I’ve come to understand, require a different skill set altogether.”

“Nukumizu struggling with something?”

“Less him and more his company. My intuition tells me he means more to those girls than he knows.”

“Hm. Wouldn’t have assumed that myself.” Amanatsu picked at a daikon radish in her miso oden, hiding her surprise.

“He has my professional attention, is what I mean to say.”

Konami warily studied the look in Konuki’s eye. “We don’t gotta have a talk about boundaries, do we?”

“Konami, I am an educator. When I took this job, I swore to myself.” She grinned smugly as she threw her drink back. “No students.”

“Congrats. You’ve accomplished the bare minimum.”

“Am I allowed to argue?”

“No. Drink.” Amanatsu downed her glass and promptly ordered a third.

Just after it came out, so did a small grill. The waiter placed it between them. They let you cook your own chikuwa here.

“Aojiso? How unconventional of you,” Konuki commented, rolling her fishcake along the grill.

“I’m a Toyohashi girl, what can I say? No toppings for you?”

“I’ve been craving simplicity these days.”

The chikuwa began to swell. She squished it down with a pick for a nice sear.

“Don’t get me wrong,” Konami started to grumble, “I like me some chikuwa and a girls’ night out but can’t help wondering when it’ll be my turn.”

Konuki grinned softly. “You’re too rigid. You should live a little more. Take a leap of faith every once in a while.”

“Yeah, like that’s served you well. Don’t think I forgot what happened at your coming-of-age thing. You’re lucky to even be here.”

“Everything comes with a little risk, Konami. Especially when you’re lucky enough to be born a woman.” Konuki picked up a nice brown roll of fish. “But us girls can take a pounding.”

“Glad to see you haven’t learned a thing.”

Konuki simply smiled back.

And on the girls’ night went.