Chapter 93: Chapter 92 - Minami-Sensei’s Worst Vacation

Summer break has begun.

Most students are celebrating this time of year as one of the happiest times ever.

But for Akari Tachibana, this summer break represents a very special time of year.

A time when he is free from everything.

A time when he can have fun.

A time when he can do nothing.

Which is why she burst through the door into the living room at seven o’clock with enough energy to wake the whole neighborhood.

"BEACH!"

The sound of her yell echoes throughout the entire house.

Kuro, who had just finished pouring himself a cup of coffee, will now regret getting up.

Aoi is continuing quietly with her book and doesn’t seem to have noticed anything happening.

Shizuka almost dropped the dishes that she was carrying and stood there stunned.

Daichi looks like he has just aged five years.

"Good morning," Daichi called as he now regrets getting up so soon.

Akari threw both hands on the table.

"We’re going to the beach."

"That’s not a question."

"It’s an order."

"That makes it worse."

Akari does not care what Daichi has to say.

"We promised."

Daichi thinks for a moment before saying anything.

Technically Akari has a point.

A few weeks ago, he and Shizuka casually mentioned that they would take the family away for part of the summer vacation.

Unfortunately life had other ideas.

And those ideas have been very inconvenient for Daichi.

Daichi looks at Shizuka.

Shizuka looks at Daichi.

Neither of them wants to be the one to break the news.

Suspicion took hold of Kuro after that alone.

Akari immediately noticed.

"What’s up with your two goofy faces?"

Silence followed.

Akari narrowed her glare even further.

"Aoi?"

Aoi had noticed she was being watched so she peered over at Akari from her book.

"You’re all hiding something..."

"Yep."

"Traitor."

Aoi disappeared back into her book.

Akari pivoted to face her parents.

The air around them grew tense.

Tense enough to possibly go "boom."

Daichi cleared his throat.

"We’re in a jam."

Akari stopped moving.

"Hell no."

"Yeah."

"Hell to the no."

"Yes ma’am."

"NOOOO!!!!!"

Shizuka smiled as she watched Akari’s meltdown.

It took Akari a few seconds to take everything in.

Then...sudden realization hit.

"Hell no."

"Akari."

"NO."

"Akari. Get over it. It’s only work."

"NO."

"Akari." 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

"NO!!!!!!"

Akari started getting louder with her negativity.

Kuro had his head down, sipping his coffee.

This was what Kuro expected.

Akari pointed at her parents, "But you promised."

"No we didn’t."

"You swore you would never do this."

"And we didn’t."

"You said you wouldn’t."

"You know that’s not a legally binding promise."

"Then, it should be."

Daichi rubbed his forehead in frustration.

Shizuka attempted not to laugh.

Truthfully, the situation they were in wasn’t comical.

Akari’s tropes, however, were...and very comical.

"How much longer?"

Finally, Akari asked a question.

"A few more days," replied Daichi.

"A few days is an eternity."

"Three days," replied Đaiđis.

"Precisely," stated Daichi.

When Daichi turned to look at Kuro; Kuro dropped his eyes and looked away.

Kuro would not become involved this time again.

No! No! No.

Fate liked to control Kuro’s life...that’s all.

"Kuro."

Shizuka stopped and then gave a very dangerous smile, which meant she had an idea. "Kuro," she said. Kuro immediately felt a pit in his stomach because of the way she said his name. "Why are you saying my name like that?" He asked her. "Because I was thinking," she said. "That’s bad," Kuro told her. Daichi like I agree.

"Actually, you don’t already know." Daichi has now added to it." No, we haven’t even said a word."

"Already I know," Kuro replied, "you are wrong."

Shizuka has now put her hands together, "If we cannot go...."

At this point, Kuro sighed, "..."

".....well then, someone else can."

This caused some silence in the room and suddenly, Akari had a look on her face like a light was just turned on in her head and she said, "A substitute!" and pointed to Daichi.

Kuro was going to hate where this was going.

The next question was who, in their right mind, would want to supervise this group?

That answer was not easy.

It was really impossible.

Any person in their right mind would get out of there as quickly as possible.

Aoi put down her book and said, "We need someone reliable." Akari nodded in agreement. "Someone who we can rely upon." Daichi also nodded his head in agreement. "Someone who’s easy-going." Shizuka gave a nod too. Everyone began to think slow about the situation at hand. One person’s name slowly came to everyone’s mind, and it was the same person’s name for everyone, which was unfortunate for that person because of the circumstances surrounding that situation.

After several minutes had passed... a phone call was made.

Minami Asakura picked up the phone on the third ring and said, "Hello?"

Shizuka replied, "Good morning, Minami-san." Minami sounded confused.

"Is this Mrs. Tachibana?"

Five minutes passed...

"No."

That was the quickest no in history.

"I haven’t explained anything yet."

"No."

"Please just listen."

"No".

Daichi tried to convince Minami...

"No."

Aoi tried...

"No."

Akari eventually grabbed the phone from Shizuka and made a request...

"Please?"

Long silence... silence... silence... then...

"... fine."

Victory!

Akari was s happy as can be. Shizuka was just happy; Daichi was relaxed. Kuro could not feel any worse for Minami.

The next morning came.

Departure Day.

Kuro arrived at the train station with a small travel bag in hand. The morning air was refreshing, clear skies were above, and the weather could not have been better.

All those things were a bad sign.

Good weather puts people in the mood to cause problems.

First to show up was Akari, she was way too excited. Next was Aoi, she was calm as she usually is. Third was Mina, she arrived about ten minutes later. Last was Rika, who somehow brought more books than clothes.

"Did you pack appropriately?" Kuro asked.

"Define appropriately," Rika replied.

That was enough that Kuro got his answer.

Finally Minami showed up.

Exhausted was the word that probably best described the teacher’s state of being. But then again, that may have had something to do with not having left yet.

"Kuro," she said as a greeting.

"Not yet."

"And why not?"

"Because, I have to babysit six teenagers."

Fair enough.

Minami had with her a small bag, a water bottle, and something else.

Kuro saw that.

"You have headache medicine with you?"

"Yes."

"But we are not at our destination yet."

"Yeah, I’m aware of that."

It was troubling that she thought she may need to use it later.

Very troubling.

The train pulled out of the station and into service.

For what should have been a peaceful trip with friends, it immediately became loud and boisterous with everyone yelling.

Akari was the first to claim the window seat, followed by Mina wanting a snack, Rika wanted something to reference from, Aoi wanted a quiet place to sit and think, while Minami just wanted to retire.

The train had just begun to move and the beach trip had quickly turned into a very difficult experience.

Then, two stops into the trip.

Akari stood up.

"I am hungry."

"Aren’t you still full from breakfast?" Aoi asked.

"That was the old version of me."

"That was thirty minutes ago."

"People change."

Kuro closed his eyes.

This is going to be a long trip.

A long trip indeed.

Across the aisle, Minami lifted the smaller of her bags, and pulled out her headache medicine, placing it next to her.

Preparation.

Experience.

Survival.

No one questioned her action, as everyone understood.

By the time the train reached the coast, excitement slowly began to build in everyone.

Summer break started!

The ocean is waiting.

A weekend of memories ahead!

And no one has any idea what is going to happen.

This trip to the beach, in my opinion, was one of the most chaotic experiences of their lives to that point.

Minami stared out of the window.

Then at the group.

Akari was talking very loud.

Mina was laughing.

Rika was drawing.

Aoi was reading.

Kuro was already looking tired.

The teacher exhaled noisily.

"I really should have said no."

Kuro nodded. "You really should have."

Minami laughed for the first time all morning before the train continued on its journey to the beach and the start of what I believe will be a summer none of them will forget.

And Akari had an intention for this trip that was supposed to be kept under wraps.

Although using "under wraps" may be more correct, it didn’t seem to fit her mannerisms at all.

This beach holiday both visually and mentally was going to be the ultimate memory from summer with no stress, classes, exams, obligations, or responsibilities, as well as provide everyone with a good time when they were together.

Additionally, Akari desired for Kuro to be able to enjoy himself in a manner that allowed him to escape from being the overwork caretaker to the group.

Whether through beach activities, taking in the sites, or by inducing total mayhem, Akari determined that she will create for Kuro to smile and enjoy himself when they leave on this trip.