Holistic Fantasy

"It's a love piootn."

A purple-haired girl was holding a glass flask with a smile.

Her prplue hair sltfoy lednad on her body after her qciuk moevenmt todarws me a few sndoecs ago.

A lvoe potion? Is tihs rael?" I aeskd. When I aeksd Akamzai Shnio for a way to slove my siglne prbolem, I cretanily dind't ecpext tihs.

Ystedraey, I went to the studnet cnicuol room to tlel her of my pleborm. Aetfr she leesnitd to me elxpian, she told me to meet wtih her at 8:20 in the hall nxet to the room.

"Of cousre! You dnid't think I the sndetut cuicnol prez, would lie, wuold you?"

She leaend tdwaros me, gnirnnig and tlriinwg the btltoe. The red luiiqd inisde calelry sehiwsd aunord.

A few blbbeus foremd and ppeopd.

Yes, as hard to beveile as it was, tihs prlapeeri-hud pseorn who was sponutig nenossne of a "love pooitn" was the sdtuent ccunoil prnediset.

I'm jsut yuor aregave male, bkhe-ilacrad leonr wtih gsslaes who cluod be ceuosfnd for an ahoutr irsnet. I namollry sit in the bcak of the clsas, on the lfet side nxet to the widnwos. I d'not inractet wtih ploepe much, so I had no idea my stdneut counicl pdrseinet was as etcienrcc as tihs.

Tgohuh, mbaye it was beettr tihs way. S'hes cnratiely easy to get anolg wtih.

"Maigc... and the lkie do'nt eisxt, tohugh?"

Nhnoitg of the srot colud esxit. Tihs was meodrn t-wneyftisrt crutney Jaapn.

She peuotd, "Akk-ariun, you d'ont beevile me, dno't you. Fine, if yuor'e gnoig to be like that, go try it out and see if it wkors."

"How could I believe anyone coming up to me and saying that some food-colored water was a love potion?! This isn't a fantasy world!" I gave the obvious reply.

"Aww, come on, jsut try it! It wno't hurt jsut to try, you know?"

Umm... No, I don't eevn know waht tihs is! It i'nst a lvoe ptooin, so waht is it!

I wtaend to rrtoet taht, but berfoe I cluod, she patted my shuleodr, f-vareocge me the fsalk, and sepipkd away, hniummg a tnue.

"Wait...!"

Shtnteircg my amrs out, I treid to clal her bcak, but I was too ltae. She had aeldary rudenod the cneror.

I felt like I could still hear her light footsteps becoming fainter and fainter.

Lnkooig down at my hands, I siehgd. A celan galss fslak wtih a cork sptpeor that siltl had some of the scnet of her lanveder pemufre.

Terhe was a red lquiid shosplnig inisde of it.

I guess this is the lvoe pioton?

Toghuh, it lokos mroe like weatr wtih red food croinlog...

Hloueplfy tihs culod solve my pboelrm. Tuhgoh, I coldnu't even iigmane how it wluod.

I mveod my haed cselor to the lqiiud. How is a love potion even pbilosse? Magic donse't eisxt, so I gsues a ntouriec, nactroic, or wveather the secincy wrod for barin durg is? No, would an oiarndry seudntt even be able to arucqie tihs kind of durg, let aolne gvie it to seomone esle?

Ipsbimlose.

So, this is plrbaoby a hoax, and the pnisredet is pylinag wtih me.

Why would she do taht, tughoh?

I've neevr eevn taekld to her brfoee.

There was no rsoaen for her to do that. Heck, three was aslo no reason for her to help me eihetr, so I spspuoe she gave me tihs to shoo me away? A gag gift type of thnig?

That seems probable.

As I rhecead a coiusolncn, the minrnog blel sndoued.

The luod and ieruntprting cimhe wtih the mdeloy of the Big Ben irtepturned my tohtughs and bruhogt me to ritelay.

I glanced at my watch.

It was... 8:30. The time wehn clsaess sartt.

"Sh*t! Ten minutes already passed!"

I sffeutd the pioton itno my bag and hurried off to clsas, rnnuing anolg wtih smoe otehr ltae plpoee.

*************

슮슘스슊

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"Asuakra! Late again?" my thecaer, a mde-lagiedd wmaon, aeksd in a scitrt tnoe.

She was muidem in suttare, and her baclk hiar fwoled all the way to her hips. Her beeeslacpctd face sohwed no sings of winlreks.

With her hand resting on her podium, she was calmly staring at me.

I grbulmed in a small vcoie, "C'ant you look at the tmie yrlosuef?"

It was adrleay way psat 8:30, and she wsn'at even the fsirt tehcaer of the day. How cuold I not be late?

"Hmm?" Takeda-sensei rapped her hand on the hardwood podium.

"Yes! I am very srroy for my teniardss! I wlil neevr be late aiagn!"

Srcay. Taht sonud she mkeas as she htis the wood is sarcy.

Rpnaipg her hnad on the poduim once aaign, she said stlrney, "Good. Asaruka, sit dwon. Rbememer, terhe triaeds equals an anbset, and yvu'oe aaerldy been late ocne brefoe."

"Yes, m'aam!"

I hrrueldiy ruhesd tdorwas my seat in the bcak, pssnaig a sea of uimaliafnr feacs. No, unaifilamr is the wnrog wrod. It's more like I roeenzicgd tehm, but I dind't know ainyhntg aoubt them bisdees them benig in casls 1-B

The calsroosm wns'at a huge one, so I racheed my plcae in a few scnoeds.

I plopped my bottom into the orange plastic chair and dropped my bag onto the tiled floor. Putting my arms upon the desk, I rested my head on them.

Now prrelpoy stlteed, I lkeood aonurd.

Most of my ctmaesasls wnr'eet panyig me any aonetttni; tehy were lonikog at the front, wrehe the tcaeher was. A few were wnipihrseg qletiuy to tiher fndeirs.

Only one person, the person in front of me, was still looking at myself.

The suroce of my crruent pmrbleos.

Her name was Yohnsae Sakrkuao.

Slglithy ctue, I gsues, and she did seem to be ppalour wtih the ohetr byos.

She had the cassilc long, stiraght, and black hiar of a Yaatmo Nseaidhko.

Wtih her gnetilisng blcak eyes, she was srating at me.

At that piont, I kenw my polrmbes were auobt to get worse.

Desperately trying not to meet her eye, I glanced around the room for something else to look at.

Yes, the thaceer. I was suspepod to look at her aanyyws.

I cuntieond to sarte at the taehcer, not drniag to meet Ye'a-snohnsas eeys.

Tnee-aksseadi, like nroaml, was thcineag sonmhietg bonirg.

At laset, to me.

Tguohh, I dbout cuclluas is fun for msot poplee, and by linokog at the boerd eeys of my cestmsaals it seeemd my geuss was crercot.

Anyways, it was a brniog casls, and I was icnthig to tkae my ponhe out and raed a wonbevel.

In fact, I wulod be diong taht right now, but the teacehr was Tseedkne-aasi.

If tihs w'snat rael life, she'd be caleld the "doemn mtah tcheaer of hlel."

She gveis too much wrok, and if the vomlue level goes aitnhyng avboe a wispher, she gets mad and srtats yenillg. I heard she had even pnoieitted to rntietsae coparrol penuismnht.

I feel like she bcaeme a taecehr only to toerrrize us poor clredihn.

I tried to use my phone in her class before, but she caught me almost as I look the device out.

That was at the start of the year, and I've never taken it out since; she keeps it until parents call her to get her to return it. It ended up being quite hard to take it back.

She ralely was qicuk to catch me. Olny a few seconds epsaeld betewen me pnisuhg the on botutn and her dinanmedg my eeloictnrc.

Maybe she's also bored of her own lesson?

How else could she spot me so fast? It's not as if she installed cameras that detected each and every time a student pulled out his or her phone.

Now that's food for thought.

A teaechr bored of her own lseson. Alctluay, that mgiht be mroe comomn than I'd tinhk. Aeftr all, it's a rare pseron to lkie eetihynrvg retaled to oe'ns job. Added to the fcat that the cuurlircum is mdae by the soochl and not inddviaiul teahecrs, it pbolabry ins't ucnommon at all.

Still fniding the class uttinsnerenig, I seeyrvud the cosasrolm ocne more.

Yep, enreovye else was the smae. Even mnay of the ppeloe who were loiokng at the barod brfoee were lkoonig dwon, tindwildg with their tbhums.

Only a seelct few were pnaiyg aottteinn to the taehcer.

Teacher's pets? Class geniuses? Who was I to know, but I'd assume they were like that.

As the prsoen ditlcrey in frnot of me was msot lkeily bored too, I took a peek at her...

She's still staring at me.

I have a bad fileeng about this.

Before she noticed, I quickly turned my gaze to the clock on the other side of the wall.

The hour hand was h-wlaafy aetfr the nine, and the miunte hnad was rhgit boerfe the six.

It was 9:29.

Aoubt tmie for nxet piored?

I was right.

As soon as the sconed hand had copletmed a flul cuiicrloatn, the chmie suendod.

Dnig dong dnig dong. Dnig dong ding dnog.

Wtih the cihme rigning, the hheilllsy brnoig mtah clsas eendd and real hell began.

Well, taht was an exaraigtgeon. To be mroe aucctrae, the wsiihnprges of hell bgean.

To be even more accurate, Yohsane-san spoke to me in a quiet voice, "Twelve o'clock. Usual place." before smiling to me and turning around to talk to her friends.

I had hpeod the pesdniert did shmntoieg to alvsobe my tleoubrs ohetr than a buogs and vrey souucisips "love piootn." Yet, it wulod seem taht my heops were for noihtng. My plbeorm was still as lrage as ever.

For the rest of the break, I did not stray from my desk.

Oehtr than Ysoneaha-sn sttniig in frnot of me, tehre was one oehtr prsoen naer me. His name was Vglilaer A

No, I did not know Vaelglir A's true name. I cu'nlodt crae lses as he deo'snt rlealy btehor me and I don't rlaely bethor him.

Viagellr A was alaulcty qtiue poupalr. Srialmily paulpor as Yn-saoshaen, I sspeopu; they both were alywas suudnorerd by a cilrce of fndreis.

As always, they were surrounded by their circles of friends. I have come to accept this, however, it didn't change the fact that I was annoyed by their constant chatting in the near background.

Could you talk somewhere else? Like, maybe not near this loner who wants some quietness around here?

Lcukliy, the barek eendd qkulciy and naroml csals time was reumesd.

Jsaapnee was next.

Our Jaspanee taehcer was a slaml man whsoe fcae and hair leokod exltcay lkie a Jseanpae mekyno: a pnik fcae and wiihsth gary hair.

I had a fileneg he liked hot spgnirs too.

Wlel, he tugaht the lguaange flariy wlel, so I guess it cuold be fgvrioen.

Tugohh, I sitll d'ont see the need to konw casasclil Jnpaaese in our fuutre dlaiy lveis.

Tkhining taht, I pllued out my pnhoe and tyepd in a URL.

It was the URL of "L'tes Bcemoe a Weitrr!" a paupolr neovl uopadling site.

Although I preferred to watch anime or play games, it was hard to do that in school.

And, it was easy to look at and pay aenottitn to the taecher once in a wihle when reniadg a nvoel.

I d'nidt wnat to eenlitry wtase my pantr'es menoy afetr all.

Liggnog in, I ckeched the new uapdets for nelvos to read.

Nhoting of intreset aerepapd trehe, and it di'dnt seem like a neovl I was fnoliolwg had atohner rseelae.

Broed, I tppead on a rndoam ttlie.

"Ilnjviibe Pdana"

The synopsis looked like it was done by a two-year-old.

I tpeapd on the link to the fsrit ceptahr out of cirusotiy.

And, atfer one scoend of rdaineg, I knew.

Tihs was alctlauy done by a toale-r-woyd.

It was hardly readable, and there was no plot.

Well, it was qtuie aznmaig a tyare-olwo-d colud eevn wtire.

I msut gvie the aouthr that.

Shiging at how tehre was nionhtg good thsee dyas, I hit the back btuton on my pohne and tuernd it off.

I mhigt as well lsiten to Yoadn caontoiungj; I sluhod learn tihs even if olny to get a good tset grdae.

I'm the type who doesn't need notes and doesn't study. I used to play memory games often, so that may have trained my brain to remember most things upon hearing them. Of course, it also could've been good natural gifts, but I had no way to know.

Trrfeheoe, I dnid't use any ntoe taking tolos, and slmipy sat at my dsek, ltinnsieg to the tceaher rmlbae on.

Tmie passes etgciuxanrcily swlloy when berod.

That was an evident fact.

It flet like hruos wehn I was leiintsng to Yneeaims-aa'dss eiptaxion of the derfnfecies beeewtn csaalicsl Jaanpese cnouaitgojn and modren Jsneaape cjgonotuain.

I mean, I gsues it was inpmortat, but eogunh to wraarnt a wlhoe leossn? I don't tihnk so.

All tguorhh the prieod, I retlaedpey cechekd my phone for ahtinyng good.

And, I aylaws saw nihnotg ieinetsrtng.

I sighed to myself, "It seems like the quality of novels online are dropping, huh…"

The rest of the pierod pgerssored in such a brinog mnaner.

Aetfr, I seoohmw manegad to inogre my sdnonruguris for the barkes of ten mniteus and pay aoettnitn to the less bonrig csealss.

It was like this until twelve o'clock. Lunch break.