It had been ages since Natsume had last seen Kiyama-sensei. She wondered what she looked like now.
Natsume had heard a little from Banri and Haruue—Kiyama Harumi had swapped out her usual, monotonous white lab coat for a more professional-looking ladies' suit.
Even though Kiyama-sensei wasn't qualified to be a teacher and couldn't obtain the relevant credentials, she had managed to transition into a special role within the education sector through donations, becoming the new director at Sakugawa Middle School.
In this city, education was a pretty lucrative business.
Not that schools made their money from student tuition—most of the funding came from major financial groups and official organizations backing them, and donations from ordinary individuals and companies were also pretty common.
Even her family's toy company, before they were driven out of Academy City, held shares in some no-name ordinary high school.
It wasn't hard to guess part of the reason for all that funding—they were clearly interested in schools' ability to directly collect various types of information on espers, and to interact with espers directly, making it easier to reverse-engineer abilities into scientific technologies.
"Even though Kiyama-sensei hasn't been a teacher for a long time, I've just gotten used to calling her that."
Seemingly lost in random thoughts, Natsume-san rested her chin in her hand and, without a care for anyone around, leaped off the roof of a certain building. She mulled over the issue of what to call Kiyama for a moment.
She wasn't Kiyama Harumi's student, and Kiyama wasn't a teacher anymore. It hadn't seemed strange before, but thinking about it now felt a little odd.
"Hmm… Oh, right. This is a good chance to ask about the issues with Reiko-chan. Lately, I've been feeling like Reiko-chan is growing up a bit too fast."
The wind whistled in her ears as the scenery rushed past behind her.
The certain bun-haired girl soared through the air, her tracksuit pressed tightly against her body, her face still wearing that fearless (dazed) look.
Reiko-chan was developing a bit quickly, and Natsume-san felt it was probably because she often left traces of herself in Reiko's mind—her own thoughts frequently influenced Reiko.
In some ways, Reiko was becoming more and more like her—like her love for snacks, hatred of exercise, and not wanting to move after eating.
Who knows, maybe one day she'd even adopt Natsume-san's peculiar philosophy—that the meaning of life is that there is no meaning, just muddling through each day.
But there was nothing to be done about it. Transferring thoughts inevitably brought along some memories.
Mostly ability formulas and the random little thoughts that popped into her head when she had nothing to do. It wasn't like Natsume-san had Mental Out or anything, so she couldn't exactly clean up the memories left in Reiko's mind regularly.
Natsume-san didn't know whether this phenomenon was good or bad. When she saw Kiyama-sensei later, she could ask about all the doubts on her mind.
The certain bun-haired girl was a bit worried—would this interfere with Reiko's normal mental development?
After all, Reiko's situation was somewhat special, and it was Natsume-san's first time taking care of someone.
"Is this the place? Banri said Kiyama-sensei started a new company here."
"Looks like Kiyama-sensei's standard of living has improved since leaving the research institute."
The air pressure dispersed, stirring up dust nearby. The ace pilot landed steadily, and the certain bun-headed girl had finally reached her destination.
She hadn't been able to get through to Kiyama-sensei earlier, so she'd called Banri instead. Fortunately, Banri had picked up right away.
What surprised Natsume-san was that not only had Kiyama-sensei become a director at Sakugawa Middle School, she had also recently started a new company to serve as her base.
Being a director was more of a title than a job—it didn't come with a fixed workplace, so Kiyama-sensei often spent her time at the company instead.
"Kiyama Pharmaceuticals??"
She looked up at the "Kiyama Pharmaceuticals" sign above the entrance, and as soon as she spoke, a hint of suspicion crossed Natsume-san's face.
It didn't necessarily have to be related to education, but suddenly opening a pharmaceutical company left Natsume-san baffled.
Besides, Academy City's pharmaceutical industry was already dominated by companies like Higuchi Pharmaceuticals and Ingawa Pharmaceuticals. Was there really a future for a new pharmaceutical company here? Natsume-san couldn't help but feel concerned.
But that wasn't important right now. Natsume-san wasn't here for business discussions.
It was a five-story office building. What it was before wasn't clear, but now it had been wholly purchased by a certain well-off teacher.
Being around so many wealthy women, Natsume-san was getting used to it.
After getting permission to enter Kiyama Pharmaceuticals, Natsume-san took the strikingly transparent elevator upstairs. It seemed like elevators had become standard everywhere, no matter the place.
Not really in the mood to admire the view outside, she stepped out as the elevator doors opened, only for her slender hand to be grabbed by someone, pulling her toward one of the offices.
"Sonoko-neechan, it's me!"
"I just got your call, and I thought, I bet Teacher went and left her phone in some corner again. She's so scatterbrained, it's worrying. I happened to be nearby, so I came by to check on her."
Wearing a new pink hairband that revealed her smooth, fair forehead, and dressed in a standard Sakugawa Middle School uniform, the girl named Edasaki Banri lifted her head cheerfully, showing off her charming canine teeth.
On the way, Natsume-san also noticed some scattered middle school textbooks. She had them too, of course, but Tokiwadai Middle School's were a bit different.
Banri and the others were behind in basics compared to regular middle schoolers, so Kiyama-sensei sometimes gave them extra lessons, though only a few of the more well-behaved girls attended diligently.
"Banri, aren't you participating in the Daihaseisai today?"
Natsume Sonoko looked up slightly, a little curious.
Banri was even a bit taller than her, her Sonoko-neechan. It seemed she'd grown a bit since waking up.
"Yeah! I have games tomorrow and the day after. The baton turn and the one-legged frog jump."
Banri turned back, counting on her fingers seriously.
Sakugawa Middle School had a lot of students, so not everyone was scheduled for many events.
The cashmere sofa felt great—sitting down made her feel completely relaxed.
The girl who loved napping on sofas silently evaluated it, then turned her gaze to the woman in the suit sitting across from her.
Kiyama-sensei's dark circles hadn't disappeared, but they had lightened quite a bit. Her health was finally approaching that of an average person.
"Long time no see, Natsume-san."
Her voice carried that familiar lazy tone, Kiyama Harumi's eyes calm yet carrying a hint of contentment.
Her suit was worn meticulously—it seemed she had kicked her old habit of casually taking her clothes off.
It appeared that certain movement to purify society's norms had been quite successful.
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.