The King's Mandate: Anomalous System

"I am sorry." She bowed down her head a little when she said that.

"Wait, why are you apologizing? It was my fault!"

Two weeks ago, when she was teaching mathematics, I noticed an error. I told her about it, and she got angry. I was right; it wasn't my mistake, it was hers; we debated for 30 minutes, and then she ran out of class. Since then, we are…

Later I was called out by another teacher, and he asked me what exactly happened; I told him everything. He was shocked that she made a mistake, but he brought the tab she was teaching from just to confirm.

After discussing with the teacher, he told me to bring my tab; we found a mistake in my tab after looking into it.

Rather than a mistake, it was a printing error; the subject was mathematics, so that a printing error could cause a huge error in the result.

"It was my fault; I am an adult here. If I had checked it properly..."

"It wasn't your fault; it was my fault."

"I should have checked properly, but I didn't; my pride got in my way. Being corrected by a student hurts my pride."

"I am saying it wasn't your fault, so would you please stop apologizing?"

I hate it. I hate it when this happens; it wasn't her fault, then why does she keep apologizing?

"It wasn't your fault Miss, and it wasn't my fault either, so there is no need to apologize."

"That's not how the world works; it has to be someone's fault."

"Huh?"

Does she think the same as me?

"Ever since I was a kid, I was told I am a genius, I can do anything, and I did everything; I was always top no matter in which class or in which grade. I scored top in my universities too," she said.

"Then--"

"I grew up without any guidance; I don't know what is right or what is wrong. 'If something is written in the books, I will follow it' I kept thinking that, and due to that, I had no friends, no one helped me, no one was there to celebrate my birthday, no one was there to celebrate my results, my happiness, I was alone, always alone."

"Miss Serah?"

"I am sorry, I was..."

Again, why are you apologizing? You are an adult; they don't be sorry, they never apologize; that's what I think, so if you keep apologizing, then...

She is the same as me; she grew up the same as me, without understanding people, without understanding adults. But...but I was saved by my parents, by Elena. But there was no one to save Miss.

Would I have turned out like this too?

"Miss Serah, you are right about that, 'It has to be someone's fault, but you are an adult, so you shouldn't blame yourself, you can blame it all on me, I will take all the blame, so there is no need to apologize."

"....."

In the end, I am contradicting myself. I hate adults, but if there is an adult like that, how am I supposed to hate her?

I took a deep breath and said, "I am the same; it was the same for me, but I was saved; if there is no one to save you, then I will save you.,"

"..."

"If there is no one to share your happiness, then I will share it with you; if there is no one to share your pain, then you can share it with me."

"....."

"So what I want to say is... I... I will be your friend."

"...."

That was embarrassing; I can't believe I said something like that to a teacher, an adult.

She has been silent for a while; what's wrong?

"Miss Serah?"

She looked at me. There are tears in her eyes.

Did I hurt her?

"I am--"

As I was apologizing, she suddenly hugged me.

"Thanks."

'I don't want to grow up!'

Huh? What was that? What's going on?

I just heard... saw something. It was just for a split second but... or was it just my imagination? 

She smells good; I can feel something soft pressing against me.

This is bad, I don't know what's going on, but this is bad if Elena saw...this-

"What's going on here?"

Elena was right behind her.

I am dead. 

Hey, miss Serah! Get off me.

"Elena... Miss Serah, please let me go."

She finally let go of me. Elena stared at me for a while and then moved her gaze at Miss Serah...huh? She is staring at her--

"You like big ones, after all."

What is this idiot talking about in front of a teacher?

"Is that true, Das?" Miss Serah said while covering her chest with her hands.

Why are you joining her too?

"That's not true--"

"I went to the bathroom and found my boyfriend hugging my teacher from school."

I wasn't hugging her; she was the one hugging me.

Elena, she looks angry, but that's not what I am worried about, what I am concerned about is...

"Elena, those French fries aren't ours, so would you stop eating them?"

She is eating food without permission again, and it's not even mine.

"So what is going on?" she took a bite and said, "Care to explain it to me?"

Stop eating!

"No, you see..." I gulped down and said, "You remember me and the teacher fought two weeks ago?"

"I do, so what?"

"That was a misunderstanding."

"You told me that, I am not asking that. I want to know why she was hugging you."

"So I told her it wasn't her fault and that made her happy, so she hugged me."

It's a lame excuse, even for me.

"I see."

Did she buy it?

"So Elena is your girlfriend?" Miss Serah asked.

"Yes, I am his girlfriend, so keep your hands off him, you understand?"

She is your teacher, dammit. That's no way to talk to the teacher. However, I treat them much worse.

"Hey Elena, stop that."

"So you want the big ones?"

Stop talking about that already!

"She is our teacher, don't talk to her like that."

"I don't care!"

You should care. She will take your lessons in school, don't come crying to me if that happens.

"Hey Elena, it's almost 1:00 PM, let's go, here take this."

I gave her the movie tickets. In the end, we didn't eat anything.

"Let's go." She pulled my hands.

"Wait."

"What now?"

"Miss Serah, let's go."

"Why are you inviting her?"

Because she is the one who gave us the tickets.

"I have an extra ticket, so if she wants to come-"

I am sorry, Miss Serah but keep the act. She had one extra ticket with her, and I am sure that she wanted to watch the movie.

"Thank you, Das Ryle." She smiled.

Seeing an adult smiling like that...my heart feels funny.