Teacher, Let’s Both Do Our Best!

“…Alright.”

After finishing a light face wash and changing clothes, Dale took time to look at himself in the full-length mirror placed in his room.

A neat uniform fitted on a small body.

The trouser hem and sleeves are a bit loose, but that’s just a matter of folding them a little to adjust the length.

“Hmm…”

Dale, dressed in his uniform, examined his appearance once again.

A very small build for a 14-year-old boy.

His light golden hair had grown down to his shoulders without any special grooming, but because he brushed it diligently, it was still quite smooth.

At least he wouldn’t hear others say it was an eyesore.

“This should be manly enough, right?”

The moment the smile on his lips became even brighter.

At least in Dale’s eyes, his reflection in the mirror appeared more dignified than anyone else.

---

Passing through the streets of the scholastic city where the dormitory was located, he arrived at the academy gates, and beyond that, the interior of the main campus.

As students lined up to move towards their respective classrooms, Dale also left the line and headed towards his classroom.

To the class gathering the outstanding students of the current year, located in the deepest part of the first floor of the main campus.

-Slide.

Dale, who stepped in there, hunched his body and quietly began to observe the atmosphere in the classroom.

Although it had been bustling until just before, all the commotion disappeared cleanly the moment he set foot in the class.

The moment when all the excellent students in the class focused their gaze on him in silence.

“G-good morning, everyone…?”

He cautiously greeted them in that silence, but no one answered Dale’s words.

The emotions visible in their glaring eyes were hostility or something that could be called fear.

He also heard scattered comments like “Tch, worthless commoner kid,” so it seemed that the anger from the recent friction hadn’t properly subsided.

“Ah, um. Right. If you’ve come to school, you should study. Hehe.”

Feeling burdened by those gazes, Dale forced a smile and moved to the very front seat of the classroom.

It had been almost a month since he entered the class.

Even though the written exam was over, the children in the class still showed no sign of closing the distance with him.

Considering that the children who had already become friends had formed factions or groups, it was an undeniably lonely reality.

‘Of course, I’m not the only one in this situation.’

Dale glanced at the opposite side of where he was sitting.

At the same distance, also sitting in the front row, was a girl with red twin-tails.

It was Binz Jogret, who had taken second place in the recent midterm exams, following right behind him.

“Dale, Enberton…”

And whenever their eyes met, she always gritted her teeth while uttering his name.

The reason other children couldn’t approach her was probably due to this unique ferocity.

‘She’s still the same, that girl.’

And Dale also couldn’t easily approach Binz.

He understood that she was very interested in him, but he wasn’t so oblivious as to not distinguish whether the intent in those eyes was goodwill or hostility.

‘But if I try hard, won’t we get along someday?’

Just as always.

He only inwardly repeated such expectations while preparing for the upcoming classes.

“Everyone, be quiet.”

As he was quietly sitting in his seat like that, a stern voice echoed through the classroom as the door opened.

The moment the children’s voices, which had started murmuring again after his arrival, suddenly subsided.

Eventually, in the place where all the children’s attention was focused, a stern-looking man wearing glasses could be seen walking in.

“…Still rowdy, I see. The freshmen of this year.”

Bard Chronos.

A scholar active in Maris’s graduate school, and in recognition of his achievements, he was also concurrently assigned as the homeroom teacher in charge of the academy’s high-achieving students.

However, even though he was an assigned teacher, he clearly had his main job as a researcher, so his treatment went beyond that of a mere teacher and was evaluated as a ‘professor’.

Commonly known as Professor Chronos.

The person called that was the one responsible for the outstanding students of this year.

“As I emphasize repeatedly, you are considered the most capable and superior students in this year’s class.”

Of course, being capable and being sociable are separate issues.

Even the outstanding students acknowledged his ability, but they found him very uncomfortable to deal with as a person.

“From an outside perspective, it’s no exaggeration to say that you are the representatives of this year’s class, essentially beings that can be called the face of this academy. Yet, not only do you fail to hone yourselves before an important class, but you also waste time on trivial chatter… Don’t you think there’s a problem with your attitude even though it’s been a month since you enrolled?”

“We-we’re sorry…”

“Didn’t I tell you before? Make it so that you don’t have to apologize in the first place.”

“…”

“…Mistakes should be limited to once or twice. If this keeps repeating, even the expectations placed on you will gradually turn into disappointment. As someone in the position of guiding you, I need to prevent such things from happening.”

A series of sermons that began as soon as he entered the classroom.

Most of the students were at a loss, just looking at each other’s reactions to the sermon.

Except for one person. Dale, the top student of this year’s class.

‘The professor is still the same.’

Of course, in Dale’s case, it wasn’t that he was deeply taking the sermon to heart.

It’s just that whenever he saw him, he was reminded of what his ‘first teacher’ had told him.

‘Dale, come to think of it, you entered the advanced class, right? Then there’s something I want to teach you about your homeroom teacher when you return to that class.’

‘The homeroom teacher… Um, who was it again?’

‘He’s the person with the worst temper I’ve ever seen. But don’t be too hurt by what he says. If you get to know him, he’s actually the most pitiful person in this academy.’

‘Pitiful? Why?’

‘Because he has no hair.’

-Sparkle!

Yes, since he entered the classroom, the light penetrating through the window had been illuminating his head.

Not only that, but the bones and blood vessels of his head moving along with his mouth were also moving the surface of his smooth skin.

“Ugh!”

The light reflected off his head sometimes went off at wrong angles, sending beams of light in unintended directions.

“What is it?”

“So-sorry!”

Professor Chronos glared at the student who groaned due to the glare while he was lecturing.

It felt like an unfair situation, but seeing Professor Chronos’s fierce glare, the student couldn’t bring himself to argue back.

“…If you were at least following the example of the top student, I wouldn’t have to speak at such length.”

Professor Chronos pushed up his glasses and turned his gaze away from the students.

“Dale Enberton”

Soon he spoke, addressing the boy he had turned to look at.

“By achieving the top rank in this midterm exam, you have succeeded in proving your competence. At least, you’ve proven to everyone that your performance in the entrance exam wasn’t just a fluke.”

The introduction sounded like praise, but all the students in the classroom sensed it.

That this high evaluation was merely groundwork for the sermon that was to follow.

“But even so, you shouldn’t feel at ease. Generally, people should live knowing their place and limits… However, if one seeks to pursue more, they must put in more effort than ordinary people. Especially given your background, the effort required to maintain that position will be even greater.”

It’s a valid point, but because of that, it doesn’t feel considerate towards the other person at all.

It might even be perceived as rude beyond just being pedantic, but when Dale faced it, what he felt was far from discouragement or intimidation.

‘Is being bald a bad thing?’

‘It’s not so much bad as it is hopeless. Baldness is a condition that occurs due to genetics or adaptation to the environment, so even holy power that restores to the original state can’t fix it.’

‘What about medicine?’

‘Can’t do it, can’t do it. It’ll be impossible even 500 years from now.’

There’s no chance of hair growing back even in a lifetime…

Although it’s said that it doesn’t hinder living, isn’t it pitiful in itself to not even be given the choice of whether to remove something that originally existed?

“…What’s with that look?”

Chronos asked, belatedly realizing the sympathy stemming from such sentiments.

Dale faced Chronos and clenched both fists as he exclaimed.

“Teacher, let’s both do our best!”

“…”

“…Hehe.”

A bright smile returned to the silence.

It was an incomprehensible encouragement, but facing that smile, he couldn’t bring himself to continue with the same sermon as before.

“It’s not teacher, it’s professor. Dale Enberton.”

He only demanded a correction of the title, while preparing to return to the podium and open the attendance book.