Volume 3 Chapter 23 Girls’ Night Out
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
”We made it…!”
I-Nagata Riko-was currently hunkered down at a diner for a “post-observation day” survival party. It wasn’t a formal event hosted by the kindergarten, just a casual girls’ night out for a few of us to grab a bite together. The group consisted of two people I was actually close with outside of work.
”Puh-fuaaaa!”
Rakuma Miku-sensei let out a long, satisfied breath, showing off some seriously impressive form as she downed her glass. She wasn’t drinking beer, mind you-it was just soda from the free refill station¹. Miku-sensei started carrying a camera due to a strange turn of events and is now very active as the kindergarten’s official photography team. Her recent worry is that the marriage funds she worked so hard to save are melting away into camera equipment. When I heard the prices, I was lost for words at the sheer amount.
She often seems bothered by people teasing her about her short stature, but perhaps because of it, she is physically close to the kids. I’m a little envious of how quickly she can become friends with them. However, if I ever say that out loud, Miku-sensei will continue to vent her grudges while rubbing my… bu-breast, so I absolutely will not say it.
”Fuaaaa…”
And the other person is Sayanagi Ai-sensei, who serves as the homeroom teacher for the Chrysanthemum Class. (Seriously, they aren’t drinking, right? We all drove here. A DUI would be the end of our careers…)
Ai-sensei is my senior by one year. She gives off the vibe of a cool woman with a dark brown short bob; her appearance alone is quite gallant. I admire her a bit because she has an aura I can’t seem to produce.
Since she was in the track and field club in high school specializing in long-distance, she has great stamina, and even now she apparently enters famous domestic marathons every year. At the kindergarten, she reigns as the greatest stamina beast in history. Her personality is refreshingly blunt, and she was a hit with the youngsters-especially the boys. After all, she’s the undisputed champ at playing tag.
With these two, well… we hit it off because we are all single women with no boyfriends or husbands… or rather, it feels like I’m being forced to hang out with them. No, I’m happy to be invited, you know? But I feel like if I stay here, I’ll never be able to get married…
Putting that talk aside for a moment, I have to do something about Ai-sensei.
”I’m quitting being a teacher already…”
”You’re saying it again…”
I wonder how many times this has been. Whenever the three of us gather like this, she often says, “I want to quit.” Miku-sensei is used to it, lightly brushing it off with a “there, there” to comfort her.
It’s true that being a kindergarten teacher is a more grueling job than people imagine. Aside from dealing with the youngsters, there is handling parents and neighborhood residents, inspecting and maintaining light equipment, adjusting lesson plans, and preparing or replenishing tools. Because there is so much to do and it’s a job involving people, you can’t cut corners, and stress piles up one way or another. It is a workplace with many women, after all.
If my student-self had known that, I might not have become a kindergarten teacher. There are many things in this world that are better left unknown.
”The parents’ stares are already scary…”
Throwing her body against the backrest as if her soul had left her body, Ai-sensei seems to have been quite beaten down by the parent observation day. After the observation, we touched on it briefly during the reflection meeting at the school, but children got into a fight during free play time, and because of that, the parents got prickly and things dragged on until the end. Just thinking about it happening to me makes my face go pale.
Miku-sensei, the oldest among us, also seems unsure of what to say. For now, please eat something sweet and cheer up.
”…How was the Rose Class? Were there any troubles? I want something worthy of calming my spirit.”
”There was a sense of tension, but nothing in particular… Everyone was restless because their fathers and mothers were there, but I don’t think it was much different from usual…”
”Tch, as I thought, it’s because of Makoto-kun.”
”That’s… true, I suppose…”
Certainly, I was on edge until Makoto-kun arrived. With him there versus not, the stability of the youngsters is on a completely different level…
”Give Makoto-kun to my class!”
Ai-sensei is like a child throwing a tantrum because they won’t buy her a toy. But imagining it is terrifying. A Rose Class without Makoto-kun-thinking about kids like Jun-chan and Hiro-kun running wild with zero supervision… Ah, but that’s normal for the other groups. Seiko-sensei even warned me about it.
Apparently, this year’s Rose Class is “special.” Even in Seiko-sensei’s career of over thirty years, she says this class is by far the easiest to control. The cause of that, Makoto-kun, is basically an honest, clever, quiet, and caring good boy who doesn’t take much effort. He’s always stuck right to Suzuki-chan, radiating a happy atmosphere…
(I’m not particularly frustrated. Lovey-dovey couples that last forever don’t exist in this world anyway. By the time they hit puberty, they’ll-)
I digress.
From what I’ve observed, Makoto-kun isn’t a child who tries to go to the center of the group himself. He’s the type of kid who plays in the corner doing what he likes. However, Makoto-kun ends up attracting attention. He does various things to make Suzuki-chan happy, and that makes the other kids curious too.
Magic tricks are a good example. When everyone was playing with newspapers, Hiro-kun started acting up and stepped on and tore a newspaper, causing Suzuki-chan’s expression to freeze. But he got through it by performing a magic trick. …Makoto-kun had a strange intensity about him then. To us adults, the trick was obvious, but Suzuki-chan and Shiho-chan were full of praise.
I was put on the spot afterward, but Makoto-kun, perhaps feeling a bit guilty, secretly set up the trick and supported me, and I successfully took my first step toward becoming a magician. …Why did it turn out like this? On my days off, I find myself practicing magic or researching and buying props…
In that way, Makoto-kun’s influence is amazing. How should I put it, is he just good at guiding people? And he seems to be good at making friends, too. So, just having him stay with the kids who don’t listen or the ones you can’t take your eyes off makes the burden on us teachers much lighter. Seiko-sensei was even making a wicked face while letting Jun-chan get close to him. (Suzuki-chan is going to hate her for that…)
Perhaps because words from a peer have a different penetration rate than those from us adults, the other kids listen to Makoto-kun, making them easier to control. I’m starting to feel like Makoto-kun is on the teachers’ side. Because of that, he’s already a celebrity among the teachers at Hinomori Kindergarten.
”Next year, I’m taking Makoto-kun for my group…”
”You’re getting ahead of yourself. It’s only been three months. Not even a quarter of the year is over,” Miku said.
”Wait, didn’t class reshuffling happen once every three months?”
”No,” Miku replied.
”…”
Ai-sensei’s soul left her body again. Her expressions change so much, it’s busy. She’s the exact opposite of Makoto-kun.
”…I want to quit and get married².”
”Then you have to get a boyfriend first,” Miku retorted.
When three single women gather, the topic inevitably goes in this direction. There was a handsome dad, or something like that. I hear things like “kindergarten teachers are popular,” but that’s not the case at all. Weekdays are tough, and even on holidays, we’re halfway working because of prep. We can’t do anything foolish in public because of the parents’ eyes. We’re like minor celebrities.
So, to begin with, there are no encounters. The only possibility would be a man at the same workplace-
”By the way, Miku-sensei, how are things with Meguro-sensei?”
”Eh!?”
”Since you’re on the same camera team, you two are together quite often, aren’t you?”
Meguro-sensei is mainly active as the photography team for the middle-year group. He looks sharp and is quite popular with the mothers.
”He’s popular with the other teachers too,” I added. “There might be quite a few gunning for him.”
”……”
Miku-sensei seems to be hiding it, but there is no one here who doesn’t know her feelings.
”Ah, Ai-sensei, is Meguro-sensei a ‘yes’ for you?”
”Nah, I think I’m aiming for a firefighter after all. I want to be held by those sturdy muscles…”
””……””
Ai-sensei says that and hugs herself. We have fire drills as a kindergarten event. Teachers have opportunities to meet them several times for meetings and simulations. They train hard and have a sense of responsibility.
”How about you, Riko-sensei?”
”Eh, me?”
Ai-sensei grins.
”Hmm…, I still have a lot to learn right now, so I think I’m fine for now…”
”Riko-sensei, you’re going to get left behind, you know?”
”Yeah, yeah, you’ll be thirty in the blink of an eye,” Miku added.
”Um…”
My seniors’ faces become strangely serious.
”Could it be there’s a kid you’re interested in? Riko-sensei, you’re often looking at Makoto-kun.”
”That’s illegal, Riko!” Ai-sensei joked. “At least wait until he graduates!”
”It’s not like that! Please don’t say weird things!”
The reason I look at Makoto-kun is… there is much to learn from his actions. Sure, he’s more considerate than most adults and treats his girlfriend like a princess. I’d love a boyfriend who treated me like that, but…
”Wait…, are you actually blushing?”
”I am not! I’m just busy practicing my magic!”
—
Summary:
Nagata Riko attends an informal ‘girls’ night’ with fellow teachers Miku and Ai at a diner. They vent about the stress of parent observation day and their shared single status. The conversation repeatedly turns to Makoto-kun, whose unnatural maturity makes him more of a colleague than a student to the teachers.
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Trivia:
- Miku is spending her ‘wedding funds’ on high-end camera lenses.
- Ai-sensei is a marathon runner known as a ‘stamina beast’.
- Makoto-kun intentionally helps Riko-sensei with her magic tricks to save her from embarrassment.
- Seiko-sensei, a 30-year veteran, finds the current class the easiest ever because of Makoto’s influence
—
Character Insight:
Riko-sensei is beginning to develop a slight complex where she compares potential boyfriends to Makoto-kun, realizing that a five-year-old child is more emotionally intelligent and considerate than most adult men.
—
Behind the Scenes:
Author highlights the ‘invisible labor’ of kindergarten teachers, showing they work even on holidays for lesson preparation.
—
TL Notes:
Notes:
• Riko – Lead teacher of Rose Class at Hinomori Kindergarten. Young woman in a rash guard and athletic shorts for pool duties, also school nurse. Appears stiff at intro but becomes cheerful in lessons. Practices autonomy‑based supervision, lets kids resolve conflicts, tends flowerbeds, leads excursions, and practices magic tricks. Slightly cynical about being single.
• Rakuma Miku – Hospital Doctor at Hinomori Kindergarten. Youngest member of the filming crew. Height is 140cm (claimed). Often compared to a twin-tailed Vocaloid.
• Miku – A short-statured teacher who serves as the kindergarten’s official photography team. She is obsessed with expensive camera gear, which is draining her marriage savings.
• Ai – Lead teacher of the Chrysanthemum Class and Riko’s senior, a dark‑brown short‑bob‑haired woman, former long‑distance track star, known as a stamina beast.
• Makoto – 93 cm, 13 kg three‑year‑old boy in a neat shirt and cap, gentle‑looking but actually a 30‑year‑old reincarnated salaryman. Lives with the Totsuka family, mother works, protects Suzuka‑chan. In Hinomori Kindergarten’s Rose Group he uses a booster seat, short hair, backpack, and wields adult memories, analytical skill, high dexterity, stock tricks and magic. Calm, clever, caring, stoic, known as Maa‑kun, leader of the Rose Class.
• Seiko – Lead teacher of the Rose Class, a veteran with a steely, battle-hardened aura. Polite yet intimidating when serious; Miku calls him an ogre when angry.
• Hiro – A boy in the Rose Class who gets bored easily and runs around the classroom, accidentally breaking Suu’s paper.
• Jun – An energetic, restless boy of the Rose Class, the youngest of three brothers who all attended the same kindergarten. He is curious, surprisingly strong, often needing Makoto to rein him in. Competitive and prone to believing his brothers’ tall tales, he quiets when his mother watches, speech clumsy. Described as a simpleton, he follows his brother Ko‑san’s germ warnings.
• Suzuki – Four-year-old Suu-chan, daughter of Mio and Mitsuhisa, is a spirited Rose Class preschooler with a topknot and braided pigtails, sleepy eyes that sparkle when excited, and a love for strawberries, salmon roe, and clams. She wears pink rain boots and carries a pink umbrella, practices lady-like etiquette, and is comfortable with water. Energetic and loyal, she’s Makoto’s “Queen of the Jungle Gym,” giving hugs, pouting, and coordinating his things—her toddler lisp and paper-tearing games endear her to friends. Close playmate of Maa-kun, she shows budding leadership in the sandbox and adores snuggling, singing, and using chopsticks skillfully.
• Shiho – Three‑year‑old Rose‑Class girl with shoulder‑length hair in a side‑up ponytail, easily thrilled by decorations and food, uses training chopsticks and a white kitten‑themed placemat, often sleepy and leans on Makoto’s “secret” advice. She’s a friend of Makoto and Suu‑chan, slightly less coordinated but diligent at mud dumplings, neighbor and friend of Yuma, older sister in the senior group, and shares a quiet, competitive bond with Suu over Makoto’s attention.
• Mio – 28‑year‑old pregnant mother of Suu‑chan, visibly round belly, wife of Mitsuhisa (164 cm, 57 kg, baby‑faced, G‑cup curves, elegant in a gray suit). Former relay runner and badminton star, now teacher, cook, photographer who bakes strawberry shortcake and chirashi‑zushi, adores babysitting Ma‑kun, subtly pushes his marriage to Suu‑chan, avoids crowds, captures family chaos, dresses the protagonist’s mother, devotes herself to her daughter’s education, and is playful and mischievous as a Totsuka family guest.
• Meguro – A 28‑29‑year‑old single man, 179‑180 cm tall, 67 kg, lives below the Totsukas on the first floor. He works as a kindergarten office clerk and hospital doctor (teacher/staff), giving information to Makoto. An amateur prize‑winning photographer and avid road‑bike rider, he cycles regularly.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
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