"—orinaga Tetsuhiro, wake up!"

The teacher stood beside the said student's desk, about to shout once again but this time at a shorter distance—by his ear.

"Morinaga Tetsuhiro! How dare you sleep in my class!"

The student jumped up as a reaction. He had black lines under his eyes, making him look like a panda. The other students giggled as they looked at his face. The teacher, who had his long hair tied up into a ponytail, sighed and hit the student lightly on the head.

"Can you explain to the whole class the reason why you have been sleeping?" the teacher crossed his arms and clicked his tongue while he did it.

"U-uh, Tatsumi-sensei, I'm sorry I stayed up all night to finish my research work," Morinaga scratched his head, forcibly trying to smile.

"Is that the thesis that the research paper is requiring for you to go straight to college?" the teacher adjusted his glasses and in turn, the student in question nodded. "Alright, I'll let this pass. Don't repeat it again."

Before the teacher was able to walk back to the board, the school bell rang. All the students stood up to greet the teacher a "see you tomorrow", left the classroom, and closed the door—except for Morinaga. Instead, he went back to the door and locked it, then went back to the teacher.

"So you're really leaving," Tatsumi sighed, but this time it was a sigh of wory. "It'll be more peaceful without you here."

"Actually I really wanted to get out of high school so badly," Morinaga smiled and cupped Tatsumi's face. "Because we won't be teacher and student anymore, right?"

The older one just kept silent, but his face was slowly turning red. Beads were forming under his eyes.

"T-that's so not you," Morinaga chuckled and wiped his teacher's tears with his fingertips. "Why're you crying? What the hell is happening to you? I can't believe that you're like this right now—not hitting my head with a book or shouting at me."

Tatsumi shook his head and embraced Morinaga tightly, as if he was drifting away from him. He clutched his uniform and didn't let go. His tears made the student's uniform wet, but Morinaga lifted Tatsumi's face and kissed his lips passionately. Tatsumi's tears finally stopped falling, making Morinaga smile.

"I love you."

"I love you too, Morinaga."

"Let's go home."

"Only if there are no other students at the gate. I'll go first then I'll give you a signal, got it?"

Tatsumi went out of the room first. Looking out of the window, he waited for his signal—but for 5 minutes he saw no one downstairs. No one, no Souichi, no signal. Worried, Morinaga went down to check at the lobby. He saw his lover lying on the ground with a pool of blood underneath his head, beside a broken pot of flowers.