✯ Chapter 7 ✯
“Success!”
“What are you doing?!”
Hannah quickly smeared paint onto her own hand, then rubbed it onto Ian’s hand.
“……”
Ian stared blankly at his palm, now covered in yellow paint.
Hehe.
Hannah proudly placed her hands on her hips.
At that moment, she looked exactly like the villain in a shonen manga.
“Wow… Look at Teacher’s evil face.”
“Seriously. Poor Ian.”
The children whispered behind her.
Only then did Hannah come back to her senses.
Did I go too far?
Ian still silently stared at his painted hand.
“U-Um… Ian?”
Feeling uneasy, Hannah softly called his name.
“……I…”
“Hm?”
His voice was so quiet that she couldn’t hear him.
“…Teacher, I really hate you.”
“Huh?!”
Hannah froze in shock.
“I-Ian?”
She reached out to touch Ian’s shoulder.
Smack!
Ian slapped her hand away.
“Don’t touch me.”
When Ian finally raised his head…
Large tears rolled down his cheeks.
His face was filled with anger.
He stood up from his chair and stormed out of the room.
Meanwhile…
Hannah remained frozen where she stood.
“…What have I done?”
Only then did she realize how badly she had hurt him.
“Oh dear…”
“He’s really angry.”
“Yeah.”
“I don’t think he’ll even come out for his evening snack.”
“I guess I’ll eat his share.”
“But…”
“Teacher, are you crying?”
The children whispered as they watched Hannah crouch down on the floor, burying her face in her knees.
When she looked at the tiny yellow handprint left on her own arm…
She felt like crying.
She couldn’t forget the hurt in Ian’s eyes.
Knock. Knock.
Hannah knocked on Ian’s bedroom door.
“Ian…”
“I left some warm milk and cookies outside your door.”
“I’m sorry about what happened earlier.”
“Please forgive me.”
“I only wanted to help you…”
“But I went too far.”
“If you hated it…”
“I should never have forced you.”
“I’m sorry.”
She gently placed the tray on the floor outside the door.
Then she slowly turned around.
As she walked back down the hallway…
She kept looking over her shoulder.
Maybe he’ll open the door…
But…
The door never opened.
“…I hope he drinks the milk before it gets cold.”
Her steps felt heavy.
Unable to calm her heart…
Hannah stepped outside for some fresh air.
The temple stood on a low mountain.
The orphanage had a wide grassy yard overlooking the hills.
Looking out at the open mountains…
Her tangled thoughts eased a little.
“Raising children… is so difficult.”
Is there anything harder than this?
Even in her previous life…
The only children she had ever looked after were her younger cousins for a short time.
She had never actually raised a child.
So…
She didn’t know what the right way was.
She believed adults should correct children’s bad habits.
But…
Was it really right to force children to live by adult standards?
“Haa…”
“I don’t know.”
“I really don’t know!”
The more she thought about it…
The more her head hurt.
In the end…
With tears welling up in her eyes…
Hannah suddenly started running around the large yard in front of the orphanage like a crazy person.
After running around for quite a while…
She spread both arms toward the sky and shouted,
“Father! Please tell me the right answer!”
Crunch. Crunch.
Jeremy secretly sat by the window before bed, munching on the snacks he had hidden away.
Watching Hannah run around outside…
He clicked his tongue.
“Seriously… nobody here is sane.”
After watching her for a while…
Jeremy blew out the candle with a puff.
He went to bed once again convinced…
That he was the only normal person in the entire orphanage.
Eventually…
After running around like a wild horse for a long time…
Hannah finally returned to her room.
She sat quietly at her desk and calmly thought back over everything that had happened today.
“Hmm…”
“Before writing today’s diary…”
“I should write something else first.”
She had taken out her diary from the drawer.
But instead…
She picked up a blank sheet of paper.
Then she straightened her back solemnly, dipped her pen into the ink, and began writing.
Last Will and Testament
“If I end up dying someday… I’d better prepare my will in advance.”
Hannah remembered one of her three possible death endings.
The guillotine.
At least…
She felt certain that one of the children might really kill her someday.
* * *
Of course, the tray left outside Ian’s door remained untouched.
Having to throw it away herself left Hanna feeling utterly miserable.
“…Sigh.”
“Teacher, how many times have you sighed today?”
Probably every time I breathed.
“Just leave him alone. If he’s sulking over something like that, then he’s the idiot.”
In the end, Ian even refused breakfast.
The breakfast Hanna had painstakingly prepared—carefully scrubbing every vegetable until it was spotless—never made it into Ian’s mouth.
“How about we have class outside today?”
“But it’s raining.”
“You should experience rainy days too… Life isn’t always sunny…”
Hanna suddenly froze after hearing herself speak.
What am I even saying?
“Ah! I mean—we can go look at snails! That’s what I meant!”
“Hmm…”
The children’s eyes narrowed.
Knowing Hanna was feeling down, they looked at her with sympathetic expressions.
“I like it. Snails are slimy and smooth.”
Even in this situation, Jeremy remained endlessly cheerful.
“Right. Rain is nice. Rain… Rain?!”
Hanna suddenly shot up from the dining table.
“What’s wrong, Teacher?”
“Ian’s blanket!”
Only then did she remember.
She had hung Ian’s brand-new blanket outside on the hill where the sunlight was strongest.
“Crap!”
Forgetting the children were watching, Hanna blurted out the curse and dashed outside.
The loud crashing sounds of her hurried escape echoed through the building.
Masha and Jeremy exchanged glances.
“…Wow. If Ian finds out…”
“He’ll foam at the mouth.”
“What should we do? I feel sorry for Teacher.”
Taking a bite of her fluffy bread, Masha stared through the rain-blurred window.
Hanna’s future looked just as dark.
Splash.
Splash.
The sound of water soaking through her shoes and rain pounding the ground filled Hanna’s ears.
“Aah!”
Seeing the brand-new blanket hanging there, completely soaked and sagging under the weight of the rain, tears welled up in her eyes.
The downpour was so heavy no one could tell.
“Waaah… I’m definitely getting the guillotine ending now.”
Dragging the blanket down, Hanna staggered under its tremendous weight.
It was stuffed full of cotton and had become incredibly heavy.
She waddled forward carrying it, but the blanket blocked her vision.
Then—
“Waaah!”
Her foot slipped on the muddy ground.
“Ah!”
A sharp pain shot through her tailbone as she landed hard.
The blanket rolled straight into the mud.
“…It’s over. Everything’s ruined.”
Hanna simply lay there on the ground.
She couldn’t help laughing bitterly.
How had she ended up like this?
“Ha…”
This is so unfair…
The rain stung her eyes, making them impossible to open.
I’m a complete mess.
She wished she could simply disappear into the earth.
Then—
The raindrops hitting her face suddenly stopped.
…What? Did the rain stop?
Slowly opening her eyes, all she could see was yellow.
“…Ian?”
Ian stood above her, holding an umbrella.
“…Why are you here?”
Ian hated rain more than anything.
His gaze shifted once toward Hanna, covered in mud…
…then toward his own blanket lying filthy in the mud.
Each time, Hanna tensed.
After quietly taking in the entire situation, Ian let out a small sigh.
“You’ll catch a cold.”
Those simple, expressionless words made Hanna’s heart tighten.
Ian extended his free hand toward her.
Unlike usual…
It wasn’t wearing a glove.
“…I’m dirty.”
Hanna looked down at herself.
Her clothes.
Her hair.
Her hands.
Everything was caked in mud.
“I know.”
She stared blankly at the small white hand reaching toward her.
For a long moment…
She couldn’t tell whether this was reality or a dream.
Slowly…
She reached out with her filthy hand.
The instant their hands touched, Ian flinched slightly.
But…
He didn’t pull away.
Warmth spread through Hanna’s hand.
In that moment, all the sorrow that had been crushing her shattered completely.
“Ian…”
Hot tears mixed with the cold rain and ran down her cheeks.
“Let’s go.”
Ian tried to hand the umbrella over to her.
Instead—
It fell to the ground.
Because Hanna had suddenly wrapped both arms tightly around him.
“Ian… Waaaah… I was so… Sob…”
She cried like a child.
Ian stiffened as mud smeared across his body.
Even so…
He didn’t push her away.
He simply patted Hanna gently on the back as she sobbed.
The rain gradually eased.
From the soaked earth rose the fresh scent of new life.
Crunch.
Crunch, crunch.
Watching Ian and Hanna’s heartfelt drama unfold from the window, Jeremy and Masha munched on snacks.
“Did you tell him?”
“What are you talking about? Obviously he was worried about his blanket being left outside in the rain.”
Privately, Masha was astonished.
Even when she’d meddled earlier, asking Ian why he’d been treating Teacher that way…
She’d never imagined Ian cared about Teacher this much.
“That’s unexpected.”
Ian, who was usually as cold as ice…
Had willingly dirtied himself just to comfort someone.
“…Ah.”
“I wish Teacher belonged only to me.”
Resting her chin on her hand as she watched outside, Masha couldn’t help envying them.
Crunch.
Crunch.
Jeremy quietly continued looking out the window.
He didn’t say a word.
“Cough… Cough…”
In the end, Hanna caught a cold.
After rolling around on the ground during a torrential downpour, it would’ve been stranger if she hadn’t.
“Cough… Ian… Teacher’s okay. You’ll catch my cold. Go on.”
The next day, it was Ian’s turn to bring porridge.
Of course, all he had done was warm up the porridge Hanna had already made.
He placed the steaming bowl on the bedside table.
It was still piping hot—
Exactly the kind of temperature where a food-loving teacher would eagerly take a huge bite and burn the roof of her mouth.
Ian pulled over a chair and sat beside her bed.
Today, he was wearing gloves again.
But Hanna had decided she wasn’t going to worry about that anymore.
“I told you… you’ll catch the germs.”
“Teacher.”
Ignoring her concern, Ian spoke.
His lowered eyes weren’t looking at Hanna.
They rested somewhere on the flower pattern embroidered into her blanket.
A meaningless place to focus.
“I hate dirty things.”
Hanna immediately tensed.
Was he… bringing up what had happened?
“People…”
“…used to call me dirty.”
The story that came from Ian’s lips wasn’t one of blame.
It was the story of the trauma that had wounded him.
