"Que?"

"Yes."

"A-A…

'Aa yuu yuuchoobah?'"

"Yes, sir, I am. And don't think as if I don't know that reference!"

"Sorry, I just had to do it. Hey, that sounds cool, though."

Immediately, Dino Arfa's expectations were suddenly subverted, rather than it happening to Gin as he initially thought. The nonchalance of his teacher caught him by surprise, in which the tables have suddenly been turned.

"Y-You're not surprised?"

"Oh, I am. There are a lot of kids these days making a gig with YouCube but quits shortly after then move to T*ktok. Ah, but don't misunderstand; you're a good cook, so I'd assume you'll have something like a cooking channel and you seem like you might be doing well in the platform."

"A-Ah, thank you…"

"Before anything, what's the name of your channel anyway?"

"It's 'Boneless Pizza'. The picture is a bad drawing of a pizza cut asymmetrically."

"Nice meme-y name," said Gin as he pulled his phone out. "I'd assume that name has already been taken at this point-"

In the blink of an eye, Gin suddenly froze and almost lost grip of his phone upon seeing the first YouCube channel that appeared in his search feed, which the picture as described, and three digits under the name with a K."

"Seven hundred thousand?!"

Amidst the reverberating shriek uncharacteristic of Gin, all Dino could do was bashfully nod.

"When in the world did you start, Dino?!"

"Ah… Around the end of 2020, I think…"

"So you got blessed by the algorithm… Your latest video was posted a week ago, and you seem to have a consistent schedule. I'm amazed you balanced this while studying.

That aside… you said you want to ask me a favor? Don't tell me you want me to show up in your videos?"

"Ack…!"

The reaction would appear to have confirmed Gin's half-joking question, which put the two of them in a rather awkward situation.

Dino's gaze suddenly gravitated down, and his face and ears suddenly started turning pinkish as he tried to get words out of his mouth.

"A-Actually… I'm something of a fan of yours, Sir Gin…"

Little by little, the nonchalance in Gin's face is starting to peel away.

"Hah?! Fan of me? Fan of me from what?!"

"You actually inspired me to do this…"

"Woah, woah. I have an infamous habit of sleep walking, but I don't think it's to the point that I was making YouCube videos while half-asleep."

"N-No, it's not about that. You're actually the reason why I decided to study here in Blue Ink, and in the CA department too.

I honestly didn't like cooking, but I enjoyed watching cooking videos. That's basically how I learned how to use a knife. Then I watched the video you were featured at in Kyoto and that's when I learned of you. You basically had no trace in the internet aside from that and that you are apparently related to a known chef."

"Well, yeah, I hate F*cebook so I'm only using a burner account that I hardly use anyway. But that video is now five years ago, huh. Time flies."

"A-Anyway… after that, I found that Giotto's is actually nearby so I went with my parents from time to time. The food there is really good."

"Good to hear that."

"But really, the first time I saw you in person was in Giotto's Mini. I only saw it because the restaurant promoted the Open Event and I honestly didn't know that you were a part of the Art Club back then. You guys weren't even ten people so you were going back and forth waiting and cooking at the veranda of the Art Room. I honestly thought that it was amazing—that your interview back then wasn't staged or something. My impression of you was that you were very genuine."

"You were like, what, 13 and 14 at that time…

Oh…"

Suddenly, all the nonchalance on Gin was replaced by depression on his face as his head, shoulders, and posture dropped.

"My word…"

"Are you okay, Sir Gin…?"

"Dude… I feel old suddenly…"

"…

I was worried over nothing, Sir Gin," the visible concern on Dino's face immediately turned into disappointment.

"You just don't get it yet, kiddo… It's like realizing that the game you still think is new turned ten years old. How would you react when you discover that a wee kid was looking up to you when I wasn't even 20."

"I wasn't that young anymore…

But because of that, I learned how to cook properly, started making videos with my phone and a voiceover of a kid who sounds like he just hit puberty because he was a late bloomer.

And then by some force of coincidence I met you again but as my teacher.

Still, it was thanks to you that I found my passion and I was able to earn from it, Sir Gin."

"That honestly feels weird. It's not that I'm not happy about it, but I simply just react differently to something like this so don't take it the wrong way.

Wait, what are you going to do when you graduate high school?"

"I said to my parents that I will pursue a vocational program while still continuing making videos on the side. But more like I hope to make it full-time while having a backup plan. Anyway, learning about cooking academically gave my channel a direction.

While I usually lean towards humor, I'm also able to use what I learn and impart that on viewers."

"Wow… this generation has their plans sorted, huh.

So, you want me to appear in your videos?"

"W-Well… I'd like that but it's okay if you don't want to. But I heard from Sir Martin that you always grumble about how you like to see the behind the scenes of things, and that you always wish you can try out cameras and such.

With the money I got, I was able to rent a small apartment where I film and then I come home and edit them."

"So you're a one-man team? Seriously, how do you balance that and school?"

"I guess I just have a lot of free time to do that… But what do you say, Sir Gin? If you agree, of course it's not free on my end. I will split a share on the videos you appear-

Ah… I'm sorry. I'm jumping on things when I haven't even said my reason for this all."

"You have a point. Why me anyway?"

"I just want to make people see how amazing you are and what you do for a living. Watching you teach, I feel like you shine better when there is creativity involved, Sir Gin. I guess teaching in school isn't really fun but you looked vigorous in your student days before I was here. I guess I want others to see that kind of energy from you.

Of course I'm not asking you to show your face on the camera or who you are since I'm also very private. But the thing about letting you see my gear is kind of a bribe so-

Ah, there I go again jumping the gun…"

"'I just kind of wanted to show you off in front of your students but also to give them encouragement.'"

"Hmm…"

"I don't really need an answer right away. If anything, this probably all sounds like a pain to you so I don't really expect anything. I'm just happy that I finally got the things I wanted to say out of me."

Right in front of Dino, Gin suddenly went into a deep thought, or even a trance. His back fell leaning to the wall, as the can of hot tea stuck to his lips, and his eyes looking as if it has left this very world to another.

"Well, Dino…"

~ ~ ~

In the Akanami household, 7pm.

"I'm home…"

It was a rare occasion for Gin to have arrived home the latest in the house. Right as he opened the door, he could already see the dining table almost done getting prepared.

"Just right on time, musuko! Let's all have dinner."

"I'll be right there…"

In one smooth flow, he kicked the door of his room tossing his bag and coat inside as he walked on the hallway towards the kitchen sink to wash his hands. Upon getting sat, it felt as though all the fatigue has caught up to him.

"And you always say you don't get tired at work," Rin mumbled.

"I haven't sat for three hours…"

"Has it been very busy at school?" the mother of the house asked.

"Pretty much. It's going to be all done tomorrow but going all around places and doing clean up gets to you. And then there's also…"

Gin's words stopped midway with a face as if there is suddenly something in his mind. He then turned towards Rin and sighed.

"What now?" to which she asked with a slight frown.

"I just had a think earlier after arguing with you, then I had a talk with my student?"

"Ohhh? You two had a fight?"

"Why do you sound happy about that, Dad…"

"It's just too good to be true that we've never seen you argue at all. I would think that there was something wrong with you two rather than relieved if you don't talk things out."

"Maybe it's just that we discuss serious stuff on our own for the most part. I've been here for a bit now but what's there to fight about when we're all busy taking care of Rin?"

"Hmm, I guess we all got focused on that. But with that out of the way, you can go argue in front of us to your heart's content~"

"Not you too, Mom?!"

~ ~ ~

11pm.

As Gin left the bathroom for a bath, he found that Rin was waiting on the couch with a hair dryer on his hand and a blanket on her lap.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Just as with things that are already given between the two of them, Gin silently walked towards the living room and sat behind Rin on the floor as the dryer started whirring and letting out hot air.

"It's almost winter."

"Come again? The dryer is kind of loud."

"I said it's getting a lot colder now."

"Ahh, yeah. Maybe I'll bring in the kotatsu while it's still the holiday."

"That would be nice."

Then, the dryer turned off returning the peace and silence on Gin's ears.

"I didn't have much to dry. I swear you dry your hair too well on your own."

"I've always been like that.

Oh, yeah. I have a student that's a famous YouCuber," he then sat on the couch, picking up the remote and letting himself on the blanket while Rin beside her is processing the information.

"What's this all about so suddenly?"

"Apparently I inspired him to do it and study in the CA department?

Oh, wow. Now that I hear his voiceover, that's really him. That's wild."

"Wait, you, of all people?" without any ill-intent, Rin asked.

"Don't rub it on me. He watched the video from Giotto's North then things just came into place for him.

And then he asked me to appear in his channel."

"Okay, what's with the 0-60?! Did you actually say yes to that?"

As he turned off the television, there was a sudden pause from him.

"…

Yeah… I kind of did."

In astonishment, Rin involuntarily covered her mouth, "I didn't expect you'd actually agree on that.

Lately… it feels like you're more open to trying out new things. You've done a lot in these past months—you took a dip on being a solo illustrator, became a teacher, worked with a Japanese agency, and even learned and helped about vtubing. Did I somehow feed you with something that jogged your brain?"

"I just want to try out new things, just like you said. I never really did much growing up and then in high school, right? So while I'm still not that old I'd like to try out some other stuff. When you're almost 24 you start to think time will pass in a blink of an eye and then you're 30…"

"I can't imagine that."

"You will soon.

Anyway, I told him I'll try it out for a month after I'm done with my teaching work. And after getting to dabble on Nagi's camera, I suddenly want to play more with that kind of gear… hehehe…"

"Ojisan, kimooooi~ (That's creepy, old man.)"

"What about that was gross."

"Your face. You suddenly daydreamed about cameras."

"Ehh…"

With something new surfacing on Gin's mind, he sank slightly and the couch and another sigh was heard from him.

"He told me… he wanted me featured in his channel for people to see what I'm apparently good at. So I think I now understand a bit where you were coming from."

"As always, you still undersell yourself. If you were job hunting and get accepted, you'll probably end up overqualified on a low position because you start off telling so few of the good things about you but then you don't give yourself a lot of credit.

Despite having a lot of shortcomings, I'm always here to tell you that you're amazing."

"Ahh, that still gives me chills…"

"Gin…"

But even before Rin got completely disappointed, the momentary coldness from Gin's fingertips brushing aside her fringes gave her a shock more than the kiss on the forehead that came afterwards.

However, instead of pulling back, Gin's head slowly fell to her bosom but jolted away with the sight of sleepiness in his visage.

"My bad… I suddenly nodded off…"

Once again, Gin's cold hands was on Rin's face, but with his palms suddenly massaging her cheeks with a face fighting the urge to sleep.

"I need to be up early, so I'm going to bed…

You go sleep too, but don't go sneak on my room."

The light of the bedroom across the living room did not even turn on, and all Rin could hear was the audible contact to the mattress after the door only closed halfway.

Suddenly, Rin was reminded anew how fortunate their relationship is.

▪ ▪ ▪

Come the next day, and brings the nearing end of this year's Open Event.

There was a slightly higher volume of visitors compared to the first two days, some coming from the sudden density of people in the Art Room, then dispersing to the rest of the school's booths and showcases.

As Gin surveyed from the visitors, he quickly learned of a social media post from yesterday by the famous mangaka Yuki Amagami, or from Yuuga, encouraging his Orion followers nearby to visit the last day of the event.

While a very few people may already know of Yuuga behind his pen name, it still comes as a surprise to most of his followers that he was in high school when he started drawing manga, and that he was an alumnus of this school rather than being of Japanese descent.

But as Gin was doing his rounds around the school, there was suspiciously one trend in some of the people's actions that he had observed—the first thing he noticed is that some people are holding their phones out, which should not be something uncommon, but the second thing he observed was that the same people either have their eyes seared on their phones or something else as if they are looking for something.

Could not help the curiosity and concern, he finally decided to ask around himself.

"Excuse me, I'm actually a teacher here. Is there anything I can help with? If there's something you lost, you can also ask the lost and found."

"Ah, no… we heard that there is a special event ongoing here. Here are the details, actually."

Posted an hour ago, Yuki Amagami wrote on Witter that he has hidden twenty shikishi boards he had signed inside a square, royal blue envelope throughout the entire school.

With those details, Gin has finally figured things out.

"Ahh… that event Amagami-sensei is holding… (He didn't figure things out)

I see. Then please just be careful so as to not bother other visitors and students. I hope you have fun!"

Thus, Gin walked away and headed immediately to the admin office.

"You mean the scavenger hunt?" as the principal was not in his office, Akira nonetheless was able to fill him in.

"Huh?"

"You didn't hear from Yuuga? He asked for permission if he can hold a small event to get limited hand-written signatures from him.

But I think Dad also added an unrelated twist to it."

"I didn't know he had something up this year. Now that I think about it, did he actually visit this year?"

"He was around at lunch when he secretly planted the envelopes."

"I guess I missed that."

"Oh well. I'm going back outside and make sure no trouble happens."

"Thanks for the hard work. Let's hope everything goes well at sundown."

"Sure. Otsu."

Despite the surprise event suddenly happening within the school grounds and with a few students also joining in, the remaining hours of the Open Event had turned out to be peaceful for the most part.

Within four hours since the mangaka's announcement, all twenty of the signature boards were found with three of them only getting into the hands of the students.

On the other hand, due to the increase of traffic within the premises, the TAC members present decided to help out the club and the class using the Art Room to ease the sudden work that came to the students.

At around 4 in the afternoon, the closing ceremonies were held and concluded the Open Event to the public. With the energy of festivities dying down come the cleanup while most of the students have not yet left the school, and for good reason.

The Open Event in Blue Ink has been held for five consecutive years now, and at this point, the students have always remained in the darkening afternoon sky doing some initial cleanup in their club rooms and classrooms awaiting what could be the closing ceremony dedicated for the students this year.

"What's this~? Are you guys by any chance expecting something~?"

"It's always been like this since the first Open Event, Ane Ringo!"

In a matter of two days, Rin seemed to have gotten the club and some of the visual arts department's favor to the point that she has now casually just teasing them. On the other hands, the graduates that were present were allowed to remain and participate in what it is to come.

"It sounds like you know something. Please tell us!"

In the most deadpan face she could make, she answered, "Nope, I'm also in the dark just like you all. Why don't you ask your teacher, then?"

Just when the students turned towards Gin that was about to walk out with wood planks on his arms, he gave his students the same deadpan look silently, shrugged, and left the room.

But not even a minute after that, the broadcast system sounded throughout the school with the sound of a microphone throwing a moment of high-pitched noise out.

"Thank you everyone for all the the hard work in the past three days! Open Event has finally ended, huh?"

"Oh, it's Nana-sen's voice."

"Nana-sen, Ane Ringo?"

"Oh, right. I guess you'd call her Ma'am or Ms. Nanase. Seriously, she should just get married already."

"Some of you may have noticed a few visitors and students alike looking around for something earlier. I hope you remember where they are as here comes one last scavenger hunt!

If you find all twenty of them, it will reveal a code, and if you decode it, then we will have a surprise for all of you!"

With the joint effort of hundreds of students, twenty transparent acrylic panels with random lines painted on them were found and put over a lightbox and a computer keyboard found in front of the school's outdoor stage.

However, it turned out that the panels also served as a puzzle that took fifteen minutes to be pieced together to reveal what seems to be a series of line that are circular, straight, and curved that appears as though it was from an ancient language as the collective has inferred it was not a modern language used today.

But even after a significant time of pondering whatever the code could be, the students could not decipher what it could possibly contain.

"Now that I'm observing, Tenth has kind of made it brutal," Gin sighed as he watched the students on the sidelines with Rin.

"So this is the perks of being a staff? Care to give your girlfriend an exception and tell me what the code is? They all just look like squiggly lines in my eyes."

"No can do, ma'am. If you want to know, you can join the students… but even I wouldn't be able to decipher it on my own, because it's not in our background and we never learned it.

I'm not even sure if anyone here could solve it, honestly."

However, Gin called his conclusion too soon.

Within the crowd, he saw his student, Gakuon Shizuka, emerging and approaching the code in front of the students. On his own, he rearranged some of the panels and after being satisfied with it, he went closer to the keyboard, and the projector pointing at the stage lit up, displaying a vertical blinking cursor for text to be inputted.

image [https://files.catbox.moe/gd90az.png]

Gaku once more gave the code a careful look, and began typing.

"Woah… how'd he do that…

Alright, see you later, Rin."

"Huh, what?!"

Even before Rin could turn towards her partner, Gin has already disappeared from beside him as if she only heard a voice from the air.

Letting go of it, she turned back to the projection and saw the words…

[As you all worked hard for this year's Open Event, dinner is on us!]

Once the message had been decoded, all of the lights in the school grounds shut off leaving the place the with nigh complete darkness from the shorter days brought by the coming winter. Slowly, however, a network of warm lights all around the school began illuminating together with the return of the lanterns that was previously used for the first festival.

But beyond that, a sound of rumble came from the school entrance as people suddenly came out bringing in what looked like several counter tables on wheels.

And as a floodlight lit up, it became clear from the logo printed on aprons of the people that they were from Giotto's.

Upon the buildup of a sudden surprise, the entire student body rejoiced and cheered for the sumptuous feast that came out of nowhere.

There was enough to feed hundreds of the students that remained in the school with a catering service, a barbecue, and live cooking. The music started playing from the speakers, the noise started to build up, and the spirits are still high even after a busy daytime that eventually led to a festive night.

But be that as it may, it is not a party that all people choose to join in.

"So this is where you are. I was looking for you, you know."

Uncharacteristically, Gin had abandoned his principle of moving silently for a moment and made it so that the clatter of the door and his footsteps would clearly be heard as he walked towards the veranda of an empty classroom.

"I probably wouldn't find you if not for the sound of the beat box I was faintly hearing. But those were some good beats accompanying the music outside."

Gin then pulled out a desk and a chair and sat beside Gaku who was indeed sitting on a beat box.

"You only got yakisoba downstairs, huh. I figured this would happen so I brought some other stuff in tonight's menu. I made us some spicy katsu curry if you want. We pretty much went for an entire Japanese menu so have a pick of whatever you like, but I took some vegetable sides because there's a lot of meat there. Do you like lettuce? Ah, by the way, my main job is a chef in Giotto's so I work with the catering crew down there."

As if he was looking at an unstoppable force, Gaku could only nod in confusion, still wondering how he got found out.

"Are you also eating here too, Sir Gin?"

"Yeah… I haven't eaten since lunch and my social battery is running really low so I'd want to eat in peace. I guess we think alike for picking a quiet place like this."

"I'm not really good with crowds. It took everything from me just to make the event move earlier."

"That… It really was taking a while for the puzzle to be solved, until you came. Speaking of that, how in the world did you solve it? I feel like you were the only one in the school to know what that was."

"It was honestly pretty simple to solve if you know shorthand writing."

"What's that?"

"It's a writing technique to transcribe in court, sir because it's very fast. If you knew how to read shorthand, I would have used it instead of longhand because it's just that convenient for me."

"I didn't know about that. I still don't understand how those lines represent words, though."

"There's also a machine shorthand where you use a specialized keyboard. It took a lot of practice, but I thought that I could probably use it since I can't particularly speak."

"That's really cool. To let you in to something, the principal always thinks about these afterparties by himself then relay it to us. Doesn't it sound awesome that the principal appears to have trusted you with that because he probably knew you would pull it off?"

Gaku was stopped on his tracks, moved by the sudden praise from the teacher beside him who understands him the most. But to hide the embarrassment, he took a paper food box and started eating anew.

"You can draw, you have that skill, and it seems like you also have interest in music. Do you play an instrument?"

Gaku only nodded.

"I can play the piano so I at can at least play one instrument, but I never learned how to read sheet so I literally play it by ear to learn songs.

Hahh… I wish I had the patience to learn the guitar."

"Hahh… I wish I have the patience to learn the guitar."

A voice from Gaku's head suddenly overlapped with the words of his teacher—from the sigh down to the tone, it was the exact same words.

"I feel like Yuka Ginji told me the exact same thing in the past."

"Oh, yeah? That's one insane coincidence, then!

Anyway, grab some of the yakiniku and everything before they get cold. If you're already full, I can eat them all."

"I don't think you can physically eat this much, Sir Gin."

"Boy, you've seen nothing. Let's finish this up quickly since it's also getting colder by the minute.

Man, a warm sake would be good by now but I have to wait until all the students go home…"

Then, Gaku placed more food on his food container and silently ate with his teacher, to the point that he went way beyond the amount he usually eats.

"Wow, we're suddenly going through this fast."

"The food is really good, Sir Gin."

"Nice to hear that our restaurant is doing good."

"This is probably my highlight of the festival."

"Ahahahaha…! Can't say I don't get you. If I was still in my high school days I would have said the same thing. We just don't go well with the crowd, really!"

From then and there, Gaku once again thought that Gin is not suited to be a teacher.

Every time he is with Gin, he always feels very at ease which he never once felt with the other teachers. If anything, it reminded him of being with his home tutor, Ginji.

While he has seen the side of Gin that has been strict, but helpful towards him, he could see that it was not his true self. He thought that there was a refreshing feeling seeing his teacher that usually appears mature put his feet up on the railings of the veranda and indiscriminately wolfing down the food at his hands without a care in the world.

Gakuon Shizuka has been living with his uncle for a few years now, even treating him as his own father. His uncle is full with kindness—a huge departure to the life he had with his parents who took advantage of him more than anything. His "father" always wished that his "son" would someday find people that would not judge him for what he became.

Now, Gaku is in delight that he has found two great people that he could proudly call his friends.