March Comes in Like a Lion (３月のライオン)

Black Mist

After our class came back from the trip,

things took a slightly strange turn in our classroom.

Huh?

I don't have a single piece of chalk.

There were several pieces just this morning...

Fujiwara-no-Teika Traces of Beauty Graceful

Hey! Who threw that eraser?!

Well?

LANGUAGE PREP ROOM

It's gone... It's gone...

It's gone.

It's not here.

LANGUAGE PREP ROOM

Excuse me.

I'm here to prep the classroom.

What's wrong?

Oh. You're on duty today?

I'm missing my timeline.

Timeline? Is it that scroll you always use?

The green one.

Yes.

That's right. What should I do? It'll be troublesome if I don't have it.

What's been going on recently?

These incidents keep happening...

Is it just my imagination? She looks like she's lost a lot of weight.

I'll just have to do without it. Oh, the bell's about to ring.

Scroll, scroll...

Where could that long thing have gone?

It would stand out if it had fallen on the floor.

I've got it!

PING

Teacher, I might know where it is!

- Huh? Ms. Kawamoto! - I'll be right back!

WHIZ

That's right. Now, even the black mood

that was taking hold of the class had tried to engulf the teacher.

Teacher!

Oh, thank goodness. Where was it?

It was mixed in with the historical timelines in the social studies room.

You found it for me. Thank you, Ms. Kawamoto.

I'm impressed you figured it out.

Oh, I thought they all had the same shape, so...

Brown-noser.

That's what she says, but Kawamoto is probably the one who hid it.

That was Ms. Takagi's voice.

Would you stop muttering insults about me that are just loud enough for me to hear?

Ms. Takagi.

Huh?

Excuse me?

Did I say something?

Don't, Ms. Kawamoto!

Did you think I was going to hit you?

Of course I wouldn't do that.

Because that would be playing right into your hands.

Answer me.

What do you mean, I hid it?

Please, Ms. Kawamoto...

Why did you say that?

Ms. Kawamoto, stop it!

Teacher, you heard what she said, didn't you?

Why are you stopping me?

Do you think I'm the one who hid it?

Stop it, already!

Do not raise your voice!

What should I do?

Even I can imagine what happened.

I'm sure Ms. Takagi and her friends hid it and then blamed Ms. Kawamoto, right?

But so what?!

There's no proof.

So how am I supposed to prove it?!

I've had enough. I can't take it anymore.

Don't get me involved.

Every year, every single year...

The students change, but every time, there's someone who gets left out and bullied.

And I'm just sick of it.

How can you have so much free time to be harassing your classmates?

Are you stupid?

Tell me, Ms. Takagi, how is it that you have that much free time?

Stop torturing your classmates and study more!

In the first place, who do you think you are?

Involving everyone else in your nonsense...

Think about how you're disrupting the class. Everyone's studying for entrance exams!

Do you understand?

As if a dam had burst, Teacher kept talking. But her words became less articulate.

After falling silent for a while...

Her face darkened...

and she collapsed.

She never returned to school after that.

It was announced that she had been hospitalized due to anxiety.

What? So Teacher's become a shut-in?

Unbelievable. What's going to happen to our class?

And we've got entrance exams.

This is a royal pain.

And like, whose fault is it?

And so, until your new homeroom teacher is decided, I'll be teaching this class from today.

I'm Mr. Kokubu, the head teacher.

July 10th (Thursday) On Duty

It's almost summer vacation.

For you third-years taking high school entrance exams soon,

you understand that how you spend this summer break

will result in a turning point, right?

It's unfortunate for you to have a change in homeroom teachers during this period.

Plus, I heard some of you complaining.

But there was bullying so bad in here that a student transferred to another school,

and yet, out of 38 kids, no one raised their voice except certain people.

So this is the price you're paying for ignoring it.

That being said, before summer vacation, I'd like to resolve this to some extent,

so I'll be talking to you individually.

First Takagi, and then Kawamoto.

The new homeroom teacher's clear, reasonable manner of speaking

made the class fall silent.

When you're called to stay after school, report to the faculty room.

ATTENDANCE RECORD

That's all.

Then, to sort out the situation, each of our parents were called in.

Parent-teacher-student conferences.

Yeah. He asked me a lot of questions.

It seems Teacher knew what was going on the whole time.

But she'd been a teacher for a long time,

and the same thing kept happening again and again.

And her class would be thrown into chaos every time.

She kept seeing situations she couldn't do anything about,

until it reached the point where she couldn't even get involved.

Sis, what should I have done?

It went so far that you have to come in to the school.

I...

Hina, come on.

One cup of French toast!

With plenty of fresh cream!

BOOM

Here, hold this.

All right, next!

Sir, I'll take two beef croquettes!

One just as-is, one slathered in sauce!

Sure thing! Coming right up!

The depth of the water fluctuates. Please do not step in.

You sure?

You're always warning me about spoiling my dinner.

It's fine.

If you don't get to eat what you like at a time like this, when will you eat it?

Hina, I'm going. Be it a parent-teacher conference, or whatever,

I'll always be on your side.

Okay.

Come on, let's go grocery shopping and then go home.

What do you want for dinner?

Stew. Can I have it over my rice?

Sure. I'll put it on my rice this time too.

Black Mist

Light

CRESCENT MOON

I'll go.

No, I'm going.

How could I not go?

I'm going to go and give those selfish, rotten parents a piece of my mind!

You can't!

Tuesday is when you have that important catering job, remember?

HISS

It's for an important tea party

to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Shoueidou's founding, our valued customer!

SHOUEIDOU

Everyone is looking forward to your sweets, Grandpa!