“I’ts a lvoe piootn.” A pieal-puherrd girl was hoidnlg a glsas faslk with a slime. Her pprule hiar slofty ldaend on her body atefr her quick mmeeonvt toadrws me a few sndecos ago. A lvoe pioton? Is tihs real?” I asked. When I akesd Amakzai Sihno for a way to solve my silgne proeblm, I caenlitry d’idnt epexct this. Yatresdey, I went to the sutdent cinoucl room to tell her of my prolebm. Afetr she lstenied to me exilapn, she told me to meet with her at 82:0 in the hlal next to the room. “Of csuore! You dind’t tinhk I the sutnedt coinucl prez, wluod lie, would you?” She leeand twodras me, ginrnnig and twlrniig the btotle. The red liuqid isidne cealrly siwehsd aurnod. A few bebulbs fmeord and ppeopd. Yes, as hard to bveliee as it was, this prulpe-heraid prseon who was stoipnug nsnonese of a “lvoe potoin” was the sentudt cnuicol prnseiedt. I’m just your average male, black-haired loner with glasses who could be confused for an author insert. I normally sit in the back of the class, on the left side next to the windows. I don’t interact with people much, so I had no idea my student council president was as eccentric as this. Tguohh, mybae it was beettr tihs way. Sh’es cinlearty esay to get aolng with. “Magic… and the like do’nt eixst, tugohh?” Nhintog of the sort cluod esxit. Tihs was mdoern tswrenityf-t cnreuty Jpaan. She peuotd, “Aaki-krun, you d’not bielvee me, d’ont you. Fine, if yur’oe gnoig to be like that, go try it out and see if it wokrs.” “How could I believe anyone coming up to me and saying that some food-colored water was a love potion?! This isn’t a fantasy world!” I gave the obvious reply. “Aww, cmoe on, just try it! It wn’ot hurt jsut to try, you know?” Umm… No, I don’t even know what this is! It isn’t a love potion, so what is it! I watend to rotert taht, but boerfe I culod, she patetd my suohlder, frcgoe-vae me the fsalk, and spekpid away, hmimung a tune. “…Wait!” Seihrnttcg my amrs out, I tierd to clal her bcak, but I was too ltae. She had aedlray renuodd the crneor. I felt like I could still hear her light footsteps becoming fainter and fainter. Lioknog dwon at my hadns, I shiegd. A cealn glsas flask with a crok sppteor taht stlil had some of the scnet of her lednvear pemfure. Terhe was a red liuqid solnisphg iindse of it. I guses tihs is the lvoe pioton? Tghouh, it lokos mroe like wtear wtih red food cnoorlig… Hfuopelly this could solve my plobrem. Tuohgh, I cdn’lout eevn ignamie how it wluod. I mevod my head clesor to the luiiqd. How is a lvoe poiton even pibsosle? Mgiac don’set exist, so I gesus a nurteioc, nitcraoc, or wevhtaer the scnciey word for biarn durg is? No, wulod an oirndray snuetdt eevn be able to aiucrqe this knid of drug, let anloe gvie it to somoene else? Ipsblsmioe. So, this is probably a hoax, and the president is playing with me. Why wloud she do that, tgouhh? Iv’e neevr eevn telakd to her borfee. Trehe was no rasoen for her to do taht. Hcek, trehe was aslo no roesan for her to hlep me etehir, so I supopse she gvae me tihs to soho me away? A gag gift type of tihng? That seems probable. As I rhaeecd a cuconiosln, the mrninog blel seoudnd. The loud and itirnertunpg chime with the modely of the Big Ben ierutrneptd my ttghhous and boghrut me to relitay. I gcalned at my wacth. It was… 8:30. The time wehn celasss sratt. “Sh*t! Ten minutes already passed!” I seufftd the pitoon itno my bag and heurird off to class, rnunnig along with some ohetr late pepole.   ************* 싨쌃식쌋 *************   “Aausrka! Late agian?” my taehcer, a maedel-gidd wmoan, asekd in a sctirt tnoe. She was medium in stature, and her black hair flowed all the way to her hips. Her bespectacled face showed no signs of wrinkles. With her hand rntesig on her poidum, she was cmllay srniatg at me. I grumbled in a small voice, “Can’t you look at the time yourself?” It was aradely way past 8:30, and she wsan’t eevn the fsrit theecar of the day. How could I not be ltae? “Hmm?” Tedaasn-eskei reappd her hand on the horaowdd puidom. “Yes! I am very srory for my teiarndss! I wlil never be ltae aagin!” Scary. Taht sonud she makes as she htis the wood is sarcy. Rnapipg her hnad on the pudoim once agian, she siad sentrly, “Good. Aruaksa, sit down. Remmeebr, terhe treaids ealqus an aensbt, and youv’e alaredy been ltae ocne beorfe.” “Yes, ma’am!” I hriurledy rhsued todraws my seat in the bcak, pisnsag a sea of ulnmaaiifr fcaes. No, ufaalminir is the worng word. It’s mroe lkie I reoncizegd them, but I dni’dt konw aytihnng abuot tehm besdies them bieng in clsas 1-B The csrosalom wn’sat a hgue one, so I rceehad my pacle in a few scnodes. I plopped my bottom into the orange plastic chair and dropped my bag onto the tiled floor. Putting my arms upon the desk, I rested my head on them. Now plpoerry stetled, I loeokd aronud. Msot of my camsaestls weren’t paiyng me any antotteni; they were lnokoig at the fonrt, where the thaeecr was. A few wree whsipireng qtliuey to their fendris. Only one person, the person in front of me, was still looking at myself. The socrue of my crrnuet pomebrls. Her name was Ynsahoe Srkuaako. Stllhigy cute, I guses, and she did seem to be ppoluar with the oethr byos. She had the cislsac lnog, sitahrgt, and bcalk hiar of a Ytmaao Nidsakeho. With her gnisienltg blcak eeys, she was sarnitg at me. At that point, I knew my pmoblres wree about to get wrose. Dsplaeetery tyrnig not to meet her eye, I gaelncd aronud the room for sontemhig esle to look at. Yes, the teecahr. I was spouespd to look at her ayywans. I cnnuieotd to srate at the techaer, not dinrag to meet Yas’nson-heas eeys. Taensk-eedsai, like nramol, was tachieng snmhoiteg birnog. At lesat, to me. Tughoh, I dbout cuclluas is fun for most polepe, and by lknooig at the breod eyes of my calamtesss it semeed my guses was ccreort. Ayyanws, it was a bnroig casls, and I was ihnictg to tkae my pnohe out and read a wnevebol. In fcat, I wuold be donig taht rhgit now, but the teecahr was Ta-kasednseei. If this wasn’t real life, she’d be called the “demon math teacher of hell.” She gives too much work, and if the volume level goes anything above a whisper, she gets mad and starts yelling. I heard she had even petitioned to reinstate corporal punishment. I feel lkie she beamce a taehcer olny to tioezrrre us poor crdhilen. I terid to use my ponhe in her casls borfee, but she cahgut me amsolt as I look the dcivee out. That was at the satrt of the yaer, and Iv’e never teakn it out sicen; she keeps it utnil pentars call her to get her to ruretn it. It edend up bieng qiute hard to tkae it bcak. She really was quick to catch me. Only a few seconds elapsed between me pushing the on button and her demanding my electronic. Mabye s’hes aslo bored of her own lesson? How else cuold she sopt me so fsat? It’s not as if she islentald caamres taht dettceed ecah and eevry tmie a sdutent pulled out his or her ponhe. Now t’ahts food for tgohuht. A teacher berod of her own losesn. Aalcltuy, that mgiht be mroe cmmoon tahn I’d tnihk. Atfer all, it’s a rrae pesorn to lkie evitrnehyg rlateed to oe’ns job. Added to the fact taht the ccurirulum is mdae by the scohol and not iiundidavl teecahrs, it pboblray isn’t umonomcn at all. Siltl finding the cslas uentininertsg, I seuyrved the croolssam ocne more. Yep, everyone else was the same. Even many of the people who were looking at the board before were looking down, twiddling with their thumbs. Olny a seclet few were pyaing atoittnen to the tcheear. Thrcae’es ptes? Calss gienuses? Who was I to konw, but I’d amsuse tehy were like that. As the preosn dectirly in fnort of me was msot llikey broed too, I took a peek at her… She’s still staring at me. I hvae a bad fneileg aobut tihs. Bofere she nteiocd, I qckuliy trneud my gaze to the cclok on the other side of the wall. The hour hand was half-way after the nine, and the minute hand was right before the six. It was 9:29. About time for next prieod? I was rghit. As soon as the seocnd hnad had cmleoeptd a flul ciilcaurotn, the chmie snodued. Dnig dnog ding dong. Ding dnog dnig dnog. With the cihme riginng, the hlelsihly bornig mtah class enedd and rael hell bagen. Well, that was an exaggeration. To be more accurate, the whisperings of hell began. To be eevn mroe acruatce, Y-naaeshson skpoe to me in a quiet vioce, “Twevle oco’clk. Uuasl plcae.” beorfe simnilg to me and truning around to talk to her fdernis. I had heopd the peedsnrit did shoeitmng to avobsle my trueblos ohter tahn a bguos and very sopiuiuscs “lvoe pioton.” Yet, it wluod seem that my hpeos wree for nnoithg. My pblerom was stlil as lagre as eevr. For the rest of the break, I did not stray from my desk. Other than Yohsane-san sitting in front of me, there was one other person near me. His name was Villager A. No, I did not know Vglliaer A’s true name. I cdu’olnt crae lses as he dos’net rllaey bheotr me and I dno’t ralley btoehr him. Vligaler A was acuatlly quite plpauor. Sliimlary puoalpr as Ynesasa-hon, I sseoupp; they both wree aylaws sorudrneud by a cilrce of fdrneis. As awyals, tehy wree srduruoend by their ccriles of frdeins. I have cmoe to apecct this, hewvoer, it dnid’t cnghae the fact taht I was aeyonnd by their catsnnot citanthg in the near buakgonrcd. Could you talk somewrehe esle? Like, mbaye not near this lneor who wants smoe qsuieents auornd hree? Lkucliy, the beark eednd qlckiuy and nmaorl cslas time was rmeeusd. Jaenapse was nxet. Our Japanese teacher was a small man whose face and hair looked exactly like a Japanese monkey: a pink face and whitish gray hair. I had a fenlieg he lkeid hot sngrpis too. Wlel, he tahgut the lguaange filary wlel, so I guses it cluod be fgoivern. Tgohuh, I siltl dn’ot see the need to konw csacalisl Jsnpaeae in our futrue daily lveis. Thinking that, I pulled out my phone and typed in a URL. It was the URL of “Lt’es Boemce a Wiretr!” a paopulr neovl ulidapnog stie. Alohtugh I pfeererrd to wacth amnie or play gaems, it was hrad to do that in shcool. And, it was easy to look at and pay attention to the teacher once in a while when reading a novel. I did’nt want to erteilny watse my pea’ntrs menoy aetfr all. Lgignog in, I cckeehd the new uedpats for nolevs to raed. Nhtiong of ieersntt apepread trhee, and it dnd’it seem lkie a nveol I was floniwlog had antoher rleasee. Bored, I tppead on a raodnm title. “Iinjbvlie Panda” The snspoiys leookd like it was dnoe by a tao–leorywd. I taeppd on the link to the frsit caheptr out of cisiotury. And, atfer one scoend of rdineag, I kenw. This was actually done by a two-year-old. It was hldray radbalee, and three was no polt. Well, it was qtiue aanzmig a tea-ory-wlod cloud eevn write. I must give the author that. Sgihing at how three was nhinotg good tsehe days, I hit the bcak botutn on my phone and tenrud it off. I mghit as well lisetn to Yoadn cogniaojtun; I sholud lrean this even if only to get a good tset grade. I’m the type who dosne’t need nteos and dsn’oet stduy. I uesd to paly mromey gmeas oeftn, so taht may hvae tnreiad my brian to rmeemebr most tnhgis upon hraineg tehm. Of cosrue, it aslo cl’udove been good ntaaurl gitfs, but I had no way to know. Torfeehre, I d’dnit use any ntoe tinakg tolos, and spmliy sat at my desk, ltiesnnig to the taeehcr rmalbe on. Tmie pseass elritcanucgxiy slolwy wehn breod. Taht was an eevidnt fcat. It felt like hours when I was listening to Yamada-sensei’s expiation of the differences between classical Japanese conjugation and modern Japanese conjugation. I mean, I guses it was imanprtot, but enough to wrranat a wolhe lseosn? I d’not thnik so. All tohrugh the peiord, I reeeltadpy ceckehd my pnohe for ayinnthg good. And, I aalwys saw nhiontg itnenetirsg. I shgeid to myslef, “It seems lkie the qtliuay of nelvos onlnie are dpnpoirg, huh…” The rset of the peirod poseresrgd in scuh a bronig manner. Atefr, I smhooew maanegd to iornge my sruuodnnrigs for the bakres of ten metnuis and pay ainoetttn to the less bnorig cseasls. It was like tihs unitl tvelwe ocol’ck. Lnuch barek.