“What is it you want to talk about?” Isako asked. She had a worried expression on her face, considering there was only one thing he could possibly want to talk about in this instance. “It’s such a nice day, can it wait?”

“It’s pretty important.” He sat up to address her more directly. “And… I’d like to talk to you alone.” Kouji glared at the three girls watching, along with his uncle.

“Aww…” Waa hung her head down in disappointment as she got up and took her popcorn with her. “Fine.”

“I’ll trust you this time.” Himawari’s body language revealed she wasn’t positive about his decision to be alone with the woman. However, she was willing to let it slide this time around.

“See ya.” Teru seemed a lot more laid back about the idea despite being against him potentially dating their headmistress. Though she did glance back for a moment, concerned for what he wanted to speak to her in private about. It was clear the topic, however the direction was the issue. To her, it seemed she was the lone girl who still strongly opposed their union.

If she was outnumbered in that manner, then how was that going to turn out should he accept that woman?

“It’d be nice if you could leave too, uncle.” There was still one other person with them as they sat down under the umbrella on top of the blankets Himawari set out earlier.

“Of course.” Yokokura replied. “I just wanted to say before I leave. Try to make sure you’ve thought this through.” With that, he took his leave. Now the pair were alone together on the beach, with the older lady sweating bullets over what he was going to say next.

“I know I was the one who was direct with the girls, but this feels a little sudden.” She spoke first as they looked out onto the oceans waves. Isako could tell that something must’ve clicked in his mind for him to ask everyone to leave instead of waiting for when they could be alone later.

“It because I was just talking with them about this.” He responded. “You know some of them aren’t for it, and I wanted to take everyone’s feelings into consideration.” Even though doing so did cause a rift in their relationships. “But Himawari made a good point, I should’ve asked myself what I wanted before getting their permission.” Out of all the feelings he considered, the boy never once thought about his.

“What you wanted?” She felt tense hearing him speak in detail about his own feelings. Perhaps, he didn’t return any of the feelings she had for him. Which would be fair, they had a major difference in age and other sorts. She even grew up with his mother of all people. That would likely be a barrier to difficult to break in his mind and heart when it came to viewing her. “And that would be?”

“That’s the thing, I don’t know yet.” It wasn’t a matter of indecision from him. Kouji simply understood the lack of time spent together in a romantic context. All he got from her, at least in his view, was the drunken night where she stayed with him sharing a bed. But what did he get out of it? Sure, it was admittedly real sexy to be able to see the headmistress in the nude. But that wasn’t how he did it with the other girls. “How did you… You know.”

“Ahh, it’s not easy to pinpoint a time.” She nervously laughed. It wasn’t a question one usually got, so answers were not easily found. “I know it seems a bit shallow, but it probably began because you worked so much with me.” That was a start, after all time spent did lead to her noticing some things about him. “The time I took care of you wasn’t so bad either.”

There were some awkward moments he’d prefer to have forgotten. However, it was the first time she had made some nervous from getting to peek at her in less than ideal clothing. “It was kind of nice to see that my body can still make someone nervous.” To her, that meant she wasn’t too old yet in terms of attractiveness. “I was just reminded of when I was younger and still had those moments in adolescence.”

“But, did it make you feel bad?” He asked. “You know, considering my age.”

“I was content to hold in my secret from you.” She informed him. “But, that night was a bit of a slip-up. I ended up choosing something completely different and it ended up leading us to where we are now.” Now that the cat was out of the bag, they had no choice but to confront it. “But, if you’re worried about being underage, or the fact that you’re one of my students. It’s understandable why you would be against it. I just want to know… Do you take issue with me being much older than you?”

“Well, if we were talking about me being of age and out of high school…” He thought about it for a moment before giving it an answer. “Then no, it’s not our age difference that bothers me. I’m only concerned about being too young.”

“I see.” She smiled internally. It gave her joy to think that perhaps she wasn’t yet an old hag. “But then this means you’ll reject me right now.”

“Actually, there’s a reason I wanted to talk to you in private.” After what Himawari told him, Kouji knew what he needed to do before giving a firm answer. “I’d like for the two of us to spend… A romantic night together without worrying about everyone else.”

“R-really?” She was stunned. Never once did the woman consider that to be a possibility even if he did accept her. “My, but I can’t say I’m prepared for this.”

“It doesn’t have to be anything formal.” He replied. “Maybe, we can spend it together alone at your place? Just to get to know each other.” This was going to be how he would come to a decision. Kouji had to treat her just like the girls to know where his heart laid. Then, once all was said and done, he would be the one to make the decision without anyone’s input beyond his own.