A small school of fish swam by magnificently as I walked closer to observe the surrounding activities of the spectacular scenery before me. 

Isolated by glass, a great deal of different types of fish swam by in a rhythmic pattern as they left my field of vision. I turned around to see a beautiful figure of a teacher in which she smiled at my behavior. 

"I'm sorry for taking your precious day off to accompany me here in Chiba," Ayaka-sensei apologetically said while looking around the public aquarium that we were cleaning. 

"I don't mind, It's not like I particularly had any plan," I nonchalantly replied while recalling all of my failed last night preparation with an in-depth plan to invite Ayaka-sensei to watch a movie together. 

However, this wasn't quite bad at all. If only this was a date to the public aquarium. 

I looked around to see my surroundings once again, no sign of people loitering around since it was closing hours. It felt empty as the place was filled with hundreds of customers just a few moments ago. 

"My body is sore from all that cleaning…" Ayaka-sensei muttered as she stretched her hand out and moaned softly. Looking at her tired and sweaty figure, I couldn't help but get aroused a little bit before throwing away those thoughts as she looked at me with puzzled expression. 

We made our way to the exit of the public aquarium as we chatted around. A notably handsome looking guy around Ayaka-sensei's age waved in our direction as he walked closer. 

"Thank you so much Kousaka-san and Akiyama-san for your work," the handsome guy politely bowed as he gave thanks in which Ayaka-sensei could only awkwardly nod. 

"Don't mention it, besides it was kinda fun," Ayaka-sensei replied with a hint of awkwardness in her expression. 

The handsome guy took out an envelope and handed it to Ayaka-sensei. 

"Here's your pay for the day, our usual janitor should be able to work tomorrow. Once again thank you very much for covering his shift," he once again bowed politely. From his speech and actions, he seemed to be an extremely formal person. 

"You're welcome, Nakajima-san," Ayaka-sensei awkwardly replied as she waved her hand and said a stiff goodbye. 

We decided to search for a nearby family restaurant to have dinner before going onto the last bullet train to our home. 

"Yummy!" Ayaka-sensei cheerfully said as she slurped her udon at the speed of light. I watched her eating habits as she looked like a hamster finding its food for the first time in seven hours. 

Her way of eating is something I observed for the last couple of years as I cooked her food all the time. 

Ayaka-sensei noticed me being silent. 

"What's wrong? Aren't you gonna eat?" she asked while slurping more udon intensively. 

I took a second before talking. 

"You seem very close to Nakajima-san for him to ask you to help him part-time work," I said while taking a sip of orange juice I ordered while suspiciously stare at her. 

She noticed my gaze as she hurriedly answered in a weird manner. 

"He is only a friend that needed help with his lack of staff in the entry level maintenance area," she answered while munching more udon. 

She lied, I thought to myself. 

After all, no way could I forget about this morning experience. However, I kept this to myself while waiting for her to continue on. 

She took a moment before explaining. 

"Nakajima-san was my high school classmate. He had a simple dream about taking care of his mother's public aquarium legacy. So, he did his best keeping the public aquarium of hers open until now," Ayaka-sensei deeply explained as I continued to nom my hamburger steak while listening to her. 

I could only respond with "is that so?" While I continued drinking my last remaining orange juice. 

"Yes, which is why I fell for him and asked him out in high school," as soon as Ayaka-sensei finished talking, a spurt of orange juice suddenly escaped through my mouth, which fortunately didn't hit Ayaka-sensei. I already expected this but hearing it from her in person was quite a shock. 

Ayaka-sensei immediately took out a handkerchief as she cleaned my face while commenting how clumsy I was. 

I sat down with an impatient expression waiting for Ayaka-sensei to finish on with her story. She could only sigh after looking at my eager expression. 

"He said no, saying he preferred focusing on helping his mother's business in a public aquarium and hopes to take over her business later when she retires," Ayaka-sensei explained with a painful expression on her eyes. 

"B-but why? How could he reject a girl as beautiful and as lewd as you?" I asked while eating the last remaining of hamburg steak and waiting for Ayaka-sensei's answers. 

Hearing my words, she smiled a little before answering. 

"Thanks for the compliment, Rika-chan. But the truth is, I was just a gloomy girl that stayed in the library for an uncomfortable amount of time in high school," Ayaka-sensei bitterly said while finishing her udon. 

"Ah! So that girl with glasses and looks like she doesn't even wanna be there in the album photo in your room was you?" I curiously asked while remembering the time I helped her out cleaning her house. 

Ayaka-sensei nodded with a reddened expression on her face. She stood up as she readied herself up to go home while holding her hand out to me. 

"Now that we're done eating, let's go home," she said with a smile, her smile reminded me of the smile she used on Nakajima-san this morning. 

While I was on cleaning duty on the aquarium, I accidentally eavesdropped into Nakajima-san and Ayaka-sensei conversation while they were alone. 

Apparently Nakajima-san's reason to ask Ayaka-sensei to help the aquarium was just an excuse to get closer to Ayaka-sensei. 

The transformation of Ayaka-sensei must've caught his eye during his and her high school reunion, so he was hoping to be able to ask her out on a date. He thought that she might still have a feeling for him, in which she politely declined. 

As it turned out, the reason he declined Ayaka-sensei confession in high school wasn't because he wanted to focus on work, rather because he already had a girlfriend. 

Apparently, his girlfriend was Ayaka-sensei's best friend. She revealed to Ayaka-sensei that Nakajima-san was badmouthing her all the time during school. His girlfriend immediately dumped him immediately after finding out all of his lousy attitude. 

Ayaka-sensei explained all of this with intense expression to Nakajima-san. Her words were soft yet sharp as each sentence felt dreadful, alas. She left him with an excuse to go to the toilet. However, I could slightly see her eyes teared up a little as she walked and there was a dumbfounded Nakajima-san standing still lifeless. 

I couldn't help but think, the change from a gloomy unkempt high school Ayaka-sensei to a cheerful, yet airhead current Ayaka-sensei happened because of Nakajima-san. 

The event today made me think that Ayaka-sensei changed to be able to have revenge on Nakajima-san from all the things he made fun of and badmouthed on. 

"Oi~ we've arrived you know," a soft yet calming voice had awoken me. A pretty figure was staring at my sleepy expression as the sound of the train slowed down before it stopped completely. 

"What were you dreaming about?" Ayaka-sensei asked while we walked in the middle of the night to our house. 

"Nothing, just wondering how you are so different from your high school time. And also, how awkward and cute you were in high school," my mind was still waking up a bit, so all the words that came out were just a jumbled mess of my unfiltered thoughts. However, the moment I said that, my cheek became red as I looked down embarrassed while walking. 

However, Ayaka-sensei stopped walking, before I could even ask what's wrong, her eyes lit up as if her battery was overcharged into oblivion. 

"You see, there was this magical girl anime where all the girls are so cute! So, I thought to myself whether I could become one. And then, all of the sudden I couldn't help myself and cosplay all of the cute anime characters I could find," her otaku side was showing as she talked non-stop about cosplay as we walked home. 

When we got home, we both waved goodbye. I went to my room as I jumped straight into the bed as the fatigue from working in the aquarium started to grow. 

For some reason, I dreamt about Ayaka-sensei being a penguin.