The Teacher Who Believed My Nonsense and Followed Me

When I think of teachers I can't forget, two faces come to mind. One is a teacher from the cram school I attended from middle school through university, and the other is my homeroom teacher from high school. This time, I would like to write about a small episode involving my high school homeroom teacher.

In high school, I was what you'd call a bike commuter. It took me an hour to get to school, riding over several hills and high-ground streets with steep ups and downs, passing through a thicket used for illegal dumping, and cycling along an endless promenade by the river.

I first noticed something strange in the scenery I passed by every day during the winter of my second year of high school. At first, it didn't bother me much, but after three or four days, by the time I started to think it looked like a human shape, I was plagued by regret for having seen 'something strange'.

Even so, at first I told myself it might just be a misunderstanding, and if it were real, it would be scary... yeah, I must have misread it! I didn't want to be the first person to discover it, and I couldn't bring myself to report it. After spending several sleepless nights, I made up my mind and consulted my homeroom teacher.

“There’s something that looks like a corpse in the thicket, and it’s bothering me!”

My playful and mischievous homeroom teacher reacted to my serious confession with an exaggerated, octopus-like reaction. He then patted me on the shoulder and said, “It’s okay now! Let’s go check it out together, teacher!”

I felt relieved to have gotten that eerie feeling off my chest, but I was still anxious, so I asked, “Are you really going?” When I heard him say, “With this, we can properly hold a memorial service!” while taking a paper box of incense out of his drawer with full confidence, I immediately became uneasy.

(Incense in a wasabi box? And five sticks... Why does he have that? Is he okay...?)

Apparently, my curiosity-driven teacher was quite relaxed, even though we were about to go check on something that might be a corpse. He took my bike, left me behind, and rode ahead, passing other students on their way home and teasing them along the way.

I even felt dizzy thinking that 'that thing' might be the gruesome sight I imagined.

(How did a person like this even become a teacher...)

While I was sighing in disbelief, we arrived at the thicket.

Tension ran through me. The location in question was a farm road used as a shortcut, a place with little foot traffic even during the day, where a thicket spread out just beyond some abandoned, overgrown rice fields. Although partially hidden by rags and bushes, I could confirm 'that thing' hanging from a rope on a fallen tree broken by lightning. My teacher, who had gotten off his bike, also seemed tense at this point. He held incense in one hand and a mobile phone for reporting in the other. I thought he would lead the way, but for some reason, he was sticking right behind me.

That was when I first noticed something strange. Even if it was a thicket with no foot traffic, why was I the only one who could tell it was a corpse? It was some distance from the farm road and only faintly visible. Even that was just for a split second while riding a bike. It was as if it wanted me to find its existence and was sending me telepathy...? From the dead... Thinking that, my fear increased and I got goosebumps.

“Teacher! Why are you hiding behind a student?? Are you saying I’m the one who has to check it?? Did you get scared after all??” I asked, flustered. “You idiot! There’s no way I’m scared! I even brought incense!” my teacher defended himself in a panic. Two of the five incense sticks were broken and damp from his sweaty hands. Besides, he hadn't even brought a lighter...

After a while, my teacher caught his breath and, as if regaining his dignity as an adult, said, “You stay here. It’s not something for a student to see, so I’ll go check.” He handed me his mobile phone and told me to report it if he gave me a big signal, then he headed into the overgrown rice field.

I looked down and averted my eyes until my teacher reached the fallen tree where 'it' was. If I became the first person to discover it, I would be questioned by the police, and I might even have to assist in the process of identifying what used to be a person. That grotesque sight that would be burned into my eyes. I didn't want to. It was scary. It would appear in my dreams. I’m not the type to believe in spirits or the occult, but I was genuinely terrified at that moment. At the same time, I felt sorry for asking my teacher to deal with such a troublesome matter.

After a while, my teacher called out to me, “Hey, come here!” His voice was bright. I slowly opened my eyes and walked to the fallen tree as my teacher told me to. As I looked up, I immediately realized there would be no need for the incense.

An agricultural sheet with a rope had gotten caught on the fallen tree, and on top of that, a black plastic bag and the broken part of the tree just looked like a head and upper body.

(Teacher, I’m sorry for causing such a fuss...)

I apologized for the trouble I had caused due to my own hasty misunderstanding. "I'm sorry for dragging you into my mistake..." However, my homeroom teacher gave me a thumbs up and said, "It's a teacher's job to clear away a student's anxieties!"

After that, as if nothing had happened, we rode back to school on his bicycle together (please forgive me, the statute of limitations has passed), and on the way, he even treated me to things like cocoa.

It's been nearly 20 years since that story, and times have changed; now, bound by various restrictions and compliance rules, the relationship between students and teachers has become difficult. I had been dragging around the fact that I couldn't take the entrance exam for my target school because I was hospitalized with an illness during my third year of junior high, but I felt truly glad that I could attend this high school after meeting such a human teacher who would go along with a student's foolish talk like that.

I have many other memories with that homeroom teacher, and even after graduating from university, we kept in touch, went out for meals, and had a personal relationship, but I haven't been in contact with him for over 10 years now.

I wonder how he is doing. Once COVID is no longer an issue, I would love to meet up and talk.