Onee-san Sensei wa Danshikousei ni Edzuke Shitai

After sensei asked me what my lunch was going to be for today, I didn't receive any messages from her for a while... I guess I'll just prepare for the first period of math for now.

Kishikawa-sensei: Just eating bread alone isn't enough to meet your nutritional needs.

Kishikawa-sensei: Can you come to the rooftop later on?

Kishikawa-sensei: During the lunch break. But if you're busy, then it's also fine if you don't come.

I then receive messages from sensei continuously. At first, sensei wasn't used to texting on her smartphone, but it looks like right now she can type really fast.

Kishikawa-sensei, who teaches physical education classes, is also the adviser of the swimming club; that's why she's interested in nutrition, and on her free time she studies really hard about it. So in order for her to put what she'd learned into practice, sometimes she shares her lunch with me. According to sensei, bread and a bottle of drink alone aren't nutritious enough for a growing boy. 

Kishikawa-sensei: If you can't come in the afternoon, then I don't mind doing it this evening.

Me: When you say this evening, does that mean that you will come into my house?

Kishikawa-sensei: Yes, since this is nutritional guidance, there's no problem with me visiting a student's house.

It's been a year since I've met sensei, and this isn't the first time she's asked if she can visit my house.

Since last summer vacation, sensei has been asking me to come to my house so that she can cook meals for me. She says that she can give me nutritional guidance at noon when we're at school, but she's worried about what I eat during the long vacations from school... But since then I've always tried to persuade her not to do that, and up until now I've been successful in preventing a secret home visit by the female knight-sensei.

It seems that sensei doesn't seem to understand the meaning and significance of a teacher visiting a student's home at night, especially when that student is living alone. Also, it's not like my house is a place she can visit whenever she wants. I always refuse her because if people see her doing that, I just don't want to cause any misunderstanding.

Me: I know sensei is busy, which is why it's fine if you don't do that. Also,  please don't push yourself too hard.

Me: I also think about my own nutritional balance, which is why I also eat take home convenience store bentos and sometimes I order a take out.

Kishikawa-sensei: You can't eat ready-made food every day because those foods have too many calories.

Kishikawa-sensei: Since you are still growing, you need a balanced meal that includes proteins, veggies, and carbohydrates.

Kishikawa-sensei: I have developed a new recipe for sautéed pork, so I would like you to try it once I cook it.

I swallowed my spit while thinking about the food that sensei would prepare for me. Sensei's foods are tremendously delicious even when they are cold, like the side dishes on her bento, but the taste of her freshly cooked food is out of this world.

At first glance, sensei seems to prioritize nutrition, but in truth, that's not the case at all.

I can't find the words to properly explain her cooking. Because it's not only delicious but it has the characteristics that one cannot imagine from the image of the so called female knight-sensei. The gap between her cooking and her personality is what caught me off guard.

To put it bluntly, the bento boxes she makes are filled with an enveloping motherly quality.

She really excels at all kinds of home-style cooking, for example, her sautéed pork is so good that it feels like home. That's why whenever I eat Kishikawa-sensei's cooking, it unlocks my heart unconditionally. I'm sure if she makes me a Nikujaga, my emotions and tears will overflow, even though it's completely different from my mother's cooking. I'm sorry to say this, but she's definitely a better cook than my mother.*

That's why if sensei comes to my house and cooks for me, that will be the end of me. Sensei isn't seducing me or anything, but Sensei's suggestion of her going into my house is still crossing the line between a teacher and a student. She's not seducing me, and we're not going to do anything wrong, but it's still taking me a lot of willpower to resist that temptation.

Me: I'm free this afternoon, so I'll go to the rooftop later.

Kishikawa-sensei: Okay, I understand. See you later. I texted you because I wanted to make sure that you were okay this morning.

Me: Well, I try my best not to be noticed when I go to the rooftop.

Kishikawa-sensei: Why? I don't think there's anything wrong with a teacher eating lunch with her student.

That may be the case, but I just want to make sure not to cause any misunderstanding. But just imagining the taste of sensei's bento is making me salivate. I guess I'm just like Pavlov's dog now.*

For the time being, classes will start soon. On Wednesday, Kishikawa-sensei doesn't have a class in the first period, so she has a lot of time to prepare and cook. Well, at this point, it's not that strange for me to know sensei's class schedule, as we've known each other for a year now.

Kishikawa-sensei: This is for my research, but what kind of food do you like?

Me: I really like Japanese food, but I also like Western food.

Kishikawa-sensei: I see, so you really like Japanese food.

Kishikawa-sensei: I'm really glad to hear that because today's bento is a Japanese style bento. It includes Dashimaki Tamago and the likes.*

Kishikawa-sensei: If only I could also cook for your dinner, my menu would surely be expanded.

Kishikawa-sensei is said to be dignified and rarely shows a smile, but when I talk to her like this, I believe that's not the case at all, as she's a very expressive and cheerful person.

Even right now, just from her text, I can tell what kind of expression sensei is making. Compared to how I text, I can feel the warmth in sensei's words... Maybe that's just all in my imagination, so I don't know if that's really true.

Kishikawa-sensei: Do your best in class. But since it's you, I don't have to worry.

Me: Thank you very much, sensei, please do your best.
 
I mustn't get carried away just because sensei is cooking for me. Instead of relying too much on my sensei's kindness, I should also make my own well-balanced bento.

Though I don't know how to start doing that because, in the first place, I'm not that good at cooking. Even if I follow the recipe exactly when I cook it, the end result will be a lot different. That's why, when I'm in front of someone who is really good at cooking like Kishikawa-sensei, I feel like being able to cook is a gift from heaven. 



Notes:

1. Nikujaga is a Japanese dish of meat, potatoes and onion stewed in sweetened soy sauce and mirin, sometimes with ito konnyaku and vegetables.

2. Pavlov's dog is a famous experiment done by Ivan Pavlov that created a way for him to develop the Classical Conditioning theory.

3. Dashimaki Tamago is rolled pan fried eggs just like Tamagoyaki (rolled omelette). The cooking and rolling technique to make Dashimaki is exactly the same as Tamagoyaki, but the ingredients and flavor are a little different. Like Tamagoyaki, it is another staple dish for breakfast and Bento lunch boxes.