Just when the students and their teachers are in the middle of an intense discussion, the door of the teacher's office is suddenly opened, an old janitor then enters the office with a bamboo broom and an old dustpan in his hands. Seeing the students flipping through the old books surrounding their class teacher, the old janitor comes near to them.
"Yamaguchi-ojisan!" there, Ishiya-sensei greeted with a bright smile.
"Yamaguchi-ojisan!" then the boys followed too.
"Thought how diligent you are, staying back for a tuition class." as Yamaguchi-ojisan said, he cranes his neck curiously trying to take a glance at the books in the boys' hands, "What are you reading?"
"Nothing special." with a calm tone, Ishiya-sensei answers, it seems like he isn't trying to conceal anything, "Just some old commemoration books."
Just as Ishiya-sensei said, Yamaguchi-ojisan suddenly snatches the book over from Shinji, he stares at the year written on the book cover and yells madly at them, "How could you read this!?"
That book Yamaguchi-ojisan snatched over, is Eitsuma's annual commemoration book in 1996. The boys and the teacher exchange a few glances, Yamaguchi-ojisan must know something about it, they thought.
As they ponder, Shinji puts up a mild smile and turns to Yamaguchi-ojisan, "Yamaguchi-ojisan, you've been working for the school for a long time, right?" he asked.
"Yes." Yamaguchi-ojisan nods, "Why? What do you want to know?"
Wrapping his arm around Yamaguchi-ojisan's shoulders, Irie says, "Based on the reaction you made just now, you knew what we wanted to ask, didn't you?"
"You wanted to know about the incident that happened in 1996...?" Yamaguchi-ojisan turns stammered.
Genshiro nods, he adds, "Yamaguchi-ojisan, there's no need to hide from us, just tell us the truth! We won't tell anybody!"
Yamaguchi-ojisan hesitates, he then turns to Ishiya-sensei, while Ishiya-sensei gives him a firm nod.
"They won't tell anyone." Ishiya-sensei raises his eyebrows, "Me neither."
There, finally, Yamaguchi-ojisan bows his head as he gives up defending. He gives a heavy sigh and starts to tell. The boys and their class teacher surround him in excitement.
"You might know, in the year 1996, the headmaster, Murakawa-kocho, was expelled from the school." he said.
Shinji flips to the front of the 1996 commemoration book, he finds the school was managed under two different headmasters in the year 1996, the front half was managed by Murakawa Seiichiro, the later half was managed by Takamoto Yuusuke.
So the former headmaster, Murakawa-kocho, was expelled from the school? Shinji thought, he then continues to listen to Yamaguchi-ojisan's story.
Yamaguchi-ojisan continues to tell, "Murakawa-kocho was caught having an affair with a young female teacher in the school. His wife even came to the school and made a big fuss, it was all over the news!"
"And then?" blinking his eyes, Ishiya-sensei and his students look at Yamaguchi-ojisan craving for more shocking news.
"That's all! What more?" while unfortunately, the story has reached its end.
"That's all?" Ishiya-sensei and the boys asked in a surprised tone.
"What?" while Yamaguchi-ojisan shrugs his shoulders and shows a puzzled face, "That's not what you guys wanted to ask?"
"No!" Ishiya-sensei cried in disappointment, claiming a chuckle from the boys.
Shinji chuckles softly too, he then whispers softly at Yamaguchi-ojisan, "We wanted to know... what happened to the last batch of Class 1-1 in 1996?"
While unexpectedly, just as Shinji asked, Yamaguchi-ojisan's face turns green in no time. He stares at the old commemoration book in his hands, he then suddenly throws it back at Shinji and stares at the youngsters.
"Yamaguchi-ojisan, what's wrong?" there, Irie asked in an uneasy tone.
Clicking his tongue, Yamaguchi-ojisan hollers, "Don't ask, I don't know anything about it." he then points at them and warns in an aroused tone, "And don't you kids try to investigate anything about it! Curiosity killed the cat!"
Pouting his lips, Momo tries to defend themselves, "But we were just aski-"
Yet before he could finish his sentence, Yamaguchi-ojisan edges in with a more aggressive warning, "Told you to stop talking about it!" he shouted, "Don't interfere any deeper! You heard me!" as he brings the fuss up, he swiftly walks away and exits the teacher's office with his bamboo broom and the old dustpan.
"Wow, that's..." with an astonished expression, Kaito exclaims, "Furious."
Genshiro nods, "We were just asking. Don't have to yell at us."
"Indeed." Tetsu nods too, "Angry old man."
Whereas, Shinji thought now that it is certain that something serious must have happened to the Class 1-1 in 1996. There as he ponders, Ishiya-sensei suddenly claps his hands twice.
"Boys, it's time to go home." he said, showing his watch to the boys, "It's getting darker, walking in the woods could be dangerous."
Yeah right, the school is located at the foot of the mountain, the students will need to travel across the woods before they got home. Therefore, to avoid any dangerous matter from happening, the boys can only agree to Ishiya-sensei's suggestion.
"Mata ashita, Ishiya-sensei!"
The boys wave their hands and greet their class teacher goodbye. Then, they place the old books back on Ishiya-sensei's table and leave the school.