Underneath the Beech Tree (Kyojuro Rengoku x teacher! reader)

Celebration

Many weeks had passed since the incident at the Rengoku estate. As spring slowly began to get closer to Summer, the weather grew warmer, and with it, the school house turned into an afternoon inferno.

As you dismiss your sweaty students for the day, you pull at your own heavy clothing in an attempt to get some airflow.

This is the worst.

You've always loved Summer and all things warm, but this... this is excessive!

You sigh dramatically and pull a stack of test papers forward.

All you can do is work through it.

A few minutes pass with you silently grading papers, save for the occasional gasp or groan when you saw a particularly poor answer.

"Honestly," you grumble to yourself, seeing the answer written by one Haru Nakamura. "The Convention of Kanagawa did not occur in 1639!"

"It was in 1854, if I'm not mistaken," a voice suddenly calls from the doorway.

You jerk your head up, almost spilling your ink well in the process, and you are met with a smile brighter than the sun.

Kyojuro.

"Y-yes!" you laugh, awkwardly rising to your feet. "It was. I'm sorry you had to hear me talking to myself, I must sound like quite the fool!" 

"Nonsense!" Kyojuro booms, crossing his arms. "I talk to myself quite frequently!"

You smile genuinely and walk over to Kyojuro, hakama swinging.

"So what brings you by, Mr. Kyojuro?" you ask cheerfully. "Is everything alright with Senjuro?"

Kyojuro gives a hearty laugh.

"Senjuro is perfectly well!" he declares. "In fact, I'm inclined to say he's doing even better than usual! Did he tell you about the art contest he enrolled in?" 

Your lips part into a grin and you nod.

After you'd had your discussion with Shinjuro Rengoku, Senjuro had arrived at school absolutely thrilled. It had appeared that Shinjuro had changed his mind about the art contest, and Senjuro was allowed to compete. Not two weeks later, you'd received word that he'd won the district wide competition and was automatically being entered into the prefecture wide contest.

"I've heard all about it!" you say happily. "Senjuro was ecstatic when he was telling me!"

Kyojuro smiles and lowers his head a bit closer to you.

"Well," he says, his voice an octave lower than usual. "Senjuro had a wonderful idea the other night. He said that we should invite you over to dinner to celebrate his success."

Your face flushes red and you give Kyojuro a shaky smile.

"Is that so?"

"Mhm!"

Kyojuro lifts his head back up, much to your relief (and disappointment).

"He's been meaning to ask you for the last two days, but he kept getting too nervous. So, here I am!"

Kyojuro extends his hand to you with a bright, kind smile.

"Miss y/n, would you allow us the honor to eat with you tonight at 7 PM?"

You blush even deeper as you place your hand in Kyojuro's.

"I would love to!" you laugh.

"Excellent!" Kyojuro calls, giving your hand a light squeeze before he allows his hand to drop back down to his side. "We'll see you then! Senjuro is going to be so pleased!"