MGRP Limited Prologue

Prologue

Even if a year as a teacher made one stronger and thicker-skinned, it was only natural to feel sad when one was hurt. Nobody was an exception to this, including Nozomi.
即使是经历一年的教师生活变得更加强悍且厚脸皮的心，受伤还是会感到难过。这点无人例外，希当然也是。

It had happened during lunch break today. Some students were chatting excitedly at the top of the stairs. SInce the door to the roof was locked, the students could not pass through it  as they pleased, but there was nothing set up to keep them out of the space just before the door to the roof. This place was slightly more spacious than other staircase landings, so other than the people who had some special business here, it attracted quite a few students who would otherwise not have passed by.
事情发生在今天的午休时间。有学生站在楼梯平台上兴高采烈地聊天。由于通往顶楼的门上了锁，学生无法自由进出，但没有设备能够防止学生进出顶楼门口前的楼梯平台。这里与其他楼梯平台相比之下宽敞几分，因此看中这里除了有特别的事情以外，其他人几乎不会经过的特性而聚集于此的学生也不在少数。

As Nozomi was headed for her next lesson, she walked through the nearby hallways, whereupon she heard a bout of unrestrained and ear-piercing laughter, which disregarded the fact that lunchtime was almost over.
当希为了前往下一堂的授课教室，经过这里的走廊时，从楼梯平台传来无视午休时间即将结束的放肆又刺耳的笑声。

Perhaps she ought to speak up and remind them of that fact. Having decided to do so, Nozomi took a step toward the staircase which lef to the roof.
也许她应该出声提醒一下。如此判断的希，朝通往顶楼的楼梯踏出一步。

“That’s right, speaking of which, don’t you think it’s a little late now?”
“对了，话说回来似乎有点晚了耶？”

“No way! Seriously, lunchtime’s almost over!”
“不会吧？真的耶，午休时间快结束了。”

It would seem she would not have to remind them. Just as she was about to pull her foot back to the path leading to the corridor--
看来不需要她出声提醒了。当她正要将踏出去的脚缩回走廊上的时候——

“What’s our next lesson?”
“下一堂是什么课？”

“Isn’t it the Monster’s class? I remember now.”
“不是怪物的课吗？我记得。”

“Ahhh, Japanese, huh.”
“啊啊，国文课啊。”

“Do we have to hand in our homework?”
“应该还不用交作业吧？”

“If I’m not wrong, we just need to finish it up before the weekend.”
“心得感想在周末前写完就行了吧。”

“What a pain in the ass.”
“麻烦死了。”

Namiyama Middle School was a private school. Without exception, every student was studying hard to cross the hurdle to high school. However annoying they might think it was, those brave souls who actually skipped classes were a rarity.
波山国中是一所私立中学。没有一位学生能够例外，都在努力跨越高中会考的难关。再怎么觉得麻烦，胆敢翘课的勇士并不常见。

She gave way to the two students who were rushing down the stairs, laughing loudly as they went. Looking at their backs as they headed for their classrooms, she recognized their hairstyles, and their voices.
她让急忙冲下楼梯、边走边哈哈大笑的两名学生先行经过。看着那两道朝教室而去的背影，她对那个发型有印象，也记得那个声音。

The two of them were students from Class 2-B. Nozomi surreptitiously followed their backs and saw them step into the classroom which she was about to enter herself. It was as she had thought. She tried to make sense of and digest what she had heard, and as the bell announcing the end of lunch break rang, she felt a tremendous shock.
那两人是二年B班的学生。她就这样偷偷地以眼神追着两人的背影，接着便看到他们踏入希接下来正要前往的教室。果然没错。她在心里反复思索并消化这个事实，一边听着宣告午休时间结束的钟声一边感到大受打击。

Giving teachers nicknames was hardly an unusual thing. Nozomi had done the same when she was a student. Kobayashi-sensei becoming Koba-sen and Watanabe-sensei becoming Nabe-san were some of the better-sounding examples, but the cruelty of kids as that age meant that many teachers had been given horrible nicknames. However, most of these nicknames werr given for a reason. Some of them would scream and shout at the students for no apparent reason, others would eye the female students in a lewd fashion, and then among those “hated teachers”, there were those great teachers who knew that the students disliked them, but still staunchly adhered to the principles of the profession. However, that did not change the fact that her students hated her.
帮老师取绰号，绝对不是什么稀奇的事情。希还是学生的时候也是如此。小林老师就是拎老师、渡边老师就是路边老师什么的还算是好听的，也有不少老师被残酷的学生依照岁数起了难听的绰号。不过，这类老师会被取绰号都是其来有自的。有人是老爱以不合理的理由对学生大呼小叫，有人是会以猥亵的眼神盯着女学生瞧，而在这些“顾人怨的老师”之中，也有明明知道自己被学生讨厌，却仍然遵循严厉指导原则的伟大老师。不过，仍然无法改变自己遭到学生厌恶的事实。

The students’ dialogue swirled in her mind for a long time, and it would not fade awat.
两名学生的对话一直盘旋在她的脑海里久久不散。

“What’s our next lesson?”
“下一堂是什么课？”

“Isn’t it the Monster’s class? I remember now.”
“不是怪物的课吗？我记得。”

“Ahhh, Japanese, huh.”
“啊啊，国文课啊。”

However much they hated a subject, nobody would call a Japanese lesson a “monster”. It was clearly a nickname assigned to a specific individual. In other words, Monster referred to the Japanese language teacher, Nozomi. Given the fact that the listener had not questioned it at all, it was easy to tell that the nickname of Monster was firmly decided..
即使再怎么讨厌的科目，也没用人会将国文课称为怪物吧。明显是针对个人而取的绰号。换句话说，怪物指的是担任国文老师的希。从听话的对象完全没有产生任何疑问这点，不难看出怪物这个称呼已经定型了。

Monster.
怪物。

From her student days until her teaching career, she had rarely heard such a scathing nickname. It was clear and simple, with a sharpness that gouged deeply into the heart, and that sharpness covered the heart of that gossip’s target in wounds.
从她学生时期一直到教师生涯为止，鲜少有如此过分的绰号。简洁明了加上足以深深刨入人心的锐利度，而那份锐利也将遭人闲话的对象的心挖得伤痕累累。

Nozomi was not the sort of teacher who would scold her students severely. She often reminded herself to be gentle even with her verbal warnings. Even during her lessons, she considered thought of herself as a teacher who dispensed gentle guidance. She did not maliciously put students on the spot with difficult questions in order to satisfy her pointless personal pride. Perhaps she really was a spineless teacher who only knew how to nod and pander to her students, but that was much better. After all, she knew very well how difficult her job would be once the students hated her.
希并不是那种会严厉斥责学生的老师，就算是口头警告，也会提醒自己语气要温和一点。就连在课堂上，她也自认为是个细心指导的老师。她也没有用坏心眼的难题来为难学生，为此沾沾自喜的无聊嗜好。也许她的确是个只会点头附和学生的没志气老师，但这样至少强多了。因为她非常清楚，一旦被学生讨厌，工作会有多么窒碍难行。

However, the students had ended up hating her anyway. Perhaps one could say that the students were repulsed by her -- such was the destructive power of the nickname “Monster”. That was because they did not even treat her as a human being, but a lifeform from another species. This was no longer the divide between a student and a teacher, but more like an impossibly high wall erected between humans and nonhumans. In all likelihood, nobody would ever be able to bring down that wall.
然而，她还是被学生讨厌了。或许可以说是学生都很忌讳她——怪物这个绰号就是具备如此强大的破坏力。原因在于对方甚至不把她当人看，而是将她当成与自己不同种类的生物对待。这种情况，与其说是学生与老师之间的鸿沟，反而更接近耸立在人类与非人类之间的厚重高墙。恐怕任何人都无法让这道高墙倒下吧。

Nozomi endured the heartache of this tremendous blow as she worked to complete her assigned duties. Though her students had hurt her, she could not abandon her duties -- even if she was only a full-time lecturer who had not even made this her career.
希一边忍受着强大打击带来的心痛，一遍完成她的分内工作。被学生伤害，老师也不能放弃本身的职责——即使她只是个还谈不上转正职的全职讲师也一样。

More to the point, this was not the end of Nozomi’s suffering. The distasteful things were not yet over, and she still had one more thing to handle after school -- she had to supervise the meeting of the Cultural Festival Clean-Up Committee. However, one of the members was the biggest problem child of the school by far, and all she could do was pray that she did not cause any problems.
更何况，希的磨难并非到此画下句点。讨厌的事情尚未结束，她放学后还有另外一项工作——必须去监督文化祭清扫委员会的会议。虽然这项工作只需要她在场，当有学生提问时适当给予意见就可以了，但这次的其中一个成员是放眼望去，整所学校问题最大的问题儿童，她只能暗自祈祷对方别引发任何问题。

Nozomi sighed deeply. In the end, the head teacher for the year who sat three tables away had asked her what was wrong, and so she smiled and answered, “I’m fine”. Perhaps that smile had seemed too powerless and she did not look fine at all, but Nozomi saw the head teacher look at her worriedly.
希深深地叹了一口气。结果引来与她隔了三个办公桌的学年主任关切，于是她回答“我没事”，笑容以对。想必是那副笑容太过无力，看起来一点也不像没事的样子，只见学年主任忧心忡忡地回望着希。

After school, she trudged towards the physics lab. The sliding door open, and she saw nobody inside, only the neat rows of white benches and three-legged stools. There were no science-type clubs in this school, so there were no students around.
放学后，她踩着沉重的脚步前往理科教室。滑开拉门，室内空无一人，只见身旁排列着配置的白色长桌与三脚椅。这所学校没有科学性质的社团，所以教室里不见任何学生的身影。

Her footsteps became strangely careful. To Nozomi the Japanese language teacher, the physics lab was outside her jurisdiction; she had not even set foot in the nearby physics prep room. The dangerous chemicals and experimental equipment were stored there, and it was not a place where students could freely enter without permission. While she was a teacher, Nozomi was almost the same in that she had no business there, and in that sense she was in the same situation as the students.
她的步伐也莫名地变得慎重起来。对于负责教授国文的希而言，理科教室在她的管辖范围之外，她甚至不曾涉足再过去一点的理科准备室。危险的药品或实验器具都保管在其中，那里并不是学生在未经许可的情况下，能够随意进入的场所。虽然是老师，但几乎等同于不想干人士的希，立场也与学生差不多。

Why had they chosen to meet in the physics prep room? The student council who had picked the members and so on seemed very lackadaisical in that respect. The student council head had even laughed and replied, “Who knows when we started doing things like this?” If even the student council head could not make that decision, then who could?
为什么集合地点会是理科准备室呢？包括选定成员等负责决策的学生会，态度都相当随便。学生会长甚至还笑着回答:“不知道从什么时候开始就这么做了。”如果不是由学生会长决定，还有谁能够做决定啊。

The prep room was in the heart of the physics prep room, and one had to enter it through a small door that seemed to have been hidden in the shadow of the cleaning equipment cabinet. Unlike the other classrooms, this was not a sliding door, but one where one had to turn a knob to open it. This room had been added 20 years ago, and so the interior decor felt more newer than the older classrooms -- or so the principal had said.
准备室位于理科准备室最深处，必须从像是被藏在打扫工具置物柜阴影处的小门进入。不同于其他教室，这扇门不是拉门，而是必须转动门把才能进出的设计。这个房间是在二十年前增建的，因此内部的装潢比既有的旧教室更具现代感——校长是这么说的。

Nozomi put her hand on the doorknob and turned it. The door opened; it was not locked.
希将手搭在门把上并转动。门开了，没有上锁。

There were others here already. One, two, three, four, for a total of five people. Everyone looked at Nozomi.
已经有人先到了。一、二、三、四，总共五人。大家都望着希。

Poking the human anatomy models was Umi Shihabara of Class 2-C, who was possessed of prodigious athletic talent. Nozomi remembered that she was the prefecture’s record holder for the 100 meter dash or the triple jump. Perhaps she had too much energy and no idea how to bleed it off, but her behavior had sparked much discussion, and she was one of the more notable people in school.
戳着人体模型的是二年C班拥有惊人运动天赋的芝原海。希记得她是本县百米赛跑还是三级跳远竞赛的纪录保持人。也许是精力过剩不知该如何发泄的关系，她也有许多行径引发不少话题，属于校内屈指可数的名人。

Umi’s ponytail swatted someone in the face as she suddenly turned around. That someone was Nemura Kayo, her classmate. She was often seen going about with Umi.
因为芝原海突然转头而被马尾甩到脸的，则是与她同班的根村佳代。经常看到她与芝原同进同出。

The person inspecting the tortoise terrarium was Musubiya Mine of Class 2-D. As an honor student, she had made a good impression on the teachers, and the students adored her. She was not the “everyone hates her” or the “make you do things beyond your ability” type of class rep, but a genuine class rep.
正在观察陆龟水槽的是二年D班的结屋美祢。身为资优生的她，在老师们的心目中印象极佳，也相当受到学生的爱戴。不是那种“顾人怨型班长”也不是“被赶鸭子上架的班长”，而是名副其实的班长。

The two people seated in the chairs in the corner were both 1st year students. The one in glasses was Sakaki Tatsuko, and the one with long hair was Ninotsugi Kaori. Perhaps it was because they were surrounded by senior students, but both of them looked timid and afraid. Even discounting that, they both seemed to be the quiet type. Be it the way they tied up their hair or the regulation length of their skirts, they had obediently adhered to the “suggestions” of the school’s guidelines. Since Nozomi was not in charge of their year, she only knew their names.
坐在角落椅子上的两人都是一年级的学生。戴眼镜的学生是酒己达子，长发的是三香织。或许是身处在学姐圈里的关系，两人显得畏畏缩缩的，即使摒除这个因素，她们看起来似乎也很文静。无论是绑头发的方式或是学生裙的长度，都乖乖地遵守校规的“建议”。也因为与希负责的年级不同，她只知道两人的名字。

Nozomi glanced at her watch to check the time, and there was still five minutes until they were supposed to gather. It would seem that she was not late.
以视线扫过手表确认时间，还有五分钟才是标定的集合时间，看来希并没有迟到。

The Culture Festival Clean-Up Committee was the people who had been picked to handle the cleanup and disposal work after the event. It was considered a boring and unpopular post compared to the more attention-grabbing jobs of handing out evaluation forms or manning the stalls.
所谓的文化祭清扫委员，就是决定收拾善后与清扫职责的委员。与进行成果发表或推出摊位等受瞩目的职务相比，被视为无趣又冷门的工作。

If pressed for comment, one could say that the students hated this posting for some reason. While they had tried their best to assign people fairly, there would always be a few students with a disgruntled attitude of “why are you picking on us”.
如果硬要补充说明的话，就是这个职务莫名地遭到学生们的厌恶。尽管已经尽可能地公平分配，但还是会有一定数量的学生保持“为什么只使唤我们”的不平心态。

It was also because of that reason that nobody was willing to volunteer for the cleanup committee. No matter how long one waited, nobody would take the initiative and put up their hands for it. Even so, having nobody on the team would cause problems for the rest of the activities. Therefore, the rumor had spread that the student council would randomly select students as live sacrifices for this posting.
也因为这个理由，几乎没有人自愿担任清扫委员。无论等再久，都不会有人自发性地举手。尽管如此，没有人出任的话，又会对活动的进行带来困扰。因此才会有由学生会以贡献活祭品的方式，随机抽出学生的传言出现。

However, the shocking thing was that these members were all present five minutes before the appointed meeting time. Perhaps they might have been sacrifices, but they were still pretty motivated.
不过，这样的成员竟然在集合时间五分钟前就全员到齐，实在令她惊讶。或者就算是活祭品，她们还算是有干劲的吧。