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Chapter 4 Selective mutism and my junior high school years
Tomishige-chan
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[New homeroom teacher]
Our new homeroom teacher was a young male teacher. He was a teacher of music and was a adviser to a volleyball club in my school.
[Shy teacher]
From what I saw, he was very sociable with students. As a student with selective mutism, I felt envy of his sociability. But surprisingly, he told us that he was actually very shy with strangers.
I was surprised to hear that and felt close to him. He seemed to be introvert but behaved as if he had been an extrovert. But I thought that I was not shy as he was. My shyness was extreme. I could hardly utter words in school.
[Tomishige-chan]
Fortunately he understood me. Although I didn't speak in school, he didn't force me to utter words.
He sometimes talked about me in our class on purpose. I guess his intention was to prevent me from being isolated from students.
One day when we attended his music class, he called me "Tomishige-chan." "Chan" is a Japanese diminutive suffix. But usually "Chan" is attached to young children or girls. Why he called me "Tomishige-chan" was a mystery. But my classmates also began to call me "Tomishige-chan" with affection.
Thanks to my homeroom teacher's consideration, I was not bullied. I was accepted by classmates. I was viewed as a serious and bright boy by my classmates.
(To be continued)
Index of SM story
