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“Chongyun?” No answer.
Mr. Keideprinz scanned the classroom until his eyes landed on Chongyun’s empty seat. “Is Chongyun absent today?”
“Oh, uh… I don’t know if he’s coming,” Xiangling called out. Albedo prepared to reprimand her for speaking out in class when she kept talking. “He fainted in PE in fourth, and he went to the nurse’s office after that. We haven’t seen him since.” Immediately, the entire fifth-period class erupted into a million conversations at once, half shouting questions at Xiangling and the other half turning to talk to their friends.
Albedo admired the bluntness in her voice when she delivered the news. Nonetheless, he couldn’t help but be concerned when he heard that Chongyun had passed out. “Alright, class, settle down. Chongyun is being taken care of, and I’m sure he’ll show up at some point. Now, did everyone do the homework I assigned?”
Everyone began digging in their bags and binders to look for (or pretend to look for) the homework that they may or may not have done.
Speak of the devil, the door creaked open and Chongyun stepped into the classroom, looking pale and slightly disheveled. The class forgot about looking for their homework and turned their full attention to him, erupting into conversation once more.
After yelling at the class to settle down once more, Albedo stepped toward where Chongyun had sat down. “I heard the news. Are you alright? Do you want to tell me what happened?”
“Um, I…” The blue-haired boy faltered, looking around the room. “I’m fine right now, but can we talk about it after class? I’m just… not really comfortable with, uhhh…”
“Don’t worry about it. We can talk after class.”
The class proceeded as normal, though Chongyun seemed a bit more tired and distant than usual. When the final bell rang to signal the end of the school day, he hardly even waved as his friends left.
Albedo sat down next to the student. “So, what was it that you wanted to talk to me about?”
Chongyun took a deep breath, looking in the other direction. “It sounds… kind of stupid, but I… haven’t been eating lately.”
“Oh, is that it?” Suddenly, a lot of things made more sense. “That’s not stupid at all. More concerning, really. Would you mind elaborating a bit?”
“My parents told me that I weigh too much and that it’s hindering my martial arts training, and so they’ve started getting really strict about what I eat and about how much I eat.”
“Oh? That’s… rather concerning.” He was quite shocked, to say the least. “Do I need to call home and have a conversation with them?”
“N-no! It’s alright. They’ve been starting to ease up on the restrictions, but I still find myself having trouble eating. I-it’s not that I can’t, I just got used to not eating and so I forget to eat meals sometimes.”
“It’s alright. I understand.”
“You do?” He seemed to be surprised at that.
Albedo nodded. “How long has this been going on?”
Chongyun sighed, looking down at his hands. “A couple weeks, I guess. It’s just now starting to catch up with me.”
“Oh, honey…” Albedo’s paternal instinct kicked in and he slipped his fingers between Chongyun’s, rubbing circles on the back of his student’s hand. “Why didn’t you tell anyone?”
The blue-haired boy began to tear up. “I- it’s just s-so embarrassing, and I don’t want anyone t-to worry about me…”
“I know. I know.” Albedo moved in closer, letting Chongyun rest his head on his shoulder. After a brief pause, he added, “You can come eat in my classroom during your lunch period. I’m teaching 3rd period around that time, but you can stay in my office if you feel uncomfortable eating around others. At the very least, allow me to do meal checks with you to make sure you’ve eaten. Would that be okay?”
Chongyun pulled away, but Albedo kept holding onto his hand. “If it’s not too much trouble, then… yeah. Thanks. A lot.” He gave his teacher a soft smile, using his free hand to wipe the tears from his cheeks.
“No problem, kid. I’m here to help in any way I can.”