Secretly Yearning for Kiyoharu's Junior

The next day, Wednesday morning.

Kiyoharu woke up on time, went for his morning run, came back to shower, then headed to the kitchen to make breakfast.

Steamed buns sat frozen in the fridge—ones he'd made to his past-life taste, batch-frozen in bulk to last ages. The mansion's fridge was plenty big.

Two buns, a bowl of plain congee, a dish of pickled vegetables—his usual breakfast setup.

Today's buns were radish-beef and cabbage-vermicelli fillings.

He also whipped up Airi's breakfast: whole-wheat bread sandwiches and fresh-squeezed juice.

Driving to Chihaya Academy, traffic wasn't bad today, so Kiyoharu walked into the office a good ten-plus minutes early.

The other teachers didn't seem to have arrived yet. Only Shimaura Hitomi, teaching the same grade as Kiyoharu, was already at her desk, apparently about to open a delivery box. The moment she spotted Kiyoharu, she shoved the box under her desk, a clear flash of panic crossing her face.

"Morning, Teacher Shimaura."

"M-morning, Chihaya-senpai..."

"How many times do I have to say it? No need to call me senpai." Kiyoharu gave a helpless smile. "You're close with Airi anyway, so just call me like the others do."

"Uh-huh, got it, senpai!"

To be fair, Shimaura Hitomi wasn't bad-looking. Her pure features and cute round face gave off a fresh, youthful vibe—despite being a teacher, she had the energy of a high school girl.

Her petite frame paired with an unusually generous chest made for a deadly combo against men.

But Shimaura was introverted, spoke in a timid, weak-willed way, didn't know how to dress up, always wore tacky black-rimmed glasses, and leaned toward conservative clothing. Compared to the many glamorous professional women at Chihaya Academy, she really faded into the background.

Maybe it was precisely because of Shimaura's lack of feminine allure that Airi had arranged for her to teach the same grade as Kiyoharu, share the same office, get grouped together in teaching seminars, and even paired in the staff events for the sports festival.

Kiyoharu strongly suspected that besides teaching physics, Shimaura was also tasked with monitoring his activities at school.

After all, that was the control-freak Red-Eyed Devil for you!

After greeting Shimaura, Kiyoharu sat down at his spot across from her and started organizing his lesson plans.

Chihaya Academy was a top-tier, all-in-one school directly managed by the Chihaya Conglomerate, covering kindergarten through university. Back when Kiyoharu and Airi first got engaged, his mother-in-law offered him any mid-level position within the conglomerate.

Kiyoharu decisively picked the job he knew best—high school teacher. It was the career he'd held longest in his past life, so it was smooth sailing.

What, you're asking why a Todai law grad wouldn't become a lawyer?

Come on, Kiyoharu was here to coast through life. Being a lawyer would just be cranking up the difficulty!

His subject was math. The math curriculum here was a bit different from his past life in China—simpler put, it emphasized breadth of knowledge over technique, but technique was actually the harder part to train.

Kiyoharu adapted easily. His clear thinking and straightforward explanations earned him praise from students.

Thanks to various complicated reasons, his workload was much lighter than in his past life. Prepping during free daytime hours was enough to stay on top of things.

While Kiyoharu focused intently on his lesson plans, Shimaura across from him was flipping through student test papers as cover, sneaking glances at him.

Whenever Kiyoharu concentrated on something, that was Shimaura's perfect chance to secretly admire him... no, that wasn't "admiring"—it was completing the Young Lady's task, conducting routine observations of her senpai.

Shimaura's father and Chihaya Genichiro were old family friends. She'd been close with Airi since childhood, calling each other besties. Back then, Shimaura looked up to Airi, thinking her forceful and domineering style was especially captivating. So she stuck by Airi's side during and after class, like a green leaf accenting a red flower.

From babbling toddler to high school, Hitomi always felt being the green leaf wasn't so bad.

Until she met Ito Kiyoharu.

That day at the sports festival, on the bleachers, when Kiyoharu grabbed Chihaya Airi's hand—it was like a princess and prince's first meeting. Too bad Shimaura was just background in the scene.

Snapping out of her memories, Shimaura looked at Kiyoharu's hands as he wrote—his fingers were long, elegant, yet strong. Probably the nicest hands a guy could have. Shimaura's fondness for those hands rivaled her love for Kiyoharu's handsome face.

Right now, Shimaura was pretty glad she'd delayed opening that delivery box. If her senpai had seen what was inside, she couldn't bear to think how she'd keep working in this office.

"Speaking of which, senpai, you're a bit early today. Any special reason?" Shimaura probed indirectly.

The reason? No games to play, of course. He'd slept about an hour earlier, which pushed his wake-up time forward too.

After finishing his morning exercise and breakfast, rather than stay home and risk Airi getting up early to mess with him, he figured he'd just head to school.

But the "punishment" was a private matter between Kiyoharu and Airi. Even if Shimaura was Airi's bestie, it wasn't something to share. So Kiyoharu dodged vaguely: "I happened to sleep really early last night, so I came in early to prep."

"I see. Senpai is really dedicated to the students."

"Not at all, I'm just going through the motions. If we're talking dedication, you're the one who outshines me, Teacher Shimaura." Kiyoharu sighed. "That delinquent girl last year who gave the whole faculty headaches—you guided her onto a good path. I ran into her parent recently, and they couldn't stop talking about how grateful they are to you."

"It's not that exaggerated..." Blushing at Kiyoharu's praise, Shimaura's face turned red.

Just then, a few other teachers walked into the office together, naturally cutting off their conversation and saving Shimaura from her embarrassment.

Kiyoharu went back to prepping, finishing the week's course outline, then stretched in his chair.

That's when the chatter from the hallway caught his attention.

"Really? Just an arts club advisor, no need to hire someone that impressive, right..."

"Not that over the top. I heard that Young Lady just got back from abroad, so it's inconvenient to assign her anything too complicated for now. She's just taking it easy at Chihaya Academy first."

"Tsk, that talented woman—she's the ideal image of a traditional Yamato Nadeshiko."

"What era is this? Still going on about traditional Yamato Nadeshiko?"

The more Kiyoharu listened, the more uneasy he felt. He smiled and joined the conversation: "What, the arts club is getting a new advisor?"

"That's right." The one answering was Haneda Miho, the gossip guru of the office. Seeing Kiyoharu join in, she winked at him. "You should know her well, Chihaya-sensei. Kitahara Ayano—she's your fiancée's good friend."

"Know her. Not close."

After a few pointless exchanges with the group, Kiyoharu slipped back to his desk without a fuss, but cold sweat was already beading on his back.

Damn it!

He'd thought working at a proper school would keep women's harassment at bay most of the time.

But Kitahara Ayano didn't play by the rules—she'd actually landed a job at Chihaya Academy. Others might not guess her motive, but Kiyoharu was dead sure: Kitahara Ayano was here for him.