May Turmoil: The Brawl and an Office Encounter

After three days of pulling all-nighters, Shangguan Che rubbed his eyes in the mirror as the dark circles finally began to fade, unable to help but wail internally: "Sakura's constitution is just too good!"

A few days ago, he had specifically asked Sakura how she managed to get rid of her dark circles so quickly, only for her to airily reply, "I just slept it off," without relying on any makeup at all.

That remark left Shangguan Che feeling nothing but envy.

They both stayed up late and got dark circles, so why was there such a massive gap between people?

As soon as he stepped into the classroom, a wave of low pressure hit him. Shangguan Che scanned the room and saw Sudo Ken slamming his textbook onto his desk, his brows furrowed so tightly they could crush a fly; his temper was even fiercer than when he had argued over math problems a few days ago.

Looking at Hirata, he was standing by his desk with a worried expression, his fingers unconsciously rubbing against his textbook.

Shangguan Che's heart skipped a beat: "What happened now? It's only the beginning of May, and the difficulty has already been cranked to the max?"

As soon as the morning assembly bell rang, Chabashira Sae walked into the classroom with a blank expression, just like she had at the start of the month. Her high heels clicked sharply against the floor, and the room instantly fell silent; after being scolded by her cold face last time, no one dared to speak casually anymore.

"Yesterday at dusk, a fight broke out in the vacant club activity building." Chabashira's voice was icy, and as soon as she finished, the classroom erupted into chaos.

"What? Something like that can happen on school grounds?" someone whispered in shock.

"Chabashira-sensei, was anyone hurt?" Kushida Kikyo stood up immediately, her tone full of concern.

Shangguan Che muttered to himself: "Is Kushida-san really thinking this sincerely? No, no, clear your mind, don't overthink it, and definitely don't look at her, lest you get dragged into something else.

The terrifying sixth sense of women in anime worlds—I must not slip up here."

"No one from our class was injured." Chabashira's single sentence quieted the room, but it immediately stirred up a new wave of ripples.

"In other words, the ones fighting were from Class D and another class, and the ones injured were from the other class?" Horikita Suzune turned to say to Ayanokoji Kiyotaka.

Shangguan Che was sitting right next to them, and the words drifted into his ears perfectly. He scratched his head: "I don't have super-hearing, so this really isn't my fault; I just happened to overhear it." Thinking this, he indifferently took in the entire sentence.

"Chabashira-sensei, what do you mean by that?" Hirata finally couldn't help but speak up, his tone laced with urgency.

Chabashira swept her eyes over the class, finally landing on Sudo: "Sudo Ken fought with three people from Class C yesterday. As a result, Sudo was uninjured, while all three from Class C were seriously hurt."

"Now, Class C has reported Sudo Ken's violent behavior to the school, demanding his expulsion."

"That's not true!" Sudo slammed his desk and stood up, his face flushed red. "They were the ones who asked me to meet at the club building, and they were the ones who forced me to fight back first!"

"The testimonies from both sides do not match. The school has handed the matter over to the Student Council for judgment. Next Monday, Class C and Class D will face off, and both sides may provide evidence." Chabashira paused, then continued, "Now, let me ask you: is there anyone here who is an eyewitness?"

The students in the class began to lower their heads to recall, but after a long while, no one raised their hand.

Clearly, none of them had been to the club activity building at that time.

"Chabashira-sensei, will this deduct class points?" someone asked cautiously.

"Of course it will. Individual actions affect class points; that is school policy." Chabashira's words were like a bucket of cold water poured over Shangguan Che's head.

His "attribute point increase plan" couldn't afford such a setback! This was a major issue involving two different tasks.

"The school is currently looking for witnesses, and I assume teachers from other classes are explaining this matter as well," Chabashira added.

Shangguan Che's heart stirred: "Is this a hint that we can ask people from other classes for help?"

"This means the news of the fight between Class C and Class D has already leaked," Horikita whispered to Ayanokoji again.

Shangguan Che was left confused: "Wouldn't the school post this on the bulletin board sooner or later? Isn't 'leaked' a bit too serious?" He once again felt helpless about his "passive eavesdropping" constitution.

Throughout the morning assembly, Hirata didn't say a word, his brows locked in a frown. Shangguan Che made up his mind to find him after class and ask for clarity. But before he could even stand up, Hirata approached him first.

"Shangguan, can you do me a favor?" Hirata's tone was pleading.

"Go ahead," Shangguan Che nodded.

"Can you help me find out if there are any eyewitnesses from other classes?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Shangguan Che agreed instantly, then frowned, "But we only have time at noon, right? We still have a study session in the afternoon; we can't go running around at night."

He changed the subject, "How about we leave Ike, Yamauchi, and Sudo to Kushida for now? Otherwise, if one of them actually fails and gets expelled, they might blame you. If we leave them to Kushida, it should be fine."

"That works too. I'll treat you to lunch at noon," Hirata said, relieved.

"...Fine." Shangguan Che agreed, but internally he was "self-reflecting": "Keep acting, keep acting! Let's see how long you, Shangguan Che, can keep playing the 'nice guy' in front of Hirata!"

"By the way, at noon, let's go ask Chabashira-sensei if we can check the security cameras near the scene to see if anyone else passed by," Shangguan Che suggested.

"Good idea! Shangguan-san, you're really sharp!" Hirata's eyes lit up, his tone sounding like he was praising a child.

Shangguan Che's mouth twitched, but he didn't say anything, just nodded. Forget it, it's not worth arguing with Hirata over this.

As soon as the two reached the door of the teachers' office, Hirata stopped: "Shangguan, it seems Chabashira-sensei isn't here."

"Should we go back and wait?" Shangguan Che started to walk away, but Hirata grabbed him.

"Wait a second, let me ask where the teacher is." Hirata shook the phone in his hand and quickly received a reply. "Chabashira-sensei said she'll be here in ten minutes."

"Then let's go in and wait." Shangguan Che pushed open the office door. It was empty, save for the humming sound of a printer and a pink-haired girl standing next to the machine.

"Shangguan-san, good afternoon!" The girl turned around; it was Ichinose Honami.

"What a coincidence? Ichinose, this is my friend, Hirata Yosuke," Shangguan Che introduced.

"Nice to meet you, Hirata-san. I'm Ichinose Honami," Ichinose said with a bright, sunny smile.

"Nice to meet you," Hirata replied politely.

"Ichinose, what are you printing?" Shangguan Che asked, knowing the answer; he already knew she was printing test papers and handouts, but out of "politeness," he asked anyway.

"That's a secret~" Ichinose blinked, her tone playful.

"Now I want to know even more!" Shangguan Che teased her on purpose.

"Hey, Shangguan, isn't that a bit much?" Hirata quickly tugged at his sleeve, afraid he might upset Ichinose. He knew Shangguan Che's personality, but he didn't know that Ichinose had long since gotten used to it.

"It's fine, Hirata-kun." Ichinose waved her hand, smiling as she explained, "I was just printing out test papers and handouts."

"Are you two curious about why I came to the teachers' office to print these by myself?" Ichinose tilted her head, a mischievous smile appearing on her face.

Shangguan Che was indeed curious: back in high school, whenever a class representative needed to get something, they would always bring five or six people along. Why was Ichinose here all by herself to print documents for the entire class? But he played along, saying, "Yeah, Hirata and I are both quite curious. Please, oh kind Ichinose, tell us!" He deliberately used the same tone he used when chatting with her online.

"Oh my, I'm not that kind~" Ichinose laughed, amused. "Shangguan-kun is talking nonsense again!"

"I'll stop talking nonsense. I really want to know, please tell me, Ichinose-san!" Shangguan Che put on an "earnest" expression.

"Alright then." Ichinose extended her right index finger and tapped her lips lightly. "Printing documents in the teachers' office is free; it doesn't cost any private points~"

"I see! Well, thank you so much, I owe you another favor!" Shangguan Che realized with a start.

"I already told you, there's no need to keep track of such small things!" Ichinose waved her hand, and the printer let out a "beep," signaling that the documents were finished. She skillfully organized the papers and held them in her arms.

"Just finished printing, so I'll be going now. Goodbye, Shangguan-kun, Hirata-kun!"

"Do you need any help?" Seeing Ichinose holding a thick stack of paper, Shangguan Che asked casually.

"No need, I can handle it myself. Thanks for being such a good person, Shangguan~" Ichinose waved with a smile, turned around, and walked out of the office.

Shangguan Che stared at her back, feeling as though he had grasped some key point, but he just couldn't put his finger on it.

This person, Ichinose, seemed to always be thinking of the class all by herself, yet she always kept her own hardships well hidden.

"Hey, hey, hey, Shangguan, Ichinose is already far away, stop thinking about whether or not to help her!" Hirata patted him on the shoulder.

"You're overthinking it, I was just spacing out." Shangguan Che snapped back to reality and quickly denied it.

He couldn't exactly say he was pondering Ichinose, could he?

"I see, then I guess I was overthinking it." Hirata didn't think much of it and scratched his head with a smile.

Just then, a familiar voice drifted over: "Yo, you two are quite relaxed, aren't you? Chatting so happily even in the teachers' office?"

Shangguan Che and Hirata turned their heads simultaneously to see Chabashira-sensei standing at the door, holding a stack of lesson plans, her gaze as cold as ever.