"Yeah, yeah, I know I was wrong, Hoshinomiya-sensei. It's just that your office is such a great place to sleep."
Uesugi Gen raised his hands in surrender and pulled the blanket over his head. His muffled voice came from beneath it.
He had to get some sleep quickly. Otherwise, Ichinose would definitely come here and drag him back to class once the lesson ended.
Before that, though, he needed to deal with Hoshinomiya-sensei.
Unless he could handle his quirky homeroom teacher, Uesugi Gen could forget about getting a good night's sleep here.
"Heh heh, I know. That photo you sent me yesterday was fake, right? You weren't sick at all—you just didn't want to come to class."
Hoshinomiya-sensei rested one hand beneath her chin in a detective-like pose, then leaned over and spoke to Uesugi Gen through the blanket.
"Sensei, I really am sick. And the photo I sent you was genuine, too."
Though Uesugi Gen dozed off in class, lied to his subject teachers, and skipped lessons, he was a good student.
"But before that, there's something I've been wanting to ask you."
After Hoshinomiya-sensei kept teasing him, Uesugi Gen decided he'd had enough and took the initiative.
"Go ahead and ask, Gen-chan. As your teacher, I'll definitely answer your question."
Hoshinomiya stood with her hands on her hips, looking like she was ready to take care of everything.
"Hey, Hoshinomiya-sensei, you used to be a student at this school, didn't you?"
"Oh? How did you know? I did graduate from this school."
Hoshinomiya's expression changed. She dropped her playful tone and asked him.
"Because you mentioned it in our first class, didn't you? About the 100,000 points—you said, 'I was really surprised when I first heard about it, too.' What you really meant was that when you were a student here, you were surprised to hear for the first time that the school gave out 100,000 points."
Hoshinomiya-sensei's expression shifted. She had assumed he'd heard about it somewhere, since plenty of people at school knew she'd graduated from there.
She hadn't expected him to figure it out from the hint she'd deliberately given the class on the first day. Back then, she'd thought no one in the class had caught on.
This student had figured it out, but hadn't said anything at the time.
"Gen-chan, let me ask you something. If you could tell from that remark that I used to be a student here, then you must've noticed the other problems hidden in what I said, too."
Hoshinomiya looked at Uesugi Gen with a serious expression.
What she meant was that, if he'd already noticed the school's problems, why hadn't he done anything about them?
"I did notice, and I've already taken concrete action. Otherwise, how do you think I got this vice president position?"
Uesugi Gen answered Hoshinomiya-sensei directly.
There was no way Ichinose would let today's incident go. She'd probably be coming to see Hoshinomiya-sensei often from now on.
He had no choice. If he wanted to sleep well, he had to show Hoshinomiya-sensei what he could do and get her on his side. Then he could get her to give him special help.
With the school, the Student Council, and the teachers on his side, he'd have the witnesses, the corroborating evidence, the organizers, and the assistants all working for him. Heh heh. Ichinose, let's see how you plan to fight me now.
"Hm? Wasn't it because your family invested in the school that you got the position?"
Hoshinomiya-sensei asked cautiously.
"What? Hoshinomiya-sensei, where did you hear that rumor?"
Uesugi Gen's eyes snapped open. He sat bolt upright as if roused from his deathbed, then turned to look at Hoshinomiya.
"The school suddenly received a large investment from the Uesugi Zaibatsu. Even our teachers got a raise. So when I saw you become vice president of the Student Council, I didn't call you over to ask about it."
Hoshinomiya-sensei tilted her head, as if trying to remember.
"I see."
Uesugi Gen covered his face with one hand.
It seemed his family still hadn't given up. They were still trying to drag him back to inherit the family business.
He wondered whether his older brother's evaluation had gone well, and whether those stubborn old company executives had given him a hard time...
Forget it. He decided to put it out of his mind. More importantly, he needed to convince Hoshinomiya-sensei before Ichinose showed up.
Then,
Uesugi Gen stared into Hoshinomiya's eyes and spoke softly.
"Since you already know I'm going to take action, could I ask you to help me, Hoshinomiya-sensei? In return, I'll lead Class B to the top spot in Class A."
"Of course, Gen-chan. I'll do everything I can to help you. It's my duty as your homeroom teacher, after all."
Looking at her handsome student's face, Hoshinomiya-sensei smiled brightly and patted her ample chest as she promised.
I'll do everything I can to help you, student of mine. So that... Class D doesn't climb up here!
All taken care of!
"Then, to help Class B rise to Class A, I need to rest up so I can lead the class in battle. So please keep quiet and don't disturb me while I rest. Thanks!"
In an instant,
Uesugi Gen's demeanor changed. He rattled off the words, lay down, pulled up the blanket, and closed his eyes in one smooth motion.
Before long, quiet breathing filled the room.
Hoshinomiya stared at her former student, her face covered in exasperation.
She had a feeling she'd put her trust in the wrong person. Maybe she should just leave things to Ichinose instead.
Ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling!
As soon as class ended, Ichinose came to the infirmary with breakfast.
"Uesugi-kun—"
Shh!
Hoshinomiya-sensei placed a finger against her lips and pointed with her other hand at Uesugi Gen, who was fast asleep.
The handsome, clean-cut boy was sleeping peacefully.
Looking at him asleep, Ichinose swallowed the words she'd been about to say. The faint trace of worry on her face turned into a smile.
Ichinose didn't say anything. She quietly handed the breakfast to Hoshinomiya, then slowly left the infirmary.
Fine, I'll let you off this time.
The girl smiled and walked back to the classroom with a light step.
Work's been pretty busy lately, so I'll probably only manage one update a day for the next couple of days. I'm new to this, and my typing speed is painfully slow. Maybe I'll get back to two updates a day once I get used to it or things calm down in a couple of days.
Thank you, dear readers! Have some tea! (bows respectfully)
The Easiest Woman at Advanced Nurturing High School to Win Over ### Bang!
"You're so annoying! Just because you're cute, you think you can do whatever you want!"
Bang! Bang!
"So annoying! So annoying!"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Why doesn't someone like Horikita just go die! That bitch!"
Whoa!
What an explosive scene.
I should record this first.
Not far in front of Uesugi Gen, a girl with short chestnut hair was kicking the railing beside her and cursing someone by name as she did.
It was none other than Kushida Kikyo, the outgoing girl Uesugi Gen and Himeno Yuki had run into not long ago—the one from Class D.
As expected,
Uesugi Gen had thought it was strange from the start. Never mind anything else: how could someone who was as good at making friends as Ichinose possibly end up in Class D? Unless she had some serious flaw that completely overturned the school's evaluation system.
Now he understood. Her reason for making friends wasn't a genuine desire to do so. Even when she truly didn't want to befriend someone, she still suppressed that urge and approached people with a smile every day.
That left her heart and body at odds. By going against her own wishes, she put enormous psychological pressure on herself.
And that had ultimately led to the scene Uesugi Gen was witnessing.
At that moment,
Uesugi Gen was practically moved to tears.
There you go. See? She's perfectly normal.
Making friends with people you hated while wearing a fake smile was completely normal. There were countless people like that in society.
Just like when your boss was ugly as sin, but you still had to praise his looks against your conscience.
Meanwhile, Ichinose had been at school for so long, and he still hadn't found a single flaw in her. It was absurd.
But,
Now that he'd seen this, there was no reason not to use it to his advantage.
In the darkness, Uesugi Gen stroked his chin and thought quietly.
Kushida Kikyo was clearly different from the Thief Lady, who was impervious to both threats and flattery. She cared a great deal about what her classmates thought of her. She was even willing to endure humiliation just to make friends.
By that logic, Kushida Kikyo was much easier to manipulate than the Thief Lady.
But,
Uesugi Gen wasn't going to use the same trick twice.
The more he relied on underhanded tricks like last time, the more likely he was to leave clues behind. If even one person found out who he really was and exposed him, the rest would naturally figure out who had been threatening them.
So this time,
Uesugi Gen planned to handle it himself.
As for how to convince her,
Uesugi Gen had this to say:
Her making friends didn't get in the way of his gathering information, so why not help her make friends more effectively?
With that thought,
Uesugi Gen grew more and more confident.
Over the sound of Kushida Kikyo kicking the railing and cursing, Uesugi Gen cleared his throat.
"Ahem! Ahem!"
She noticed the noise and immediately turned around.
Their eyes met.
Once she stopped moving, Uesugi Gen strode forward, brimming with confidence and ready to speak.
"Kushida—uh?"
Without the slightest hesitation, Kushida Kikyo charged at him the moment she saw him.
???
This wasn't how he'd imagined it.
What the hell? Why did she look so murderous? And why was she running at him with her fist clenched?
Something wasn't right. The three Nice Seniors he'd dealt with last time had looked scary, but at heart, they wouldn't actually hit anyone.
But this time, Uesugi Gen didn't dare take that chance.
Everyone knew that once someone got worked up, they stopped thinking rationally—especially a woman.
Seeing the murderous look in Kushida Kikyo's eyes, Uesugi Gen was absolutely certain: she was already seeing red.
Before you continue