Teacher, I Am Actually a Villainous Magical Girl

Just like last time, it was deathly quiet when she walked inside. There was no one there, and it didn't look like anyone would be coming, as if everything that had happened before was just a dream.

Seeing that the room was empty, Kirishima Ai felt a bit disappointed at first.

But it had been the same last time; if she waited a little longer, perhaps Lily would show up.

I'll wait a little longer.

Kirishima Ai sat down in the dim materials room, hugging her legs and resting her chin gently on her knees.

Time ticked away, second by second, and outside the school, the sound of rain began, though she didn't know when it had started.

The rain was light at first, but it soon grew heavy.

She hadn't brought an umbrella today, so getting home later would likely be a hassle.

I'll just wait a bit longer, until the rain stops.

Kirishima Ai thought this to herself, but the rain showed no signs of stopping.

"..."

She waited for about half an hour, but Lily never appeared.

It had suddenly grown cold in the materials room; she shivered and let out a sneeze, her head feeling heavy and dizzy, and she felt miserable all over.

Kirishima Ai realized that she might have caught a cold today.

Thinking about it carefully, today wasn't her day for cleaning duty, so perhaps Lily only appeared on that specific day.

Besides, it was raining today, so Lily probably needed to go home too.

Kirishima Ai's gaze dimmed.

Suddenly, the door to the materials room was pushed open. Kirishima Ai froze, then felt a surge of joy as she looked up toward the entrance.

However, the person appearing in the doorway was not the Lily she had imagined, but a woman with a similar build, wearing glasses and exuding a gloomy, icy aura.

The woman looked at Kirishima Ai in the corner.

"What are you doing?"

It was Teacher Haihara.

"I..."

Kirishima Ai didn't know how to explain.

But why would Teacher Haihara come to the materials room?

Teacher Haihara didn't wait for her to come up with an explanation.

"Whatever you're doing, I'm locking up. Go home, quickly."

Teacher Haihara stood at the doorway of the dim materials room, jingling the keys in her hand with an impatient air, clearly wanting to shoo her away.

It seemed she had come to lock the door that had been left open.

Kirishima Ai rose from the floor, but as she stood halfway up, she felt her body grow heavy and struggled to keep her balance.

She followed Teacher Haihara out of the materials room and noticed that the teacher was watching her.

"Your face is very red. Come here."

Though Kirishima Ai didn't know what was going on, she stepped a little closer.

The woman's hand, which wasn't particularly warm, pressed against her forehead before pulling away a moment later.

Haihara just looked at her.

"You have a fever. Have you been like this all day?"

Kirishima Ai, her face still flushed with an unnatural redness, nodded blankly.

Haihara looked out the window; the rain was still falling heavily with no sign of stopping, and she remembered that Kirishima Ai's hair had been soaked that morning.

Recalling a few details, she remembered that Kirishima Ai lived alone, lived quite far from the school, and usually commuted by bicycle.

"How were you planning to get home today?"

After locking the door, Haihara crossed her arms and looked down at Kirishima Ai, who looked to be in a terrible state.

"...By bicycle."

Kirishima Ai didn't look at her, keeping her head down as she spoke.

Haihara replied coldly:

"Call your parents and have them pick you up."

The teacher's tone was as unpleasant as ever.

Kirishima Ai didn't know how to answer. Under normal circumstances, she probably would have brushed it off, but today she simply turned her head away and said, just as coldly:

"They won't come to pick me up..."

Hearing Kirishima Ai's reply, Haihara frowned.

The atmosphere turned cold for a moment.

After a while, Teacher Haihara picked up her phone and seemed to be typing, perhaps sending a text to someone, while Kirishima Ai stood in place, feeling weaker by the second.

She hadn't noticed it before, but now, it felt like she really had a fever.

She suddenly heard Teacher Haihara say:

"Where is your home? I'll take you back."

Kirishima Ai looked up, her expression revealing confusion and bewilderment.

She shook her head:

"I can just ride my bicycle back..."

Teacher Haihara ignored her, simply putting on the airs of an adult.

Kirishima Ai didn't look like she had a mild fever, and without an umbrella, riding a bike home—even if nothing happened on the way—would likely leave her unable to attend school the next day.

Besides, when running a high fever while home alone, Teacher Haihara had experienced that many times before and had no desire to go through it again.

"Don't throw a tantrum like a child; I am not your mother."

Taking care of a student could, at the very least, be considered part of her duties as a teacher.

Her balance of professional ethics for the day was still quite abundant.

"..."

Kirishima Ai remained silent.

Her mother wouldn't care about her anyway.

At the entrance of the teaching building, the teacher and student stood there, facing a school shrouded in a curtain of rain, empty and quiet, with nothing left but the sound of rain drowning out the entire city and the honking of cars on the streets.

Teacher Haihara slowly opened her umbrella, shielding herself and Kirishima Ai, tilting it slightly toward the girl to ensure she wouldn't get wet.

"Come closer, don't get soaked. You should be able to hold on for a little while longer."

Taxis in Neon were quite expensive.

It would cost a fair amount to get from the school to Kirishima Ai's home.

So she had borrowed a car.

After a moment, Kirishima Ai leaned toward Teacher Haihara, and due to the height difference, she was practically snuggled against her.

At that moment, Kirishima Ai suddenly realized that Teacher Haihara was truly an adult.

Mature and reliable.

Even if she was usually cold as ice.

The two walked slowly through the rain curtain until they reached the school parking lot; although it was a bit cold, Kirishima Ai had barely been touched by the rain.

Kirishima Ai saw a sedan that looked like it was of a very high-end brand.

It looked somewhat familiar.

It seemed to be the car belonging to their very young and beautiful female principal.

Though she was a bit confused, she felt so miserable that she didn't have the energy to think about why that was.

Teacher Haihara took out the car key to unlock it, then pulled open the back door, letting Kirishima Ai get in first.

Afterward, Teacher Haihara entered the driver's seat herself, inserted the key with some lack of familiarity, and started the car step by step.

As the engine roared to life, Teacher Haihara waited for a moment, then looked over the various controls in the car.

"...I haven't driven in a long time. You'd better pray we don't get into an accident."

Kirishima Ai felt that Teacher Haihara was actually quite humorous at times.

However, she wasn't really in the mood to laugh right now.

The car soon started moving, though not very smoothly—it took her a long time just to find the windshield wipers—but no more raindrops were falling on Kirishima Ai.

The inside of the car felt very warm.

Teacher Haihara drove, facing the falling rain, moving slowly through the crowded and chaotic streets, stopping after a while due to a traffic light.

Kirishima Ai sat in the back, able to see Teacher Haihara's back, and could also see her face, which showed almost no emotion, through the rearview mirror.

And the rain continued to fall.

Who knew when it would stop...

Chapter 44: A Lone Woman and a Young Girl

After being stuck in traffic for ten minutes or so, the two arrived at the place where Kirishima Ai currently lived. She got out of the car first, opened her umbrella, and then opened the back door, only to find that Kirishima Ai had fallen asleep inside.

Teacher Haihara gently patted Kirishima Ai, who woke up and saw Teacher Haihara standing outside with the umbrella.

She once again ducked under the other's umbrella.

Finally, the two arrived at the place where Kirishima Ai currently lived.

Kirishima Ai took out her key and opened the door.

The door pulled open to reveal a small rental apartment; it was kept reasonably clean, though the accumulation of various sundries made it feel somewhat cramped.

It was significantly smaller than where Haihara lived, roughly the size of two university dorm rooms combined.

This was the kind of place Kirishima Ai lived in on a daily basis.

After entering the room, Kirishima Ai kept her head bowed, her mouth opening as if to speak, but she said nothing; only after a moment did she whisper:

"Um... Teacher, thank you."

"Do you have any medicine at home?"

Haihara looked at Kirishima Ai.

"...No."

She rarely ever got sick, and even if she were injured, her status as a magical girl meant she would recover quickly.

Only this time, she had caught a fever from being caught in the rain.

"What were you planning to eat tonight?"

Usually, Kirishima Ai would cook for herself, but she wasn't in the mood to do so today.

She would probably just go hungry for the night.

"I have leftovers."

Kirishima Ai shifted her gaze away.

Haihara glanced at her.

"You're lying."

This child always made that face whenever she claimed she had forgotten her homework.

"Stay here. Is there a pharmacy nearby? I'll go buy you some medicine."