Chapter 511

"Haihara?"

Of course, there wouldn't be anyone else.

The other girls' gazes also shifted to the woman beside Suzuki. When they looked up, they saw a face they recognized very well—their homeroom teacher Haihara.

Haihara now naturally linked arms with Suzuki, seemingly oblivious to the efforts of the girls, and casually greeted Suzuki:

"Let's go, didn't you want to go to an izakaya? I can drink with you to your heart's content today."

"Hey, really? I thought you'd been having a hard time keeping Kazama lately. Come on, let's go."

Upon hearing Haihara's words, Teacher Suzuki's expression lit up with delight, and she instantly became engrossed, completely forgetting the questions her students had just asked her.

The two teachers were chatting, and the students naturally had no chance to interrupt.

Without exchanging more than a few words, Teacher Suzuki was about to be tricked by Teacher Haihara.

The Problem Child had a bad feeling about this, and they hurriedly tried to say something, but after Teacher Suzuki turned his back, Haihara walked between Suzuki and the four of them, and at the same time, she resumed her usual authoritative and intimidating demeanor as a teacher.

The woman, though expressionless, wore a faint smile, her tall, beautiful figure obscuring Suzuki behind her.

"Gentlemen, it's time for school to end. Let's not trouble Teacher Suzuki anymore, and go home now."

The woman stood with her hands behind her back, and her words carried the authority and distance befitting a homeroom teacher, making people want to back away.

The Magic girls suddenly felt as if they had returned to the beginning of this school year, unable to utter a single word. In the end, they had no choice but to find another way and bowed their heads in submission.

"Yes, teacher."

Not knowing the truth, the Magic girls all thought it was just an unfortunate coincidence, wondering to themselves how such bad timing could have happened.

After much effort, they were ultimately unable to break through Teacher Haihara's defenses and could only watch helplessly as Teacher Suzuki was abducted.

And so, Haihara continued to disrupt the Problem Child's activities.

However, compared to the Lost Paradise Twilight that those Problem Child couldn't understand at all, Suzuki is indeed safe with Haihara by his side now.

Of course, it's also true that Haihara wants to drink with Ms. Suzuki.

She hadn't gone to an izakaya with her best colleague and friend in a long time, naturally because she'd been too busy lately. Her time alone was limited, and she didn't have enough time for the ever-growing number of pets in her life.

That night, Haihara and Suzuki went to their usual izakaya and ordered their usual snacks to go with their drinks, and then began their nightlife.

The Magic girls, of course, wouldn't give up on this because of that.

They sent Ms. Suzuki's niece, Kuroki Yuka, to get close to Suzuki and resolve the situation that had happened to Suzuki.

Theoretically, this is certainly feasible.

What they didn't expect was that Kuroki Yuka was actually a double agent on Haihara's side, secretly having an affair with Haihara herself. As for communicating with Teacher Suzuki, that was naturally not that complicated.

Dark Magic Girl Yu Ke- chan★ [So, Haihara, my Aunt is actually quite safe, right?]

[Yes, I'm watching over things.]

Dark Magic Girl Yu Ke- chan★ [How am I supposed to explain this to my companions?]

[Just tell them that you've been staying with your Aunt Suzuki the whole time, nothing unexpected has happened, so don't worry.]

Dark Magic Girl Yu Ke- chan★ [okok, I'm relieved that Miss Haihara said so. Please take good care of Aunt. I'll be waiting for you at home.]

Actually, Haihara will be home very late tonight, so there's no need to wait.

But Haihara didn't rush to explain this, and she didn't know why.

While waiting for the food, Haihara drank and gave Kuroki Yuka instructions on how to fool the Problem Child, thus regaining her sense of presence as the behind-the-scenes villain after a long time.

After finishing these things, Haihara put everything about Magic girls out of her mind and returned to her adult pub days.

The wine has already been prepared.

"Cheers!"

"Cheers."

At night, in a brightly lit izakaya, two women who are close friends clinked glasses.

As Haihara slowly sipped the warm sake, a familiar sense of comfort washed over her.

The wine tastes as good as ever; I think I'll have a pleasant evening.

And so, the party began.

When Haihara brings up a topic, she is always a bit slow to react and her narration is rather lukewarm, so Suzuki always starts the conversation, or you could say that this usually cheerful and gentle woman is making some small complaints.

"School Festival, ah, so wonderful, youth! Those girls in your class today were really pretty. If I had been that good-looking when I was in school, I would have been very popular."

Ms. Suzuki always gets really into high spirits after just a few sips.

Were you unpopular in school?

Haihara somewhat surprised.

"I was busy preparing for college entrance exams back then, so I wasn't very good-looking."

Haihara that Suzuki had a high level of education.

Looking at Suzuki's current youthful and beautiful appearance, she couldn't imagine that back then, her friend's face was anything but ordinary.

"I can't tell."

As she spoke, Haihara took another sip of her drink.

The night was long, so the party was long too, and they could chat about new topics one by one.

Haihara a very good listener.

She is good at listening quietly to other people's complaints, giving lukewarm responses, and occasionally reminding them to be more realistic.

Many people might find her behavior boring, and in fact, that's true.

Even now, Haihara doesn't understand why someone like her would become friends with Suzuki.

However, there seems to be no need to think about these things now; let's just listen to what the slightly tipsy Ms. Suzuki has to say.

"Miss Haihara, your time as a homeroom teacher is almost over. What are your thoughts?"

In the leisurely atmosphere of the room, where it was neither cold nor warm, Suzuki brought up yet another topic.

Thoughts?

Haihara didn't know what she was thinking, but when she realized she had no feelings at all, she wondered if she had done something wrong.

There may have been mistakes, or the work may not have been done perfectly, but it's too late now, it's over.

She spoke her mind, though it was somewhat embellished.

The food was served; some guests left, some arrived; the cold wind still howled outside, but the fire inside burned as brightly as ever.

The liquor slid down my throat; I was still far from being drunk.

Suzuki fiddled with the skewer sticks, sighing in frustration.

"Sigh, my family has started pressuring me to go on blind dates again."

Blind dates, huh? It's started again.

Haihara recalled that at the very beginning of this school year, she had been troubled by this very issue. She was serious about working hard, getting a promotion and a raise, and then one day confessing her feelings to Suzuki.

It faded away without me realizing it, and then it came back without me even noticing.

I feel like a lot has changed, but after all the twists and turns, everything is still in the same place.

One glass of wine after another was drunk up.

As the night deepened and the sounds of people outside grew increasingly quiet, the wine seemed to last forever, yet it was also like a dream that would soon end silently.

Suzuki was already drunk, faster than usual. Had it been a long time since they'd drunk together like this?

Maybe I should have asked her out more often.

"Haihara, you're pretty terrible in some ways. I'm always the one who gets drunk; you never want to get drunk with me."

Suzuki complained.

"..."

The woman's gaze lingered on the slightly chilled liquor.

Now that you mention it, Haihara does remember.

Although every time I went out drinking with Ms. Suzuki, I wanted to have a good time with her, in reality, she never actually drank to her heart's content.

After all, when you're really drunk, there are a lot of troublesome things to consider.

She imagined that one day, the two of them would drink to their hearts' content, and she would use the alcohol as an excuse to pour out her heart, trying to become a talkative person herself.

But now, I can't say a word.

Finally, what was she thinking?

Suzuki.

"Um?"

"I'm feeling puffed up. Want to go out for a smoke?"

We've only drunk half of the wine yet.

Ms. Suzuki blinked.

Then, she rummaged in her bag, pulled out a cigarette case, waved it in front of Haihara, and flashed a smile as bright as the izakaya lights, a hint of drunkenness visible on her face.

"Shh."

Volume Four Does This Count as a Magical Girl??: Chapter 32 Later, Haihara

Why did I suddenly want to smoke?

On the cold street, outside an izakaya bathed in a dim yellow light, two women stood casually beside a poorly made Snowman. Suzuki opened the pack of cigarettes, offered one to Haihara, and then lit one for himself.

Haihara realized she hadn't smoked in a long time when she discovered she didn't have a lighter on her.

This is really strange. In the past, she would smoke without hesitation at school, which earned her a rather bad reputation.

Holding the cigarette between two fingers, Haihara didn't immediately put it in her mouth, but stared at the cigarette butt as if deep in thought.

Why did I even consider quitting smoking?

I clearly want to smoke.

It seems like it was for the purpose of kissing.

In order to kiss, one must give up cigarettes.

That seems to be the case.

"Haihara, cigarette in hand, light it."

"That's what Suzuki said from the side."

"Good."

Haihara obediently took a cigarette, and then the woman next to her took a lighter. She watched as the cigarette butt spun and glowed, using the smoke to dispel the chill in the night.

The long-lost scent—it's hard to tell whether it brings Haihara peace of mind or worry.

I feel at ease because everything seems unchanged.

The worry is that everything might go back to square one.

"What's on your mind?"

"Hmm?" Haihara lightly bit her cigarette and looked at Suzuki.

Suzuki was also looking at her:

"Don't overthink things. Instead of worrying so much, why don't you have a few drinks with me later? You've been looking rather melancholy lately. Is it because the semester is almost over and you're feeling lonely?"

Haihara held the cigarette between her fingers, about to deny it, but the smoke rose and was swirled by the cold wind.

"Hmm, I feel like I've become more troublesome... more sentimental and stuff. I really want to go back to before I was a homeroom teacher."

She finally admitted it openly.