The Unscrupulous Teacher Who Came Looking for Him

"An angel..."

Hearing An Xiao say that out of the blue, Honami Ichinose, who was sitting in front of him, first froze. Then, looking a little awkward, she twirled a few strands of hair between her fingers.

A hint of shyness crossed her face, but perhaps something came to mind, because it soon gave way to dejection. Even her smile faded a little.

"Someone like me being called an angel... that should be... It's definitely impossible." Ichinose's voice grew weaker and weaker. By the end, An Xiao couldn't even make out what she was saying. But seeing how her mood was clearly sinking, even he could tell that he'd probably—possibly, most likely—touched on a sore subject.

"Ahem... Anyway, let's talk about that thing you mentioned earlier."

It was a clumsy change of subject, but An Xiao had barely spoken to girls his own age during the first dozen or so years of his life. He honestly had no idea what he was supposed to do in a situation like this.

Go straight over and comfort her?

But they'd known each other for less than two days, and since he'd clearly stumbled upon something painful for her, An Xiao didn't know how to bring it up.

Still, he couldn't just sit there and do nothing, so in the end he awkwardly changed the subject.

Fortunately, Ichinose recovered quickly and didn't dwell on her earlier mood for long. After hearing An Xiao, she asked him,

"An Xiao, have you thought of a solution?"

As she spoke, An Xiao noticed her eyes brighten. Even the traces of dejection lingering in them faded a little, which made him breathe a sigh of relief.

"Huh? No!"

An Xiao answered with complete conviction, then gave Ichinose a puzzled look.

"Why would you think I'd already have a solution?"

"Take the information we got from that upperclassman yesterday. It's useful, but there could still be things he left out." As he spoke, An Xiao propped his chin on one hand and looked at Ichinose. "Besides..."

An Xiao paused, then pointed back and forth between them with a helpless look. "This is clearly not something just a few people can handle. Instead of the two of us sitting here talking about it, we should just make a class group chat and discuss it there. Then we won't have to explain everything all over again."

Then, as if something had occurred to him, An Xiao added, "If anyone tries to back out, we can remind them about the forced expulsion part."

"I don't think anyone wants to be kicked out of school for no reason."

Just as An Xiao finished speaking, before the girl in front of him could reply, a voice that sent a chill down his spine drifted over from behind him.

"Your teacher doesn't know what you and Ichinose were just talking about, An Xiao, but what you just said sounds very unhealthy!"

A hand suddenly landed on An Xiao's shoulder.

(⊙o⊙)...

"Uh... what a coincidence. You're teaching this class too, Sensei?"

An Xiao stiffly turned around and saw Hoshinomiya-sensei tilting her head and smiling at him, as if she hadn't noticed how tense he was.

"Oh, come on. This is my class! You should at least remember that." Chie Hoshinomiya patted the hand resting on An Xiao's shoulder, then pinched his cheek.

"By the way, An Xiao, do you use any skincare products? Could you recommend some to me? Honestly, your skin feels really nice."

"Born... with it..." An Xiao mumbled indistinctly.

"Well, class is about to start, so I won't keep the two of you." Chie Hoshinomiya glanced at the time, then at Ichinose and An Xiao, and raised an eyebrow.

So far, so good. No trouble...

"An Xiao, remember to stop by my office after class this afternoon."

As Chie Hoshinomiya walked past him, she suddenly leaned close to his ear and spoke in a voice only the two of them could hear.

Yikes~

An Xiao shuddered and looked up, instinctively wanting to refuse. But when he saw Hoshinomiya-sensei leaning close with an inscrutable smile, he swallowed the words that had reached the tip of his tongue and gave his "kind and caring" teacher a smile that looked more like a grimace.

"Okay."

Having gotten the answer she wanted, Chie Hoshinomiya nodded with satisfaction and continued past An Xiao toward the podium.

But after only a few steps, she turned back again. Her eyes shifted between the matching bottles of soy milk in their hands, and she teased, "By the way, your teacher likes soy milk too. How about bringing me a bottle next time?"

"Or is Ichinose the only one who gets one?"

"Mm..."

Seeing the teasing look on Hoshinomiya-sensei's face, Honami Ichinose instinctively gripped the bottle in her hands. She parted her lips, but couldn't manage to say anything. In the end, she could only lower her head sheepishly as a blush spread to her ears.

Seeing Ichinose's bashful expression and An Xiao still teetering on the brink of bewildered collapse, Chie Hoshinomiya couldn't keep the corners of her mouth from curling up. Humming an unfamiliar tune, she left.

"This is absolutely, absolutely a wicked teacher with a mean streak!"

As the humming grew fainter and fainter, An Xiao muttered through gritted teeth.

But Chie Hoshinomiya, up on the podium, showed no sign of realizing what she'd done. As if nothing had happened, she smiled at the students below.

"All right, everyone, class is about to start. Please get your textbooks ready and turn to..."

Time was like a breeze lifting a girl's skirt: the moment you thought of what to do, it had already slipped quietly by, leaving you with mixed feelings.

An Xiao felt much the same way.

Looking at the door to the teachers' office, An Xiao's hand rose and fell, then rose again. He really didn't want to go see that unscrupulous teacher.

But when he thought about what would happen if he didn't...

An Xiao shuddered. Then his right hand decisively grabbed the doorknob, while his left knocked on the door.

Knock, knock, knock!

"Come in."