Finding Sister Lu a Teacher

Wu Qiao and Ayanokoji Kiyoha finally managed to find two empty seats side-by-side in the crowded cafeteria. No sooner had he set his tray down than Wu Qiao reached out, naturally grabbed Ayanokoji Kiyoha's arm, gave it a couple of squeezes, and immediately let go.

Ayanokoji Kiyoha was taken aback by the sudden movement, a flicker of bewilderment crossing her deep brown eyes—a rare sight. She didn't ask a single question, simply picking up her chopsticks in silence to begin her lunch.

"Ayanokoji-san, you aren't very good at socializing, are you?" Wu Qiao asked, seemingly casual as he sliced into his hamburger steak. "Normal classmates shouldn't sit side-by-side like this. Plus, we're of the opposite sex; we need to keep a bit of distance, or people will get the wrong idea."

"The wrong idea?" Ayanokoji Kiyoha blinked, a look of naivety appearing on her face that completely contradicted her persona as a deeply calculating person. "What do you mean?"

Watching the girl before him, unsure if she was genuinely dense or just playing the part, Wu Qiao took a bite of his steak and mumbled, "We aren't related. If people of the opposite sex are too intimate, they get pegged as a couple, which is bad for one's reputation. I get the feeling you're a sheltered young lady who doesn't know how the world works."

Ayanokoji Kiyoha silently bit down on her chopsticks without denying it, her calm eyes lowering slightly as if she were seriously pondering his words.

A moment later, seeing she had no intention of refuting him, Wu Qiao continued, "Even though you hide it well, I confirmed it just now. The feel of the muscles in your arm—you've trained, haven't you? I thought it was strange at first, but sure enough... you probably haven't socialized normally, or even attended school properly."

"Wu-kun, your deduction and your reasoning don't match up at all." Ayanokoji Kiyoha swallowed her food and pointed out the logical flaw in a flat tone.

Wu Qiao set down his chopsticks and waved a finger, adopting the air of a detective revealing a secret. "First, you act like you have no motivation for anything in class. Students always have some sort of personality; even that Horikita shows emotion, but you have none. If you were just unremarkable, that would be one thing, but I just confirmed you're a trained fighter, which makes things interesting. Most people who train have high hormone levels and a sharp gaze, but your eyes are like stagnant water."

Ayanokoji Kiyoha gave a slight nod, confirming his assessment of her physical prowess, then pressed, "But even so, how did you conclude that something is wrong with me?"

Wu Qiao shrugged, speaking as if it were obvious. "It's already the second day, and I haven't seen you initiate a conversation with anyone. We're students, and there are so many people around; you'd at least go through the motions of saying hello, right? This extreme avoidance, combined with your hidden strength, only suggests you're deliberately observing or mimicking what you think is 'normal'."

Hearing this, Ayanokoji Kiyoha stopped eating. She turned her head, looking at the boy sitting beside her with genuine scrutiny for the first time.

"Your observation skills are sharp," she offered as a fair assessment, but her tone shifted immediately. "However, Wu-kun, you're hardly one to talk, are you? When Ichinose-san came looking for you earlier, your reaction speed and your grasp of information didn't exactly look like that of an ordinary student."

Wu Qiao's heart skipped a beat.

Damn it, he thought. I was so busy analyzing her that I forgot about the stunt I pulled in front of Ichinose.

"Cough, that was a forced performance," Wu Qiao said with a dry laugh, trying to play it off. "You saw it yourself—when a popular girl like Ichinose suddenly rushes over, if I don't act composed, wouldn't I look like a total idiot?"

"Is that so?" Ayanokoji Kiyoha clearly didn't believe him, but she didn't press the issue, instead steering the conversation back to the start. "Since you've seen through my disguise, what do you intend to do? Expose me? Or use me?"

"No, no, absolutely not," Wu Qiao said, waving his hands frantically. "Since you want to keep a low profile, why not team up? But let's be careful—for instance, could we not sit side-by-side like this in the future? It really does look like we're a couple."

Ayanokoji Kiyoha glanced at their shoulders, which were pressed together, remained silent for two seconds, and then quietly shifted her seat.

"Like this?"

"...Close enough." Wu Qiao let out a sigh of relief, looking at the gap between them—enough space to fit another person.

Just then, a pink-haired figure appeared in their field of vision once more. Ichinose Honami approached with her tray, wearing that signature healing smile of hers.

"Oh my, Wu-kun, Ayanokoji-san, are there any empty seats here?"

Wu Qiao looked at Ichinose's eyes, which seemed to see through everything, then at the unflappable Ayanokoji Kiyoha beside him, and a sense of foreboding washed over him.

He had a feeling this meal wasn't going to be a peaceful one.

Ichinose Honami took the empty seat opposite Wu Qiao and set her tray down gently. Her bright, lively eyes darted between Wu Qiao and Ayanokoji Kiyoha, while she calculated in her mind.

Her Life Simulator wouldn't be fully charged for another week, and in that heart-stopping simulation record, her first official interaction with Wu Qiao wasn't supposed to happen until after the midterms.

This sudden "chance encounter" was something she had forced into existence by using her foresight of the future.

"Um... what were you two talking about? The atmosphere felt so serious," Ichinose said, resting her chin on her hands and leaning forward, feigning curiosity.

Wu Qiao swallowed his hamburger steak, glanced at Ayanokoji Kiyoha—who was eating quietly as if she had her own personal barrier—and after a moment of thought, began to lie with a straight face. "We were talking about Ayanokoji-san. She's a sheltered young lady who doesn't understand social norms at all. I don't know how her family raised her; she doesn't even understand basic boundaries between men and women or social distance."

Upon hearing this assessment, Ayanokoji Kiyoha raised her eyelids and gave Wu Qiao a faint look, but she didn't refute him, seemingly accepting this strange narrative.

Wu Qiao sighed, continuing in a tone of "fatherly" concern. "I'm worried that if she keeps this up, she'll be ostracized or cause misunderstandings in class. You know how the people in Class D are—none of them are easy to deal with."

At this, he suddenly shifted his focus, looking intently at Ichinose Honami across the table. "But since you're here, Ichinose, could I trouble you with something?"

Ichinose blinked, a look of confusion on her face. "Trouble me? With what?"

"Could I ask you to look after Ayanokoji-san a little?" Wu Qiao gestured toward the girl beside him, spinning his tale with earnestness. "Your social skills are top-tier. If you could help her integrate into the group and teach her how to interact with others normally, I'd feel much better. After all, I'm just an outsider in Class D and my words don't carry much weight, but you're different."

Tossing this "hot potato" to Ichinose was a masterstroke. It would provide this inscrutable girl with a good mentor, leave the "hero of justice" Ichinose with a headache, and earn him some favor in the process.

Ichinose Honami paused, clearly not expecting such a request. She turned to look at Ayanokoji Kiyoha, only to find the girl watching her with a calm, ripple-free gaze—neither expectant nor resistant, as if she were merely reading a menu on the cafeteria wall.

"Eh? But..." Ichinose hesitated. In her simulation, Ayanokoji Kiyoha was an extremely cold girl who rarely spoke to anyone other than Wu Qiao, and she appeared to be the mastermind behind Class D.

"Please!" Wu Qiao pressed his palms together in a pleading gesture. "Do it for the sake of peace and love in the school?"

Seeing Wu Qiao's half-joking, half-serious expression, the alarm bells in Ichinose's mind quieted slightly. She couldn't help but smile; Wu-kun clearly had the potential to turn the world upside down, yet here he was, obsessed with how to offload the trouble sitting next to him.

"Alright," Ichinose Honami finally said, offering that gentle smile of hers as she nodded. "Since you've asked, Wu-kun, if Ayanokoji-san doesn't mind, I can try to talk to her more. But I can't guarantee I'll be able to teach her well."

"That's perfect!" Wu Qiao exhaled in relief, as if he had just completed a great diplomatic mission.

As for Ayanokoji Kiyoha, the center of their conversation, she simply took a quiet sip of her tea, silently adding one more note to her assessment of Wu Qiao: A cunning guy who excels at shirking responsibility.