After finishing breakfast, it was already 8:00 a.m., with thirty minutes remaining before the first period of school began.
After saying a brief goodbye to Aoi Kujou, Eriri shouldered her pink backpack and left the house.
But as she stepped out of the yard and onto the street, she happened to see Wakaba Hiiro just exiting her own yard.
Wakaba Hiiro's outfit today was exactly the same as the day before: a standard blue Mizuharu spring uniform, brown round-toed loafers, and clean black socks that stopped just above the ankles, leaving her fair legs fully visible.
Her jet-black hair flowed freely down to her waist, and her long bangs concealed her beautiful, captivating eyes.
"Wakaba-san!"
Eriri cheerfully raised her right hand and waved at Wakaba Hiiro, then jogged toward her.
Hearing Eriri's voice, Wakaba Hiiro immediately stopped in her tracks and turned slightly to face her direction.
When Eriri reached her side, Wakaba finally gave a soft greeting.
"Good morning, Sawamura-san."
"Good morning, Wakaba-san. Oh, have you eaten yet? Want to come back home with me for some breakfast before school?"
"Thank you for the offer, but I already ate at home."
"I see, that's a shame. I really wanted you to try some of Aoi-nee's super delicious cooking~"
Hearing that, Wakaba Hiiro instinctively recalled the cake she had eaten for dinner the previous night.
So she couldn't help but ask Eriri:
"Sawamura-san, was the cake you gave me yesterday made by this Aoi-nee you mentioned?"
"That's right! So, what did you think? It was amazing, right?"
"It absolutely was."
Wakaba Hiiro nodded without hesitation. That wonderful flavor still lingered on her tongue.
At that moment, she suddenly regretted not accepting Eriri's invitation to dinner the night before.
If she had gone, she could've tasted even more food as delicious as that cake.
With that thought, she silently made a decision: if Eriri invited her to a meal again, she would not refuse.
The two didn't linger where they stood and instead walked side by side toward school like childhood friends who always went to school together.
"By the way, Wakaba-san, I told you we were meant to meet, didn't I? Heading out at the same time without any plan—it's fate!"
To Eriri's attempt at small talk, Wakaba Hiiro didn't stay silent.
"It's just a matter of probability."
"You can't say it like that~ Even if it is a probability thing, meeting up like this on our first try just proves how strong our connection is!"
"Perhaps..."
And just like that, chatting all the way, the two arrived at school after about ten minutes.
"Good morning, Sawamura-san!"
Mirei Shinohara, who had arrived several minutes earlier, quickly stood up and greeted Eriri the moment she saw her enter through the back door of the classroom.
"Good morning, Shinohara-san."
Eriri smiled and nodded back at Mirei.
Just as Mirei was about to continue the conversation, she saw Wakaba Hiiro walk in right behind Eriri, and her cheerful expression immediately froze.
"Sawamura-san, did you and Wakaba-san come to school together?"
Without a moment's hesitation, Eriri nodded. "Yep. Actually, Wakaba-san is my neighbor. Isn't that a fun coincidence?"
Upon hearing this, a rather awkward and forced smile appeared on Mirei Shinohara's face.
"Hehe, yeah… what a coincidence..."
At that moment, the other students who had seen Eriri enter began to greet her as well.
Most of the greetings came from the girls in class; the boys, on the other hand, hesitated, unsure whether they should say hello or not.
From what they observed the previous day, it was obvious to everyone that the transfer student didn't seem to have any goodwill toward boys.
After all, every male student who had tried to approach her was met with cold disregard or even driven off with a displeased look.
Combined with the pressure exuded by Eriri's aura, most of the boys had already given up, lacking the courage they had when they first tried to strike up a conversation.
"Good morning to you all, too."
Smiling as she nodded back to the girls who greeted her, Eriri then pulled Wakaba Hiiro along toward their seats.
Once seated, Eriri removed her backpack and placed it on her desk before opening it up.
Suddenly, she put on an exaggerated expression of realization and regret.
"Oh no, I forgot to pick up my textbooks after school yesterday."
Without delay, she pushed her desk closer to Wakaba Hiiro's, just like yesterday, and playfully winked at her.
"Ah, Wakaba-san, looks like I'll have to share your textbooks again today."
Wakaba Hiiro said nothing in response, but unlike yesterday, she didn't remain indifferent. Instead, she promptly pushed her own textbook to the middle between them.
She then pulled out a novel from her bag, opened it to the bookmarked page, and began to read.
Before long, the school day came to an end.
Just as Eriri was about to leave the classroom, homeroom teacher Okazaki Kanami suddenly entered and called out to her.
"Sawamura-san, hold on a moment. I'll take you to the office to collect your textbooks."
"Okay, Ms. Okazaki," Eriri replied with a bright smile.
But before following Okazaki Kanami to the office, Eriri turned to Wakaba Hiiro.
"Wakaba-san, wait for me in the classroom, okay? I'll be back once I pick up my textbooks. Then we can walk home together!"
Without waiting for Wakaba's response, Eriri slung her backpack over her shoulder and left the classroom with Okazaki.
Watching Eriri's disappearing figure, Wakaba Hiiro sat quietly for a moment in thought, then returned to her seat and pulled her novel out again.
...
"Sawamura-san, have you decided which club you want to join?"
On the way to the office, the ever-energetic Okazaki Kanami looked at Eriri with a cheerful smile.
Though Kanami was in her twenties, her delicate face made her look no older than sixteen or seventeen.
With her short twin tails tied at both sides of her head and her bubbly personality, she exuded an unmistakable cuteness.
"A club, huh... Does going straight home count?" Eriri said with a playful smile.
"Of course that doesn't count!" Kanami rolled her eyes in mock exasperation.
"Even though the school doesn't require students to join clubs, it'd be such a waste to go through high school without being in one. And you just transferred in—joining a club is a great way to meet new friends~"
"I get where you're coming from, Ms. Okazaki. But honestly, I'm not interested in club activities. And tell me, do you really think I need to rely on club participation to make friends?"
As she spoke, Eriri lifted a hand to brush aside her golden hair. Her flawless face showed an expression of pure, unshakable pride.
Okazaki Kanami was momentarily stunned by the sight, then scratched her cheek awkwardly.
"Ahem, yeah... I guess you really don't need to..."
She knew Eriri wasn't exaggerating. With beauty and charisma like hers—so intense that even Kanami found herself slightly smitten—there wasn't a student in the entire school who wouldn't be eager to befriend her.
"Alright, alright, Kana-chan, you don't have to worry about that."
"Geez, Sawamura-san! You can't just call your teacher with a -chan suffix!"
Hearing Eriri call her that, Okazaki Kanami puffed out her cheeks like a pouting child, looking adorably displeased.
"But I overheard the classmates calling you that in private. Plus, doesn't it bring us closer as teacher and student~?"
Eriri smiled casually, showing no intention of changing how she addressed her.
"I give up... Fine, you can call me whatever you want."
Okazaki Kanami shrugged helplessly.
Truthfully, she didn't mind how her students addressed her, and she agreed with Eriri's reasoning.
She had gone to great lengths to build strong relationships with her students. In her spare time, she studied ACG-related content—anime, comics, and light novels—so she could chat with students about the latest trends, or even play the same games during holidays.
All of it was done to bridge the gap between teacher and student.
Because of this, her students affectionately referred to her as "Kana-chan."
As Eriri strolled down the hallway beside the now-quiet Okazaki Kanami, she couldn't help but recall what happened to her in the original story.
Although Okazaki Kanami was kind and responsible as a teacher, her actions after reincarnation in the original work left much to be desired.
In Eriri's mind, two words came to describe her: naive and pitiful.
Still, her ignorance was understandable.
After all, how could a newly reincarnated person know that her so-called father in the new world was the greatest cancer on that world? Falling for his manipulation and being used by him made sense.
From an omniscient perspective, her actions might seem foolish and detestable.
But if seen from Kanami's own perspective, everything she did was in an effort to save her students' lives.
Because of that, Eriri didn't hold a bad opinion of her.
Of course, the reason things unfolded that way was due to Wakaba Hiiro's twisted sense of humor.
If Wakaba hadn't reincarnated Okazaki Kanami as an elf and granted her the Unique Skill "Student Roster," none of what followed would have happened.
With that in mind, Eriri thought she might intervene slightly when Okazaki Kanami is reincarnated, which would definitely cause the trajectory of that world to change drastically.
It would also ruin Wakaba Hiiro's fun, which in itself would be fun for Eriri.
Making Wakaba Hiiro lose her amusement? That was amusement for Eriri.
As for the central protagonist of the original story—the spider girl—Eriri already had a plan in place.
...
By the time Eriri returned to the classroom with her textbooks, more than ten minutes had passed.
At this point, there were only four people left in Class 2-3.
Two were the students on cleaning duty. The other two were Wakaba Hiiro, quietly reading a novel by the window in the last row, and Mirei Shinohara, sitting one seat away from her.
Eriri didn't step into the room. Instead, she stood at the back door and called out:
"Wakaba-san, sorry for the wait. Let's head home."
Hearing Eriri's voice, Wakaba Hiiro silently looked up at her, then slowly packed away her book.
She picked up her bag and made her way toward the rear door.
But someone else moved faster.
The moment Eriri spoke, Mirei Shinohara, who had been lying on her desk playing on her phone, immediately perked up, grabbed her bag, and happily ran over to Eriri.
"Sawamura-san, you're back!"
"Yep. Shinohara-san, you haven't gone home yet?"
"Nope, I was waiting for you."
At that, Mirei suddenly turned a bit shy, her eyes filled with hopeful anticipation.
"Um... Sawamura-san, can I come over to your house?"
Ever since she learned this morning that Eriri and Wakaba Hiiro were neighbors, Mirei had felt extremely uneasy.
When she heard Eriri and Wakaba make plans to go home together after school, she couldn't sit still.
The thought that they might hang out after school prompted Mirei to take action.
If she couldn't stop them, she'd join them!
Eriri didn't answer right away. After thinking it over, she finally replied:
"Hmm... I suppose it's fine. But I was planning to go to Wakaba-san's house to play games..."
Hearing that, Mirei muttered, "I knew it," and her resolve to join them only grew stronger.
"Then... can I come too? I want to play games with you guys!"
"If you really want to, then come along!"
Eriri didn't reject Mirei Shinohara's request and gave no thought to whether Wakaba Hiiro would be okay with having another guest.
At that moment, Wakaba, who had just walked up beside them, stared quietly at Eriri—but in the end, said nothing.
—
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