Mashiro Shiina had no idea how many romantic battlefields Kotomi Izumi had endured while she was away. She simply knew that they were having pork trotter noodles today, that pork trotter noodles were delicious, and that she wanted to share some with Kotomi.
Kotomi Izumi was also secretly relieved that Mashiro hadn't been there earlier.
Otherwise, with Mashiro's naturally airheaded personality, she might have casually blurted out something shocking enough to completely ignite the romantic battlefield that had already been threatening to erupt.
Thanks to Mashiro Shiina's sudden appearance, the tense atmosphere that had been teetering on the edge of explosion settled down once again.
Kotomi Izumi silently let out a sigh of relief. Feeling as though she had narrowly escaped disaster, she snapped apart her disposable chopsticks and started eating her pork trotter noodles.
Were the pork trotter noodles good?
They were.
After lunch, there was still roughly an hour left before the lunch break ended.
By then, more than an hour had already passed since the end of fourth period. Both the school store and the vending machines in the hallway had far fewer people gathered around them.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Kotomi Izumi went to the vending machines and bought two drinks, both for herself. One was a hot red bean soup with mochi, and the other was Ito En Japanese green tea.
When Kotomi Izumi returned to the classroom carrying the two drinks, Megumi Kato saw them and asked with a soft laugh:
"Oh my, now that's rare. Kotomi is actually drinking unsweetened tea like Ito En green tea."
"Hehehe. I don't like most unsweetened teas, but I actually quite like Ito En's green tea. After eating, I'll drink a bottle of Ito En green tea to cut through the grease, then when lunch break is almost over, I'll open the red bean soup with mochi. Heh-heh, this is the perfect combination I just came up with."
"That does sound nice~"
With the end of lunch break, the two afternoon classes also passed quickly.
Ring-ring-ring!
The school bell signaling the end of the day also marked the end of Monday.
"Phew—school is finally over."
Kotomi Izumi let out a long breath. During her day at school, she had also finished the TV drama she'd been watching lately. Sure enough, with urban revenge dramas like that, the best way to enjoy them was to binge everything from the first episode straight through to the finale.
"Kotomi, are you going to the art club?"
During the second afternoon class, Mashiro Shiina had spent half the period drawing manga in her sketchbook. In truth, she had already packed her schoolbag before the first afternoon class even began. The moment the dismissal bell rang, all she had to do was put her sketchbook into her bag, stand up, pick up her schoolbag, and leave the classroom immediately.
Mashiro Shiina's reminder made Kotomi Izumi remember that she was apparently still a member of the art club.
"Ah... sure. I don't have anything else to do anyway."
If she hadn't finished the TV drama, Kotomi Izumi definitely would have asked to skip club activities today, gone home, taken a shower, and continued watching it while lying in bed.
But now that she had finished the show, and there weren't any games she particularly wanted to play lately, Kotomi Izumi thought it over and decided to attend art club for an hour.
"Then I'll wait for you in the library." Megumi Kato said with a soft laugh, casually taking Kotomi's homework with her.
"Huh? Megumi, why are you taking my homework? I haven't finished it yet." Kotomi Izumi asked in confusion.
Since Kotomi had spent both afternoon classes watching her TV drama on her phone, she hadn't done so much as a single bit of homework. Still, she wasn't worried. With her enhanced learning ability, she could finish all of it within half an hour, or even twenty minutes, after getting home.
"You didn't do any homework at all during second-period self-study, did you? While I'm waiting for you in the library, I'll help you finish it. Writing one copy is still writing, and writing two copies is still writing."
Megumi Kato said gently, as though it were the most natural thing in the world.
The moment Kotomi Izumi heard that, she was so moved that she threw herself at Megumi Kato, wrapped her arms around her, and vigorously rubbed her little face against Megumi's cheek.
"Thank you, Megumi!"
In an instant, three jealous gazes locked onto Megumi Kato.
It was obvious where those gazes came from. They belonged to Yui Yuigahama, Yukino Yukinoshita, and Mashiro Shiina.
Too busy enjoying Kotomi throwing herself into her arms, Megumi Kato didn't even notice the jealous looks coming from the other three girls. She reached out and rubbed Kotomi Izumi's little head, smiling as she encouraged her:
"Do your best at club activities. I'm really looking forward to seeing the painting you're entering in the art competition with my own eyes."
"Mm!" Kotomi Izumi nodded vigorously.
The painting Megumi Kato was talking about was the one Kotomi had previously drawn, Twilight Sky: Sunset.
In other words, the painting with Mashiro Shiina as its heroine.
However, Megumi Kato still innocently believed that the heroine in Kotomi's painting was herself.
That was also why Megumi Kato was looking forward so much to seeing Kotomi's painting, Twilight Sky: Sunset, with her own eyes.
It wasn't only because Kotomi had painted it herself. There was another important reason too. Megumi Kato really wanted to see what she looked like beneath Kotomi's brush.
Kotomi Izumi briefly packed up her schoolbag, said goodbye to Yukino, Yui, and Megumi, then headed to the art club together with Mashiro Shiina. She was still holding the unfinished red bean soup with mochi in one hand.
When they arrived at the art classroom, they found Hibiki Naegi and the others were already there.
Eiren Kanagawa was also in the art classroom.
"Oh my, why do we have such a rare guest in the art classroom today?" Kotomi Izumi said with a grin as she pushed open the door and walked inside.
"I'm the new art teacher at Sobu High School, at least. It's perfectly normal for the new art teacher to come to the art club and get familiar with everyone's faces, isn't it?"
Eiren Kanagawa turned around and replied to Kotomi with a smile. After noticing the red bean soup with mochi in Kotomi's hand, she couldn't help laughing softly.
"Kotomi, are you a little kid? Why are you still drinking red bean soup with mochi?"
"What's wrong with it? Red bean soup with mochi is one of Japan's most classic and popular winter hot drinks. Whether it's sold as a vending-machine drink or served as a dessert, it's incredibly popular. This brand has exactly the right level of sweetness for me, and they give you plenty of mochi too."
Kotomi Izumi replied as though she didn't care in the slightest.
"I think it's too sweet when I drink it. Maybe that's just the difference between personal tastes." Eiren Kanagawa said with a smile before continuing, "All right, you and Mashiro hurry back to your seats. I have a couple of things to say next."
"You're not going to say it's just a couple of things and then actually talk for two hours, are you?"
Kotomi Izumi teased with a grin as she walked back to her seat.
"Hey, hey, hey, I'm not that long-winded. Though I really have met people who say they'll only say a few simple words and then talk for more than two hours.
"For example, those administrators at Kyoto University, especially newly appointed ones. It's like they think they're the only people in the world with mouths. They never shut the hell up all day. Fine, if they like meetings so much, then hold meetings. But like a bunch of motherfucking idiots, they always schedule them on Saturdays and Sundays. Every time I saw a text notifying us about another meeting, I wanted to stab those stupid fucking department administrators to death."
Kotomi Izumi had complained, but Eiren Kanagawa complained even more fiercely. In fact, her rant was so vicious that it didn't sound at all like something a teacher would say in front of students.
Still, thinking about it carefully, Eiren Kanagawa used to be a university professor. The atmosphere between university counselors, lecturers, professors, and their students was indeed very different from that of middle school or high school.
Especially with university lecturers and professors.
Normally, they didn't need to concern themselves too much with the daily lives of the students in the classes they taught. After all, over the course of an entire week, they might only see them once when there was a lecture. Naturally, at the beginning of class, they would simply call out, "Hello, everyone!"
Then when class ended, they wouldn't drag things out for even a second and would immediately say, "Good work, everyone. Class dismissed!"
Even when chatting casually during breaks, they often talked to students like friends, so naturally they were much more relaxed in the way they spoke.
The reason Eiren Kanagawa had become popular with the students so quickly after joining Sobu High School was precisely because her speaking habits were still those of her days as a professor at Kyoto University. She didn't put on airs at all.
After thoroughly cursing the administrators at Kyoto University, Eiren Kanagawa lightly cleared her throat as though she hadn't just said any of that and continued:
"All right. Now, back to what I was saying. Since I'm a newly hired art teacher at Sobu High School, naturally I'll also be involved with the art club. Starting today, I'll be one of the art club's faculty advisors.
"If any of you have problems with drawing, studying, or your personal lives, feel free to contact me anytime. Don't worry about whether I have time. Art teachers at Sobu High School are very free. At least, from what I saw on my schedule, out of five weekdays, I only have classes on three of them.
"Teacher Sengoku, whom you're all familiar with, is on another level entirely. She only has classes one day a week.
"Anyway, my contact information is..."
After Eiren Kanagawa finished speaking, she picked up a piece of white chalk and wrote her contact information on the blackboard.
After learning that Eiren Kanagawa had become an advisor for the art club, Kotomi Izumi curiously raised her hand and asked:
"So did Teacher Sengoku get fired?"
"Fuck! Little witch, could you wish something better for me?"
Chihiro Sengoku, who just happened to push open the door at that moment, heard Kotomi's question perfectly.
"Considering you show up at the art club so few times each week that you could count them on half a hand, I honestly wouldn't find it strange if you got fired." Kotomi Izumi shot back with a grin.
Her relationship with Chihiro Sengoku was less like teacher and student and more like best friends who loved taking jabs at each other.
"It's only because I get assigned so few classes every week. Some university lecturers aren't even as idle as I am."
Chihiro Sengoku shrugged helplessly. What she didn't mention was that before coming to the art classroom just now, she had checked her schedule for next week again.
She didn't have a single class next week!
She could practically enjoy a seven-day vacation at home without even needing to request leave.
"Unfortunately, Chihiro hasn't been fired. It's just that Sobu High School finally got a new art teacher, so after thinking it over, the chairman decided that Chihiro and I would serve as the art club's advisors together. Two people working together makes everything easier~"
Eiren Kanagawa said, also giving the art club members a brief explanation about the advisor arrangement.
Kotomi Izumi took a sip of the red bean soup with mochi in her hand and said helplessly:
"Teacher Kanagawa, if you're thinking that cooperating with Teacher Sengoku will reduce your workload, then I'd give up on that idea right now.
"Teacher Sengoku is the famous ghost advisor of the art club. Some upperclassmen from previous years probably graduated without ever seeing her even once.
"Even when there's work to do, Teacher Sengoku usually asks President Naegi to handle it for her. Instead of thinking about working with her, you'd be better off thinking about working with President Naegi."
Hearing Kotomi Izumi say that, Eiren Kanagawa looked at Chihiro Sengoku with some surprise and asked suspiciously:
"Chihiro, are you really that useless?"
"What else would I... Wait, no! How am I useless?! I'm not useless at all!"
"All right, you don't need to explain. I've known you for years. I already know you're not exactly reliable."
"Damn it... At least leave me a little dignity in front of the students." Chihiro Sengoku muttered unwillingly.
"From what Kotomi said, I can already guess that you don't have much dignity left in the students' eyes anyway." Eiren Kanagawa sighed.
After that, Eiren Kanagawa spent another few minutes briefly saying a few more things.
Then she cleanly brought her speech to an end and left together with Chihiro Sengoku, leaving the art classroom to the art club members.
Kotomi Izumi sat in her chair and drank the last sip of her red bean soup with mochi. Since she didn't particularly feel like drawing anything, she took out her phone and prepared to play games for an hour.
"Kotomi, I heard you went to Kyoto again a few days ago?"
The proud little beauty Ruriya Hojo suddenly zipped over to Kotomi's side and asked, seemingly searching for a topic of conversation.
"Mm. After I agreed to participate in the cultural festival and successfully finished the stage performance, Teacher Shizuka generously paid out of her own pocket to reserve three days in deluxe Japanese-style rooms at Harugamo Inn for me, Yukino, and Yui." Kotomi Izumi nodded as she answered.
"Wow, that's so nice~ Everyone says the hot springs at Harugamo Inn are amazing. I'd really like to try them sometime." Ruriya Hojo said enviously.
"But I heard there was apparently a murder at Harugamo Inn a few days ago. Kotomi, nothing happened to you guys, right?" Emi Tsujimoto asked curiously.
"Huh?! Really? A murder actually happened at a famous hot spring inn like Harugamo Inn? Kotomi, is that true?" Ruriya Hojo looked at Kotomi as though seeking confirmation and asked.
Kotomi Izumi didn't hide it. She simply nodded.
"There really was a murder, and the body was discovered some time after Yukino, Yui, and I had already left Harugamo Inn."
"Whoa—that's terrifying. Kotomi, after you found out about it, were you really scared?" Ruriya Hojo asked with obvious concern.
"Not really."
Kotomi Izumi smiled lightly.
After all, this wasn't the first murder case she had experienced.
She even felt an inexplicable calmness about it.
But faced with the concern of the proud little beauty, Ruriya Hojo, Kotomi Izumi suddenly didn't quite know how to respond.
A faint feeling was growing in her heart.
And that was—Ruriya Hojo's feelings toward her were anything but ordinary!
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