Chapter 9: Hard-to-Maintain Elegance
While walking up the staircase, they happened to encounter a mysterious woman whose expression looked as though she were about to cry.
"Ah, it's Tohsaka-san, and Mitsuzuri-san. Oh, Sakura is here too? Good morning~"
"Good morning, Fujimura-sensei," the three girls said in unison.
"And this student is...?" Taiga Fujimura looked at Shirou with some confusion.
Sakura immediately gave Taiga Fujimura a brief introduction.
"Ah, so that's how it is. You're a transfer student. No wonder I said I'd never seen you before."
Taiga Fujimura nodded. This Sensei gave off the impression of a person possessing a level of affinity and leisureliness that far surpassed ordinary people.
"Good morning. Sensei is very happy that you all greeted me properly."
Hearing these words from Fujimura-sensei, Rin asked with some confusion:
"Um, Sensei, when you say 'greeted properly,' are there other kinds of greetings?"
"Yes, there are. The first-years greet me properly, but the upperclassmen don't use surnames to greet me anymore. Tohsaka-san, don't go learning from those people."
"I see. Although I don't quite understand, I won't do anything disrespectful to a Sensei," Rin said with a smile.
"Very good, very good. If only everyone could be like Tohsaka-san~"
Fujimura-sensei said goodbye and walked away with a wave.
At this moment, Ayako Mitsuzuri leaned in and whispered to Shirou:
"Don't let that cheerful face of Fujimura-sensei fool you; she has a high rank in Kendo. Back in her student days, she was even admired and respectfully called the 'Tiger of Fuyuki'."
"Is that so? Having a rank in Kendo is quite impressive," Shirou replied with an Oscar-level expression of amazement.
"Pfft..." Sakura couldn't hold back her laughter upon seeing their exchange.
"Eh? Sakura, why are you suddenly laughing?" Ayako Mitsuzuri asked, puzzled.
Sakura hurriedly waved her hands and wiped the corners of her eyes, which were tearing up from laughter.
"I just thought of something happy."
Without much further conversation, the four of them arrived at the door of the Class 2-A classroom.
Ayako Mitsuzuri waved to the three of them. "Well, I'm heading to my own classroom then~"
"Mm, bye-bye~" Rin waved back.
As Ayako Mitsuzuri backed away, she winked at Shirou and raised her hand to her mouth, shouting:
"Don't forget the promise between us, Orihara-kun~"
After saying that, Ayako Mitsuzuri departed with a light step.
Rin suddenly became alert upon hearing those words, and an irrepressible sense of irritation surged in her heart. She stole a glance at Shirou, then quickly retracted her gaze and walked briskly into the classroom.
"There's not a single person here. As expected, we arrived too early."
Rin went to her seat, placed her shoulder bag inside the desk, and opened her math workbook to begin studying. Shirou and Sakura took adjacent seats, as per the arrangements made yesterday.
"Suddenly, school feels so boring..."
Sakura, sitting at her desk, suddenly spoke up. Compared to taking classes at school, she definitely wanted to stay at home with Shirou and do all sorts of things.
"Did you only just realize that?" Shirou laughed. He had known that since elementary school.
Listening to the relaxed conversation between them, the irritation in Rin's heart grew stronger, to the point where she couldn't even focus on the math book in her hands.
As more and more people arrived in the classroom, the atmosphere gradually became lively. The students' individual small groups kept to themselves, discussing their own topics.
"Did you watch Kamen Rider yesterday?"
"Yeah, yeah! It was super cool—that roundhouse kick!"
"Whoa, amazing!"
"Longswords are invincible under heaven!"
"Charge Blade is the strongest!"
"I haven't finished Final Fantasy yet..."
The noisy atmosphere made the habitual elegance on Rin's face a bit hard to maintain. Usually, she was able to maintain her composure, but today, she simply couldn't hold it together no matter what. As for who was responsible for putting her in this state, there was no need to say.
Unable to focus on studying, Rin spent the entire morning in this distracted state. By the time she snapped out of it, it was already lunch break. Because the school had a student cafeteria, fewer than half the students remained in the classroom. Most of them were girls, as the seasoning at this school's cafeteria was quite coarse and unpopular with the female students.
"I didn't bring a lunch box. How about we go eat at the student cafeteria?" Shirou stood up, feeling a bit bored.
The surrounding students frequently cast curious glances at him—not just because Shirou was handsome, but also because of his unique aura. Almost most of the female students in the class couldn't help but steal curious looks at him. Even so, the Senseis collectively ignored the matter.
"Mm, sure." Sakura also stood up.
At that moment, Shirou looked over at the other side, toward the twin-tailed girl who was secretly casting glances in their direction.
"Does Rin want to come along too?"
Hearing this, Rin almost stood up instinctively, but after her cheeks flushed slightly, she immediately turned her head away gently.
"Hmph! I have no interest in such a crude cafeteria. However, since you've invited me so sincerely, I suppose I can reluctantly agree!"
"..."
"Are you going or not?"
"I'm going!"
Standing up, Rin quickly followed Shirou's lead. At that moment, a girl with short orange hair called out to Rin.
"U-Um, Tohsaka-san! W-Would you like to eat lunch together?"
Girls would often eat lunch boxes together to show they were on good terms. Rin was a star figure at school, but because of her approachability and etiquette, few girls harbored ill will toward her.
"Thank you, Saegusa-san, but I'm sorry. I have to go to the cafeteria today. I overslept this morning, so I didn't have time to make a lunch box."
Wasn't that a coincidence! Just this morning, Rin had been feeling a bit annoyed thinking she might have to eat at that student cafeteria for lunch, but now she felt incredibly fortunate!
"Ah... um..." After being rejected by Rin, the girl named Yukika Saegusa immediately looked apologetic and became dejected. "I'm sorry. I didn't know that and still called out to you. I said something unnecessary."
"It wasn't unnecessary at all. Today is just an occasional exception, so don't worry about it. If you don't mind, please ask me again tomorrow."
Rin responded with a smile from the bottom of her heart. But seeing the two people waiting at the door, she couldn't help but feel a surge of anxiety and, for some reason, an inexplicable sense of shame.
"Ah, okay." Yukika Saegusa nodded with a smile. "Still, I didn't expect that even Tohsaka-san would oversleep."
That smile is very cute, Rin thought. Yukika Saegusa was exceptionally well-behaved even among the elegant and obedient students of Class A. Rin didn't know why the girl had suddenly approached her. Although this girl wasn't remarkably beautiful, as long as she smiled, she could make those around her feel warm.
"Yes, although not many people know, I actually love to sleep. I didn't join a club because I can't wake up in the morning."
"Is that so...?"
Yukika Saegusa's eyes widened slightly, looking quite surprised.
"I'll be going now then. Please enjoy your lunch, Saegusa-san."
Rin waved to her, then quickly caught up with Shirou and Sakura. Meanwhile, Yukika Saegusa returned to the other two girls. Those eating lunch with Yukika Saegusa were Kaede Makidera and Kane Himuro. Yukika Saegusa was the manager of the track and field club, while Kaede Makidera and Kane Himuro were its main members. Rin was the kind of friend who could go shopping with Kaede Makidera on holidays, but she wasn't very familiar with Kane Himuro.
Rin walked along the path to the student cafeteria with Shirou and Sakura.
"That was a well-spun lie. If I hadn't run into you this morning, even I would have been fooled by you," Shirou laughed.
"I..."
With her lie exposed, Rin's face flushed with shame.
"It's just that the alarm clock at home happened to be half an hour fast due to magical interference this morning. As a result, I thought I had overslept."
"Doesn't that make it even stupider?" Shirou said suddenly.
"..." Although Rin's face was just red and she didn't have much of an expression, the steam starting to rise from the girl's head explained everything.
Rin felt a bit indignant in her heart. Her usual elegance, after this person's return, seemed to have completely vanished; no matter what, it was difficult to maintain.
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