Lunch time finally arrived after the eventful class period came to an end.
We all gathered on the rooftop and chatted casually while opening our lunch boxes.
"Today, Yoshino almost cried..."
"Huh? Why?"
"Well, Maria’s questions were just too advanced..."
"I only pointed out the mistakes written in the handout."
"...Wow, Yoshino didn’t cry? That’s impressive."
Kaguya, who was from another class and hadn’t known, also admitted that Maria’s questions were on a whole other level.
Honestly, it was impressive that Yoshino hadn’t cried.
"Question. Is Arus having toast again?"
"Yes. Toast that Hii made."
Maria’s lunch was toast again, as expected.
Maybe she’d liked the one I made before, because when I asked her this morning what she wanted in her lunch, she answered toast immediately.
"The way she eats really does look like a squirrel."
"Ah~ I see what you mean."
Like Rinne said, the way Maria ate did resemble a squirrel a little.
Maybe because her mouth was small, but she stuffed as much as she could into one bite and then chewed with her cheeks puffed out, which made her look like a squirrel.
As I smiled fondly at Maria, she came over to me.
"Hm? Maria?"
"...Hii. I’d like to attend the afternoon class in Class 3."
Maria said she wanted to take the afternoon class in Class 3.
She probably thought attending it in person in Class 3 would be different from sitting in Class 4.
"Hmm... Just a moment."
I excused myself to Maria and went over to the commander.
"Commander."
"Hm? What is it, Hiki?"
"Maria wants to sit in on the afternoon class in Class 3. What subjects does Class 3 have this afternoon?"
"Ours?"
After asking the commander about Class 3’s afternoon subjects, I found out that, thankfully, they didn’t overlap much with the morning classes our room had.
"Thanks for telling me."
"Don’t mention it."
I thanked the commander and returned to my original spot, then told Maria, "The subjects don’t overlap much, so it should be fine for you to attend class in Class 3."
"Yes. Understood. Thank you for checking the class schedule for me on purpose, Hii."
"It’s nothing."
And so Maria decided to attend the afternoon class in Class 3.
*
Murmur, murmur.
For some reason, Class 3 was incredibly noisy.
It was a very familiar kind of situation.
"Hi...ii... ...Hii! Please notice me."
"...Huh? That voice is Yuzuru?"
Before I knew it, Yuzuru had come near my seat and called out to me.
"Yuzuru? What is it? Class is in session right now."
That was right.
It was class time.
So why had she come all the way to my seat?
"Request. Hii, please come. Arus is..."
Ah. I get it now.
Class 3 was noisy, Yuzuru had come over here in the middle of class, her expression looked bad, and Maria had been mentioned.
Thinking back to what happened during the morning class, I could roughly tell what was going on in the next room.
"So something did happen after all. Understood. I’ll be there soon, so go back to your classroom for now."
"Acknowledged. I’ll be waiting."
I quietly went over to Itsuka-kun and said, "Itsuka-kun, Itsuka-kun."
"Hm? Hieta?"
"It seems Maria caused some kind of trouble in the next class. I think I need to go clean it up. If the teacher asks for me, please tell them I went to the bathroom."
"Okay. Leave it to me."
"Thank you."
With that, I handed the aftermath to Itsuka-kun and slipped out of the classroom without the teacher noticing, then infiltrated the next room.
"Yuzuru, I’m here. Please explain what happened."
"Heh... Our loyal servant, Hii. So you have come at last. If you wish to know the situation, seeing it is faster than hearing it."
Following Kaguya’s words, I looked around for Maria.
"There she is."
After finding Maria, I quietly approached and checked the situation.
"I’m sorry, Teacher Okamine. I have a question."
Murmur, murmur.
The moment Maria tried to ask a question, the surrounding students grew noisy.
No way. Was the situation I was imagining actually happening?
"Yes~? What is it, Arus?"
"About the part from earlier. Isn’t there a mistake?"
"Again? Again...? That was a textbook issue..."
So that was it.
That was why the next room had been so loud.
"As expected, this is what happened."
"Affirmative. This is it. Is there any way to deal with it?"
"For now, I guess I need to stop her."
I quietly approached Maria at the back of the classroom without anyone else noticing.
"Maria."
"Hii. What brings Hii here?"
"You do. I told you this morning, didn’t I? I can’t do anything about the handout issue."
"I thought if it was a real teacher instead of a role, they might be able to solve it. I guess not. Class really is difficult."
"We’ve got a problem here."
At this rate, Maria would not be able to participate in class normally, so I needed someone who could help me out.
Asking Kaguya and Yuzuru felt a little risky, and the commander was out because of her personality.
That left one person by elimination... Miku.
Miku was also a little risky, but she was a working idol, so her grades were probably still decent.
I figured she’d be able to help.
"Miku, do you have a second? I need your help."
"My, darling? What a surprise~? We’re in class right now, you know? Don’t tell me you came to see me~?"
"Thaaat’s not it. I heard Maria caused a little accident, so... Is there any good way to let Maria attend class normally?"
Then Miku puffed out her cheeks, and her expression made it obvious to anyone watching that she was sulking.
"Class? Honestly, darling, I thought you’d come to see me, but it’s about that girl~"
"Umm..."
Hearing her say that made me feel a little guilty toward Miku.
She’d already said she liked me, and talking about another girl in front of her was bound to make her feel bad.
"A one-day feminine date ticket."
So I decided to sell my dignity.
"Really?!"
"Shh, shh! Keep your voice down!"
Apparently it worked on Miku, because her eyes sparkled and her fighting spirit flared up.
"Well, I guess I can’t help it~ It’s a request from my darling, after all~"
No, that wasn’t "can’t help it." That was the face of someone who was thrilled.
"...But~"
"But?"
Why was my danger sensor going off?
No way, right?
Miku, you’re not about to do something stupid, are you?
"I don’t really think I should push myself too hard with studying and stuff either~"
"No, what are you even saying..."
"I mean~ listening to class and writing notes is a pain, isn’t it~?"
Come on, danger sensor, don’t betray me now.
"That is definitely a pain, but..."
It was true that taking notes during class was annoying.
But somehow, hearing Miku say it made me uneasy.
"Miku. Just in case, let me ask you this: what do you usually do?"
"Usually? When, exactly~?"
"Listen carefully. During class, or during exams, or situations like that."
"That’s easy. I just ask one of the girls around me~"
Thump!
I slapped a hand to my forehead.
Come to think of it, Rindoji Girls’ Academy was full of people who were under Miku’s brainwashing.
No, I could probably say all of them.
In a place like that, no one would have said anything even if Miku pulled something like that.
I was foolish not to have considered that.
"...Huh? What’s wrong? Darling, your face looks awful."
"No, isn’t that kind of messed up...?"
"Well, I do have idol activities too~ The teachers are pretty lenient with me."
That was true.
Miku was an idol, so she probably didn’t have much time to study for school.
"That may be true, but..."
But here, she wasn’t an idol, was she?
She wasn’t doing idol activities, was she?
So, you’re going into special training.
"Since we have the chance, Miku, you’re going to study hard too."
"What!? No way~!"
"No arguing. I’m bringing Maria over, so for now just open your notebook."
"Honestly, darling is such a meanie..."
Even if she said that, it couldn’t be helped.
I might as well make Miku study while I was at it.
Maria might also get something out of studying together with a friend.
I brought Maria over to Miku’s seat.
"Hii... what should I do?"
"First, today I’m going to teach all of you. Well, since I’m a student and not a teacher, there are limits... Miku, in particular, you’d better be prepared."
Since Miku was especially guilty, I was going to make her study even harder.
You can look forward to it, Miku.
"H-hiiiiii!?"
I started studying, using Miku’s shrill scream as the starting signal.
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