The entryway lights were bright.
Mafuyu Kirisu stood there with a white bath towel knotted in a rush around her. The damp red ends of her hair kept dripping, each bead blooming into a small dark spot on the cold tile.
The "I'm totally composed" look on her delicate face had already shattered. All that remained was a steam-warm blush running to her ears and down her neck.
Those eyes that usually carried a strict, watchful edge were round now—wide enough to catch three perfect reflections at the door: two students, still pink and gawking, and a man leaning on the wall with a playful smile tugging at his mouth.
After a night of nonstop shocks, Fumino Furuhashi and Rizu Ogata's brains finally blue-screened. Seeing their usually immaculate, no-nonsense Kirisu-sensei show up looking this… domestic—no, let's be honest, a little spicy—hit just as hard as the mess they'd walked in on with Rei Ao earlier.
Their mouths opened, nothing came out. They blinked in sync, eyes broadcasting pure "who am I, where am I, what did I just see," plus a very specific, silent refrain: Teacher, you too?!
Rei Ao's gaze worked like a literal spotlight—frank, amused, and a little wicked—as it took its time tracing Mafuyu's lines before settling on her bare feet, beaded with water and curled slightly against the tile. The smile in his eyes deepened.
Drip.
Another drop fell from her hair and hit the floor. In the dead quiet, the sound was painfully loud—the last straw.
"Ah—!"
Mafuyu snapped out of her statue state with a short, mortified cry. She stumbled back a step, one hand yanking the towel tighter across her chest, the other flying up to shield her bare shoulder, her face so red it felt like it might start bleeding. She could swear his smiling gaze was searing into her skin, making every inch of her prickle.
"S-sorry! Sorry for the intrusion, Kirisu-sensei! We—we'll just—"
Fumino finally found her voice and tried to tug Rizu back out, desperate to salvage this disaster of an opening.
Bang!
What she got instead was Mafuyu slamming the door—so hard the frame gave a little shiver.
Silence from the hallway.
Rei Ao lifted an eyebrow, that smile carving a bit deeper. Fumino and Rizu traded a helpless look, barely daring to breathe, pretty sure the Awkwardness Index had left Earth's atmosphere.
Five whole minutes crawled by before the bathroom door opened again.
Mafuyu had changed into conservative light-gray cotton loungewear—long sleeves, long pants, covered to the wrists and ankles. She'd given her hair a rough towel-dry; it wasn't dripping anymore, but it still hung damp and messy over her shoulders, a few strands sticking to her warm cheeks. The color hadn't fully faded from her face.
She deliberately avoided looking at Rei Ao, pulling her usual stern mask back into place. The faint tremble in her lashes and the tight line of her mouth, though, betrayed the churn underneath.
She took a breath like she was steadying herself, then looked to the door—skipping right over Rei Ao and landing on the girls. "Fumino, Rizu—come in. I've been filled in," she said, voice even except for the tiny quiver she couldn't quite hide.
She stepped aside. Saved, the two of them ducked their heads and scurried past like startled quail, slipping into the waiting house slippers. They didn't dare look at Rei Ao. They definitely didn't dare look at their teacher's still-rosy face.
Only then did Mafuyu turn to Rei Ao. Two small flames lit in her clear eyes. She shot him a glare full of hot embarrassment and accusation and pushed the words through her teeth: "They're here. Y-you can go now."
Stiff tone. Obvious sulk. All thanks to that little "open the door" stunt.
Rei Ao didn't take the hint. He stepped inside, shut the door behind him like he owned the place, and said, easy as ever, "Kirisu-sensei, I'm entrusting them to you."
The words sounded sincere. The mischief in his eyes said otherwise, which only tightened the knot in Mafuyu's chest.
"Hmph." She snorted, sharp and annoyed, turning her face away. "I take care of my students without you telling me. Keep your fake concern."
She leaned on "fake concern," still clearly sore about the ambush.
The air went sticky again. Fumino and Rizu stalled in the hall toward the living room—moving felt wrong, staying felt worse. Their presence shrank to near zero between the two adults, downgraded from "people who need help" to a pair of glorified third wheels.
They traded another look with the same conclusion: …Should we disappear?
Rei Ao studied Mafuyu's puffed-up profile—the forced-calm face, the still-pink ears—and something flickered in his eyes. He didn't bother with more words. He simply reached out and closed his hand around her slender wrist.
"Y-you—!"
Mafuyu startled, surprise and panic flashing bright. The last thing she wanted was another stunt in front of the girls that would wreck her image. She jerked to pull free, but his grip, casual as it seemed, didn't allow it.
"Come with me for a second. Small thing," he said—flat tone, the kind of matter-of-fact command that left no room for debate.
He didn't give her the chance to argue. He just drew her along, no questions asked, toward the dimmer corner of the hallway off the entry that led to the bedrooms.
~~~
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