"Fine. But I might not be free at that exact time. If I'm busy, I'll just head straight to your place later, Kirisu-sensei."
"..."
Mafuyu Kirisu had not expected that the timing would not be arranged by her, but that she would have to wait at any moment for Hachiman to show up. She wanted to say something else, but by then he had already hung up.
Now that was troublesome.
Maybe she should have the housekeeping staff wait together with her?
Feeling a little helpless, Mafuyu left the student guidance room. But just as she reached the door, she suddenly noticed someone outside peeking through the crack.
"Who's out there... Kashima-sensei? What are you doing here?"
She was about to scold the person when the door was pushed open from the outside.
The one who had been spying was none other than Kashima Risako, a teacher from the same office and someone close to Hanamori Kotomi.
"Kirisu-sensei, where are Hiratsuka-sensei and Hanamori-sensei?"
The blue-haired, busty Kashima Risako stuck her head inside as soon as she saw Mafuyu come out. When she noticed there seemed to be no one else in the room, she could not help asking.
"They're eating in the cafeteria. What's wrong? Do you need them for something?"
Mafuyu looked at her in confusion. The guidance room was not some private office. If she wanted to find Hiratsuka, she could just knock and come in.
"In the cafeteria? I saw Hiratsuka-sensei and Hanamori-sensei walk into the guidance room with my own eyes. They never came out. Not until you went in."
Kashima Risako stared straight at Mafuyu, the only one who had gone in and come out shortly after.
"Recently, Hanamori-sensei has been acting strange. Even in the office she seems absent-minded. Do you have any idea what's going on, Kirisu-sensei?"
"Huh? They really weren't in there. You can go in and check."
Now it was Mafuyu's turn to be confused. Was she hallucinating, or had Kashima seen wrong?
She had not seen Hiratsuka Shizuka, Hanamori Kotomi, or Ebihara Urara in there at all. The room was not big. There was no way three adults could hide inside.
'Does Kirisu-sensei really not know?'
Kashima Risako stared at Mafuyu's expression, unable to detect any sign of lying. Half believing and half doubting, she walked into the guidance room and began searching around.
But in the guidance room, cleaned spotless by magic to the point that Hiratsuka would immediately notice something off, Kashima could not find even a trace of them, let alone their figures.
Desk, bookshelf, sofa, coffee table. Standing in the corner, she could take in everything in the room at a glance.
"Kashima-sensei, why don't you just call Hiratsuka-sensei and ask where they are?"
Seeing Kashima even walk around to the other side of the desk and stare under it, Mafuyu reminded her helplessly.
She had said it already. There was no way Hiratsuka and Hanamori were hiding in here without her knowing.
This was just a room for talking with problem students. It had a bit of privacy, but no secret compartments. How could anyone hide here?
Not even one person, let alone three adults.
"Alright. I'll call."
Unable to find any clue, Kashima hesitated. After Mafuyu's reminder, she nodded and took out her phone.
However, she did not call Hiratsuka. She called Hanamori Kotomi.
The reason she had been watching outside the guidance room for so long was not accidental, nor because of Hiratsuka, but because of the delinquent student incident before.
Back then, she and Hanamori had both been troubled over the convenience store issue involving the delinquent student. Suddenly, the problem was solved.
It was good that it was resolved, but even now she did not know how.
She only knew that the student council stepped in. The main person who framed the incident apologized, others were disciplined. The student council somehow had more authority than the teachers. A problem they had worked on for so long was solved in an instant.
Just to prevent the delinquent from being affected by his past at Sobu High, he was transferred to another school.
But Hanamori, who had been running around with her before, had become strange recently.
Besides often zoning out in the office, she kept avoiding Kashima. Whenever Kashima pressed her about how the issue had been resolved, she would stammer and dodge the question.
Kashima seriously suspected that Hanamori had been threatened by someone because of that incident. So she paid close attention to Hanamori's movements at school.
Most of the time she seemed normal. But sometimes she would go to the Service Club to eat with Saki Hayase and Narahashi Miki, and other times she would come to the guidance room.
The guidance room was one thing. Kashima herself occasionally came to ask Hiratsuka about problem students.
But what was going on with the Service Club?
Hanamori was the art teacher. Even if she did not go to the art club, why the Service Club? Hiratsuka was the advisor there.
Last time, she noticed Hanamori and the entire student council go into the guidance room for a long time without coming out. She seriously suspected Hanamori had been threatened by the student council.
This time, she saw Hanamori receive a message and rush out of the office. Kashima followed her all the way to the guidance room.
Again, Hiratsuka's guidance room? Was this some special meeting place?
Did they always have to wait until Hiratsuka was absent to meet?
But what confused her most was that the student council members should have been in exams at this time.
And why had Suzune Rione-sensei and Ebihara Urara-sensei also gone in?
It was like a ghost story. The teachers walked into the guidance room right in front of her, then vanished without a trace.
She had been watching until Mafuyu went in. Only then did she lose patience and peek, wanting to see if Mafuyu would also disappear, and how.
Now that Mafuyu said she did not know either, Kashima needed to find another way to save Hanamori and the others from being threatened.
Beep!
["Eh? Hiratsuka-senpai? Ka-Kashima-sen... y-you're looking for me?"]
As soon as the call connected, Hanamori Kotomi's flustered voice came through the speaker.
"Hanamori-sensei, what's wrong? Your voice sounds strange."
Kashima was startled and had not heard clearly. She switched to speaker mode and placed the phone on the table so Mafuyu could also hear.
["I-I'm... learning from Ebihara-sensei... doing... bridal training, ah! Hiratsuka-senpai!"]
["You just did that! Now it's my turn!"]
["Urara, Rion, help... help me..."]
["No helping!"]
Hearing the noisy chaos from the other side, Kashima was bewildered.
"Bridal training? Why suddenly that? And why is it so loud over there?"
"They're probably learning housework. Ebihara-sensei is about to get married and already completed her bridal training, so Hanamori-sensei and Hiratsuka-sensei are learning from her."
Hearing "bridal training," Mafuyu became even more convinced of her earlier guess and explained for Hanamori.
"When I called Hiratsuka-sensei earlier, it was just as noisy. This time it's probably Hanamori-sensei's turn."
Actually, she also wanted to join and learn. Not for bridal training, just to master some housework skills.
But if she went, she would expose her embarrassing shortcomings.
"Hanamori-sensei, did you go to the guidance room today?"
Although Kashima found their chaos strange, the place sounded far too loud to still be the guidance room. Still, she wanted to confirm.
["Yes, yes! Hiratsuka-senpai, haah... haah... Hiratsuka-senpai is with us..."]
"Besides Ebihara-sensei, Suzune-sensei, and Hiratsuka-sensei, are there any other teachers with you?"
["N-no... Hiratsuka-senpai wait! I'm sorry! I shouldn't have, ahhh!"]
["Then that's strange... I clearly saw you go in. Did I zone out and miss you leaving..."]
["I-I have something to do! I-I'll talk later! Goodbye, Kashima-sensei!"]
With the facts laid out, Kashima had no choice but to believe they had left.
After Hanamori hurriedly hung up, she was still troubled about where they were.
For Kashima, who had buried herself in studying in her youth and lacked common sense, the sounds of Hanamori and Hiratsuka fooling around only seemed odd. She did not think further.
Mafuyu was not that lacking in common sense, but she already assumed they were learning housework from Ebihara Urara l.
Hanamori Kotomi. Suzune Rione. Ebihara Urara. Hiratsuka Shizuka.
Among the four, only Hiratsuka was a bit bold in style and somewhat anxious about marriage.
The other three were either still young and had not thought about such things, indifferent toward men, or even had a fiancé.
How could they possibly be fooling around together?
Mafuyu did not think in that direction at all. She only felt they were messing around with each other.
Many young female teachers still liked to joke and play like in their student days, barely putting on authority in front of students.
Perhaps gentle and childlike Hanamori, and Hiratsuka who loved hot-blooded manga, would fool around so openly.
But she really was not suited to that kind of playfulness.
Watching others was fine. Doing it herself? She just could not.
"Since Hanamori-sensei isn't here, I'll go look for her elsewhere. Sorry, Kirisu-sensei. I misunderstood you."
Seeing Hanamori was not there, Kashima picked up her phone and decided to check the cafeteria.
For her, Hanamori's safety mattered more.
They had worked hard together on the convenience store incident. If Hanamori was being threatened because of it, she could not ignore it.
"It's fine. Just a misunderstanding."
Mafuyu shook her head and also left the guidance room in her heels.
For her, the most important thing was fulfilling that impulsive bet with Hikigaya.
She would never bet with anyone again. That boy skipped class every day and did not study, yet he still got full marks. She even increased the difficulty of the test, and she still lost.
———
After both of them left, the door of the guidance room closed again.
The quiet room quickly became lively once more.
"Kotomi, stop playing... let's not hurt each other anymore..."
"Who was the one who wouldn't let me go just now? Hiratsuka-senpai, hmph... do you still think I'm stupid?"
"Rion... Urara..."
"Don't count on them. They only stopped serving Hachiman after they were exhausted. They don't have the energy to care about you now."
Hiratsuka Shizuka lay weakly on the floor. Her straight trousers were long gone, replaced with the same high-quality black stockings Hanamori and the others wore.
But they had only just been put on before being torn with a hole during their scuffle.
Earlier, when Hanamori was on the phone, Hiratsuka had pushed her hard. Now the situation had reversed, and it was Hiratsuka's turn to suffer.
Seeing that Hiratsuka had stopped struggling, Hanamori crouched down and looked at her as if she had fainted. She reached out and slapped Hiratsuka's legs, still wrapped around Hachiman's waist in black stockings.
The exhausted legs only twitched weakly, nothing like before when just a slap would make them instinctively tighten around Hachiman.
But she had expected this. She directly lifted Hiratsuka up and sat her back in Hachiman's arms, personally helping the unconscious Hiratsuka continue.
It might look like she was going too far, but Hiratsuka-senpai had been worse earlier.
Even though she had turned off the shared sensation function, Hiratsuka had turned it back on while she was on the phone, even wrapping her arms around her waist from behind and helping her move.
If Kirisu-sensei and Kashima-sensei had not been so innocent and clueless about such things, she might have been exposed just now.
'Hiratsuka-senpai is awful!'
"Kotomi, you forced me!"
Feeling that Hanamori refused to let things go, Hiratsuka, who had looked like a lifeless fish, suddenly tightened her legs. While Hanamori continued manually controlling her movements, she grabbed the silver shared-sensation bracelet she had taken off just two minutes ago and put it back on herself and Hanamori.
She would go all out.
If she did not teach this girl a lesson, she would definitely bring it up again in the future.
Today she would let Hanamori know that she was not someone to mess with.
[🎉 Shoutout to Asriels, LN and Slashdog for joining p@treon. Thank you very much.🤗]
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