Chapter 9: The Dissatisfied Sounding of a Bell Along the North Moat

Yukio arrived at the staff room and confidently walked right in through the open door. The sight inside, however, threw him off.

Chie Hoshinomiya, the homeroom teacher of class B was propped up against the door of the guidance room, trying to make out whatever she could, while a pink-haired, well-endowed beauty, who Yukio observed was Ichinose, was looking upon the scene exasperatedly.

"Hoshinomiya-sensei! You shouldn't be doing that sort of thing! They might be having a private conversation in there."

Ichinose, the girl with a big heart and even bigger baggage for a past, complained frustratedly at her homeroom teacher.

"Oh, lay off of it Ichinose-Chan. We might be in on some juicy stuff here."

Chie retorted excitedly, uncaring of the girl's complaints about her less-than-professional behaviour.

Gathering his bearings again, Yukio stared at the scene with a mirthful sparkle within his eyes. The older woman reminded him slightly of Nene since she was extremely flirty, but unlike his playful friend, she had the cunning of an individual who graduated the Advanced Nurturing High.

Deciding it would be best to announce his presence rather than be found out spying on them, Yukio cleared his throat exaggeratedly.

"Ahem!"

The pair of teacher and student jumped in shock at the sound. Chie looked at him like a deer in headlights, while Honami's expression relayed the guilt at having her teacher caught snooping.

"Ha, Ha, Hello… handsome. What are you doing here?"

Laughing nervously, the teacher proved her mettle by gathering herself instantly.

Chie slowly walked up to the intruder in the room, observing him from top to bottom, and noticed his foreign look as well as his height. She was liking what she saw.

"Hello Hoshinomiya-sensei. I'm just here to have a chat with Chabashira-sensei. Is she currently occupied?"

"Oh, you know who I am? And what are you looking for Sae-Chan for? Oh my! Is she engaging in a relationship with not one, but two high schoolers?"

The coy teacher gasped while looking at Yukio in mock disbelief.

"Umm… I don't think so. Well at least, I'm not in a relationship with Chabashira-sensei. And who wouldn't know the teacher of class B?"

Yukio swept his eyes to the other individual in the room to try to bring order back into the conversation, and the perceptive girl quickly came to his rescue.

"Sensei~ Please stop bothering another boy… again!"

Chie just laughed at the chastisement while Yukio audibly sighed in relief. Someone like Chie who toyed with men's minds was not a good match for Yukio's heart- even with all the experience in the past month.

"Anyway… hello! My name is Honami Ichinose. I've seen you around… Yukio-Kun, was it? With Karuizawa-Chan and Kushida-Chan at the mall."

"Yes. that's me. I'm flattered that you know who I am Ichinose-San. I would have approached to say hello, but you usually have a big crowd around you."

"Oh haha. I guess my classmates can be quite protective of me."

"No, that's fine. I'm glad to have met you finally."

"Oh? Is Yukio-Kun flirting with my student right in front of me, hm? Are you trying to bring her to your class? Hm… what class were you in again?"

Chie questioned subtly. Although Yukio understood the devious flirt was trying to wrench answers from him, he replied truthfully so as not to put himself on her radar.

"Class D Hoshinomiya-Sensei."

"Class D again? Why does Sae-Chan get all the cute guys? Tell me… what are you here to see Sae-Chan for?"

Asking the question again, but this time after buttering him up with a compliment, Chie tried to gather information from him about her rival's meeting with the two individuals inside.

Yukio, understanding the scheming woman, decided to deflect the question with a pretence of a blush and a stutter that was in no way a real reaction, or so his mind tried to argue.

"It's nothing, Hoshinomiya-sensei. Just something personal I'd like to find out from Chabashira-Sensei."

"Ah Mou~ What's there to be so secretive about? Well, go on ahead. I won't keep you back. Though drop by the staff room more often. I could use some eye candy."

And leaving a flirtatious wink, she left him alone with Ichinose who apologised for her teacher's actions.

"Well, I'll see you around Yukio-Kun. It was nice to meet you, despite the... unusual circumstances."

"Ha Ha, don't sweat it. And it was nice to meet you too."

As the girl walked off, Yukio watched her for a few moments, thinking some thoughts of the future, before he got out his phone and fiddled with it.

Putting on a front of confidence, he made his way to the door and decided to place his ears up against it. Noticing all voices were muffled inside, he, with renewed confidence in the infrastructure of the government-funded institution, knocked on the door.

— — —

"It's not about the students who choose this school. Like you and Kouenji, there are others who are fine with class A or class D. In fact, one has just knocked on the door right now. Come in!"

The door opened slowly as Horikita, Ayanokouji and Sae watched a tall, foreign boy walk through the space and cross his arms with confidence while leaning on the shut door behind him.

"Oh? I didn't expect you would invite others during our conversation, Chabashira-Sensei?"

Sae looked at him oddly, confused about his unusual display of confidence which she had never noticed in the classroom. Deciding to continue anyway, she looked at the two other occupants of the room.

"Look, Horikita. Another irregular student who is fine with being placed in class D. Or would it be that you also wanted to talk about your incorrect placement, Kobayashi?"

Yukio looked at the confused Horikita with a grin and replied to his deadpan Sensei who had a mirthful glint in her eyes.

"Nothing of the sort Sensei. Why? Are the two here protesting the school's decision?"

"Please stay out of our matters, Kobayashi-San. We have no relations for you to be acting concerned about our behaviour."

Horikita snapped, internally frustrated at the feeling of being played around with by everyone in the room.

"On the contrary, Horikita, Kobayashi here may become very relevant to you in the future. With the coincidental results of Ayanokouji, would you also think it a coincidence that Kobayashi here correctly answered all three difficult math questions in the exam perfectly? And yet received a score of 90 points. I wonder how that happened?"

Horikita looked shocked at the words Sae uttered so casually before looking at the foreign student she had underestimated too many times till now.

Even she had only made a decent attempt at one of the difficult questions, just falling short of receiving an answer, and failing to tie with the three top scorers. But apparently, the nonchalant classmate in front of her answered them all perfectly.

"H-how did you do them? No! Why did you only receive 90 points?"

Ayanokouji also looked at him, expressionless, but displaying a questioning behaviour.

"Hm? That? Well, I'm just good at math. And don't get me wrong, I have no qualms against placing at the top of the class. My Japanese language and world history studies are just shy of being at the final year middle school level. Otherwise, I would have aced the quiz."

"So that was the case. Well, the mystery has been solved. But that still does not explain why you are here to see me, Kobayashi."

"Ah, that would be a talk I'd like to keep between yourself and I, Sensei. And don't worry, I have no plans to pester you about something as immature as being placed in class D."

Horikita's head rapidly swivelled to Yukio's in indignation, before she remembered the student she planned to retort to had scored higher than her in the quiz. Yet she couldn't help but want to get back at the arrogant boy and so she said-

"At least I don't play around every day like you."

She seethed, to which Yukio grinned at her immaturity, while Sae just shook her head.

"A word of advice Horikita-San, from a sincere classmate like myself. Change that perspective of yours and you might not have had this conversation with Sensei today. Now would it be possible if you could vacate the room for my conversation with Sensei? Also, Ayanokouji-Kun, would it be possible to walk back to the dorms together?"

Ayanokouji looked at Yukio profoundly and then nodded his head. Both class outcasts- one for her social isolation, and the other for his association with a perverted circle- walked out of the door that Yukio opened for them and resumed their conversation outside.

'Hm… that should have been a reasonable enough display to spark an inferiority complex within her, maybe. Though she's much too headstrong to break from just that. Breaking her is the end goal. Just as with class D, one can only go up once they have fallen to rock bottom. Or I could just leave it all to Ayanokouji too.'

"Now what did you come to see me for, Kobayashi?"

"Sensei, I have a few concerns I'd like to consult with you if that's possible.

Receiving a positive response for Sae, he began with something trivial to lower her guard.

"Sensei, could you invigilate Kouenji a little more closely in the exams henceforth? It's obvious from the nickname he gave me that he managed to spy on my paper during the quiz."

Chabashira, for her part, corrected the confused look in her eyes and replied positively, wondering if she should just broach the conversation she planned.

'It's pretty obvious from the nickname that he noticed my quiz sheet. Though I'd put it down to the narcissist's pride in himself that he didn't cheat and copy my answers. I'm kind of flattered that he gave me a nickname. I only remember him giving one to those he acknowledged, even if just half-heartedly.'

"Anyways Sensei, my next concern would be about the teacher's access to student records. Sensei, do you have the information about my past before getting into the school?"

Chabashira was internally delighted that the boy had coincidentally brought up the topic himself, while Yukio watched her perk up. Clearly his plan to evoke her interest in him during homeroom earlier that day had worked.

'Now to find out what she knows.'

"Yukio Kobayashi. If you don't want to be expelled then you will do as I say for the next three years."

'Well… that was uncalled for.'