Chapter 13: Homeroom Teacher

"Excuse me," Minoru said as he entered the principal's room, where he saw Murdoch Swan engaged in a heated discussion with Henry Henderson.

"That's the end of our discussion, Swan-sensei. You may go now," Henry told Swan.

Swan clicked his tongue as he walked towards the exit, passing Minoru with a glare, but Minoru chose to ignore him.

"Please have a seat, Yanagi-sensei," Henry said, motioning for Minoru to take a seat in front of his desk.

Minoru nodded and settled into the chair.

"I just finished reading your lesson plan for the first semester. It's elegant work, Yanagi-sensei."

"Thank you, sir," Minoru replied.

"Then, I want to ask you something before we get down to business."

Henry paused, gazing at a photo hanging on the opposite wall – a photo of the school's principals since its establishment.

"What do you believe is the most important quality for an educator to possess?"

Minoru wondered if this was some sort of test, but from Henry's tone, it seemed like a more personal inquiry rather than a discussion among colleagues. Nevertheless, he wouldn't give a half-hearted answer.

"Patience," Minoru replied.

"Oh? Why is that, Sensei?"

"I believe that every student has their strengths and weaknesses. To help them find the right path, we must have the patience to understand and guide them."

"I see. Are you saying, we can't force a fish to climb a tree?"

Minoru nodded.

"Yes."

Henry was pleased with Minoru's response.

'I've asked the same question to other teachers, but you're the only one who has given me this answer.'

The reason behind Henry's question was to find a suitable candidate for the next principal as he neared the end of his career. While he had considered Chabashira Sae as a top candidate, he disagreed with her philosophy of trying to make students perfect humans.

He continued to observe Minoru, who sat calmly and elegantly.

Henry found himself unexpectedly entertained by the young man's pursuit of an elegant path in this uncivil era.

'Let's see if you're more than just words, Yanagi-sensei.'

Henry thought as he decided to keep an eye on him alongside another potential candidate.

"Right then, let's move on," Henry said, handing a document labeled "2-A" to Minoru.

Minoru glanced at the cover, realizing that this was the homeroom class he would be responsible for during the year.

"After careful consideration, I've decided to entrust this class to you, Yanagi-sensei. Please take a look first..."

Since this school was unique, it admitted around 150 students each year, divided into six classes, from A to F.

-Flip!

Maintaining his poker face, he quickly scanned through the first page.

[Shinomiya Kaguya]

Minoru couldn't help but chuckle inwardly, knowing that he had been assigned to be Shinomiya Kaguya's homeroom teacher.

This would certainly make things easier.

-Flip!

[Hayasaka Ai]

He flipped through the pages containing the student IDs.

-Flip! 20x

[Teresa de Luxemburg]

'Yeah...'

There were 23 students in his class, and he had already memorized the names of all of them, except for a few students. These students might be transferring, so he had yet to become familiar with them. However, one name on the list of transfer students stood out and troubled him.

'What the fuck is she doing here?'

"There's a reason why I assigned you to this class..."

"As you can see from her name, you might understand what I mean. I believe that Yanagi-sensei has lived abroad long enough to handle foreign students with ease. However, it's not just the Second Princess of Luxemburg you need to be concerned about, there are other students from important families like Shinomiya and so on..."

Henry paused.

"What I'm trying to say is that you need to be careful."

"I understand."

In this world where he had been reincarnated, there were anomalies like this country.

Luxemburg was a kingdom about the size of Switzerland, bordering Belgium, France, and Germany. The kingdom had a strong economy and was renowned for its banking system, food products, chemical and pharmaceutical industries, as well as luxury watch manufacturing.

Minoru understood why Henry had warned him.

The new Queen, Eileen de Luxemburg, was famous for being the "Perfect Ruler," and the world found her intimidating due to her competence, even before she ascended to the throne.

'Also,' Minoru thought, 'There's absolutely no fucking way she'll let her little sister hide her royal family name and live quietly as a normal person, considering how massive her pride is, just like those boobs.'

Minoru had firsthand experience with Queen Eileen, having associated with her until he vanished after his involvement in the death of the First Prince.

"Excellent. Since the new student will be joining our school, I'll have her introduce herself to you, Yanagi-sensei," Henry nodded, just as someone knocked on the door. "Elegant timing. Please come in."

Henry rose from his seat and straightened his tie as if preparing to meet an important guest. He walked to the door to welcome their visitor.

As the door swung open, Minoru couldn't resist muttering under his breath, what a crap stroke of bad luck.

He wondered why fate had brought them together once again, as he had found people from that country to be quite tiresome.

"Good afternoon, Henderson-sensei," said the beautiful girl with blonde hair and a slim build, her green eyes radiating an air of grace and innocence that drew people in, making them want to protect her with their lives. She gave a slight bow to Henry, accompanied by a bright smile.

"Welcome, Your Highness Teresa and Alexandra-dono," Henry greeted. "Did you have a pleasant flight?"

Minoru's gaze met that of the red-haired girl named Alexandra, who stared at him as if she were a watchdog.

"Yes, thank you for asking, Sensei," Teresa replied. "And please drop the honorifics and just call me Teresa."

"As you wish," Henry replied.

She glanced at Minoru, who stood behind Henry to the left.

"Is this gentleman, perhaps?"

"Let me introduce you, this is Yanagi-sensei, our new teacher and the homeroom teacher for your class."

"My name is Yanagi Minoru," Minoru introduced himself. "As Henderson-sensei mentioned, I'll be your homeroom teacher for class 2-A. Please forgive any lapses in etiquette, Your Highness."

"I see~!" Teresa smiled at Minoru. "My name is Teresa de Luxemburg, the Second Princess of Luxemburg. Please take care of me and my friend, Yanagi-sensei."

The red-haired girl bowed slightly. "My name is Alexandra de Magritte. Please take care of me, Sensei."

---

Teresa and Alexandra had just exited the principal's office after a meeting with Principal Henry and Minoru.

"Your Highness, did something happen?" Alexandra asked.

Teresa's gaze fixed on the door, seemingly waiting for something.

"There's nothing wrong, it's just that I—"

Before she could finish her sentence, the door swung open again, and Minoru stepped out, seemingly determined to walk away and ignore them.

"Ahh! Yanagi-sensei, wait!"

Teresa unconsciously raised her voice.

"Can I help you, student?"

He looked at her, and Teresa gave him a sad, longing look.

What is it? The truth was, Teresa didn't know why.

She just wanted to call his name because she suddenly felt nostalgic and didn't want him to leave, yet.

"Sensei, um—can you accompany both of us as we explore the school?"

Teresa randomly asked Minoru, not finding a reason for calling upon him.

Alexandra found Teresa acting strangely today, especially after meeting and talking with Minoru.

"Wait, Your Hig—ahem! Teresa. Yanagi-sensei must be busy with his work. You can't ask him something like this."

"Is that so?"

Teresa is like an open book; she's sad.

'What a bothersome girl, although that redhead was correct, I am indeed busy.'

Meeting with the Luxemburg folks had left his head spinning.

Though, he had just wrapped up his lesson plan, and all he could think about was heading for the rooftop to have a cigarette and ease his frayed nerves.

"Ahaha~ my bad, my bad!" Minoru chuckled with a smile that made the two girls blush. "As Magritte said, by chance, I'm still preparing for my lesson."

This bastard was smooth at lying, making Teresa nod innocently as she clenched her fists cheerfully. Yet, he wondered if Aileen and Teresa were siblings, given how starkly contrasting their personalities were, like oil and water.

"I understand!"

Huh? Too easy.

Minoru's face seemed to say that.

Alexandra wondered why Teresa was so comfortable talking to Minoru as if they knew each other.

"Your Highness—"

"Please call me Teresa."

'Haha, for Odin's sake, don't give me that look.'

She flashed a blinding smile that could practically blind someone.

"Teresa, I'm sorry, but I'm curious. Isn't this our first meeting?"

Minoru asked calmly, wanting to act as if he had never met the person named Teresa de Luxemburg.

"Yes! Yet, I feel like I've met Yanagi-sensei in the past..."

Seeing Teresa in that state, Minoru felt like an asshole.

At the same time, he was amazed by Teresa's intuition.

'Yeah, women's intuition sure is overpowered asf.'

His mind wandered back to an incident from six years ago, the day that triggered the civil war in Luxemburg. But what was more important was that she seemed to have grown up well.

"Hm~? There's no way a peasant like me—"

Minoru playfully denied it, but Teresa cut him off.

"Sensei! Like I said, please don't say something like that."

Teresa pouted at him, skeptical that this was their first meeting.

'Your Highness... he's a teacher, you know that, right?'

Alexandra had never seen Teresa take an interest in the opposite gender because she always told her that she was waiting for someone. But Minoru was a stranger, and it seemed impossible for Teresa to have met someone like him, so she wondered.

'Well, he's certainly something else, and handsome too.'

Alexandra commented on Minoru's background after Principal Henry praised him.

To Alexandra, Minoru was a hardworking man, and she almost unconsciously compared him to her Queen, Eileen de Luxemburg.

She thought that maybe Teresa might be interested in Minoru because she knew that Teresa never talked to someone she had just met like this.

Knowing her, Teresa was always cautious due to the incident that had almost taken her life, thus, this left Alexandra in shock.

"Ahem!"

Alexandra coughed, making Teresa flinch as she narrowed her eyes at Minoru.

"Your Highness, I already know my way around the school if you need an escort."

She didn't like Minoru because Teresa seemed too comfortable with him.

She just hoped that Minoru knew his place.

Minoru smiled wider as he understood what Alexandra thought of him, but he didn't take offense.

Instead, he wanted to say thank you.

"Oh..."

Teresa and Alexandra turned their heads towards the voice.

"Isn't this Princess Teresa? It's been quite some time."

A warm smile lit up her face as she approached them.

Teresa returned the smile with a graceful nod.

She knew exactly who this was.

Before her, stood a beautiful young lady with fair skin and long black hair, elegantly tied with a red ribbon. Her almond-shaped red eyes were striking, and she possessed a slim, feminine figure with a modest chest.

"Ah, it's been a while, Shinomiya-san, and quite a long time, Fujiwara-san," Teresa replied.

Standing beside Kaguya was her friend, Fujiwara Chika.

Chika was a cute young girl with shoulder-length light pink hair, featuring a peculiar black bow in the middle of her square bangs. Despite her shorter stature compared to Kaguya, she had a surprisingly large chest for her age.

As she reached the school principal's front door, her gaze froze upon spotting Minoru.

Then, Chika gasped, not initially noticing Teresa was there.

"Wow! It's Princess Teresa! What brings you here?!"

Kaguya's attention also shifted to Minoru, as she had yet to meet him.

"Ahaha~ The truth is, my friend Alexandra and I just transferred to this school," Teresa explained.

"Ah, I'm delighted to hear that," Kaguya responded. She then glanced at Minoru and continued, "I beg your pardon, it seems I interrupted your conversation with the Princess. Mister...?"

Kaguya locked eyes with Minoru, offering a polite smile, seemingly unfazed by his appearance.

"Oh? You must be the famous vice president," Then Minoru glanced at Chika, "...and the secretary of the student council."

"Well, you don't need to worry about that," Minoru smiled at Kaguya and Chika. "I'm the new math teacher, Yanagi Minoru."

Handsome and well-proportioned, his mere presence conveyed that he was far from the facade he portrayed.

Teacher? What utter nonsense he just said?

Initially, Kaguya had presumed him to be either a close relative of Teresa or a significant guest of the principal.

But as it turns out, he's just a math teacher?

"Oh my," Kaguya smiled, "I apologize, Yanagi-sensei, as I've just returned to school after a long break," She placed her right hand over her chest and continued, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Yanagi-sensei. My name is Shinomiya Kaguya."

'Whaa-whaa!'

As Kaguya exchanged pleasantries, Chika couldn't help but sense the intense atmosphere surrounding Yanagi Minoru and Shinomiya Kaguya.

---

Guess the rest of the 19 students...