Lying on the mat, Kotomi Izumi felt like her entire waist was falling apart. She was like a delicate flower being rcilessly battered in a storm.
Whimper whimper.
gumi, fully dressed and looking completely satisfied, glanced at Kotomi's flushed face and her wistful gaze. She couldn't help but chuckle and reached out a hand.
Kotomi let gumi pull her up, her small head leaning against gumi's chest, still breathing a bit heavily. She looked like soone who had just finished a five-kiloter run and was only now starting to recover.
"Tired?" gumi asked with a mischievous smile, already knowing the answer. Unsurprisingly, she got an eye roll in return.
Kotomi glanced down at her aching thighs. The once-perfect white pantyhose had again been torn in several places by gumi. The holes weren't big, but they were conspicuous enough to draw imdiate attention if she walked around like that.
Her face flushed deep red. Kotomi glared fiercely at gumi once more. This wasteful girl's bad habit—when would it ever change?
Those pantyhose were expensive!
She usually couldn't even bring herself to wear them casually!
The more she thought about it, the more irritated she got. Kotomi began pumling gumi with her soft little fists. Each punch was more like a gentle massage than anything painful. As she struck, she grumbled:
"You're so wasteful! Do you even know how expensive these tights are? They're 5,000 yen more than the ones you tore up at the hotel last ti! You're awful! Just awful! Even if we have money, we can't be this reckless! If you do this again, I swear I won't let you touch for six months—not even a finger!"
"Mmm, I'm sorry, honey. But it's not entirely my fault, okay? You have to take so responsibility too. Whether it's stockings or pantyhose, you're just way too tempting when you wear them~ I can't help it when my attack speed and crit rate stack to the max. I get so fired up that I lose control and do so... scary things."
gumi giggled shalessly and, taking advantage of Kotomi's soft punches, inched closer and gave her a smooch on the cheek.
"You're making excuses! I don't care! I already said it—next ti you get rough like that again, you won't get to touch for half a month. And I definitely won't wear tights and…"
Halfway through, Kotomi realized she was being too bold. Her face, already flushed, turned even redder and more enticing. She quickly shut her mouth.
gumi smirked and teased, "Hmm? And you won't wear what? Tell ~ Don't worry, it's just the two of us in the whole gym storage room."
Kotomi's face turned bright red as tears welled up from the teasing. Finally, she shouted:
"gumi, you're the worst!"
"If you'd just marry already, I wouldn't be this bad."
gumi shrugged, her shalessness reaching new heights—probably because she was still riding high on satisfaction.
"Judging by your behavior just now, I really need to reconsider whether I should marry you. Hmph, soone as inconsiderate as you doesn't deserve ! Wait, wait! What are you doing?!"
Kotomi scrambled backward on the mat, eyes wide with tension as she watched gumi remove her jacket again. A wonderful—no, ominous—feeling surged in her chest.
"Doing what? I'm going to teach you a good lesson, of course. If you won't marry , then who will? Huh? Tell !"
After hearing Kotomi's rejection, gumi was both amused and fired up. Whatever exhaustion she felt earlier vanished completely.
Without giving Kotomi a chance to explain, the poor little Kotomi was once again pinned down by gumi—
In the afternoon, the first period was English class.
After testing half a book's worth of vocabulary in Class 1-B during the last period of the morning, Tsumugi Nomura planned to randomly call on a few students in Class 1-F to recite key sentences from yesterday's lesson.
As the English teacher, with midterms happening tomorrow, she felt just as anxious as the students.
During the exam, not only would students be answering questions, but she herself would be taking the test at the podium while invigilating. Another teacher would be supervising while she worked on the midterm paper.
To be honest, she wasn't very confident in how well she'd do. She wondered if she could score a perfect grade?
She wasn't the one who created the exam either. Until she received the sealed test packet tomorrow afternoon, she had no idea what the test questions would be or how difficult they'd get.
Word had it, the test was tear-your-hair-out hard.
But what could she do? High school competition was fierce these days. Ultimately, it all ca down to student graduation rates or job placent stats.
This midterm wasn't just an exam for students—it was one for the teachers too.
The biggest difference? If a teacher bombed the test, they wouldn't be getting a call ho. But their year-end bonus? That would definitely take a hit...
Tsumugi Nomura really hoped a few of her students would do well this ti, especially in the midterms, so she wouldn't be left looking bad if she didn't score well herself.
Maybe she could even say it was because she worked so hard teaching that her own study ti suffered. At most, it'd earn her a lecture, not a docked bonus.
As for who she was pinning her hopes on?
There was no question.
Of course it was Kotomi.
From a teacher's perspective, a good student—even if absent for a few days—would catch up first thing by borrowing classmates' notes. Midterms? Please, no problem.
Kotomi's grades were way beyond just "good student" territory. Tsumimi figured she probably even asked her seatmate to secretly record every class for those three days she was in Kyoto and watched them back at the hotel each night.
That thought made Tsumugi Nomura admire Kotomi even more. Little did she know, Kotomi's English textbook looked brand-new and untouched.
Just as she was about to call on Kotomi, her eyes fell on the girl, who was currently slumped over her desk, seemingly spacing out—or sleeping?
Such behavior shouldn't exist in a student who could rank first in all of Tokyo!
Tsumimi was just about to remind Kotomi that this was class ti and she shouldn't be dozing off. But she paused.
Why would Kotomi be like this?
Whether it was sleep or distraction, the reason was likely simple: she was tired.
Everyone gets tired.
Those three days in Kyoto must've worn her out. Alone in a big, unfamiliar city without her parents—finally back ho now, the exhaustion she had suppressed was probably overwhelming. Slumping at her desk in class was understandable.
Most students would've taken the day off, regardless of tomorrow's exam. But Kotomi didn't. She still ca to school.
What did that say? That she valued her studies!
A child who truly loves to learn must also learn to balance rest and effort... Tsumugi Nomura thought with satisfaction as she looked at Kotomi, deciding not to wake her up. She didn't want to disturb her "brief" mont of rest.
Instead, she turned and called on Yui Yuigahama:
"Yui, please recite the key sentence from Chapter 12. There's only one key sentence in this lesson. I highlighted it yesterday, so you should have morized it, right?"
Yui stood up with a confused expression and looked at Tsumugi Nomura. "Teacher, did you... go over the key sentence from Lesson 12 yesterday?"
She did.
However, at the ti, Yui was too busy drawing stick figures in her textbook to hear a single word.
Tsumugi Nomura's expression froze. Then, she took a deep breath and exhaled heavily. Finally, she put on a seemingly gentle smile and said:
"The key sentence from Lesson 12 is—got it?"
Yui didn't dare say anything else and quickly nodded.
"You got it? Good. After the midterm exam, copy this key sentence ten tis on paper and morize it before handing it in to . Also, for this English test, which is out of 120 points, you must score no less than 100. Understand?"
"Ugh... got it."
"As long as you understand. The request isn't too much, is it? Sit down."
Yui sat back down with a bitter expression. Why was she always the one caught in the crossfire during English class? Whose fault was it really?!
Yui didn't know, nor did she know that the one who always caused her to get caught in the crossfire during English class was sitting right behind her.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
40 Advanced Chapters Available on Patreon:
Patreon/DaoOfHeaven
User Comments
0 comments from readers