"Seriously, I just shaved yesterday…"
After school, Rinji rubbed his hair.
He had shaved his head bald yesterday morning. By this morning it was already back to short, ssy hair, and by the end of the school day it had grown down to his ears again. ᴛhis chapter is ᴜpdated by n0velfire
He was starting to think his hair growth was way too strong.
"Well, I am sixteen now, right in the middle of puberty. Having excessive hair growth is probably normal." He twirled a strand of his golden hair hanging near his ear. "Still, it'd be nice if I grew so chest hair too, so I'd look a bit more manly, instead of it all going to my head."
Yawning as he left the school, Rinji headed toward the supermarket.
Ever since Hayasaka had officially cut ties with the Shinomiya family, she had been living at Rinji's place for the term. That ant he couldn't just grab a random dinner anymore—he had to cook properly.
And today, Misaki and i were also coming over for dinner.
After picking up so vegetables and at at the supermarket, Rinji hurried ho.
By now, Hayasaka should already be there.
Click.
He unlocked the door with his key, and sure enough, Hayasaka was sitting at the dining table.
"I'm ho."
"Mm… welco back."
"Uh…"
Sothing felt off when Hayasaka said that.
Her voice was shaky, almost choked, as if she'd been crying.
Dropping the grocery bags, Rinji quickly ran over to her.
Sure enough, she was crying, shoulders trembling slightly, tears pooling at the corners of her eyes.
"Ai…"
"Rinji!"
Suddenly, Hayasaka stood up, wrapped her arms tightly around him, and pressed her face against his chest.
Seeing her cry like this in his arms, Rinji thought sothing serious must have happened.
"Ai, what on earth—"
"Sorry, Rinji," she said, wiping her eyes with a handkerchief. "I just got too absorbed."
"Huh?"
Following her words, Rinji noticed the thick stack of manga sitting on the table.
The cover showed a cute girl, with the title: Today's Sweet Words.
"This… is shoujo manga?"
"Yes."
Hayasaka picked one up, holding it in front of her face. In a small voice she asked, "Rinji, do you want to read it?"
"I'll pass. I'm really not interested in shoujo manga."
Putting it back down, Rinji suddenly rembered sothing.
"Oh right, we're having guests over today."
"Really? Then should I put on the maid uniform?"
"Please don't."
---
Dinner wasn't anything too fancy, but with four dishes and a soup, it was more than enough.
Besides Rinji and Hayasaka, i and Misaki ca too.
Maybe it was because she'd grown more outgoing as she got older, but this ti Misaki even brought beer along.
Though the dinner itself was simple, the mood around the table was a bit…
Strange.
Rinji and i didn't think much of it and continued eating.
The main problem lay with Misaki and Hayasaka.
Hayasaka glanced sideways at Misaki and said, "I see, so you're a first-year teacher at Shuchiin Academy. Nice to et you, I'm a second-year student, Hayasaka Ai."
"Nice to et you too, Hayasaka-san," Misaki replied with a smile. "I've heard your na before."
"I'm not exactly famous at school, how could Fujioka-sensei have heard my na?" Hayasaka Ai smiled as well.
"Of course, from the Disciplinary Committee."
"..."
Because she had once been Kaguya's personal attendant, in order to blend into school life and cut ties with Kaguya, Hayasaka disguised herself as a flashy gyaru JK.
Naturally, many gyaru behaviors violated school rules. Because of that, Hayasaka had plenty of records with the Disciplinary Committee. Her excellent skills at dodging inspections and escaping made her one of the students the committee had to watch most carefully.
For weak mbers like Iino, encountering Hayasaka only ant being toyed with. As for soone difficult like Rinji, he usually turned a blind eye to her violations.
"So it's the Disciplinary Committee then."
Hayasaka's face was expressionless.
"Yes."
"I thought maybe you'd heard my na from Rinji. After all, I'm his girlfriend."
"..."
Misaki's grip on her chopsticks tightened slightly, though her smile remained unchanged.
"Is that so? Funny, I heard Rinji's girlfriend was a girl nad Karura."
"..."
Hayasaka raised her brow and quickly changed the subject.
"Fujioka-sensei, isn't it inappropriate to call your student by his given na directly? Instead of calling him Rinji, you call him Takamine."
"What's the problem? We're outside of school."
"Still, that sort of address is usually for friends of the sa age. Yet you only just t Rinji today, didn't you?" Hayasaka said. "By the way, Fujioka-sensei, how old are you?"
Crack.
A cross-shaped vein popped up on Misaki's forehead, though her elegant smile stayed in place.
"Asking a woman's age is impolite."
"But we're both won," Hayasaka replied. "Then let change the question."
"Go ahead, Hayasaka-san."
"How old is your child?"
Crack.
Several veins bulged from Misaki's head.
"I… I'm not even married yet."
At that mont, i, who had been quietly eating, suddenly spoke.
"Neither Misaki nor I are married. We're both thirty-five this year."
"i!!?"
"I see…" Hayasaka nodded thoughtfully. "Almost forty, then."
"I'm not that close to forty yet!"
As Rinji chewed his rice, watching Hayasaka interact with Misaki, question marks filled his mind.
In his impression, Hayasaka was supposed to be quiet like i, rarely talking to guests unless necessary. But today, she was acting strangely abnormal.
Whenever guests visited, whether male or female, Hayasaka had always maintained a calm, pleasant deanor—likely a result of her upbringing as a maid.
Thinking about it, today's Hayasaka was indeed different. When he ca ho from grocery shopping, he found her crying, and she had even hugged him on her own.
'Could it be…'
Rinji seed to realize sothing, glancing at the shoujo manga on the coffee table.
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