It took Kirisu Mafuyu several days to barely settle the tangled knot of feelings in her chest.
That afternoon, she ran into Hozuki Nozomi in the corridor. He'd just bought a drink from the vending machine and was on his way back to the Service Club, canned coffee sweating in his palm.
She let out a cold snort the instant she saw him, and as she passed, she tossed her head sharply to the side.
Hozuki Nozomi felt a sting bloom across his cheek.
Along with it came a scent — soft, floral, unmistakably hers — as Kirisu Mafuyu's cherry-blossom pink hair whipped across his face.
Before he could open his mouth, she'd already quickened her pace and slipped past him down the hall.
Hozuki Nozomi stood there, caught between amusement and helplessness.
Mafuyu-Sensei really was too adorable.
She was the one who'd said she hoped he wouldn't do anything excessive to her. She was the one who'd told him to focus on his girlfriends and not chase after her.
Good grief.
These past few days he'd been on his very best behavior — reining in every wayward thought about her, greeting her with courteous restraint whenever they passed in the halls, comporting himself like a proper student.
And now she was the one sulking.
Now she was flinging her hair in his face.
If that wasn't a provocation, what was it?
The moment Kirisu Mafuyu felt her hair make contact, regret shot through her like a jolt of static.
In a small panic, she simply fled.
Because the corridor had been empty.
If he cornered her at the stairwell landing and kissed her again the way he had before — hard, without warning — her composure would shatter on the spot.
He had genuinely been well-behaved lately. Almost as though he'd rewound himself to the version she'd first met — gentle, polite, the picture of a model student. Occasionally, out of the corner of her eye during class, she'd catch him surreptitiously slipping his hand around Ogiwara Sayu's or Shiina Mashiro's small fingers under the desk.
That had irritated her immediately.
He was clearly improving. Her guidance was clearly working. And yet.
She was simply, unaccountably annoyed.
So this afternoon, on a stupid, thoughtless impulse, she'd snorted and lashed him with her hair.
Back inside the faculty office, she sank into her chair. Relief that he hadn't chased her was undercut by a small, dull ache somewhere behind her sternum that she couldn't quite name.
Something was wrong with her. She didn't know what.
Ever since he'd kissed her. Ever since he'd held her.
Her attention kept drifting, uninvited, back to him.
Kirisu Mafuyu was too gloomy to prepare for her afternoon lessons. The lesson plan sat open on her desk, untouched.
Then — a soft chime.
A message on her phone.
She swiped it open, and the moment she saw the name, her mood lifted like a kite catching wind.
Hozuki Nozomi: "Mafuyu-Sensei, my face hurts."
Her troubled expression cracked, and against her will, the corners of her mouth turned up. Her pale fingers moved quickly across the screen.
Kirisu Mafuyu: "Oh."
Hozuki Nozomi: "What's that supposed to mean, 'oh'?"
Kirisu Mafuyu: "Your face hurts. What does that have to do with me?"
Hozuki Nozomi: "......"
A pause. Then:
Hozuki Nozomi: "Mafuyu-Sensei, you can't be like this. You whip me with your hair and then act as if nothing happened. Are you really a teacher?"
Kirisu Mafuyu: "Hmph. Do you even treat me like one?"
Hozuki Nozomi: "Of course I do. Otherwise, why would I listen to you at all? I've been super well-behaved lately, haven't I?"
Kirisu Mafuyu: "Hmph!"
Hozuki Nozomi: "What does 'hmph' mean?"
Kirisu Mafuyu: "It means you deserve for your face to hurt!"
Hozuki Nozomi: "......"
Another pause, longer this time.
Hozuki Nozomi: "Fine. Honestly, I don't want to treat Mafuyu as a teacher at all. I want to be your boyfriend."
Kirisu Mafuyu: "Pah. You can have whatever you want in your dreams."
Hozuki Nozomi: "Dreams aren't so bad."
Hozuki Nozomi: "What am I supposed to do though? You suddenly slap me with your hair, and now, out of nowhere, I want to come over to your place for dinner tonight."
Kirisu Mafuyu: "Pah. You're nothing to me. Why would I invite you over for dinner?"
Hozuki Nozomi: "They say when too much trash piles up, the rats come visiting in droves."
A subtle threat.
Without him, the mountain of takeout containers Kirisu Mafuyu had let accumulate in her apartment had no one to haul it out.
She ground her small silver teeth.
This brat. He hadn't been well-behaved at all — he'd probably been laying the trap the whole time. Knowing full well she was hopeless at housework, he'd used it as a foothold to worm his way closer.
She couldn't decide whether to be furious or secretly, guiltily pleased.
Kirisu Mafuyu: "I don't need you. Miharu is coming over today."
Hozuki Nozomi: "!!!"
Hozuki Nozomi: "Mafuyu-Sensei — did you tell Miharu you can't do housework?"
Kirisu Mafuyu: "Of course not."
Hozuki Nozomi: "Then how are you going to get her to help clean? What excuse are you giving for that mountain of takeout boxes?"
Kirisu Mafuyu: "I'll say you ordered them whenever you came over for tutoring, and you secretly hoarded the boxes and hid them so I wouldn't find out."
Hozuki Nozomi: "...How can you shred my reputation in Miharu's eyes like that?"
Hozuki Nozomi: "Do I look like the kind of person who eats takeout, hides the containers, and builds a garbage shrine in someone else's apartment?"
Kirisu Mafuyu: "Well? Who do you think Miharu is more likely to believe?"
The message was clear enough.
He was taking the fall for this one.
Hozuki Nozomi: "......"
He sat there, honestly a little stunned.
He hadn't expected Kirisu Mafuyu to pull something so devious.
But — cute. It was cute. Almost nobody got to see this side of her, the mischievous, pouting, slightly wicked side. Which meant, without either of them quite realizing it, she'd already let him in past a door most people never even found.
Kirisu Mafuyu: "Why aren't you replying? Are you sulking?"
Hozuki Nozomi: "I'm not sulking. If taking the blame smooths things over for Mafuyu-Sensei, I'm happy to do it."
Reading that, Kirisu Mafuyu felt heat rush up her throat and bloom across her cheeks. She muttered a curse into the empty office.
Pah!
This kid's mouth was too sweet. Way too sweet.
Hmph. He'd probably used that same syrupy voice to coax every one of his girlfriends into forgiving him for something.
She pressed a palm flat to the soft rise of her chest, steadying her breath before she typed again.
Kirisu Mafuyu: "Listen, you stinky brat. I'm warning you — don't even think about Miharu. My little sister is innocent. A playboy like you isn't allowed to lay a finger on her."
Hozuki Nozomi: "So Mafuyu-Sensei is telling me she's easy to fool? Now I'm actually a little tempted."
Kirisu Mafuyu: "In your world, 'innocent' equals 'easy to fool'? You really are a repeat offender when it comes to leading girls astray."
Hozuki Nozomi: "Cough. Look at what you're saying. Even if I lead them astray, I'd never let them down."
Kirisu Mafuyu: "Whether you let them down or not isn't for you to decide! Hmph. Being a playboy is already a betrayal of a girlfriend."
Hozuki Nozomi: "Mafuyu-Sensei, that one stung."
Kirisu Mafuyu: "Good. I hope it stings you to death, you scumbag!"
She locked her phone screen with a decisive tap, tossed it face-down on her desk, and pressed both cool palms against her burning cheeks, willing the color to drain out of them before the next bell rang.