"Alright, settle down everyone! Didn't you hear the bell? Out of the entire building, this class is the loudest! I could hear you all from downstairs. Get to your seats and get ready to learn!"
As the bell signaled the start of the period, a beautiful teacher with waist-length black hair marched into the room. Hiratsuka Shizuka looked visibly irked, slamming the door and shouting with a level of dissatisfaction that suggested she was one minor annoyance away from a breakdown.
The moment she appeared, the entire class fell into a collective, terrified silence. They knew better than to play games with the woman standing before them. If you crossed her, Hiratsuka didn't bother with verbal warnings; she'd go straight for a lethal punch combo that left every student submissively under her thumb.
"Tsk, tsk. Just as I thought. A single woman creeping toward her thirties really does have a hair-trigger temper. Science truly is a marvelous thing..."
Even with the class silenced, there was always one person looking for trouble. Izuru murmured under his breath as he pulled out his textbooks, sounding like a man merely making a weary observation.
His voice wasn't loud, but in the vacuum of the quiet classroom, the mutter echoed clearly for everyone to hear. Instantly, the room was filled with a cocktail of gazes: pity, awe, and the look one gives a fool who has just signed their own death warrant. They watched with bated breath, marveling at Izuru's sheer suicidal courage.
"Ka! Mu! Ku! Ra! I! Zu! Ru!" Hiratsuka's nose flared with such rage it was a wonder she could still breathe. The sharp clack-clack-clack of her high heels against the floor made everyone worry the heels would snap under the pressure of her fury.
"What. Did. You. Just. Say?! My apologies, Sensei didn't quite catch that. Would you care to repeat it for the class?!"
"Shizuka-kawaii, I'm just being honest..." Izuru acted as if he couldn't see his teacher's rage bar flashing red. Ignoring the look of utter resignation on Yukino's face behind him, he continued to dig his own grave.
"When I walked past the faculty office earlier, I happened to overhear that Shizuka-kawaii failed yet another blind date. As your student, I'm genuinely concerned. After all, Sensei is almost thirty and still hasn't found a man to take her to the altar. It's natural to be in a foul mood, but please don't take it out on us. We students are already burdened enough with our studies and are exhausted as it is—"
"My name is Shizuka Hiratsuka! You will address me as Hiratsuka-sensei, not Shizuka-kawaii!" Before Izuru could finish his death-wish sentence, Hiratsuka cut him off with an explosion of wrath.
"Furthermore, if you're so 'burdened and exhausted,' stop wasting your energy meddling in Sensei's private life! It's not that I can't find a man or that I'm that old—it's just that men these days are too picky, and time simply moves too fast..."
{Is she actually ending this with a self-deluded vent?!} The watching students could only stare in bafflement.
Seeing the situation devolve, Yukino let out a tired sigh. However, realizing that "one minute wasted by the teacher now means one minute of extra study during lunch later," she felt forced to intervene.
"Sensei, the period has started. Could you please finish the lesson before you start complaining about your personal life?"
Yukino's tone was frigid and utterly unfriendly, like a bucket of ice water dumped over both the entertained students and the self-deluding Hiratsuka. The rowdy atmosphere turned stiff in a heartbeat.
Hiratsuka, her rant interrupted, stared at Yukino for a moment before shooting a sharp glare at the still-smirking Izuru. She spoke with a decidedly unfriendly edge.
"Kamukura, it seems you're incredibly interested in Sensei's private affairs? How about you come to my office after school so we can have a 'deeper' conversation... just the two of us?"
Immediately, almost every eye in the class turned to the smiling Izuru with pity, as if looking at a dead man walking.
"D-deeper... conversation?" The smile vanished from Izuru's face. A chill ran down his spine as he stared at Hiratsuka in disbelief, looking as if he wanted to tattoo "Is Sensei trying to prey on a younger man?" onto his forehead.
Luckily, Hiratsuka had already turned away; otherwise, another explosion would have surely followed.
Walking to the podium, Hiratsuka scanned the room with a sharp gaze and spoke brusquely.
"Before we begin the lesson, I'm going to take a moment of your time to address a few things. I've just finished reviewing your holiday assignments. Generally, the results were fine, but..."
"Sakuta Azusagawa! Where is your holiday assignment? You're the only one in class who hasn't turned it in. Don't tell me a stray dog made off with it again?!"
The boy in question wore an expression that said "here we go again." He stood up with the casual ease of someone who had long since become immune to scoldings and spoke with resignation.
"Sensei, I genuinely forgot to bring it..."
"Forgot it? Why didn't you forget to bring yourself here?! Why didn't you forget to eat? Why didn't you forget your nightly 'ritual'?!"
Hiratsuka, knowing her student's habits all too well, attacked with three rapid-fire questions, completely ignoring Sakuta's shocked expression that screamed, "How does Sensei know about my nightly routine?"
"I don't care if you actually forgot it or if you haven't written a single word and are just making up a pathetic excuse. It must be on my desk tomorrow! Even if you have to stay up all night, that assignment will be finished!"
"Sensei, I'm still in my growth phase! I'm not allowed to pull all-nighters!" Sakuta tried one last desperate stand.
But that sentence only confirmed to everyone that he hadn't written a single word!
Seeing Sakuta refuse to yield, Hiratsuka's face darkened instantly. A terrifying black aura manifested behind her, and her voice thundered in Sakuta's ears like a roar from the depths of hell!
"A! Zu! Sa! Ga! Wa! Sa! Ku! Ta! What did you just say?! You really haven't started it at all, have you?!"
Watching this lively teacher-student interplay, the corners of Izuru's mouth couldn't help but curl into a faint smile. He turned his gaze toward the window with a sense of nostalgia, staring at the world outside as he sank into his thoughts.
{Truly, even after crossing into another world—this 2D world—my high school life hasn't changed all that much. But it's not exactly the same, either. At least now, I don't feel quite so lonely...}
However, Izuru failed to notice that Yukino, sitting right behind him, was quietly observing his profile from the side, thinking to herself with a sense of resignation.
{In no matter which world-line, that poison-tongued and daydreaming nature of yours never changes. But this time... I will definitely reach the end...}