Leo left with his tail between his legs, full of shame and frustration.
The classroom finally loosened up after being wound tight for so long.
People went back to talking, and the noise returned like it always did between classes.
Only a faint leftover edge hung in the air, like it was still quietly telling everyone what had just happened.
Seraphina sat straight at her desk while she rested her cheek on one hand.
She pulled her peach-blossom eyes back from the front, but her look paused for half a second toward a spot in the back of the classroom.
He sat down again, and his loose blue-and-white uniform hid his build.
His long bangs and black-framed glasses pushed him back into the shadows, and he lowered his head like he'd fall asleep if he talked two more sentences.
It barely matched the guy who had backed down a brute with just a few lines, and it made him look like the usual unnoticed sleepyhead.
Interesting.
She idly twirled the strand of hair hanging down as her mouth curled into a small amused smile.
A simple-minded idiot like Leo was useful for showing off her charm, because she could control him with a little teasing, but she'd get bored fast.
But this one… he used his brain to shut down a stronger guy, and once it was over, he didn't show off and instead went quiet and low-key.
That was actually interesting, wasn't it?
Looks like there was a toy in this class I'd never noticed before.
"Sera, don't zone out. Next is PE, so hurry up and change and get to the field." The girl in front turned around and urged her.
Seraphina hid the probing look in her eyes, and she put on a sweet, innocent smile. "Huh? It's already time?"
She dragged out the last word in a soft cutesy tone that made people's ears heat up.
As she stood, her breasts bounced slightly, and it pulled a few sneaky looks.
"Coming. Wait for me~"
She walked out with the other girls while she joked around, and that quick hunting look from earlier was gone like it never existed.
-----
PE class, field.
Even in autumn, the southern sun still had bite.
The rubber track baked under the light, and it gave off that sharp, familiar rubber smell.
The PE teacher blew the whistle to gather everyone.
After the usual two warm-up laps, he shouted the words everyone wanted to hear: "Free time."
The lines broke apart fast.
The boys rushed the basketball court, and the girls gathered in small groups under the trees while they talked gossip and celebrities.
I didn't fit in with this loud, high-energy field at all.
I walked alone to the shade by the pull-up bars, pulled a booklet from my pocket, and planned to use this time to study.
But today, two guys stuck to me like gum.
"Lilu-bro, Lilu-bro!!" Baron panted as he ran over, and his huge body shook while his fat face was bright red from the 800-meter run and sweat poured down his oily skin.
Monkey shot in from the other side, and he threw an arm around my shoulder. "Holy shit, Lilu, you were cool as hell today! You should've seen Leo's face. It was green like a turtle!"
Baron was still annoyed about Monkey playing dead earlier, but Monkey argued back like he was totally in the right. "Bro, I wasn't playing dead. Do you even know what strategic hiding is?"
"I figured if he really threw hands, I'd grab a chair from behind and jump him, and then you'd have a shot to turn it around!"
"You know what they say, war is all tricks."
Baron's simple brain couldn't process that high-level tactic, so he just got bluffed into silence.
And since I'd handled the whole mess without a scratch, that little grudge faded out too.
The two of them made up, and they both decided I was their new "boss."
"Big Bro, come on, the shop. My treat! Grab whatever you want!" Baron thumped his chest, and his fat jiggled while he tried to act big.
"Get outta here. Your allowance isn't even enough to fill a tooth gap. I'll pay." Monkey pushed in to show off too. "Lilu, I'll even handle next class's homework for you. How about it?"
With them wedged on both sides of me, I could smell the heavy sour sweat coming off my two goblin buddies after exercise.
I tugged my mouth into a lazy half-smile and said without much energy, "Cut it out. That little trick earlier was just me talking."
I pulled his arm off my shoulder and slipped out of their grip without making a big deal of it.
"If it really came to a fight, I'd need Baron's body as a human shield, and Monkey's skinny frame probably wouldn't even take one punch from Leo."
With a few jokes, I brushed it off in the easiest way possible.
Since the refusal sounded fair, the two overexcited goblins couldn't keep clinging, so they just laughed dumbly.
I patted the wrinkles out of my uniform where they'd grabbed it, and I was about to get back to studying when a nice girl's voice suddenly came from not far away.
"Huh? Baron, Dexter, are you guys resting here?"
That voice had some kind of pull.
Those two reacted like they got shocked, and they froze while they stared at the figure walking over.
Great. I didn't even need to look to know who it was.
In this school, the only person who could make these two hormone-loaded idiots instantly devolve from goblins into single-celled life…
…was the Saintess.
Seraphina had changed into her PE outfit.
She wore a plain white short-sleeve T-shirt, and she casually tied the hem into a knot at her lower stomach so a strip of her flat, tight waist showed.
She wore light-blue sports shorts, and they fully showed off her legs that were so pale they almost hurt to look at.
She just walked over like it was nothing, but plenty of guys on the field bent forward awkwardly.
A few even jogged straight to the bathroom, and who knows what they went to do.
Sera was used to Baron and Monkey acting stupid, so her smile didn't change at all.
"I watched you guys run the 800, and you worked so hard."
A clean hit. A straight-up clean hit.
I glanced at the mess they'd turned into.
"N-no…" Baron's tongue tied up, and his face got even redder than after the run while his hands didn't know where to go.
Monkey wasn't any better. He stood up straight without thinking, and he forced out a creepy smile that looked worse than crying.
"Y-yeah… it was… nothing… miss Sera…"
Two simple lines were enough to mess up these average guys' heads, and they were basically one step from fainting.
In the sunlight, the girl's skin had an ivory shine, and it looked young, springy, and healthy.
This Saintess was still way too strong in this version.
After tossing those two puppies a little sugar, Sera finally turned her bright eyes toward me, and the intent was obvious.
Sigh… Here it comes.
Deep down, I let out a quiet annoyed sigh.
Trouble always finds its way over…
She didn't speak right away. She just blinked and sized me up.
The curiosity in her eyes wasn't hidden at all, and it looked like she'd found a new toy.
"Oh my~ Luke is here too?"
Her voice was right next to my ear, soft and light.
In that frozen moment, every sound turned into something that brushed at my eardrum.x