If that were the case,
what would her sister do?
If her sister ever learned the truth, her whole world would collapse!
That was what Hina Tachibana thought.
She put herself in her sister's shoes for a moment — imagining what it would be like if she herself had gone through something like that, ending up handed over to some unknown entity that had taken over Lin Ye.
That…
That image was simply unimaginable.
A wave of nausea rose in her.
She thought that if she herself had gone through that, had lived through it and learned the truth, she might have wanted to end her own life.
Yes,
she would have wanted to die, to end the pain and suffering by ending her life.
So if her sister ever found out…
"Rui can't know about this,"
Hina Tachibana grabbed Lin Ye's wrist, her eyes bright, her tone firm. "This — this must never reach my sister."
She pictured the scene of her sister weeping in devastation upon learning the truth, and the thought only made her more anxious. She was afraid Lin Ye might tell Rui the truth just to successfully turn her down.
"If Rui ever found out, she wouldn't be able to bear it. She might even do something extreme. So, Lin Ye, I need you to keep this secret — forever, no matter what, Rui can never know."
Faced with Hina Tachibana's agitation, Lin Ye nodded at once. He'd never had any intention of letting Rui Tachibana find out in the first place.
"Hina-sensei, don't worry. I'll keep it secret. I won't let Rui know. I'll find a proper reason to end things with Student Tachibana."
But hearing that, Hina Tachibana wasn't entirely pleased.
So he was really going to end it?
Wasn't her sister good enough?
"Um, Lin Ye, there's no need to rush into a breakup."
She tried to persuade him. "Why don't you spend some time with Rui first, get to know her? She's a good girl — a really good girl. Honestly, she'd make a far more suitable girlfriend, a future wife, than Student Yukinoshita."
Yukino Yukinoshita was beautiful — far more beautiful than Rui, in fact — but given the difference in their families' standing, Rui simply couldn't compete with her.
Being with Yukino Yukinoshita would be, frankly, a lot of pressure.
A rich, beautiful girl was wonderful, sure.
But if an ordinary man married one, what standing would he actually have?
Facing Yukino Yukinoshita and the Yukinoshita family behind her, Lin Ye's married life down the road wouldn't necessarily be all that happy.
But
with her own sister, it would be different.
Her sister was pretty too, gentle by nature. She wasn't much of a talker, but once you got close to her, she'd open up and chat freely. On top of that, she was caring, and she could cook.
Marry a girl like that, and the future was bound to be happy and fulfilling.
Hina Tachibana was convinced that a girl like Rui was exactly the right match for Lin Ye — exactly the kind of woman a man like him needed.
Lin Ye could handle things outside the home, while Rui took care of the family. When they had children someday, Rui would look after them well too — a happy, ordinary family.
That was the picture Hina had in her mind.
Sure, Lin Ye would have to work hard to make money, and life wouldn't be as financially comfortable as marrying a rich, beautiful heiress — but it would be happy! No psychological pressure, no family pressure at all.
He'd hold all the initiative in that household.
That was the kind of family life worth having.
Yukino Yukinoshita's side was different — she was, after all, the Eldest Miss of the Yukinoshita family. Even if Yukino herself had a fine personality, that couldn't offset the weight of the Yukinoshita family's influence.
The mere existence of her family elders and parents would inevitably pile pressure onto Lin Ye.
Not to mention,
the Yukinoshita parents might not even agree to let Lin Ye be with Yukino.
Whereas she herself was different.
She would welcome it, support it, even scheme on his behalf — anything to get Lin Ye and her sister together.
She might even give her sister a little push, if it came to that!
So,
her sister was the one who suited Lin Ye.
Yukino Yukinoshita really wasn't the right fit.
Hina Tachibana genuinely hoped Lin Ye would come to his senses, let go of his feelings for Yukinoshita, and turn instead to properly courting her sister Rui.
She believed that if Lin Ye really got to know Rui, he'd surely discover all the wonderful things about her.
At that moment Hina Tachibana blinked, staring hard at Lin Ye, her eyes brimming with expectation, full of hope for him.
She wanted Lin Ye to agree — wanted him to date her sister, wanted the two of them to end up together.
"Hina-sensei, I understand what you mean, but it's not a good fit."
"What do you mean, not a good fit? You haven't even tried! How would you know if it's not a fit? You need to spend time with Rui, get to know her — only then can you say whether it works or not. So you don't get to say 'not a fit' right now, absolutely not."
Hina Tachibana drew a big X in the air, forcefully rejecting what Lin Ye had said, determined to win her sister a chance.
Whether Lin Ye agreed or not would lead to completely different outcomes.
Hina Tachibana wanted him to say yes.
"Hina-sensei, I already have a girl I like. I can't date Student Tachibana."
"I know — Yukinoshita, right? But Yukinoshita doesn't even like you back. You've confessed to her over and over, and she's never once said yes. What are the actual odds you'll ever succeed in dating Yukino Yukinoshita?"
We're... already together.
That was something he definitely couldn't say.
It wasn't the right time either.
"Sensei, could you at least show some respect for what I actually want?"
"You'd turn down a lovely girlfriend like that? My sister would absolutely make you a proper girlfriend, and one day a proper wife too. Be with my sister, and your future would be nothing short of blissful."
Hina Tachibana genuinely believed her sister could be the perfect wife and mother, the kind of girl who could make a man happy.
Whoever ended up with her sister would be unbelievably lucky.
"That conflicts with what I actually want, so..."
"Oh, you! In any case, I want you to spend more time with my sister Rui, get to know her better. You'll see her charm, her wonderful side, soon enough."
That much, at least, Lin Ye agreed with. He knew Rui Tachibana had good qualities, an appealing side to her. But the problem was, he simply wasn't interested. That was the crux of it.
"Hina-sensei, I'm going to stick with what I already decided."
"I hope you'll drop this too — please, no more trying to talk me out of it."
"Oh, you! Why are you so fixated on Yukino Yukinoshita? Sure, I'll admit she's beautiful, and that icy air of hers gives men this urge to conquer her — but you need to face reality! She's not interested in you. You're not going to win her over easily.
Lin Ye thought for a moment before speaking. "Sensei, I believe I will win her over. She'll agree to be my girlfriend."
Hina Tachibana: "..."
She knew Lin Ye was already deep in it, hopelessly gone, beyond saving — otherwise, why would he still be clinging to it, still so obsessed, even now?
"I don't want to crush your confidence. At your age, it's understandable to throw yourself recklessly at the girl you love, to be stubborn about it. But I also want you to understand something, especially when it comes to feelings — hard work and effort don't always pay off."
That was the only way Hina Tachibana could think to try to talk him around.
She knew Lin Ye still couldn't let go of Yukino Yukinoshita, still liked her more than he could bear — which just meant he still held onto hope, hadn't yet hit despair, and Yukino Yukinoshita hadn't flatly refused to let him stay near her either.
If Yukino Yukinoshita would just firmly reject him, make her feelings and position absolutely clear, then maybe Lin Ye would finally let go.
The thought crossed Hina's mind — maybe she should find a time to talk to Yukino Yukinoshita herself?
But then she wondered if that would be inappropriate.
Whether it would be improper.
After all, she was a teacher — discussing a student's love life, pushing Yukino Yukinoshita to firmly reject Lin Ye — the more she thought about it, the less appropriate it seemed.
But it was still the best solution she could come up with.
For Rui's sake, for the sake of making Lin Ye part of her family,
Hina Tachibana decided to go all in.
"Sensei, thank you for caring, but this is my own business. I'll handle it myself."
"If you could really handle it yourself, would I even be bothering to talk you out of it? You won't take a sweet, lovely girl, and instead you're fixated on some unattainable ice princess. Honestly, you..."
Hina Tachibana trailed off there, shook her head, and sighed helplessly. "I suppose it's just that male conquest instinct of yours acting up."
Beyond that,
she couldn't think of any other explanation.
There was no helping it —
once a man got fixated like that, no amount of talking could easily change his mind.
She understood that well enough.
Since persuasion wasn't working, she'd have to accept reality. From here on, she'd focus on securing more opportunities for her sister instead.
If she couldn't make progress on the Lin Ye front directly, she'd approach it from another angle.
"By the way, how are things going with you and Miura Yumiko?"
After hearing earlier that Lin Ye was dating Miura Yumiko, Hina Tachibana had immediately messaged him to ask about it, and his answer had been that it was a cover relationship.
She'd chosen to believe him, but she'd also asked when he planned to end it.
Lin Ye had said it would be soon, but today... it left her feeling a bit conflicted.
She was thinking that if Lin Ye ended things with Miura Yumiko, maybe her sister Rui could find the right moment to become his official, public girlfriend!
Even if Lin Ye was thinking of breaking it off now, as long as it wasn't done yet, she should push to make her sister's relationship with him public, seize the opening while it lasted.
"It's already settled. In a few days we'll find an opportunity to end this fake relationship."
"Good,"
Hina Tachibana's voice came out so cheerful that Lin Ye actually thought she sounded happier about it than he was.
"What's with that look..."
"If I didn't know Hina-sensei better, I'd start suspecting you were harboring some inappropriate thoughts."
Inappropriate thoughts?
After a moment, Hina Tachibana's face flushed red as she raised her voice. "How could there possibly be anything like that?! Don't you go thinking weird things! Absolutely do not think weird things."
She denied it forcefully, just to make the whole thing look more normal.
"I'm your teacher! Your teacher! Don't go getting ideas. You're a young man in the prime of your youth — how could you even think of something like that?"
"I... what exactly did I think of?"
Lin Ye put on an innocent expression, as if he had no idea what she meant, and looked straight at Hina Tachibana.
Hina Tachibana's face flushed even redder with irritation. "Keep this up and I'm going to get mad."
There was something off about the tone of that.
Something a little... petulant, almost coy.
Lin Ye hoped his instincts were wrong.
"Yes, yes, I know, I'll drop it."
"That's more like it."
Seeing Lin Ye back down and accept it, she relaxed. She really had been worried he might be entertaining some other kind of idea.
A woman's allure over a man — especially a beautiful woman's allure — was considerable, and that was exactly why she cared so much, why she really didn't want Lin Ye developing thoughts in that direction.
She'd rather he keep chasing Yukinoshita than let him have those kinds of thoughts about her.
"Hina-sensei, if there's nothing else, I'll head out now."
Lin Ye figured it wasn't early anymore, and if he didn't leave soon, Yukino would probably start getting impatient waiting.
He was supposed to go with Yukino to see Fujibayashi afterward.
If he kept standing around with Hina-sensei, there was no telling when he'd finally get there.
"Fine, go on, off to some urgent date, are we?"
"Yukinoshita."
"Ha, ha."
Hina Tachibana froze for a second, then laughed.
There was no way Lin Ye was actually going on a date with Yukinoshita — if that were true, wouldn't that mean he'd made real progress in winning her over?
"Go on then! Sensei's rooting for you."
"Thanks."
Lin Ye waved a hand and turned to leave.
Hina Tachibana didn't head off right away. Instead, she fell into step behind Lin Ye, following his departing figure.
She walked at an easy pace, neither too fast nor too slow, but kept his back in sight.
Before long,
she saw Lin Ye had already reached the school gate.
And there, at the gate,
stood a slender, cool figure, waiting.
Yukino Yukinoshita.
Sobu High's famous cold beauty, the secret crush of who knew how many boys.
"So he really is going on a date with Yukinoshita?"
"No, no, no, impossible — it's probably just a coincidence, that the two of them happened to have plans today."
In her heart, she resisted the idea, rejected it outright.
She felt it simply couldn't be true, shouldn't be true.
She decided Lin Ye must be bragging, dressing up a perfectly ordinary encounter with Yukinoshita as some kind of "date."
"Tomorrow I'll go find Yukinoshita and have a talk with her,"
That was what Hina Tachibana decided.
Once Lin Ye and Yukino Yukinoshita walked off side by side and disappeared from the school gate, out of sight, Hina Tachibana decided she really needed to have a proper talk with Rui tonight.
If she didn't talk to her sister soon, her future brother-in-law might just slip away!
Hina Tachibana was not about to let go of Lin Ye, her future brother-in-law.
She'd already decided he was the one — no other man had any business being her sister's husband.
Yukino Yukinoshita walked along, glancing sideways at the man beside her, and spoke slowly. "What did Shizuka-sensei want with you?"
It had taken so long,
and she found that a little strange.
So she was curious what Shizuka-sensei and Lin Ye had talked about.
Maybe something interesting had happened.
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