Relying on the teacher — what did she want with him?
Of course, it was because she cared about him.
"Sensei's rather concerned about my private life," Lin Ye said.
"Oh?"
"She was asking when you and I planned to get married."
Yukino froze for a moment, then a look of shock crossed her face.
Married?
That was way too fast!
Her mind went completely blank for a good while. Only after noticing the amusement tugging at Lin Ye's mouth did she realize he was joking.
"Don't joke around. Hiratsuka-sensei isn't like that," she said.
Yukino Yukinoshita refused to believe Shizuka Hiratsuka would be like that — even if Hiratsuka-sensei knew about her and Lin Ye's relationship, she wouldn't just come out and ask about marriage.
They were still high school students.
If Hiratsuka were ever going to bring up something like that, it would be after they'd started university, or at the very least after graduation. Why would she ask now?
"Yukino sure has a lot of faith in Hiratsuka-sensei! Hahaha."
"I know Hiratsuka-sensei. I've known her for a long time."
"If you've known her that long, why haven't you introduced her to someone?"
Yukino Yukinoshita: ???
She was completely lost, unable to make sense of what Lin Ye was getting at.
"Sensei was really angry just now. Furious, even. She looked like she wanted to beat me to death."
"Details," she said.
Her curious tone carried nothing of concern — if anything, she sounded eager, like she wanted to hear the whole story so she could mock him mercilessly afterward.
"Yukino, you don't even care about me. Hiratsuka-sensei has her sights set on me — I'm going to be beaten to death!"
Lin Ye put on a show of heartbreak, but it didn't move Yukino Yukinoshita in the slightest.
If anything, it only made her more curious.
"Hurry up and tell me."
She pressed him.
If Lin Ye didn't spit it out soon, she'd have to find some way to make him talk.
Soon enough,
Lin Ye finished his simple account.
First came something like a confession, and then talk of age — how Hina Tachibana, being younger and prettier, was the better match for him.
When he finished, Yukino's eyes were full of contempt and scorn as she looked at him.
He meant it as a joke, but as his girlfriend, she saw it as deliberate flirting, a way of sending out ambiguous signals.
What if the woman he'd said all that to actually had feelings for him? What then?
Yukino Yukinoshita didn't even want to think about it.
"Ahem, Yukino, what's wrong?"
She gave him a cold glare. "Don't play dumb."
But that didn't give Lin Ye any more room to think.
"What do you mean, playing dumb?"
"Keep pretending and I really will get angry."
"Fine!" Lin Ye shrugged. "It was just a joke. Don't take it seriously."
"What if I said something like that to a male teacher..."
"Don't you dare."
Lin Ye cut her off before she could finish, his sharp tone betraying just how strongly he opposed the idea.
He would never allow Yukino to do such a thing — he wouldn't even let her think about it.
"Possessiveness," she said.
Yes, this was a man's possessiveness toward her.
Yukino understood that much clearly.
"Then don't you realize I'm possessive of you too?"
She wanted Lin Ye to be fair, equal — not like this.
"I know. I just can't help it."
Lin Ye looked at the girl, his eyes darting quickly to check their surroundings before he drew closer, taking her hand in his.
"I've got double standards, plain and simple. If Yukino doesn't like it, if it bothers you, then hit me. Hahaha, go ahead, hit me!"
He wasn't afraid of the girl roughhousing with him at all. First, Yukino wasn't the type who enjoyed hitting people. Second, even if she really did hit him, it would barely affect him at all.
With his Constitution as it was now, no matter how many times Yukino's fist landed, it wouldn't do a thing to him.
"Fine," she said.
Her answer caught Lin Ye completely off guard — the moment she finished speaking, she raised her fist and drove it straight into his chest.
Thump...
A dull, heavy sound rang out.
Lin Ye felt the full force of the impact.
The next instant, he clutched his chest and hunched over, half-crouching.
"Stop pretending," she said.
But once the words left her mouth, Yukino Yukinoshita noticed his face had gone pale, his body trembling faintly.
She was confused, but still assumed he was just putting on an act, playing it up on purpose.
The next moment,
Lin Ye sank all the way down into a crouch, his face growing even paler.
"Lin... Lin Ye,"
Only now did Yukino truly start to panic.
"I— I didn't mean to..."
She'd used some force, sure, but not nearly enough to cause him this kind of pain, surely!
She guessed something must be wrong with his body, some sudden condition.
There was no other explanation for this.
"I... I..."
The low, pained murmur from Lin Ye only made Yukino Yukinoshita more anxious by the second.
She crouched down, leaning in close, straining to catch whatever he was trying to say.
"Wh— what's wrong?"
"Tell me, what's actually wrong? What do I need to do?"
"Kiss me," he said.
His voice was faint, tinged with pain, but Yukino Yukinoshita heard it clearly all the same.
Kiss him once.
After a brief moment of shock, Yukino Yukinoshita recovered instantly.
In that instant, she was completely certain Lin Ye was fine.
She was just about to shoot him a cold look when a sensation, so achingly familiar, reached her lips.
This bastard, he'd kissed her —
And right here, in broad daylight, on a public street,
With plenty of Sobu High students nearby!
In that moment, Yukino Yukinoshita stumbled backward in a panic and lost her footing, falling to the ground, catching herself with one hand.
Lin Ye had already gotten to his feet and quickly extended a hand to help her up. "Student Yukinoshita,"
Classmates in the distance were already looking their way.
Yukino Yukinoshita's very presence was enough to draw eyes — the smallest strange commotion could catch the attention of countless onlookers.
"Be careful!"
I only fell because of you, didn't I?
Yukino Yukinoshita grumbled inwardly.
She didn't take his hand, instead pushing herself up on her own, brushing the dust off her clothes, her expression growing even colder toward Lin Ye.
It was all because his behavior had been so outrageous.
Yukino Yukinoshita let out a soft breath and swept a glance over the surrounding classmates.
Her icy expression alone was enough to make most of the students quickly avert their eyes and drop their curious looks.
Being a cold beauty certainly had its uses.
"Go on, tell me the rest!"
This wasn't over yet.
"After I ran off, I ran into Hina Tachibana. She asked what was going on — why Shizuka Hiratsuka-sensei was chasing me down to kill me."
"You told her!"
"Yeah, I told her. And then, Hina-sensei ended up getting chased by Hiratsuka-sensei right along with me."
At those words,
Yukino Yukinoshita's sour mood instantly brightened, the corners of her mouth curling into a smile.
Still, she held it back, careful not to let herself smile too openly.
Getting chased down by Hiratsuka-sensei — well, that served them right, didn't it!
After all, Lin Ye and Hina-sensei had been badmouthing Hiratsuka-sensei behind her back.
You could say anything about Hiratsuka-sensei — except her age.
After all,
for any woman, especially one nearing thirty, unmarried and without a partner, age was strictly off-limits.
For Lin Ye to bring it up, for Hina-sensei to bring it up — weren't they just asking to die?
At the very least,
Yukino Yukinoshita would never, ever bring up the subject of age in front of Shizuka Hiratsuka.
Don't poke at people's sore spots — that was her philosophy.
"Gloating over other people's misery. I'm settling this with you tonight."
"I wasn't gloating."
"Your mouth's curled up so far I don't even know where it went."
Lin Ye pointed at her, and Yukino Yukinoshita pursed her lips, trying to look more normal.
But,
Lin Ye had already filed it away in his memory.
"Tonight. Just you wait."
"I refuse."
"You don't have the right to refuse."
"I do."
"You don't."
"I don't, and that's final."
The two of them went back and forth for a while, but neither would give the other a definite answer.
Yukino, in any case, had no intention of agreeing.
"And then what?"
"Then I dragged Hina-sensei out of the school building, and we escaped Hiratsuka-sensei's pursuit."
Lin Ye noticed the change in Yukino's expression.
"Yukino, is that... do you not believe me?"
"I do."
Her answer came without hesitation.
But precisely because she believed him, something felt off.
"You deliberately took advantage of Sensei while you were running away," Yukino Yukinoshita said, pointing out the problem with his behavior.
Lin Ye was caught off guard.
He was surprised that the cool, aloof girl had grown sharp enough to pick up on something like that.
He never would have guessed it.
As the ice-cold beauty that she was, Yukino Yukinoshita carried an air of being above such worldly concerns — she should have been indifferent to this sort of romantic nonsense.
But her reaction now showed she'd well and truly fallen into the mortal world, no different from any ordinary girl in love.
"Yukino, you've fallen in love," he said.
Yukino Yukinoshita: ???
She was sharp as ice and quick as snow, and it didn't take her long to grasp exactly what Lin Ye meant by that.
She also realized there was a problem with her own behavior.
Because of Lin Ye, she really had changed — so, so much.
Yukino Yukinoshita didn't want to say anything.
She wasn't exactly eager to admit to her current state of mind, but it was already an undeniable fact laid bare in front of her — no amount of avoidance could erase it.
"I'm happy," he said.
Seeing the girl go silent, Lin Ye spoke up immediately.
To him, Yukino's behavior was nothing but good news — proof that she liked him, that she had real feelings for him.
This was the best kind of good news there was.
"Don't change the subject. Keep going."
Lin Ye spoke. "There's nothing else to tell."
"You think I'll believe that? If you don't tell me, I'll go ask Tachibana-sensei myself."
Yukino Yukinoshita said,
from Lin Ye's reaction just now, she could tell instinctively he was hiding something from her — otherwise, he never would have acted that way.
"I was afraid that if you knew, you'd be even angrier at Hina-sensei."
"Tell me."
More than anger, what she wanted now was to know the truth.
If Lin Ye didn't tell her, she'd only get angrier — that much was clear in Yukino Yukinoshita's mind right now.
"Hina-sensei wants me to stay together with her younger sister, Student Tachibana. She said her sister Rui is the one who's actually suited for me — and that you... aren't suited for me at all."
Yukino Yukinoshita slowly typed out a string of question marks.
This, too,
she already knew about. Back when her older sister was bullying her, Rui Tachibana had stepped in, and with her sister's blessing, had become Lin Ye's official girlfriend.
That hadn't been Lin Ye's intention at all,
but as far as Rui Tachibana was concerned, it was simply a fact.
Either Lin Ye would have to tell Student Tachibana the truth — that her sister had used his body without his consent — or he'd have to find some other excuse to break things off with Rui.
Hina Tachibana really did want her sister Rui to end up with Lin Ye.
This... there was something wrong here.
"Did something happen between you and Hina-sensei? Otherwise, what kind of teacher would want her own sister dating you?"
Yes,
Hina Tachibana's behavior really was strange.
Normally, no family elder would want their little sister falling in love with a boy during a time she should be focused on studying.
Japan didn't forbid dating — parents and teachers generally didn't object, and relationships were seen as perfectly normal.
But even so, most would still hope their sister could put more of her energy into schoolwork during high school.
"Maybe I shouldn't say."
Lin Ye wasn't particularly eager to explain.
"Tell me,"
The more reluctant Lin Ye seemed, the more intensely curious Yukino became — she even started to wonder if something intimate had happened between Lin Ye and Hina Tachibana.
Yukino Yukinoshita's curiosity was through the roof.
"You won't like hearing it," he said.
"Tell me."
"Then promise me..."
"I promise not to hit you."
"No, promise..."
Lin Ye pointed at his own cheek.
He was asking for a reward.
This bastard of a man was just plain greedy.
Could he really never get tired of kissing?
She genuinely found it strange — why did Lin Ye like kissing so much?
Compared to kissing, weren't men usually more interested in... that other thing?
Shouldn't he be wanting to do... those other things instead?
But Lin Ye had always held himself back on that front. Facing all her hints, subtle and not so subtle, he'd turned them all down, never taking the bait.
Especially considering they'd already bathed together before.
Even in a situation like that, Lin Ye had managed to hold back — it was almost unbelievable.
Yes,
Yukino Yukinoshita found Lin Ye's restraint so unbelievable, so hard to accept, that at one point she'd even wondered if something was wrong with him in that department.
Otherwise, how could this possibly be happening?
"If you won't agree, then forget it."
"Fine, I agree. I'll make it up to you once we get home."
There was no way she'd agree to it here.
This was a public street, and there were still Sobu High students around, glancing over at her every so often.
If she did anything with Lin Ye right here, she really might end up drawing a crowd.
By tomorrow — no, it wouldn't even take until tomorrow, even right after school today — word could spread through all of Sobu High at lightning speed, and most of the students and teachers would know about her and Lin Ye.
That was absolutely not something Yukino Yukinoshita wanted.
"Alright," she said.
Lin Ye continued, "It's actually not that complicated."
Under the girl's watchful gaze, Lin Ye slowly began. "Back when I was with Hina-sensei, we ran into one of those things — a Strange. I stepped in and saved her."
Simple, clear, and to the point.
As clear and as simple as it could possibly be.
So that was it.
But another thought was already forming in Yukino Yukinoshita's mind.
What was there to be so reluctant about telling her that?
____
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