Ding ling ling ling—!
The piercing ringtone of the telephone echoed through the empty Western-style mansion, shattering the comforting silence and jolting the occupant of the guest room awake from her slumber.
But she had absolutely no intention of moving. After rolling over, she sank back into a deep sleep.
If only the caller would give up and hang up when they realized no one was answering.
In her drowsy state, she clung to this wishful thought.
However, reality defied her expectations.
As if fully aware of her temperament, the phone continued ringing relentlessly, its sound reverberating through the morning air of the mansion, with no sign of stopping.
"Arisu, pick up the phone!"
The guest room's occupant was irritated, her body still tormented by exhaustion.
Still refusing to get up, she instead shouted toward the western wing of the mansion through the window.
A short while later.
The ringing abruptly ceased—likely because her housemate had answered it.
The girl immediately felt much better and nestled comfortably back under the covers.
"It's for you."
Yet, barely half a minute after she had drifted back into a drowsy haze, her housemate's voice reached her ears, forcing her to crawl out of bed with a scowl.
If that was the case, she could no longer pretend not to hear it.
The moment she left the warmth of the blankets, a chill assaulted her, making her shiver. She hastily threw on her outerwear and stomped noisily across the wooden floorboards down to the first-floor living room.
At the entrance to the living room, near the genkan, an old-fashioned rotary phone sat on display, its receiver placed beside it.
Her housemate was nowhere to be seen.
"What?!"
Aozaki Aoko stormed up to the phone, her tone sharp and irritated as she greeted the caller.
"Good morning, Aozaki-san."
A composed female voice sounded from the receiver.
"What, are you still not awake? And on such a fine weekend, too?"
"Yeah, exactly—such a fine weekend. So who the hell decided to call me this early and ruin my sleep?"
Aoko's words were laced with venom.
Last night, something had happened in the city—several of Arisu's familiars had been destroyed. On top of that, she had been practicing magecraft, so she hadn't gotten to sleep until around 5 a.m. Now, barely three hours later, she'd been rudely awakened. It was no wonder her mood was foul.
"Hahaha, don't say that! It's just your teacher showing how much she trusts you!"
A hearty laugh came from the other end of the line.
However, Aoko was more inclined to describe it as a carefree, thoughtless laugh. Deep down, she scoffed at the explanation.
"So? What do you want?"
"Oh, it's not me who's looking for you."
The voice on the phone feigned surprise, then continued just as Aoko was losing patience.
"Actually, it's the student council. They have some work for you, it seems."
"Why not go to President Nero?"
"I don't dare."
The reply was a straightforward admission of cowardice.
"So you come to me instead?"
"Exactly!"
A visible vein throbbed on Aoko's forehead as her face twisted into a scowl.
This was blatant exploitation—since she had no powerful backing, they were treating her like a tool!
"Well then, have a wonderful weekend!"
With what Aoko could only interpret as a mocking farewell, the caller cheerfully hung up before she could even respond.
"Haah..."
Aoko let out a deep sigh.
She was just the vice president, damn it. Why did she have to shoulder all this extra suffering?
"Arisu, I'm heading out!"
She hurriedly changed her clothes, smoothed out her disheveled hair, and called out to her housemate.
Though she received no reply, she didn't mind.
The mansion was nestled deep in the hills of the residential district, connected to the city by a single long road. Perched atop the hill, the large Western-style building looked ancient—almost like a haunted house.
Aoko stepped out of the "haunted house" and briskly made her way toward the school.
She had no idea who was looking for her.
But if it wasn't something important, she swore she wouldn't let them off the hook!
***
School.
"You got here fast, Aozaki-san."
Her homeroom teacher was a girl who appeared no older than fourteen or fifteen, with straight, golden hair and delicate, European-style features—almost childlike in appearance.
But in reality, this was merely her outward age. Her true age was unknown.
Or so she herself claimed.
"Reines-sensei, where's the person who wanted to see me?"
Aoko strode into the staff room, her entire aura radiating low pressure as she got straight to the point.
"Haha, no need to be so tense. A girl should be more reserved. You've got such a pretty face—if it weren't for your reputation for punching students, you probably wouldn't still be single."
Reines swayed her head from side to side, completely unhurried.
Aoko lacked even a trace of the gentleness expected of a typical girl—one might even call her brutish.
Rumor had it that she had once publicly bloodied the nose of a boy who kept pestering her. Ever since then, her reputation among the student body had soared to unparalleled heights.
But at the same time, no one dared confess to her anymore.
"My mistake was being too kind."
Aoko sighed and nodded.
She actually admired people who had the courage to express their feelings—it was far better than keeping everything bottled up. So whenever someone confessed to her, she would always turn them down politely.
But her goodwill often led certain self-important types to misunderstand.
If only she hadn't been so "kind," if she had just punched them the moment they started bothering her, there wouldn't have been so much trouble later. She'd have a lot more peace and quiet now.
"Kind...? Pfft—HAHAHA!"
Reines slapped her slender thigh, bursting into unrestrained laughter.
"Oh, come on, there's no way you could ever pull that off! Ahahaha!"
Aoko: (╬￣皿￣)
Thanks.
I'm pissed now!
"Just get to the point already!"
Aoko bristled like an angry lioness.
"Alright, alright, let's talk business!"
Wiping tears of mirth from the corners of her eyes, Reines's smirk remained firmly in place.
"The person looking for you is also from the student council, but they're not here right now."
"Where are they?"
"The infirmary."
"Are they hurt?"
Aoko blinked, her anger dissipating slightly.
"Not exactly."
Reines shook her head, her expression turning oddly ambiguous. "Well, you'll understand once you get there. They're waiting for you now... If I told you right away, it wouldn't be as fun."
Not as fun...? You're treating your students as entertainment now?
Is this how a teacher should act?
Aoko rolled her eyes in a most unladylike manner.
Reines was exactly the type of teacher who prioritized her own amusement over her students' well-being. Aoko had secretly reported her to the school administration countless times.
Though the higher-ups had never responded, she remained steadfast in her mission to keep filing complaints.
Leaving the staff room, Aoko headed toward the infirmary.
***
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