At afternoon break, Shin-chan was sprawled over his desk, fighting off the last traces of sleep.
Someone poked him on the shoulder.
Shin-chan groggily lifted his head and saw a somewhat familiar face.
Hyuga Shota was standing beside him, looking a little nervous. His eyes kept darting around as if he were checking whether anyone was paying attention to him.
"Um..." he lowered his voice. "Can you come out for a second? I need to tell you something."
Shin-chan blinked, looked at him, then glanced out the window.
"Are there any pretty big sisters outside?"
Hyuga Shota froze.
"N-No."
"Then I'm not going." Shin-chan flopped back down onto the desk.
Shota panicked. He reached out like he wanted to pull him up, but didn't dare actually do it, so he could only stand there anxiously.
"It's really important. It's about your class!"
Shin-chan lifted his head again and looked at him.
"What about our class?"
Shota lowered his voice even more. "Come outside and I'll tell you. It's not convenient here."
Shin-chan stared at him for two seconds, then slowly got to his feet.
At the corner of the hallway,
Hyuga Shota cautiously stuck his head out to make sure no one was around, then shrank back and whispered,
"Do you remember what happened the other day?"
Shin-chan tilted his head and thought about it. "What happened?"
"The thing with those upperclassmen." Shota gestured awkwardly. "They got chased off by your class, remember?"
"Oh, the thing where Toru fought?"
"Yeah, yeah!" Shota nodded hard. "They lost face, and now they're trying to get revenge."
Shin-chan blinked.
"Revenge?"
"Yeah." Shota lowered his voice even more. "I overheard them talking. They said they're going to come over with their whole class and cause trouble for you guys."
Shin-chan looked at him, expressionless.
Shota waited two seconds. When he saw no reaction, he got anxious.
"Aren't... aren't you scared?"
Shin-chan thought about it.
"Scared of what?"
"Their whole class. They're all upperclassmen. They've got to be stronger than us."
"Oh."
"Just... 'oh'?"
Shin-chan tilted his head at him.
"So what do you want me to say?"
Shota opened his mouth, but for a moment, he didn't know how to answer.
"By the way," Shin-chan suddenly said after staring at him carefully for a while, "who are you again?"
The boy froze.
"I'm Hyuga Shota."
"Oh." Shin-chan nodded, though in truth he still hadn't remembered.
Shota stood there waiting for two seconds, then finally couldn't help asking,
"Um... do you really not remember me?"
Shin-chan looked up and gave him another glance.
"Nope."
Shota looked a little hurt.
"I mean... the other day... over there..." he gestured. "Some upperclassmen had cornered me, and you helped me..."
Shin-chan tilted his head and thought about it.
It seemed vaguely familiar.
But also not really.
Looking at Shin-chan's completely blank face, Shota looked even more wounded.
He opened his mouth, wanting to say something else, but a burst of footsteps sounded in the distance.
Shota flinched all over, shot a look that way, then hurriedly whispered,
"Just be careful!"
Then he turned and ran, disappearing down the hallway in a flash.
Shin-chan stood there watching him run off and scratched his head.
"Why was he running so fast?"
Then he yawned and slowly made his way back.
At the corner of the hallway, someone came walking toward him.
Shin-chan stopped in his tracks, and his eyes lit up instantly.
Yuunagi Asagi was coming from the opposite direction, carrying a stack of teaching materials. Today her hair was tied in a low ponytail that swayed lightly across her shoulder as she walked.
Shin-chan's sleepiness vanished on the spot.
"Teacher Asagi!"
He ran over, stopped in front of her, tilted his face up, and flashed his trademark brilliant grin.
"Good afternoon!"
Teacher Asagi looked down at him, surprised for a second, then smiled.
"Oh, it's you, Shin-chan. Good afternoon."
"Teacher, teacher, you look really pretty today!"
"Thank you."
"Teacher, would you like to take a romantic walk with me around the schoolyard?"
She laughed. "I still have to deliver these materials, so I don't have time for a walk."
"Then I'll help you carry them!" Shin-chan immediately held out his hands. "Where are they going? I run fast."
"No, no, it's alright. I can do it myself." Teacher Asagi smiled and shook her head. "You should get back to class. It's almost time."
Shin-chan looked a little disappointed, but he still waved.
"Then next time, you definitely have to go for a walk with me, okay?"
"Alright, next time for sure."
Totally satisfied, Shin-chan waved again and continued toward the classroom.
After two steps, he suddenly stopped.
"Oh right, what was that guy saying just now?"
He tilted his head and thought for two seconds.
Nothing came back.
Oh well.
If he couldn't remember it, it probably wasn't important anyway.
...
Afternoon physical training.
Class A was lined up on the field, waiting for Teacher Ibuki to assign the day's exercise.
Teacher Ibuki stood at the very front.
Just then, a school worker came running over and handed him a slip of paper.
Teacher Ibuki glanced at it and frowned.
"Now?"
The school worker nodded.
Teacher Ibuki looked toward the field entrance. Over there, the teacher in charge of the upperclassmen had also been called away and was hurrying off.
The corner of Teacher Ibuki's mouth twitched.
"Alright, I got it." He waved the worker away, then stepped in front of the class.
"Ahem. Students, the teacher has something urgent to handle, so I need to step away for a bit. Warm yourselves up first by running five laps around the field. I'll be back soon."
A wave of disappointed voices rose from below.
"Aw, the teacher's leaving?"
"Running laps is so boring."
"Come back quickly!"
Teacher Ibuki waved and hurried off.
But he didn't go far. Instead, he circled around and slipped into the bushes at the edge of the field.
Someone was already standing there.
It was the upperclass teacher, Yamaue Kazuumi.
A stern-looking man in his thirties with cropped hair, standing there with his arms folded, watching the students on the field.
Teacher Ibuki stepped over beside him and lowered his voice.
"You got called away too?"
Yamaue Kazuumi nodded.
"They said it was an emergency meeting."
Teacher Ibuki was silent for two seconds, then shook his head.
"There are holes all over that story. No way the school would send a janitor to deliver a message like that."
Yamaue Kazuumi looked out at the field. "Eight times out of ten, it's my class stirring up trouble. Those brats have been whispering about something these past few days. I didn't press them about it, but now it looks like they've been planning something."
Teacher Ibuki followed his gaze.
The upperclass students were sneaking this way in a suspicious cluster.
"You're not going to stop them?" Teacher Ibuki asked.
Yamaue Kazuumi shook his head.
"Stop what? Let them come."
Teacher Ibuki froze.
Yamaue Kazuumi looked at him, a faint smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.
"I heard about what happened a few days ago. That Uchiha kid in your class is pretty interesting."
He paused.
"Let me see what kind of nonsense my class thinks they're about to pull."
~~~
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