Stealing Spree

“I’m still safe, right?” I scratched my head at Eguchi-sensei’s remark which she responded with a laugh. But when she noticed the other students who didn’t make it in time and were left standing outside the gate, she cleared her throat and tapped me on my shoulder.

“Yes. Go on now before I mark you late.”

“Thank you, sensei.” I mimicked a salute to her. And although I didn’t expect her to lose composure, the strict PE Teacher stifled a laugh before quickly turning around.

Mhm… That’s quite cute of her, to say the least. Naturally, I wouldn’t voice that out or she might revert the way she treats me back to my first impression of her.

Since I almost arrived late, I was the last one to show up in our classroom except for those who hadn’t returned from their morning practice yet. Nonetheless, I put on a smile as I nonchalantly walked to my seat while my eyes momentarily checked on my girls.

Apart from Satsuki who was resting her head on her desk, most likely tired from practice, the others stealthily waved their hands and smiled. And when I sat down on my seat, they all walked to my desk and greeted me.

They raised a topic of conversation just to add an illusion that they just wanted to bring that up and talk to me about it. Nonetheless, seeing them voluntarily go and greet me like that, raised more reactions from our class, especially those nearby us or those who were watching those girls.

When someone tried to ask, they just brought them into the conversation. For example, there’s also Sakuma who thought we were having a very healthy discussion and chimed in, flaunting his knowledge of the topic Chii brought up.

In the end, Chii acted like the mean gyaru and made him a laughingstock. No. Laughingstock was a little harsh, she just put him in the spotlight as we put his club as our next topic.

Shortly after that, the focus turned to Sakuma, Shio arrived while dragging a hand trolley containing stapled bundles of papers. She got stuck at the door though.

While our class was still in a state of confusion at what they were witnessing, I quickly moved. First, I pinched the resting girl’s cheeks on my side to wake her up before moving to help Shio pull that trolley inside.

As much as fulfilling my role as her Student Assistant, I didn’t want the others to see her fall into an embarrassing situation.

Although that also meant I would miss teasing Shio and watching her adorable side, it’s a necessary sacrifice.

In any case, when Shio saw me approaching her, she still felt a little embarrassed. She turned her head to face the wall to not let me notice it but her exposed cheek that was covered by a shade of pink instantly gave her away.

I didn’t comment on that but my lips stretched to a thin smile. When Shio noticed that, I heard her groaning in embarrassment as she promptly walked off to stand behind her table, escaping me.

I had no idea if those behind me noticed the little details exchanged between us. I was focused on her, after all.

Nonetheless, since she already escaped from my possible teasing and handed me the trolley to roll in, I did just that and settled it down next to her table before standing on her side.

Obviously, I was still in my role as her Student Assistant, waiting for her next command. Besides, I was also curious about those papers. Not just me, everyone was already whispering among themselves, trying to guess what those are for.

From how tall it was, I could only put a guess… A reviewer she prepared for everyone. Not just for our class

To confirm, I voiced a question, “What are all these papers for, sensei?”

“… It’s for you,” Shio answered in a silent voice first. But then, noticing that she answered in a rather ambiguous way, she quickly reiterated her answer and in a louder voice, “It’s for all of you. My class is difficult, I know. With that, you can at least remember some of the keywords that can help you for Thursday’s midterm exam.”

As soon as she finished speaking, the class erupted in applause and cheers for Shio, thanking her for her consideration.

Seeing that, she finally couldn’t prevent herself from being flustered before beaming a beautiful smile for everyone.

“You… There’s no need for that applause. This is my first year and you’re my first advisory class. I’ll feel bad if some of you fail the exam.” Shio explained herself, perhaps trying to stop the ruckus.

However, what she expected didn’t happen. The applause grew even louder, leaving her confused.

When she turned her head to me with a blank look on her face, I simply nodded and explained.

“Sensei worked hard for us. Isn’t it normal to be this gratified?”

Right. She didn’t need to do that… No one was expecting her to put in an extra effort for her students…

We’re all here to learn after all. If we failed then the fault lies on the student itself. Although there were cases where it was the result of a lazy teacher, Shio didn’t come up lacking in her lessons.

Backing up my explanation, the loud ones shouted ‘Yes, that’s right!’ and ‘You’re the best, Kinoshita-sensei!’

And with that, for the next five minutes, Shio was basked with praise by the class and in turn, they saw the usually strict and commanding Shio acting flustered from all of it…

Anyway, I helped her distribute it after that. After doing so, I stealthily whispered my slight grievance to her, “Why didn’t you call on me, Shio? I could’ve helped you photocopy and staple these…”

“It’s my job, idiot Ruru. Your help today is enough…” And that’s her response to it before showing me her usual loving smile.

Mhm… That smile defeated me in one hit.

When I returned to my seat, I felt a pinch at my side… There’s Satsuki jealously grumbling in a silent voice, “How nice, huh?”

On my other side, Aya giggled and teased Satsuki instead, making the girl grumble more and glare at me hatefully. I guess I should expect a clingy Satsuki later.

I could now translate that glare as a prelude to it…

-

-

With a reviewer distributed to us, the class went on smoothly after that.

To not waste Shio’s effort, everyone, even the lazy ones, seriously reviewed it. And since Shio let us to our devices, groups naturally formed as they reviewed it together.

Obviously, we did the same. Our large group, with me as the center, formed once more drawing envious glares from those affected, namely Tadano, Taku and Fukuda.

Right, I only noticed just now. Ogawa was not among those who kept on glancing at us.

He’s not absent, yet his presence was too low.

When I looked at his seat. There he was, gloomily studying the reviewer alone.

Is that his new transformation? I wonder…

After what happened yesterday, it appears that he really broke.

“He's been like that since this morning,” Hina said upon noticing where I was looking. “I saw Kazuha-nee dragging him out of his room. She won’t let him play truant.”