Teacher Xia Lai is also teaching in Kivotos today

Although she was still expressionless as usual, tears had already appeared on her face.

"Teacher...I don't want to lose you again."

Chapter 66: What reason do I have to give up?

"Varied……"

Lynn, who had never expected things to turn out this way, was stunned on the spot.

If the arrival of Koharu and Hifumi tonight tinged the atmosphere in the room with a touch of pink, and Hanako brought some charm to the room, then Azusa's words were like a blockbuster bomb, instantly clearing away the atmosphere that had originally permeated Lynn's room.

However, Zi was not surprised by Lin En's reaction. She first took off her jacket, and then unbuttoned the neck of her dress in front of Lin En's surprised eyes.

Just when Lin En wanted to ask Zi what she was doing, he found that the girl who nonchalantly exposed her underwear in front of him took out something from the secret pocket of her dress -

It was a keychain that looked as ordinary as it could be. And judging from the style, the cartoon character on the keychain seemed to be a skeleton man who was not very popular in Momofriends.

In an instant, Lin En, who associated many things with each other, couldn't help but widen his eyes slightly.

"So it's you..."

The figure of the girl in front of him, who looked much more mature, overlapped with the figure of the petite girl deep in his memory. Lin En couldn't help but say with some emotion.

If it was just a skeleton keychain, Lin En might not be able to remember it. But after thinking about Azusa's identity as an Arius student, he finally remembered the girl brought back by Saori.

Because although Lin En was nominally a member of the Arius team, this was more of an honorary title than a substantive one. After all, every time Saori and the others completed a mission or returned to the so-called "headquarters" to report, they would not bring Lin En with them. And Lin En had no objection and would honestly stay in the safe house and wait for them to come back.

And when they came back, Lin En would occasionally see the young Zi who was brought back by them.

According to Saori, this seems to be a member of their Arius team. But due to some special reasons, he is still receiving education at the "headquarters" and has suffered a lot of corporal punishment because of this.

Even though Saori took him in and taught him personally, the situation did not seem optimistic to Lin En.

When Lin En saw Azusa for the fifth time, with new scars on his body, Saori and the others had to go out on a temporary mission, so the responsibility of healing Azusa fell on Lin En.

Just when Lin En, who couldn't bear it any longer, was cursing while applying medicine to Zi, Zi finally spoke the first words to Lin En.

"Why do you want to help me heal my wounds?"

At that time, Lin En didn't think too much about it and just replied casually.

"I am happy if you take care of me."

Perhaps it was because he had never heard an answer in this tone, or perhaps it was because he had never seen anyone with this attitude, but from this conversation on, Zi finally began to communicate with this adult whom he had never met before and whom he would only see after "returning to the team".

One day later, Lin En went to a mall promotion and unexpectedly got this skeleton keychain as a prize. Although this keychain was quite exquisite, he was a little troubled after returning to the safe house.

Compared to this kind of key chain, Atsuko probably likes flowers more, Hiyori prefers collecting magazines, and Misaki and Saori probably aren't very interested in this kind of small dolls either.

So after thinking about it, Lin En stuffed it into the hand of Zi who was sitting in the corner watching the fire.

Somewhat unexpectedly, Azusa seemed to like this somewhat strange cartoon character on the keychain very much for some reason.

And it was during this exchange that Zi Chao asked Lin En the question that might have been lingering in her heart:

"It is clear that everything in this world will eventually become nothingness, but why have you never shown any pain or hatred because of this?"

At that time, Lin En, who was packing the medical box, was stunned at first, but then he chuckled and answered her with a very simple question.

"Per Aspera Ad Astra." (The rough road will lead to the stars.)

Looking at Zi who seemed a little confused, Lin En put the medical box back in its place and sat next to her, smiling and continuing.

“Even if everyone lives in the gutter, there are always people who look up at the stars. You can feel pain, anger, and even hatred because of the cruelty of this world - because you are all still children. But I can’t.”

Facing Zi's somewhat confused gaze at that time, Lin En smiled nonchalantly and said.

"Even if everything in this world will eventually return to nothingness, as an adult I must do my best to push this existence called nothingness away for you - because your future is longer and farther than ours."

At this point, Lynn couldn't help but chuckle and continued.

"Isn't it just nothingness? Look, I use my power to push it back for you."

"…But, Lynn is weak."

Facing the expressionless Zi's words, Lin En, who had been quite excited at first, could not help but be speechless.

"Has anyone ever told Azusa that you're bad at chatting?"

"No. Because... I don't have many opportunities to interact with others like this."

Although he said something that might have sounded sad, Zi, who still had tape on his face, smiled and spoke to Lynn.

"But...I don't hate this feeling."

Since then, Zi and Lin En have been communicating more and more. And Lin En also knows that the scars on Zi's body are not all from training, but more from corporal punishment from the headquarters because he cannot accept the concept of "nothingness".

In other words, it seemed that I at that time had pointed out a new path for Zi, who was still confused at that time.

However, this time did not last long, as the Arius team was suddenly attacked by their "enemies". It was during this attack that Lin En parted ways with them and later became the instructor of the Gehenna Supply Department.

"Maybe I should have thought of it earlier..."

Thinking back to what happened, Lin En smiled bitterly and said to himself, then looked at the girl standing in front of him.

"Long time no see...Azi."

Hearing that familiar name again, Baizhou Zi's body couldn't help but tremble slightly.

"I can't help it. In my memory, Ah Zi's face and body are always gray, and he likes to shrink in the corner without saying a word. Not only that, he always makes fun of me..."

"Because Lin En...because the teacher is really weak."

Looking at Zi who was looking at him seriously and saying familiar words, Lin En didn't know what to say for a moment.

He remembered very clearly that although Zi was not particularly strong in frontal combat, she was an expert in guerrilla warfare.

However, no matter how weak her frontal combat capability is, it should not be a problem for her to defeat ten of her without Murasame.

Just when Lin En was speechless, a smile slowly appeared on Zi's face after he said this.

"But...even such a weak teacher is still persisting, so why should I give up?"

Chapter 67 You shouldn’t just say this to me

Looking at Zi who said this, Lin En didn't know for a moment whether the other party was praising him or insulting him. He smiled helplessly, sat on the edge of the bed and patted the empty space next to him.

Seeing this, Zi sat next to him without any objection.

"But... I think Azi, you suddenly told me all this tonight, it shouldn't be to reminisce with me, right?"

"……Um."

Zi, who was being touched on the head by Lin En, was silent for a moment as if he was confused, and then he finally spoke.

"Because... not only was I with Teacher Lin En, but I also had a lot of fun playing with everyone in the cram school."

Hearing what Zi said, Lin En, who had a premonition of something, couldn't help but frowned slightly.

"So, so... I don't want to hide it from the teacher and everyone else anymore."

"...Okay, I already know."

However, before Zi could continue, Lynn gently shook his index finger and touched the girl's lips.

"I know everything, huh?"

Facing Zi's puzzled gaze, Lin En smiled gently.

"Whether it's the fact that Azusa is from Arius or the fact that Saori and the others planted Azusa in Trinity College as a spy... I know all of this, right?"

Under Azusa's slightly surprised gaze, Lin En told her everything, including the search for the Holy Trinity traitor and the truth about the cram school. Of course, he did not tell her about his plan with Nagisa and Mika.

Just as Zi was digesting his words, Lin En remembered something and tapped his forehead with a wry smile.

"But anyway, when I learned that you, Azi, were from Arius, I didn't even think that you were Azi from your name... If this gets out, I'll be embarrassed to say that I was once a member of the Arius team."

"…No, it's not the teacher's fault."

As he said this, Azusa reached out and grabbed Lynn's hand that was on his head, and pressed it against his chest.

"And... more than that, I, Shirasu Azusa from the cram school, have betrayed your trust, teacher. I am a traitor to the Holy Trinity."

As if he could finally hold it back no longer, Azusa spoke out all of his reasons for coming to Holy Trinity.

After the "Madam" who ruled the Arian Academy heard about Mika's contact with the Arian students, she took advantage of the hatred in the hearts of the Arian students who had been separated due to the civil strife and made a plan to destroy the tea party at all costs. Now, they have succeeded in the first one, which is the death of Saint Ya.

And then, Azusa has only one goal, which is to destroy the aura of another tea party member, Kirito Nagisa.

After everything is settled, all the blame will be put on Shengyuan Weihua.

After listening to Zi's narration, Lin En nodded slightly.

"But now... I don't want to carry out this plan. I want to protect, no... I must protect Kirito Nagisa."

"Yeah. After all, Azusa, you came to Trinity College to protect Nagisa from the beginning, right?"

Facing the puzzled look that Zi cast at him, Lin En pinched the girl's cheek, which felt very nice, with his other hand.

"I can tell what's going on just by looking into your eyes. You accepted this mission to protect Nagisa. You acted as an informant for Arius, reporting that everything went smoothly from beginning to end, but you were actually preparing to betray him..."

As Lin En said this, he reached out and tapped the surprised Zi's head, and smiled with some pride.

"So... don't underestimate adults, you guy."

"…Even though the teacher has become a teacher now, the teacher is still as sharp as before."

Looking at Zi who couldn't help but smile and spoke like a tongue twister, Lin En couldn't help but chuckle.

"Teacher is right... Because in my expectation, if Kirito Nagisa is gone, then the little fish will be cancelled, and Arius will be able to take advantage of the time when Seizono Mika is stuck in the quagmire and successfully invade Trinity College... If this is true, I'm afraid the whole of Kivotos will fall into greater chaos. And at that time, maybe another school will fall into the same situation as Arius and repeat the same mistakes. And... I noticed..."

As Azusa said this, he looked seriously into Lin's eyes.

"Whether it's the happy time with the teacher or with everyone, I don't want to lose it. The time with everyone... I am very, very happy. Whether it's studying together or playing together... I still want to do more things with everyone, I want to go to more places with everyone, and there are still many things I want to know..."

However, before Zi could continue, Lin En gently shook his head.

Seeing the girl looking at him with some confusion, Lin En, who had never expected things to develop in this way, said with a wry smile.

"Azi...you shouldn't just say these words to me."

Then, while Zi was still dazed by these words, Lin En reached out and knocked on the side of the bed.

"I'm not saying...how long do you guys plan to keep listening?"

After a moment's silence, Zi looked in astonishment at the people from the cram school who came out from under the bed where they were sitting.

"...Everyone? Why is it..."

Faced with Azusa's slightly surprised words, Hifumi and Koharu both looked away involuntarily, but Hanako still looked at her and Lin En with a smile on her face.

"Haha, that's it..."

Facing everyone's gazes directed at her, Hanako chuckled and continued.

"I had a vague feeling before that Zi-chan and the teacher seemed to have something in common in some strange ways... Now it seems that Zi-chan and the teacher are both people who work hard to live every day and try their best even in a short time. Even if this starting point is vague or even false, they are trying their best to make it a reality."

At this point, Hanako turned to look at Azusa.

"Everything is obviously empty, but Azusa-chan always says, [Even so, there is no reason not to do your best today]."

Then, Hanako turned and looked at Lynn.

"And the teacher once told me, "The time I spend with my students in Kivotos is the most important thing to me. So, although I feel tired because of this, I will not feel tired because it is what I want to do and what I should do. 】"

"Teacher... and Azusa-chan..."

As Hifumi muttered to herself, Hanako smiled somewhat self-deprecatingly.

"Unlike someone who would only escape, this person became the brightest light in her eyes. And...she was eventually infected by his sincerity and courage. She also wanted to live that kind of life and enjoy these happy school days."

Chapter 68: Lin En's Inner World

After hearing Hanako's words, although Azusa and Koharu showed slightly puzzled expressions at the same time, Lin En turned to look at them and met the eyes of Hifumi, who seemed to have heard something and looked at him.