Teacher Xia Lai is also teaching in Kivotos today

Chapter 49 I've Been Waiting

“Ah?!”

When their eyes met, Xiang actually let out a low whine, then lowered his head like an ostrich.

Faced with Xiang's completely unexpected look, Lin En couldn't help but stand there in a daze for a moment.

Then, he looked at Ge Yuan with a puzzled look on his face, who also looked surprised.

"Um...did I do something I shouldn't have done?"

Hearing this, Utahara and Yaduli looked at each other and shook their heads at the same time.

"I think it's not the teacher's fault."

Hearing what Yaduli said, Lin En couldn't help but blink.

"Then... could it be that Xiang is feeling unwell somewhere?"

"If Xiang really felt uncomfortable, she would have told us. And she didn't have any strange behavior or reaction when we were eating just now."

Utahara frowned slightly as he said this.

Although she was aware of Xiang's feelings for Lin En, but... wasn't this reaction a little too much?

Seeing that both of them were a little confused, Lin En sighed lightly and walked straight towards Xiang with the bag in his hand.

Finally, when Lin En was about three or four meters away from Xiang, Xiang finally took the initiative to speak.

"Old...teacher!"

Xiang said this and waved his hands in panic, apparently signaling Lin En not to come any closer.

Seeing this, Lin En stood there obediently and asked the girl with concern.

"Xiang, are you feeling unwell?"

"I... No, I don't feel uncomfortable anywhere..."

Although he still wanted to confirm, Lin En, whose EQ was not that low, nodded slightly and then reached into the bag.

"Here, I thought you must be tired from working, so I brought you some drinks as a solace gift, but I don't know if you like it."

Looking at the dripping coffee that Lin En handed to her, which was obviously freshly taken out of the freezer, Xiang's eyes suddenly lit up. But then, as if she remembered something, she withdrew her hand that was just about to reach out, and whispered a little awkwardly.

"Um... Teacher, just leave it there. I... I'll get it later..."

"OK then."

"Xiang, what's wrong with you?"

Until this point, not only Utsuhara, but even Yaduri began to notice the strangeness that Xiang had never seen before.

"Are you really feeling unwell? Or has something happened?"

Unlike Lin En who was a bit tactful, the more straightforward Yaduli asked Xiang without hesitation after taking the juice from Lin En.

"It's really... It's really nothing... Nothing happened..."

Although Xiang has always insisted that there is nothing wrong with him now, neither Lin En as a teacher nor Utahara and Adori as colleagues and classmates can allow this situation to continue.

"Hibiki, we've been working together for so long, don't you still trust us?"

As she said this, Yaduli came to Xiang's side, bent down slightly and asked her with concern.

"Yes, and the teacher is here too. If you really encounter any problems, the teacher will definitely help you."

Faced with Ge Yuan's persuasion and Lin En's concerned gaze, Xiang opened his mouth slightly, and after hesitating for a long time, he seemed to have made up his mind and answered in a low voice.

"Because... because I put a lot of hot sauce on the pizza just now... so..."

Having said that, Xiang did not say anything else, but lowered his head and covered his face with his hands.

"..."

Although Xiang's face could not be seen, the three people present knew very well that her face was definitely redder than the metal being forged.

At the same time, the entire engineering department's studio suddenly fell silent, and the only sound echoing here was the sound of the machine tools still in working condition.

“…Utahara-senpai, you should have discovered it a long time ago, right?”

However, in response to Yaduri's somewhat incoherent words, Utahara nodded as if he understood the meaning of her words.

"I understand."

Looking at Utahara's reaction, Yaduli sighed helplessly.

"It seems that the Phantom Thief is really amazing."

As she said this, Aduli shook her head, walked away from Xiang, and sat back in her seat.

And Ge Yuan simply patted Lin En's shoulder silently, and then returned to his workbench.

Facing Xiang who was still covering her face with her hands, Lin En gave a wry smile, picked up the iced coffee beside her, walked in front of her, squatted down gently, and put the coffee in his hand on the back of Xiang's hand.

"ah!"

Because of the sudden cold touch, Xiang screamed and subconsciously let go of his hand.

But when Xiang moved her hand away, the person who appeared in front of her was Lin En who was looking at her with a smile.

"Old...teacher..."

Looking at Xiang whose tail and ears were slightly drooping, Lin En stuffed the coffee into her hand, smiled and touched her head.

"Xiang, do you want to go to Xialai with me?"

"……Eh?"

After hearing Lin En's words, not only was Xiang surprised, but even Utahara and Yaduri, who thought he was going to say something comforting, couldn't help but open their eyes wide in shock.

"Hmm? Because didn't your engineering department ship all the samples of those equipment to Xialai?"

Facing the looks cast towards him by the three people, Lin En smiled calmly.

"If we wait until something happens to the samples before notifying you to rush over, not only will your plans be disrupted, but it will also waste a lot of time on the journey, right?"

Lynn shrugged as he said this.

"Although these devices were made by you all, if it's just a matter of repairing some minor problems, it shouldn't be a problem for Xiang to do it alone, right?"

"Ah... Of course there is no problem. After all, the difficulty coefficient of these devices is not that high."

"That's good."

After getting Ge Yuan's affirmation, Lin En stood up and smiled and stretched out his hand towards Xiang who was looking at him in surprise and seemed a little unresponsive.

"So...Hibiki, I need your help now, can you come and help me?"

Facing Lin En who was looking at him with a smile, Xiang couldn't help but lower his head and clenched the can of coffee in his hand awkwardly.

And Lin En didn't say much, but just stretched out his hand, waiting for the girl's reply.

After an unknown amount of time, the girl raised her head as if she had finally made up her mind, looked at Lin En with a smile and stretched out her hand.

"Well, I've been waiting. Waiting for the moment when the teacher calls my name... Waiting for this moment."

Chapter 50: New Whack-a-Mole?

"Huh? Weird..."

When Lin En drove his motorcycle with Xiang to the Xialai Building, he did not find the sample that the engineering department mentioned.

However, when Lin En asked out loud in such doubt, he already had the answer in his heart. After all, he didn't think anyone would be interested in, or have the courage to steal the things placed in front of the Xialai Building.

But unlike Lin En, Xiang, who didn't know what was going on, quickly spoke up to defend himself after hearing him talking to himself.

"Um, teacher... the stuff should have been delivered... We confirmed it with a drone..."

Xiang, who got off the back of the motorcycle, glanced at Lin En and whispered a suggestion.

"Should we... contact the Public Security Bureau or the Life Safety Bureau?"

"no need."

After parking the car, Lin En smiled and patted Xiang's head, who looked a little uneasy.

"Come with me. I think I know where the samples are."

After taking Xiang into the space on the first floor that was to be used as a cafe, Lin En saw, as expected, several cardboard boxes of various sizes piled there.

"Ah...what? We clearly saw the logistics company placing these things in front of the Xialai Building..."

Hearing Xiang's somewhat surprised words, Lin En shrugged and took a piece of paper fixed with thumbtacks from one of the cartons. As he expected, there was a message left by 68 Convenience House on it.

"Teacher, we are all out completing a commission, but we will be back soon. These should be the things you will use to decorate Xialai later, right? We helped you move them in. If you want to thank us, let us experience these things first, right?"

Judging from the tone and handwriting, there is no doubt that this note was left by Kayoko.

"Teacher...this is?"

After quickly reading the contents of the note, Xiang looked at Lynn with a hint of confusion.

"Ah, this was left by 68 Convenience House. Um... you can think of them as helpful elves."

After putting the note into his pocket, Lin En smiled and began to dismantle the cardboard box. Seeing this, Xiang also hurried over to help.

With the joint efforts of the two, it didn't take long to dismantle the outer packaging of these samples. However, what surprised Lin En was that these amusement equipment made by the engineering department seemed to be no different.

"Teacher... Although these devices look similar to ordinary amusement equipment, they are actually very different."

Perhaps seeing what Lin En was thinking, Xiang gently tugged at the corner of his clothes and said this softly, then pointed to the device that was not far from them.

"This... should be whack-a-mole, right?"

Hearing Lynn's words, Xiang nodded.

"Yes. But this is the new Whack-A-Mole that was redesigned by Utahara-senpai."

"…Even if I add a new one, it won't look any different, right?"

Just as Lin En complained like this, a sudden voice reached their ears.

"Hey - it turns out that these boxes are filled with game consoles! Is the teacher planning to open an arcade in Xialai?"

The moment he heard the third person's voice, Xiang, who was about to continue the introduction, subconsciously shrank behind Lin En and stuck his head out to look towards the door.

"Hey, teacher, good afternoon."

Looking at Mutsuki who was walking towards him, Lin En smiled and greeted him, then spoke with a hint of confusion.

"Are you the only one back? Where are Aru and the others?"

After retracting his gaze towards Hibiki, Mutsuki replied with a smile.

"Ah, I saw the teacher's motorcycle parked outside, and I wanted to see the teacher as soon as possible, so I quickened my pace and ran over here! As for Aru-chan and the others, they will be here soon."

Before he finished speaking, a familiar voice followed.

"Really... Even if the teacher returns to Xialai, there's no need to be so anxious..."

Seeing Yalu and others appearing at the door, Lin En waved at them.

"Good afternoon, everyone."

"Ah...well, good afternoon, teacher."

When Aruna responded to Lin, Kayoko noticed Hibiki hiding behind him and couldn't help but look at Lin.

"Teacher, who is this?"

"Ah, this is Hibiki from the Millennium Science Academy's engineering department. You're here to help me check out these rides."

As Lin En said this, he patted the claw machine next to him.

"Also, although these amusement equipment look the same as ordinary equipment, they have actually been redesigned and manufactured by the Engineering Department. Of course, I can't see any difference at the moment."

"Hmm... In that case, let's try this whack-a-mole game!"

Hearing what Lin En said, Mutsuki, who was most interested in playing video games, quickly ran up to him and started swinging his arm around like a spoiled child.

"Teacher, let me give it a try!"