I, the spiritual mentor of beautiful girls from all over the world

This time, it was completely different from last night's, which was filled with fear and sacrificial meaning.

There was no longer any desperate demands, nor any humble pleas.

There was only pure, overflowing sweetness and attachment, as if wanting to melt oneself completely into his arms.

Five minutes later, Qiong finally let go, her cheeks flushed with a healthy blush, like a cat that had successfully stolen a treat. She then went to wash up with light steps.

At the dining table, new changes have emerged once again.

Instead of sitting opposite her as usual, Qiong took the initiative to move a chair and sit down close to Lynn.

She was practically hanging on him.

"what--"

She picked up a thick omelet, blew on it to cool it down, and then brought it to his lips, watching him eat it with sparkling eyes.

She herself ate very little; most of the time, she was busy feeding Lynn. 860

The whole process was so natural, as if it had been rehearsed a thousand times.

Lynn enjoyed this sweet trouble with a bit of a headache, feeling like a useless person being kept in captivity.

Breakfast was basically eaten by her feeding him.

However, the apartment was unusually quiet.

The energetic doorbell that rings every morning without fail was absent today.

Qiong paused slightly as she fed the food.

A barely perceptible hint of sadness flashed in her newly lit gray eyes.

Lynn saw all of this.

He put down his chopsticks, wiped his mouth with a napkin, and then pushed a bento box containing a third of a thick omelet, which had been prepared beforehand, in front of Qiong.

"Go, Sora."

His voice was soft, yet it carried an undeniable gentleness.

Qiong stared at the bento box, stunned.

She certainly understood what Lynn meant.

The heart that had just been filled with a sense of security began to feel a subtle, stinging pain called "possessiveness."

But when she thought of what her brother had said last night, "When did it become your place to decide how to give away my things to others?", that sting was instantly replaced by a stronger emotion called "trust".

Onii-chan will never leave her.

He gave her the whole world in the most domineering way.

That being the case...

As part of his world, it seems... only right for him to comfort his friend who was about to break down in tears.

Besides, if Yui could smile again, Onii-chan... would probably be happy too, right?

For my brother, and for that... my only friend.

Qiong nodded and accepted the bento box that held special significance.

She stepped out of her house.

……

Yui Yuigahama didn't sleep all night.

She opened her eyes and watched the ceiling go from pitch black to a pale white, and then to being completely illuminated by the morning light.

My mind keeps replaying those suffocating scenes from yesterday's dinner table.

Xiao Qiong's matter-of-fact attitude when she removes fish bones for her teacher.

When Xiaoqiong wiped the corner of the teacher's mouth, the intimacy was so intimate that no one else could interfere.

And then there's my mother's words: "To want to get close to someone you like at all costs is not called being humble, it's called being enlightened."

All she knew was that her heart felt like it had been torn in two. One half was the love she never wanted to give up, and the other half was the guilt she felt after hurting Xiao Qiong, a guilt that was enough to overwhelm her.

With huge dark circles under her eyes, which were swollen and red like two walnuts, she walked listlessly along her familiar route to school.

It was right around that corner where I could "bump into" Mr. Lynn every day.

She stopped.

A slender, familiar figure stood there quietly.

It wasn't Teacher Lynn.

It's Kasugano Sora.

Yui Yuigahama's heart clenched, and she instinctively wanted to turn around and run away.

She didn't know what expression to wear when facing this girl.

However, before she could put it into action...

The girl who was always as quiet as a doll walked towards her on her own initiative.

Yui Yuigahama gripped the straps of her backpack tightly, her mind blank.

What is she here for?

Is it here to declare final victory? Or to mock its own overestimation of its own abilities?

However, none of the expected events occurred.

Qiong stopped in front of her, his clear gray eyes filled with complex emotions.

There was distance, there was wariness, but more than anything, there was a kind of... clumsy attempt at goodwill that Yui Hihama couldn't understand.

Then, under Yuigahama Yui's utterly shocked gaze...

Qiong reached out her hand.

In her hands, she held a pink, adorable lunchbox.

She handed the lunchbox forward, her gaze somewhat unfocused, avoiding Yui Yuigahama's eyes, and spoke stiffly in a very soft, almost inaudible voice.

"……for you."

……

noon

Sunlight streamed through the gaps in the hotel's heavy curtains, piercing into the dimly lit room.

Hiratsuka Shizuka's eyelids twitched, and she slowly opened her eyes amidst a sharp pain comparable to being drilled in the brain.

The unfamiliar ceiling, the air still carrying a faint, refreshing masculine scent, and... the ambiguous smell of alcohol and hormones mixed together.

Her memories were like a rough draft scribbled on with an eraser, blurry and chaotic, leaving only some crazy, burning fragments.

The roar of engines tearing through the night sky on the roads of Mount Akina...

The heart-pounding darkness of the hotel room...

And then there was the man's deep, suppressed voice, as if carrying some kind of storm...

She sat up abruptly, her silky hotel bathrobe slipping off her shoulders, revealing large expanses of smooth skin and... some inappropriate, ambiguous red marks.

Her gaze, involuntarily, fell to the side beside her.

No one is empty.

The bedding was wrinkled, a testament to the fact that only she had ever slept there.

An indescribable sense of loss, like an icy tide, instantly overwhelmed her.

Then, her gaze froze.

On the pure white, meticulously made bed sheet, a striking, dried dark red stain stood out like a plum blossom blooming in the snow.

boom--!

All the hazy fragments of memory were forcibly pieced together at this moment, and the crazy, out-of-control scenes from last night exploded in her mind like a high-definition replay.

Her cheeks turned red from her ears all the way to her neck at a speed visible to the naked eye.

It’s over.

This infamous "Iron Fist Leftover Woman" of Chiba Prefecture actually... confessed to herself on a drunken night?

Just as her mind went blank and she was so ashamed and angry that she wanted to jump out of the window, she noticed something on the bedside table.

A glass of water that is still warm.

A brand new box of hangover remedies.

And a note tucked under a water glass.

Her hands trembled as she picked up the note.

His handwriting was steady and powerful, exuding an aura that was just like him—lazy yet all-encompassing.

"Take your medicine when you wake up. Drink more water if you have a headache."

"I've already paid the room fee. The front desk won't bother you. You can leave at any time."

"I also asked the school for leave for you this morning, saying you drank too much and blacked out. After all... it's not the first time, the school won't suspect anything."

Hiratsuka Shizuka's breathing gradually became more rapid.

Thoughtful and meticulous, handling all follow-up issues flawlessly.

However, when her gaze fell on the last line of text, she felt as if her heart had been gripped tightly by an invisible hand.

"I will treat last night's events as an accident."

accident.

This word, like a cold, sharp scalpel, dissected everything from last night and then coldly and precisely labeled it as "don't care."

"asshole……"

Hiratsuka Shizuka bit her lip hard, crumpling the note into a mushy ball in her hand.

This hateful guy!

How can someone who turns their back on you after pulling up their pants be so considerate and meticulous, leaving no room for error?!

This made her feel even more angry and humiliated than simply leaving her alone in the hotel!

Yet, that glass of warm water, that box of hangover medicine, that phone call to the school to ask for leave... all spoke of the other person's thoughtfulness and... appreciation?

This contradictory feeling was driving her crazy.

She threw off the covers and stumbled into the bathroom.

In the mirror, she saw a face that even she herself felt unfamiliar with.

Her hair was disheveled, but her eyes and brows carried an inescapable, breathtaking allure.

Those eyes, which were always full of heroic spirit, were now moist, as if covered with a thin layer of mist.

She no longer seemed like the "Hiratsuka-sensei" who only knew how to use her fists, but rather a real woman who had been loved by a man.

When she saw the clear marks between her neck and collarbone that couldn't be concealed by her collar, her cheeks flushed bright red.

She knew that there was no going back between her and the man named Lynn.

……

In the afternoon, the atmosphere in the teachers' office at Zongwu High School was somewhat strange.

Everyone's eyes, intentionally or unintentionally, drifted toward the figure that had just walked in.

"Wow, Hiratsuka-sensei, you look absolutely stunning today!" A familiar male colleague whistled and teased, winking, "Did your blind date last night go well?"

"What is it?" The female teacher next to her leaned over, lowered her voice, and said with a gossipy look, "Jing, you look so radiant today! Your skin is practically glowing! Tell me, did you secretly use some expensive skincare products? Or... have you finally found love?"

Today, Hiratsuka Shizuka unusually wore light makeup, trying to conceal her haggard appearance and those marks, but the result was the opposite.

Her usually bare-faced, strikingly handsome face, when adorned with light makeup, not only failed to conceal her mature charm but instead made her even more breathtaking.

"Go away! What nonsense are you spouting!"