Chapter 327: Aimi Hit Someone?!
Early the next morning, since it was her turn to be the class duty student, Kotomi surprisingly didn't laze around in bed.
She got up early, changed clothes, and after quickly finishing breakfast, she rushed to school without delay.
"I haven't been on duty for so long that I almost forgot today was my turn."
With a bitter expression, Kotomi quickened her pace toward Sobu High School. Although she hadn't slept in and had left home early, she still had to clean the classroom before the other students arrived.
The key difference here was that, unlike in her previous life, where multiple students shared the cleaning tasks, Japanese high schools had a single duty student each day responsible for completing all the cleaning alone.
The amount of work she had to do was self-evident.
At this moment, Kotomi deeply missed the times in her past life when cleaning duties were shared among several people.
At least back then, she could sneak in a little break while others were working.
By the time she arrived in the classroom, it was already quite late. Kotomi rushed through the cleaning tasks, barely managing to finish everything in the last ten minutes.
"Ah... I'm exhausted. I haven't done cleaning duty in so long, and today I had to rush through it. I almost ran out of breath." Kotomi placed the eraser back on the teacher's desk and sat down in her seat, panting heavily.
She realized that her so-called "Queen of All Females" physique didn't seem to help much when it came to cleaning.
Could it be that this physique, just like her, hated doing housework?
Taking advantage of the fact that no classmates had arrived yet, Kotomi decided not to waste the quiet morning. She opened her bag with an air of diligence, as if preparing for a morning study session to start the day right.
She neatly placed her textbook on the desk, then, as usual, placed her phone on top, sneakily playing with it under the guise of studying.
It had to be said—Shizuka Hiratsuka's secret tips for playing on the phone unnoticed were quite effective.
From an outsider's perspective, Kotomi appeared to be an early bird, diligently sitting at her desk, fully immersed in her studies as she soaked up knowledge.
At that moment, the school's disciplinary head and an English teacher were walking back to the faculty office together, having just bought breakfast. As they walked, they chatted about next month's midterm exams and the upcoming sports festival.
As they passed by Class 1-F, the disciplinary head instinctively stopped upon noticing the open classroom door.
He stood by the back window and peeked inside.
There, sitting upright at her desk, appearing completely absorbed in her studies—was Kotomi, sneakily playing on her phone with an earnest expression, as if she were lost in the vast ocean of knowledge.
"Principal, isn't that the Kotomi Izumi you've mentioned so often?"
"Yes, that's her," the disciplinary head nodded in satisfaction.
The English teacher, who didn't usually handle Class 1-F's English lessons and had been away for almost a month for external training, wasn't too familiar with Kotomi. However, over the past few weeks, she had frequently heard the staff and teachers discussing Kotomi's name.
Her monthly exam scores were ranked first in all of Tokyo!
And this year's test had been particularly challenging.
Even for her, an experienced English teacher who excelled in multiple subjects, achieving a higher accuracy rate than Kotomi was no easy feat.
Realizing this, she had initially been curious about how Kotomi managed to achieve such impressive results. But now, seeing her diligently studying so early in the morning, the teacher immediately understood—
Effort never betrays those who are truly dedicated!
"No wonder she ranked first in all of Tokyo. Coming to school early to study and making the most of her time—this level of dedication is something even top students find difficult to achieve!"
"Exactly. Even after achieving the top rank in Tokyo, she remains humble and diligent. With this attitude, her future achievements will undoubtedly be remarkable," the discipline director said with satisfaction.
The two teachers exchanged glances and then walked together toward Class 1-B.
The discipline director commented, "Compared to her, Class 1-B's performance lately has been quite poor. I often end up confiscating phones from them. Every time I casually pass by their classroom, I can seize several phones at once."
The English teacher sighed, "I've been teaching English to Class 1-B, and I must say, they are the worst batch I've ever handled! Just look at Kotomi, and then look at those students who do nothing but sneak their phones in class without any ambition!
I just finished teaching Unit 6 yesterday, so for this morning's reading period, I'll give them a surprise quiz. They'll have to write down all the vocabulary from Unit 1 to Unit 6."
Once the two teachers finally walked away from the back door, Kotomi let out a long sigh of relief.
She had been engrossed in watching anime earlier when she suddenly noticed the presence of the two teachers standing outside. She couldn't risk taking her phone back, so she had no choice but to keep pretending she was studying, praying that they wouldn't enter the classroom.
Ten minutes later, students started arriving one after another.
For some reason, though, Class 1-B let out two loud, miserable screams early in the morning.
The other students in different classes were already used to it.
"Kotomi, good morning! No wonder I didn't see you when I waited outside your house this morning. I found out from Aimi that you left early today. How was your cleaning duty?"
Megumi Kato walked in, carrying her school bag. Seeing Kotomi, she immediately broke into a bright smile.
It seemed like only when she saw Kotomi did her face truly light up.
"It was my first time doing cleaning duty alone, so I wasn't very familiar with it at first. But with the time pressure, I got the hang of it pretty quickly. I even managed to squeeze in a few minutes to sneak in some phone time," Kotomi said cheerfully.
Hearing this, Megumi Kato's face suddenly showed a look of realization.
"No wonder I heard screaming from Class 1-B when I passed by this morning. I thought to myself—Kotomi must have been caught sneaking her phone again."
"It probably has nothing to do with me…" Kotomi shrank her neck and chuckled awkwardly.
Shortly after, Yui Yuigahama arrived in the classroom, spotted Kotomi, and waved enthusiastically. She then rushed over in a few quick strides and hugged Kotomi tightly, rubbing her soft cheeks affectionately against Kotomi's face.
For Kotomi, Yui, and Mashiro, their daily routine involved bear hugs upon meeting.
Although there were countless rumors circulating among their classmates—stories that had evolved to the point of saying Kotomi could embrace Yui with one arm and Mashiro with the other while declaring, "You are both my wings."
However, in reality, everyone was so accustomed to the sight that they no longer felt it was "torturing single people." Instead, it felt as natural as eating a sweet orange-flavored candy in the morning—sweet, heartwarming, and delightful.
The scene was so charming that it warmed the hearts of those watching, proving once again how wonderful friendships between girls could be.
Meanwhile, Megumi Kato silently observed everything without showing any reaction.
Except for the mechanical pencil in her hand… which seemed to be under a bit too much pressure.
During the break after the third period, Yui Yuigahama decided to take the initiative and invite Kotomi to have lunch with her today.
Yesterday, seeing Kotomi and Mashiro leaving together to have lunch on the rooftop left a sour feeling in her heart. But at the same time, it made Yui realize an important truth.
If you don't fight, you can't survive!!!
If she didn't take the initiative, she wouldn't be able to take their relationship to the next level.
"Kotomi, how about we have lunch togeth—"
Just as Yui turned around and started speaking, she was met with the sight of Kotomi lying on Megumi Kato's lap, with Megumi gently cleaning Kotomi's ears.
"Kotomi, how about we go for a walk after lunch?" Megumi Kato said with a gentle smile.
"Sure~"
The feeling of having her ears cleaned was beyond words—especially while lying on Megumi's lap. At that moment, Kotomi felt as if she were melting into a puddle of bliss.
Faced with Megumi's suggestion, she agreed without a moment's hesitation.
And just like that, today's battle ended in Yui Yuigahama's defeat.
As the fourth period approached, Megumi finished cleaning Kotomi's ears, and Kotomi reluctantly sat up from her lap.
Leaving the comfort of a beautiful girl's lap was always a bit disheartening.
Ring ring—
Just as she was preparing her textbooks for the next class, her phone suddenly rang.
Kotomi breathed a sigh of relief—it was lucky the call didn't come during class.
However, the content of the call instantly made her heart tighten.
"Hello, is this Kotomi Izumi? Is Aimi your younger sister?" The voice on the other end was that of a woman.
"Yes, that's right. What happened?"
"Hello, I'm Hiragi Kawano, Aimi's homeroom teacher from Chiba City Private Middle School. I was also your homeroom teacher back when you were in middle school—perhaps you remember me?"
Kotomi vaguely recalled her—Kawano-sensei was her third-year homeroom teacher, a gentle-looking female math teacher who was relatively young, probably around 28 years old now.
"It's like this—your sister just injured a female classmate at school, and the injuries are quite serious. Do you have time to come to the school now?"
The caller didn't seem like a scammer. Kotomi had some impression of Kawano-sensei from her middle school years, and she was known to be an approachable teacher.
However, what Kawano had just said was hard to believe.
Aimi... hit someone?!
Even though Aimi could be a little fierce when she was angry, she didn't seem like the type to resort to violence—let alone injure someone seriously?!
Despite her disbelief, Kotomi couldn't imagine her former homeroom teacher calling just to prank her.
After replying that she would head over immediately, Kotomi hung up the phone and prepared to rush to the middle school.
"Megumi, help me request a leave of absence. I don't know why, but Aimi apparently hurt a classmate. I need to check on her at school."
"What? Aimi actually hit someone? Got it. Don't worry, I'll handle the leave for you. Let me know if anything happens," Megumi Kato responded.
After whispering a quick thanks to Megumi, Kotomi left the school without hesitation, picking up her pace as she rushed to Chiba City Private Middle School.
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