A C-Rank Magic Student Who Deludes Himself into Thinking He Is SSS-Rank - Chapter 6: The Homeroom Teacher <2>

“Excuse me.”

As Shion knocked and entered the document storage used by the teachers, he found his homeroom teacher, Lina Lestia, climbing a ladder and retrieving several books from the shelves.

“Ah, Kurosaki-kun!”

Lestia turned around upon noticing Shion’s arrival and greeted him.

“Thank you always… Please feel free to say no if you’re busy, okay?”

“No problem at all, please rely on me anytime. Anyone would want to help with the classes of someone who works hard for their students.”

“…!?”

Shion’s response caused Lestia to widen her eyes in surprise before her focus seemed to drift away.

“…A white dress, a church overlooking the sea, surrounded by flowers… a humble but happy home…”

“What’s that?”

“Ah! Sorry, it’s nothing… just…”

(Just…?)

Shion always had a way of saying things that genuinely pleased Lestia.

His expression rarely changed, and his tone was usually flat, but somehow, his words always felt sincere to her.

Blushing furiously, Lestia turned back to the bookshelf, trying to hide her reddened face.

“Be careful, teacher. Let me do that.”

Lestia was reaching for a book just beyond her reach, her footing unstable and the ladder wobbling.

“I’m fine, just this last one… almost there… ah!”

As Shion moved to stabilize the shaky ladder, Lestia managed to grab the book but lost her balance.

“Kyaa!?”

“!?”

Shion quickly caught Lestia as she fell from the ladder, but he lost his balance, and both tumbled to the ground, scattering the books she was holding.

Lestia ended up lying on top of Shion, their bodies almost entirely in contact.

Trying desperately to maintain an unaffected expression as if to say, “Nothing’s wrong here,” Shion found Lestia’s face mere inches from his own.

“…Ah.”

“…”

Their breaths faintly caressed each other’s faces.

Caught off guard by the sudden closeness, Lestia’s mind went blank.

After a few silent seconds of mutual gaze, Shion finally spoke, having regained his composure.

“…Sorry, teacher, I couldn’t catch you properly. Are you okay?”

His breath brushed against Lestia’s lips as he spoke.

Jolted back to reality, Lestia’s eyes widened, and her face turned crimson. She hastily sat up.

“I-I’m fine! S-sorry! I just… fell on you!”

“No, I’m fine. I’m quite sturdy. I’m just glad you’re not hurt.”

His words sounded casual, but it was a lie. Shion had hit his back and head quite hard and was desperately fighting the urge to express his pain.

He masked his discomfort, maintaining an unaffected facade, and offered a hand to Lestia, still sitting on the floor.

“Thank you…”

Lestia, looking down, took his hand and stood up.

“Is this all the books we need to carry?”

“…”

Shion, seemingly unfazed, gathered the scattered books and asked Lestia again.

“Teacher?”

“Ah! What is it?”

“Are these all the books we need to carry?”

“Oh, yes! That’s all of them. Just like usual, please take them to my prep room. I’ll take these and go ahead…”

Saying, “Then, I’ll see you there!” Lestia quickly left the storage room, taking several stacked books.

“…?”

Shion watched her hurriedly leave with a puzzled look.

◆

Rushing back to her prep room, Lestia set down the books she had brought from the storage with a loud bang, then covered her face with both hands.

“Ah! My heart can’t take this…!”

Remembering the recent incident, Lestia frowned and blushed.

(Shion’s breath was so close to my mouth, and I could smell the scent of his nice hair… What am I thinking about?!)

She tried to scold herself but couldn’t calm her racing heartbeat.

(Why am I, the older one, getting flustered over nothing while Shion, a young boy, remains so cool? It’s so embarrassing…!)

“Okay, calm down,” Lestia told herself, trying to settle her emotions and preparing her special tea blend.

Lina Lestia, Shion’s homeroom teacher, was only twenty-four years old.

Her youthful appearance could easily pass for a new student in the academy’s uniform. With her long, beautiful, flaxen hair and sparkling emerald eyes, she was undeniably attractive, not to mention her impressive figure.

When she accidentally fell onto Shion, their breaths mingled, their faces mere inches apart, and her soft body pressed against his. Yet Shion remained expressionless throughout the ordeal.

Lestia, who should have been the more mature one, was the only one to react as a woman to a man, while Shion showed no such response.

This fact made Lestia feel embarrassed and almost resentful as if Shion’s lack of reaction implied she lacked feminine allure.

However, it wasn’t that Lestia lacked charm as a woman. It was simply that Shion was an inappropriate person to expect a reaction from.

Shion Kurosaki, when most people developed an awareness of the opposite gender in adolescence, did not develop these feelings. Instead, his sensibilities twisted in a bizarre direction during that period.

Shion Kurosaki was, in a sense, a tragic figure warped by his distorted adolescence.