Chapter 23 (You Don’t Have to Be So Nervous, You’re My Classmate)

More than a month has passed since Himemiya-sensei was arrested.

My classmates reacted in various ways at first when they learned that the homeroom teacher in our class had been caught for prostitution, but now that it’s summer break, it’s almost no longer a topic of conversation.

The main topic of conversation in our class right now is the transfer student.

Since we were informed in the homeroom yesterday that a transfer student would be joining our class today, the classroom was abuzz with talk about it from morning.

“I wonder what kind of person the transfer is?”

“I hope it’s a girl, cute and pretty.”

Conversations like these could be heard from all over the classroom, but as for me, I was working hard as usual in the morning to prepare for class.

To be honest, I have no interest in the transfer student that is coming.

I have very little to do with it anyway.

As I continued to prepare for the classes while thinking about such things, the door of the classroom opened and a female teacher from around 30 who became our new homeroom teacher, Shinonome-sensei, entered the classroom.

Our high school basically doesn’t have a homeroom in the morning except on test days, but today is an exception because there is an introduction to the transfer student.

Shinonome-sensei stood at the podium and confirmed that the classroom had fallen silent and opened her mouth.

“Rejoice boys, I’m going to introduce the rumored transfer student.”

As Shinonome-sensei finished saying this, the door at the front of the classroom opened.

Then her transfer student came into the classroom, and my classmates who seemed to looked at her began to roar.

I was looking down and continuing my preparations, but wondered why the classroom became noisy, and raised my head.

At that moment, the appearance of the transfer student caught my attention; her white hair of medium length and red eyes, standing in front of the blackboard with a rather nervous expression.

I see, it seems that the transfer student is a so-called albino, a congenital albinism that only 1 in 20,000 people in Japan have.

On top of that, she has a fairly well-groomed appearance, so it’s no wonder my classmates, especially the boys, started making a fuss.

“Then please introduce yourself.”

“I’m Hikaru Hiryu, I moved here from Hakone. Please take care of me.”

Prompted by Shinonome-sensei, Hiryu-san briefly introduced herself.

She then took a seat at the prepared table.

My classmates looked like they had a lot of questions, however soon the first period class, World History B, would begin.

After that, at recess after the first period class, Hiryu was surrounded by my classmates, who asked her many questions.

“Which school did Hiryu-san go to before?”

“Were you involved in any club activities before? Athletic? Cultural?”

“Do you have a boyfriend? You’re super duper beautiful you know.”

“Um….I, uhh.”

However, Hiryu-san seemed to be completely overwhelmed by the barrage of questions suddenly thrown at her, and was unable to answer them well.

From the looks of it, she was probably quite shy. I began to feel sorry for her and offered her a helping hand.

“Hey guys. Hiryu-san is probably nervous on her first day at her new school, so why don’t we keep the questions a little more low-key for her?”

“…I might have gone too aggressive out of the blue, that’s for sure. Sorry, Hiryu-san.”

My classmates calmed down after hearing my words and started asking questions more discreetly than before.

Hiryu-san seemed to be getting more and more relaxed and was slowly answering the questions of her classmates.

Satisfied with this, I went back to preparing for the class.

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After homeroom, I was about to leave as usual when suddenly someone called out to me from behind.

“Um, thank you for this morning.”

I turned around wondering who in the world was talking to me because I did not recognize the voice at all, and it was Hiryu-san who was standing behind me.

“…..it’s Hiryu-san, you’re welcome. I’m sure everyone meant no harm, but it’s rare to have a transfer student, so they got a little carried away.”

“I see, that’s how it was. Um…”

Hiryu-san seemed to be trying to say something, as she made a slightly troubled face and stuttered.

Seeing that, I had a guess as to what the trouble was, and I immediately voiced it.

“Come to think of it, you don’t know me as I haven’t introduced myself. I’m Kaito Kenjo, nice to meet you Hiryu-san.”

When I answered that, Hiryu-san looked a little happy, so I guess I was right.

“Yes, please.”

“You don’t have to be nervous like that, you’re my classmate. You don’t have to be so formal with me.”

I spoke to Hiryu-san, who was still nervous, in a gentle voice.

Then, though slightly, the tension seemed to melt away.

“Kenjo-kun, thank you…and I have one request, would you listen to it?”

“If there’s anything I can do, of course I’ll listen.”

“Then can you take me to the staff room? I still don’t know where it is.”

“Well, it’s the first day of transfer. Okay, leave it to me.”

Hiryu-san looked a little apologetic, but that’s as good as it gets.

The staff room is in the opposite direction of the shoeboxes, so Ellen will have to wait a bit, but it should be fine.

Then we started walking toward the staff room.

At that moment, just as we were about to arrive in a bit, something happened.

Surprisingly, while Hiryu-san was climbing the stairs, she lost her balance and almost fell.

“Careful!?”

My body reflexively moved, I wrapped my arms around Hiryu-san’s back and hugged him.

By doing so, I managed to avoid the worst situation of falling under the stairs.

“…Thanks for the help. But I’d appreciate it if you’d let go of me soon.”

“So-Sorry.”

We were stuck together for a while, but Hiryu-san, who seemed to have come to her senses, spoke to me, so I let go in a hurry. Considering that her face was dyed red, she might be angry because I had suddenly hugged her.

“I-It’s okay now, I already know where the staff room is from here. Thank you for guiding me.”

Hiryu-san spoke quickly and one-sidedly with her face still red, and then ran away from the place.