The deal is sealed!

Clara was pleased with Airi's answer, but seeing her expressions change rapidly in between being anxious and relieved, and in the next second being sheepishly guilty and cheerful, were equally fun to her. So she carried on with her questions, "What if I don't let you work on romance?"

Airi glanced at her teacher in response to her question with a bit of a dejected look. She pondered for a while about how she should answer back, which won't make her look like a bad student. After a while, she replied back with, "In that case, I think I would like to work on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's famous detective series, Sherlock Holmes."

Clara's eyes turned big hearing the answer. "You like detective stories too?"

Airi nodded in affirmation. "Originally, I do like detective stories, or anything with mystery, even horror ones. So when I started to read Sherlock Holmes, I found it hard to control myself from reading it the whole at once. And to think people only focus on the main character Sherlock there, I would love to point out how amazing Dr. Watson was, even the rivals and negative characters who gave Sherlock a challenging time."

Clara got up to fetch her bag from a corner of her office. After rummaging through it for a while, she fished out a chocolate bar, and handed that to Airi. "I must say, you are quite an avid reader. I never found someone who has this much love for reading, who not only loves to read, but also is mature enough to take up the gist of it, rather than getting negatively influenced. So, you may proceed with 'The Notebook', only if you also present another copy of the summary to me for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle."

She patted her head while adding, "and also, being a devoted fan, I'd definitely love to see this new author getting recognized widely. So, I am hoping to have a great outcome from you."

Airi gave Clara a reassuring smile. "I'll do my best on it."

"Good, so now get going already. Class time is about to start." Clara took those papers again in her hands, on which she was working earlier. Airi got up from her seat, gave a bow to her teacher, and turned around towards the door. Suddenly, she recalled something and turned back to Clara.

"Ma'am!"

"Yes?" Clara looked up to her, removing her eyes from those papers, but she met with a hand pointing a pinky finger towards her.

"Ma'am, we both love the same thing, also the author. So that makes us accomplices, right? After all, me reading the romance genre and you supporting me, makes us a team. So on that note, shall we seal a stamp?"

Airi pushed her pinky finger a bit further to her, expectantly.

Clara asked her back, "And how are we supposed to do that?"

"Hooking your pinky with mine," Airi intertwined her other pinky to the previous one to show her. "And then stamp it with your thumb," she placed her thumbs to each other. "See?"

Clara laughed out sweetly, stretching out her pinky finger. And Airi quickly wrapped hers around her teacher's. then they both pressed their thumbs together, "and with that, the deal is sealed."

Airi removed her hand, and asked her teacher, "So as we are accomplices now, can I call you Miss Celestine?"

"Why Celestine? You know you can call me by my first name, don't need to be that formal with me now."

"No, it's just," Airi tugged a small part of her bangs behind her ear, while sheepishly continued, "Celestine is a really beautiful word, and that suits you perfectly."

Clara gave her an affectionate gaze and nodded. "Sure, as you like it."

Airi became happy having the permission. "Then this time I will really take my leave, Miss Celestine."

"Yeah, sure."

"Thank you." With that, Airi left the room, while Clara had a peaceful smile on her face recalling the wonderful break time she had just now. "It has surely been a while someone called me Celestine this affectionately eh…"

------

Soon, an entire week passed by with various things happening. Students taking their classes as well as getting used to this new hectic life named high school life. Also, the teachers continued performing their same monotonous duties for ages, about guiding them.

The weekend came by, but this weekend students had to pass it while doing their different assignments and homework, instead of maintaining their usual routine of playing, sleeping, and eating.

People in Airi's class were busy reading different literature works, some were reviewing their previously read ones, noting down pointers, and some were deciding if they could start a new one for that purpose. Also, there were some like her friend Dew, who was still procrastinating whether he should read the book he borrowed from Airi.

"God knows what she has given to me, that cover doesn't look something simple, and 'not ominous." Yet, this was the only way out from the assignment Clara gave them, so, "Better read this really quick and start working on it."

So, he opened it and started reading it.

On the other hand, Airi opened her favorite two books to start working on them. But after a short while, she ended up lost in those two books all over again, under the warm mid-day winter sunlight.

The first school day after the weekend. There was still some time left before their homeroom, so Airi was chatting with Hazel and Emma about something. They were so engrossed in it that they totally failed to notice someone calling them his lungs out before that voice came close to them.

"AIRI!!!"

The girls abruptly stopped their discussion hearing that ferociously loud tone of summoning. They looked back only to find their friend Dew angrily walking towards them, which seemed more like he was stomping his legs with each step on the ground.

"Emma, the show begins," Hazel tugged at Emma's sleeve slowly. "Enjoy while you can."

Meanwhile, Dew came over to Airi, grabbed her by her shoulders, and shaked her back and forth vigorously. "How could you trick me like that, you are my best friend!"

Airi's head soon started spinning by the continuous shake. "Well… Wait… Dew… If you… Woah… Would you let me… Talk…" It was getting harder to talk as her words also seemed to wobble.

All of a sudden, Dew stopped shaking her, but instead of it, he increased his grip on her tighter. "How could you, Airi? I told you I am no good with ghostly stuff."

Airi replied to him while her head was still spinning. "Well, I kept my words, I didn't give you a ghost…"

"Oh yeah? So you found a Dracula, huh? You're the worst." Dew released her shoulders and grabbed his head, with a bit of tear in his eyes and a pained look on his face.

"You know how scary that was? I couldn't sleep a wink these past two nights, Boohoo…"

"Wait, Dew, are you crying?" Hazel asked, being a bit concerned.

"Shouldn't I? That one gave me such a fright, but the worst thing was, the way Lucy turned into a Dracula too, such a tragic event to a pretty lady, till the end I hoped somehow that would change." Dew pouted, sulking badly. One could say, he was almost about to squat down, drowned in despair.

"Woah, brother. People freak out on 'Dracula', and here you are crying over Lucy! Such a playboy! To think I was almost feeling guilty, just go die!" Airi gulped down a mouthful of water to stabilize the still spinning world around her.

"I am going to take you with me if I end up dying. After all, having a pretty girl beside me won't even make dying hard… OUCH!"

Airi elbowed him on his stomach, "Surely you deserved the prank I pulled on you."

Emma and Hazel were enjoying the bantering when suddenly the entire classroom got silent, except some footsteps entering in, the sound of those shoes clicking echoing throughout the room. All four of them looked to see two girls and a boy, walking up to the dais. And one of them, strangely enough, was the senior Airi saw the first day, Rena.

As usual, she had a strong demeanor, even in the way she was walking into the classroom. Airi looked around her, and surely, the entire class was mesmerized by her. Boys were practically gawking at her, except for…

"You know what Airi? Boys here say Rena is a Goddess. But I don't know why I don't find her that beautiful, or what they call, 'alluring'." Dew crossed his arms over his chest and stated those.

Airi was a bit surprised to see the same guy not regarding this living sensual aura alluring when the whole school does, where just a while ago he was practically drooling over a mere lady character like a fan-boy.