"KASUMIGAOKA UTAHA!!!" Eriri gritted her teeth, and her anger was evident. "Why do you always have to annoy me?!"
"Ara?" Utaha replied casually, still using her infuriating tone. "I'm sorry, I guess it's just a habit."
If it weren't for Homura knowing better, he would have thought that these two had a serious grudge against each other.
Eriri: "!!!"
Suppressing her anger and ignoring the woman, Eriri knew that "it takes two to tango". She angrily ate her breakfast, clenching her teeth as if she wanted to swallow someone whole. {TN: The idiom means a situation or problem usually involves two people who are both responsible for the situation or problem}
Utaha looked at Eriri who wasn't responding and shrugged indifferently. She then started to eat her own breakfast.
Megumi shook her head helplessly. "Hahh, it's always like this."
Homura replied, "There's no way around it. This is the fate of being rivals."
Well, they still had plenty of opportunities to fight!
===
Bringing Mashiro to Suiko, a female teacher greeted her. "Mashiro-chan, it's been a long time! How have you been?"
"Chihiro... Umu, I'm fine," Mashiro replied, not looking like she recognized the teacher at all.
"Hello, I'm Mashiro's cousin, Sengoku Chihiro, just call me Chihiro." After introducing herself, she nudged Homura with her elbow. "Nee, how does it feel "living" with Mashiro?"
'Why does this female teacher make me feel somewhat... problematic?' Homura was troubled.
"We're not "living" together like what you're thinking, Chihiro-sensei, and also, I'm Minamiya Homura," Homura responded coolly, not falling for her trick.
"Tsk! How boring." Seeing Homura's indifferent reaction, Chihiro gave up on teasing him. "You can't bully Mashiro, though."
This time, Homura was serious. "Don't worry! I will never bully her!"
Giving him a deep look, Chihiro patted his shoulder and laughed. "Good boy! Although this is the first time I've seen you, you're quite promising!"
Homura was speechless. Why does Chihiro seem like a man with her carefree attitude?
Looking at the time, Homura said to Chihiro, "Chihiro-sensei, I'll leave Mashiro to you! I'm going to school now and I'll come back to pick her up after school."
Chihiro waved her hand. "Sure, goodbye."
"Mashiro, I'm leaving now! I'll come to pick you up after school!"
"Umu, I got it." Watching him leave, Mashiro and Chihiro walked into the school.
===
Homura was walking on the road leading to Toyogasaki, feeling that Mashiro's cousin was very masculine.
No wonder in his past life memories, Mashiro was given to someone else to take care of by Chihiro. That woman looked like someone who was very afraid of troublesome things.
Homura was lost in thought and arrived at the street corner.
*BANG!*
He bumped into someone, and it was his head! His head was instantly buzzing!
Homura's physical fitness was much stronger than the other person's. He only took a half step back, but the other person fell straight down!
He shook his head hard, suppressed the feeling of seeing stars, and looked at the motionless girl lying on the ground.
Homura: "..."
'Bruh, I just got a little dizzy, and you fainted?' Homura was stunned.
"What? Are you trying to scam me? Are students nowadays like this?" Homura poked the girl's knee with his finger, but she just lay on the ground stiffly.
Homura carefully looked at her appearance, the aqua-colored high school uniform, and the brown ponytail... Isn't this Aoyama Nanami?!
Recognizing the girl's identity, Homura did not think that she was scamming him. This girl had worked with so many jobs to realize her voice-acting career dream, and no one knew her hardship except herself! And yet, she still couldn't eat enough. Who knows how bad her body condition is now?
Looking at the time, Homura had to say, "Let's skip two classes!"
He helped her up and carried her on his back, picked up their backpacks, and headed toward Suiko.
A male student from another school carrying a female student from this school attracted the attention of many Suiko students along the way.
Returning to the gate of Suiko, Homura found that Chihiro was still there, but Mashiro was not.
"Ooohhh? Minamiya-boy, isn't having Mashiro enough for you? You actually went after another girl!" Chihiro came up excitedly.
Yes, excited. This female teacher deliberately said so, after all; she had just wanted to tease Homura.
Homura was speechless. "Where in God's name did you see that I went after her?!"
"Here!" Chihiro pointed to the girl fainting behind him with a playful smile.
"We accidentally bumped into each other just now, and she fainted directly, so I carried her over!" Homura said unkindly. "Okay, Chihiro-sensei, please take me to the infirmary first. We can't just leave her like this!"
He directly interrupted Chihiro's thoughts of teasing him.
"Okay, follow me," Chihiro said seriously, after all, important matters come first.
"... Isn't this Nanami-chan?" Chihiro finally recognized the girl's identity.
Homura rolled his eyes.
"Then let her rest for now since the infirmary's teacher is off today!" Chihiro said as they arrived at the infirmary.
Homura gently laid Nanami down and helped her lie down flat. He covered her with a blanket, and from behind came the voice of Chihiro.
"Speaking of which, you said she fainted after being hit by you. How much force did you use? Man... You knocked someone out cold."
Homura was also speechless.
"It's probably because her body is too weak. I didn't feel her weight when I carried her. Maybe she was just hungry."
Looking at Chihiro who was staring at him, Homura felt that she was up to something, and said directly.
"Chihiro-sensei, you can go and do something else. I can take care of her here."
"Ehhh~" Chihiro smiled and looked at him meaningfully. This "Ehhh" was full of implications.
Homura pretended not to understand, and Chihiro looked at him and shook her head with a smile.
"Then it's up to you!"
Chihiro walked out of the infirmary, but suddenly leaned in again, with a lewd expression on her face.
"Since you said Nanami-chan has a weak body, you can't be too intense!"
*BANG!*
A pillow flew over and hit the door of the infirmary that had already been closed.
"AHAHAHAH~!" A loud and smug laughter came.
Homura's veins bulged, wishing he could go out and beat her up.
"This woman! Although she's easy to get along with, is it really okay to act like that as a teacher?!" He helplessly walked over to pick up the pillow he had thrown.
While dusting off the pillow, he said, "Chihiro-sensei has already left, so you can wake up now, okay?"
"..."
He put the pillow back in place and returned to Nanami's bedside where she was lying down.
"Aren't you going to open your eyes?"
A pair of hands reached out from under the covers, pulling the blanket and hiding inside.
A muffled voice came from under the covers, "... When did you notice?"
"You probably woke up when we arrived at the school gate," Homura said affirmatively.