Chapter 2: The Beautiful but Violent Teacher

Early the next morning, Fujino got up and washed, combing his hair to look more mature, ready to embrace his 100,000 yen—no, his school life.

But just as he was about to change into his school uniform and head out—

—he froze.

Where was his uniform?

Oh right… He'd sold it to an underclassman for a few thousand yen as a spare.

Damn it!

Helpless, he could only sigh in the silence, put on his usual vest suit, mutter habitually to the empty air, "I'm heading out," and then drove his inherited Ford Taurus toward school.

"Ah! I'm going to be late!"

As he parked his car and was just about to step through the school gates, a hurried girl's voice suddenly rang out behind him.

He turned around, and looked back, BANG!

By the time Fujino regained his senses, he had already collided with a girl with short, tea-colored shoulder-length hair.

"What the hell…"

Fujino rubbed his tailbone, wincing in pain and muttering complaints.

Looking up, the girl had already stood up, bowing repeatedly to him as she apologized:

"I'm so sorry, Hiratsuka-sensei!"

"Huh?"

Fujino blinked in confusion, feeling that the girl looked vaguely familiar… Suzuki Sonoko?

"Eh? Eh, eh, eh!!"

Suzuki Sonoko finally raised her head, looked around for a bit, dazed, and then exclaimed loudly:

"You're not Hiratsuka-sensei!"

"Of course, I'm not!"

Fujino couldn't help but retort, and then added slyly, "But you can call me Fujino-san if you like!"

"Oh! Oh oh oh!"

Suzuki Sonoko nodded like a pecking chick.

But after scrutinizing Fujino's features, she felt… he was kind of handsome, and her mind immediately wandered. She quickly followed up with:

"Fujino-san, are you a new teacher?! How old are you? Where do you live? Do you have a girlfriend?!"

Honestly, Fujino's long-term exhaustion made him look older than his actual age. Even though he was only eighteen, his appearance could easily pass for someone in his twenties.

"What are you two doing here?"

Just then, a mature woman's voice came from the school gate.

Fujino turned his head to see a woman wearing a vest suit with a red tie walking toward them.

As she walked, she glanced over at Sonoko and asked sternly:

"Suzuki-san, don't tell me… you're late again?"

This woman—Hiratsuka-sensei—immediately shattered Sonoko's daydreaming.

With no choice, Sonoko gave Fujino one last reluctant look and sullenly walked away.

Once Sonoko had left, Hiratsuka Shizuka finally turned her gaze toward the boy standing before her, seemingly another colleague.

Black vest suit, red tie, glasses, with an exhausted expression on his face… Honestly, if she didn't know better, she really would've thought he was a new transfer teacher!

And to make it worse—they were wearing the same outfit!

Silently thinking well, at least this kid has good taste, she finally spoke:

"So, you must be the elusive student who hasn't shown up in half a year—Fujino-kun, right?"

Fujino nodded but didn't know what to say.

She frowned. "Where's your school uniform?"

Fujino replied calmly, "Originally, I wanted to say I lost it, but I prefer to tell the truth… I sold it."

"…What?"

Hiratsuka froze for a second, her brow twitching violently. She clenched her fist to suppress her growing fury, black lines spreading across her expression:

"I didn't expect you to be so honest. I thought you just didn't want to come to school, but I didn't think you'd gone so far as to sell your uniform… Come with me to the faculty office, Funon~."

"Yes, ma'am!"

And so, Fujino was dragged off to the faculty office by this violent beauty.

In the faculty office…

"So, this is the reason you haven't been coming to school? Running off to play detective? At your age, you should be focusing on your studies."

Hiratsuka Shizuka held a cigarette between her lips, about to light it—but she couldn't find her lighter.

Then, with a click, Fujino flicked his lighter and handed it over.

Hiratsuka stared blankly for a second before lighting her cigarette, then asked in surprise:

"…Why do you have a lighter?"

Fujino: "..."

Seeing that Fujino didn't answer, Hiratsuka gently rubbed her temples, took a deep drag of her cigarette, and then instinctively began lecturing him:

"I don't know what you're thinking. Skipping classes all the time and wandering around like some delinquent… Don't you feel guilty toward your parents, who worked hard to support your education?

Fujino's cheek twitched slightly… Good grief, shouldn't she do a background check before lecturing people?

Letting out a long breath, he then said flatly, "Actually, I'm an orphan."

"..."

Hiratsuka Shizuka's pupils widened slightly. The cigarette between her fingers slipped from her hand and landed on the table, scattering sparks… After a brief moment of panic, she quickly picked it up.

"I'm… sorry…"

After extinguishing the cigarette, she finally murmured an apology with guilt in her voice.

"It's fine. I'm used to it," Fujino said with a smile.

In the end, Hiratsuka could only pat Fujino's shoulder with a guilty expression. "If you need any help, just come find me."

Just like that, Fujino finally managed to deal with this strange language teacher.

After Fujino left, Hiratsuka Shizuka found Ran again to ask about him.

"Teacher Hiratsuka, you mean Senpai Fujino?"

Ran thought for a moment, then slowly explained, "Senpai Fujino probably doesn't come to school because his parents passed away last year… His grades used to be really good, but ever since that happened, and he got held back for missing too many classes, he's barely come to school anymore."

"Yesterday when I visited Senpai's house, he seemed to be troubled by some case he was commissioned to solve."

"I see…"

It seemed she finally understood what was going on.

If this kid was an orphan, then everything made sense now.

Skipping school was probably because he was working to earn a living… That skinny little body of his… He must be living a really hard life… Maybe he's even getting bullied by delinquents outside of school…

Thinking of this, she felt deeply guilty about the words she had casually spoken earlier.

She didn't know why, but she suddenly felt like she had become some kind of irredeemable villain.

After Ran left, Hiratsuka barely managed to hold back her tears. Putting on the air of a hot-blooded teacher, she shouted loudly:

"I absolutely won't allow you to be expelled!"

—

Inside the classroom, Fujino sat by the window, listening absentmindedly to the middle-aged teacher up on the podium jabbering on some indecipherable bird language. He couldn't help but sneeze.

"Feels like someone's cursing me right now…"

He muttered softly to himself. Before he could gather his thoughts, a mechanical voice suddenly sounded in his ear:

"Ding! Task completion detected, system reward has been issued!"

As soon as those words landed, Fujino immediately understood that he had finally escaped the fate of being expelled.

Looks like that Hiratsuka woman must've pulled some strings for this to happen.

He nodded, thoughtful.

Although that woman smoked and liked to poke at people's wounds, she was still a good person.

[Approval from Fujino.jpg]

Without further delay, he opened up the professional system that had just been bound to him.

A lonely-looking translucent screen floated in front of him, displaying the basic attributes of the profession system:

[Name: Fujino

Current Profession:

Main Profession: Detective – Beginner (100 Reputation Points required to reach next level)

Sub-profession: None

Profession Skills:

– Full-time Detective (Solving cases and completing commissions grants extra bounty and reputation)

– Detective's Time (Beginner: During deduction, you have 60 seconds where no one can interrupt your reasoning)

Current Remaining Balance: ¥1,053,100 (Can purchase 10 Profession Orbs)]

Judging by the description, this seemed like a pretty simple system.

Spending money allowed him to buy "Profession Orbs," which could contain various professions, along with strange and unusual items.

Once a profession was bound, it would grant exclusive professional skills. By completing related tasks and missions, he could earn a reputation. Accumulate enough reputation and he would receive professional points, which could be used to strengthen his professional skills.

As for Profession Orbs, they also came in qualities: white, green, blue, purple, and gold. Only purple-quality or higher would contain a guaranteed profession.

Currently, a single Profession Orb costs 100,000 yen, and statistically, there was at least one purple or higher reward in every batch of 100 orbs.

All in all, this system required heavy spending—tons of real cash!

—Recommended a friend's book…—

(End of this chapter