Chapter 646: Miss Shimizu’s Brainstorm
Kazumi sat by the window in the classroom, resting her chin on one hand, her gaze absentmindedly fixed on the blackboard. Teacher Yokogawa, who taught Battle Physics, was expounding on formulas at the podium, complex data analyses of various scenes appearing on the touch-sensitive blackboard under his hands. Normally, this kind of lecture, which greatly aided in combat, was something Kazumi would find interesting, something she’d diligently take notes on from beginning to end. But at this moment, the young girl’s thoughts had long since drifted to the heavens.
“That idiot… what is he even thinking?!”
“To make a move like that in the middle of the street, did he want me to blow up on the spot?!”
He looks so smart usually; why is he like this in these situations…
Her fingertips tapped unconsciously on the desk, her mind replaying the scene from that morning. Satō Shin’ichi slowly knelt, his gaze resolute, as if he were about to declare something earth-shattering in the next second. And she, the dignified Undead Lord, the future Emperor of the Underworld, had fled like a frightened rabbit!
“I’m so embarrassed… I actually ran away…”
She buried her face in her palms in frustration, her ears starting to feel hot again.
What made Kazumi even more agitated was that her first reaction at the time wasn’t “that’s absolutely impossible,” but “what if I agreed?”
“Am I going crazy?! How could I even think that…”
“My body, it must have been a basic bodily reaction!”
She shook her head violently, trying to shake the absurd thought out of her mind. However, her thoughts continued to spread uncontrollably—
“If… if I really agreed, what would happen? Would we have to plan a wedding like ordinary people? If it’s Japanese customs, I guess I’d have to wear a white gown and stand at a shrine…”
She imagined herself in a wedding dress and immediately shuddered, terrified by the image.
“No, no! I shouldn’t be thinking about something like this so early! Yes, I shouldn’t waste any brain cells thinking about such things from the start!”
“I’m a man! How could I possibly accept a marriage proposal from another man!!”
But…
“What if it’s just agreeing to an engagement for now? It’s not like we’re getting married immediately… And the reason he did that was indeed because of me…”
“No, no, no, Shimizu Kazumi, what are you thinking?! How can you casually agree to something like this?! This is something that should be carefully considered…”
“Careful consideration is out of the question! This sort of thing should absolutely not be within the scope of consideration!”
“Besides… he seems to really care about my thoughts…”
“Ah, this is so annoying! Why am I thinking about all these messy things…”
“It’s all that idiot’s fault…”
The young girl’s heart raged in an internal battle, her fingers unconsciously tightening their grip on the hem of her uniform skirt, her breathing becoming somewhat erratic. She didn’t even notice that the sounds in the classroom had suddenly fallen silent.
Speaking of which, the way he dressed today… why did he seem so much more handsome than usual?
Wait, what was I thinking…
“But his physique is certainly…”
Stop! Enough!
“Shimizu Kazumi, are you awake?”
“The photo he sent yesterday… I remember mentioning a long time ago that I liked this kind of flower… so he planted it directly in his yard like that?? Are you a pervert, Satō Shin’ichi!”
“No, no, this isn’t the time to think about that. What’s wrong with me…”
“Shimizu-san.”
That usually mature and profound voice suddenly rang out beside the young girl’s ear. Kazumi’s head snapped up, and she found the gazes of the entire class fixed on her. Teacher Yokogawa was also standing beside her at some point.
“Are you feeling unwell? Do you need me to call a classmate to take you to the infirmary?”
The robust Battle Physics teacher was bending over in front of her, his rugged face wearing a rare gentle expression. He had a good impression of this small, frail girl in his class, who was usually diligent in her studies and would discuss problems with him. Seeing her like this today, he assumed she must be feeling unwell.
“This is probably the treatment for being a good student. If it were Kazumi from my past life, she would have been dragged to the back of the classroom and made to stand by now, never mind being asked with such concern about her condition.”
“No, no, Teacher Yokogawa, I just didn’t rest well yesterday and was a bit distracted. I’m sorry.”
Kazumi quickly stood up and apologized to Teacher Yokogawa, explaining why she was distracted.
“Oh, okay. If anything is the matter, talk to me promptly. If you haven’t rested well, you can rest your head on your desk for a while. You can discuss the missed content with me later.”
Teacher Yokogawa nodded gently, then lightly patted her shoulder with his rugged arm before turning back towards the podium and resuming his lecture.
Kazumi let out a quiet sigh of relief. Catching sight of the blond young man sitting in the back row, she noticed he was intently staring in her direction, his gaze twisted as he looked at her.
She immediately turned her head back, not daring to meet that intensely scorching gaze.
The moment the dismissal bell rang, Kazumi was frantically packing her textbooks, trying to escape the classroom before Satō Shin’ichi could approach her. Based on her understanding of her best friend from her past life, if such a thing had happened in class, he would have rushed over to ask about her if not for the classroom discipline.
However, as soon as she stood up, the blond young man was already blocking the front of her seat.
“Kazumi!”
Satō Shin’ichi bent down, placing his hands on her desk, his azure eyes full of worry. “Did you really not rest well yesterday? Do you want to go to the infirmary…”
“It’s all because of you!”
Kazumi roared inwardly, but forced a calm expression on her face. “I, I’m fine!”
“But you were in class just now,”
“I already said I’m fine!” Kazumi suddenly raised her voice, drawing the attention of the surrounding classmates. She quickly lowered her voice. “You, you, you’re too close to me…”
Satō Shin’ichi, however, leaned in even closer and lowered his voice. “Then….. this morning.”
“We said,”
Almost as an instinctive reaction, Kazumi’s face instantly turned red, and she covered his mouth with her hand.
‘No way, he’s not going to… he’s not going to directly say something like that to me in the classroom because we didn’t finish talking this morning, is he? I’m going to die of social embarrassment!!’
But Satō Shin’ichi’s words had already spilled out: “I… I just wanted to ask, why did you disappear when I was tying my shoelaces earlier?”
“…… Huh?”
Kazumi’s hand froze in mid-air.
‘Tying… tying my shoelaces?’
Her brain suddenly went blank.
‘So he was tying his shoelaces?!’
Satō Shin’ichi tilted his head, looking confused. “You ran away so fast, I thought you were angry…”
Kazumi’s face visibly shifted from red to pale, then from pale to red. She slowly withdrew her hand and mechanically tidied her already neat bangs.
‘So… what I’ve been agonizing over…..’
At this moment of extreme awkwardness, a clear voice suddenly came from the classroom entrance.
“Shimizu-san!”
A girl wearing a student council armband stood at the doorway, waving at her.
“President Kurokawa needs you. Please go to the student council office now.”
