Chapter 23: Acting? No Acting!
In a small office, two people began to scheme how to release bait.
The first to attempt an attack was Liya.
“Ahem. You, you still need to take this… uh, practical exam seriously.”
Liya coughed twice, putting on the air of an experienced little teacher, but her childish voice and a finger nervously twirling her golden twin tails betrayed her fluster.
“That’s right. Students at our school must undergo a mutual selection with their mentors within one year of enrollment, otherwise, they will be held back. Without practical exam results, you cannot choose your own supervising teacher that year. Cough, cough, so, Classmate Will, you must take the make-up exam seriously!”
Liya pretended to be introducing the make-up exam, but in reality, she was thinking about how to make her move—she could feel that the Witch Coin was still on Will in front of her.
Hmph, this Young Master looks like exactly the naive, innocent type who’s never seen the world, he definitely didn’t recognize me!
So, as a teacher, a little trickery would surely get him to bite.
“Ahem. However, your physical examination data doesn’t seem to be very good. Uh… actually, actually, teachers check magic circuits, let, let teacher see if your magic circuit is healthy.”
Although her words were a bit stiff, Liya wasn’t trying to harass her student.
Magic transmission through objects was better than through air. He carried the coin with him, so it should be in some pocket.
By activating the detection magic while touching his clothes, she would know which pocket held the Witch Coin in about two minutes.
Finally, a small instant transmission magic would allow her to retrieve it from a distance.
Liya felt her plan was ingenious.
“Wh-what do you think, want to consider it?”
Liya spoke, her gaze intentionally avoiding Will.
How strange, after being in the same room as Will, her heart began to beat faster.
Looking closely, his physique was decent, not exactly burly, but he seemed to exercise. Although a bit thin, he was still capable.
Perhaps he would feel good to the touch?
No, no, why was she already looking forward to touching him? Was she the kind of person who would develop feelings for a student because of this?
“Oh, really? It’s a pity that it might be a long time before I have to take the make-up exam.”
Meanwhile, Will had other intentions…
He scratched his head and stood up from the chair Liya had gotten for him.
“How about this, Li~ya~ Teacher, when my hand is better…”
While Liya wasn’t looking, Will quickly stepped forward and grabbed her wrist with his still-usable left hand, pressing her onto the table.
The distance between the two of them suddenly closed.
Liya could even feel a faint, rough pain in the hand that was being held down after contact.
And a certain burning sensation for reasons unknown.
“You… you you you…”
Suddenly attacked by Will, Liya completely forgot her teacher’s demeanor and started to stammer.
She had also completely forgotten the plan she had just laid out, her mind filled only with Will’s approaching face and his smiling eyes beneath his glasses.
In the previous sentence, Will was acting like a sweet, obedient student, but in the next, he lowered his voice and said to Liya in a dangerous tone:
“—I’ll come to check *your* body, shall I?”
Yes.
This was Will’s plan.
Instead of passively waiting, it was better to actively throw out a line.
To “treat” a tsundere who was still acting in front of him, one had to use a strong-A approach.
Still acting in front of me!
You act like the homeroom teacher, you act like a good teacher, you act like a little teacher.
You’ve probably cursed me as a small fry several times in your heart already, haven’t you?!
Now’s the time to reveal your true colors!
Will secretly rejoiced and squeezed her hand tighter.
“You, you, you, you— What are you doing?! Don’t… Don’t treat your teacher like this! Let go… let go of my hand…”
The closer he got, the less Liya could maintain her teacher image, her voice trembling more and more.
“I know, the person standing in front of my carriage that day… it was you, wasn’t it?”
“You call that a carriage? Wasn’t that an armored vehicle?! I fired several shots and not even its skin was broken!”
“I know, the one who attacked my pitiful, weak, little maid with Extreme Flame Meteor… it was you, wasn’t it?”
“You call that pitiful and weak? I was almost killed by that super-strong muscular maid!”
“Finally…”
Will took out the thing Liya had been waiting for from his inner jacket pocket and dangled it in front of her.
“I know… you forgot this thing at the scene of the crime and fled in a panic… it was you, wasn’t it?”
He finally tied the bait to the fishing line and cast it in front of the big fish circling before his eyes—
Liya felt Will’s breath close by.
He, he, he, he was too close.
And for some reason…
At such close range, looking into his blue eyes through his glasses, her heart beat even faster.
She could even feel the magic circuits deep within her bloodline operating at high speed.
Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle—
Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump—
She could not only hear her heartbeat but also the sound of her circuits spinning rapidly.
What was happening to her?
This…
Could this be the feeling of love?
To still feel something at such close range… it shouldn’t be fake!
Liya shifted her gaze to the coin dangling in his hand, her focus blurring as she looked at the coin, catching glimpses of the Witch’s head with its large hat.
Iaar’s coin!
The one only they, the Witches, knew about, a wonderful, indestructible, ultra-efficient magic medium personally crafted by Witch Iaar five hundred years ago.
In a moment of impulse, she had fired it to complete the Extreme Flame Meteor.
It was this!
He actually took it out himself!
It’s fine, since he’s here, he’s taken the bait, I’ll just snatch it back—
Liya jumped up excitedly, wanting to grab the coin from Will’s hand.
“This is my thing, give it back!”
However…
Will took a step back, spun the coin around his finger, and put it back into his inner jacket pocket.
“Eh, Teacher, you can’t talk like that. This thing is what you left behind after your defeat, so it’s my Loot.”
This made Liya pout with anger.
“Hmph, you actually dodged! Y-you, you, you, this small fry can be this agile! Practiced dodging Slimes, have you!”
Will was stung. As a comedian who could be killed by a Slime, he genuinely wished he could dodge Slimes.
Liya flicked her hair and crossed her arms, feigning calmness as she spoke:
“Think about your own magical talent, just you alone, in front of me, you can’t even withstand my little fireball!”
“Oh? It was one thing outside the city, but this is inside the school. Do you dare to risk being fired to beat me up?”
Liya was choked by this remark.
It was true, although she sometimes took on private jobs due to her lack of funds for research, she also… she also valued her job at the school.
At least…
At least, before she could get the “Ice Array (Attack)” from the Vice Principal… she couldn’t leave.
Damn it!
She never expected to lose an argument!
Liya clenched her fists.
Since…
Since the “coercion” method failed, then…
She had no choice but to try “luring”.
Liya relaxed her fists.
