Rei Ao took in their obvious relief with a knowing smile. He just nodded, pulled out his phone, and didn't say another word.
Meanwhile, downstairs in another apartment
The bathroom was filled with a cloud of steam, the warm, damp air laced with the soft scent of lavender oil.
Hot water swirled gently in the tub, lapping against pale skin. Kirisu Mafuyu reclined lazily against the smooth edge, her signature red hair piled up to bare her long, elegant neck and the delicate lines of her collarbones.
A few damp strands clung to her forehead and cheeks, giving her normally composed beauty a softer, more intimate glow. The heat had painted her skin a light pink, and the stern look she wore in public was replaced by a hazy, relaxed gaze.
One arm rested along the rim of the tub, the other holding a waterproof pouch with her phone inside. The screen's glow reflected on her lips, which curved into a small, private smilethe kind she only wore when she was alone or thinking of a certain someone.
A message lit up the display.
Rei Ao: Still awake?
A text from him at this hour? Definitely suspicious.
Unless
She thought of Rei Ao's teasing, shameless personality, and her cheeks flushed for a completely different reason. She couldn't help feeling a little excited.
"Hmph"
Her fingers tapped quickly against the plastic cover as she typed back:
Kirisu Mafuyu: Not yet~ It's late Rei Ao-kun, are you missing me?
She sent it, then pressed the phone lightly against her chest. The blush on her face deepened, her eyes filled with a mix of playfulness and anticipation.
Just thinking about that strong, slightly dangerous man who could so easily unsettle her made the water feel a degree hotter.
Buzz!
Another message.
Rei Ao: What are you doing?
Her eyes lit up, her lips curling into a mischievous smile. Adjusting her posture, she rose partway from the water, ripples breaking around her. In the golden light and thick steam, her skin gleamed like pearl, water droplets sliding along her collarbone in an image that was both hazy and hypnotic.
She typed with just the slightest tremor in her fingers:
Kirisu Mafuyu: Taking a bath~ Want to see?
The reply came instantly.
Rei Ao: I do.
Her heart skipped a beat.
She could already picture those dark, smoldering eyes staring at her without holding back.
Heat rushed through her, and under the water her toes curled. She bit her lip, hovering over the send button, tempted to push things further
But then another message appeared.
Rei Ao: But not over the phone. If I'm going to see, it'll be in person.
In person?
Boom.
Her face went up in flames.
That manalways saying the most heart-stopping things in the calmest tone!
She pressed the phone to her chest again, like it could muffle her racing heartbeat, before furiously typing back:
Kirisu Mafuyu: Pervert! I'm not sending you anything!
With a huff, she set the phone on the bath tray and sank deeper into the water, leaving only her flushed face and shy, sparkling eyes above the surface.
The water wrapped her in warmth, but her mind kept replaying his words
If I'm going to see, it'll be in person.
And deep down, that thought stirred something new inside her
A mix of embarrassment, anticipationand a quiet, undeniable longing.
~~~
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Chapter 866: Panic Sensei
Her phone buzzed again.
Mafuyu drew a deep breath and grabbed it.
Rei Ao: "Serious matter: Fumino and Rizu ran into a little situation tonight. Getting home is tricky. Could they crash at your place for the night?"
The moment she saw "Fumino" and "Rizu," the haze and shyness in Mafuyu's eyes vanished.
Her teacher's instinct and sense of responsibility kicked in hard.
She straightened up.
The flush on her cheeks was still there,
but her gaze had already turned focused and professional.
A "little situation"?
This late, and they can't go home?
Two girls safety first.
She didn't hesitate, her thumbs flying over the keyboard.
Mafuyu Kirisu: "Of course! No problem. Send them overI've got a spare room."
The second she hit send, she stood up out of the tub.
Splash.
Water went everywhere.
Her graceful, water-beaded figure hit the warm air.
No time to towel offshe stepped out of the bath still dripping,
snatched the big white bath towel from the side, and wrapped it around herself in a rush.
"Gotta tidy the guest room!"
And get clean towels and toiletries ready for the two students!
She'd barely knotted the towel at her chest and set her bare feet on the cool tile, about to head for the bathroom door when
"Ding-dong!"
The crisp chime of the doorbell sliced through the door with zero warning, loud and clear.
Mafuyu froze mid-step, every muscle locking.
"S-so fast?!"
She'd only just gotten the message!
She reflexively glanced down at herself.
Her wet hair was still dripping.
Droplets slid off her collarbone and disappeared along the edge of the towel.
Looking like this how was she supposed to face her students?!
Her mind went blank.
The blush that had faded came roaring back hotter than before, like someone had shoved her into a steamer.
She fumbled to straighten the towel, half-turned to dash back for a towel to dry her hairand the doorbell pealed again, sharper this time, like it was deliberately hurrying her.
"He's absolutely doing this on purpose!"
Her heart was hammering out of her chest.
She drew a long breath, tried to press the heat out of her face, and forced herself to look composed.
Barefoot, she padded to the door.
Through the peephole she saw all three of them.
And Rei Ao was staring right at the peepholein other words, right at herwith a playful curve to his mouth.
His voice seemed to ring right in her ear: "Told you I'd come check in person. And here I am."
He really was doing this on purpose!
Mortified and fuming, Mafuyu clenched her jaw.
He's trying to make me look ridiculous in front of my students!
No matter what, she was going to change clothes.
But then an invisible pressure rippled out.
Everything around them seemed to hush; no one would be able to cast a glance toward this little patch of space.
"Huh?"
To her shock, a seam in the air opened, and a hand reached through to close over the doorknob.
That
Rei Ao's hand?
She remembered that hand far too wellthe one that had been much too familiar with her not long ago.
What was he doing? O-opening the door?!
The realization hit, and panic rushed up her spine.
"Wait!"
Too late.
Click.
The door swung open.
"Sorry to intrude, Kirisu-sensei!" the girls said together.
Two clear, slightly shy voices, threaded with gratitude.
In the bright hallway light stood Fumino Furuhashi and Rizu Ogata.
The flush hadn't completely left their cheeks, and their eyes were a little unfocused, clearly not entirely recovered from that earlier "little situation."
But when they saw their teacher, they still managed polite smiles.
Half a step behind them, a tall figure lounged at ease.
Hands tucked in the pockets of his loungewear, Rei Ao wore a faint, ambiguous smile.
Those deep eyes of his didn't bother hiding their path as they looked straight past the two girls at the threshold to the towel-wrapped, dripping-haired Mafuyu Kirisu.
His gaze swept, almost tangibleover the bare, smooth shoulder she hadn't managed to cover,
down the curve of her chest still rising and falling beneath the tight knot of her towel, past the slim line of her waist,
and finally to the wet sheen on her naked feet.
The entryway lights were bright,
humid warmth spilled out from the bathroom,
the girls still carried a blush on their faces,
and the man at the door wore that teasing look
All of it braided together in one instant.
The composure on Mafuyu Kirisu's face shattered.
Her beautiful eyes flew wide, and in them the three figures at the door were reflected with perfect clarity
especially Rei Ao's amused stare.
Her towel-wrapped body went rigid.
Like a jade statue suddenly robbed of its heat, even her fingertips wouldn't move.
A bead of water, just wiped from her skin, traced the smooth line of her neck and shoulder,
then fell with a too-loud plip onto the cold tile.
Silence.
The kind of dead silence that swallows an entryway whole.
Only the bathroom tap she hadn't turned all the way off kept time, a steady, nerve-jangling drip drip
Fumino and Rizu's smiles froze.
Following Rei Ao's gazeand Mafuyu Kirisu's utterly petrified expressionthey finally, belatedly, put it together.
Their eyes dropped, one fraction at a time, to their teacher's bath towel, obviously thrown on in a panic, the kind of wrap that threatened to show more than it should if you so much as breathed wrong.
And to all that fair skin, still dewy and faintly perfumed with bath soap.
Boom.
Rizu felt her brain short-circuit;
every math formula and logical chain snapped at once, leaving nothing but an infinity of scrambled symbols flying across her vision.
What is happening?!
Fumino, meanwhile, felt her literary sensibilities mutiny en masse; all that was left in her head was the bluntest scream:
"AhhhSensei, why are you like this too?!"
And at the center of it allMafuyu Kirisu.
She held the door as if frozen in amber.
Wrapped in a towel, barefoot, hair dripping.
Staring at her students and at the man with the smiling eyes.
She felt her teaching career, her image in her students' hearts, her last shred of dignity
all evaporate in that one second.
Rei Ao took in the scene, and the curve at the corner of his mouth deepened, silent and unhurried.
Chapter 867: A Small Thing
The entryway lights were bright.
Mafuyu Kirisu stood there with a white bath towel knotted in a rush around her. The damp red ends of her hair kept dripping, each bead blooming into a small dark spot on the cold tile.
The "I'm totally composed" look on her delicate face had already shattered. All that remained was a steam-warm blush running to her ears and down her neck.
Those eyes that usually carried a strict, watchful edge were round nowwide enough to catch three perfect reflections at the door: two students, still pink and gawking, and a man leaning on the wall with a playful smile tugging at his mouth.
After a night of nonstop shocks, Fumino Furuhashi and Rizu Ogata's brains finally blue-screened. Seeing their usually immaculate, no-nonsense Kirisu-sensei show up looking this domesticno, let's be honest, a little spicyhit just as hard as the mess they'd walked in on with Rei Ao earlier.
Their mouths opened, nothing came out. They blinked in sync, eyes broadcasting pure "who am I, where am I, what did I just see," plus a very specific, silent refrain: Teacher, you too?!
Rei Ao's gaze worked like a literal spotlightfrank, amused, and a little wickedas it took its time tracing Mafuyu's lines before settling on her bare feet, beaded with water and curled slightly against the tile. The smile in his eyes deepened.
Drip.
Another drop fell from her hair and hit the floor. In the dead quiet, the sound was painfully loudthe last straw.
"Ah!"
Mafuyu snapped out of her statue state with a short, mortified cry. She stumbled back a step, one hand yanking the towel tighter across her chest, the other flying up to shield her bare shoulder, her face so red it felt like it might start bleeding. She could swear his smiling gaze was searing into her skin, making every inch of her prickle.
"S-sorry! Sorry for the intrusion, Kirisu-sensei! Wewe'll just"
Fumino finally found her voice and tried to tug Rizu back out, desperate to salvage this disaster of an opening.
Bang!
What she got instead was Mafuyu slamming the doorso hard the frame gave a little shiver.
Silence from the hallway.
Rei Ao lifted an eyebrow, that smile carving a bit deeper. Fumino and Rizu traded a helpless look, barely daring to breathe, pretty sure the Awkwardness Index had left Earth's atmosphere.
Five whole minutes crawled by before the bathroom door opened again.
Mafuyu had changed into conservative light-gray cotton loungewearlong sleeves, long pants, covered to the wrists and ankles. She'd given her hair a rough towel-dry; it wasn't dripping anymore, but it still hung damp and messy over her shoulders, a few strands sticking to her warm cheeks. The color hadn't fully faded from her face.
She deliberately avoided looking at Rei Ao, pulling her usual stern mask back into place. The faint tremble in her lashes and the tight line of her mouth, though, betrayed the churn underneath.
She took a breath like she was steadying herself, then looked to the doorskipping right over Rei Ao and landing on the girls. "Fumino, Rizucome in. I've been filled in," she said, voice even except for the tiny quiver she couldn't quite hide.
She stepped aside. Saved, the two of them ducked their heads and scurried past like startled quail, slipping into the waiting house slippers. They didn't dare look at Rei Ao. They definitely didn't dare look at their teacher's still-rosy face.
Only then did Mafuyu turn to Rei Ao. Two small flames lit in her clear eyes. She shot him a glare full of hot embarrassment and accusation and pushed the words through her teeth: "They're here. Y-you can go now."
Stiff tone. Obvious sulk. All thanks to that little "open the door" stunt.
Rei Ao didn't take the hint. He stepped inside, shut the door behind him like he owned the place, and said, easy as ever, "Kirisu-sensei, I'm entrusting them to you."
The words sounded sincere. The mischief in his eyes said otherwise, which only tightened the knot in Mafuyu's chest.
"Hmph." She snorted, sharp and annoyed, turning her face away. "I take care of my students without you telling me. Keep your fake concern."
She leaned on "fake concern," still clearly sore about the ambush.
The air went sticky again. Fumino and Rizu stalled in the hall toward the living roommoving felt wrong, staying felt worse. Their presence shrank to near zero between the two adults, downgraded from "people who need help" to a pair of glorified third wheels.
They traded another look with the same conclusion: Should we disappear?
Rei Ao studied Mafuyu's puffed-up profilethe forced-calm face, the still-pink earsand something flickered in his eyes. He didn't bother with more words. He simply reached out and closed his hand around her slender wrist.
