What a twist! The loser heroine!

Unexpectedly, Himegami didn't say anything more. The boy and girl, each lost in their own thoughts, fell silent on the bus.

Before we knew it, the bus had arrived at the station.

-

Standing with Himegami in the plaza in front of Toyohashi Station, Onami glanced at her watch.

"It's still 20 minutes until 9 o'clock."

Looking around, I didn't see Xiao Ju anywhere.

"Then, let's wait on that bench over there for a bit," Himegami suggested, pointing to the bench next to the greenery.

"Ah."

The two sat down on a bench.

"I'm so excited for Nagoya!" Himegami said, taking out her phone from her bag and checking her schedule. "It's been almost half a year since I last went there."

"Yes, Xiao Ju must be looking forward to it too," Wen Shui said with a smile.

"Warm Water, aren't you curious why I'm going to Nagoya?"

"Um, why do we need to go to Nagoya?"

Seeing that the girl wanted to start a conversation, Wen Shui could only go along with her.

"Hehe, because my dad was representing the family company to sign a contract with a foreign manufacturer in Nagoya. I happened to be on vacation at the time, so he let me go with him for two days."

"Hime-kun's family owns a company?" Wen Shui asked in surprise.

"Why use honorifics? We're not some big conglomerate." Himegami Karen waved her hand. "I'm just in charge of some clothing design and overseas sales."

"It's just that my parents are often away from home, and sometimes they go abroad for a long time, which makes me a bit lonely."

[Hime-kun, where did you come from, this rich young lady/heroine?]

"That's definitely true."

Wen Shui nodded, somewhat empathetic. His parents rarely saw him and his sister due to work, which was probably why Jia Shu was so dependent on him.

Upon hearing this, Ji Gong clapped her hands and looked at Wen Shui expectantly: "Then, Wen Shui, would you like to tell me about your family situation?"

"Um, could it be... a game between friends?"

"Hehehe, you guessed right~" Himegami said with a wicked smile.

"Alright then," Wen Shui said. "My parents work for a foreign company, so they're not home very often."

"Sigh~ It feels a lot like my home."

Just as Himegami was about to say something, an unexpected person appeared in front of them.

"Oh my, isn't this Himegami-san from the day before yesterday—"

Wen Shui looked up and saw a tall, beautiful woman with long, light-colored hair. She was wearing fitted, casual clothes, and her long legs were encased in black stockings. She wasn't wearing makeup, but even so, it couldn't hide her mature aura.

When her name was called, Himegami turned around and greeted the woman with a smile: "Good morning, Mr. Koba-sensei~"

[Teacher Xiaoba?]

Wen Shui tilted his head in confusion; he had never seen this teacher with a legendary physique in class.

“Wen Shui, you don’t seem to know Teacher Xiao Ba. She’s a teacher in our school’s health room. Xiao Ju and I met her when we went to the health room the day before yesterday afternoon,” Ji Gong explained.

“I really don’t know him, since I’ve never had the chance to go to the infirmary.” Wen Shui stood up. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Xiao Ba. I’m Wen Shui Kazuhiko from Class 1-C.”

"Hmm, Wenshui and Yan..." After his gaze lingered on Wenshui and Himegami for a moment, Mr. Koba asked, "Are you two going out to play?"

Wen Shui thought that Teacher Xiao Ba was worried about their safety, so she honestly said, "Yes, we plan to go to Nagoya. We have already told our parents beforehand."

"Hmm~ I've already told my parents~"

A strange smile appeared on Ms. Xiaoba's face: "You're making really fast progress."

"Um, may I ask what you are saying, teacher?" Wen Shui asked at the opportune moment.

"It's nothing, it's just a coincidence. I'm also going to Nagoya to meet a friend today." Ms. Koba took out her phone and said, "Where are you guys planning to go today? Maybe we're going the same way?"

Karen Himegami seemed to sense something was amiss, and she asked, "Um, Mr. Koba, why are you so interested in our itinerary?"

"Because I'm a teacher, you know?"

Ms. Xiaoba unlocked her phone's screen saver, sent a message on Line saying, "Sorry, let's call up today's date," and then looked up again.

With her sky-blue eyes, she carefully examined Kazuhiko Onamizu and Hana Himegami once more.

"My everything about adolescent students—"

Teacher Xiaoba licked her dry lips.

"I am very interested in all of them."

~Sixteenth defeat~ Nagoya on Sunday, Part 2

When did Himegami and Nukumi meet?

Teacher Koba sat upright next to Princess Himegami and asked a question.

"We met during the Lunar New Year, but I only transferred here yesterday."

Princess Hime answered honestly.

"Oh dear, so you're saying that after only two days you're already heading to another city..."

Ms. Xiaoba smiled meaningfully, "And they've already obtained the parents' consent, that's really impressive..."

To be honest, from the moment Ms. Koba started subtly probing for information about her relationship with Himegami through various means and began spouting nonsense, Wen Shui had already categorized her as one of the "god-like teachers" at the same table as Ms. Ganxia.

What teacher could possibly be so interested in students' privacy?

"Teacher, we're not going to Nagoya for fun," Wen Shui explained helplessly. "Today we're going to Nagoya with our friends to do something very important."

"friend?"

Himegami answered Koba-sensei's question.

"Yes, you saw her in the infirmary the day before yesterday. She and I took Shikiya-senpai there together."

"Ah... I remember, it was that short girl. She ran away as soon as she put down Shiki-ya." Ms. Koba chuckled softly, "Like a little rabbit."

"By the way, Mr. Koba, what happened to Shikiya-senpai after that?"

Wen Shui nodded, showing interest in Himegami's question.

“That child is a regular at the infirmary. Most of the time, she suffers from weakness due to low blood sugar, and it was the same yesterday.” Teacher Xiaoba said with a wry smile, “I told her to be careful before.”

"It's good that you're alright." Wen Shui breathed a sigh of relief.

To be honest, after seeing what Shikiya-senpai looked like yesterday, I thought she had some kind of illness, but since it's just low blood sugar, it shouldn't be a big problem.

It seems that Teacher Xiaoba does care about her students after all.

"Hmm~? It seems like Wen Shui is quite interested in that boy, Yi Xi Ya..." Teacher Koba shook her index finger and said with a mischievous smile, "That won't do, you already have a girl by your side."

I retract my hasty decision.

That's right!

"Why does Princess Hime also agree?!"

Just as Wen Shui was busy fending off the offensive of the god-like teacher Xiao Ba, his phone vibrated.

I opened the LINE app with the red icon; it was a message from Xiao Ju.

Little Rabbit: "Warm Water, I've arrived at the station. Where are you?"

Wen Shui stood up, looked around, and finally saw Xiao Ju wearing a white shirt next to a gift shop in front of the station.

"Hime-no-miya, Komari is here!" Wen Shui greeted Hime-no-miya.

"Ah! It really is, Xiao Ju~ over here!"

Upon hearing this, Ji Gong immediately left the bench and, together with Wen Shui, went to greet Xiao Ju.

Meanwhile, Ms. Xiaoba, who was watching all of this, sat on the bench and narrowed her sky-blue eyes.

Her lips parted slightly in surprise.

"There's a third one..."

"Onsui Kazuhiko——"

The new students in Class 1-C, although not particularly good-looking, are surprisingly talented...

I originally thought that a girl like Himegami-san was the limit, but I never expected—

She glanced at the two people chatting intimately with Xiao Ju, and then at Xiao Ju, who had somehow triggered a button and started elbowing Wen Shui. Her whole body trembled.

"Even under these circumstances, no chaotic situation was triggered?! That's so much better than when I was younger."

She nodded slightly, silently memorizing Wen Shui's name in her mind, then took out the camera from her bag, checked the battery level, and a slight smile appeared on her lips.

"Such youthful energy, it seems there's no way to deny getting old..."

The weekend trip of the amazing teacher Xiaoba is about to begin.

◇

The JR train slowly pulled into the station, and the three of them, who had been waiting for a long time, boarded the train and sat in their reserved seats. Himegami and Komari sat together, while Wenshui sat opposite them.

Since it's the weekend, there seem to be quite a few people heading to Nagoya. Most of them are carrying suitcases, planning to do some shopping and sightseeing in the metropolitan area.

Wenshui even spotted a few junior high school students sitting not far away, presumably having arranged to visit Nagoya over the weekend. It's just unclear whether any of them were accompanied by adults.

Wait a minute, Teacher Xiaoba just got on the bus with us.

Thinking of this, Wen Shui immediately stood up and scanned the carriage with her eyes. However, she did not find Teacher Xiao Ba's conspicuous light-colored long hair, so she breathed a sigh of relief.

Teacher Xiaoba couldn't have been so lucky to have bought tickets for the same carriage as her; this was truly a huge help. Wen Shui couldn't imagine how terrifying the hour-and-a-half journey would have been if Teacher Xiaoba had been sitting next to her.

Attention passengers—

The train's announcement sounded, and the doors closed. To Wen Shui's surprise, although the train was crowded, the seat next to him was unreserved, which relieved him. Yin Jiao's biggest fear was a stranger suddenly appearing nearby, and trains were a frequent occurrence in such high-risk situations.

After a slight jolt, the train slowly began to move.

Wenshui turned her gaze to the window, the outline of Toyohashi Station gradually shrinking, with fields, mountains, and countryside becoming the main features of the scenery. Wenshui, who usually only traveled far from home for family gatherings, felt a sense of novelty rising within her for no apparent reason.

His gaze inadvertently met that of Princess Ji, who smiled generously at him before quietly looking out the window.

After a while, things remained peaceful. However, the hour-and-a-half-long journey was quite tedious, and as the only one among the three who was outgoing, Himegami decided to start a conversation.

"Juliet is wearing perfume today!" Himeko leaned closer to Juliet and said with a smile, "The apple scent is so nice~"

"Yes, Mom bought it especially for today," Xiao Ju explained.

Today, Ju Jingyi was dressed up carefully. Her usually messy hair was neatly styled and secured with hair clips. She was also wearing a shirt and trousers for a formal occasion.

"Oh right, why didn't Xiao Ju's mother come today?"

"She...she has to go to her hometown to help out today, so she can't come."

Wen Shui turned his attention back from the window. He glanced at Xiao Ju's expression as she looked around and her fingers fidgeting nervously.

[Xiao Ju is still a little nervous today...]

To reassure Xiao Ju, Wen Shui decided to distract her and asked, "By the way, what kind of person is the editor in charge of Xiao Ju's work?"

"Huh? Um, she's a really good teacher. She... she used to be the third bestselling author, but then... she switched to editing." Xiao Ju recalled for a moment, then said, "She helped me a lot with the revisions of the first and second volumes..."

"That's wonderful~" Himegami exclaimed, "To be honest, I haven't read any of Komari's works yet. I must read them when I have the chance."

Upon hearing this, Wen Shui smiled wryly and said, "Hime-kun, perhaps you're not really suited to go see this."

Watching "Love in the Shadows" from the perspective of someone with a purely positive outlook is hardly relatable!

To everyone's surprise, Princess Ji pouted as if she was angry.

"What's wrong with that! Isn't the definition of a light novel that anyone can easily read?"

"Huh? Princess Hime, you even know this?"

"After borrowing those two light novels from the clubhouse on Friday, I started trying to understand them." Himegami smiled at Wen Shui: "Search engines are such a great invention."

"Oh, so it came from Google."