Translator: Reflet
Kohaku in the school uniform entered the cla.s.sroom with leisurely steps.
Although she was wearing the exact same design as the girls" school uniform, her composed mannerism gave her a unique appearance.
At the very least, it was enough to to overwhelm the boys and girls in that room, forcing them to watch her as they held their breath.
Said girl halted beside the podium, turning toward the students.
Eye met with eye, which became the trigger. The whole cla.s.sroom became noisy.
She was a young girl of a height of 130 centimeters that didn"t look any older than an elementary schooler. Said girl was wearing the same uniform as everyone else, and was standing next to the podium, emitting an air of importance.
It was such an unbalanced, irregular sight.
This was normally something impossible to see, so it was reasonable that a commotion would occur in the cla.s.sroom.
And the ones most shocked by it were none other than Taiyou and the three sisters.
To add further, the three sisters seemed to be even more bewildered than Taiyou.
Kohaku, who had brought astonishment into the room amongst everyone, took the chalk from beside the blackboard, writing her name "Azumaya Kohaku" in skillful penmanship on the blackboard.
It seemed unfitting from merely looking at her appearance, but if one were to consider what she was actually like, this was handwriting that fit her to a T more than anything else. Rather than writing it in chalk on a blackboard, it was the kind of typeface that was more fitting of a calligraphy pen writing on stationary.
That further amplified the perplexment of 1-A.
On the opposite end of all that perplexment and turmoil, Kohaku opened her mouth in a composed manner.
「I be everyone"s fellow cla.s.smate from today on, Azumaya Kohaku. So I be looking forward to working alongside ye all」
「"I be"？」
Someone"s voice clearly rang out, and then the tumult abruptly stopped.
She had the appearance of an elementary schooler, but the manner of speaking of an old person.
The people in the cla.s.sroom seemed to have caught onto that.
「Might I ask a question？」
Breaking through the silence, the most sociable one, Katsuki, decided to ask her for everyone"s sake.
It was very much surreal to see him raising his hand to the young-looking girl as if asking a teacher a question.
「Very well」
Kohaku"s magnanimous nod as well as the fact that no one thought it to seem unnatural spurred on the oddity of this situation.
「Azumaya……san」
「It be fine to call me Kohaku-tan」
（Oi oi）
Taiyou unconsciously furrowed his brow at this nostalgic answer.
「Okay, then Kohaku-tan」
（And you"re too quick to adjust to that！）
「How old are you, Kohaku-tan？」
Katsuki spoke like how one would to a lost little girl when asking where her parents where.
「How much do I be looking to ye？」
「About 10 years old？」
「Unfortunately, that be off」
「Then how about seven hundred years old？」
「Close！」
「That"s not close at all！」
Taiyou stood up without thinking and retorted.
「But it be quite close to my true nature, be it not, Husband?」
「Well yeah, but…」
She was after all Loli Baba. He understood that in the sense that her age was nothing like her appearance, that guess may have been close, but Taiyou still couldn"t quite accept that.
Kohaku then turned back to Katsuki, the interpellator, dexteriously moving up the corner of her mouth as she answered.
「As of this year, I be not quite 87 years old」
Loli Baba looked like an elementary schooler at first glance but was actually 87 years old. The cla.s.s of course would be filled with astonishment at that revelation……or so Taiyou thought, but even when Kohaku conveyed that, the explosive surprise that he had antic.i.p.ated didn"t occur.
Instead, everyone moved their gazes to Taiyou with bewildered expressions.
He unconsciously recoiled.
「Wh-What is it？」
「Hey, Natsuno」
「What is it?」
「What…were you just called by Kohaku-tan just now?」
「What was I……Oh」
Repeating it, Taiyou finally came to the realization.
He had become so accustomed to it as of late…Kohaku"s name for him.
――Husband
Even amongst her fellow "brides", she would be the only one to call him by a special t.i.tle. It was a much more natural way to refer to him than the three sisters" "Taiyou-san" or Aoba"s "Natsuno-kun", befitting of the typical bride.
However, that was only within the household.
In an academy, and not to mention this very cla.s.sroom…
This was unnatural to the highest degree.
So that was nothing but foreign.
「Natsuno! What does she mean by Husband?」
「Lolicon! Criminal!」
「Getting a head start on us！」
「Whoa……So that"s what Natsuno-kun"s like」
「You know, Hayakawsan and all that」
「Yeah……」
Once Katsuki said that, like a broken dam, voices cornering him resounded all around.
Straight disparagement flew at him from the boys, whereas he heard more roundabout, gouging words from the girls.
He had momentarily recoiled from the wavelike force of all his cla.s.smates" words surging at him, but Taiyou soon put a rest to his discomposure.
「She"s my wife. Is there a problem with that？」
He answered with his chest puffed out.
In an instant, the whole cla.s.sroom grew silent.
Taiyou had admitted it all too easily, so it was clear that their reactions were very much taken aback.
But that did not continue for long. Gradually, several of the boys began returning to themselves, proceeding to open their mouths to disparage him again.
「I wouldn"t have it any other way！」
One boy among them lifted a voice of commendation.
Unlike Katsuki, this was an invigorating voice full of resilience.
The gazes amongst the cla.s.s focused on him simultaneously. This was Kazama of the track-and-field team who had unfolded a close contest with Taiyou prior to summer.
Standing up, he spoke while looking straight at Taiyou.
「That"s precisely why you"re my rival」
「Thanks. But I think you"re way more amazing」
「And in order to prove that as well……」
「……Is it cool if we hold the usual compet.i.tion after school？」
「Yeah, I"ll be waiting at the sports ground」
The two nodded at each other, sitting back in their respective seats.
As if being swallowed up by the air emitted between the two of them, the cla.s.sroom went back into dead silence.
Putting aside Kohaku, the others had witnessed Taiyou and Kazama"s close contest before summer break, so this had become quite natural.
That was how, thanks to Kazama, the noise calmed down for the moment.
「Come to think of it, where"s our teacher？」
Suddenly, one of the female students spoke as they remembered.
「Ah-」
「Now that you mention it」
「Just where is our teacher？」
Hearing that, everyone in the cla.s.s looked at the podium with a start.
Kohaku had entered the room with quite the "I am onstage!" sort of vibe, making everyone aware of her existence, but if one were to calm down and think about it, the homeroom teacher that should normally be standing there had still not shown up.
It was commonplace, common sense for the homeroom teacher to enter the cla.s.sroom beforehand, introducing their new cla.s.smate by saying "Today we have a transfer student coming". However, Kohaku by herself came in, starting her personal introduction all by herself.
Which was why along with the people of 1-A, Taiyou found himself realizing this all of a sudden.
Kohaku answered the question that everyone had.
「Indeed, I shall introduce them. This be the new teacher in charge of this cla.s.s」
「You are going to introduce them?！ And what do you mean by new teacher？」
「Come in, Hosokawsensei」
Lightly ignoring Taiyou"s retort, Kohaku called out in the direction of the door.
Immediately following, the door before the cla.s.sroom was opened, and a woman in a suit entered.
No, not really a woman, but more of a girl.
Taiyou opened his mouth, dumbfounded.
Her long hair fluttering ever so slightly, she came in front of the podium, coming to a stop. Then, just as Kohaku had done earlier, chalk in hand, she wrote her name on the blackboard.
More than ninety percent of it was spelled with katakana; a type of name that they weren"t accustomed to.
「Everyone, it is nice to meet you」
And she had a voice like the ringing of a bell coming from her nicely shaped lips.
「I have been entrusted with this cla.s.s from today onward. I am Leticia Hosokawa Kelaz」
The attractive, blonde-hair-blue-eyed girl spoke in the fluent "standard p.r.o.nunciation".
「I look forward to working with all of you」
Leticia made a refined broad smile.
With a smile from the peerless beautiful girl, several of the boys immediately became entranced with their eyes as if their souls had been taken from them.