Chapter 16: Strange Teacher and Student

So the reason Norika Harada was worried to the point of losing emotional control was that her cousin was coming to Tokyo, and she feared this would expose her lie, leaving her at the mercy of her family’s relentless pressure to go on arranged dates!

Her parents were likely pushing the marriage issue extremely hard, which was why Norika harbored such intense aversion and anxiety toward it.

Having understood the full scope of the matter, Quillan was no longer concerned.

At the very least, helping Norika out by acting as her fake boyfriend wouldn’t involve any life-threatening risks.

His earlier alarm was simply because he didn’t want to drag himself into unnecessary trouble—though he didn’t mind trouble too much, it ran counter to his goal of leading a peaceful life.

Now that he knew the problem wasn’t particularly difficult to solve, Quillan didn’t mind lending a hand, considering Norika was his homeroom teacher.

So Quillan tried to reassure her: "So this is what you were worrying about, Miss Harada! It seems... as long as we find a way to convince both your parents and your cousin, you won’t have any crisis to worry about, right?"

"Right!" Norika nodded like a chicken pecking at rice, asking back, "Do you have any good ideas, Student Quillan?"

"Does this even require any grand strategy?" Quillan gave Norika a helpless side-eye, complaining in annoyance, "Miss Harada, don’t you think that compared to you, I act like a remarkably mature man? Do you really think that when your parents and cousin arrive in Tokyo and meet us, I’ll blow our cover as your ’boyfriend’? You’re underestimating me way too much!"

"Eh? Student Quillan, you... you’re very mature?" Norika remained noncommittal about that claim.

Quillan replied in annoyance, "Comparatively speaking, you’re the one who seems naive, Miss Harada! If you don’t trust my ability to help you fool your parents and your cousin, we can do a rehearsal right now!"

"A rehearsal?"

Norika looked at Quillan with a puzzled expression. The latter explained, "Yes, we rehearse right now so you can see whether or not I’m qualified to be your ’boyfriend’!"

Hearing Quillan’s proposal, Norika grew intrigued. Her previous anger and worries vanished instantly, replaced by a look of keen interest as she stared at Quillan: "Well then, Student Quillan, how are we going to rehearse?"

Quillan answered, "Like lovers!"

"Eh? Like... lovers? But..."

Norika’s mind clearly jumped to the wrong conclusion, and her face flushed bright red in an instant.

"Just getting along strictly in the context of a romantic relationship, not actually doing anything..." To prevent Norika from going berserk again, Quillan quickly explained, "For instance, we address each other as lovers do and practice our conversational tone so others won’t pick up that you’re my teacher—just that you’re my Norika. Do you understand, Norika?"

Norika...

Hearing Quillan address her like that, Norika stood dazed for quite a while before snapping back to reality: "You... what did you just call me?"

"See that?" Quillan was left speechless. Just moments ago, Norika was worrying about him blowing their cover, but looking at her state now, the one who would end up exposing the lie would be Norika herself!

After a moment of silence, Quillan felt it was necessary to make Norika realize this point, so he spoke up: "I called you Norika. Isn’t that how lovers address each other? Also, shouldn’t you change how you address your ’boyfriend’? For example, using honorifics or calling me Quillan-kun!"

Norika’s face flushed an even deeper shade of red. She had already felt ashamed for having inappropriate thoughts in front of Quillan earlier, and now hearing him repeatedly lecturing her to use honorifics to address her ’boyfriend’ made her feel completely mortified, especially since she was his homeroom teacher and several years older than him!

"Q-Quillan-kun?"

After struggling internally for a while, Norika finally stammered out the greeting to Quillan.

"Hmm?" Quillan was quite pleased with her quick realization. It seemed Norika was in a much better mood now, even accepting his proposal by calling him Quillan-kun. Wanting to tease her a bit, Quillan curled his lips into a subtle, mischievous smirk and asked, "Norika, it’s so late and you’re still awake—are you hoping your ’boyfriend’ will get a little closer to you?"

"No way!"

Norika was thoroughly embarrassed. She pulled the blanket completely over her head. To Quillan’s surprise, however, the teacher who usually flew into a rage instead spoke in a soft tone this time: "I mean... Quillan-kun, it’s very late. Good night!"

"Good night..."

Quillan shook his head. If he hadn’t personally encountered a homeroom teacher like Norika, he doubted anyone could have convinced him that such a strange teacher-student dynamic could exist in this world.