Chapter 50: I Don’t Know What’s Wrong With Me Either!

With Norika Harada driving, the car sped off toward the bullet train station.

Because Norika was in a foul mood, she kept a stony face and barely paid any attention to Quillan, which annoyed him quite a bit.

Quillan looked at Norika and said, "Miss Harada, I’m not trying to make excuses, but I still need to clarify things! When you called me this morning, you told me to go straight to your apartment. That’s why I took a cab the moment I stepped outside. But right after I got into the taxi, you called back saying we needed to head to the bullet train station instead. I didn’t complain—I followed your arrangement, got off, and waited by the curb for you. Yet you still got angry with me for it? Besides, this whole thing had nothing to do with me in the first place. I only agreed to help you out of goodwill, even going through the trouble of putting on a suit and dressing up formally to pretend to be your boyfriend. Is this how you repay me?"

Norika fell silent. Quillan wasn’t wrong—this whole situation originally had nothing to do with him, and he was only helping her out of kindness!

In truth, Norika didn’t know why she was losing her temper so easily either. She found her own behavior somewhat hard to understand, and now that Quillan was calling her out in such a accusatory tone, she tightened her lips and didn’t utter a word.

Usually, Norika was not the type to stay silent without fighting back. Her current reaction only showed that she felt guilty.

Quillan continued, "And if I remember correctly, Miss Harada, you and I are supposed to be a couple right now, aren’t we? If you feel that doing this is inappropriate, Miss Harada, you can just say it outright. I’ll get out of the car right now!"

Saying that, Quillan made a gesture as if to open the car door and said to Norika, "Please pull over, Miss Harada!"

"Wait, don’t..." Norika panicked. If Quillan threw in the towel right now, how was she supposed to face her parents and call off the arranged blind date with her cousin?

Seeing Norika panic, Quillan sneered inwardly.

A woman like Norika Harada really could only be handled with firm measures. If you treated her gently, she definitely wouldn’t buy it—in fact, she might even walk all over you!

Though pleased with himself on the inside, Quillan maintained a serious exterior and said, "So, Miss Harada, what are your actual thoughts? If you don’t want me to leave, shouldn’t you look a little happier? And shouldn’t you change how you address me to sound a bit more intimate?"

"I..." Norika felt completely flustered. And since she was driving at the moment, being in such a dazed state was extremely dangerous!

Quillan thought it over and decided not to push her too hard, falling silent to let her think it through on her own.

However, what neither Quillan nor Norika realized was that not far behind Norika’s car, a taxi was tailing them at a steady distance. Inside the cab, both Ruri Hosokawa and Haruka Himuro looked utterly shocked.

Ruri was still asking Haruka, "Haruka-chan, are... are you really sure that the woman you saw was Miss Harada?"

Haruka nodded and said, "She looked very much like her. Besides, Ruri-chan, didn’t you notice that Miss Harada’s car is identical to this one?"

"How... how would I have time to pay attention to what kind of car Miss Harada drives?" Ruri shook her head, then analyzed, "Though, since you say this car belongs to Miss Harada, I suppose it really is possible. After all, Quillan is from America—he couldn’t possibly know that many people here in Japan, right?"

Haruka kept her head down without speaking, no one knowing what was going through her mind.

Ruri continued talking to herself, "No wonder that bastard Quillan kept getting called into Miss Harada’s office on his very first day of school. Did Quillan and Miss Harada know each other long before this? But... why is Quillan dressed up so formally today? What on earth are they going to do?"

"Ruri-chan, please stop guessing randomly..." Haruka was frightened by Ruri’s analysis. If she kept following Ruri’s line of thought, wouldn’t the next step be suspecting that Quillan and Miss Harada had some kind of special relationship?

Could it be that Quillan and Miss Harada were actually a couple?

That was way too horrifying to think about!

After all, Miss Harada was Quillan’s teacher!

Haruka didn’t dare let her thoughts run wild like that, so she quickly tried to stop Ruri from analyzing further.

Just then, the driver reminded them, "Young ladies, this road leads straight to the bullet train station. Should we keep going?"

"To the bullet train station?" Ruri put on an incredulous expression. Yet despite her surprise, she said to the driver without a second thought, "Of course we keep going! Please, driver, make sure to stay close behind that car ahead—don’t lose them!"

After instructing the driver, Ruri turned back to Haruka and asked a question that left Haruka utterly stunned: "Haruka-chan, Miss Harada and that bastard Quillan are heading to the bullet train station together—are they going on a vacation somewhere? But one of them is a student and the other is a teacher, plus they’re several years apart in age! How could they possibly go on a vacation together? That pervert Quillan even dressed up like that... Could it be..."

Haruka kept her head lowered as she listened to Ruri. Seeing no response from Haruka, Ruri patted her on the shoulder and asked, "Haruka-chan, Miss Harada isn’t... in a romantic relationship with that guy, is she?"

"Impossible!"

Haruka had been avoiding this topic in her heart all along, constantly convincing herself not to think that way because she couldn’t bring herself to believe that the boy she liked had that kind of relationship with their teacher. Now that Ruri had voiced it directly, Haruka nearly broke down. She suddenly shouted at Ruri at the top of her lungs, almost straining her voice: "Ruri-chan, how... how could you suspect Miss Harada and Master like that?! Maybe... maybe they’re going to the bullet train station just to handle something that requires their personal attention!"

Startled into a shudder by Haruka’s outburst, Ruri stared in shock at the near-hysterical Haruka, stammering and not daring to speak another word.

After a short moment, once Haruka regained her composure, she murmured in a low voice, "Ruri-chan, I’m... I’m sorry. I spoke too loudly just now. I... I don’t know what’s wrong with me either!"

Ruri smiled, looking at Haruka as she said, "Haruka-chan, it’s totally fine! And I actually think you’re right. Maybe Miss Harada and that guy Quillan really are just going there to handle some business!"

Although she said this out loud, deep down, Ruri remained deeply suspicious.

One was a female teacher and the other was a male student. Could they really have intentionally arranged to go to the bullet train station together without having anything going on between them?