I play the wind instrument in Hokkaido.

Page 27

"Haru, I didn't mean to." Yuka Isomoto clenched her fists and pressed them tightly against her legs.

Watching the interaction between the two, Yukawa Sakurako suddenly felt a sense of unease, as if she had bitten into a grain of sand hidden in a clam.

As she looked away and prepared to disassemble the instrument and put it back in its case, she noticed that Eri Kanzaki was staring at her.

"Eri, what's wrong?" Sakurako Yukawa asked curiously.

I have very little interaction with Kanzaki Eri, or rather, Kanzaki Eri has very little interaction with anyone. I usually only see her going home with Nagase Tsukiyo.

Eri Kanzaki blinked, her fair and delicate face expressionless.

"Sakurako, braids."

Sakurako turned her head slightly and noticed that the strands of her three-strand braid were stuck in the gap of the chair back, and it would be easy for them to get caught if she stood up directly.

She quickly tidied her hair.

"Thank you."

"Ah."

After saying that, Eri Kanzaki picked up her instrument case and prepared to leave.

"Eri." Yukawa Sakurako called out to the slender girl instinctively.

Eri Kanzaki stopped in her tracks, her fair legs brazenly exposed from under her skirt. A ray of sunlight streaming in from the window shone through her snow-white skin, coating her cherry-red lips with a honey-like glow.

Under the girl's curious gaze, Yukawa Sakurako's heart suddenly skipped a beat, and she didn't know why she suddenly called out to stop.

"what happened?"

"You...are you close to Tsukiyo?"

These words made Yukawa Sakurako blush and smooth her braids, the strands turning brown in the sunlight.

“…” Kanzaki Eri fell into deep thought.

"Could you bring her back? Even just in name only would be fine."

"No."

Kanzaki Eri's sudden, quick, and even matter-of-fact response left Yukawa Sakurako somewhat bewildered.

"Why? Aren't you here too?"

Sakurako Yuukawa laughed awkwardly, her cheeks burning with embarrassment, and said guiltily,

"The exam isn't until next year. It's not too late to start working on it after the provincial conference, is it?"

Eri Kanzaki's fingernails gently gripped the shoulder strap of the violin case, and her expression clearly became depressed.

"She...will break down under the moonlight...and so will I..."

"Yukawa, what are you saying to Eri?" At that moment, Saito Haruka walked over, seemingly noticing Eri's unnatural reaction.

Sakurako instinctively avoided her gaze, and said with an ambiguous smile:

"No, it's just that I feel like Eri is always alone."

"It's okay, she's already used to it anyway—"

Saito Haruka spoke, her lips slightly parted and her eyelashes lowered.

"However, Eri, it's about time you changed your personality. If you don't dare to express your thoughts, you'll end up hurting yourself."

"I...I'm sorry."

Eri Kanzaki's lips were pressed into a thin line, and the aluminum switch on the violin case reflected the setting sun.

Chapter 32. Women who wear black stockings are all bad women.

Under the glow of the setting sun, the outlines of the sea and sky became increasingly clear, and the afterglow settled on the sea surface, shimmering like countless pieces of gold.

As he walked out of the school gate, Kitahara Hakuba switched his handbag to another hand.

The fair face and well-proportioned features of the woman beside him shone brightly in the setting sun. Her hair, falling loosely over her shoulders, gave her a serene and peaceful expression.

"Are you usually this fierce?" Shinomiya Haruka asked.

Kitahara Hakuba thought for a moment, then tilted his head slightly and looked at her, saying:

Have you ever seen me like this?

"It seems not. You seem like a very honest person at first glance, but after spending more time with you, you'll find that...that's definitely true."

"You saying that makes me not happy at all."

Kitahara Hakuba couldn't help but remark that the word "honest" had taken on a derogatory connotation as times changed.

"Is she going to get dumped tomorrow?" Shinomiya Haruka suddenly said.

Kitahara Hakuba was startled.

"...It shouldn't be that bad."

He was now beginning to envision the worst possible outcome—

A large group of members were dissatisfied and would shout that they would sign a petition to the dean of students to "impeach" him. The next day at work, they would be notified that they had "graduated".

But then I thought, if these people really had a sense of shame, they wouldn't have done such a thing.

Besides, he was in the brass section, where at least one or two people were holding things together!

For example, there's Kanzaki Eri who sees herself as pitiful, or Kuno Tatsuka who always goes against San Nian.

“Being mistaken for a bad guy by girls is a very painful thing,” said Haruka Shinomiya.

"So what if it's bad? I'm here to work. Do you think I'm dating them?"

"Eh~~"

Haruka Shinomiya was in a very good mood, and with a sneer on her face, she said...

"When I first heard that you were teaching here, I thought you would say, 'Winning performance doesn't matter, as long as the female students are pretty.' Turns out you really want to achieve good results?"

Kitahara Hakuba raised his eyebrows slightly.

What does it mean to just be pretty?

Do you think I'm some kind of male protagonist from a doujinshi world, the kind of guy who only wants to sleep with pretty girls?

vulgar!

[Level Up]

[Character: Mai Kirishima]

[Instrument: Oboe LV+1, currently LV6]

[Member Promotion Bonus: 50,000 Yen]

Kitahara Hakuba looked at the message that suddenly popped up in front of him, and his heart was filled with mixed feelings.

What exactly is an S-level genius?

Let them roam freely.

He can now go shopping and eat with female friends without having to think about anything else; even girls with an S-level growth rating can give him money.

The only downside is that there are too few S-rank members in the department, only Kirishima Mai and Kuno Tachibana, the latter of whom is a ticking time bomb that could explode at any moment.

What if we could call Nagase Tsukiyo back?

As a teacher, he personally visited her to make Nagase Tsukiyo understand that she was very important to the club. Maybe she would be moved by his sincerity and come back crying her eyes out?

If successful, not only will we gain an S-class girl, but we can also have her share the pressure of the team members' practice, which is entirely beneficial.

Kitahara Hakuba walked through the old and new houses on both sides, lost in thought, before entering a toriyaki restaurant.

It's an affordable takoyaki (rice cake) shop. Three or four stray cats gathered in front of the shop, yawning with their mouths wide open, seemingly unconcerned even when someone passed by.

The two sat down in the small shop. After a while, a staff member with a white towel draped over his shoulder came over and brought them the yakitori skewers they had ordered.

"Want a beer?" Kitahara Hakuba asked.

Shinomiya Haruka cupped her face in her hands, a faint smile playing on her lips: "Have you revealed your true thoughts?"

"what?"

"Trying to get me drunk? And then take me home?" She said provocatively, her long, black-stockinged legs spread wide. "It's only a little past five. Isn't it a bit early to be talking about drinking?"

Kitahara Hakuba politely replied, "You're overthinking it. I just assumed you could drink."

"I do drink, and my face gets very red whenever I drink."

"Ok?"

Kitahara Hakuba's gaze fell on her delicate face, which was lightly made up, and he asked curiously:

"Even a cup of wine can turn red?"

"Yeah, the really popular kind."

"Sister, ginger beer? The kind with a low alcohol content, even students can drink it."

"All wines will turn red."

Shinomiya Haruka picked up a piece of shrimp with her chopsticks, put it in her mouth, chewed it gently, and looked at him meaningfully as she spoke.

Do you want to see it?

Kitahara Hakuba hesitated for a moment. "No, there really are people who blush even after drinking just a little bit of alcohol?"

"...Will it have any effect on my health? For example, is it an allergic reaction or something? The kind of thing where I have to take medicine after drinking alcohol?"

Could she be doing this on purpose? Or is she a highly skilled person playing hard to get with this virgin?

But Kitahara Hakuba really wanted to see it.

He was an exceptionally observant person. In elementary school, he would hold the microscope in the science lab and examine it closely. In high school, he would buy a loaf of bread and squat down to watch the ants building their nest in the courtyard for an entire PE class, observing their feeding.

I'm naturally studious; there's nothing I can do about it.

Haruka Shinomiya's cherry-red tongue darted out from her lips, licking the lemon juice from the corner of her mouth.

"I don't feel uncomfortable at all, just my face turns red. I once drank several bottles and was fine. Order one, let me show you."

"This... isn't a good idea," Kitahara Hakuba said as he placed an order on his phone.