After saying goodbye to Misaki, Shiro Sakamaki got onto his bike and drove toward Shuchiin Academy.
As he entered the classroom, the usual whispers erupted around him. His sudden reappearance once again stirred up curiosity and chatter, but Shiro paid it no mind and returned to his seat calmly.
The bell rang just as Shizuka Hiratsuka walked in, lesson plan in hand. She instinctively glanced toward Shiro's seat, and upon seeing him sitting upright for once, she nodded in satisfaction.
Thanks to her iron-clad reputation, the once noisy classroom fell into silence the moment she stepped in.
But instead of beginning her lecture, she set the lesson plan down and addressed the class.
"Everyone, we have a new classmate joining us today. I hope you'll all get along well with her."
The moment her words landed, murmurs and excitement filled the room.
"Quiet."
She turned toward the door. "You can come in now, Yukinoshita-san."
Shiro, who had been lost in his thoughts, perked up at the mention of that surname and turned his eyes toward the classroom door.
A girl with long, straight black hair, fair skin, and a delicate, icy beauty walked in. Her very presence seemed to lower the temperature in the room.
It was unmistakably Yukinoshita Yukino.
Shizuka, recalling the warning from Haruno Yukinoshita, sighed inwardly. This wasn't going to be easy.
"Please introduce yourself," she said.
Yukino nodded slightly, turned, and wrote her name elegantly on the blackboard.
"My name is Yukinoshita Yukino. I enjoy reading. I look forward to being your classmate."
Her words were polite, but her tone was flat, cold — distant. As if she'd rather be anywhere but here.
Still, her beauty alone captivated the class.
Well — except maybe her famously rumored 0.2 charm score, Shiro joked inwardly.
He wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but he could swear Yukino had cast a glance his way.
Suddenly, a bold student called out, "Yukinoshita-san, do you have a boyfriend?"
Instantly, every head turned — guys wondering if they had a chance, girls calculating whether she was competition.
"No," Yukino replied coolly. "This is the time to focus on learning. I'm not interested in love right now."
The boy who asked the question was left speechless, but wisely held back any retort — this was Hiratsuka-sensei's class, after all, and he wasn't looking to die young.
"Ahem," Hiratsuka interjected, clearing her throat. "Yukinoshita-san, please take the seat next to Shiro Sakamaki."
Yukino nodded without resistance and gracefully walked to the seat beside Shiro, taking her place with an air of calm indifference.
"Yukino, why did you—"
"Let's not get too familiar. We hardly know each other, do we?"
She shut him down immediately.
Shiro blinked. What'd I do this time?
But Yukino's frosty aura only intensified. Her thoughts lingered on her mother's decision to uproot her from Sobu High and place her here — all because of this guy.
If Shiro hadn't been attuned to her faint spiritual energy, he might've believed she was an actual ice-wielder.
Still, Shiro shrugged it off, unfazed. He leaned in with a smug grin.
"Come on, from a relationship standpoint, shouldn't you be calling me brother-in-law?"
"You—!"
"Shiro Sakamaki," Hiratsuka snapped. "Yukinoshita-san just transferred today. Don't bully the freshmen."
"Of course not," Shiro replied with a disarming smile. "We got along instantly, didn't we?"
Hiratsuka gave him an exasperated look before turning back to the blackboard.
Meanwhile, Yukino buried herself in the lesson, completely ignoring Shiro. As a top student, she absorbed the material effortlessly, jotting notes with a calm focus.
Shiro, on the other hand, had no interest in the lecture. He already knew the material inside and out. Rather than waste time, he pulled out his notebook and began working on a novel draft he'd been putting off.
Once he was in the zone, the outside world faded. By the time morning classes ended, he had churned out nearly 60,000 words. Even Kamachi Kazuma, the "human typewriter," would've cried at this level of output.
The rapid scratching of his pen didn't go unnoticed. Yukino cast him the occasional glance, though her thoughts remained conflicted. She couldn't forget how her mother forced her to transfer because of this boy — her resentment wouldn't vanish so easily.
The lunch bell rang, pulling Shiro out of his flow. He stretched lazily, packed up the manuscript, and headed to the cafeteria.
There, as expected, were the Nakano quintuplets — impossible to miss, seated together like mirror images at one table.
Shiro grabbed his food and sat down directly across from Itsuki Nakano without hesitation.
Itsuki, who was mid-bite, blinked in surprise. Then her eyes lit up.
"Shiro! You actually came to school today?"
Even with his usually thick skin, Shiro scratched his cheek awkwardly. Yeah… skipping two weeks probably wasn't a great look.
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