Time slowly passed, and the day of the performance drew nearer.
Yasegawa Aoi watched as the boy before her gradually became more skilled with the cello, his playing no longer awkward, and now even able to keep up with her rhythm. She couldn’t help but feel puzzled.
Had this guy really never learned before?
His progress was faster than hers.
When it came to music, Yasegawa Aoi had always thought she had some talent.
But right now, there was no doubt he was much stronger than her.
If he had started learning as a child, he would definitely become a famous music master in the future.
What a pity he only started in high school.
As she pondered this, Yasegawa Aoi shook her head unconsciously.
Suzuki Yuu couldn’t understand her actions, but he was in a great mood right now.
Because he’d just seen a system notification:
[Cello has reached Mastery level.]
All his efforts over these days hadn’t been in vain. After playing through an entire piece, he put down the cello, stretched, and loosened up his muscles.
“Senpai, how’s my current level?”
“So-so, I suppose, but there shouldn’t be any problem with the duet. When the time comes, just follow my tempo.”
“Alright.”
Suzuki Yuu replied, and at this moment, Yasegawa Aoi stood up and put down her own instrument as well.
“That’s enough practice for today. The performance is almost here. If we overdo it now, it might backfire.”
She spoke from experience, but Suzuki Yuu wasn’t worried about that at all.
He had always been on the right path.
Still, he followed her suggestion and chose to rest, because even if he wanted to continue practicing, Yasegawa Aoi was already sitting on the sofa, picking up the controller.
“Hurry, Suzuki! I have to beat you today!”
“You really suck, but you sure love playing.”
Though he said that, Suzuki Yuu still sat down beside her, took the controller, and started up the game.
Just then, someone knocked on the clubroom door.
“Come in.” Yasegawa Aoi didn’t even look up, her eyes still glued to the screen.
But when Suzuki Yuu saw who it was, he paused in his movements.
“Suzuki, is this what you usually do in club?”
Kobayashi-sensei’s voice rang out in the music club. Suzuki Yuu felt a bit awkward. He instinctively set down the controller and stood up.
“Kobayashi-sensei, don’t get the wrong idea, it’s just break time.”
Hearing Suzuki Yuu’s words, Yasegawa Aoi was startled as well. She looked up at the teacher in front of her, her pupils suddenly widening:
“Disciplinary Director!”
She hurriedly put down the controller, instinctively wanting to shrink away.
Suzuki Yuu was a bit surprised. He didn’t expect Kobayashi Keiko to be so young and already the Disciplinary Director.
She must be newly appointed. Last time when rumors were going around, he’d only ever seen an old man in that role.
“Yasegawa, if you try to hide, I’ll have to confiscate your things.”
“Ugh—”
Yasegawa Aoi had no choice but to stand next to Suzuki Yuu for punishment.
Looking at the boy and girl before her, Kobayashi Keiko pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a long sigh:
“Even though our school is pretty relaxed, playing games in the music clubroom is a bit much. If you were the Game Club, I wouldn’t care.”
She said this, then glanced around the room. When her eyes landed on a book on the sofa, she paused again.
That cover was really hard to talk about.
Suzuki Yuu sneaked a glance at Yasegawa by his side and saw her face was already beet red from embarrassment.
It was just like a boy getting caught by his parents with an adult magazine in his room.
Kobayashi Keiko coughed lightly, pretended not to see, and refocused her gaze on the two of them.
Maybe afraid another secret would be discovered, Yasegawa Aoi quickly spoke up:
“Kobayashi-sensei! We—we just finished our performance piece duet… Yes, that’s it! We got so into it, we just wanted to relax a bit with a game!”
She spoke so quickly and nervously.
“Duet?” Kobayashi Keiko’s gaze shifted to Suzuki Yuu, a bit skeptical:
“Suzuki, did you play any instruments as a child?”
“No, I only just started recently.”
Suzuki Yuu answered softly, and then Yasegawa Aoi pinched his left arm hard.
“Hiss…” He sucked in a breath at the pain.
And the teacher’s expression made one thing clear: she didn’t believe him at all.
“Suzuki, I’m still a teacher at this school, and I did come from a good family, so I know a bit about music. Yasegawa has been a genius practicing since she was little. How could you possibly keep up when you’ve just started? A duet, even?”
“Well, Sensei, what if I’m a genius too?”
“Even if you are, you couldn’t catch up that fast.”
“Then I’m an extraordinary genius.”
“Pfft—” Yasegawa couldn’t help but laugh at Suzuki Yuu’s words.
“Suzuki, I know you fell out with Shiina, but you can’t just let yourself go like this, and even start lying to teachers.”
“Uh…” Suzuki Yuu was about to explain, but she kept talking.
“Oh, wait, could it be you’ve been spending time with that Amano kid lately, and you’re so overwhelmed you ran off here to escape?”
Kobayashi Keiko spoke as if she knew a lot about the Jingu family’s affairs.
At this moment, she suddenly leaned in close to Suzuki Yuu’s ear and whispered:
“Amano didn’t do anything to you, did she? Their family is always like that. If you have any trouble, you can come to me.”
Hearing this, Suzuki Yuu broke out in a cold sweat.
How did this Kobayashi-sensei have such a vivid imagination?
It looked like she’d already assumed he was the Jingu family’s kept pretty boy.
Not wanting her imagination to run wild, he sighed and said:
“Sensei, you really misunderstand me. I haven’t gone astray, and if you don’t believe it, just check my next test results. And instead of worrying about me, maybe you should think about how to solve your own single status.”
“You little brat…”
Kobayashi Keiko was choked speechless. She wanted to say more but in the end could only sigh:
“Ai, fine. It’s your choice. I have no right to interfere.”
With that, she turned to leave, but still added:
“But what I just said still stands. If you ever have trouble, you can come to me. I’ll do everything I can to help.”
“Okay, thank you, Sensei.”
Replying, Suzuki Yuu quickly went to see her out and closed the clubroom door.
With a sigh of relief, he said to Yasegawa:
“Phew… We were too careless. We have to be more careful next time.”
He spoke, but got no reply.
“Senpai?”
He looked at Yasegawa Aoi curiously, only to see she was still standing for punishment.
“She’s gone. Let’s continue.”
But she remained frozen, turning to look at Suzuki with a mechanical motion and a complicated expression, asking:
“Suzuki… what did the Director mean just now, about Shiina and Jingu?”
Hearing her question, Suzuki Yuu immediately broke out in a cold sweat.