On the podium, the English teacher had already opened her textbook, her monotonous voice droning out the reading material.
The entire class obediently flipped through their pages, reciting along in a sleepy, synchronized hum.
No one noticed the high-stakes espionage happening in the back row.
Waiting for the precise second the teacher turned to chalk a grammar rule onto the blackboard, Tōhō Getsukai leaned forward.
He slid the folded paper along the seam of their desks, guiding it straight into the deepest, darkest corner of Eriri’s drawer.
He gave it one final push with his fingertips, ensuring the damning evidence was completely buried beneath a heavy stack of textbooks.
It wasn’t seeing the light of day anytime soon.
Eriri had been staring at his hand the entire time, frozen like a statue.
The moment his fingers finally withdrew, the tension snapped.
Her body collapsed forward, her forehead hitting her open textbook with a muffled, heavy thud.
“Ugh…”
A trembling moan of sheer relief welled up from her throat.
She had survived a total disaster.
Tōhō looked at the slumped golden head in the front row and silently awarded himself a perfect score.
Social death crisis: neutralized.
Flawless execution, all in one smooth motion.
“Tōhō…”
Eriri didn’t lift her head.
Her voice was muffled by her arms, the words slurred and indistinct against the paper.
“Hmm?”
“Did you…
see it?”
Obviously, Tōhō thought.
That drawing had executed a perfect half-somersault in mid-air, landing face-up.
It had practically glued itself to his nose.
It would have required a medical miracle for him not to see it.
But who was Tōhō Getsukai?
He was a possessor of max-level ‘Big Sister’ energy, an absolute master of beautiful-girl emotional management!
In a delicate situation like this, there was only one correct answer.
“See what?”
Eriri’s head snapped up.
Her large, sapphire-blue eyes were blown wide, swirling with a chaotic mix of shock and heavy suspicion.
“You didn’t see it?!”
“Sawamura-san.” Tōhō tilted his head, letting a single, pristine lock of silver hair slide elegantly over his shoulder.
He blinked at her with an expression of pure, unadulterated innocence.
“A piece of paper fell out of your textbook and caught the draft, so I just helped you pick it up.
I didn’t look closely at what was drawn on it.”
To seal the deal, he gave her a slow, deliberate wink.
The angle and duration of that wink conveyed one precise, obvious message: Big Sister didn’t see a thing, oh~
Eriri sat completely stunned for two seconds.
Then, she abruptly whipped around to face the front.
The tips of her ears were burning a shade of red so deep they looked ready to drip blood.
Her mouth opened and closed, desperately trying to formulate a classic tsundere line to salvage her shattered dignity.
Something like, ‘Hmph, it’s not like I drew that anyway!’Or perhaps,’You’re mistaken, someone else must have shoved that trash into my desk!’
But the words died in her throat.
She couldn’t say a thing.
Because Tōhō had already stood up.
He pushed his chair back with a soft scrape, the hem of his pleated skirt swaying gracefully with the motion.
Stepping around his desk, he closed the distance to Eriri’s side.
The English teacher was still reading aloud, and the class was blindly reciting along; not a single pair of eyes was pointed in their direction.
He reached out, his slender fingers sliding gently into the golden hair on the left side of Eriri’s head.
Eriri froze, her breath hitching.
“Don’t move,” he murmured, keeping his voice low and soothing.
His fingertips combed through the silky blonde strands, easily locating the loosened hair tie.
Eriri had been far too frantic when rummaging through her bag earlier, leaving her left twin-tail sitting crooked.
The band had slipped down two centimeters, allowing a few stray hairs to escape into a messy, sticking-out halo.
Tōhō gathered those stray strands, using his thumb and index finger to expertly tighten the tie, adjusting it until it sat at the exact same height as the right side.
The entire sequence of movements was fluid, practiced, and impossibly gentle.
“There you go.”
He let go and took a half-step back, his eyes sweeping over her hairstyle to inspect his work.
Left and right perfectly symmetrical, volume consistent, stray hairs tamed, and the tension of the ties just right.
Perfect.
Then, he leaned in just a fraction closer.
“It won’t do for a girl’s most important hairstyle to be messy.” He paused, letting a soft smile touch his lips.
“Sawamura-san is very cute today as well.”
Eriri’s brain crashed.
Total blue screen.
Reboot failed.
From the tips of her ears down to the base of her neck, and spreading rapidly across her collarbones, a visible wave of crimson flushed her skin at the speed of light.
“Y-you, you, you—” she stuttered, her voice trembling.
This was Eriri Spencer Sawamura.
A legendary doujin artist who could normally reduce grown boys to tears with her razor-sharp tongue, a girl who could draw until dawn without blinking.
Yet right now, facing the dimension-reducing strike of max-level ‘Big Sister’ energy, she couldn’t even piece together a single coherent sentence.
“Why…
why are you suddenly touching my hair, you idiot!”
She finally managed to squeeze the words out.
But the attack power of this particular tsundere line was hovering at absolute zero.
Her hands were clutching the fabric of her skirt in a death grip, and her head was bowed so low her chin practically rested on her chest.
Coupled with her beet-red face, it didn’t sound like a scolding at all.
It sounded like a confession.
Tōhō smiled to himself and turned back to his seat.
The moment he sat down—
`[Ding…]`
`[Completed intimate interaction task: Tsundere Guardian · The Gentle Protection of Secrets and Hair Ties!]`
`[Congratulations to the Host for obtaining: Sketching Mastery and Color Perception (Active Skill)!]`
`[Effect: The Host gains master-level sketching ability and extraordinary color perception.
Line control is precise to the pixel level, and color recognition covers the entire color gamut.
Whether it is character sketching, scene composition, or coloring and rendering, you can reach the level of a top-tier artist.]`
Tōhō stared at the translucent system panel floating in his vision, his outward expression remaining completely serene.
Inside, however, fireworks were detonating.
Sketching Mastery?
Color Perception?
Wasn’t this just maxing out the drawing talent tree in one go?
He had literally just helped Eriri pick up a piece of paper and fixed her hair, and the system had casually gifted him god-tier artistic skills.
What a massive profit.
He leaned back in his chair, his peripheral vision sweeping over the still-steaming golden head in front of him.
A few desks away, a couple of girls had already started whispering behind their hands.
“Was Tōhō-san just helping Sawamura-san fix her hair…?”
“Oh my god, that was so smooth.
So smooth, so smooth!”
“I want Tōhō-san to touch my hair too!
Get in line, everyone, get in line!”
A subtle, pink atmosphere began to float through the back of the classroom.
Tōhō opened his English textbook, pretending to follow along with the reading while his mind rapidly calculated how best to use his new skills.
Just as he was deep in thought—
Bang.
The front door of the classroom was shoved open with violent force.
It wasn’t the English teacher.
She was still standing on the podium, but the moment she turned to see who had interrupted her class, she immediately and self-consciously stepped aside.
A white lab coat fluttered in the doorway.
Long, unkempt black hair draped casually over her shoulders, and the sharp clack-clack of high heels echoed against the floorboards with every heavy step.
It was the homeroom teacher of Class 2-F, Shizuka Hiratsuka.
She stepped onto the podium and scanned the entire room, her gaze sharp and predatory.
Finally, her eyes locked onto a striking silver-haired figure in the back row with pinpoint accuracy.
Tōhō sat up straight.
His intuition was screaming at him, alarms blaring in his head.
“Tōhō.”
“Present.”
“Come to my office after class.” Shizuka paused, the corners of her lips curling upward into a dangerous smirk.
The expression carried the absolute certainty of a predator who had already cornered its prey.
I’ve already made the decision for you, don’t even think about running.
“I have a special task for you.”
The entire class turned in unison, dozens of eyes locking onto Tōhō.
Eriri turned around as well, glancing at him with a face that was still heavily flushed.
In that brief look, there was worry, a heavy dose of curiosity, and just a hint of…
Never mind.
It must have been an illusion.
Tōhō nodded expressionlessly.
Shizuka hummed in satisfaction.
She flicked the hem of her white lab coat, turned on her heel, and strode out of the classroom.
The door clicked shut behind her.
The room remained dead silent for exactly two seconds.
Then, it exploded.
“What special task?!”
“She wouldn’t be making Tōhō-san participate in some grueling competition, right?”
“Could it be the school beauty pageant—wait, Tōhō-san is a boy!”
“So what if he’s a boy?!
A boy can be a school beauty too!”
Tōhō slowly raised his English textbook, hiding his face behind the pages.
In the cool shadow cast by the paper, he let out a long, silent sigh.