3: teacher's shame

The bell for the end of school was about to chime, and the air was thick with the restless energy of students heading home. As Lin Luo was packing his bag, a crumpled ball of paper silently rolled across the desk and landed by his hand.

His movements paused, and he glanced out of the corner of his eye. Slightly ahead and to the side, Kirisu Mafuyu was tidying the podium with her eyes fixed straight ahead, but her overly stiff back betrayed a hint of unnaturalness.

Lin Luo unfolded the paper ball and saw the thin, scribbled handwriting, his brow twitching slightly. He turned his head and whispered to Kato Megumi, who was quietly packing her bag beside him:

"Kato, sorry, something urgent came up. I might be a bit late to the library."

He didn't explain the specific reason, his tone carrying a trace of helplessness.

Kato Megumi looked up and gave him a calm glance. Her gaze then subtly swept toward the podium—where Kirisu Mafuyu was pretending to nonchalantly organize lesson plans that were already perfectly neat, though her fingertips were slightly tense.

With just a brief glance, Kato Megumi withdrew her gaze, as if she understood everything, yet also as if she hadn't noticed a thing. She nodded gently, her voice as steady as ever:

"Mm, it's okay. I'll head over first."

There was no questioning, no curiosity, not even a ripple of emotion. This excessive transparency actually made Lin Luo feel that his explanation was somewhat redundant.

[After school, the stairwell next to the staff room, urgent matter. Please. — Kirisu]

The note even omitted a formal signature, and the words "Please" at the end laid bare the writer's inner anxiety and desperation.

His fingertips moved slightly, and an imperceptible trace of spiritual power overflowed, turning the note into fine dust. He nonchalantly shouldered his bag, and as the bell rang and the crowd surged toward the door, he used the flow of people as cover to turn a corner and slip silently into the quiet fire escape.

The light here was dim, and the air smelled of dust. Sure enough, Kirisu Mafuyu was already waiting there. She leaned against the cold wall, hands tightly clasped in front of her. On that face, which was usually cold and expressionless, there was now a mixture of forced composure and hidden panic.

Seeing Lin Luo appear, she seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, yet also appeared more embarrassed. Her ice-blue eyes darted toward him for a split second before looking down, her voice pressed extremely low and carrying an unprecedented weakness:

"Lin Luo... that... the apartment... it appeared again..." She seemed unable to say it, finally squeezing out a vague word, "...that 'thing'."

Seeing her like this—a complete departure from her usual self, so scared she was almost shrinking—and considering her habit of "rarely doing housework or cleaning in her private life," Lin Luo understood instantly.

—Most likely, accumulated trash had attracted a cockroach, her greatest fear. At this moment, she was too terrified to go home, yet she absolutely couldn't let anyone know about this side of her perfect image. She could only secretly seek help from him, the neighboring student who knew her secret.

"I understand." Lin Luo didn't ask further, simply nodding calmly. He pulled his apartment key from his pocket and handed it over.

This action made Kirisu Mafuyu freeze for a moment, looking at him somewhat helplessly.

"Teacher, take this for now and wait at my place," Lin Luo explained. "I still have something to do and need to go to the library first. I'll head back once I'm finished."

He paused, recalling a previous similar experience where he had returned home to find snack wrappers and soda cans strewn about, a knocked-over bento, and a certain someone who had only made things messier while trying to help. His face couldn't help but darken slightly, and his tone carried a hint of helpless warning:

"Also... please, Teacher, don't 'make history' at my place this time. Wait for me to get back."

These words were like a precision arrow that instantly punctured Kirisu Mafuyu's forced composure. Her cheeks flushed red at a visible speed, even her ears turning crimson. Having her messy "black history" pointed out so bluntly by her own student, the immense sense of shame made her want to find a hole to crawl into.

"It's... it's over... everything was remembered... my dignity as an educator..." She lowered her head, her voice like a tiny mosquito as she frantically condemned herself, "A blunder... truly the shame of a lifetime..."

"Teacher?" Lin Luo pretended not to hear her mumbling.

"U-Understood!" She snapped her head up, practically snatching the key. Her ice-blue eyes were full of embarrassment, and she didn't dare meet his gaze. "I... I'll be careful! I definitely won't!"

With that, as if afraid Lin Luo would dig up more old scores, she almost fled. She cautiously pushed open the stairwell door, and after confirming the hallway was empty, she quickly escaped the scene, clearly heading toward Lin Luo's apartment.

Lin Luo watched her frantic back and smiled helplessly. Letting this domestic disaster of a teacher stay in his home alone seemed a bit risky, but it was better than letting her faint from fear of a cockroach in the hallway.

The afterglow of the setting sun dyed the streets a warm gold. Kirisu Mafuyu drove her sleek white sedan smoothly into the underground garage of the luxury apartment building. Throughout the process, her hands gripped the steering wheel with such tension that her knuckles turned white.

After parking, she looked around cautiously like a thief, confirming there were no familiar neighbors or students before hurrying toward the elevator.

*Ding—*

The elevator arrived at her floor. The hallway was silent, the soft carpet absorbing her footsteps completely. She walked toward the door she knew so well, but her heart began to race uncontrollably.

The closer she got, the more vivid the terrifying images of "that thing" became in her mind—the oily shell, the rapidly twitching antennae, and the spiritual shock of them suddenly taking flight... Just as her fingers were about to touch her own doorknob, the fear brought by the cockroach that had unfortunately crossed her path earlier that day submerged her like ice water. She felt as if she could already "see" a terrifying "patrol team" running rampant inside through the thick security door.

"Ugh...!"

She let out a short gasp of fright and jerked her hand back as if burned, retreating several steps until her back was pressed tight against the cold wall.

No! Absolutely not! I don't dare go in!

Fear completely dominated her. She turned her head in a panic, and her gaze instantly locked onto the door next door—Lin Luo's home.

Without a moment's hesitation, her survival instinct (or rather, her bug-avoidance instinct) made the choice for her. She quickly pulled the key Lin Luo had given her from her pocket. Because her hands were shaking, it took two tries before she successfully inserted it into the lock.

*Click.*

The door opened, and she slipped inside, quickly and quietly closing and locking it behind her as if she were being pursued. Only when she leaned against the solid door and felt the absolute sense of safety provided by this unfamiliar space did she let out a long, thorough sigh of relief, her whole body nearly collapsing as she slid down.

A few seconds later, the still-startled Kirisu Mafuyu finally had the energy to examine the space she had been forced to "invade."

The first thing that caught her eye was a cleanliness so extreme it was almost cold.

It was a stark contrast to the chaos of her own home, which was filled with the "breath of life" (mainly clutter and trash she hadn't gotten around to throwing out). The floor was as polished as a mirror, reflecting the twilight from the window. Everything was arranged in an orderly fashion: books were sorted by height and color, the stationery in the pen holder was aligned at the same angle, and even the sofa cushions were fluffed evenly without a single wrinkle.

The air was filled with a faint, fresh scent like sun-dried laundry, without any lingering odors.

"This is... way too clean..." she whispered involuntarily, her ice-blue eyes filled with disbelief.

As a teacher, she knew well what kind of self-discipline was required to maintain such tidiness; but as a woman who was extremely lazy in private and viewed cleaning as a form of torture, what welled up inside her was more of a mixture of shame and envy.

"How on earth does he do it..."

A strong sense of curiosity began to stir, constantly clashing with the teacher's code of "not prying into others' privacy without permission."

Like an explorer sneaking into a secret base, she took off her shoes and stepped onto the slightly cool floor in her stockings, making almost no sound.

The living room was simple, with almost no extra decorations. She walked to the kitchen; the countertops were so clean they reflected light, the stove looked as brand new as if it had never been used, and the trash can... was actually empty! To her, this was simply inconceivable.

Her gaze was finally drawn to an open notebook on the living room desk.

After hesitating repeatedly, curiosity triumphed over all.

She leaned closer and saw that the notebook's pages were slightly yellowed, with extremely complex and never-before-seen patterns sketched in fountain pen. They didn't look like any known script or mathematical formula, but rather like symbols containing some mysterious law, with lines winding and coiling, exuding an indescribable sense of ancientness and... danger?

Next to the notebook lay a few stones of a deep color, with what looked like mist swirling inside them. They were cold to the touch.

Kirisu Mafuyu picked up one of the stones. It felt heavy in her hand, and the icy sensation combined with the "mist" that seemed like a living thing inside made her heart skip a beat.

"What... exactly is this?"

She murmured to herself, feeling as if she had touched upon a completely unknown side of her high-achieving, calm student.

At that moment, she didn't notice that when she picked up the Spirit Stone, the "mist" swirling inside seemed to imperceptibly accelerate for a brief moment.

The library was silent, save for the faint sounds of pages turning and pens scratching. Kato Megumi had already found a seat by the window, and when Lin Luo arrived, she was quietly browsing a world history textbook.

"Sorry for the wait," Lin Luo said as he sat down opposite her.

Kato Megumi shook her head gently, indicating she didn't mind. She didn't ask about the details of the "urgent matter," but simply pushed the textbook toward him slightly, pointing to a concept she had marked with a pencil.

Lin Luo focused his mind and began to outline the key threads of the "Great Integration Period" for her. His explanation was clear and went straight to the core, making complex historical facts become well-organized in his telling. Kato Megumi listened intently, occasionally asking a question or two that cut straight to the point.

However, just as the explanation reached a temporary pause and Kato Megumi lowered her head to organize her notes, Lin Luo's brow suddenly jumped.

A thick, viscous malice, like an invisible ripple, vaguely drifted from a certain direction. This malice wasn't directed at him personally, but was more like a negative energy permeating the environment, though its intensity could not be ignored.

"I'm going out for some air," Lin Luo whispered to Kato Megumi, standing up inconspicuously and heading toward the restroom.

Once inside an empty stall, he immediately leaned against the door and closed his eyes slightly. When he opened them again, his eyes flickered with a spiritual light that an ordinary person wouldn't notice.

Spirit Vision, open!

The surface of the world quickly faded and peeled away in his eyes. The hall of knowledge revealed another scene under Spirit Vision: countless white and pale gold spots of light representing the pursuit of knowledge and rationality floated like fireflies—the residual glow of the thoughts of past scholars. But at the same time, a dark purple energy like foul oil was constantly seeping out from not far away—likely the old book stacks or some remote corner of the library—trying to corrode those pure spots of light.

Lin Luo's brow furrowed as he locked onto the source of that malice.