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A lecture seemed to be ending soon. Mr Horikita was still talking, but the sound of bell ringing out through the hall interrupted him. The students began to line up to exit the classroom.

"All right, we will end the lecture on this topic for today. Please make sure you read the textbook carefully before our next class."

The teacher stood up and gave us a brief summary of what we had learned today.

Mr Horikita is one of the teachers here. I never liked him from the moment he started teaching at the start of my second year. He is a bad influence, I think. He doesn't seem to like me either. He always stares at me, or looks down at me, when I walk by.

Also, he always stares weirdly at all the girl in school. He ogles at them, too. I don't know why, but he does. He is creepy. When I walked past Horikita, he turned around and glared at me.

"Hey, Miss Yuu. Before I forget. Meet me at my office after today's classes. Don't bother going home first, okay?"

"W-why?" I asked with surprise. I had thought he would simply ignore me.

"It's the usual counselling, everyone goes through that." He told me with a serious expression.

Counselling... Is that something bad? I wondered. Wait, counselling?

'That's right! That sleazebag!'

I forgot about it, but apparently every week he calls a girl to his office for some dubious counselling. There were never any complaints from the girls he called, but I always had a bad feeling about him. I wanted to avoid him as much as possible.

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"I don't want to! I have club activities to attend today!"

"Unfortunately for you it's mandatory. If you want to fail the year, then by all means go ahead and skip it."

"Noooooo wayyyy!"

He was so annoying. I tried to brush off his words, but I could tell he wasn't joking. At some point I realised I was alone with him in a classroom. It made me vigilant and nervous, I remembered that time I was attacked by the four men at night.

"Somehow, it's strange. Y-you always pick only girls for that counselling thingy or whatever. I-I don't trust you!"

I tried to argue, but Horikita cut me off.

"I don't know what you are thinking in that empty head of yours, but It's not like I picked them deliberately. I'm not the one who makes the order list. It was ordered so by the higher-ups, but a slow girl like you might not understand that."

"D-don't say that!"

"You're so dense. Your grades are pathetic. You should try studying more, Miss Yuu."

"Wha—?!"

Horikita's cold gaze pierced straight into me. "Oh, and you should rethink your questionable behaviour of almost always getting late for classes. You're a disgrace to the rest of the students attending this school as well as all the teachers."

"Y-you're the one being a disgrace, Mr Horikita! And stop saying such awful things about me!"

"Then I'll say them again. Don't think you can get away with anything because you're a girl. If you don't shape up, you won't last another year." He looked at me sternly, and I couldn't do anything but nod.

"And that's especially why the counselling is so needed for you, so I hope you will attend it without hesitation. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have other business to take care of."

"Fine, I'll do it. I guess I'll meet you there after school."

"Thank you very much. Oh, and don't forget. After classes, go straight to my office. Don't stop anywhere else."

"I won't!"

With that, he left the room. I sighed in relief, thinking I had escaped his clutches for now. After that I found Shun and told him that I won't be able to see the scene of Kakeru being confessed to, after all, due to counselling. For some reason he just looked at me with a pitying glare.

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