“This new English teacher is seriously gorgeous—she looks just like a celebrity!”
“Yeah, yeah! And her English accent is amazing, it literally gave me chills.”
“……”
Nagasaki Soyo rolled her eyes.
These girls had definitely been cooped up in an all-girls school for too long—they were starting to lose it.
That said…
Even Soyo had to admit, this woman—whose real name she still didn’t know—was pretty damn skilled.
If she set aside all the unrelated thoughts swirling in her head and just focused on the lesson itself…
There really wasn’t anything to nitpick.
For the first time, Soyo realized that a British accent could actually be kind of… ahem. Never mind.
But the moment class ended, the teacher had disappeared.
Soyo had even made a special trip to the faculty office, only to find no trace of her.
With all these unanswered questions buzzing in her head, she spent the rest of the morning feeling completely out of it.
…
As usual, when lunchtime came around, Soyo headed to the cafeteria alone.
It wasn’t like she deliberately avoided eating with Mutsumi—Mutsumi’s family just always prepared a homemade bento for her.
Soyo, on the other hand, rarely saw her mother due to her busy work schedule. She was too lazy to prepare a bento for herself, so she figured she might as well just buy something from the cafeteria.
Tsukinomori’s cafeteria was quite different from those of regular schools.
Soyo, who could stomach even instant bento meals, had no complaints about the food here.
After briefly greeting Mutsumi, she tagged along with a few classmates and headed to the cafeteria.
“Hmm… what should I eat today?”
“How about ramen?”
“Ramen again? Don’t you ever get tired of it?”
While the girls beside her debated their lunch options, Soyo’s gaze was fixed elsewhere.
Long golden hair.
An outfit that was clearly expensive.
Even from behind, there was no mistaking her.
“You guys go ahead—I, uh… I need to ask the teacher something.”
“Huh?”
One of the girls looked at her in confusion, following her gaze with a puzzled expression.
“Since when was Soyo this studious?”
Soyo didn’t hear her classmates’ murmurs as she forced herself to stay calm, bought her lunch, and carried her tray over to Tsuzuki Chihiro.
Then, without a word, she plopped down across from her.
Tsukinomori’s cafeteria was divided into sections, with the faculty area set up buffet-style, allowing teachers to pick whatever they wanted.
Soyo subtly glanced at the tray in front of Anon-sensei.
Carbs.
More carbs.
Even more carbs.
She had to physically stop her eye from twitching.
As someone who was meticulous about balancing her metabolism and nutrient intake, just looking at that meal gave her secondhand stress.
“Ah… Nagasaki-san?”
Chihiro nearly jumped at the sudden presence in front of her.
For a second, she thought she’d been caught red-handed for sneaking into the school for free meals on her first day.
But when she realized it was just a student—a familiar-looking one at that—she relaxed.
No way some random high school girl could see through her that quickly.
“Anon-sensei, you remember my name?”
“Of course! I got the class roster from the school in advance. I’ve already memorized all my students’ names.”
Chihiro smiled warmly, exuding the air of a dedicated, responsible teacher who definitely wasn’t an imposter.
No kidding—her current persona was that of a beautiful, capable, and kind-hearted educator.
A proper teacher should remember her students’ names, after all.
That said, she wasn’t really used to eating with strangers.
Especially since, at this very moment, her entire existence relied on exploiting information gaps.
So, in an attempt to keep the conversation short, she nonchalantly took a bite of her ridiculously high-calorie meal and asked,
“So, Nagasaki-san, did you need something? It’s my first day here, so if there was anything off about my lesson, feel free to let me know.”
Wow. Not a single crack in her story.
Soyo internally scoffed, but the instincts of a regressor screamed at her—
There was definitely something wrong with this woman.
Scratch that.
There was absolutely something wrong with her.
But this was a battle of wits.
A mental chess match.
As someone who had already failed once in her past life, Soyo might not have the confidence to fix her mistakes and revive CRYCHIC, but she sure as hell wasn’t going to let herself lose to this suspicious new teacher.
She had pride.
“Oh, no, no, your class was great!” Soyo said with an exaggeratedly enthusiastic nod.
“In fact, I’ve always wanted to improve my spoken English. Who knows? Maybe I’ll study abroad someday.”
“Another one…”
“Huh? Another what?”
Soyo blinked, completely thrown off.
“Ah, nothing,” Chihiro replied quickly, a little embarrassed.
She casually wiped her mouth with a napkin, then gave Soyo an encouraging smile.
“It makes me happy to hear that! I actually used to tutor a girl who had the same goal—she worked hard on her English so she could study abroad.”
“Really? So… did she end up achieving her dream?”
“Of course. When I was in the UK recently, we hung out all the time. Ah… actually, don’t let the ‘teacher’ title fool you—I tend to treat my students more like friends.”
Not that Anon’s English was anywhere near fluent, but, well…
No need to bring that up.
Every time they hung out, they spoke in Japanese anyway.
“Then…”
Soyo’s eyes flickered with curiosity as she carefully probed,
“Sensei, would you be willing to tutor me privately?”
“How much money do you have?”
“…Huh?”
“Just kidding.”
Chihiro chuckled, amused by how this girl was barely any smarter than Raana.
“In Japan, it’s illegal for teachers to privately tutor students for money. I definitely wouldn’t do something like that.”
She smirked.
“But if Nagasaki-san really wants to improve her English, then you should focus more in class. Instead of, say, looking all spaced out and distracted like you did today.”
“Ah… I-I was just—”
“It’s fine, I get it. I used to zone out in class all the time at your age. Actually, I was probably way worse than you.”
Not a lie.
Technically speaking, she and Soyo were the same age right now.
And at this point in her life, Chihiro… hadn’t even been going to school.
Compared to her, Soyo was practically a model student.
“Alright, I’m finished. You guys have another English class this afternoon, so be sure to pay attention this time, Nagasaki-san.”
With that, Chihiro stood up, ready to leave.
But just as she picked up her tray—
Soyo blurted out, a hint of urgency in her voice,
“Wait—Anon-sensei! Do you know Chihaya Anon?!”
—
T/N: heh soyo feeling something for the bri’ish accent heh she’s so me
This is a fan translation of 素世同学，恭喜你被我优化了 by 杰克喵. All rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!
Reader discussion
0 Comments
Be the first reader to share a thought about this chapter.