The world was a shade of orange-yellow.
The electric heater radiated light and warmth.
Dubian Che, with his arms braced against the ground, knelt inside.
[Outside the Kotatsu]
The sound of footsteps gradually approached.
"What are you doing here?" Jiutiao Meiji, with her left hand on her hip and Dubian Che’s smartphone in her right hand, looked down sternly at Kiyono Lin.
"Am I obligated to answer you, Jiutiao?"
Hearing Jiutiao Meiji snicker coldly, Xiaoquan Aonai, fearing they would start arguing, quickly intervened to explain:
"Kiyono was planning to go to the cafe to read, but we pulled her in here to play games with us."
Jiutiao Meiji glanced at the simple game of Drawing Double Six on the table.
There were only three oranges, and the one representing Dubian Che had already been peeled by Akiko.
On the flesh of the orange, white veins were being stripped away one by one.
"Aside from Dubian, it seems you can sit with others after all," Jiutiao Meiji mocked.
"I heard from Mr. Xiaoquan, ’Bullying someone is because you like her.’ Do you like me, Jiutiao?"
"Yes, I like you, so much that I want to turn you into a doll and put you on display every Doll’s Day."
Faced with such threatening words, Kiyono Lin remained unfazed, "Thank you, but I don’t like you, so could you please leave?"
"Am I obligated to obey your commands?" Jiutiao Meiji, who had not planned on staying long, walked towards the kotatsu.
That was the spot where Dubian Che had been sitting.
Akiko snickered while eating her transparent orange, now devoid of veins.
Kiyono Lin’s expression was blank.
Xiaoquan Aonai regretted letting Jiutiao Meiji in, for fear that her cover was too obvious.
If she had known that Jiutiao Meiji would stay, she would have persuaded Jiutiao Meiji to leave, regardless of a teacher’s dignity.
Jiutiao Meiji frowned slightly at the seat.
"What is it, Jiutiao?" Xiaoquan Aonai came back to her senses.
"Has anyone else sat here besides you guys?" Jiutiao Meiji asked.
"Eh?!" Xiaoquan Aonai was startled, suddenly nervous.
She had never been in love, but she had heard that girls in love are very sensitive. Could they be this sensitive?
Dubian Che really wanted to remind Mr. Xiaoquan not to panic, that Meiji was just repulsed by the idea of someone else having sat there.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t do that.
Speaking of which, why was it so hot inside the kotatsu?
Dubian Che, kneeling, started to feel his back heat up.
[Outside the Kotatsu]
"No one. It’s just the three of us," replied Xiaoquan Aonai hastily, almost instinctively.
Kiyono Lin sighed slightly. She, ever slow in speaking, had intended to say there had been a man sitting here earlier, to drive Jiutiao Meiji away.
Jiutiao Meiji nodded lightly and lifted the corner of the kotatsu—At that very moment, Xiaoquan Aonai, standing behind Jiutiao Meiji, saw Dubian Che sighing as if he felt cooler!
Dubian Che saw a pair of familiar, black-stockinged legs slide in as he knelt.
He recognized the feel of them, even the style and color of the underwear hidden inside the stockings.
After all, it was only that morning that he had personally helped these legs slip into them.
The delicate, elastic, and aesthetically pleasing legs in stockings were right in front of him, and images of Jiutiao Meiji in various poses began flooding Dubian Che’s mind.
His body, which should have felt scorched by the electric heater, grew even hotter.
’No, I can’t keep this up, I’m going to lose control of my breathing!’
Thinking he should at least keep his breathing sounds and airflow away from Jiutiao Meiji, Dubian Che moved gently and slowly began turning his body.
Jiutiao Meiji sat where he was before, the two teachers on either side, with Kiyono Lin, the last to arrive, sitting opposite Dubian Che.
Dubian Che chose to move in Xiaoquan Aonai’s direction.
Pushing himself up with his elbows and following with his knees, he crawled.
’Dubian, you can do this!’
[Outside the Kotatsu]
After Jiutiao Meiji sat down, she smelled a familiar fragrance of shower gel.
But she didn’t dwell on it.
The bath products she used were expensive, but the salaries of teachers at Goda High School weren’t low, and on top of that, Xiaoquan Aonai and Akiko were young female teachers who wouldn’t hesitate to spend money on their skin—a natural thing.
Akiko was barely holding back her laughter.
With a smile, she gestured to Xiaoquan Aonai, who was still standing, "Aonai, come sit down."
"Huh? Oh, sure," Xiaoquan Aonai walked over to her seat.
"Jiutiao, would you like to play the game too?" Akiko asked. "There are lots of punishments, you could use them to punish Kiyono."
Jiutiao Meiji then noticed that the squares of Drawing Double Six were filled with various punishments.
As her gaze moved from one punishment to another, she found the idea amusing and chuckled:
By then, Xiaoquan Aonai had reached her spot.
She lifted the kotatsu cover and saw Dubian Che propped up on one hand, wiping sweat.
’Why is he facing this way!’
’But I mustn’t show any signs of panic!’
Xiaoquan Aonai’s body trembled as she carefully placed her skirt-covered legs inside, in as natural a position as possible.
To avoid crowding Dubian Che, she kept her legs close together and bent, then fussed over straightening her skirt.
Where the skirt did not reach, her feet clad in fuzzy bunny socks twisted nervously.
’I should have worn more adult-like socks if I’d known,’ reflected the 25-year-old Xiaoquan Aonai, filled with regret and embarrassment.
No one noticed her inner turmoil, and on the other side, Jiutiao Meiji reached out her fair, slender hand and picked up an orange from the basket.
She placed the orange at the starting point with the elegance of a chess move.
"Let’s start over," Akiko suggested, grabbing the oranges representing the three of them.