09: A week later and a new substitute teacher

“I want to eat at a restaurant…”

“H-huh?”
“Can you repeat it again, Kris?”

“I said I want to eat at a restaurant!… But I don’t have the money to afford even their cheapest stuff!!”
“All I can afford is homemade food from that Carinderia beside the school! Even my mom cooks better than them!!”

“Why bring it up now? Is eating at a restaurant a new trend?”

“You don’t get it, you flat head!!”

“Niel… Don’t try to reason with her. You know she has been moody and wanting to vent during times like this…”

“Oh… so she has perio— dWAGH!!!”

“NOT THAT!! YOU FUCKING FLAT HEAD!!!”

“Why did you slap me?! Ayana was the one who brought that up!!”

“Niel… I mean she is just anxious. You know someone from another grade died and another went missing last week…”

“Alright alright! I understand now. But again, why eat at a restaurant? I can’t see the connection between those two”

“YOU DON’T GET IT!!”

“Wha–! Explain it then, Dammit!!”

“Oy, you three right there, clean the classroom before the class starts. A substitute teacher is going to get introduced later. Ma’am Roselyn is going to get mad again.”

“Sis Erika… that sounds like a lot of work, Niel is gonna do it alone…”

“I said, YOU THREE DO IT!!”

Looks like I arrived in this classroom too late this time.

And look what welcomed me this early in the morning:
It’s the sound of three students having a normal conversation with each other.

And of course the dictator class president is already here.
GODDAMMIT! I LOSE AGAIN!!

Before we start, let’s introduce these three students first:

One of them is a female student named Ayana, a really serious-looking girl.
She is our top student in English, she also excelled in other foreign languages.

The other is a male student named Daniel, although everyone calls him Niel. He is a slightly happy-go-lucky guy that has a lot of knowledge in operating computers.
His hair is formed into a flat top, making it his most notable appearance.

The last one is another female student named Kris. She always has her hair braided into her right side.
She is a loud, energetic student that has a lot of moody tendencies. Not even these two here, who are her closest friends, can contain her recklessness.
Also I knew her back in elementary, but we are not that close. She is the only one I recognized when I got transferred here, so I’m kinda grateful for her just by being there.

Now back on our story.

It's been a week since a transfer student got into our class. To my surprise, she is not a helpless, dependent girl that would overly rely on someone to do things like even talk with my other classmates.

Maybe I was hoping for a rom-com development? Nah, I don’t think so.

She is so mature, or perhaps too mature for her age. She is like a big sister that is comfortable to have with at any time. A lot of my classmates are getting along with her because of that.

I was really glad that my punishment for breaking the teacher’s desk didn’t extend to helping her get along with the class like I expected to. Even her being my seatmate is not that awkward anymore after a few days.

Although it’s weird that she turned down joining the Student Government for some reason.
Maybe she is the type to laze around her home after school? Don’t think so, the SG office is already a place like that.
Oh God! Maybe I gave the SG a bad reputation by showing their overly laid-back side?! Meh, thinking about it, they kinda deserve that reputation.
Maybe she has a part-time job? Probably.

Let’s stop assuming things for now, I could just ask her later anyway.

“Good Morning, Francis~”

Speaking of…

“Oh hey! Good Morning, Velle!”

“Hmmm… you didn’t beat Miss Erika by arriving early again did you?”

“Why? Is it obvious by now?”

“Don’t worry I’m always rooting for you to win, fufufu~”
“Hey, Ayana! Can I help with the cleaning?~”

“Miss Velle, Thank you…”

“Thank you for help, Miss Velle! Also, do you know any place with a restaurant-like atmosphere nearby?! I prefer it cheap, like 20 pesos for a whole meal!!”

“What kind of request is that, you idiot”

“Hmmm~ I’m not really well versed in this area but I think I know a place~”

See? She is getting along reeeeaalllyyy fine.
Now, I should conceal my presence to avoid doing any cleani—

“Where do you think you’re hiding…?”

Aaanndd, Pres immediately caught me…

“T-there's trash behind this door, Pres. I’m just doing a cleaning job, slowly, I think?”

“Here, get these things to the Science lab. Be careful not to break those things.”

She showed me boxes with different kinds of equipment inside.

“Wait, since when did the school afford any laboratory equipment? Are we gonna do chemistry experiments in Science class?

“Dunno, I heard that it came from donations.”
“Ask someone for help in carrying that, let me remind you that you’re gonna replace those if you broke it…”

“U-understood, Pres…”

I asked Niel to carry those boxes to the Science laboratory.
Turns out they were heavier than expected so we had to do it really slow to not break anything.

“Hey, did you know that there are new substitute teachers in the school right now?”
“Ma’am Roselyn is gonna introduce one of them later, I heard it was a chemical engineering student”

“Yeah, they are already saying that a few days ago. What about it?”

“You don’t find it weird? Two transfer students and now substitute teachers, not to mention someone donated these expensive laboratory equipment for this school. FOR. THIS. SCHOOL.”
“No one even dared to inquire for enrollment here in the last two years”

“You’re just overreacting… maybe Pau and the SG’s efforts are paying off now”

“You are close to Miss Velle, right? Did you notice anything weird whenever you’re with her?”

“D-don’t make it sound like that! I’m not even that close to her as you think”
“You guys are close to her too, right? She even talks with the girls in your circle just now”

“Actually she talks with everyone in the class”
“See? Don’t you find it weird that she is so well-adjusted in school in just less than a week?”

“C’mon, don’t make her look like a conspiracy suspect.”
“Look, from someone who is still new to this school like Velle. You guys are the one who acts weird”

Niel got silent and looked like he realized what I meant.

We arrived at the Science laboratory after a few minutes of carrying the boxes.
It is a small and ordinary laboratory.
Nothing remarkable inside it aside from empty cabinets that should have equipment and tools for doing scientific experiments.

Well, good thing those empty cabinets are going to get filled up now.

This laboratory is kept maintained by Ma’am Roselyn as it’s basically her office.
She was supposed to be the only teacher present here but it looks like she has gone off somewhere.
Instead, there was another person inside the laboratory.

A female student? She looks a bit older than us.
She has purple colored hair that extends to her neck.
She wears a lab coat but under it looks like a uniform of another school.

This is probably the substitute teacher that Niel is talking about.