Chapter 13 – The Seating Change Smells Fishy
After discovering that a fairy lived next door, there was one thing I learned.
She started her days ridiculously early and ended them ridiculously late.
My school was close enough that I usually got up around eight. I skipped breakfast and headed straight out, leaving at just about the latest possible time without being late.
One day, though, I woke up before seven because I needed to use the bathroom.
“Woke up” was probably giving myself too much credit. My brain was still half asleep, and I stumbled through the whole thing in a daze.
That was when I heard it.
The faint sound of the neighboring apartment’s door opening echoed through the quiet morning. A moment later, soft footsteps approached this side of the hallway before turning toward the elevator.
If I hadn’t known Yuki Ohira was my neighbor, I probably wouldn’t have paid any attention.
But curiosity got the better of me.
Rubbing my barely open eyes, I cracked my front door and peeked toward the elevator.
Just as I’d expected, Yuki Ohira was standing there waiting for it.
Even though nobody was around to see her, her back was perfectly straight, her posture immaculate.
It wasn’t even seven o’clock yet.
At this rate, she’d be arriving at school around seven in the morning.
I had no idea whether student council work was keeping her that busy, but it was a schedule I could never hope to imitate.
And when I say she came home late, I mean late.
One night, I went downstairs to buy a drink from the vending machine beneath the apartment building. It was a little past ten when I spotted Yuki entering the building.
She’d probably just finished her part-time job.
Maybe every day wasn’t exactly the same, but it was obvious she lived an incredibly busy life.
No wonder she didn’t have time for a boyfriend.
Actually…
Did she even have time to keep an eye on me?
Well, if she didn’t, that was fine too.
It’s not like I planned on telling anyone her secret.
✧ ✧ ✧
“All right, everyone. Let’s change seats.”
A few days had passed since summer vacation ended.
Classes had fully returned to normal, and the usual sluggish routine of school life was back in full force.
During our first homeroom period after the break, our homeroom teacher, the perpetually soft and fluffy Nekoshiba-sensei, made the announcement from the front of the classroom.
“What?!”
“Seriously?!”
“Yes!”
The room immediately exploded with reactions.
Personally, I was thrilled.
My current seat was smack in the middle of the classroom—a location that felt undeniably cursed.
As voices flew around Class 2-F, Nekoshiba-sensei pulled out an empty tissue box.
“I actually made lottery slips earlier. Is everyone okay with drawing lots?”
A chorus of approval followed.
Touched by my classmates’ collective unwillingness to waste the teacher’s effort, the seat change was officially settled by lottery.
“Sensei.”
While Nekoshiba-sensei happily shook the slips around inside the box, Yuki Ohira stood up and walked to the front.
“I’ll help.”
“Thank you, Ohira-san.”
“Then I’ll draw the seating chart on the board.”
“I’d appreciate it.”
Without hesitation, Yuki drew a perfectly straight rectangle freehand, then divided it with a series of neat lines.
Within moments, a rough classroom map appeared on the blackboard.
She scattered seat numbers across it in what looked like a completely random arrangement.
“So then, who wants to go first?”
Me! Me! Me!
Hands shot up all over the room.
After a moment’s consideration, Nekoshiba-sensei said,
“Then let’s have Yazaki-san and Tono-kun play rock-paper-scissors.”
Yazaki sat in the front seat by the windows, while Tono occupied the very back seat on the aisle side.
The winner would start, and everyone else would follow.
The rock-paper-scissors match somehow turned into a major event.
As for me, sitting in the middle of the classroom, I didn’t particularly care who won.
✧ ✧ ✧
The results of the seat change couldn’t have been better.
I ended up one seat in front of the back row by the windows.
Some teachers liked to say things like, “You know, teachers watch the back seats more carefully than anyone else.”
Maybe that was true.
But the psychological freedom was on an entirely different level compared to sitting up front.
The front rows felt uncomfortable because the teacher was always right there.
The very last row had its advantages no matter what anyone said.
And being one seat ahead of the last row was even better.
No being asked to collect papers from everyone behind you.
In my opinion, it was the perfect seat.
Still, there was one concern.
“This feels suspiciously fishy.”
“Hm?”
Sitting directly behind me was the Fairy Queen Titania herself.
“…Don’t tell me.”
I turned around and narrowed my eyes.
“You planned this, didn’t you?”
“Hehe.”
A suspicious smile spread across her face.
Apparently, my guess had been right.
“So you figured it out.”
She confessed instantly.
Smiling like a little girl whose prank had been discovered, she casually explained her crime.
“It was surprisingly easy. Everyone trusts me, after all.”
“That’s ridiculously underhanded.”
“Call it whatever you’d like.” She shrugged elegantly. “We do have a contract, but I still can’t trust you one hundred percent. My surveillance is limited to this classroom, of course, but I wanted to keep an eye on you whenever possible. The method was a bit forceful, I’ll admit, but it seemed the most effective.”
“Actually, doesn’t this just give me another weakness of yours to hold over you?”
She froze.
For several seconds.
“…”
“…”
The realization slowly sank in.
Then she cleared her throat.
“Naturally, revealing this would also constitute a breach of contract. In that event, your life would be brought to an immediate conclusion.”
Apparently she hadn’t thought that part through at all.
“Are you exhausted or something?”
“Hm?”
“I mean, that should’ve been obvious.”
Between being student council president and working at a maid café, maybe the fatigue was finally catching up with her.
“Thank you for your concern,” she replied coolly. “But I’m not nearly tired enough to require concern from you.”
“Is that so?”
I faced forward again.
“Well, just don’t work yourself into collapsing.”
That was all I said.
But for some reason, I could feel her gaze lingering on the back of my head for a while afterward.
