For the second time this semester, Yuri found herself in a deeply troubling situation. She was checking her school bag to make sure she brought back what she had borrowed from Natsuki until she bumped into someone.

"S-Sorry," she quickly apologized.

It was at that point when she discovered that the person she ran into was her former teacher, Akuma.

"Ah-!"

Fear instantly paralyzed her body the moment she looked into his eyes. All she could do was temble in place until-

"Yuri!"

A calming voice snapped her out of paralysis and she felt a hand grip her left. She quickly turned towards the owner of both to find Shujinkou standing beside her. His face showed clear distress as started his plea.

"You gotta hurry! If you don't convince my teacher not do her experiment, she'll end up blowing off her eyebrows again!" he cried.

Before she even had a chance to reply, Shujinkou started running, quickly whisking her away.

After running for a full minute, he suddenly stopped in place and let out a relieve sigh.

"Probably shouldn't have went full sprint…" he admitted to himself.

"Ah, Shujinkou…" Shujinkou turned his attention to Yuri as she asked, "What's this about your teacher needing me before something happened to her eyebrows?"

"Oh that? Sorry, that was just the first thing that came to my head to get you out of there. Though to be fair, it wouldn't be the first time it happened…"

"Oh…" Yuri had no idea how to respond to such a comment.

She then found herself her recalling the last time Shujinkou pulled her out of a similar situation.

That time… Shujinkou's solution was a kiss… And now…

Her eyes trailed down to her left hand still entwined with Shujinkou's right.

"Shujinkou…"

"Yeah?"

"Ah…" a bashful smile crossed her face and she lightly squeezed his hand. "Thank you."

"No problem," Shujinkou assured her.

He raised his right hand towards his face. Yuri's eyes lit up with surprise the moment her hand briefly rubbed against his right cheek.

"Uh!" Shujinkou quickly returned his hand to his side and chucked. "Sorry.."

Yuri couldn't help but giggle over his mistake. "No need for apologies."

Shujinkou remained silent as he successfully scratched his right cheek.

"Well… I have to get to class now," he said. "See you later."

"Until then." Yuri replied with a bright smile.

With their goodbyes said, Shujinkou took off for class. But as he rushed to class and even then throughout the school day, there was only one thought in his mind.

I wish I could do something so Yuri wouldn't be so scared at school.

…

A solemn sigh brushed past Shujinkou's lips. The end of the school day was usually a happy time for everyone, but for him, it was rather bittersweet. The situations two of his friends ended up with weighed heavily on his mind.

He also felt some anxiety over when he would hear from Nakité. The idea of still having a job was still strange to him, even more when he recalled the sequence of events that led to him getting it.

"Something on your mind again?"

Shujinkou turned around; sitting behind him as usual was Kiyoko.

"You could tell?" he asked.

Kiyoko shrugged. "I have been sitting behind you for awhile. Honestly, I probably had an easier time telling how you felt from being behind you then looking at your face at first."

"Oh."

"So, what's on your mind?"

"Um… Nothing much. Just a little anxious about hearing from Nakité and… just the whole mentor/partner thing in general."

"I wouldn't feel anxious about that. Nakité seems like a great person to mentor/work with."

Shujinkou could agree with that sentiment. Nakité was nothing but friendly during the brief interactions they had the day before.

"Got a point there," he admitted.

"Mm-hmm. Anyway, you headed to the usual spot now?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Mind if I come along?"

"Really?"

"Unless you guys changed your mind about wanting me to check it out; in that case, I'll just go home for some downtime and see you tomorrow."

"No, No. The offer's still good."

The two got out of their seats and walked out of the classroom.

"Oh, yeah," Shujinkou awkwardly scratched his right cheek as he turned to Kiyoko. "Think we can make another detour."

"Lead the way," Kiyoko said.

…

"Ugh…"

Fuyu lied straight across one of the couches in her office. Arms were tired and, mentally, she was fatigued.

"It won't stop. The massive workload just won't stop…"

Powerlessness seeping into her heart, Fuyu closed her eyes. She was prepared for the, admittaly, large workload her job came with. However-

"Yo."

Opening her eyes, Fuyu found Shujinkou and Kiyoko staring down at her.

"Whoa!" she immediately sat with a cry.

Shujinkou noticed a brief flicker of expressions as Fuyu tried to adjust her glasses. It looked to him that she was about to switch to her infamous "President mode" but the transition failed.

"Do you guys need something?" she asked.

"Well… I swung by to submit my Halloween poster, but I could come back later…"

Fuyu shook her head. "No. No. I'll take it."

Shujinkou passed his submission to the student president. Upon receiving it, Fuyu was hit with a revelation.

"Wait… How did you two get in here? I thought the doors were locked."

"Rei, let us in," Shujinkou answered.

Looking beyond the two, Fuyu found her adopted sister sitting across from her on the other couch. The silent girl slowly waved her hand in response to their eyes meeting.

"Oh... So, just to be clear, how much did you hear?" Fuyu asked.

"Everything," Kiyoko answered.

"Okay..."

Shujinkou noticed another flicker of her president persona, but once again, the transition didn't stick.

"You know, you should really take a break from your duties once in awhile," Kiyoko suggested.

"Monika said the same thing—Repeatedly, but I just can't," Fuyu lamented.

"How come?" Shujinkou asked.

"Well…" Fuyu stood up, and then scratched her head contemplatively. "You know how in fictional works the student president pretty much runs the school."

"Yeah?"

"Turns out that wasn't a fictional exaggeration. But that's not the only reason. A student president usually has a council of students to perform specific tasks to help lighten the work load. But… I don't have that."

"Huh? You don't?"

"Nope. I pretty much am the student council."

Shujinkou scratched his right cheek, processing what he just heard. Thinking back, he realized that Fuyu and Rei were the only ones who ever occupied the office and that the former was the only one he saw performing duties for the school.

With those facts coming together, he felt a little stupid for not realizing that earlier.

"Still, you know what they say: 'All work and no play… isn't really good for your mental health.'" Kiyoko advised.

"I know. I know. But I honestly just can't stop myself," Fuyu admitted.

Shujinkou sympathized with that sentiment. Whenever he was in the middle of drawing and felt like he needed a break, he forced himself to continue on. He knew very well how hard it was to break away from your work and knew someone advising break time wouldn't always work.

It was then at that very moment that Shujinkou had an idea.

"Fuyu, why you don't you visit the Literature Club? There's some work a president can do there," he suggested.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you could check the room to make sure that it's up to code or see how much money the club has spent."

A conflicted look rested on Fuyu's face. She knew what Shujinkou was doing, but—

"Okay, you guys win," Fuyu accepted with a tired smile.

She then turned her attention to Rei and asked, "You want to come along too, Rei?"

Rei nodded her head.

With a new objective in mind, the two followed Shujinkou and Kiyoko out of the office.

The moment they were outside, Shujinkou immediately met eyes with Akuma.

"Uhm…"

"Pardon me, young scholar, but there is something I would like to discuss with you," he said.

Shujinkou turned towards his friends. "You guys can go on ahead. I'll catch up."

Following Shujinkou suggestion, the three continued the trek to their destination. Anxiety shot through him the moment they were alone.

"So, what did you want to talk about, Teacher?" he asked.

"I would like to talk to you about one of your friends."

"Um…" Shujinkou awkwardly scratched his right cheek. There was something different about Akuma. He seemed more serious than before. "Teacher, you kinda seem a little different since the last time we talked."

"Forgive me for that time," Akuma apologized. "That was a very desperate attempt on my part to not be me. I personally feel sick to my stomach over how I acted then."

The man sighed and scratched his left cheek. "Though with my name and history, could one blame me for trying to be something I'm not."

"I… I don't really know your history."

Just answering the way he did made Shujinkou uncomfortable.

"That's fair to say, but I believe that you are keen to realize what my history with one of your friends is."

Shujinkou awkwardly scratched his right cheek. He was already at the peak of his toleration towards the subject they were dancing around.

"Just by watching her reactions around me and there are only two options that could come from it. With me having a job due to a lack of evidence, then it reduces it to one."

"Teacher, I'd rather you not talk about this with me."

"You're right. It's inappropriate but-"

Shujinkou shook his head. "No, What I mean is… I don't care how obvious this 'history' may seem. If I'm going to hear about it, I want to hear it from Yuri."

"Of course… I believe that is one of the things that made Yuri fond of you. I can see that aspect making your other friends fond of you too."

"So…"

"But, I wasn't going to discuss something like that with you, because you've already been dragged into this mess I made already. Even talking to you right now is making a part of me scream at myself."

"Then… What did you want to talk about?"

"It seems Yuri relies on you whenever I'm in proximity. The previous semester, at the mall…"

Hearing the word "mall" once again reminded of Shujinkou's solution to hiding Yuri that one weekend; his kiss with her.

"You saw us?" he exclaimed.

"Young scholar, the kissing technique draws attention then causes the viewer to turn away in either disgust or because they satiated there corner eye curiosity. It doesn't make you invisible to the naked eye," Akuma explained.

Shujinkou scratched his cheek in defeat. So I forced a kiss on Yuri for nothing…?

"My advice next time would be to walk back to the store or just keep walking in another direction."

"Next time?"

He found it odd and worrying that Akuma would even mention the idea of a "next time".

"That is the main reason I've asked for this discussion. Despite trying my best, it's impossible to completely avoid a student that attends this school."

"That's true…"

"What I'm asking of you is that you keep doing what you've done this morning."

"Huh?" Shujinkou's worry was quickly replaced with surprise. "What are you talking about?"

"Whisking her away from me. Do whatever it takes," Akuma elaborated.

Shujinkou scratched his right cheek. Part of him was expecting Akuma to make an attempt to justify the history he shared with Yuri. What he had been asked; he never thought he would hear such a thing in real life.

"You… You want me to help you steer her away from you?"

"No. I ask that you continue helping your friend."

Shujinkou blankly stared at the teacher. "You're really serious about staying away from her?"

"That is correct. I believe you can understand why I couldn't tell her that to her."

"Teacher… It kind of feels like you're telling me this so I won't freak out around you."

"More so a side effect. I'm telling you this so you don't feel the need to come up with drastic solutions."

Shujinkou processed what he was just told. Part of him felt as if he should be extremely skeptical, but he felt like Akuma was sincere in his request.

"…So, just help out if I'm around?"

"That is correct."

Shujinkou awkwardly nodded his head. "O-Okay."

"Thank you. I will also try my hardest to avoid seeking you out as well."

Akuma nodded his head as well. With neither side having anything more to say, Akuma walked away.

"What just happened?" Shujinkou wondered aloud.