Soft-spoken, graceful, with her doll-like features and long, gorgeous curls resembling the flower of her namesake, Yagami Nadeshiko was the epitome of an ideal Japanese beauty.

And all Momoko could feel was terror as the girl leaned over to offer her a hand.

Despite herself, something in Yagami's look compelled Momoko to raise her paw. "Oh, won't you please talk to your friend?" Yagami had said sweetly, reaching for Momoko's hand.

Someone else beat her to it.

"Yamashita-san, are you alright?"

Despite her careworn state, momentary surprise drew Momoko to follow the hand upwards. As she blinked away the mist in her eyes-

"O-Offu!"

Dark, luxuriant hair, dyed in royal blue. Irises deeper than any ocean. Against the backdrop of the warm evening light pouring into the room, Momoko could swear she saw feathers gleaming behind the girl.

Tenderness radiated from the twinkle of her eyes, and the delicate curl of her lips. A pert nose sat framed by the fine contours of her cheekbones, flush with color. All withstanding, the girl looked absolutely perfect.

Absolutely. Perfect.

The girl gave Momoko's hand a gentle squeeze, before lightly tugging her up. Momoko found herself automatically following her cue, slowly picking herself up from the floor.

...Occasions where Momoko had run into her before were few and far in between. And like each time before, it took her breath away.

If Yagami Nadeshiko could be likened to a twinkling diamond in the night sky, the person standing before her at the moment was the midday sun in all its warmth and overwhelming luminosity.

It did not compare. It simply did not.

Despite only just being on the verge of breakdown, Momoko felt herself inexplicably calm down.

Her unsteady feet betraying her, Momoko almost tumbled into the girl, yet the bluenette only gave her a beautiful, indulgent smile as she helped her steady herself.

Despite Momoko's difficulty with remembering her own classmates' names, she still knew the name of this particular upperclassman. She could count the number of times they'd interacted on two fingers, but she knew. Was there anyone in PK who didn't?

"T-Teruhashi-san!"

Voiced Yagami before Momoko could, drawing the pair's eyes over to the redhead. Momoko couldn't help but notice the expression on the girl's face. Yagami, who'd been perfectly composed, even in the face of the raging Ichijou, looked… flustered?

"What... What are you doing here?"

Holding her gaze, Kokomi offered the redhead a soft smile, before surveying the crowd around them. The sudden arrival of the bluenette had reignited the energy in the crowd, which was now buzzing with excitement. After carefully studying the crowd, Kokomi cast her gaze over the main actors.

The Invigilating woman, Aoki-sensei, and the elderly Nishimura-sensei, both appeared taken aback by Kokomi's entrance. Aizawa and Busujima appeared equally caught off guard.

As Kokomi scanned through everyone's faces, her gaze fell on Ichijou last, her smile fading to a concerned expression. Ichijou's own surprise lasted only a brief second before she had the idea to try and wrench her wrists free while her captors were distracted. Aoki-sensei reacted quickly, however, wrestling it back soon enough. After a momentary struggle, Ichijou stopped fighting, scowling.

Crisp winter air filled Kokomi's lungs as she took a deep breath. Exhaling softly, "I... apologize if I'm out of line," she said in a measured tone. "If I'm overstepping, please let me know." She paused, gathering her words. "But I couldn't sit still knowing that I might be able to help somehow. It might sound arrogant of me, but could you please let me try?"

There was something jarring about the endlessly soft-spoken Teruhashi Kokomi speaking with any severity in her voice. It had a force that could have moved nations.

She let her words hang in the air as she firmly held the gazes of the two adults across from her. Whispers that had been silenced the moment the girl had begun to speak slowly picked up again.

Nishimura-sensei opened his mouth to respond but was beaten to it by a scoff from the girl in his hold. Of all the people in class, Ichijou looked the least impressed by Kokomi's offer, her expression suspicious.

Which is perhaps why she almost flinched when the bluenette's eyes narrowed imperceptibly.

"Nishimura-sensei, Aoki-sensei," she addressed, her expression fading back into a gentle smile. The lapse had gone unnoticed by all but a few.

"To start, would it please be possible for you to let go of Ichijou-san?"

The two adults shared a look, looking unsure.

"Teruhashi-san," responded Aoki-sensei, hesitating, "...I don't know if that would be such a good idea."

Kokomi shook her head. "I insist. If anything happens, I will take responsibility."

The two teachers shared another look. The elderly Nishimura-sensei was tempted to scratch his neck but refrained out of caution for his charge. "I... will admit that Teruhashi-san has perhaps the single best diplomatic sensibility in all of PK. I also realize that your underclassmen respect you greatly. But while I appreciate you trying to help..." He trailed off.

Holding her gaze, he could see gears turning in her head. In a moment, she relented.

"I apologize. It would be unfair of me to expect you to take my word for it, wouldn't it?" Kokomi said, pausing for a moment. "Excuse me, Aoki-sensei," she said, "but could I have a look at the note you'd found?"

The woman looked over to Nishimura-sensei, as if to ask, 'Is that allowed?' The man sighed, before discreetly indicating the hundred or so eyes expectantly watching them from the hallway.

Whether or not the girl was really able to help resolve the situation or not, it was a fact that Teruhashi Kokomi carried with her both the faith and the confidence of the entire student body. It was something even the teachers would have to acknowledge.

Sensing his answer, Aoki-sensei tried to recall where she'd put it.

"Now where-"

"Here."

All eyes turned to its source. It was Nadeshiko.

In one fluid motion, the red-head had scooped up the note off the floor, where it had presumably ended up during the earlier scuffle, and courteously offered it to the older girl.

Pinching the edge of the page offered to her, Kokomi's hand lingered for a second, before delicately drawing it from her.

"Why, thank you Yagami-san." In a beautiful, choreographed delivery, she beamed, the red-head answering with a beautiful smile of her own.

"Why, it was nothing at all, Teruhashi-san."

The synergy unleashed another tidal wave of "Offu!"s.

Kokomi delicately ran a finger along the crease about which the note was folded, prying for an opening. Slipping in her thumb, she gently unfolded the page.

Her audience watched with bated breath as she ran her eyes over the page. Finishing, she nodded to herself. Turning around, she beamed.

"I think I can prove that Ichijou-san isn't the one responsible for bringing this note to the classroom today." She said with startling confidence.

Across from her, Aoki-sensei wore an expression that said she didn't quite know what to make of that declaration. Neither did Nishimura-sensei. Nor Ichijou herself. All three stared at her, bewildered.

"Wait... Wait." Busujima was the first to speak up. "I mean no disrespect, Teruhashi-senpai, but how? How could you possibly tell? All you did was look at the note!"

Aoki-sensei was the second. "Teruhashi-san... What do you mean Ichijou-san isn't responsible? Can you please elaborate?"

Kokomi gave them an obliging nod.

Turning to Ichijou, she looked at her appraisingly for a few seconds. It was enough to fluster the blonde a little. "W-What?" She barked, though her voice had lost much of its previous intensity.

"Might I ask you something, Ichijou-san?" Kokomi bore a curious expression. "I might be mistaken about this… but is it true that your family owns a Dojo?" she asked.

To which the blonde simply cocked her head. A confused scrunch of her eyebrows belied her confusion.

"Could you tell me more about it, Ichijou-san?" The bluenette continued. "I imagine it must be quite a lot of work, but it sounds like it'd make for such an interesting household!"

Ichijo still wasn't catching on. Why was the girl bringing up her home situation right now?

As the bluenette's expectant eyes continued to prod her, "It's not… really all that," she said tentatively.

Kokomi gestured at her to go on.

"I'm not sure what you want me to say…" Furrowing her brows, the blonde tried to think of something. "I mean, it's been doing bad lately. If that's what you want to know?"

Kokomi appeared thoughtful.

"If it's alright with you, could you please tell me more?"

"Okay…" It was hard to tell if she felt cautious or confused. Probably both. "Dad used to manage most of the things around there, but he got injured last year. We've been picking up his slack, but enrollment's been downhill."

Kokomi nodded attentively, prompting the blonde to go on.

"We, uh, we started doing the cleaning duty ourselves recently. Even though we used to make the students do it in the past. Dad said it might attract more people, but..." She shrugged noncommittally.

"May I ask how big your place is? I imagine it must be rough maintaining it."

"It's big enough." The girl replied with another shrug. "And I actually have it easier than my brothers. They get the worst of it."

"Ichijou-san, you have siblings?"

"Quite a few, actually."

Kokomi nodded, her eyes glinting.

"And they all help around the place? That's really sweet of them."

Ichijou snorted, shaking her head, but her humor was returning to her. A smile crept up Kokomi's own face as she saw all the girl's posture ease. The two senseis followed suit. Feeling the grip on her shoulders loosen, Ichijou eyed Aoki-sensei from the corner of her eye, standing up just a bit more straight.

Nodding to herself, Kokomi saw this as the appropriate moment to bring up another point.

"Aizawa-san, Busujima-san," she said kindly, directing her gaze to the duo. The sudden address mildly startled both. "I imagine that you must be wondering why I'm bringing all of this up?"

Sharing a look, the two nodded, not sure how else to respond.

Kokomi acknowledged it with a smile. "It'll hopefully all be clear in a bit." Turning back to the blonde, "This might sound a little out of nowhere," she said, "but Ichijou-san, may I take a look at your handkerchief?"

That was out of nowhere. Ichijou just stared for a second, before looking over her shoulder at Aoki-sensei, who looked just as confused as she did.

Her eyebrows scrunching in question, Ichijou nonetheless reached for her skirt pocket, producing the cloth.

"It's nothing special...," she muttered as she handed it over.

It certainly wasn't. It was rather plain actually. Pale white, with thin pink and yellow embroidery at the edges.

Receiving it, Kokomi repeated what she'd done with the note, examining it quite closely. A few seconds of that, and a mysterious little smile crept up her pretty face.

"Aoki-sensei," she said as she offered the woman both the handkerchief and the note. "Can you tell me if you notice anything different about them?"

The woman had her eyebrow raised skeptically. Glancing at Ichijou, then at Nishimura-sensei, who gave her a reassuring nod, she tentatively let go of the girl's shoulders. Seeing that the little grizzly didn't try to immediately pull anything, she accepted the items from Kokomi.

"What about them? That's certainly Yamashita-san's handwriting. That much even I can tell. The handkerchief looks nice enough. Tidy and..." Trailing off for a moment, her eyes conveyed the gears turning in her head. A look of understanding slowly dawned on her face.

"It's different..." she breathed, much to the curiosity of all the looks on her.

Looking over at Ichijou, the woman gave her an appraising look. Ichijou's face wore the indecision of glaring back or looking abashed. Before the woman could voice her question, however, Kokomi spoke up again.

"Ichijou-san," she said, prompting bear and bear-wrangler alike to look over. "The thing is, I had actually been meaning to talk to you for quite some time."

Ichijou cocked her head. "You did?"

Nodding, "I just never could quite find the right moment," she said. "If I had any say, I'd have liked for us to talk in a more peaceful setting, but I'll try to make the best of this opportunity." She gave a tentative smile. "I had been meaning to ask. Ichijou-san, may I know when your birthday is?"

"...What?"

The blonde's dumbfounded expression prompted a light giggle from the bluenette. Soft and melodic like the ring of a wind-chime, it was an angelic sound. "Sorry, I think I phrased that a bit weirdly." Turning to the spectating gallery peeking in from the hallway, she searched for a moment-

"Ah, Higuchi-san," she said, calling out to one of the girls poking her head out of the door to the hallway, "I think you could help me explain."

She'd startled said Higuchi-san, who now bore the collective attention of the entire gallery. 'Me?!' She pointed to herself. The bluenette gave an eager nod. "Higuchi-san, do you still have your copy of the list that we'd made last month?"

It took the girl a second, but she seemed to realize what Kokomi was talking about.

"Oh, oh, you mean that list? Y-Yeah, it should be at my place. D-Do you want me to go get it?"

Kokomi just gave her an amused shake of the head.

"That won't be necessary, Higuchi-san," she said mirthfully, "But I was kind of hoping you could help explain what it was about?"

"Uh, Okay?" She looked around a bit mousily. The weight of a hundred or so curious stares bearing down you was nothing to scoff at. Girls like Yagami and Teruhashi that could brush it off were the outliers, not the norm.

"Uh, w-where do I start?" Her gaze darted around nervously for a moment, before easing onto Kokomi's. "M-Me and a few friends reached out to Teruhashi-senpai for advice for organizing a birthday party some three months ago. But o-once that was out of the way, we, uh, we started talking about what other birthdays we knew about and what presents we should eventually get them. Teruhashi-senpai said she wanted to know the first-year students better too, and one thing led to another, and we, uh, asked around, and made a really long list about everyone's birthdays and present ideas. W-we got most of them, but," she glanced at Ichijou, only to quickly avert her eyes. "W-we, uh, m-missed a few."

Aoki-sensei raised a brow and continued to raise it as she noticed murmurs starting to spread throughout the classroom.

"Ohhh, that was what that was about," someone whispered, "I was wondering why Higuchi-san kept pestering me about it."

"That's how senpai remembered my birthday!" another exclaimed.

As the chatter picked up, the next to speak up was surprisingly none other than Nishimura-sensei. The old man stroked his graying beard contemplatively as he regarded the woman's expression.

"Aoki-sensei," he said in a delicate baritone, one befitting a seasoned lecturer, "you might not know this since you only recently joined the school, but Teruhashi-san has quite the reputation here at PK for looking after both the students and faculty."

He gave the girl an appraising look, which she simply returned with her usual diplomatic smile. "I had no idea Yamada-sensei liked collecting stamps so much until I heard him bragging about how she'd got him some really rare ones the other month. I can barely remember the name of all the students in my own classes but here she is, minding everyone's birthdays and God knows what else. I don't know how she does it, but Teruhashi-san sure knows how to keep everyone in her sight."

His words elicited a light, embarrassed laugh from the blue-haired girl. "To be honest, I've had quite a lot of misses with presents in the past. I just wanted to try to do better this year."

Looking over at Ichijou, and then at Aoki-sensei, "Though there are exceptions," she said conversationally, "when in doubt, with girls, I think perfumes often make for a reliable gift. Wouldn't you agree, Aoki-sensei?"

"...I suppose."

The girl smiled an enigmatic smile.

"Aoki-sensei. For the sake of everyone else here, could you explain what was the difference you noticed between those two?" Kokomi said, referring again to the handkerchief and the note, still in the woman's hands.

The woman looked at her appraisingly for a second before shaking her head. "It's the scent," she said, "It's a bit hard to tell, but they're certainly different. I didn't notice before but Ichijou does have perfume on her. The one on the note's a lot more citrusy, and a lot stronger. If Ichijou had been carrying the note on her person, it wouldn't work out like that."

"Really?" Nishimura-sensei raised a brow, but hastily shook his head when the woman offered him the items to smell.

The woman looked back at Kokomi, a question on her face. "I'm surprised you realized that, Teruhashi-san."

"I'd heard that Ichijou-san's family owned a Dojo," the bluenette replied, turning to the blonde. "But I couldn't find out any more than that. However, as we'd been on the subject of Birthday presents, we were thinking that you might be interested in workout fragrances. I apologize if that sounded presumptuous, I don't mean to say we think your place smells or anyth-"

"It does." The blonde scoffed in good humor. "Quite a bit actually."

Smiling, the bluenette continued. "It was on my mind what type of perfume Ichijou-san might like. Something strong? Something floral? Would she prefer something minty? I suppose I'm ruining it as a birthday surprise, putting it out here like this, but there was no way around it given the situation."

"I see..." Ichijou pursed her lips, stewing on Kokomi's words. The blonde glanced over at Higuchi, only to scowl when the girl flinched at the sudden eye contact.

Looking over Ichijou, Aoki-sensei shook her head, though she couldn't help the small wry smile on her face. She offered the girl her handkerchief back.

When the girl reached for it, Aoki pulled it back at the last moment. "Please behave from here on out." She let her words hang for a moment before finally handing it over to the girl.

"Yeah. Yeah..." The girl waved it off, but had the decency to look slightly apologetic as she stowed away the piece of cloth. Even she could tell she'd made trouble for the woman.

It was then that she heard it. She swiveled around to find one Yamashita Momoko trying to stifle a giggle. Ichijou's annoyed look only made it harder for the girl. The annoyance was short-lived however, dissolving into a look of relief.

Yamashita had been on the verge of tears earlier. For her to be in the mood to be laughing-

"Wait." Ichijou's relieved expression soured again. "Wait a minute." It was Busujima again. "If that's the case, and the note wasn't with Ichijou-san, wouldn't that just mean Yamashita-san was the culprit?" Her tone wasn't quite accusatory. Perfunctory, might be the best way to describe it. Next to her, Aizawa had her arms tightly crossed, not meeting anyone's gaze.

As for Yagami... her expression was oddly blank. As if she was fine with just spectating.

At Busujima's words, Ichijou felt her previous temper flare up again but reeled it back when she caught a disapproving look from Kokomi.

Having gotten her to back off for the moment, the bluenette took a deep breath. "Busujima-san," she said, shaking her head, her tone kind but firm. "That couldn't be the case either. After all, Yamashita-san doesn't use perfume."

Ichijou raised her brows. "You know about that too?"

"I apologize if it was uncouth of me," Kokomi continued, turning her gaze to the snowy-haired girl. The girl fumbled for her own handkerchief, as if she'd be asked to present it as evidence. "-To bluntly point it out to the class like that. I don't mean to make you feel self-conscious about it, Yamashita-san. After all," her eyes glinted playfully, "I don't really use perfume either."

The revelation dropped like an atomic bomb.

"Ehhh?"

"Seriously?!"

"But- But she smells sooo nice!"

Ignoring them, Kokomi continued. "If you'd like, though, Yamashita-san, I could recommend a few that I think would go quite well with your person." Momoko nodded, her cheeks slightly tinged red.

Aoki Hifumi watched the interaction play out, an unreadable expression on her face. From the corner of her eyes, she glanced over at Nishimura-sensei, then over at Ichijou. The girl had her arms crossed, and was watching the Teruhashi girl with much interest, occasionally glancing over at Yamashita.

The woman's eye turned to the spectating gallery. School-bags half drawn. Whispering. Craning their necks. The mood was buoyant. Just minutes ago, they seemed ready to draw their pitch-forks at Ichijou. Now, they were just your average curious high-schoolers, drawn in by the drama and excitement.

She glanced over at the bluenette, who was continuing to make talk with Ichijou and Yamashita. Ichijou had looked ready to gouge someone's eyes out just a few minutes ago. And now she was nodding along to a talk about perfumes...

Her eyes lingering on Teruhashi for a few more seconds, the woman glanced over at the bouquet on her other side. To catch one Aizawa Ayaka hastily shoving something back into her pocket. She'd only caught the tail end of it, but she could guess that it might have been a handkerchief. The woman narrowed her eyes, the girl averting hers. Not so subtly, Busujima put herself in the line of sight, while looking as though she was checking on Nadeshiko. Or maybe that was what she was really doing.

As for the red-head... The woman looked over from the girl, over to the three chatting about perfumes, and then back to the red-head. The girl had her eyes fixated onto the bluenette for some reason.

Shaking her head, Hifumi sighed. And then, collecting herself, "I'll take Teruhashi-san's word," she said, jolting everyone's attention back onto her, "about Yamashita-san not wearing perfume. However," she lifted up the note between two fingers, "that brings back the question, who was responsible for putting the note in Yamashita-san's desk then?"

Her gaze found its way back to Nadeshiko's group, her eyes hovering over Aizawa. The girl kept avoiding her gaze.

As the seconds ticked by, Aoki-sensei tapped her foot impatiently. Maybe if she kept it up long enough, someone would fold.

Tick...

Tock..

Tick...

Tock..

Aizawa's grip on her arm tightened. Ichijou's own expression sharpened into a scowl. The woman sighed.

"Look-"

"I-It was me! I put it there!" A hundred or so gazes swiveled in unison over to the boy who'd suddenly burst through the crowd. Leaning onto the door frame, with his other hand on his knee, he heaved, looking completely out of breath. And somehow still looked better off than the pig-tailed blonde gasping for breath beside him. It was Rifuta.

As the two continued to fight for breath, Ichijou was the first to speak up. "Who the hell are you?" Her expression was dumbfounded. She'd been so sure the culprit had been Aizawa, she'd never considered another possible culprit. She looked over to her friend. "Momo, you know this-" She paused.

Momoko's look belied recognition.

Afterall, it was the same boy who'd asked Yamashita to clarify on an exam question just minutes earlier.

"Wait. Wait, what?" Aoki-sensei looked completely taken off-guard as well. "Yamazaki-kun, you did? Wait, when? How? Why?"

"I-" The boy was panting hard, but somehow managed to wheeze out his next words. "F-Found it l-lying-" Pant. "Lying on floor." Pant. "Morning practice." Pant. "Thought" Pant. "-thought handwriting looked fa-" Pant. "Familiar. Put" Pant. "Put it in her desk." Pant. "I-" Pant. "I think she-" Pant. "She forgot to check." With one last pant, he seemed to start breathing normally. He fixed his gaze onto Yamashita.

From the side, still catching her breath, Rifuta gave the boy an approving side-eye, before looking over to Kokomi, catching a relieved expression on her senpai's face.

Kokomi had succeeded in buying time. And Rifuta had pulled through, if only just barely.


"I need you to find someone to take the fall for her." Kokomi had delicately whispered into her ear. It tickled the eardrums, but Rifuta was too busy putting two and two together to pay it any attention. At least, right now.

She furrowed her brows, internally going over everything her senpai had told her.

Someone had tried framing Yamashita, and it had escalated into a brawl. Hence the crowd. And her beloved, her sweet, innocent senpai, had just put forward to her the most audacious idea she'd heard in a while.

"There are around ten or so students from 1-2 that are unaccounted for. They're not in class or the hallway, so they're either on their way home, or at their clubs. I know I'm asking a lot, but I need you to go get one of them, someone willing to risk themselves for Yamashita-san's sake. I'll leave it to you to decide whether they're trustworthy or not."

A tall order. How was Rifuta supposed to know if they were trustworthy? And even if they were, how could she possibly convince them to do something as reckless as taking blame for planting a cheat note?

Sensing her apprehension, "I do realize I'm asking a lot of you," the bluenette continued. "But there's no one else I could possibly trust with this. I know just how smart you are, Imu-chan. I know you'll figure it out."

That was unfair. That was so unfair, senpai. How could Rifuta possibly say no to that? "I'll try to buy time as you do that. So," pulling away, "could you please do that for me?" Kokomi finished.

Rifuta's mind was still catching up to all the details Kokomi had just laid out, piecing it all together. But nevertheless, "Leave it to me, senpai!", she said, sticking out her modest chest.

Rifuta Imu was a reliable girl. Kokomi couldn't have possibly asked for a better kouhai.


"Yamazaki-kun. Let me get this straight," started Aoki Hifumi, pinching the bridge of her nose. "You put the note into Yamashita-san's desk?"

The boy nodded fiercely.

"You're saying that you found the note on the floor this morning?" Nishimura-sensei followed her line of questioning. "And you decided to return it to her desk?"

The body nodded again.

Hifumi-sensei eyed the boy up and down, her appraisal sharpening into skepticism. She glanced over to the Yamashita and Ichijou pair, catching them sharing surprised looks. Nadeshiko's trio looked just as surprised. The woman also didn't miss Nadeshiko's eyes flicker over to the third-year Teruhashi for just a fraction of a second before the girl seemed to realize the woman was watching her. The bluenette herself was fairly unfazed by the boy's entrance, the woman observed, but that might have been just Teruhashi being herself. What was suspicious was the look the twin-tailed blonde who'd popped up next to Yamazaki was giving the bluenette. She too averted her eyes when she noticed Hifumi staring.

"Yamashita-san," Nishimura-sensei spoke up again, this time addressing Momoko, "did you not check your desk this morning?"

The girl panickedly searched her memory at his prompt, opening and closing her mouth a couple times. Did she really neglect to clear her desk before the exam started-?

"I've heard," the pair turned to the voice, "that last minute revisions can sometimes be counterproductive. If they're prone to nerves, it's especially likely that the student will just make themselves more anxious, and make more mistakes as a result." Kokomi delicately wove a tentative expression into her inflections. "If you're well prepared, and comfortable with the subject-matter, you might simply be better off helping out your friends, or thinking about things that help you unwind." Her eyes softly settled onto Momoko. "In case Yamashita-san did in fact forgo unpacking her paraphernalia prior to the exam, perhaps she simply neglected to consider that something else might have already been in there when the Invigilator told everyone to clear their desks."

The old Nishimura-sensei stroked his beard thoughtfully as he watched Momoko trying to recall if that had been the case.

"Ichijou-san," prompted Hifumi-sensei, "You said the note had been meant for you, right? When was the last time you had it on you?"

"Well, I can show you," replied the blonde. By this point, both teachers had taken their hands off the girl and she casually moved to grab the bag she'd laid next to a desk earlier during the confrontation with Aizawa.

She set it down on one of the desks in the vicinity still standing, unzipping the bag, and pulling out a thick binder with worksheets jutting out from between the pages. She then pulled out another notebook, a much thinner one and set it right next to it.

"This one," she said pointing to the smaller notebook, "is Momo's notes from the last semester. The one's from this semester should be in this one." She pointed to the binder. "If I remember correctly, that's where I put the notes for geometry too," she said, referring to the alleged cheat-sheet.

Curious, Hifumi-sensei picked up the binder for a closer examination, and almost instantly, the embedded sheets began to slip. "Hey, careful!" scolded Ichijou, to which the woman just raised a brow. "You need to hold it like this-" The girl offered to show, but the woman settled for simply putting the binder back onto the table, and carefully turning over the pages. Nothing slipped out this time.

There was striking contrast between the messy writing on the pages of the binders and the neatly organized post-its and notes interspersed between them. She could easily tell which of the two girls had written which. And, to her mild curiosity, for all her poor grades, it was clear that Ichijou had put a decent effort practicing this time around.

As for Yamashita, the woman could clearly tell why the girl ranked as high as she did just from her notes. She did have to wonder why a girl of her academic caliber seemed to hang around Ichijou, to the point of writing all these detailed notes for her. But then again, Ichijou had certainly jumped into the fray without hesitation the moment Aizawa had begun making accusations towards Yamashita. At any rate, she could ponder it later. Scrolling through a few more pages, she looked over to the alleged cheat-sheets and compared it to the other notes Yamashita had written for the girl.

"Ichijou-san," Hifumi held up the alleged cheat-sheet. "When was the last time you consulted this?"

Ichijou furrowed her brows trying to recall. "Momo, do you remember what we were practicing yesterday evening at the library?"

The snowy-haired girl thought for a moment. "I think you said you were having difficulty drawing the right reference lines when solving geometry questions. You had a list of questions you wanted to practice, right? After that, uh, I think we also did some conics?"

"We did? Oh, right. We did."

"What about afterwards?" continued prodding Hifumi. "Did you use this-" the note rustled to a light flick, "once you got home?"

Ichijou tapped her feet as she tried to recall. It took her a moment. "Statistics," she said, reopening her eyes. "And probability. I was practicing those two till eleven. I don't think I did any geometry problems again. I did look up the other notes, but not the geometry one."

The woman nodded. "You think you'd have noticed if the note had accidentally slipped out?"

"I would hope I'd have..." She tapped her feet as she thought it over. "But maybe I didn't... I was kind of distracted with, you know." She gave Momoko an apologetic look. "Sorry for not taking better care of it. Yesterday was kind of hectic."

Momoko shook her head. "No need to apologize."

Beaming, Kokomi took a second to survey the class again, her eyes landing on Nadeshiko's. The girl was looking at her curiously. Besides her, Busujima was whispering something to Aizawa, whose face was regaining color. Making a small mental note to herself, Kokomi looked over to Hifumi-sensei, who seemed to be putting together everything that she'd heard.

"Aoki-sensei." Smiling warmly, Kokomi clasped her hands together. "Might it be safe to say that the matter is settled, then?"

The woman gave the girl another hard, appraising look. "Is it...?"

Around them, murmurs picked up once again.

"Wait, so Ichijou wasn't the culprit?"

"That's what Teruhashi-senpai said. And there's no way she would ever make a bad call."

"But…! Ichijou did still attack Yagami-chan."

"Aizawa did provoke her though."

"That doesn't make it right!"

Sentiment, old and new, mixed within the shifting tides. All it needed now was a small push.

"Yagami-san," Kokomi said, turning to the girl. "I'm sorry for not intervening sooner. Had I, you might not have had to get hurt." She lowered her head in an apologetic gesture. "Please accept my apology."

A bit surprised, "P-Please, you hardly need to apologize, Teruhashi-san" replied the red-head. "It's not your fault." Then, looking over her shoulder at her two friends, "If anything, we also have to apologize," she said, nudging the others on. "We were also in the wrong, provoking Ichijou-san like that." Turning to Ichijou and Momoko, the girl bowed. "On behalf of my friends, I would like to sincerely apologize to both Ichijou-san and Yamashita-san. I will take full responsibility, so please allow me to make amends."

Behind her, Busujima thinned her lips, before lightly bowing too, but refrained from commenting. Aizawa just muttered a non-committal "Whatever..."

Arms folded, Ichijou scowled for a moment, before averting her gaze. As for Momoko, she made herself look small behind Kokomi and Ichijou, not sure how to respond.

Looking from Nadeshiko and Busujima to Ichijou and Momoko, Kokomi gave Ichijou a pointed look. Ichijou returned a confused look for a second, before- "Wait, me too?" she said incredulously, pointing to herself. "Why the hell should-" She stopped when she felt someone elbow her from the right. It was Momoko. Contrary to her previous meek self, she had a very determined look on her face at the moment.

Ichijou looked indignant for a second, before she sighed, relenting. "Yeah, yeah, my bad, Yagami-san," she said, turning to the girl, "I meant to actually deck Aizawa, you see."

"K-Kana-chan!"

While Momoko looked horrified, to their surprise, a ripple of soft laughter spread through the crowd in response to Ichijou's comment.

"Aizawa-san did mouth off quite a bit...," someone joked from a corner, only to receive a glare from said girl. The mood was hardly tense, however.

As the laughter died down, "Ichijou-san, Let me apologize too," someone else spoke up. "I'm sorry for calling you a hoodlum! My bad!"

"Good on you for standing up for Yamashita-san!" another voice chimed in. "I'm still mad that you hurt Yagami-san, but I'll let you off the hook for today." The tone was half-joking.

"Ichijou-san, can you tell me where your Dojo is? I want to learn to be manly like you!" The boy's comment was met with another round of laughs, followed by a glare from a half-embarrassed Ichijou. To her side, she heard Yamashita giggle, which made her shake her head.

"Jeez, and you looked like you were going to cry just a second ago." She said, bonking the girl on the head, which she returned with just more giggles.

"I guess," the laughter dying, the attention drew back to the bluenette as she spoke up, "this means that everything is now done and settled, Nishimura-sensei?"

She levied him with an expectant look.

The man stroked his beard contemplatively as he bore the brunt of a hundred or so eyes watching him, eagerly awaiting his verdict.

"Is it not?" she prodded.

As the man dithered, besides him the younger Aoki Hifumi studied Kokomi intently.

The earlier situation had been on a precipice's edge - tension thick enough to cut with a knife. Ichijou had looked ready to maul Aizawa, and in inadvertently hurting Yagami, had earned herself the ire of the entire class. Busujima had answered Ichijou's fire with her own scathing reproach, while Yamashita had looked on the verge of a breakdown.

Hifumi wouldn't have been surprised if someone ended up in the hospital. Matsuzaki-sensei would have had a field day...

And that same Ichijou was now cracking jokes, along with the rest of the gallery. Aizawa and Busujima held onto their antagonism, but had gotten much more cooperative since Yagami decided to defer to Teruhashi.

It had gone from a brewing hurricane to light drizzle. And unlike Hifumi, the bluenette had come out completely unscathed.

Hifumi had known of the girl called Teruhashi Kokomi before. Of course she had. You would have to be blind to not notice a literal glowing girl that made entire streets stop and gape. Since joining PK, Hifumi had quickly learned of the girl's near mythical status within the school.

Her peers loved her. Her underclassmen loved her. Her teachers loved her. The geeks loved her. The jocks loved her. The popular girls loved her. The janitors and librarians and coaches loved her. Senior-most faculty and the rowdiest of students alike deferred to her. A darling of PK if there ever was one, Teruhashi Kokomi was adored by everyone who knew of her.

(Almost everyone.)

And though it was tempting to write it off as simply a consequence of her ultra-divine looks, which admittedly helped, Hifumi could see the true reason the girl was so dearly beloved.

Teruhashi Kokomi, to put simply, understood people. She read them like an open book, effortlessly reaching into their hearts, and delicately undoing the complicated knots of their heart-strings. It was quite the fatal charm.

Hifumi had to put up a fight to not get taken by it herself.

"The matter's not settled yet, Teruhashi-san," she spoke up, getting the girl's attention, as well as that of the rest of the class. "It's nice that we're making progress, but there's still one glaring hole in the story so far." She held up the note. "The perfume lingering on this is a girl's. Unless you're going to argue Yamazaki-kun here is an enjoyer of the Les Eaux de Chanel Collection himself - at least from what my nose tells me," she glanced over at Aizawa, not missing her briefly jump out of her skin, "then we still have a mystery on our hands. Somehow Yamazaki-kun deposited the note into Yamashita-san's desk, and by the time we got hold of it, it was drenched in a perfume, neither Yamashita's, nor Ichijou's. Very curious, don't you think, Teruhashi-san?"

The woman stared at the girl long and hard as she absorbed the woman's words. The girl made a thoughtful face, her index finger delicately hovering on her lips. And then, to the woman's sheer incredulity - she shrugged.

"Tee-hee!" The girl even did the hand gestures to go with it.

If it had been any other girl, any other girl in the world, Hifumi's knee-jerk would have been to close the distance and give the girl a nice flick to the forehead for her audacity.

Hifumi had been more than ready to delegate the verdict to Nishimura-sensei earlier, but after she'd very nearly lost her arms wrestling with Ichijou, she was feeling a bit more invested in the matter.

She stared, still incredulous. And the girl continued to push back with her intoxicatingly bright aura.

"O-Offu!" went someone from the periphery. "That's not important, sensei! Teruhashi-san already said the matter was over, didn't she?"

"Offu! Yeah, teach! Teruhashi-senpai took time out of her busy schedule to come resolve this issue. You shouldn't waste any more of her time!"

She silenced both with a minute glare, before glancing over at her fellow teacher, Nishimura-sensei.

Who also shrugged. Unhelpful geezer.

The woman sighed. Shutting her eyes for a moment as she pinched the bridge of her nose, she exhaled deeply. Walking up to the girl, she came right next to her. One hand on her shoulder, she said in a barely audible voice, "Because it's you, and I don't want to get raked over the coals for nothing, I'll drop it... But please, keep your shenanigans to a minimum next time, alright? Miss Teruhashi?"

"I'll try."

"That goes to you too, Miss Yagami." She said to the eavesdropping girl, who replied with a smile of her own.

Sighing again, "I guess it is settled then," she said more audibly, to the cheers of the crowd around her. She rubbed her forehead. "And as for all of you," she addressed the crowd in the hallway. "Scram. You're keeping the other students from using the hallway. Shoo! Shoo!"

At her words, the crowd tentatively began to disperse.

"Wow, that was so intense! It was like being in a drama!" she overheard a pair whispering on the way out, prompting her to roll her eyes.

A screech of chairs made the woman look over to see Yamashita Momoko plop herself over one of the still standing chairs. "It's over...," she sighed in relief, looking rather worn. Hifumi wouldn't blame her. She was pretty worn too. Mostly physically.

Ichijou gave the worn-out Momoko a once over, pausing when she noticed scrape marks on her knees. Crouching to inspect it more clearly, she gave Momoko a concerned look. Lightly poking her knee, she hurriedly pulled back when the smaller girl winced.

"We should go get that looked," she announced loud enough for Hifumi and the others to hear. Pulling the snowy-haired girl up to her feet, she moved to usher her outside, for a hand to grab her just as she was about to.

"Oh, you're not going anywhere, miss Ichijou," said Hifumi, keeping an iron-grip on the girl.

"But, but I'm innocent?"

"You might have been proven innocent, but that doesn't change the fact that you acted in a way that was completely inappropriate for one of our students." She gestured over to Nishimura-sensei with her eyes. The man had grabbed himself a seat, and was using the opportunity to nurse his abdomen. Specifically the place Ichjou had traumatically elbowed him minutes prior.

"And you two!" The pair of Busujima and Aizawa stiffened mid-slink into the retreating crowd. "Where do you think you're going? To the staff room, all of you. I think we'll all have plenty to talk about." Then, shaking her head, she turned over to Nadeshiko. "Yagami-san, as for you..." The girl smiled back, slightly unnerving her. "You can go to the nurses office too if you want..."

The red-head shook her head. "I'll go tend to Nishimura-sensei." The woman watched her go, feeling a pit in her stomach, but shook it off.

"As for you, Teruhashi-san..."

She turned to find the girl had slid over to where Yamashita was sitting. "Don't worry, Ichijou-san," she said, "I'll make sure Yamashita-san gets to the nurse's office safely."

The blonde looked conflicted for a brief second, before she sighed. "I'll entrust her to you, then." And to Momoko, "Don't give the nice lady any trouble, okay?" she said, half-joking, half-serious.

"Look who's talking," Momoko rolled her eyes. Ichijou dignified the comment with an embarrassed smile. Shaking her head, she moved to go over to Hifumi-sensei.

As she passed by Kokomi, "Twenty-first of March," she said in a low voice. "I'll be looking forward to that present, Senpai."

Ichijou glanced at her from the corner of her eye, finding the girl beaming.

"Can you stand up?" Kokomi said as she then turned her attention to Yamashita. "I... I think I can." Kokomi offered her an arm as she got up, but the girl politely declined. Kokomi watched carefully as the girl wobbled over to the door, ready to jump in at any moment if necessary.

When she looked fine, Kokomi gave the girls one last glance. Hifumi-sensei was giving the trio of Ichijou, Aizawa and Busujima quite the energetic talking to. As her eyes traveled to Nadeshiko, the girl looked up, returning an enigmatic smile.

Kokomi replied with one of her own.

Yamashita staggered over the threshold, glancing around to catch the tail-end of the dispersing crowd. Slumped against the wall, Yamazaki looked like he was still recovering his stamina. One had to wonder how far he'd had to run to come back.

Yamashita opened her mouth, trying to find her words. Rifuta spoke up before she could, giving the boy a light smack on his back. "Way to save the day, hero!" Stumbling forward, he came right up to Yamashita, who was eyeing him carefully.

He scratched his neck.

"Ahaha, What- What a day, right?"

His scratching intensified when the girl continued to stare at him for a few seconds. When-

"O-Offu!"

Momoko smiled. Her snowy-white hair, made into a delicate bob and spotting a delicate side-swept bang, framed full rosy cheeks and a lovely, warm smile. He couldn't help but utter the magic words.

"Thank you so much for stepping in for us, Yamazaki-kun!" She beamed.

"Ahahaha...!" The boy's neck-scratch-itis had gone critical.

Teruhashi emerged from the classroom a few seconds later, smiling as she spotted the two. Then, glancing along the hallway, her eyes scanned for her own certain somebody.

To turn up with nothing.

Chiyo and co were nearby, trying to make way for the dispersing crowd. "Sorry!" The orange-haired girl jogged over to her around the same time Rifuta did. Chiyo had caught the bluenette's eyes wandering over the hallway. "I took my eye off him for one second, and-" Kokomi shook her head, "I'm grateful enough that you two tried so hard for my sake. It means so much to me."

"Kokomi..."

The others jogged up too.

Kaidou was the first to speak up. "Wow! Now, that was intense! And you were so cool in there, Teruhashi-san!"

"Wait, so who was cheating again?" Nendou carried over his conversation with Kuboyashu, who was rubbing his forehead in exasperation.

Kokomi took a second to greet all of them, before turning her attention back to Yamashita. She seemed just done talking with Yamazaki as well.

"Let's go, then? Shall we?"

The girl gave her a nod, waving bye to the retreating Yamazaki. With Rifuta opting to follow Kokomi, Chiyo and the others followed suit, deciding to accompany the two to the nurse's office.

Rifuta didn't miss the distressed look on Yamashita's face when Nendou and Kuboyashu tried to make small talk. "Oi, oi. You're scaring the poor girl," Chiyo jumped in between them.

"Huh?!" returned Kuboyashu, looking rather annoyed. "I just asked her a question."

"With scary mugs like yours, just asking a defenseless girl a question is a capital offense! Wouldn't you agree, Rifuta-chan?"

The blonde replied with an energetic nod. "It absolutely is, Senpai."

As Chiyo continued to butt heads with the two taller stooges, Rifuta looked over to the trailing Kokomi, the bluenette's eyes lingering on the opposite stairway.

Shaking her head, Kokomi jogged to catch up.


'Good grief.' A couple stories overhead, a certain pink-haired boy was shaking his own head.

'Quite a show you put there, Teruhashi-san.'

...Admittedly, she had been pretty cool in there.