Rean wanted to say that the little (heh) incident with Altina made them more careful with their romantic outings. For a time, it did. They kept their post-class gradings much more professional, always staying in full uniform the whole time.

(And also making a "Do Not Disturb" sign. It at least wards the students away, if not Micheal's knocking. Or Aurelia deciding 7:53 PM is a perfectly good time to barge into an instructor's room.)

But like any alert, the heightened vigilance inevitably fades away. Their patterns may change, but it'll take more than an awkward talk with a student to keep the couple from being a couple.

Thankfully, Altina was true to her word. Rean didn't exactly see Altina as the gossiping type, but like her sister, she WAS the type to casually blurt out state secrets on a whim.

Thankfully, her instructor's relationship seemed too low down the classified totem pole for her to tattle on. The next week saw no accusatory glares from Juna. No congratulatory looks from Kurt. And not a peep from the other classes' students or teachers. Everything was normal.

"Juna, I don't think 'Crossbellen Spirit is a good answer for what drives international trade."

"Well, no answer's complete without it!"

At least as normal as Class VII could be.

With a history exam looming the next day, Rean declared that today's class would be a study session. "It wouldn't make much sense trying to cram new material in your heads while they're already full of current info."

Altina was called off for Intelligence Division duty, leaving just Juna and Kurt in the classroom. Rean normally would contest dragging the girl away from precious study time to play puppet for the government, but Altina kept up her grades well before. She made up for missing class time with after-school questions (which made getting caught off-guard by her even MORE humiliating), so he was confident she would do fine.

"And look whose talking! You can't just say "the Vander School" is why Erebonia won most of its wars with Calvard!"

"T-that was just a placeholder!"

...the other two, he was more worried about.

A knock on the door pulls him out of his musing. He glances to his side. The two bickering/studying students don't seem to notice. His mind races as he walks to the door. Who could it be at this hour? Was Altina back early?

He opens the door, seeing nothing but a wisp of brown hair. Shifting his gaze a little down, his face grows a small grin. "Oh, hey Towa!" He greets.

"Hey Rean! Mind letting me in?" She asks, a warm smile gracing her lips. Wordlessly, he moves to the side, opening the door wide for her. Her eyes shift to the far end of the classroom, where his two students are "studying."

It's then he notices a bag in her hands. "So what brings you here? Isn't it still class time?" He asks, opting to let her show what's in the bag.

"Oh, I made it study time! There's a finance exam next Tuesday, so I thought I'd let them study some more!" She looks at the students, putting a hand to her mouth to try and hide her chuckling. "Looks like we had the same idea." She giggles.

"Looks like it. George was right, we ARE too alike for our own good." He chuckled back, leaning against his desk while Towa leaned back against the whiteboard.

"Anyway... that explains why you're not in your classroom, but not why you're HERE." At that, the brunette's green eyes widened, as if caught red-handed. Her cheeks gained a shade of red, and her grip on her bag tightened.

"Well... I just wanted to see you. It's been a while since we were together..." She stared at the ground, trying to hide her blush.

Rean felt like grabbing his chest. Too cute! Just too cute!

He couldn't resist his urges. His legs moved by themselves to close the gap. His hand, as if possesses, rushed upwards to her head, nestling on top of her hair and rubbing it gently.

The instructor squeaked, rushing her head back up to gaze at her boyfriend. "H-hey! What did we say about being professional?!" Her eyes shot to the back of the room, only to soften once she sees the two teens still bickering. *Did they even notice me?!*

The serial head rubber just chuckled, his hand shifting down from her fluffy hair to her cheek, pulling her gaze towards his. "I can't help it. As you said, it HAS been a while..." He let out in a low, smooth voice.

She felt her knees weaken at that. She both loved and hated how good he was at destroying her cool with surprise romantic moves. *When in Aidios' name did he get this smooth? Where's the hoy that couldn't tell half his class was crushing on him?!*

(It's hardly a BAD change, though. She'd be the first to praise it.)

The scramble of opposing thoughts faded away, her mind settling in on just gazing at his fuchsia gems. The loud cries of protest in her thoughts faded, their mantra to "stay professional and "think of the kids" growing silent like the guns after a peace treaty. Letting out a deep breath, she closed her eyes and stood up on tiptoes, tilting her head upwards.

A loud sigh rang from a pink-haired girl, her head falling onto her desk. A soft thud sounded through the room as her forehead became very familiar with her worksheet and the desk it lay upon.

"Uuuuughh! Why do tests always suck?" The teen girl whined. Her classmate let out a sigh of his own, both at the workload and Juna's antics.

Still, the studying was getting to Kurt as well. He closed his eyes, trying to organize the jumble of information in his head. He had little luck with it.

"I must say, Instructor Rean's lectures are a lot more intelligible than the textbook." Kurt posited, gazing at his notes for the thousandth time today.

The reference to their black-haired instructor sparks a kindling of thought in Juna's mind. "Wait, why don't we just as the Instructor for help? It IS his job, after all!"

She lifts her head, her arm shooting straight above her head as she raises a hand. "Hey, Instruc-tor..." Her voice trails off, the question dying in her throat after she glances forward. Her jaw dropped, and all she did was stare forward, eyes wide.

The Vander scion raises an eyebrow, following Juna's gaze. The sight caused his own eyes to widen: Instructor Rean and Instructor Towa, lips locked in a chaste kiss.

When did she even get in here?* Even with how distracted with their "studies" they were, they surely would've noticed her enter, right?

Kurt knew he should be objecting to such an "unprofessional " display (at least, he imagined he should be) but his mouth was frozen. The sight of his Instructor doing something romantic despite all the teasing he received almost boggled the mind.

(He also felt a tiny pang of loss, almost betrayal, in his heart. Like he had just lost a comrade in arms or realized a kindred spirit wasn't so kindred after all.

Instructor Towa eventually moved her arms, shifting her bag so she would wrap her arms around the swordsman.

That seemed to thaw Juna's voice box, as she let out a loud "awwww!" at the sight.

The proof of an audience drove the two apart like lightning. It was impressive how quickly they unfurled, shooting multiple feet away from each other and gazing back at the two students. Their faces bore a similar, and growing, shade of red, the gravity of what they just did building on them.

"I-:

"You-"

They said at once, cutting themselves off at the other one's speech. Towa turned to Rean, her green orbs eyeing his own. They seemed to share a short, unspoken conversation. Kurt noticed the small nods and shifts of their head.

He couldn't make hide nor tail of it, but it did inform him of one thing: their connection was not spur-of-the-moment. They knew each other beyond just being coworkers or fellow Thors alumni.

"O-o-oh! I forgot!" Towa suddenly shouted, her petite form straightening. She thrust her hands out, shoving her bag into Rean's chest. The Chevalier awkwardly grabbed it to keep the contents from getting crushed. "I wanted to give you a gift! I-I hope you like it!" She squeaked out.

Her gaze fell to the back door. "W-well I should get back to my class! Can't leave them alone for too long, right?!" She said just a little too loudly and too quickly.

She turned to the two gaping students, giving them a deep bow. Her ponytail flopped upwards then down on her back. "G-good luck with your studies!" She shakily said, before turning on her heels towards the exit.

The teens could only gawk at how ruffled their normally collected Finance instructor was. Not daring to spare a look at Rean, she marched right towards the front door, pulling it shut with a slam behind her.

A thud sounded right afterward, followed by a softer one.

Kurt aired a stray thought. "Is she still-"

"AAAAaaagggghhhh..."

"...nevermind."

Class VII (and their instructor) spent a good 30 seconds with their eyes fixed on the door. Kurt truly had no words.

Juna seemed to find some though. "So, instructor..." she finally let out, standing from her seat with a smug grin. "You and Instructor Towa, huh?"

Rean fell backward into his chair, burying his face in his hands. "Oh, Goddess... I'm not getting out of this one, am I?

"Unlikely." Kurt (un)helpfully provided. He had to admit, his curiosity WAS peaked now. From what he knew of Rean, him doing a sweet but ill-timed romantic gesture wasn't the strangest thing. But *Towa* going along with it was much more bizarre.

Eventually, Rean let out a resigned sigh. "Alright, alright. But first..." he straightens his stance, sharpening his gaze. "If I take off a question in the exam, will you two keep quiet about this? I'd like to avoid... more incidents like this."

"Instructor, there's no ne-"

"Deal!"

"Juna!"

"What?! He offered!"

Despite the awkward circumstances, he smiled. These kids.

Extra 1: A Curious Eye.

Musse looked up from her textbook as the door opened. "Oh, welcome back Instructor!"

Towa merely waved back at her as she shambled over to her desk, before collapsing onto it with a groan. *Odd. What kind of errand could have her looking so dejected? Or... flustered?*

It was then she noticed her instructor's face. A soft shade of red dotted it like a blush had not quite faded yet. It was just barely there. Were she not explicitly curious, she would've missed it entirely.

She let her mind ponder it for a few seconds. Her face then grew a teasing grin.

Looks like I lost before I could even start playing. Oh well, every game is better with competition~*

Extra 2: The ARCUS After

R: Hey towa

T: Hi Rean! Sorry for leaving you out to dry

R: No, don't worry! I'm sorry for causing that mess.

T: No, it's my fault! I had the last chance to stop, but I went ahead with it anyway.

R: Let's just admit we both got off track then

T: Let's!

T: So how'd you handle the students?

R: Told them how we got together, stuff like that. Juna ate it up especially.

R: They promised not to tell anyone. We should be fine.

T: Thank goodness.

R: We seem really bad at this whole "staying professional thing."

T: Just means we need to be more vigilant.

R: True. Maybe we should hold off on kissing during school hours, just to be safe.

T: Aww.

R: ?

T: I mean awesome! That'll help a lot!

R: ...

R: Anyway, even with all that, I don't regret a thing.

T: ...honestly same.

R: Anyway, I need to get to finalizing the exam questions. And thanks for the cookies, btw!

T: You're welcome! And I'll let you do that!

T: I love you

R: Love you too!