A bead of sweat dripping down his brow, Kurofiru gritted his teeth as he hovered his glowing hands over Hinamori's shoulder. Dark-green roots began to sprout from the almost-healed wound, the stalks twisting together to form a sturdy knot of tendrils.

"Amazing, Kurofiru-sama!" Rozu cheered in awe, having been kneeling beside him with a roll of bandages in his arms. "It's working!"

"Rozu, quiet." The dark-haired man muttered, having a sense of deja vu. Previously, he failed at executing that weird…. 'reverse cursed technique'... that Honshoji described. However, after tons of experimentation through trial and error, he found that he was able to use his abilities to grow plants mimicking specific limbs- at least on small animals. He should have first practiced on one of his prisoners, but with limited time and resources, he had no choice but to directly attempt growing a substitute for Hinamori's missing arm. Fortunately, his gamble seemed to be working.

From where she lay on the downtrodden couch, the woman was unable to stop herself from cringing painfully as the tendrils continued growing outward, forming what appeared to be the foundation of her upper arm. Upon seeing her wince, Kurofiru released a breath and lowered his hands. "Let's stop here for today."

Hinamori peered at him over her shoulder. "No, I'm okay!"

"My cursed energy is pretty depleted." He replied, flexing his wrist as he pushed himself to his feet. "I need rest."

"Ooooh Ku-chan, look who I found outside!" He turned around to see the spirit approaching them from the entrance of the warehouse, a familiar dragonfly perched on his finger.

Kurofiru extended his hand and the dragonfly immediately fluttered towards him, landing on his palm. It clicked its mandibles together and he furrowed his brow in understanding.

"It found a possible location." He murmured quietly, but audible enough for the others to hear.

"Where?!" Rozu sprang to his feet, dropping the bandages in the process. "I'll go right away and grab her!"

"No, you won't!" Hinamori protested, fumbling as she tried to push herself to a seated position with her good arm. "Kurofiru-sama, this is nothing. I'm ready to go out!"

"No." They stiffened upon hearing his voice. As the dragonfly flew out of his hand, he placed his fingers over his face, a flurry of leaves forming a mask over his brow.

"You both stay here. I'm going to check this out myself to make sure this is true." His golden eyes flickered to the spirit, who regarded him with an amused smirk. "And you're staying here."

Honshoji gave him a playful pout. "Awwww, but I want to meet her and introduce myself!"

Seemingly ignoring him, he snapped his fingers, and a rush of leaves carried him into the night sky.

—-

The next morning, Satoru walked into the front entrance of the teacher's dormitory. He rubbed his eyes tiredly as he turned the corner to head towards his room before he faltered, seeing a familiar figure sitting in front of his door, holding a paper bag in her arms. His eyes widened upon recognition. "Qian?"

The girl appeared to have dozed off since she released a squeak in surprise, shooting her head up at the sound of her name. She blushed in embarrassment upon seeing the man, immediately scrambling to her feet as he approached her. "S-Sensei! S-So sorry to bother you but… I just came to return these."

Satoru suddenly felt speechless. He was not expecting to see her so soon, especially after the event that occurred last night…

Her moans were annoying… her skin wasn't as soft… her scent was completely different… her taste was sickening-

'She just…' He grimaced as she clung onto him desperately. '… wasn't her.'

"I'm sorry." Satoru pulled away from the red-haired woman, pushing himself off of her bosom as he sat on the edge of the bed, running his hands over his face.

"Babe? What's wrong, what is it?" She crawled over to him, sliding a manicured hand into his open collar.

As he remained silent, she caressed his exposed neck, showering his skin with kisses from her glossed lips.

Suddenly, he gently placed a hand on her shoulder, pushing her away. "Carina, you're great. But I'm sorry, this was a mistake." He rose to his feet, buttoning up his dress shirt fully. "Take care of yourself."

"Wait, Satoru- wha-?" He closed the door behind him.

And now, the girl who haunted his thoughts and mind was standing right in front of him. And he had no idea what to do. He gritted his teeth, his pulse quickening as he clenched his fingers.

He had no idea what to do.

Shit.

This same girl tilted her head quizzically as he continued staring down at her. He finally realized she was holding out the bag expectantly. "S-Sensei? Are you alright?"

"Y-Yeah… sorry." He shook his head and slowly unfurled his hand.

"I-It's the clothes you lent me. I washed and ironed them out, thank you for lending them to me. I really appreciate it-" She moved closer, gently pushing the bag into his chest, before trailing off as a blend of cinnamon and lavender wafted into her nose. I-Is that, perfume? Her eyes inadvertently roamed his body, and she felt her gut sink as she saw a couple of lipstick marks on his neck.

Ah, I see. She swallowed thickly, trying to find her voice as a lump formed in her throat. She took a step back. "O-Oh, you, um, must be getting back soon, I suppose."

He quirked a brow in confusion before he followed her line of sight, lifting a hand to touch the skin on his neck. He raised his finger, seeing the pink stain on his thumb. "Shit- no, this isn't-"

She bit her lip, her ears burning in embarrassment. I'm so stupid. What was I expecting? She began to turn away. "I-I should be going-"

"Wait-" She suddenly felt his hand close around her wrist, pulling her backwards and she snapped her gaze up at him in shock. Satoru looked equally appalled, realizing the unexpected gesture. He couldn't explain why, but upon seeing her turn away, he panicked and his body moved on its own.

This is a misunderstanding. Nothing happened. He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could utter a word, her eyes had traveled down to his hold, widening in horror upon seeing his injuries.

"W-What happened to your hand?!" He followed the girl's gaze towards his knuckles, which he had attempted to bandage with a few bandaids. Unfortunately, from his 'activity' the night before… a couple of them had fallen off.

"Nothing, I'm fine." He replied, immediately releasing his grasp before flexing his fingers. "I just had a run-in with… uh… an enemy." Which wasn't a complete lie.

Her logic screamed in her mind, telling her to leave, to walk away before he hurts her again. Just as she had deduced, their last encounter didn't mean anything. He definitely mistook her for someone else and, clearly, went out of his way to meet up with them last night.

Yet, despite all else, her sense of responsibility took over. Qian sighed, her warm palms immediately enveloping his hand. "I-I can patch this up, do you have a first aid kit?"

Satoru stiffened upon feeling her soft fingers. "I do. But Qian, it's fine-"

"L-Let me help you." She swallowed and tilted her chin up to face his, forcing her expression to be calm and mask her inner turmoil. "I-It's the least I can do after what you did for me."

Against his better judgment, knowing that having her alone with him in the same room again would not be a good idea, Satoru sighed in defeat. He reached into his back pocket with his good hand to grab the key and unlock his door. "Medicine cabinet in the bathroom."

She immediately went towards the bathroom and Satoru awkwardly shut the door behind him, feeling like a complete ass.

Wait, hang on, shouldn't she be… more affected after what happened? He rubbed the back of his neck. He couldn't even begin to explain how he felt about the current situation. But now that they were alone again, he couldn't help his own urges: from wanting to reach out to her once more, to hold her tightly in his arms, to do what he wanted to her-

"I-I found it!" She exclaimed as she came out of the bathroom, holding a little tin box in her hands. His impure thoughts immediately screeched to a halt as she walked towards him, setting the kit on top of the kitchen counter. "H-Here, let me see your hand."

He scrutinized her carefully as he held up his right hand. She immediately uncapped the disinfectant, dabbing the bottle with a cotton ball. "O-Okay, this will sting a little bit."

When she placed the wet cotton on his wound, he clenched his jaw. She glanced up at him apologetically. "S-Sorry, just need to add some cream and then we'll bandage it up."

As she continued working in silence, he was internally battling himself. How are you feeling? Are you alright? There were so many things he wanted to ask her. Yet, all he could do was just watch as she then squeezed out a drop of healing salve, gently soothing it over his knuckles.

Finally, he couldn't stop himself from opening his mouth. "I'm honestly surprised you're this calm being alone with me." Great. Smooth. Good one, Satoru.

Qian flinched before she gulped, continuing to open a roll of bandages. "W-What do you mean?"

He noted her ears had turned bright red and she kept her gaze down, staring at his hand. No doubt she was using that as an excuse to hide her face. He smirked victoriously. So she was affected, she's just trying to hide it.

"I mean, after what we did here last time." It took everything he had to stop himself from chuckling upon seeing her tremble, no doubt recalling the incident.

"O-Oh… that." He expected her to become flustered, flailing and stammering about like she did in the past. However, his eyes widened upon seeing her smile grimly, shaking her head. "I-I know that was an accident. It's ok."

His grin fell. "An accident?"

She nodded, her gaze still concentrating on wrapping his hand. "Y-Yeah. It's okay, I know it doesn't mean anything."

"What the hell do you mean?" His voice was eerily monotonous and the hairs on the back of her neck prickled, blood pounded in her ears as she noted that his hand stiffened underneath her touch. She inhaled nervously.

"I-It's just that… I was probably contagious and must have given you a fever… or something… you probably confused me with… someone else." Her voice dropped to a soft murmur. "L-Like Adalaine-san… or one of your other female… companions." Her irises inadvertently flickered towards the mark on his neck.

Are you fucking kidding me? His eyes darkened as he stared at her incredulously, remaining silent as his body stiffened. He suddenly felt pissed, even though part of him knew why she would think of him that way. After all, wasn't that exactly what he was trying to do last night? Thinking she was replaceable like some toy- a pang of shame stabbed into his chest.

But now… He knew that wasn't the case, and he was a complete idiot for trying. He continued watching her heatedly.

He needed to apologize and… understand himself.

—-

Upon feeling him tense, she quickly expedited her wrapping. A warning signal fired in the back of her mind, telling her to finish right now and leave, so she finally pinned the bandage together. "O-Okay, all done." She began to turn to the side, trying to roll up the remainder of the bandage and place it back in the first aid kid. "I-I'll just put this back-"

However, his warm hand suddenly grabbed her jaw, tilting her face upwards to crush his lips against hers.

She squeaked into his mouth. Again?! She immediately tried to smack his shoulder with a fist, before it was pinned to the counter in his grip. She raised her leg to stomp on his foot, but he shoved his knee between her thighs before using his arm to lift her onto the countertop, shifting himself in between her legs. Her cheeks darkened as she tried turning her face away, but he was relentless, grasping the back of her head and biting her tongue to stop her struggle.

Pleasure shot through every limb and she cursed her own body… and mind… for reacting like this to the man. She whimpered and he tempered his movements, nursing the inside of her mouth with his tongue. He released her wrist, his hand slowly moving up her hips to dive underneath the hem of her sweater to stroke her lower back. She couldn't help but release a moan as his fingers caressed and massaged her skin, leaving a trail of fire wherever he touched. Her eyes began to flicker shut, her trembling fingers gripping the front of his shirt.

However, just when she felt him slide a finger underneath the hooks of her bra, she widened her eyes and desperately shoved him back. "S-Sensei, please stop." She choked out, gasping for breath.

He sighed as she scrutinized him, pain and uncertainty glistening in her wide eyes. "I-I don't understand why you did this again."

"And you think I do?" He grabbed her hand roughly and she flinched, squeezing her eyes shut as she braced herself for yelling or scolding. Instead, however, he tugged it towards his upper neck, placing her fingers into his carotid artery. Upon feeling his rapid pulse throbbing underneath his skin, she peeked through her lashes, blinking in confusion.

"All I know is… this is what you do to me." He muttered, averting his gaze but keeping his hand over hers. "I don't know what this is. I really don't. But all I know is, this only happens with you now. No one else."

She snapped her head up in shock, and he turned to face her fully. Their eyes met as they wordlessly regarded each other. Her pounding heart echoed in her eardrums like thunder during a summer typhoon as her brain struggled to comprehend his words.

"I-It's because of adrenaline and hormones…." She whispered breathlessly in denial as she looked away, refusing to allow herself to hope for the impossible.

"No." He brushed her cheek with his thumb, gently tugging her face back towards him as he leaned in, resting his forehead against hers. "It's more than that."

She opened her mouth to argue when suddenly there was a random series of knocks on his door. He groaned, dropping his head into her shoulder. "I really need to get a 'Do Not Disturb' sign."

She blushed at the intimate gesture right as the knocking continued more harshly. "Oi! Sensei!" She immediately recognized Yuji's voice. "You're supposed to train us today!"

"Let's just go." Nobara's voice grumbled from behind the door. "This is the fifth time he's bailed, he's probably goofing off somewhere."

However, the knocking became frenzied, turning into full-on pounding and Satoru sighed, glancing up at the girl. "I have to deal with this."

"O-Of course!" She immediately squirmed, trying to climb off the counter, but he tightened his hold once more. Her cheeks reddened as she looked at him questioningly, only to let out a soft gasp as he captured her lips once more. Finally, he took a step back, smirking upon seeing her dazed expression.

"Do me a favor, wait ten minutes, then leave." He tucked a finger under her chin, gently closing her gaping jaw shut. "Let's try to avoid people asking unnecessary questions."

All she could do was nod in response and he headed towards the door. Throwing her one last glance, he turned the knob and stepped out, a wide smirk stretched upon his lips upon seeing the exasperated expressions of his students.

"Yes, yes, I'm a shitty teacher. Come on, let's go."