While doing work, I sighed, and muttered out "Haaaaah… Ichika is too cute."
Said girl turned to me from the other desk, where she was helping me out. A look of disbelief was on her face as she stared at me like I'd lost it. "Sensei… what are you saying?"
"I meant what I said. Ichika is too cute, I just wanna look at her instead of doing work."
She stared at me, a faint blush dusting her cheeks, as her wings twitched. "I bet you say that to all the girls, don't you?"
"Yep. But I mean what I said."
"You idiot…" She turned away from me, but I could see the blush still lingering on her cheeks.
"Well, I don't mind being the younger one in the relationship…"
"Did you say something?"
"Nope!" She said cheerfully.
"Ichikaaaa…" I laid across her lap on the sofa.
"What's wrong now, Sensei?" An inquisitive look was on her face as she tried to puzzle out what had set me off this time. "Ah, is it the work that Rin gave you?"
"She's trying to work me to death!" I raised my hand in the air dramatically, before letting it fall back on my face. I started whining to her. "I finish one stack and another comes in… I don't finish a stack and another comes in… I go to eat and another stack comes in… it's killing me! I just wanna relax…"
Sighing, she put on a comforting smile, before gently patting my head. As I instinctively leaned in to her touch, I heard her start speaking. "Don't worry Sensei, she's not giving you work now~"
I laid there on her lap for who knows how long, melting in her touch like a cat.
"Pervert! Weirdo! Death penalty!"
As Koharu went into another diatribe against Hanako's latest antic (lifting up her skirt to show her swimsuit), the rest of the Make-Up Work Club giggling at the adorable little cherub as she raged on at the breach of morals caused by the menace against common sense, I felt the edges of my mouth tug itself into a smile, even as I felt the stares of the Trinity students passing us by as we walked on one of the many gardened streets.
Then I suddenly felt something incredibly cold on the back of my neck, and let out a shrill shout of surprise.
"Sensei?!" Azusa was the first to react, whipping around while raising her gun. "What was that scream?!"
"I didn't scream! It was a shout of surprise!" Vehemently denying the accusation, I turned to face my attacker. "And that was mean, Ichika!"
Trying to look as innocent as possible while holding an ice cold cola in her hand, the dark-haired girl stared at me like I'd gone mad through slit-eyes. "Mean? I did nothing though?" The teasing lilt in her voice showed her lack of remorse though. She held out the cola in her hand. "I just happened to see you, and thought you'd want a drink."
"I-ichika senpai!" Koharu, startled by the sudden appearance of one of her JTF seniors, scrabbled to regain her composure like she wasn't just yelling at the top of her lungs a minute ago. Meanwhile, the target of her ire raised her hand and gave a small wave to Ichika, the glint in her eyes promising many an interesting moment.
"Hi Koharu. It's tough dealing with Hanako, right?" Ichika gave a nervous laugh. "Hi Hanako. Still going around naked in the middle of the night?"
All of us other than the two of them whipped our heads around to stare at Hanako. Said pinkette just stood there, a pout on her face. "It was just once, Ichika! And I wasn't naked, I was in my swimsuit!"
"Just once that we caught you, you mean. I've heard the rumours about someone bathing in the fountain…" Hearing this, Hanako gave her a sorrowful moan, wiping a mock tear from her eye. "Oh, is a member of the JTF going to accuse an innocent like me without any proof? My, how depressing, to imagine a member of such an elite organisation resorting to such means to reassure the public they're doing their jobs… boo hoo."
All of us could see the smile hiding behind the crocodile tears. Deciding to ignore her, Ichika turned to face the rest of us. "I've known her since we were first years… so last year. We share classes and stuff." Gesturing towards Hanako, all of us understood what she meant by 'stuff'.
"Anyways!" Raising the drink towards me, Ichika waggled it in my face. "Are you going to deny a gift from your student, Sensei?" A self-satisfied smirk was on her face, and if I could see her eyes through her eyelids I knew I'd see a spark of mischief in them.
So I decided to do something of my own. Taking the drink, I popped it open, and took a gulp, before holding it out to Ichika. "Thanks Ichika. Do you want a sip? It's your money, after all." I heard a gasp from the peanut gallery, and an 'Ara~' from Hanako, but I kept my gaze on Ichika to see how she'd reac-
Without any hesitation, she took the can from my hand, pulled me in close, and kissed me on the mouth. I heard scandalized shrieks as I savoured the feeling of Ichika's tongue, the taste of cocoa strong on her lips - she'd probably had one when she saw us passing by and thought of this scheme.
Letting me go, she handed me back the can. Eyes wide open, she gave me a playful smile as she looked into my eyes with those beautiful violet pupils of hers. "Let's consider that payment for the drink, Sensei." She gave me a wink, and walked off, leaving everyone (including Hanako) stunned.
Meanwhile, I just admired the way she strutted off, the way her hips swayed as she walked. I didn't know what I'd done to deserve a beautiful girl like her, but damn, did I love her.