Chapter 4: First Impressions
After he left the music club room, Ren went back to his classroom hoping to find a well known energetic girl. When he reached the second years floor, he spotted the person he was looking for in the hallway, so he decided to call for her.
"Hey, Sakagami-san!" When Shigure heard her name being called from afar she started looking for the owner of that voice. After looking for several seconds, she spotted Ren at the stairs and with a smile, she dashed towards him.
"Ahh, Ren-chan! Fancy meeting you here~" She said with an energetic tone while Ren returned the greeting.
"What's up, Actually I was looking for you." Shigure tilted her head.
"Huh? For me? What is it?" After hearing that he was indeed looking for her, she started questioning Ren while joyfully jumping.
"I was hoping that you could help me with something, are you busy right now?" Ren asked with a comprehensive expression on his face. Shigure quickly shook her head.
"Nononono, I'm like super free right now! Yeah, of course I'll help Ren-chan." Ren smiled awkwardly after hearing her replying nonstop.
"Is that so? Great, then come with me to the music club room." Ren hurried her to follow him as soon as she accepted his request. Shigure also didn't lost time and started walking alongside Ren. After starting their walk, Shigure started feeling confused, Ren couldn't help but ask her what happened.
"Nothing happened, it's just that..." Ren raised an eyebrow as if telling her to elaborate.
"Isn't the music room unused? I don't remember any music club being formed this year..." Shigure had a confused expression while Ren sighed, something like 'That was it?'.
"I know what you mean, after all, I thought that too at first." Ren said to Shigure who opened her eyes in surprise.
"Ohh then the club—!" Before Shigure could finish her sentence, Ren explained what he meant.
"That's not it, sorry I didn't finished explaining—Ren briefly apologized—It seems that the room is being used by another club, well, a circle in this case."
"Ohhh, that makes sense, sorry for jumping to a conclusion." Shigure timidly gave an apologize, and Ren just waved his hand meaning 'Don't worry about it'.
"What kind of circle uses the old music room I wonder...?" Shigure started daydreaming while they walked, and after a couple of minutes, they reached their destination.
"Here it is Sakagami-san, let's enter." Shigure nervously tried to stop Ren from abruptly entering the room without knocking, but Ren was faster than her.
*SLIDE~* "—Pardon my intrusion..." After her efforts were in vain, Shigure quickly mimicked Ren with a nervous 'P-Pardon my intrusion~'.
Michiru, who continued pleasingly reading her book after Ren departed, noticed the boy and the girl who had just entered the room, and with a pleasant *PLOP*, she closed her book once again.
"My my, welcome back Kanzaki-san, Certainly I thought that you would dump me and wouldn't come back." With a soft smile and gentle voice, Michiru throw that bomb over Ren without even noticing. Shigure couldn't let this pass.
"E-EHHHH?! W-W-What does that girl mean Ren-chan?! Dump her? You of all people have a girlfriend?! Unbelievable!" Shigure started hyperventilating while throwing questions one after the other. While she was grabbing Ren from his necktie, he turned to see Michiru, who had a confused expression on her face.
'Looks like she didn't even noticed that what she just said had a really suggestive ring to it... Arisaka-senpai might be a little dense...' thought Ren while cold sweat ran through his forehead.
"Okay, I want to clarify that Arisaka-senpai OBVIOUSLY didn't know what she just said, so don't jump into conclusions Sakagami-san, and second, why would it be rare for me to have a girlfriend? I'm still a healthy boy." Although Ren intended to sound offended, his expressionless face didn't helped him, Shigure could only laugh apologetically.
"But you know, we are talking about THE Kanzaki Ren here, everyone would have thought the same!" Shigure quickly tried to defend herself.
"...Okay, I don't really mind what the people think of me, so lets forget about that, right now—" Ren sighed and turned once again to see Michiru, who was out of the conversation until a couple of seconds ago, watching them curiously.
"Oh, don't mind me, I was just listening to your conversation, it was really amusing, fufu." Michiru chuckled a little after listening to her underclassmen's interaction.
"Sorry about that senpai, she can be a little hot-headed sometimes" Ren apologized in a low voice to Michiru for Shigure's behavior, receiving an 'I don't mind it at all' from Michiru's part.
"Well, it might be a bit late to say it but, Arisaka-senpai she is Sakagami-san, a classmate of mine." Ren introduced Shigure to Michiru while urging the former with his eyes to introduce herself.
"A-Ah yes! Nice to meet you senpai, I'm Sakagami Shigure from class 2-E." After Shigure's introduction, Michiru just smiled softly.
"The pleasure is mine Sakagami-san, my name is Arisaka Michiru from class 3-B, nice to make your acquaintance." After her polite and sophisticate introduction, Michiru finished with a deep bow, leaving Shigure astonished for a brief moment.
"Y-Yes, likewise." Michiru was standing up once again and after finishing their introductions, she suggested taking a seat.
While sitting, Shigure asked Michiru about the circle, like why did she created it or what was her goal. Michiru explained the exact same things that she explained to Ren, never forgetting to use her peculiar manner of speech. After she informed Shigure about the circle itself, she explained what did she intended to do about Mikagi Sora.
"Umm, Ren-chan...?" Shigure asked Ren to elaborate, she didn't really know what does SHE have to do with Sora in the first place, not that they spoke to each other before.
"Oh yeah about that, I was hoping that you could help us making a plan to make Mikagi-san join the circle." Ren explained what he and Michiru were trying to do.
"I would very much appreciate it if you could lend us your assistance, Sakagami-san." Michiru added with a pleading face and even Shigure, who was a girl herself, had a hard time not blushing when she saw Michiru like that.
"W-Well, since you need my help I would very much have to obligue" She turned her red-colored face to the side while accepting to help with the matter.
"Thanks Sakagami-san, that would be really helpful." Ren thanked her with a sincere smile.
"Thank you very much Sakagami-san, you are really kind." Michiru complimented her with a big smile on her face, making the blushing purple eyed girl more embarrassed.
"W-What is this? Even Ren-chan compliments me...? Guihihi" Shigure started laughing shyly while touching her cheeks with both hands.
"No I didn't, I just thanked you, don't blend my words like that..." With another sigh, Ren complained in a low voice that only Michiru heard.
"Oh come on Kanzaki-san, don't be like that, let Sakagami-san be, fufu." Michiru playfully reprimanded Ren while letting a small chuckle left her mouth.
"Sigh... Fair enough." Ren smiled awkwardly but agreed with Michiru.
For a couple of minutes, Shigure kept embarrassingly covering her face while Ren and Michiru watched her with gentle faces.
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"Fuuuahh... I finally finished!" With a loud voice, Nagi stretched herself on her chair. After Ren left the teacher's office earlier, she was all pumped up and started working at record speed, but that only lasted like 20 minutes, so the rest of the time she was working with willpower alone.
"Thanks for your hard work Kanasuke-sensei." Endou-sensei said with an apologetic smile when he saw Nagi slumped on her desk with a tired face.
"Haha, good job as always Nagi." Another female teacher couldn't stop herself from making a comment while patting the lifeless Nagi on the back.
"Kazuhooo~ I'm beat..."
Nagi cried to the other female teacher, Natsuri Kazuho, a 28 year old Japanese teacher, and a friend of Nagi since college. They were classmates and both wanted to become teachers, although at different subjects, they developed a strong friendship since then, and as of today, they continue being close friends. Nagi always goes to Kazuho when she has a problem or something's on her mind but, unlike Nagi, Kazuho is extremely experienced when it comes to men, already having countless lovers and the sort, but not a single one has been able to close the deal with her(marriage). Thanks to this, Nagi often comes to Kazuho for love advice, but thanks to Nagi's shyness (or Kazuho's boldness), she is never able to seduce a man, not to mention dating.
"There, there." Kazuho just continued stroking Nagi's back while tenderly comforting her.
"Oh yeah, Kanasuke-sensei." Endou apparently remembered something as he called out for Nagi.
"What is it, Endou-sensei?" Nagi raised her head from her desk and looked at Endou with a curious expression on her face.
"I heard from Kanzaki-san that you asked him to come to the teacher's office, did something happened?" Endou asked with a worried expression, he is a kind teacher that really cares for his students.
"Uhh, Kanzaki-san...? Ah! That's the boy you're always talking about, right Nagi?" At first Kazuho didn't remembered the name 'Kanzaki' because Ren doesn't really stick out in the first place, but after thinking a little bit more, she remembered Nagi talking about a 'Kanzaki Ren' when they were in Kazuho's house.
"Wha—?! What are you talking about Kazuho! Don't make it sound like I'm always thinking about Re— I mean, Kanzaki-kun!" When she heard the suggestive tone that had, Nagi quickly shook her head while a deep crimson appeared on her cheeks.
"Hahaha, what's with that reaction Nagi? I'm joking, I'm joking, come on don't act like an adolescent girl who her crush discovered looking at him." Kazuho laughed wholeheartedly while apologizing to Nagi.
"Geez... Kanzaki-kun it's just my student, don't try to make it sound like there is something between us." Nagi pouted because of Kazuho's teasing, receiving an 'I'm sorry' from her.
"Um, Kanasuke-sensei?" Endou, who had been forgotten until now, called again for Nagi.
"A-Ahh! I'm sorry Endou-sensei, we were talking about Kanzaki-kun yeah? I called him because I asked him to help me with something related to the circle I'm an advisor of." Nagi quickly elaborated, trying to solve Endou's past question, he just nodded in understanding.
"I see... well, as long as it's not anything bad, then I'm relived." Endou calmly sighed and decided to continue working, leaving the two females to themselves. When Nagi saw Endou resuming his work, she turned to glare at Kazuho.
"Come on, don't give me that look Nagi, I'm just messing aroung with you." Kazuho quickly tried to calm Nagi.
"...Just to be clear, I'm not always talking about Kanzaki-kun." Nagi replied to Kazuho with a pouty face.
"Don't be ridiculous Nagi, that boy is all you talk about, 'Ren-kun this', 'Ren-kun that', whoever hears you talking about him would think you're talking about your boyfriend or something." Nagi started blushing again when she heard Kazuho mimicking her.
"B-B-Boyfriend?! Now YOU don't be ridiculous Kazuho, he's like twelve years younger than me!" Kazuho looked at her with a face that said 'What happened to all that he is my student stuff?'.
"So what? You're still young and pretty Nagi, you should go get yourself a man before you turn 30." Nagi nervously listened to everything Kazuho said, while thinking herself 'Isn't that too soon?!'.
"Well, personally I don't take into account younger boys, because they are really immature and they always try to show off, but—Kazuho continued talking while Nagi just looked at her with pink colored cheeks—That boy is different, I don't know exactly why, but he gives me that 'grown up' aura." Nagi opened her eyes in surprise after hearing her friend's words, but shortly after, she nodded.
"...I think so too." When she heard Nagi, Kazuho looked at her, asking her to continue.
"The look in his eyes, is the look of a person who had seen the worst, someone who was forced to 'grow up'." Nagi finished giving her impressions of Ren, and after brief moments, Kazuho replied.
"Yeah, you're right, but you know what?"
"Huh...?" Nagi just stared at Kazuho.
"He also looks like a dependable man, so I think I can leave Nagi-tan to him without worries, don't you think so?" Kazuho looked at Nagi with a mischievous smile adorning her face, earning a sigh and a single 'I can't win against you' from her old friend.
"Well, enough talk for now Kazuho, you still have work to do, if you have the energy to tease me, wouldn't it be better to use it for working?" Kazuho sighed with a smile on her face.
"Dodging the question huh? Well, I'll force it out of you later." That said, Kazuho returned to her desk to finish her remaining work, while Nagi stood there.
'I hope that Ren-kun can learn to enjoy his school life, he's always with an expression that lacks of feelings, that's why...—Nagi thought of the music club room for a second—I want it to succeed.' With lingering thoughts, Nagi continued spending time on the teachers office.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
N3RU
N3RU Hello everybody.
I'm fully aware that this chapter was more focused between the teachers talk rather than Ren's meeting with Michiru and Shigure. I did this because I just wanted to introduce Michiru and Shigure, while talking a little bit of Nagi herself, along with their impressions of Ren, who as you can see, It's seen as an inexpressive person, that's the mainly reason, also, Rin didn't appeared at all in this chapter, that's okay, she'll appear on the story.
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