Nosebleeds and the Mustachioed Teacher
Mustache... nosebleed...? Anyway, since her condition seemed a bit off, I set the doll down on the desk and asked if she was okay.
"You okay?"
Even as I asked about her state, the blood kept pouring from her nose, forming a little puddle.
Who knew that much blood could come out of a person's nose.
"I-I'm fine... I guess I overdid it a bit yesterday."
She brushed off my hand like it was nothing and bolted to the bathroom.
I wondered if I should follow, but since she said she was fine, it felt awkward to butt in.
Come to think of it, I had something in my bag for this. I should give it to her when she gets back.
Five minutes later, she returned from the bathroom.
"Sorry for worrying you."
She gave a wry smile, pulling a wet wipe from her bag to clean up the blood she'd spilled.
"Here, take this at least."
"What's this...?"
"Iron supplements."
It might not be enough on its own, but better than nothing.
She looked a little dubious but accepted the pill from me and swallowed it.
"You always carry stuff like this around?"
"Hospital bills are insane overseas, so it's good to have some on hand."
"Ah~"
This backstory is turning out more useful than I thought.
I'd thrown it in without much consideration, but it was giving me excuses left and right.
In my association days, carrying meds like this made things way easier, so the habit stuck.
Thankfully, she bought it without suspicion, swallowed the pill, and soon her complexion improved.
It wasn't some miracle cure, but taking medicine probably gave her a bit of peace of mind.
"Feeling more alive now that I took it. Thanks!"
"Glad it helped."
At least I'd been useful to her. I'd already gotten the English Lavender doll—if I couldn't even do this much, I'd feel bad for no reason.
Time passed, and before I knew it, the classroom filled with other kids. The once-quiet room turned rowdy in an instant.
"Good morning!"
"Oh, hey?"
Yena, who'd stood out big-time on day one, was surprisingly fitting in with the others.
Usually, kids who draw that much attention on the first day get shunned by groups, but they welcomed her right in.
Maybe things were still awkward between everyone, but at least it seemed like a good start.
♪~
Then, the bell rang over the classroom speakers.
At the sound, the other kids reflexively stopped chatting and headed to their seats.
Morning homeroom time.
Drag.
Soon, our homeroom teacher entered.
She wore a black suit, her purple hair swaying as she stood at the front of the board. After about ten seconds of awkward silence, she finally spoke.
"Uh, good morning, everyone... Hope you're all doing well...?"
""...""
No one answered, and she looked a bit deflated, but she recovered quickly and moved on to the schedule.
"Yes... It's Monday today. Start of the week, and your first day back, so... we'll just do roll call for now...."
She opened the attendance book in her hand and started calling names slowly.
"Kang Ji-won."
"Here."
"Kim Na-eun."
"Here."
Yawn...
The super boring homeroom had me yawning before I knew it.
I covered my mouth on reflex, but I couldn't hide the sound.
Not just the kids around me—even our homeroom teacher, right in front of me, shot me a glare.
"Kim Do-yoon."
"Here."
Shoot.
I immediately apologized with my eyes, and only then did she look away.
"Kim Yena."
"Yes!!!"
This body is way higher-maintenance than I thought.
I need over eight hours of sleep or I'm yawning nonstop every morning. Skip a sweet cake for even a day, and I can't focus. And if I so much as touch caffeine—the modern person's blood—my heart starts racing like crazy.
"Lee Sea."
Like giving an old house to a toad and getting a new one with a ton of defects—
"Lee Sea."
Ah.
"Here."
Our homeroom teacher's kinda scary in a weird way.
At first, her gloomy vibe made me wonder if she was really the teacher, but seeing her glare at me now—
"Please end quick please end quick please end quick please end quick please end quick."
Ah.
She's just scary to look at, period.
Relieved I hadn't pissed off the teacher, I sighed in relief and waited for homeroom to end.
"Huh Seungju."
"Here."
With that, she closed the attendance book.
Finally over.
"Yes... That wraps up morning homeroom. Any questions...?"
One kid in the front row raised their hand at her words.
I didn't know them, but their face was full of dissatisfaction.
"How are we doing seat assignments?"
Ah.
She probably wasn't happy with her current spot.
Reactions in the class split every which way.
"Don't change 'em, teach~"
The kids who liked their seats—mostly in rows four and five.
But they were the minority.
"When do we switch?"
"How're you assigning?"
"First-come-first-served is unfair!"
The front- and middle-seaters drowned them out.
"Seat assignments... we'll do them during my class later.... By drawing lots...."
Of course, the teacher's method satisfied the majority.
""Woooah!!!!!!!!!!!!""
The loudest cheer I'd heard in the class so far.
That exciting, huh? Seats didn't really matter to me.
♪~
Soon, the end-of-homeroom bell rang out.
"Yes... Good luck, everyone... Time schedule's posted up front—check it out...."
Drag.
With that, the homeroom teacher left, and the class erupted into chatter instantly.
"What's first period?"
"History, I think?"
"Anyone hear from seniors!?"
My neighbor seemed to be prepping for the next class, so I did the same half-heartedly and pulled out my phone.
"..."
The first thing I saw when I turned it on was Sofia.
Snoring away peacefully, totally conked out. It kinda pissed me off.
Some of us are dragging ourselves to school for boring classes, and she's just napping comfy in someone else's phone during that time.
Anyway, even poking the SD character on my wallpaper didn't wake her—she just kept sleeping like nothing.
Unfair.
I gave up disturbing her sleep and inspected the phone itself.
What was up with it devouring that magic stone last time?
About four months since contracting with Sofia, and I still didn't know much about her.
This phone was the one I'd been using; she just hijacked it on her own. And that led to the magic stone incident.
Nothing looked off on the surface—no weird features or anything.
Just the giant phone I'd been using for over five years, bigger than my palm.
"Sigh..."
Thinking about it left a heavy feeling, but I'd trust her for now.
She'd definitely saved my life, so I'd go along with her for the time being.
I hoped we could skip clichés like "turns out the mascot's the real villain" from old anime.
Magical girl mascots didn't even exist in this world anyway.
♪~
The bell for first period rang, and the rowdy class fell into quiet as it faded.
This was history, right?
I glanced at the schedule on the board but didn't prep much. Maybe just pulling out the textbook.
First-day classes were usually OT anyway, and I doubted we'd even open it.
When the clock's second hand hit seven, the door opened, and a teacher walked in.
Drag.
I straightened up to check their face and looked at the podium—
?
What the...?
Neatly combed forelocks and a yellow suit that almost looked like a uniform.
Clack.
His eyes were bigger than typical Asian features, nose a bit more upturned—like some Western mix.
Clack.
But the most striking thing: the neat mustache under his nose.
At this point, it was impossible to play dumb.
"What the heck is that...?"
"Isn't that 'that guy'...?"
Whispers rippled through the students.
Clack.
Clear shoe clicks with every step.
Clack.
He stopped at the final step, and the class went dead silent. Then he spoke.
"Greetings, students."
He wrote his name on the board.
Kim Tler
"Lest any missed it, I shall introduce myself once more!"
His tone was aggressive, sharp.
"Pleased to meet you, students! I am Kim Tler! I shall be your history teacher for the coming year!"
Did you flunk art school and fall back on teachers' college, sir?