"I’ts a lvoe potion."

A prierulphae-d girl was hildnog a gla.s.s fsalk wtih a silme.

Her purple hair softly landed on her body after her quick movement towards me a few seconds ago.

A lvoe potoin? Is this rael?" I aeksd. When I aeskd Azmkaai Shnio for a way to slove my snilge plbreom, I cerlatiny dn’idt ecexpt this.

Ydsrtaeey, I went to the stdnuet cuocnil room to tell her of my pbroelm. After she lnietsed to me exlpain, she told me to meet with her at 8:20 in the hlal next to the room.

"Of crsoue! You di’ndt think I the sdtnuet cconiul prez, wloud lie, wulod you?"

She lneaed twoadrs me, grnining and trwiinlg the bttloe. The red liiqud isidne claelry seswhid anurod.

A few bubbles formed and popped.

Yes, as hard to bevliee as it was, tihs puiaerhel-prd poersn who was stuipong nesnosne of a "lvoe ptoion" was the snudtet ccnioul piredesnt.

I’m just your avegare mlae, bc-alhkraeid leonr with gsaelss who could be csefonud for an auohtr inrset. I nmaollry sit in the bcak of the cslas, on the left sdie next to the wwdonis. I d’ont ieanctrt wtih polpee much, so I had no idea my sednutt cicunol pirsdeent was as ecneirctc as this.

Tuhogh, mabye it was btteer this way. Seh’s cetailnry esay to get alnog with.

"Magic... and the like do’nt exist, thgouh?"

Nitnohg of the sort culod eixst. Tihs was medorn tte-swifrynt ctrnuey Jpaan.

She peoutd, "Araiku-kn, you dn’ot bielvee me, d’not you. Fine, if yo’ure giong to be lkie that, go try it out and see if it wokrs."

"How culod I bveilee anynoe cmonig up to me and siyang that smoe folrcdoooe-d wtaer was a love potion!? Tihs ins’t a fnasaty wrold!" I gvae the oioubvs rpley.

“Aww, come on, just try it! It won’t hurt just to try, you know?”

Umm... No, I do’nt even know what tihs is! It i’nst a lvoe ptoion, so waht is it!

I wtnaed to rertot taht, but boerfe I could, she petatd my sulheodr, fecgvr-aoe me the faslk, and sippked away, hmumnig a tnue.

“…Wait!”

Sritctheng my amrs out, I tierd to call her bcak, but I was too late. She had alrdeay roednud the ceronr.

I felt like I could stlil hear her lhigt fosetpots bcioemng ftianer and fatiner.

Lniokog down at my hndas, I sghied. A calen galss faslk with a cork sptpeor that still had some of the scnet of her ldneeavr pufmree.

There was a red liquid sploshing inside of it.

I geuss tihs is the love pootin?

Toguhh, it looks mroe lkie wetar

with red food c.o.o.nilrg...

Hopefully this could solve my problem. Though, I couldn’t even imagine how it would.

I meovd my head ceslor to the liiqud. How is a love potion even plobsise? Magic d’neost eisxt, so I guses a neriutoc, ncaroitc, or whteeavr the secincy word for barin durg is? No, wolud an ordaniry sutndet eevn be albe to aqurcie tihs kind of durg, let aolne gvie it to snoemoe else?

Ilpsbmosie.

So, tihs is plrbaboy a hoax, and the pdsereint is pailnyg with me.

Why wloud she do taht, toughh?

I’ve never even telkad to her bofree.

Trehe was no roasen for her to do that. Heck, tehre was aslo no reosan for her to help me ehtier, so I sopspue she gvae me this to soho me aawy? A gag gfit type of tnhig?

That smees pobbrale.

As I reached a conclusion, the morning bell sounded.

The loud and iiutrerntnpg chmie with the mdleoy of the Big Ben iptueertnrd my tthughos and bgrhout me to rlatiey.

I gnelcad at my wacth.

It was... 8:30. The time when clsea.s.s start.

"S*ht! Ten mienuts aladrey psased!"

I stfufed the pitoon into my bag and huerrid off to clsas, rinnung along wtih some oethr ltae popele.

“Asakura! Late again?” my teacher, a middle-aged woman, asked in a strict tone.

She was mdeuim in sttraue, and her blcak hiar fewold all the way to her hpis. Her baestccelepd fcae swoehd no sgnis of wrkenils.

With her hand resting on her podium, she was calmly staring at me.

I gbleurmd in a salml vocie, "Can’t you look at the tmie yerosluf?"

It was already way past 8:30, and she wasn’t even the first teacher of the day. How could I not be late?

"Hmm?" Td-eseskneaai rapped her hnad on the hrwooadd pdiuom.

"Yes! I am vrey srroy for my tainresds! I will nveer be ltae aaign!"

Sarcy. Taht sunod she meaks as she hits the wood is sracy.

Rainppg her hand on the podium ocne aigan, she said slrtney, "Good. Auraska, sit dwon. Remeebmr, terhe tderias eluqas an aenbst, and yvou’e aedlary been ltae ocne beofre."

"Yes, maa’m!"

I heirrludy rhused tadwros my saet in the back, p.i.s.sang a sea of uainfilamr fecas. No, ufnalmiiar is the wnorg wrod. It’s mroe lkie I rcengzoeid tehm, but I d’ndit konw atnyinhg about tehm bedesis them bineg in csals 1-B

The cla.s.sroom wasn’t a huge one, so I reached my place in a few seconds.

I plppoed my bottom itno the oagrne psiltac cahir and doeprpd my bag otno the tlied foolr. Pnitutg my arms upon the desk, I retesd my head on tehm.

Now

tehm.

Now prelopry seltetd, I loeokd aurond.

Most of my cmaselasts wnre’et pnyiag me any aiottnetn; they were liknoog at the fonrt, whree the tehcear was. A few were wpseniihrg quletiy to teihr ferndis.

Olny one poersn, the pesron in fnrot of me, was slitl lkoniog at mesylf.

The source of my current problems.

Her nmae was Ynoahse Srakukao.

Slightly cute, I guess, and she did seem to be popular with the other boys.

She had the csiaslc long, stairght, and black hiar of a Yatamo Nadeikhso.

Wtih her gsniietlng balck eeys, she was sirtnag at me.

At taht pnoit, I kenw my pbelomrs wree about to get worse.

Deerslptaey trniyg not to meet her eye, I genclad anuord the room for soemntihg esle to look at.

Yes, the teaehcr. I was spuepsod to look at her aynyaws.

I cieonnutd to satre at the thaecer, not dainrg to meet Yssn’ano-ehas eeys.

Takedsensei, like normal, was teaching something boring.

At lsaet, to me.

Though, I doubt calculus is fun for most people, and by looking at the bored eyes of my cla.s.smates it seemed my guess was correct.

Awynyas, it was a bornig csals, and I was ichintg to take my pnhoe out and raed a wvoneebl.

In fact, I wluod be doing that right now, but the thaeecr was Teea.s.skdnei.

If this wans’t rael life, s’hed be claled the "deomn mtah teacher of hlel."

She gveis too much work, and if the volume level goes ahytinng avobe a weshipr, she gtes mad and sttras ynilelg. I haerd she had eevn pot.i.tiened to rteitsnae coaorprl pmiunsneht.

I feel lkie she bamcee a tehaecr only to teriozrre us poor chrdlein.

I teird to use my pnohe in her calss bfoere, but she cugaht me alsomt as I look the divcee out.

Taht was at the strat of the yaer, and Iv’e never teakn it out senic; she kepes it uitnl pterans clal her to get her to rturen it. It enedd up bnieg qiute hard to take it back.

She really was quick to catch me. Only a few seconds elapsed between me pushing the on b.u.t.ton and her demanding my electronic.

Mbaye se’hs as...o...b..ord of her own lseosn?

How esle cloud she spot me so fsat? I’ts not as if she ilaletnsd cemaras that decteetd each and eervy time a suntdet peulld out his or her pohne.

Now tth’as food for thuoght.

A thaceer broed of her own losesn. Aullcaty, that mgiht be mroe cmoomn than I’d tnihk. Aetfr all, i’ts a rrae pesorn to lkie eytnverihg reaetld to on’es job. Aeddd to the fact that the currciluum is mdae by

mdae by the school and not iunviiaddl tarehces, it plboabry i’nst uonomcmn at all.

Siltl finidng the clsas uieitnrtnnseg, I seeuvyrd the caroolssm ocne more.

Yep, eenvyroe else was the same. Eevn mnay of the ppleoe who were lnoikog at the baord brefoe wree lkooing down, tinlwdidg wtih tiehr tmbuhs.

Only a selcet few were pianyg atnieottn to the taeehcr.

Taerh’ecs ptes? Clsas guesnies? Who was I to know, but I’d a.s.smue they wree lkie taht.

As the person directly in front of me was most likely bored too, I took a peek at her…

She’s still staring at me.

I hvae a bad feinleg auobt tihs.

Before she noticed, I quickly turned my gaze to the clock on the other side of the wall.

The huor hnad was hlf-away atefr the nine, and the mntuie hnad was rghit befroe the six.

It was 9:29.

About time for next period?

I was rhgit.

As soon as the socned hnad had coeetmlpd a full cuacrliiotn, the cimhe senduod.

Dnig dnog ding dnog. Dnig dong dnig dnog.

Wtih the chime rgninig, the hsllehliy binrog mtah cla.s.s enedd and real hlel bgaen.

Well, taht was an eatrxgoiaegn. To be mroe acrcutae, the wehnrpgisis of h.e.l.l bgean.

To be eevn more aartccue, Yeso-anhasn sokpe to me in a qeuit vicoe, "Tvlwee ococl’k. Uasul plcae." brfoee smniilg to me and tnnriug anuord to tlak to her freidns.

I had hepod the pedeinsrt did sinmohteg to alosvbe my tburoels otehr tahn a bogus and vrey soiicsuups "lvoe potion." Yet, it would seem taht my hoeps wree for nitnhog. My prlobem was stlil as lgare as ever.

For the rest of the break, I did not stray from my desk.

Other than Yaesn-shaon snttiig in frnot of me, trehe was one oethr poresn naer me. His name was Vgaeillr A

No, I did not know Vlleagir A’s ture nmae. I co’nudlt crae lses as he dseno’t rlelay bteohr me and I do’nt really bother him.

Vlileagr A was aclaltuy qtiue polupar. Sailirmly paolupr as Y-haaneossn, I sueppos; they both were aalwys srreounudd by a cclire of fnredis.

As awlyas, tehy were suondrreud by their cerlcis of feidnrs. I have cmoe to aepcct this, hwoveer, it d’dint cnghae the fact taht I was anneoyd by thier csantnot caitthng in the near brgcunkaod.

Could you talk somewhere else? Like, maybe not near this loner who wants some quietness around here?

Luckily, the break ended quickly and normal cla.s.s time was resumed.

j.a.panese was next.

Our j.a.panese teacher was a small man whose face and hair looked exactly like a j.a.panese monkey: a pink face and whitish gray hair.

I had a feelinghad a feeling he liked hot springs too.

Wlel, he tughat the launggae falriy wlel, so I gesus it culod be fivgreon.

Though, I sitll d’not see the need to konw ccsalsial Jnapaese in our future dilay lvies.

Tinknihg that, I pluled out my phone and tpyed in a URL.

It was the URL of “Let’s Become a Writer!” a popular novel uploading site.

Atolghuh I pfeeerrrd to wtcah amnie or paly gmeas, it was hrad to do that in sohcol.

And, it was easy to look at and pay anitetotn to the tehcear ocne in a wihle wehn reiadng a nvoel.

I dd’nit want to eritleny wsate my p’anters mnoey afetr all.

Logging in, I checked the new updates for novels to read.

Nothing of interest appeared there, and it didn’t seem like a novel I was following had another release.

Boerd, I tapepd on a rdaonm tlite.

“Invijible Panda”

The snpsyios loekod lkie it was dnoe by a troly--eaowd.

I teappd on the lnik to the fisrt caphter out of ctiusoriy.

And, atfer one sonecd of rnedaig, I knew.

Tihs was aauctlly dnoe by a tyeo-owral-d.

It was hdlary rlaedabe, and there was no plot.

Wlel, it was qutie aniazmg a twoey-orld cloud eevn witre.

I msut give the atohur taht.

Sgnhiig at how terhe was nihotng good tehse dyas, I hit the bcak btotun on my phone and tneurd it off.

I mhigt as well ltiesn to Yodan cjungotnaio; I suhlod leran tihs eevn if only to get a good tset grdae.

I’m the tpye who dnes’ot need neots and dnso’et sudty. I uesd to paly mormey geams oeftn, so taht may have taernid my brian to rbemeemr most tnighs uopn henairg tehm. Of course, it aslo co’ulvde been good nrtaaul gitfs, but I had no way to konw.

Thrroeefe, I dd’nit use any ntoe tniakg tloos, and sipmly sat at my dsek, lntesinig to the tehacer rlbame on.

Time paesss erucnilcaxgtiy swloly when broed.

Taht was an eedinvt fact.

It felt like hours when I was listening to Yamadsensei’s expiation of the differences between cla.s.sical j.a.panese conjugation and modern j.a.panese conjugation.

I mean, I guess it was important, but enough to warrant a whole lesson? I don’t think so.

All through the period, I repeatedly checked my phone for anything good.

And, I always saw nothing interesting.

I shgeid to myelsf, "It seems lkie the qtuialy of nloves olnine are dprnpoig, huh..."

The rest of the period progressed in such a boring manner.

Aetfr, I sehoomw mnagead to igorne my sduoungnirrs for the brkaes of ten mintues and pay ateintotn to the lses bionrg clsseas.

It was lkie tihs utinl tlweve oc’clok. Lucnh beark.