The Downfall of Zhuge Yinglang

Ahem…

The teacher cleared her throat, seemingly ready to resume the lesson.

****

Thus, only one aspiring young man remained standing in the classroom, still sporting his military-style buzz cut. Yet, in that moment, he seemed utterly forgotten by the entire world.

“Teacher! I have… something to say!”

“Oh, my apologies, Student Zhuge… Look at my memory~ Oh, hehehe….”

The incongruous teacher, with twin pigtails yet clad in a Zhongshan suit, scratched her head and stuck out her tongue.

‘You’re barely thirty, aren’t you?! Don’t act like a senile old lady!’

“Teache—….r, I believe that the Disciplinary Committee Head currently sitting in our class… Student Ye Qi, has gravely violated two school rules!”

****

‘He’s talking about me? Me, Ye Qi, violating school rules?’

‘I, the Disciplinary Committee Head, violated school rules?!’

My expression darkened completely.

Simultaneously, all my classmates turned their gazes towards me, filled with extreme curiosity and inquiry.

A sensation known as the “Staring Hell” slowly began to rise within me.

‘…You’re finished, Zhuge, my boy.’

****

“Oh? Student Ye Qi? What is this all about? Can you explain, Student Zhuge?”

“Heh… heheh…”

Zhuge Yinglang’s long-awaited opportunity seemed to have finally arrived.

After two knowing chuckles, Student Zhuge turned directly towards me.

His finger sliced through the air, creating a faint echo, before pointing in my direction.

“Hmph! Ye Qi! Though you are a Disciplinary Committee member, don’t assume the school is your personal domain!”

“School Rule Number Four! Students of Moonlight Academy must wear ‘their respective’ school uniforms! Yet, Student Ye Qi, despite being female, you are wearing a male uniform… Hmph hmph… This is the first violation!”

I felt as if a sharp sword named “Being Female” had pierced right through me.

“…”

“Go on?”

I narrowed my eyes.

An aura of what could only be described as death emanated from my tone.

‘In any case, look forward to your future school life… Zhuge Yinglang-kun!’

“Hmph… Second! Despite being a Disciplinary Committee member, you openly carry something clearly a… ‘prohibited item’ in broad daylight within our Moonlight Academy, which is as pure as a clear spring!”

An intensely familiar sensation came from the opposite direction.

At this moment, I felt as though I had returned to that day on the green field, where I had declared my thorough investigation speech.

However, I, the great Disciplinary Committee Head Ye Qi… was surprisingly relegated to the audience stands of that very field.

Instead, the boy named Zhuge Yinglang had taken my place, his gleaming forehead reflecting the brilliance of a star.

‘Wait, wasn’t that line supposed to be mine, the Disciplinary Committee Head?’

****

‘Oh! So this is what they call “hoisting him by his own petard”?’

I finally understood; I finally grasped this tactic, which often proved to be the best teaching method.

‘…To think… he actually has a few tricks up his sleeve, Zhuge, my boy… This experience… truly worthy of someone who managed to infuriate me…!!!’

I silently lowered my head.

****

The young man, utterly oblivious to the entity he had provoked, merely continued spouting words that forcibly bolstered his own courage.

“Third… Heheh, the school forbids puppy love… Yet, I personally witnessed you and that…”

Zhuge Yinglang’s finger pointed directly at the completely unaware Ye Sakaki.

“Going home together with that skipped-grade student!”

“You…!”

I nearly burst into curses. If this misunderstanding took root, I’d rather just die!

I was utterly fed up with those “ambiguous glances”!

Before my words could even fully escape, the upright young man named Zhuge Yinglang interrupted me once more.

“Hmph! Ye Qi, don’t be so quick to deny it… Hmph hmph, I still have the video I took last week!”

****

‘Last week?’

“That’s right! Last week, if I hadn’t been curious enough to record it at the time…”

Klang!

The sound of a palm slamming against a desk echoed.

It was Shiratama Manatsu who had slammed it, his pleasant voice, difficult to discern its gender, now speaking with a maturity and composure utterly unbefitting of our age.

“Everyone, please quiet down… Thank you.”

“Student Zhuge… According to our country’s constitution… peeping and secretly filming, while not constituting a criminal offense, can result in five to fifteen days of detention by the local police department, depending on the circumstances, as well as a fine of up to five hundred yuan….”

“…Uh…”

“Yes, that’s right, Student Zhuge, please don’t stare at me like that. I bear no ill will; I merely wish to ‘warmly’ remind Student Zhuge… lest Student Zhuge stray onto the wrong path in life and become a societal waste….”

‘My life is truly a failure.’

Shiratama Manatsu then sat down.

****

“Oh, truly worthy of Student Shiratama… Ah… that’s right, how could I suddenly forget…”

The classical literature teacher at the podium patted her chest.

“While it doesn’t break the law, Student Zhuge~ using a mobile phone during class is a violation of school rules~”

Zhuge Yinglang’s phone was confiscated.

“Teacher, I recall~ if one commits such a breach of discipline~ they usually have to make a trip to the Dean’s office, perhaps for some tea and a chat, don’t they?”

“…Eh~ Is that so?”

“My apologies~ Zhuge-kun~ even I, your teacher, am powerless to intervene~”

Zhuge Yinglang was escorted out of the classroom.

****

The descendant of the Zhuge family, from an unknown generation, exited the stage.