The crisp sound of the bell for the end of get out of class had not yet faded away. Zijing had just packed up his lesson plans and walked out of the classroom when a pink figure floated to his side like a light butterfly.

"Teacher Zijing~? Should we have a deeper discussion on the topic of 'Tactical Psychological Stress Resistance Training'?" Alicia blinked her playful eyes, tiptoed slightly, and leaned closer intentionally or unintentionally. Her brand new student uniform outlined her beautiful curves, and her voice was so sweet that honey could drip out.

Several students passing by in the corridor slowed down their pace instantly, looking back and forth at the two of them with curious and somewhat excited eyes, and their whispers could be heard clearly.

Zijing's forehead twitched slightly, and she quietly moved half a step to the side, creating some distance. Her voice was low and helpless, "Alicea, please be careful. This is a corridor."

"Hey~ What's the matter?" Alicia came closer and curled her pink hair with her fingertips. "Students in uniform ask questions to handsome teachers. Isn't this a normal development in a campus youth drama?"

"Then please act like a 'normal' student first." Zijing sighed, took out a personal terminal from her pocket, swiped her fingertips, and called up Hatsuka's class schedule. She scanned it, trying to divert her attention, "Her class... Basic Combat Practice Class, and her teacher is... Yaezakura?"

"Oh, are you watching Xiao Chuxia's schedule?" As expected, Alicia's attention was drawn to it. She tilted her head and took a closer look at the screen, with a sly smile of "I understand you" on her face. "That child is really special, like delicate and fragile porcelain, making people want to take a few more glances~? What, is Teacher Zijing finally going to take action on her cute student?"

Delicate and fragile... Zijing glanced at her and said with her eyes: Are you serious?

Alicia blinked: Oh, at least before her identity is confirmed, don’t you think she is cute?

Zijing didn't want to comment for the time being. He looked at the students around him who were looking at him curiously and explained his innocence: "...No, I just want to know as a teacher."

"Understood~Understood~?" Alicia dragged out the last syllable, and suddenly stretched out her hand to hold Zijing's arm, "Since Teacher Zijing cares so much about students, then Alicia classmate will be merciful and take you to her classroom for a 'field trip'! It's in the next building, let's go~?"

"Hey! Wait..." Before Zijing could refuse, Alicia grabbed her arm and half-dragged her towards the fighting training ground where Chuxia was.

Outside the huge French windows of the training ground, fierce sparring was going on inside, and shouts could be clearly heard. Through the window, Zijing saw the petite black figure in the field at a glance. Chuxia's movements were not particularly sharp, but she was extremely flexible, like a clever black cat, turning and moving under the opponent's attack, and her black twin ponytails jumped with the movements.

"Look, isn't it cute?" Alicia pointed inside and whispered in Zijing's ear, her warm breath brushing over his earlobe.

Zijing's eyes focused on Chuxia, trying to catch any inharmonious breath or energy fluctuations. However, the girl's movements were smooth and natural, her Honkai energy responded steadily, and her eyes were focused, just like the hard-trained preparatory students around her.

At this moment, the training seemed to have entered the summary stage, and the teacher Yaezakura's cold voice sounded, as if she was explaining the key points of a certain action. Obviously, this class would be delayed.

"Well, it looks like it won't be over anytime soon." Alicia murmured with some regret.

Zijing looked a few more times, still finding nothing, so she withdrew her gaze: "Let's go."

"Eh? Why don't you watch for a while? Little Chuxia might show her little fox tail soon?"

"You can't see anything by looking so blatantly." Zijing shook her head slightly.

The two turned and left. They didn't notice that in the training ground, Bronya, who had just finished a set of movements and was breathing slightly, glanced out the window with her gray eyes and caught the silhouette of Amethyst turning away, and her brows frowned slightly.

……

Time quickly slipped into the afternoon and all classes for the day were over.

With a little fatigue (mainly due to the mental exhaustion of dealing with Alicia) and the question about Hatsuka still lingering in her mind, Zijing set out on the road back to her residence. The people around her were Kiana, who was excitedly retelling the interesting clips in the practical class, Mei responded gently, and Xilin had a world-weary expression of "finally free".

And Alicia, the "overage student", actually wore that uniform for the entire day, and was now enthusiastically discussing the practical class taught by Yae Sakura with Kiana.

"Sister Yaesakura's swordsmanship is so cool! But her eyes are too cold. I feel a chill on my back when she stares at me!" Kiana gestured exaggeratedly.

"Really~? Especially when he saw 'classmate' Alicia, his brows were furrowed so tightly~" Alicia added with a smile, not caring at all.

In Yaezakura's practical class in the afternoon, when the teacher saw Alicia, who was smiling brightly among the students, his brows knitted unconsciously, and his fingers holding the hilt of the knife tightened a little, obviously feeling slightly uncomfortable with this "unruly" presence. Especially after hearing that she was pestering her brother again today...

Zijing returned to the door of the room and was about to go in when a cold and slightly unhappy voice came from behind her.

"elder brother."

Zijing turned around and saw Yaezakura standing a few steps away. She had changed out of her teacher's uniform and was wearing plain clothes. Her pink fox ears were slightly erected. Her eyes were fixed on Alicia who was about to sneak in.

"Ying? Is there something wrong?" Zijing opened the door and noticed the sneaky Alicia, and the corners of her mouth twitched.

Yaezakura looked at Aliza, trying to appear serious: "Ms. Aliza, please respect your status. The academy has its own rules. Impersonating a student at will, disrupting the normal teaching order, and even..." She paused, "...behaving frivolously, brother, please restrain her."

Alicia immediately hid behind Zijing, poked her head out, and made a cute face at Yae Sakura: "Oh my, little Yae is so strict~ I just want to experience the youth campus life~? And Teacher Zijing didn't say anything!"

Yaezakura turned her gaze to Zijing, with a silent condemnation and the implication of "control her".

Zijing looked at Alicia who was hiding behind him with a smile on her face, and then looked at Yae Sakura who was serious and full of dissatisfaction. She spread her hands helplessly and gave Yae Sakura an expression of "you know what I mean": "Sakura, do you think... can I really 'restrain' her?"

Yaezakura: “…”

She looked at her brother's face, which was a mixture of fatigue, helplessness, and a hint of resignation. She glanced at the pink-haired woman behind Zijing, who was smiling like a cat about to succeed in stealing meat, and was silent for a few seconds. She took a deep breath, as if she was making a difficult decision, and then turned her eyes to Alicia. Her voice was still cold, but it carried a very subtle, almost imperceptible compromise and... sales pitch:

"Ms. Alicia...Rin's room was just replaced with a new mattress yesterday that's big enough for two people to sleep in. It's very soft."

Alicia thought for a moment, and then her eyes suddenly lit up, bursting with amazing brilliance.