1 Dreadful demerit

"I love you, Professor Tenji. Be mine."

Those words resonated in his thought as he stared at the teenage girl who had her pink hair packed in twin ponytails, her hands outstretched with a blue spellbook in her hand as she gave a low bow of her head.

He was one of the youngest professors in the city at the age of 27, with an estimated height of 196cm. He had silver, shoulder-length hair neatly coiffed in a ponytail and bangs over a chiseled, friendly face. Smart green eyes set concealed within their sockets.

The gesture of offering a spell book instead of a box of unpredictable gifts was a regular gesture of love or appreciation in the Erīto academy for sorcerers. This signified the willingness of the giver to entrust all their secrets and research in hopes of gaining the receiver's trust and in turn love in the long run.

Tenji had considered sharing his knowledge with the younger generation and in turn, learning a few more as he took the experience as research on racial interaction.

Convinced he could be accepted, he had sent his application form to the ruler of their city of Meiji–sorcerer supreme.

To his delight, he was posted to the most prestigious sorcery academy in all of Meiji–Erīto academy.

But all that crumbled a week after he had begun and the delight he once experienced had been transformed into nothing more than a budding despise.

Tenji was the only male teacher among over 30 female counterparts. This had stayed the same for over the two years he endured and dubbed it his survival game since his involvement due to the robust pay he needed to support his parents.

He usually had an influx of jealous glares from some of the male students as he walked by or taught and daily interference with his life by the female students and teachers at every opportunity they got.

'Coincidence, I think not!'

He stared down at her, 'really?! In the hallway?!' Tenji's brows twitched in frustration as he began to feel self-conscious as the other students who had peacefully roamed the hallways all stopped in their tracks to witness his response for the umpteenth time with another student.

'I am not interested in a relationship with a student dammit!' He thought in suppressed rage.

He looked at her metal name tag pinned on her black knitted turtleneck sweater which hugged tightly to her slender yet voluptuous and endowed frame, tucked into her high waist white mini skirt.

Spelling out the name, "Rumi..." he paused when he couldn't read out the last name due to the obstruction caused by her hair hanging over it with her bow.

The mere mention of her name made her ecstatic and she whipped her head up with a bright smile glistening in those blue eyes.

"You need to get back to class just like the rest," he looked around and narrowed his eyes at anyone he could place his hard glare with a green glow in his eyes on who would dare stay back to watch.

The students taking the cue all dashed in all directions towards their classes for fear of the dreaded verdict he might cast on them.

When satisfied with the reduced crowd and a nearly empty hallway, he continued. "Do not try to obstruct my path while I'm heading back to the staffroom, it wouldn't be fair to be forced to give a demerit on your grade."

Rumi's face turned pale and she clutched her spellbook tight, her eyes darted everywhere but his face.

A demerit was the bane of every sorcerer(ess) in training within the academy grounds. The demerit could be cast on any student who broke the moral code of any professor or the academy rules.

Depending on the demerit, it could render a student weak or powerless for days or weeks in extreme cases. Their general grading score to make a breakthrough would be hindered until they can make up for it.

At the moment, Tenji's moral code of relationships was threatened. If she went with her blind love for him he would flip.

"But..." She mumbled and bit down on her bottom lip, her eyes brimming with tears.

"You just got here two months ago, you might be mistaking infatuation or admiration with love." He reminded, a bit of a wake-up call for him also.

"It's best if you study hard for the presentation tomorrow. Why don't you impress the other professors and me then?" Tenji gave a warm smile and patted her head before brushing past her.

Rumi stood frozen, her grip on the book tightened, her black nails dug into the hardcover, and her face as red as a tomato.

'You will notice me eventually.' She voiced her thoughts and stormed to her next class.

*****

Tenji took long strides until he got to the door of the staffroom he belonged to.

Letting out a sigh of relief at finally getting to the one place that gave him less of a headache.

The white door had no door handles and could only be activated to open with the assigned teacher's voice.

"Arpea." He mumbled lazily, tired of the daily routine.

Click!

After the end of his classes, he was glad that the six teachers in his staff room were still as busy as ever.

His eyes glanced over the empty seats and a smile crept on his face. 'Finally, my alone time!'

He pushed back on his recliner chair and threw his feet over the table, knocking the cup of various colored pens onto the floor.

He cursed and proceeded to get them before his procrastination set in.

Click!

The door flung in before slamming onto the wall and resonating on the windows.

"Tenji!" A lady called out in a hurry, her eyes searching for him after she had gotten the tip that he was in.

Tenji had just tried to get to his feet to respond when his head met under the table with a bang.

'Fucking damnit! Why is this happening to me!'

"Tenji?!" The lady called out again and rushed to the sound, hopeful that it was him and she was right.

Tenji had just crawled out from under the table, arranged the pens into its cup and pulled himself up with the help of the chair. He could only blame his careless attitude as he took his seat and held Kita's gaze.

"What is so important that you had to skip your teaching?" He questioned and steepled his fingers in front of his face.

"The headmistress requests your presence," she reported, then she looked around the room as if she was going to divulge a secret.

Tenji could already guess what she was hinting at and vaguely cut in, "she wants me to bring that along."

Kita nodded her head and smiled even though she didn't understand what the secret was between the two but chose to care less if it meant she could be paid extra just for delivering the cryptic messages.

"I knew you were smart! I'd let you sort yourself out first." She had a wide grin afterward.

With that, she awkwardly took several steps back as she contemplated how she would leave. In the end, she bolted out as if she was chased.

Slam!

Tenji stared at the door until he was sure that he was all alone again.

Placing his hand on the table, a green magic circle glowed and created a faint beam. Reaching in, he pulled out the wrapped journal.

'Here goes nothing.'

*****

A/N

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