"Hey, Hikigaya! Hurry up and come with me for some ramen. I'm starving!"
"Come on, sensei. Do you even realize what time it is? You're dragging a student out for ramen in the middle of the night? Just go by yourself!"
"What? You're seriously letting a young, single woman eat ramen alone? No wonder you don't have a girlfriend!"
"Sorry, but I have Komachi, and that's enough for me."
"Damn it! I forgot you're a siscon weirdo!"
On the other end of the phone, a certain single, unmarried woman gritted her teeth. "I don't care. You have 15 minutes. I want to see you in front of the ramen shop. If not... hmm hmm, you know what'll happen!"
"Wait, I'm just a kid! I really don't know!"
But the call had already ended. Frustrated, Hikigaya jumped down from his bed, grumbling about how unreasonable and overbearing she was while quickly changing into casual clothes.
"No wonder you fail every single matchmaking meeting. A leftover woman like you does nothing but threaten students with violence. What kind of guy would ever like that? Only someone like me would even bother dealing with you!"
Hikigaya glanced at the clock on the wall—it was already 9 PM.
"Shizuka-sensei is really something. Skipping meals again… that's bad for her health."
He muttered as he grabbed his phone and headed out.
Fifteen minutes later, Hikigaya arrived at the ramen shop Shizuka-sensei had mentioned. Since it was still open this late, most of the customers were workers from the artificial island.
In short, they were just ordinary employees. But because of confidentiality agreements with the companies and schools, none of them would ever leak any information about ANHS High School.
"Over here! Over here!"
From a distance, Shizuka-sensei had already spotted Hikigaya. After all, his dead-fish eyes stood out like the brightest star in the night sky. She always managed to find him instantly.
Before Hikigaya could even greet her, Shizuka-sensei grabbed his arm and dragged him inside the ramen shop.
Not long after, two steaming bowls of tonkotsu ramen were placed in front of them.
"Itadakimasu!"
She rolled up her sleeves and started eating like she hadn't had a meal in days. Seeing that, Hikigaya couldn't help but feel his appetite grow.
"Ahh… that was great!"
In what felt like the blink of an eye, she had polished off her bowl, while Hikigaya had barely eaten half of his.
"Boss, another bowl of soy sauce ramen! Extra seaweed and pickled radish. And a draft beer!"
"Got it!"
She waved her hand boldly, making the middle-aged owner chuckle. Even some of the other customers were whispering about her "manly" energy.
"You know, eating too much at night isn't good for you."
Hikigaya couldn't help but comment.
"It's fine, it's fine. I'm in great shape."
Right after saying that, she downed half of her beer in one gulp, making Hikigaya twitch at the sight.
"I actually meant… aren't you worried about gaining weight?"
Most women, in order to maintain their figure, eat very little or even skip dinner entirely. This trend had even influenced high school girls, so it was common to see them barely eating anything at night.
But Shizuka-sensei was the complete opposite. She even did something that ranked first on the list of things women would never do—eating ramen alone. Not only did she love ramen, but she also had a particular obsession with late-night ramen. According to her, ramen tasted best when eaten late at night.
"After eating, I just need to exercise a little to burn off the calories. By the way, I didn't quite hear you just now. Hikigaya, could you say that again?"
She stretched her shoulders, and a series of unsettling cracks filled the air.
"Ha… hahaha. I said… this ramen is really good."
Hikigaya quickly picked up his glass of water and mumbled.
Actually, this wasn't the first time Shizuka-sensei had dragged Hikigaya out for ramen. At least once every two weeks, she would bring him along—sometimes to this ramen shop, other times to a late-night yakiniku place.
And if it happened to be the weekend, she'd even drag Hikigaya and Haruno out to play mahjong.
Speaking of which, the third floor of that nameless teahouse had private rooms, each with a high-end automatic mahjong table from Daiyo Chemical.
It was pretty much the only group activity Hikigaya participated in outside of watching anime.
"I heard you and Haruno joined the student council recently. How's it going?"
Shizuka-sensei casually asked,
"How's it going?"
"Not great," Hikigaya replied expressionlessly. "That woman dumped all the work on me. For a moment, I almost thought I was the only first-year who joined the student council."
"That does sound like something Haruno would do. After all, capable people get more work. Hang in there, Hikigaya."
Shizuka-sensei reached out and ruffled his hair, holding back a smile.
Hikigaya clicked his tongue but didn't push her hand away. He was just venting.
After that, they chatted about random things, including life outside the school. As a teacher, Shizuka-sensei could leave the artificial island and interact with the outside world, but school rules strictly forbade her from sharing any school-related information. However, minor, unrelated things weren't restricted.
After all, in this digital age, it was impossible to completely cut students off from society. The school operated like a company's internal network—students could browse the internet and access external information, but everything was heavily monitored and filtered. It was like looking through a sealed glass wall. They could see the outside world, but the outside world couldn't see inside.
Shizuka-sensei wouldn't break school rules, of course. She simply updated Hikigaya on Komachi's situation.
And that little bit of news was enough to make Hikigaya happy for quite a while.
At the start of the semester, Hikigaya's relationship with Shizuka-sensei had been a bit awkward. In class, they were just a student and teacher. Outside of class, they barely interacted because of school regulations.
Even so, Shizuka-sensei would still find excuses to talk to him—things like his homework being too sloppy or needing help cleaning the clubroom. But her real reason?
She needed someone to complain to.
Yes, for the entire first month, D-Class had been a disaster. Their terrible classroom behavior was almost unbearable for Shizuka-sensei. If not for the school's rules, those guys might have gotten torn apart by their muscle-bound teacher.
So, every time she taught Japanese, Hikigaya sat on edge.
If she couldn't deal with those students, did that mean she'd take it out on him instead?
Hikigaya could always read that terrifying thought on her face.
Thankfully, after the school revealed the truth, D-Class's behavior gradually improved, and Hikigaya no longer had to live in fear.
And sometimes, like tonight, he even got to share a bowl of ramen with Shizuka-sensei.
Glancing at her chugging another drink and shouting for a refill, Hikigaya couldn't help but smile.
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