Chapter 160: Problem Teachers All Come From Another World

County North High School.

Class 1-5.

"That, there's an important matter I need to tell everyone today... your math teacher has been replaced."

During the class morning assembly, the young homeroom teacher named Okabe walked up to the podium and directly used this sentence as his opening remark, attracting the attention of the students below.

"The Hippo Teacher who was previously responsible for your class's math lessons resigned a short while ago, but don't worry, the school has recruited a new teacher, and the handover was completed just yesterday... moreover, this semester has only just begun, so it won't affect the students' learning progress."

"Mm, basically that's how it is. Coincidentally, the first period is math class, so I won't help you introduce the new math teacher..."

After conveying this news, Homeroom Teacher Okabe walked off the podium on his own and left the classroom.

And the very next second after his figure disappeared outside the door, the entire class immediately became noisy, although it wasn't exactly all that quiet just now either.

In fact, when Teacher Okabe said that Hippo Teacher had resigned and a new math teacher would come to teach them, the students had already been unable to restrain themselves from whispering amongst themselves; it was just that the teacher was still up there, so they didn't dare speak too loudly.

Now that the teacher had already walked away, they naturally perked up at once, chattering with each other in twos and threes, heatedly discussing with the students in the seats front, back, left, and right.

"Yo, Kyon, why do you think Hippo Teacher resigned!"

An ordinary-looking, standard-engineering male student sat in his seat, hearing his dead-party Taniguchi quietly poke his head over from the side, saying words directed at himself.

Kyon shook his head, answering in a casual tone: "How would I know this kind of thing? Maybe something happened at home, or maybe Hippo Teacher felt he was old and his energy wasn't enough anymore..."

"Impossible, Hippo Teacher is only in his fifties. If we're talking about being old, it should be Teacher Kamachi who's in charge of the second-year PE class, right? I've always felt Teacher Kamachi should be the one to retire earliest..."

Taniguchi felt this was unreasonable, saying with a serious face.

Only he naturally couldn't possibly imagine what the truth was, nor would he really take it to heart or investigate deeply. Actually, the vast majority of surrounding students were the same; despite heated discussion, opinions varied, each with their own guesses, yet in the end it all remained on the surface.

Can't call it three-minute enthusiasm; can only say it's a very normal reaction.

For the new teacher, the new classmate, the vast majority of students couldn't help but be curious, yet it was merely limited to curiosity, and they would never really get to the bottom of it.

Even less would they suspect there was some inside story to this, whether it involved some major node concerning the fate of humanity, the future of the planet... how could that be? They're already high school students, they should have graduated from Chuunibyou.

Anyway, Kyon also fundamentally didn't think too much about it, just like the other people around him.

Only...

He suddenly felt a slight stir in his heart, and subconsciously looked toward the back seat.

The girl in the back seat was sitting there, not discussing with the surrounding students, just sitting by herself, emitting a sense of alienation that was incongruous with the entire class.

— Haruhi Suzumiya.

— This girl who, the day before yesterday at the opening ceremony, spoke shockingly during the self-introduction segment, is by no means a completely harmless, well-behaved high school girl.

Just as she said, she has absolutely no interest in ordinary people, seemingly not wanting to waste time dealing with ordinary people at all. Including Kyon himself, and the other girls in the class, these two days they mistakenly thought she would be isolated, so they wanted to take the initiative to strike up a conversation with her—

Naturally, all ended in crushing defeat, retreating in disgrace.

That's right, it's not that Haruhi Suzumiya was isolated by the classmates in the class; the fact is precisely the reverse — it's the classmates in the class who were isolated by Haruhi Suzumiya.

At this moment, Kyon turned back, seeing the girl in the back seat with her arms crossed in front of her chest, mouth tightly pursed, a serious expression on her face.

As expected...

Kyon sighed, quietly withdrawing his gaze.

He felt absolutely no surprise at this, only a kind of as-expected premonition.

He could already tell that Haruhi Suzumiya's previous declaration was serious. As for whether it was some obsession, or simply Chuunibyou not graduated, that he didn't know. He only knew that he perhaps more or less could guess some of Haruhi Suzumiya's thoughts on this matter.

This wasn't strange, because he had once fantasized about such things in his mind too, and at that stage was equally specially serious.

— "A mysterious transfer student suddenly arrives in class; he's actually an alien or time traveler or that kind of creature, and possesses unknown abilities..."

Developments like this, Kyon had also thought of before.

The current situation is merely changing from a transfer student to a new teacher; essentially there's no difference.

Maybe in Haruhi Suzumiya's eyes, this kind of situation is even more suspicious; it's only natural she'd be interested in it.

So to speak, this woman is probably beyond saving.

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Not long after, the class bell rang.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, the classroom door was opened, and a tall, young figure walked in from outside on his own.

For that one instant, almost everyone had a kind of eyes-brightening, refreshing feeling; even Kyon was no exception. He couldn't help but be somewhat astonished — it was the first time he discovered that "temperament" really exists in this world, just that not everyone has it.

At the moment the bell sound abruptly stopped.

That new teacher who walked in with light steps also happened to stand on the podium.

Not a second off.

In a stretch of silence—

He placed the teaching materials in his hand on top of the podium, scanned a glance below, and smiled faintly: "Good morning everyone, I am your new math teacher..."

The next moment.

At the moment his voice fell, the quiet atmosphere in the class was also broken, and simultaneously rose cries of "Oh oh oh" and "Eh eh eh".

Both male and female students had them; they all subconsciously widened their eyes, revealing expressions of surprise, shock, and disbelief. Probably none of them had thought the new math teacher would actually be this kind of appearance.

Just like a collection of past common sense and all stereotypes, before this although they were all discussing the new teacher matter, they had almost all imagined towards the image of a taciturn middle-aged person; they fundamentally hadn't thought it would be that figure on the podium now.

— Simply too young.

— And image and temperament also beyond imagination.

Facing such a subversive fact, the crowd of male and female students below naturally all felt incredulous.

And after the shock emotions, naturally came excitement; exclamations rose and fell in succession. Under the influence of that powerful make-friends (charm) ability, the girls' eyes almost seemed to emit stars, and the boys likewise couldn't raise any rejection emotions.

This is still under intentional suppression.

If it were full power, afraid it would trigger a very fanatical phenomenon.

As for the new math teacher himself, that is Xia Zhi himself, he instead appeared very calm about this. He wrote his name on the blackboard, then turned around and scanned a circle. Clearly it was a very plain and gentle gaze, not carrying any overbearing meaning, yet for some reason it made the entire class instantly quiet down.

In an instant, silence fell so complete a pin drop could be heard, not a bird or sparrow made a sound.

「……」

「……」

Xia Zhi then withdrew his gaze, smiling as he tapped the blackboard behind him: "As you can see, this is my name... Very pleased to meet you all. For this coming semester, let us learn from each other and improve together."

He smiled gently, and that formless pressure seemed to dissipate along with it.

As if it had never appeared at all.

Everyone in the classroom caught their breath, and then warm applause slowly rose.

A very good opening... Xia Zhi gazed warmly and calmly at those below the podium, his gaze intentionally or unintentionally sweeping over several people; though it did not linger on them, at the same time he allotted more attention to these few special targets.

Nagato Yuki is not in this class, but in the neighboring Class 1-6.

However, there is also a Contact Device in this class, positioned as Nagato Yuki's Backup System.

That is Asakura Ryouko.

This stunningly beautiful girl sat at her seat, face beaming with a brilliant smile, and like the other classmates around her, looked at Xia Zhi on the podium and gently applauded, constantly emitting a gentle aura like a smile.

Truly strange...

Clearly she is Nagato Yuki's substitute, so why does she feel so much more human?

Is it Asakura Ryouko's emotional function that has a problem, or Nagato Yuki's emotional function that has a problem? Between mechanical feeling and rich emotional expression, which one is the normal performance?

Xia Zhi was slightly interested in this question, and besides Asakura Ryouko, the other girl he paid relatively more attention to was naturally classmate Haruhi Suzumiya.

As for the last one...

It was the boy in the seat in front of Haruhi Suzumiya, ordinary in appearance, average in height, with grades and personality both standard engineering.

He seemed to be just an Ordinary Person, neither an Alien, nor a Time Traveler, nor an Otherworlder or Esper... but precisely because he was so ordinary, he seemed all the more strange, because within the unusual flow of information, there were signs proving he was also one of the chosen "Targets."

Xia Zhi tracelessly and silently withdrew his gaze.

For now, his class had just these three "problem children," paired with him, a teacher from an Other World, making for a dream Combination.

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There was nothing difficult about the class.

Xia Zhi very easily completed the first class, proving his teaching ability.

But after class, that was truly troublesome...

Almost as soon as the Bell rang, he announced class dismissed, and before he had time to pick up his teaching materials and walk out of the classroom, a large crowd had already surrounded the area around the podium with a rustle, chattering as they began to ask.

"Teacher Xia Zhi, how old are you this year?"

"Forgot."

"Teacher, why did you come to our school to be a teacher?"

"Because your school is hiring."

Facing the endless stream of questions amid the extremely lively surroundings, the young man was unhurried and calm, dealing with them one by one, deeply understanding the true meaning of empty talk literature; he would answer any question, yet never gave a substantive response.

This drew a string of coquettish protests from the surrounding girls, while also making people think he was very witty and humorous.

However, this deliberate avoidance, joking around, and evasion of the key points was also noticed by certain intentional people, becoming a kind of "suspicion"—

"There's a problem..."

Haruhi Suzumiya sat at her seat, resting her chin on her hand, squinting her eyes as she watched the lively scene on the podium.

She increasingly felt this new teacher had a problem.

(Chapter End)