Me and the Tigress Volume 5 Chapter 1 part3

Pyeii was lazy, while I was diligent. Our attitudes were polar opposites, but the result was the same. Because I couldn’t understand a word of the lesson. At this point, Pyeii wasn’t even hiding the fact that she was making up for her insufficient sleep. My situation wasn’t much better. Because how the heck was I supposed to know what the infinite “to” is, or what a definite article is? I was aware that the famous line, “To be, or not to be,” was becoming more and more applicable to me, but that was irrelevant. Our teacher’s words were sounding more and more like a lullaby, so, in an effort to stay awake, I looked at Pyeii’s breasts that were pressing against her desk, only to realize that that was a no go. Ah, drowsiness truly is a dangerous beast. My psyche was almost spirited away just now. I put my hand on my neck and turned my head to wake myself up. That was when something caught my eye. Something that is perhaps best described using the onomatopoeia shshak. I saw someone no one would ever expect to see in a school. I focused my gaze towards the hallway. On this midsummer’s day, the air conditioner-less classroom had all its windows open. This meant I caught a direct look of what was outside. Those two round, white tiger ears poking out above the windowsill. From the way those ears kept pricking up, I got the feeling that she was horribly nervous that she almost got caught, or so she thought. Geez, this shouldn’t have been a surprise. I gave her a kiss when I left, but she still let me go without making a fuss. I turned my head back, pretending to pay attention to the lesson, and when I caught a flash of white in the corner of my vision, I immediately turned my head to the side. Rangii’s eyes widened in surprise as she clung to the windowsill. Then she dropped downwards, and I heard a loud bang from the hallway. …That little brat. No matter how surprised she was, she should’ve at least kept her grip on the windowsill. Though I was still in class, there was no way I could just stay there when Rangii might have been hurt. I bravely raised my hand.

“What do you want?”

“I have a stomach ache, so can I go to the nurse?”

“Yeah, go to the bathroom already.”

His words elicited laughter from the students. I scratched my head and left Pyeii to enter the hallway. As I expected, Rangii was there. She apparently landed on her butt, because she was rubbing her behind while on all fours. Her eyes, scrunched together like that, look adorable, and I almost burst out in laughter.

“Rangii, what’re you doing?”

“I landed on my butt, so…unyaa?!”

Rangii immediately stood up. There was so much momentum in her movement that she was actually rocking back and forth. Geez.

“I-I’m not Rangii!”

She was really bad at making up excuses.

“Then what’s your name?”

“Rang…Rang…it’s Rangrangii!”

Rangrangii? That actually sounded pretty cute. I didn’t try and stop the chuckle that escaped my lips and grabbed Rangii’s tail when she tried to run away.

“Unyaaa?”

Rangrangii didn’t know how to respond when I pulled her along with me to the end of the hallway. I sincerely regretted that no one else could see her adorable antics, her butt sticking out and her hands waving in an attempt to keep her balance as she walked frantically backwards.

Rangii, now literally backed into a corner, shook her hands in the air just like Chii in her indecision over what to say.

“I can explain. I came here because it is a wife’s duty to see the condition of the school that her husband is attending. That’s really why I’m here.”

I know saying this is going to sound like I’m conflating my own ego with reality, but I have to say it. If she wanted to see me, she could have just said so.

“All right. I won’t get mad, so don’t be so afraid.”

To show her that I really wasn’t mad, I hugged Rangii tight and tapped her butt.

“Hunyang~”

I released her before she could mistake the school’s hallway for my house and lie down on the floor. The disappointment on her face was clear to see, but I was out of the class because I said I was going to the nurse, meaning I left Pyeii alone in class. I couldn’t stay out for too long. But I also didn’t want to send Rangii home. Though that might not have been the case if I hadn’t seen her. In that case…. Since things ended up like this, I decided to use this opportunity to teach Rangii about school.

“You’re keeping yourself hidden, right?”

“Yep! No one else can see me.”

I already had a feeling that was the case since her tail and ears were out.

“Then let’s go together.”

“Hm?”

Rangii made a question mark with her hair and asked:

“Are you going home?”

I desperately wanted to go back home, but I was far too afraid of Narae’s powerful punch to leave early when I didn’t have a real reason.

“No. I meant to class.”

Rangii’s tail puffed up and stood straight up.

“Y-you mean to study?!”

Look at the brat. She was ready to dig herself out of this situation rather than study.

“I never said you had to study. I want you to stay with me until class is over. Then I can show you around the school.”

I already knew that she hated studying with a passion thanks to Saehee’s teaching method.

…Hm? Have I ever actually heard that before? (tn: Reference to volume 3.5…that I have yet to translate.)

“Sunghoon? What is it?”

I came back to my attention when Rangii focused her shining gaze on me. Eh, I probably just couldn’t remember. What did it matter?

“No, it’s nothing. Let’s go.”

“Okay.”

I held Rangii’s hand and walked back to class. I suppose I should say that this wasn’t class C for nothing. Our teacher was lecturing with hardly any motivation, and the number of students following Pyeii’s example had grown. The founder of this trend was sleeping peacefully on a certain someone’s workbook. That was all fine, but I wished she would stop drooling. Because the paper will end up wrinkled even after I wipe it dry.

I sat in my seat, then placed Rangii on my lap. It was a small miracle that no one could see her. If that weren’t the case, then there would’ve been an uproar in the class. Not to mention the fact that she was sitting on my lap. …Maybe the fact that I was conscious of Rangii in this regard proved that I really didn’t see her as a child. Stop. If I become aware of her in that way, I’d be in huge trouble. I loved Rangii, but I had absolutely no intention of doing anything indecent with her. Rangii, blissfully unaware of my mental turmoil due to her childish innocence, poked Pyeii, who was busy sleeping as if the classroom were her bedroom, on the cheek and spoke.

“Why is Pyeii sleeping?”

I couldn’t speak loudly because I was in the classroom, so I inconspicuously lowered my head to whisper in Rangii’s ear.

“You’ll probably fall asleep in five minutes, too, if you keep quiet.”

Rangii pouted, her cheeks inflating so much that I could see them even from behind her, and she responded sullenly.

“Uu…. I think you’re underestimating me too much.”

Rangii was correct: I did underestimate her. She was obviously curious about a lot of things but, whether because she didn’t want to bother my studying or because of what I said, Rangii kept quiet, and after three minutes of looking around the classroom, she began to show signs of falling asleep. I would’ve liked it if she had asked me a question or done something else to bother my studies, but alas, that was not to be. I needed to focus all my attention on studying, but as if a single word of my teacher’s alien lecture written in alien letters on the chalkboard could get through to my head when Rangii was sitting on my lap. I could only focus on Rangii, who, fast asleep, had her head leaning to the side against my shoulder as her plump belly went up and down in sync with her breathing. …The magic that’s keeping her invisible won’t come undone, right?

The corpses that inhabited the classroom began to rise when the bell signaling the end of first period rang. Rangii, somewhat awake due to the bell, turned around on my lap so that she could spend five minutes happily rubbing her cheek against my chest, and Pyeii sat up, a dazed expression on her face and drool falling from her mouth as she blinked and showed the world how she wasn’t a morning person. Extremely sloppily. I took out my handkerchief and wiped the corner of her mouth.

“You’re drooling, you brat.”

“…Royal jelly.”

That’s only for bees. Pyeii returned to full consciousness while I restored my notebook that had been so callously sacrificed for the sake of Pyeii’s sleep. Though there was a large possibility that it was Rangii, who was snuggling against my chest like a cat, who caused Pyeii to snap awake.

[The Tiger-nim?!]

Pyeii was so surprised that she stood straight up and wrote using her magic. Thankfully, because she used her magic rather than her vocal chords, she didn’t attract too much attention. However, Rangii was a phantom. She must have sensed this use of magic, because her tail began to wag and she rubbed her eyes.

“What’s going on?” she asked groggily.

She was a stark contrast to Pyeii’s obvious shock. Maybe this is why the term free-spirited exists. …Probably not. (tn: No idea what this is supposed to mean.

[Rangii-nim’s at school!]

Rangii’s looked at Pyeii with unfocused eyes and siad:

“I wanted to see Sunghoooon~”

She was really drawing out the end of her sentence. And it looked like she’d forgotten the excuse she gave earlier. She apparently had no desire to wake up, because she turned her body once again, wrapping her legs around my waist and her arms around my neck. Wasn’t that uncomfortable? Also, shouldn’t she act a bit more properly in front of Pyeii? Did Rangii not see that Pyeii was dumbfounded by the way she was acting? …Probably not, considering her eyes were closed.

“I’m still sleepy, so don’t wake me up. I want to sleep more. Umnya, umnya.….”

Rangii apparently meant it, because she burrowed her face into my neck and smacked her lips before going back to sleep. I guess my trip to the bathroom will have to wait until the next break period. I patted Rangii’s head while entertaining these peaceful thoughts, when Pyeii looked at me, surprise clear in her eyes, and she wrote:

[The rumors, true.]

The second I forgot about that disgusting rumor, it came back with a vengeance. Please stop.

[…That’s why it didn’t work. It’ll hurt a lot, but I have to be a kid when I do it. But then I’ll go back to being an adult…. What do I do?]

That little brat. If I have one strong point, it’s my eyesight.

Before I knew it, fourth period was already over. I wish I could say that that was because I concentrated on the lessons. Instead, I spent some of the time reading Pyeii’s jokes and the rest teaching Rangii about all the things that were in the classroom once she woke up. Thus, lunchtime arrived. Rangii said she would go back home.

“…Do you not want to eat with me?” I asked.

I figured it was because the portion size of meat in the lunches at home were different from that of the school’s hot lunch.

“That’s not it at all!”

Rangii’s ears flared up as she yelled, almost angrily.

“Of course I want to eat with you. How could you even ask me that?”

Because I wanted to eat together.

“Then how come you said you’re going to go?”

All the energy from earlier disappeared, and Rangii lowered her head to fidget with her fingers.

“…It’s because I’m scared of Narae.”

“…Understandable.”

[Totes.]

If Narae found out that Rangii snuck into school and spent the morning with me, then she’d flip out like a polar bear that just found out she was given Bepsi and not Kokkola.

“I’ll see you at home,” said Rangii.

“Yep.”

Rangii and I hugged, sharing a quick farewell. But, Rangii. I know you’re hungry, but don’t jump out the window. Otherwise, you’ll give the one who’s watching a heart attack.

“It smells like Rangii.”

Narae, please don’t suddenly jump to the heart of the issue, either. Narae, Chii, Pyeii, and I all gathered in the deserted flower garden at the back of the school to eat lunch. Despite the contrast between the loud chirps of the cicadas and the refreshing mid-summer breeze, it felt as though it were the dead of winter. I needed to think of a way to escape this crisis. Maybe I could’ve relaxed if Rangii were here, but it seemed strangely unfair for me to be the only one to get punished.

“Hm?”

“From your clothes. It smells like Rangii.”

“Awooo? It’s true. Your clothes are covered in Rangii-nim’s magical energy.”

Chii put her face up right next to my shirt and sniffed. S-stop. Who did she think she was, Baduk? She’ll make it seem like I smell or something.

“So what happened?”

I wracked my brain to think of an excuse, when words floated in front of my eyes.

[Rangii-nim came and left.]

There was no need to think of an excuse at all. I turned my head, and Pyeii was simply taking out her chopsticks as if everything was perfectly normal.

[The truth.]

“Hey, you brat….”

[Lying is bad.]

When did I say I was going to lie? I was just going to stealthily move around the topic.

“Where’d Rangii go?”

My death sentence had apparently been postponed, as Narae unpacked her lunchbox and asked me this. I helped her with the lunch box and answered.

“Back home.”

“When’d she get here?”

“During first period.”

“Uh huh~ I see.”

I wondered why the hand I was using to take off the lid of the lunchbox was shaking so much.

“Big Brother, do you have hand tremors?”

As if my hands wouldn’t be shaking in a time like this.

[Alcoholic.]

If I were to take up drinking, then it would almost certainly be your fault, Pyeii. Narae saw how frightened I was and sighed deeply.

“…I’m not that mad, so you can relax.”

So this was how Rangii felt.

“Really?”

“Yeah. It’s not like I can’t understand how Rangii feels.”

I felt the same. I thought I understood the true meaning behind Narae’s words. When I chased Rangii to stop her from making a horrible mistake, I spent a few days away from Narae, which meant the same was true for Narae. I got the feeling she was thinking of those days. Because Narae liked me back then, too. But right now? Right now, that’s on hold.

“Stop letting your thoughts wander, and eat already.”

A blush spread across Narae’s face as she told me off, so I picked up my chopsticks.

“Thank you for the meal.”

“Ah, Sunghoon. Just so you know, there’s going to be a pop quiz later on everything you learned in class today.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Don’t even think about giving the excuse that Rangii kept you from studying.”

…Was she really not mad at me?

Chapter end