124 Shizuka's Cute Rising Dragon Fist
Seeing the boy's shocked reaction, Shizuka Hiratsuka nodded, her face full of enthusiasm as though she had just found a kindred spirit.
"That's right! The legendary Mount Lu! Exciting, isn't it?" Hiratsuka clenched her fist in excitement, her long black hair fluttering as she mimicked a sonic punch, then performed an uppercut motion, as if imitating some special finishing move where you swing your fist up to the sky.
Are you planning to make the waterfall flow backward? It can blind your eyes, and even blow your clothes off, so maybe think carefully first.
After her little performance, Hiratsuka looked quite pleased with herself.
"So what exactly is going on?" Shirou asked. He had originally planned to sneak out tonight and investigate the black mud Servant hidden in the mountains on his own.
Hiratsuka explained: "Ah, since the exchange activities are over, and it's a rare chance to come to China, the local school helped arrange a tour bus. After some discussion, it was decided that I'll be the one leading the group, taking everyone hiking."
"Why? Sensei, you're technically the guest here, right? Why are you the one leading the students on a trip?" Shirou asked in puzzlement.
Hiratsuka puffed out her chest and said confidently, "It's fine! In order to work at an international school, I passed Level 4 in Chinese! Communication is no problem at all! Plus, some of the local students familiar with Mount Lu will be helping lead the way."
"I really had no choice! They asked me. The other Senseis said that when it comes to dealing with students, it's best to rely on the youngest Sensei, me, Hiratsuka! Even the director of studies here said, 'We'll leave it to young Sensei Hiratsuka! Let the young people have fun together.' Did you hear that? I'm super young, super young!" she explained happily with a big grin.
From her tone, Shirou really did hear a trace of pride.
Could it be that this person was actually very easy to push around? It was one thing for the Senseis from Chiba Branch School to dump work on her, but now even the Senseis here had already figured out how to handle her?
Shirou looked at Hiratsuka, sighed, and thought: Her future in life is… seriously worrying.
Though he was a bit concerned, he still couldn't resist making a jab: "The Chiba Senseis aside, but the director of studies here is practically at retirement age, right? For him, students are like grandchildren, so of course you look young in his eyes."
Before Shirou could finish, his collar was suddenly grabbed, and his body flipped as he was slammed onto the bed.
Hiratsuka pressed one hand against the boy's chest, pinning him down. A gust of fist-wind rose—her fist now hovered less than a centimeter from Shirou's side abdomen.
"Because you said I'm young, I'll let it slide this time. But if you dare again, I'll show you what a blow to the kidney feels like," Hiratsuka said, her eyes blazing with a berserker's blood-red light.
"Yes… understood, Sensei…" Pinned beneath her, Shirou had no choice but to agree.
"No 'but'!" Hiratsuka corrected sternly.
"I get it, I get it, I'm sorry. But listen… Sensei, the way you're sitting on me right now is… a little inappropriate," Shirou said, glancing at where Hiratsuka was straddling his thighs.
Only then did Hiratsuka realize: one of her hands was pressing against his chest, the other was near his abdomen. To pin him down, she had leaned her body forward, and at some point her legs had ended up straddling his, with his legs hanging off the bed's edge.
"Wahhh… I'm so sorry!" Hiratsuka's face flushed red as she quickly jumped up.
If anyone had seen her in her student's room, pinning him down like that—it would have been the disgrace of a Sensei!
"It's fine… you're my Sensei, so it can't be helped," Shirou said, sitting up and straightening his rumpled clothes.
As he looked at the violent Sensei, he thought: But it's because you're always like this, that's why your arranged dates always fail… even though you're actually pretty attractive.
"What are you looking at!" Hiratsuka barked.
Being stared at like that while still recalling her position on the bed—she suddenly remembered that ever since that morning when she had hallucinated, she often dreamt of the back of a man cooking…
Her face turned red in panic, and she swung a punch.
Shirou groaned, clutching his stomach as he doubled over onto the bed again. Even without activating his Mystic Eyes, his sharp reflexes hadn't caught her punch.
"Why?! I didn't even say anything! And Sensei, isn't such blatant corporal punishment of a student a problem?" Shirou asked, holding his stomach.
"No, I could feel you were thinking bad thoughts! Besides, I'm careful about who I hit, so it's fine," Hiratsuka said, flustered, her face red.
"So what kind of 'target' am I, that it's fine for you to just hit me at will?" Shirou frowned and asked.
"Quit whining! Does it hurt? Lift up your shirt, let me check if you're injured." Hiratsuka scolded him, then immediately started tugging up his clothes, slipping her hand underneath.
"Does it hurt here?" she asked gently, pressing her fingers against his stomach.
"No," the boy shook his head.
"What about here?" She moved to another spot and pressed more firmly.
"It's fine," he replied.
Her soft hand was now pressed against his warm abdomen, gently probing around the area to check.
As her hand touched him again and again, she clearly felt the firm abs hidden beneath his slim frame. What her fingers felt was not just hard, bodybuilder-style muscles, but flexible, living muscle that only tightened under exertion—muscles formed through diverse, practical training.
The touch was completely different from a girl's body—this was something she had never experienced before. It felt oddly comfortable to squeeze, and Hiratsuka's hand unconsciously began to wander up and down.
"Sensei…" Shirou looked speechlessly at the Sensei's flustered face and reminded her: "What exactly are you trying to do? The earlier corporal punishment was already enough to get you dismissed, and now you're straying into the gray zone of the law."
Hearing his words, Hiratsuka snapped back to reality. She quickly withdrew her hand, her face blazing hot red, her whole body burning up.
So this is how much pressure an older single woman has built up? If it wasn't me, she probably would've already been reported to the police, Shirou thought, glancing at the frantic Sensei.
Shizuka stood frozen on the spot, locking eyes with the boy for five whole seconds.
"O-yasu-mi! Good night! GOOD-NIGHT! Waaaaahhh!!!" Hiratsuka shouted incoherently as she bolted for the door. But in her rush, she smacked right into it, holding her forehead in pain before finally yanking it open and fleeing out into the hall.
"Is she okay…? Honestly, enough already." Shirou half-lifted his hand in worry as he watched her run off, then sat back up.
"Hehehe, Shirou, are you still planning to go out tonight? According to monitoring, your current heart rate and dopamine secretion levels are higher than normal—you're in an excited state. I suggest you rest instead. Chaldea will investigate the precise coordinates for you," Da Vinci said.
"Mm… fine. I just feel exhausted, and I'm in no mood to fight now anyway." Shirou lay back down on the bed, speaking helplessly.
"Shirou-senpai, if you feel tired, please get a good rest. That's also an important part of battle. Calming down now, recovering your strength, and keeping yourself in good condition is all for
performing well in the next fight. These are things you taught me, Shirou-senpai," Mash said with concern.
"I see, I see, you're tired, huh." At this moment Gudako popped her head out, resting her chin in her hand with a knowing expression.
"Gudako-senpai, what's going on?" Mash looked around at the cryptic way everyone was speaking, utterly puzzled.
"No, it's nothing. It's fine if you don't understand, Mash. Anyway, let's head back to our room and rest. Also… Shirou-senpai, later I'll secretly send you a photo of Mash in her Halloween werewolf outfit," Gudako said with a mischievous grin.
"Eh?! No! Gudako-senpai! Otherwise I'll send Shirou-senpai a photo of you cosplaying Journey to the West!" Mash said, her face bright red.
"What? Mash, are you trying to rebel against me? You want to fight? Then I'll throw in the Valentine's photo of you lying on the bed in a cropped tight outfit, seductively kissing a piece of chocolate!!" Gudako shouted with both hands raised.
"Ugh… then I'll bring out the New Year's photo of Gudako-senpai wearing a shrine maiden outfit!!" Mash countered, also raising her hands.
"Looks like I have no choice… I'll reveal my treasured photo of Mash right after her personal training, wiping sweat with a towel, her whole body still dripping wet!!!" Gudako's nose flared as she spoke.
"Ugh… I still have photos of Gudako-senpai scooping goldfish, and ones of you dressed in men's clothes. Shirou-senpai, do you want them?" Mash asked pitifully, looking at the boy.
"I don't need any of them! Both of you, go back already!" Shirou flatly rejected. But thanks to the antics of the two girls, he finally managed to calm down.
"Hehehe, that's good enough. Good night." Da Vinci, with a knowing smile, ended the video transmission herself.
Shirou took a cold shower and then went to bed.
At that very moment, high up on Mount Lu, at the edge of a cliff, space itself was distorting. A black void appeared—hard to see in the night—and from it jumped a lean, wiry man, disappearing in an instant…
.
.
.
The next morning.
As soon as Shirou walked into the hotel restaurant, he was dragged into a corner by none other than the criminal Sensei, Shizuka Hiratsuka. Today she had unusually changed her hairstyle—she had specially combed down her bangs, faintly revealing some white underneath.
Looking closely, it turned out she was trying to cover a medical bandage on her forehead. It seemed last night's collision with the door had been no small injury…
"No problems with your body, right? When you woke up this morning, did your stomach still hurt? There aren't any bruises, are there? As long as you're not vomiting blood, your internal organs should be fine, right?" Hiratsuka hooked her arm around Shirou's neck and whispered into his ear.
"It's fine, it's fine! But Sensei, could it be you've trained in some kind of deadly martial art?" Shirou retorted.
"No, it's just…" Hiratsuka tried to explain, but their conversation was suddenly interrupted.
"Eh, Shirou-kun, so you like being on the receiving end of pain, huh?" Utaha Kasumigaoka walked over, her voice drawn out teasingly.
"Senpai, please don't say things that cause misunderstandings, okay?" Shirou turned toward the headband girl.
"Well, I'll let you off for today," Utaha said, showing a cheerful smile.
"Senpai seems to be in a good mood," Shirou asked in surprise.
"Well, it's because today is Mount Lu, Mount Lu," Utaha answered with a smile.
"Eh? Something like Saint Seiya again?" Shirou asked, confused.
"Why suddenly bring up that old thing from the 1980s?" Utaha looked at him strangely.
"Ugh…" Hiratsuka clutched her chest and crouched down as if struck by an arrow.
"No… it's just that classics have enduring charm. Even now, I often hear about new anime or movies being released. My little sister also reads manga like Saint Seiya: Saintia Shō," Shirou said.
"Mhm." Crouched on the floor, Hiratsuka nodded repeatedly, her bangs shifting aside, making the white bandage on her forehead even more obvious.
"Isn't that just a washed-up manga artist who can only make money off the IP he created in the past, cashing in on fans' nostalgic memories? Sure, manga only costs as much as a meal, but derivative works without any originality are only watched by older fans.
"For example, for the younger generation who don't even know who Naruto Uzumaki is—how many of them would follow Boruto? It's already a relic of the past. In a few more years, the
words Naruto will only ever come up in the mouths of men and women nearing their thirties or already past it," Utaha said coldly, pointing out the harsh truth.
"Ugh…" Hiratsuka was sprawled on the floor, almost about to cry. She looked quite pitiful.
"Alright, alright, then let's talk about which parts of Mount Lu Senpai likes instead," Shirou quickly changed the subject.
"Hm? Shirou-kun, you want to hear?" Utaha asked, smiling with relief.
The moment Shirou said yes, he regretted it.
From breakfast, to boarding the bus, to arriving at Mount Lu and gathering with the students from Xunyang Branch School—throughout the whole trip Utaha kept talking about anecdotes of famous scholars here.
It wasn't just that she liked it; it was practically a new type of obsession—like siscon or lolicon—but instead she was a Lushan-con!
When Yu the Great was controlling the floods, he climbed these peaks; in the Han dynasty, Sima Qian came here in search of Yu's footprints; Wang Xizhi washed his ink brush at Guizong Temple; Tao Yuanming lived in a village north of Mount Lu's foot, where he wrote, "Plucking chrysanthemums by the eastern fence, I leisurely gaze at the southern mountain"; Li Bai studied beneath the Five Old Peaks… There were over 200 scenic and historical sites.
By the time the bus reached the parking lot at the top of Mount Lu, the students they had met at Xunyang Branch School were already there.
The lively, adorable girl Zhou Meimei waved her hand, ran up with a bright smile, and shouted: "Shirou~! Good morning!"
"Good morning, Meimei." Shirou chuckled softly, greeting the cheerful little girl who was full of energy today.
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