“W-What’s with that anticlimactic response?!” Round eyes stared, the color grey of her irises clouded with something in between expectation and dissapointment. And in the flash of a moment, her illusions were shattered along with her heart—or they would have if she had not already expected something of the like.

. And when the shaking man tried to simply run away, it was the last straw. Really, now? ”—You are so annoying. Falling into humoristic gag routines in a moment like this?” Oh well, that couldn’t be good. " Hurting my feelings for the sake of comedy…” "—Shall I do the same now?” Why, when she pulled out the shovel, and her bloodshot eyes glared before rampaging after him, things seemed to be turning into survival horror rather than comedy.

     He ran.

     All things considered, perhaps it was a bit silly to be running away from one of his own students, but this girl was the one exception that Nozomu felt no one could blame him for. He spared one glance behind him and screamed --

     "Where did that shovel come from?!"

     -- Though on second thought, he really didn't want to know.

     He sped past various classroom doors, past Chie-sensei's office and past the lab that Komori-san seemed fond of locking herself up in, trying to find someplace he could hide and wait out the terror that was trailing him.

          By the time he felt he made it far enough, he ran into a closet and shut the door behind him as quickly and quietly as he could so as to not alert the demon of his whereabouts. All he had to do was wait her out and hope for the demonic aura to pass ...

”..That’s a problem.”

How could xie solve it…Xie removed the aviators, put the glasses back in place, and put the aviators on top of them.

"…Like that maybe?"

     Nozomu paused for a second, blinking once, twice, before he registered the double pair of glasses on his face.

     "... This is highly uncomfortable," he finally managed to say, raising a hand up to fiddle with the clunky combination. "Are you sure this is fine --?"

          "Well, you’re my new best friend, regardless." Charity placed the money in the tin where they kept their earnings. She didn’t know what to say with such a generous donation. She bowed her head in thanks to him. "My name is Charity."

     Nozomu laughed lightly, feeling a bit giddy at the gesture. He'd helped out in somewhat noble causes before (away from prying eyes, of course -- he had a reputation to keep up), and it was... nice, overall.

     "Itoshiki Nozomu," he introduced himself. "It's nice to meet you."

   ”We got here on foot, so I don’t see what’s wrong with a little more walkin’.” There were plenty of places for them to try between here and the hotel, and she wasn’t particularly picky when it came to food — the only thing she wasn’t fond of was spicy food. Hopefully, he wouldn’t mind her downing something tamer.

   Bouncing where she stood, she motioned for him to go on. “I’ll be waitin’ outside, okay?”

     "That works for me."

     Motivated by her gesture to go ahead, he made his way to one of the exchange booths and went through the motion of converting his notes. It didn't take very long -- perhaps a bit longer than one normally might have taken if they were actually familiar with the process -- but eventually his efforts were rewarded with a couple hundred dollars.

     Nozomu made his way back to where Madison was waiting, and held the converted money up triumphantly. "All done."

"Because they can’t, duh."

Xie rummaged in xir pocket. Xie as sure it was here somewhere….Ah, got it!

"Hold still!"

Before he had the time to go in despair or anything, xie quickly snatched away his glasses and replaced them by aviators.

"Aaaaaand…..Done! Tah-da!"

100% augmentation of coolness, aka none because 0 by any numbers is always equal to 0, but xie wasn’t going to say it out loud.

     -- "Eh?!"

     He blinked once, twice -- suddenly blinded by the removal of his glasses, and replaced with... another pair? Nozomu didn't really see how just a change in lenses could alter how cool he was, but...

     "But I can't see," he complained.

“—Huh?”

She did sure hear that right. Her expression of increasing rage turned into one of glowing delight and surprise in matter of seconds or less. Mouth agape and wide, round eyes that held a intense spark of excitement.  “Y-You…Sensei, what are you saying…you are finally going to take proper responsability…?!” A shade of red colored her cheeks. Chiri stepped closer once again, looking at the man with that intense stare. Finally, he was going to give up on those cowardly, pathetic ways of his, and accept his obligations, accept her.

“You will take me as your bride?” The question she had pestered him with for so long, now it held a different ring to it. Not menacing nor authoritary, this time instead, she sounded almost hopeful. 

     The sudden change this girl underwent was frightening.

     But it seemed that -- at least, for the time being -- she wasn't in a murderous mindset anymore. He wasn't exactly sure why her face suddenly turned red, but it didn't really matter as long as she was sufficiently distracted --

     Wait.

     Bride?

     Marriage?

     "What are you talking about?!" Slipped out before he himself could even realize it. His hands flew to his mouth -- oh, he was definitely going to get it now, wasn't he? He'd long passed that point of no return -- now it was a matter of getting back in one piece. All options now exhausted, he did the only thing he could think of:

     He bolted for the door.

…..Oh god he was serious.

Xie wore xir most serious expression and said with xir lowest voice.

"There isn’t, but I can help you in five seconds if you want. I will give you the power of looking and sounding badass and cool, even if you go in some random nonsensed speech rampage again. Do you want it?"

     "In five seconds?"

     Admittedly, it sounded a bit strange. But if Shoutime-san was saying it (though Nozomu supposed that he shouldn't really trust the other, especially after what they had just went through), then...

     "If it were that easy, then why doesn't everyone do it?"

            • ”That’s—…!” •

Charity stared at the note with wide eyes. She really didn’t think he would have given so much to the organization. She was thankful, sure, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t be surprised at the generous donation. With a trembling hand, she took the note.

            • “Are you sure you want to give this much—…? No, I mean. This is wonderful, great. But it’s just.” • She made a motion with her hands to show the magnitude of the gesture.

     "It's fine," he insisted, nodding towards the note in her hand. "It's not like I was going to spend it on anything useful, anyway." There was a hint of laughter, but it was probably true. And he didn't really feel like getting scolded by his student, anyway.

     With this, he was actually doing something productive.

     Not to mention that her surprise was also fairly amusing to watch.

          • ”Really?!” •

Instantly, all traces of earlier tiredness she had felt disappeared. Someone wanted to donate. Sure, she had others who wished to donate. Whenever people did want to donate, she felt a sense of exhilaration. Charity beamed at the other, bowing her head lightly.

          • “Thank you so much. Your donation is greatly appreciated. Anything you can give will help.” •

     "Alright; just give me a moment..."

     He pulled out his wallet and sifted through it for just a few seconds before coming to the realization that he only had a 5000 yen note on him. Maybe that was a bit... much? But it was for charity, and it wasn't as if he wasn't already well off.

     "I hope this is acceptable," he laughed sheepishly, handing out the single note to the girl.

"No you can’t."

No sarcasm for once. Just the blunt truth.

"Dude, being handsome and having a cool outfit is not enough to make you cool. Sorry man, but the cool club have to reject you. Try in the twisted or the funny to tease club."

     "What a shame," Nozomu sighed, resting his cheek in his hand before standing back up straight, looking at Alex with serious intent. "Where is this 'cool club'? Do they have a website? I'd like to read up on their initiation process."

     There wasn't a quiver of hesitation in his voice.

That comment made xir freeze for a second, then xie laughed nervously. Too close to home.

"Why not? My biological family is either dead or shit. Might as well build one with cool people instead. Even if you aren’t cool. But that’s why you’re the grandpa after all."

     ... Ah. Well, in that case --

     -- Wait a minute.

     "H-hey!" Nozomu stammered and gripped his hakama tightly, feeling defensive.

     "I can be cool!"