My spirit animal is a F–Rank gecko-Chapter 45: Back to the past (6)

While they were busy cleaning the entire classroom, no one noticed the elevator doors slide open—or the two students who stepped out.

"Woah."

A short blue-haired girl spoke with minimal enthusiasm, her expression completely stoic.

She surveyed the classroom floor and found it practically spotless.

Ivy was sweeping when she paused to wipe the sweat from her forehead. That’s when she spotted the two strangers standing outside.

"Oh my gosh, hello!" She dropped her mop—right onto the poor hare below—and sprinted toward them with a huge smile.

At first, the blue-haired girl seemed mildly unnerved. She leaned closer to her tall, dark-haired companion and whispered, "Joshua, I think that girl might be crazy..."

Joshua glanced at the green-haired girl with the bow, now practically skipping toward them like she was in a nursery rhyme. He silently nodded in agreement.

Ivy stopped right in front of them and extended her hand enthusiastically.

"Hello! I’m Ivy. Are you two our new classmates?"

Joshua and his friend exchanged a glance, then both nodded.

"OH MY GOSH, WONDERFUL! We were so curious about who else would be in our class!"

Ivy spun around and yelled across the room to everyone.

Every head turned. Jay, mid-climb on the ceiling, lost his grip and plummeted to the floor with a loud thud.

Anastasia’s eyes locked onto the two newcomers—but her attention quickly zeroed in on the tall, dark-haired guy.

She studied how his shirt stretched perfectly across his well-defined muscles. His biceps alone made her feel faint.

Oh my god... he looks like Adrien...

Karina welcomed them warmly, waving with a smile.

"Welcome! What are your names?"

"I’m Tia..." She gestured lazily toward her companion. "And this is Joshua."

Both of them wore the same stoic, unimpressed expression.

But as Tia scanned the room, the clean floors, the swept ceiling. She nodded with quiet approval.

"You guys are impressive. I honestly expected this place to be a disaster. I guess because lower-ranked classrooms usually get the worst treatment, so..."

She trailed off, then glanced around at everyone.

Jay was already climbing back up to finish the ceiling. Karina was wiping down windows. And the two girls who’d greeted them stood nearby.

"What are your names?" Tia asked.

Ivy’s eyes lit up. "Oh! I’m Ivy..." She pointed at the blonde girl. "That’s Anastasia..." Then toward the others. "And the silver-haired guy is Jay. The lilac-haired one is Karina!"

Tia rubbed her chin thoughtfully, then nodded slowly.

"Okay... noted."

She stepped inside, dropped her bag on a table, and rolled up her sleeves. Her expression turned serious as she looked at Ivy.

"Got any tasks for me?"

Ivy beamed, grabbed Tia’s hand, and dragged her to the other side of the room.

Joshua simply stood there, watching his friend get pulled away.

"So... uh..." He glanced at Anastasia.

But Ana was completely lost in a daydream, staring at Joshua’s face. In her mind, they were already on a date. Kissing, getting married—

"Hello??" Joshua waved a hand in front of her face.

Anastasia snapped back to reality with a jolt.

"Oh! Right—sorry about that..." She rubbed her burning cheeks, but Joshua just kept staring at her, expressionless.

"Uhh... OH!"

An idea sparked.

"Hey, Karina! We need more chairs and tables, right?" Ana shouted across the room.

Karina paused mid-wipe. "Yeah, there are some that aren’t broken, but honestly? I think we should just replace everything. Better safe than sorry!"

Anastasia shot her a thumbs-up, then turned back to Joshua.

"I’ll need your help moving the desks. I’ll handle the chairs."

Joshua simply nodded with no words, just acknowledgment.

"Great! Let’s go!" She grabbed his arm and pulled him toward the storage rooms.

---

Inside the storage room, Anastasia opened a large box and hit the jackpot.

Inside were multiple foldable tables.

"Hey, Joshua!" She pointed at the box. "You can start bringing these to the classroom!"

Joshua nodded, effortlessly lifting several tables at once.

Anastasia continued searching for chairs.

The storage room was packed with forgotten items, its basically a graveyard of things the school couldn’t be bothered to throw away.

Then her eyes landed on a mysterious box. Written across it in bold red sharpie: DO NOT OPEN.

Anastasia, true to her curious nature (and her fox’s influence), felt an irresistible pull toward that warning.

She extended the blade of a cutter and was about to slice through the tape when—

"Hey. What are you doing?" Joshua grabbed her wrist just in time.

Anastasia laughed awkwardly. "Oh! I was just curious..."

Joshua’s intense glare didn’t waver. "Don’t."

He gently pulled her arm away from the box.

"There’s always a reason for them to be marking it like that."

His deep, cold voice nearly made Anastasia’s face melt off. She quickly complied and moved on.

After searching the very back of the room, she finally found it. Rows of foldable chairs stacked in a long line.

"Nice!" She grabbed the handle of one stack.

"Whoa, this is heavier than I thought!"

Struggling slightly, she managed to lift a chair and started heading back. She whistled cheerfully, oblivious to what was happening behind her.

The stack she’d taken from had been supporting the others. Without it, the remaining chairs wobbled—then tipped over, plummeting straight toward her head.

She didn’t see it coming.

THUD.

Suddenly, a shadow loomed over her. Then came the crash of scattered chairs.

Anastasia spun around, heart racing. "Oh my god, what happened?!"

The shadow shifted, rising and revealed Joshua, standing amid the wreckage, chairs scattered everywhere around him.

"Ouch." He rubbed the back of his neck, then looked directly into her eyes.

His dark gaze seemed to pierce straight through her orange irises.

Anastasia’s breath hitched. Her heart pounded uncontrollably.

Joshua noticed her panicked expression and frowned slightly.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?"

I SHOULD BE ASKING YOU THAT! she screamed in her head.

He gently cupped her cheek, inspecting her face. "You look fine to me."

OH MY GOD. BOYS NEVER UNDERSTAND WOMEN’S FEELINGS!

Then she heard a dripping sound.

Her eyes dropped to his knee and made her blood ran cold.

The cutter that she used previously, was lodged in his flesh. Blood dripped steadily onto the floor.

"OH MY GOD, JOSHUA!" She pointed frantically at his leg.

He raised an eyebrow, glanced down at his knee, then back at the cutter embedded in his skin.

Blood continued pooling beneath him.

Anastasia braced for Joshua to panic, or screamed, or anything to be honest.

But he simply stared at the wound with the same lazy, stoic expression and said.

"Ouch."