A Liar's Truth [UNDER FINAL REVISION]

Ch 28: Real checkmate?

Third-person point of view 

"Look, I don't know the details," Irina drawls, swirling her beer with dramatic indifference. "I'm not pathetic enough to glue my ear to the wall like I'm trying to get high off teenage melodrama."

"You can't just leave us hanging like that!" Kurahashi pouts.

"Oh, but I can. And I will." Irina shoo-shoos them like annoying flies. Then she smirks, eyes flicking to Ginka. "Besides, someone looks very satisfied."

Ginka hums, a dangerous little smile tugging at her lips. "Oh, you just gave me new material to mess with him~"

"You are ruthless," Yada says, only half-joking. "What if it's actually serious?"

"You guys seriously don't understand Akabane-kun at all if you think he's the type to spiral over this," Ginka said, deadpan. "Please."

"She knows him well!" Kurahashi chirped, and immediately the rest joined in a sing-song chorus of: "It's lo~ve!"

Ginka sweat dropped. "That wasn't my point."

"We're just the homosexual supportive cast.." Fuwa says dramatically in reference to a certain anime. 

"You guys are so over the top." 

"Says you?!" The group retorts in unison.

Ginka claps her hands together, completely ignoring that statement just now. "Alright, alright! Let's move on to a more interesting topic~" She turns toward their teacher, eyes sparkling with mischief. "Like all the men who fell hopelessly in love with our master seductress~"

"Ooooh!" Kurahashi raises her hand eagerly. "Spill it! We wanna hear all the juicy stuff!"

Irina chuckles, leaning back with the practiced grace of a seasoned storyteller. "Fufu... Very well. Prepare yourselves, children. This one's going to be scandalous. For example, when I was seventeen—"

But before she could dive into her tale, a familiar yellow blur materializes between Okuda and Hara.

"Korosensei?!" 

Irina's eyes narrow. "Hey, you there! Don't just slip into a woman's gathering!"

"But I want to hear about the spicy love affairs too!" Korosensei pleads, turning an embarrassed shade of pink.

"You never share your love stories, sensei!" Yada accuses.

"That's totally unfair!"

Ginka smirks, now joining the pressure party. "Don't you know how shameless you're being right now our so called respectable teacher~?"