Weiss And Leopin (3)

When Leopin looked away in embarrassment, he spotted something in the courtyard visible beyond the connecting corridor.

“…Huh? It’s Teacher Furo.”

Teacher Furo was the homeroom teacher of Leopin and the others’ class.

Weiss and Leopin leaned out over the railing of the connecting corridor and looked at Teacher Furo.

“Come to think of it, Teacher Furo wasn’t in class earlier. At times like that, Teacher Furo would always be the first one to help us…”

The answer came right away.

Beside Teacher Furo, who was dressed in a shabby suit, stood a man wearing what was clearly an expensive tuxedo, and he was talking at him one-sidedly.

“Teacher Furo will be part-time starting today, indeed! From here on, leave everything to me, the newly appointed teacher, indeed! I heard from Vice Principal Mothers that there is an outrageous delinquent student from a poor background in the class, indeed! Teacher Furo, you were demoted to part-time because you couldn’t discipline that student, weren’t you, indeed!?”

““What!?”” Weiss and Leopin cried, unintentionally looking at each other.

“I heard a rumor that a new teacher was coming, but I never thought it would be for our class…”

“And to think Teacher Furo won’t be our homeroom teacher anymore… I loved that teacher…”

Leopin and Teacher Furo in the courtyard dropped their shoulders at the same time.

Teacher Furo was mocked at length by the newly appointed teacher, then trudged away.

The newly appointed teacher had his back turned, so his face could not be seen, but judging from his voice, he sounded young.

Moreover, he seemed to be from a distinguished family, and a fat servant stood attending him nearby.

Like a new soldier who had driven out a useless old veteran, he relaxed on the bench with a refreshed look.

Of course, the boys were not the sort to witness such a scene and stay silent.

Weiss and Leopin left the connecting corridor and hid their breath in the bushes of the courtyard.

“That newly appointed teacher seems to be on the vice principal’s side, judging from that attitude. If we don’t find some way to drive him out, things will get troublesome.”

“Huh? But how are we supposed to drive him out…?

“Look at that.”

Weiss pointed, indicating a tree near the newly appointed teacher.

Hanging from a branch high above their heads was a beehive about the size of a human head.

Weiss plucked a vine from the “Stretchgrass” growing at his feet.

This grass was one of the indispensable playthings for children, and its vines stretched like rubber when pulled.

Weiss tied the Stretchgrass vine into a loop to make a large rubber band, hooked it around his fingers to make a finger slingshot, and fired it at the beehive.

…Boing!

The rubber band flew gently and hit the nest.

However, it only shook it slightly and did not manage to knock it down.

“Hmm, Stretchgrass doesn’t have nearly enough power.”

“Should we try throwing stones?” Leopin asked.

“No, throwing stones probably won’t work either. We need something more powerful…”

The two of them thought about it, but Leopin was the first to get an idea.

Leopin stayed low and searched the ground as though feeling around, then gathered fallen pieces of wood.

“What are you going to do with those? Don’t tell me you plan to make a spear.”

At Weiss’s question, Leopin grinned with a multi-tool knife he had taken out of his pocket in hand.

“No, I’m going to make something better.”

Leopin used the knife to cut the wood into three pieces.

He combined two long-cut pieces of wood so they crossed each other, then tightly tied them together with vines.

Then he attached the remaining short piece of wood to the crossed wood like a handle.

“Now, if I tie Stretchgrass to the tips of the crossed wood…”

At how skillfully he worked, Weiss blinked behind his glasses.

“Ohh, a slingshot! This looks like it’ll have more power than throwing stones!”

“Yeah. A Y-shaped branch would have been better, but there wasn’t one, so I made it by combining pieces.”

“All right, can you make one more? By my calculations, if the two of us aim at the same time from a slightly closer distance, we should be able to knock that nest down.”

While Weiss was saying that, Leopin’s second slingshot was already nearing completion.

Even Weiss, as expected, was impressed by that speed.

“As always, Leopin, you really are dexterous…!”

“Well, it’s the only thing I’m good at.”

“To me, it’s more dependable than a million allies. All right, let’s begin the attack at once!”

With matching slingshots in hand, Weiss and Leopin crawled closer on their stomachs.

Like snipers infiltrating enemy territory to shoot the enemy commander, they crept up behind the newly appointed teacher.

“All right, from this distance, it should work. Are you ready, Leopin…?”

“Yeah… Anytime…!”

“As usual, fire when I count to three…! Here we go, three, two, one…!”

…Whizz!

The two were perfectly in sync, and even the sound of their shots was exactly the same.

The two stones flew straight side by side, like a pair of mischievous sparrows getting along well.

The stones landed at the same time, leaving only a small bit at the base attached to the branch, and splendidly knocked down the beehive.

Something like a ceramic jar smashed to pieces at the feet of the newly appointed teacher sitting on the bench.

“What is this, indeed…?”

At first, the newly appointed teacher seemed not to understand what had fallen.

However, his face turned pale at the countless buzzing sounds that burst out from the fragments.

“G… gyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh!? Bees, indeed!? It’s beeeeeeeeeeeees, indeed!?!?”

With a scream like a strange bird whose tail had been set on fire, the newly appointed teacher fled.

The servant waiting nearby also fled at the same time.

However, for some reason, the bees chased after the newly appointed teacher.

Leopin, who was watching the scene, found it strange.

“Why are the bees only chasing after the teacher…?”

“You don’t even know that?” Weiss said.

“Bees have a habit of chasing things with strong scents. Judging by his appearance, that newly appointed teacher must have sprayed himself with perfume.”

“I see…!”

“Now you’ve grown a little wiser. Also, I hope Teacher Furo comes back.”

“Yeah, thanks.”

Still lying down, Weiss and Leopin bumped fists.

Around the hedge where the boys were hiding, a scene of screaming chaos kept circling around and around.

“Wh-why, indeed!? Why, indeed!? Why are they following me, indeed!? Gyah!? It hurts, indeed! It hurts, indeed! They stung my face, indeed!? It hurts, indeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed!?!?”

The newly appointed teacher, whose face, much less his name, they had not even gotten a proper look at, was carried to the infirmary afterward.

His scheduled appointment was postponed, and for a while longer, Teacher Furo continued serving as their homeroom teacher.