“You… you’re the new teacher everyone’s been talking about, aren’t you?

  I’ve been hearing your name for a while now.

  I wanted to see you with my own eyes.”

  Blue turned toward him but said nothing.

  

  “I heard you’re being dismissed because Film Studies has no value… but I don’t think so.”

  The students’ gazes fixed on them. No one dared make a sound—

  not out of fear.

  

  “Someone like you… would be a shame to lose.”

  

  “What do you mean?”

  Blue asked.

  The man smiled warmly and extended his hand.

  

  “I’ll take you to the other side of the school. A fresh start—as the Blue House instructor. And as a proper exchange student.”

  He turned to Joanne beside him, offering a gentler smile.

  

  “I know you won’t leave… not without him.”

  A glimmer flickered in Joanne’s eyes. He straightened his back, as if the weight he carried had suddenly lifted. Yet when he noticed the puzzled looks from the others around him, he slowly closed his eyes.

  It seemed the flame within Blue had never gone out.

  The teacher in him was blazing again—now that everyone knew his real name.

  

  “I refuse.”

  No one knew it yet—

  but he already stood at a level of his own.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  

  “Even if I have to die for a single film, then I’ll die with it. And every one of my students will cross to the other side.”

  At last, the smile faded from the calm face before him.

  

  “Heh… go ahead. But in the end, no one here is going anywhere. Not even your film.”

  Blue let out a faint breath of a laugh.

  

  “Then let me tell you something—

  I shoot both film… and digital.”

  That day, the cafeteria became their battlefield.

  The smiles they gave each other were declarations of war across a border. Though Blue’s voice remained steady, whispers of his name began spreading from table to table.

  But to Joanne—

  Is it truly right… to lead them across to a place that doesn’t welcome them?

  Clang… Clang…

  Morning bells rang.

  Students flowed into lines like a river. White uniforms stretched in rows like fresh sheets of paper, red ties slashing across them like blood on snow. Once every week, the entire school gathered before the flagpole for announcements.

  Art teacher Shosil delivered the morning notice.

  

  “Today, a temporary teacher will be joining this side of the school.”

  His words were slow. Heavy.

  The courtyard fell silent row by row. Even Blue, already standing at the head of his class line, glanced over. His eyes looked slightly drowsy, giving nothing away.

  The woman walked onto the platform and greeted the students in English, introducing herself with a confident, practiced smile—like a newly elected official making her debut. From the side, Shosil watched her with a faintly unfocused gaze. The students seemed stunned by the new music teacher overwhelming confidence.

  Still, the morning assembly ended smoothly with applause.

  Voices rose again as students returned to class. Blue stood among them in silence, letting them manage themselves.

  Then—

  a sharp sound of footsteps approached from behind. High heels striking the ground. Every student turned toward the unfamiliar sound—

  and were struck for the first time by a whip made of words.

  

  “Students. Inside. Now.”

  The command was short. Like a gavel strike. The lines broke instantly.

  Blue turned back to look, his expression still half-sleepy.

  For a moment, their eyes met.

  One was like an owl that hunted only when it chose.

  The other—a hawk poised at the height of its senses.

  

  The new teacher’s arrival…Who was she, really?