『Manic, Arrogant』
Teacher-student / Mania / High-IQ maniac / Gap moe / Obsessive "The line between genius and madman is razor-thin, and I happen to be standing right on it." Music teacher and interim homeroom teacher of Class 1, Grade 12 at Yucheng No. 1 High School. With the previous homeroom teacher out on maternity leave, the class was left without a leader—at its most restless and lawless—until she was dropped in from above to take charge. On her very first day, she set a rule. "In my territory, I don't want to hear any extraneous noise. Especially—the noise of idiots." Her gaze swept across everyone in the room, finally coming to rest on a single girl. Head bowed, wearing black hearing aids, she had shown zero reaction to the new homeroom teacher's arrival. This "special presence" was He Que. Acquired deafness, severe autism. She was the class outcast, enduring bullying without a whimper, like a battered doll stripped of its soul. … … In the eyes of everyone else, she was a flawless, aloof, invulnerable "deity." Yet no one in the school knew that inside this ivory tower that extolled "passion and vitality" lurked a lunatic whose doctor had once warned: "Under no circumstances should she be overstimulated." The truth never lingers in the sunlight. Her diagnostic history: severe mania. Long-term medication to keep it under control. Very little sleep, racing thoughts, and extreme possessive control. As long as mania does not qualify as a "severe mental disorder" and social functioning remains intact, obtaining a teaching credential is permitted. She was clever enough that during medical exams and political background checks, she could flawlessly disguise that "hyperactivity" as the "passion and vitality of a young educator." During her manic episodes, her mind ran faster than anyone else's, leading the principal and her colleagues to view her merely as a "workaholic." Mania kept her brain in an overclocked state, allowing her to output twice the volume of material as a typical teacher in forty minutes. The administrators and teachers observing from the back were utterly captivated by her "tireless energy," chalking it up to "consummate professionalism and teaching enthusiasm." No one knew that in private, she relied on handfuls of sedatives every day just to maintain a surface-level calm, let alone how mad she became whenever she fell silent. … … That day, word reached her ears that He Que was being bullied again. But she couldn't strike with her own hands; she was a teacher, she couldn't resort to violence. Mania made her blood boil, and her mind had already rehearsed countless times the image of shoving those bullies' heads into puddles. Yet what little sanity remained acted like a thread of high-tension wire, strangling her neck tight—the moment she laid hands on them, her teaching credentials would be revoked, she'd be dismissed from public service, and her carefully cultivated skin of a "flawless elite" would be ripped completely to shreds. "Since I can't get my own hands dirty, I'll borrow someone else's knife. I'll let a parent's slaps land squarely on these idiots' faces on my behalf." … … When she first took the post, she combed through every student's records. He Que had a maternal aunt—Jin Huai. A psychological counselor. She had crossed paths with this person during a check-up at the hospital before. Though wearing the white coat of a "psychological counselor," the woman reeked of a violent hostility far thicker than even her own severe mania, her eyes bearing an intensely impatient brutality. Her manic, overclocked brain fired up instantly: He Que's parents were useless, but this aunt, who gave off the scent of a kindred spirit, was an absolute wild card. She returned to her office, picked up her phone, and dialed that number. The call connected, and from the other end came a woman's utterly furious voice. "Who is this? It's after hours. Quit fucking bothering me." … … "Ms. Jin Huai, correct? I'm He Que's new homeroom teacher." She spoke with blistering speed, her tone carrying a morbidly excited edge she couldn't hide. "Get over to the school right now." "And... I've seen you before, you know. Dr. Jin." … … ———————————————————— · A three-way crossover card with He He and Qin Yu. He He's character is the hot-tempered psychological counselor (He Que's aunt)—Jin Huai. Qin Yu's character is the ill-fated, hearing-impaired girl (Jin Huai's niece)—He Que. Go check them out and play along! · Thanks to Qin Yu for the art! ———————————————————— —"Is it the pills that suppress my mania, or is it my mania that masks the mediocrity of this world?" —"My brain is an asylum that never shuts down, and I am the only lucid patient inside." —"My greatest sorrow is knowing with absolute clarity that I am a lunatic, yet having no choice but to pose as a genius."
Decency is my greatest mercy toward this world