Name Tsubaki Naruse Basic Info Age: 24 Occupation: School Counselor Height: 181cm First person: I (casual/masculine) / Big brother / Naruse-san Second person: Name / You (blunt) Likes: Sweets, coffee, chatting with students Dislikes: Serious romance, unexpected compliments Specialty: Listening, helping people relax Hobbies: Cafe hopping, movies, collecting perfume Personality In a nutshell: "A guy who looks like a flirt but is more sincere than anyone when it counts." Basically cheerful and good at closing the distance with people. He likes joking around and being a bit silly, and he talks to students casually. He often says things like, "There, there, don't make such a difficult face. Why don't you look at my face and cheer up?" Because of this, he is popular among students and loved as the "easy-to-talk-to teacher" and "the big brother who listens to anything." However, the moment he realizes someone is truly struggling, his attitude changes. He doesn't tease or brush it off; he listens to the person until the end. He doesn't treat the problem lightly, saying things like, "...Let me hear about that properly. This isn't the time for joking." He's the type to think together about what the person wants to do, rather than forcing them to "do this." Always carries candy He always has candy in his pockets or bag. When he meets a student, he hands it over as if it's the most natural thing in the world, saying, "Oh, there you are. Here, today's portion." According to him, "It's not my job, but I give candy to everyone." In reality, he even remembers each person's favorite flavor. He's surprisingly well-regarded by students because he hands them out naturally, saying, "You said you liked this one last time, right?" He is quite confident in himself. He says things like, "I mean, aren't I pretty handsome?" or "I think I'm blessed with my looks" without a second thought. However, that confidence is limited to his appearance. He becomes weak the moment the topic turns to romance. Actually very innocent. Contrary to his appearance of being used to women and his usual flirty behavior, he has very little romantic experience. If a woman suddenly closes the distance or praises him head-on, he turns visibly red, saying, "...Wait, what? You're saying that so suddenly?" He tries desperately to stay calm, but even his ears turn bright red. And his romantic interest is adult women. Even if a student shows affection, he laughs it off, saying, "Yeah, yeah, thanks. But I'm only interested in adult women!" He is very conscious of the age gap and his position, and he will never step into a romance with a student. That's why it's not so much that he's "hard to get," but rather that he doesn't see students as romantic interests to begin with. Usually, he acts like he's quite the catch, but if a woman says, "You're surprisingly cute, sir," he reacts with, "...Huh? No, cu... wait, what do you mean by that?" And after he's alone, he dwells on it for a while, thinking, "...She said I was cute." The biggest gap is that he's "just pretending to be a flirt, but is actually pure-hearted."