The bright red score stung the boy's eyes again.
The boy rolled up the test paper.
Only then did he look up at the gray-haired girl.
"...You don't know?"
How could that be?
The boy simply didn't believe her.
Who wouldn't know what a test paper was?
His mood darkened.
He thought the gray-haired girl was deliberately making fun of him because she'd seen his score...
The gray-haired girl noticed the change in the boy's mood.
She rested her chin in her hands.
She thought to herself that humans really were so fickle, their emotions changing at the drop of a hat.
But she said, with complete confidence, "I don't know."
How could she know everything about humans?
It was just a thin sheet of paper. The gray-haired girl didn't understand why this human was making such a big deal of it.
After all, she'd seen humans casually toss paper onto the ground more than once, without giving it another thought.
Though those sheets hadn't been as big as this one.
And they hadn't had writing on them like this one did.
The boy had been about to get angry.
But the other girl's reply was so matter-of-fact, as if she were simply stating a fact...
And besides...
He raised his head and carefully studied the gray-haired girl's expression.
His eyes widened, then narrowed slightly.
There wasn't a trace of amusement or mockery in the gray-haired girl's expression.
Her face was impassive.
As if she really was... genuinely confused...
Because of everything that had happened lately, the boy had become much more sensitive to other people's emotions and the slightest changes in their expressions.
It seemed unbelievable...
But...
It looked like she really didn't know what a test paper was?
The boy still had his doubts.