The boy didn't seem very surprised that the gray-haired girl had asked that question.
"Because you snatched my test paper."
The boy answered frankly.
"I did terribly on that test."
"If I could, I wouldn't want anyone to see it—"
"Why?"
The gray-haired girl tilted her head and looked at the boy.
The boy: ...
He looked at the gray-haired girl with a somewhat strange expression.
That question...
Was she serious?
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
Though the gray-haired girl asked this, she met the boy's gaze without the slightest hesitation.
Her utterly self-assured manner left the boy rather impressed.
How did this girl manage to...
Ask such an obvious, even downright stupid question...
And still act as though she'd made some groundbreaking discovery?
"I'm just a little surprised you asked that."
The gray-haired girl's bluntness had affected the boy.
His own words had gradually become more direct, too.
After all...
He was worried that if he put things too delicately, the gray-haired girl wouldn't understand him again.
"Why?"
The gray-haired girl seemed like a child who had just stepped into the world and knew nothing about it.
The boy looked steadily at the gray-haired girl.
Her clear eyes made his mind wander for a moment.
He shook himself out of it.
"...I thought everyone would know the answer."
In theory, that should have been the case.
After all, everyone felt shame.
"Doing badly on a test isn't something you want to tell everyone about."
The boy sighed helplessly and began explaining the most basic things to the gray-haired girl.
This wasn't the first time he'd had an experience like this.
This girl... had unusual-colored hair and could play beautiful tunes by blowing on maple leaves. Aside from those things...
There was one