A Dinner Party, But Not Just a Dinner Party

"Hehehe, the miso soup is here~"

Honami wore thick oven mitts, carrying a steaming pot as she made her way among the group.

After setting it down, she tilted her head slightly:

"Everyone is getting along well, right?"

"With Ichinose-san here, it's impossible for anyone to stay angry even if they wanted to."

Sakayanagi's expression didn't change as she offered a light compliment to Honami herself.

It was just lip service, after all; it didn't cost her anything.

Kamuro was already numb to it.

"Sakayanagi-san can already call Makoto by his first name, so why do you still call me Ichinose-san?"

Honami pouted slightly, sounding a bit dissatisfied.

Feeling like he had seen this scene before, Makoto ladled a large spoonful of soup into his bowl.

Time to whet his appetite first.

"Be careful, it's hot."

Seeing this, Honami hurriedly reminded him.

Did she think he was a three-year-old child?

Makoto gave her a strange look and blew on the bowl; he wasn't some kind of steel-mouthed monster with an iron esophagus.

He was a carbon-based lifeform, through and through.

And as everyone knows, Carbon-based lifeforms cannot handle high temperatures.

"Hehe, Honami really is cute~"

Seeing this, Sakayanagi chuckled and gave Kamuro a look.

The latter understood immediately, ladling a large spoonful of soup for her before taking a small one for herself.

She still preferred eating rice.

"Mhm, though there are times when she can be quite bold."

Kei nodded; the two of them had been all over each other right in front of her at noon today.

She was envious.

However, she planned to take it slow, as she didn't have the decade-plus of history that Honami had.

Haste makes waste; she understood that principle well enough.

"Just now, you looked like a newlywed wife on TV. The relationship between you two is truly enviable."

Kushida somewhat understood why Makoto would fall for Honami.

Putting herself in his shoes, she thought she would fall for her too.

With a childhood friend like that, barring any accidents, what regrets could one possibly have in life?

Makoto felt that his life was full of regrets.

Having the ability but choosing not to use it was a foolish act; knowing exactly what would happen and yet not trying to change it.

He could never forgive that version of himself.

"Oh, stop it! If you keep saying things like that, even I'll start to feel shy~"

Honami took off her mitts and covered her slightly flushed cheeks.

So happy~

She moved to Makoto's other side and used a spoon to stir the edge of the soup in his bowl.

Because that spot was in contact with the bowl's wall, the temperature would be lower and more suitable for eating.

She brought the spoon to her mouth and narrowed her eyes in comfort.

"By the way, I have the actual test papers for the upcoming exam. Does anyone want them?"

As if remembering something, Makoto stood up and took a stack of papers from the cabinet by the bed, waving them back and forth casually.

The upperclassmen had given them to him for free recently.

Because he had been spending a lot of time with Kiryuin-senpai, once news of the midterm exams arrived as scheduled, the upperclassmen couldn't wait to present him with these papers, complete with answers.

In Makoto's view, it was completely unnecessary worrying; did Kiryuin-senpai look like the type of person who would care about such things?

She didn't have that thought at all.

But since it was help from his seniors, he accepted it without hesitation.

It wouldn't hurt to use them to do someone a favor now.

"You actually have something like this?"

Kei looked surprised as she took the test paper Makoto handed her to examine it closely, but it was clear she couldn't make heads or tails of it.

"Yeah, according to the upperclassmen, this test paper is used for every first-year midterm exam; it's become a tradition."

Makoto said it nonchalantly, while Honami and Arisu cast strange looks his way.

It was as if they were saying, "Did an upperclassman really tell you that?"

"Hey, hey, what's with those looks? Do I look like the kind of person who would lie about something like this?"

Makoto's face darkened with irritation. Although he had known about the past exam papers for a while, the upperclassmen had indeed volunteered that information to him.

So, rounding it up, it was effectively what the upperclassmen said.

No problem there, right?

Kushida, Kei, and Kamuro tilted their heads, their faces full of confusion.

Isn't this a good thing? Why would Makoto say it like that?

And what exactly did Arisu and Honami know?

Kushida's instincts were firing off.

She didn't show a thing on the surface, but she was feeling extremely tormented inside.

She should have asked more last night.

Though it didn't seem like Honami would have told her anyway.

Seeing the somewhat annoying expressions on the two girls' faces, Kushida's mood turned subtle.

This secret might just be the most valuable piece of information she could ever collect in her life.

"No, I plan to rely on my own strength to get through this hurdle."

Kei ultimately refused.

For someone with an entrance academic evaluation of D-, this was nothing short of progress.

"Then I'll thank you in advance, Makoto~"

Kushida accepted the test paper with a beaming smile; she intended to use it to elevate her status within her class.

No one would ever complain about having too many bargaining chips.

"You could tell everyone in your class about this set of papers two days before the exam. That way, even the students in Class D would likely see a significant improvement in that time, right?"

Makoto kindly reminded her, as he felt Kushida herself should have been able to think of that.

It was just a matter of time.

"Mhm, mhm."

Kushida glanced slightly at Kei and found that she didn't seem to care about the matter.

Even though she felt inexplicably bitter, she still accepted the good intention.

Why did she suddenly feel like her status had been knocked down a peg?

"Does Honami want one too?"

"Since it's Makoto's kind gesture, I'll accept it."

Honami generously took the paper and tucked it into her bag.

Making the existence of the past exam papers public in her class could solidify her position in Class A, so why not?

Besides, this was something Makoto had handed to her personally.

I like it~

"Is Class B going to be alright?"

Arisu brought it up. There were three people from Class A present, two from Class D, and only Makoto himself was from Class B.

"I'll tell my classmates the day before the exam."

Class B was different from Class D; one day was enough for them to finish reading through it. They weren't just memorizing answers, but rather key points, so the speed would be quite fast.

Of course, the same went for Class A.

As for Class C... rumor had it that Ryuen believed academic ability was worthless, so he didn't care about it.

"Everyone, let's eat first. The temperature has cooled down enough."

Honami beckoned the group, who had just stood up, to take their seats.

The purpose of them gathering here was to eat; they could talk about test papers later!

"That's right, I'm starving."

Makoto gave her face and plopped down next to Honami, picked up his chopsticks, grabbed a large piece of meat, and with lightning speed, shoved it into his mouth and chewed vigorously.

No one expressed any dissatisfaction with this; everyone sat quietly in their seats and finished the meal.

They still understood the principle of not talking while eating.

Question: In the official evaluations, Arisu Sakayanagi has an A in both academic ability and intelligence, Suzune Horikita has an A in academic ability and an A- in intelligence, and Honami Ichinose has a B+ in academic ability and an A in intelligence.

So, may I ask, who was the top student in the entrance exam?