The Girls' Tea Party

Matsushita and Sakura brought a change of clothes to the changing room, and Hasebe was finally able to change and step out.

"Thank you, Sato, Matsushita, and Airi! If it weren't for you all, I really wouldn't have known what to do today."

"Don't mention it, Hasebe."

"Exactly, Maya and I didn't really do anything. The one who worked the hardest was Sakura; the distance from here to the dorms isn't exactly an easy trip to make."

"N-no... I didn't really do anything difficult..."

"Airi, thank you for the clothes. I'll wash them and return them to you later."

"I-it's nothing."

"You know, this outfit of yours is really pretty, Sakura."

Sato, standing to the side, suddenly spoke up. She stared with a discerning gaze at the casual clothes Sakura was wearing—the ones Hasebe now had on.

"Mm, I actually think so too."

Hasebe nodded in agreement. It was a white dress with a black belt at the waist; the hem reached her knees and flared out slightly like a blooming flower. Simple yet elegant—that was the impression the dress left on Hasebe.

"N-no... it's only because Kaka is so pretty that it looks good on her..."

Sakura couldn't handle the praise and whispered, her face turning red.

"That's part of it, sure... but I feel like this dress is a bit different from your usual style, Sakura?"

"Hey, Maya!"

Sato had said something very much in her character—completely without thinking. Matsushita whispered a warning from the side, but the words couldn't be taken back.

Just as Sato said, the dress suited Sakura or Hasebe perfectly, highlighting their graceful curves. But precisely because of that, it was hard to imagine it being something Sakura, who disliked being the center of attention, would choose for herself.

Of course, this was the outfit Sakura wore when playing the idol Shizuku. However, none of the people present knew the inside story, and for a moment, Sakura didn't know how to explain it.

She hadn't expected that seeing her silent, the other three would assume Sato's thoughtless remark had hurt her feelings.

Suddenly, Sato stepped forward with intense momentum and grabbed Sakura's hands. The look in her eyes even made Sakura think of the phrase "prepared for death."

"T-that, Sakura! I'm sorry! I spoke without thinking and caused you trouble. I apologize!"

"Eh? E-ehhh?"

Startled, Sakura let out a cry. Watching from the sidelines, Matsushita and Hasebe couldn't help but laugh at the sight of the two.

"Airi, Sato didn't mean anything by it, so you don't need to be nervous."

"It seems Sakura isn't taking it to heart, but Maya, you should be more careful next time."

The group shared a smile, and through this incident, they felt a bit closer to one another.

"Do you two have any plans for the rest of the day?"

"Hmm, nothing in particular. I was originally invited out by Aki today..."

"Forget about that lecher! Why don't we all go hang out somewhere?"

Matsushita extended an invitation to Hasebe and Sakura.

"But aren't you all here to go swimming?"

"Swimming isn't exactly a must. Besides, the pool is getting more and more crowded now."

"That sounds fine to me, I don't have anything else going on."

"Wait a second, Maya and I need to change."

"Hey, Chiaki, I still kind of wanted to keep swimming..."

At that moment, Sato leaned in close to Matsushita's ear and whispered.

"I don't think you want to swim, I think you just want to go find Hoshino," Matsushita said, giving her a look of disdain.

"Keep your voice down, Chiaki, it's so embarrassing if people hear..."

"You weren't feeling embarrassed when you were trying to show off your swimsuit to Hoshino, were you?"

"But Chiaki was the one hanging out with Hoshino in her swimsuit the whole time just now..."

Matsushita gave Sato a firm tap on the forehead.

"Don't hit my head, I'll get stupid."

"You're already stupid, Maya, so it doesn't matter."

"Ugh, Chiaki is bullying me again. Fine, I won't go then."

After a bit of playful bickering, the two quickly changed out of their swimsuits.

"Alright, let's go!"

Sato said with a grin, naturally leaning in to link her arm with Sakura's. Sakura looked at her in shock.

"D-does that mean I can come along too?"

"Of course you're coming! Why would you even ask that? You're so strange sometimes, Sakura."

"I... I'm sorry, I'm a very strange person..."

"Wait? No, that's not what I meant! Oh, Chiaki is going to rap me on the head again for saying the wrong thing, and I'll feel so guilty!"

As if realizing words were no longer enough to explain, Sato simply grabbed Sakura by the arm and pulled her forward. Sakura moved with the stiffness of a prisoner being led to the gallows.

Watching this scene, Hasebe and Matsushita couldn't help but wear smiles as doting as those of mothers.

The swimming pool was located inside Keyaki Mall. After leaving the pool, the group hadn't decided where to go next. Eventually, they all agreed to Matsushita's suggestion of having tea at a teahouse.

On the way, Sato clung to Sakura's arm, chattering away incessantly.

Once they reached the teahouse, the group took their seats. Matsushita picked up the teapot and poured tea into the four cups one by one.

In a high-end teahouse, a server would handle such tasks, and there might even be a tea ceremony demonstration. But this was just a standard teahouse catering to students.

"Matsushita-san, you're amazing..."

Sakura watched Matsushita's movements, unable to stop a sigh of admiration from escaping her lips.

Anyone who saw Matsushita's graceful posture at that moment would surely feel the same.

"Chiaki is actually quite skilled at the real tea ceremony, too. She's so elegant, just like a young lady from a wealthy family."

"Maya, I'm not as amazing as you make me sound. My grandmother runs a tea ceremony school, so I've been strictly trained in this since I was a child."

Matsushita returned to her seat with a wry smile.

"That still makes you amazing! If it were me, I definitely couldn't do something like this."

"Well, Maya is such a simple-minded person, so you'd definitely struggle with all these complicated nuances."

"Chiaki, are you complimenting me? I feel like you're insulting me in a roundabout way."

Sato muttered under her breath. Sometimes Chiaki spoke in such riddles that it took her a long time to figure out what she meant.

"Not at all. I'm praising Maya for being a straightforward, good person—even if you aren't very bright and your grades are a total disaster."

"Ugh..."

Matsushita had intentionally played the villain by bringing up grades, and sure enough, Sato was left speechless and defeated.

However, there was someone nearby who was even more wounded.

"M-my grades are even worse than Sato-san's..."

Sakura's face turned bright red as she mumbled the words.

Looking at the published entrance exam results, both Sato and Sakura were in the bottom tier of the class, and while their scores were close, Sato's were indeed slightly higher.

"Airi, don't be so down. My grades aren't exactly great either."

Hasebe quickly tried to comfort Sakura. Although her grades were in the middle of the class, she had severe weaknesses in certain subjects, and she risked failing if one looked at individual scores alone.

Matsushita's grades were the best among the four. Her total score was in the upper-middle range, and her individual subjects were well-balanced.

Noticing this, Sato glared at Matsushita.

"Chiaki, you're mean! You've completely ruined the mood!"

"I'm sorry. It's just that after hearing what Teacher Chabashira said yesterday, I haven't been able to stop thinking about it."

"Is Matsushita-san worried about the class situation, too?"

"It's not just me; everyone must be worried. There are very few people in Class D who are good at studying. If we fail our exams, will we really be expelled like Teacher Chabashira said? And our class points—they're already at zero. I really don't know what we're going to do from here on out..."

Sato couldn't help but offer a wry smile: "Maybe Class D really is a gathering of underachievers, just like Teacher Chabashira said."

"But doesn't that seem a bit strange? Even though there aren't many of them, there are several students in our class with excellent grades. For example, Horikita-san, Yukimura-kun, and Hirata-kun—their grades would rank near the top of the entire grade level. Why were they assigned to Class D?"

"If we're talking about good grades, Hasebe-san, you're forgetting one person."

"You mean..."

"That playboy Hoshino. Didn't he get a perfect score on the last quiz?"

"Hoshino-kun... was he the only one in the entire grade to get a perfect score?"

"Exactly. Even though everyone was too discouraged by Teacher Chabashira's words to notice at the time, what Hoshino did wasn't simple. Most of the questions on that quiz weren't difficult, but there were a few that were quite advanced—as far as I know, they were beyond the scope of high school knowledge."

"There was something like that? Isn't that incredibly impressive?"

Both Sato and Sakura looked astonished; with their current academic levels, they couldn't even grasp the difficulty of those problems. After hearing Matsushita's explanation, Sato's eyes seemed to sparkle with stars.

Hasebe squinted at Matsushita. There was something in Matsushita's words that bothered her.

Playboy... that nickname was quite different from the "lecher" she had used before.

Seeing the look of disdain on her face as she brought him up, it was possible that this Matsushita-san was paying even more attention to Aki than Sakura and the others were.