Are you treating?

After school on Friday, students left the classroom one after another.

"Uesugi, aren't you going to the class study session?" Kamuro Masumi asked, turning her head while stuffing her textbook into her bag.

"Study session?" Uesugi Hara lifted his head lazily, his eyes still heavy with sleep—the math class just now had been so hypnotic he'd nearly drifted off. "Isn't that for people like you who actually need to cram?"

Kamuro Masumi's movements faltered. She gripped the strap of her bag so hard her knuckles turned white. "You aren't any better!"

"Heh, Kamuro, I think you've forgotten that I only spent a few minutes on the last quiz." Uesugi Hara propped his chin on his hand, his tone nonchalant. "For problems of that difficulty, I know the answer the moment I look at them. Why would I need to rack my brain for ages like you, only to end up excluding the correct answer anyway?"

"You!..." Kamuro Masumi was left speechless. After holding it in for a long moment, she finally managed to spit out, "If you're so capable, why didn't you get first place in the grade?!"

"I've taken first place too many times since I was a kid; I lost interest a long time ago." Uesugi Hara stretched, his tone airy.

Kamuro Masumi: "..." How could this guy be so infuriating! She took a deep breath, decided not to retort, and instead sped up her packing. The zipper of her bag made a loud "zip" sound, and then, without looking back, she shouldered her bag and walked out of the classroom.

Uesugi Hara watched her retreating figure, which was radiating anger, and scratched his head in confusion. "What's wrong with her? Did I say something wrong?"

Saturday afternoon, the library.

The class group chat had mentioned holding a study session here, so Uesugi Hara decided to come and take a look.

However, he searched the first floor and didn't see anyone from Class A.

Instead, he spotted a few familiar faces.

"Yo! Ayanokoji, what a coincidence?" He walked over, greeting them with a smile, his gaze sweeping over the other two. "And Kushida, as well as this Horikita?"

Ayanokoji nodded in response, his face as expressionless as ever.

"I don't recall knowing you." Horikita Suzune frowned, her tone as cold as her expression.

Kushida Kikyo suppressed a laugh and hurriedly tried to smooth things over, maintaining her usual vibrant demeanor. "Horikita, don't be so cold! This is Uesugi from Class A. He even came to our class to look for Ayanokoji last time."

Uesugi Hara didn't mind Horikita's attitude; he pulled up a chair and sat down, looking at the three of them. "Are you planning to have a study session?"

He had heard Kushida mention on the terminal yesterday that Horikita was organizing one, but he hadn't expected to run into the Class D group first after failing to find anyone from Class A.

Horikita Suzune ignored this "outsider" who had suddenly appeared and simply focused on her own textbook.

"Yes, Uesugi," Kushida Kikyo replied with a smile. "Didn't your class hold a study session?"

"I'm not sure. The group chat said it would be at the library, but I walked around and didn't see anyone." Uesugi Hara said, his tone helpless.

Ayanokoji: "Could it be that you arrived late and everyone already left?"

"That shouldn't be it, right?" Uesugi Hara said uncertainly. Although he had his own suspicions, he couldn't admit to such an embarrassing possibility. "Maybe they just haven't arrived yet?"

"Oh."

Just then, three students walked over—the very Class D students who needed tutoring. Horikita Suzune looked up at Uesugi Hara, who was still sitting there, her tone turning colder. "Irrelevant parties, please leave. Our study session is about to begin."

Uesugi Hara met her gaze and clearly saw the lack of warmth in her eyes. He could only shrug. "Fine, I'll go check the second floor to see if anyone is there." He turned to wave at Ayanokoji and Kushida. "Ayanokoji, Kushida, I'm heading off."

"Eh..." Kushida Kikyo wanted to say something, but Uesugi Hara had already walked away.

Horikita Suzune withdrew her gaze and said coldly to the three who had just arrived, "Sit down. We'll start with the functions section of the math curriculum."

If you like this book, remember to add it to your bookshelf so you don't lose it next time.

Uesugi Hara walked to the second floor, scanned the area, and still didn't see anyone from Class A, so he simply pulled a random novel off the shelf.

He was tired of reading classics; he wanted a change of pace, so he picked up a novel.

A teen romance novel?

He found a seat where he could look through the railing down to the first floor, and while flipping through the book, he secretly observed the movements of Ayanokoji and the others.

But he hadn't been watching for long before the commotion downstairs captured his full attention. He saw the red-haired boy with the buzz cut pointing at Horikita Suzune, his face flushed bright red. He didn't know what the boy was shouting, but then he kicked his chair away with a loud "clatter," grabbed his bag, and stormed off in a rage. The remaining two students exchanged glances, packed their things, and slipped away as well.

"It seems this study session isn't going very smoothly," Uesugi Hara raised an eyebrow, thinking to himself—this was much more interesting than the novel.

Just as he was enjoying the show, a new development occurred downstairs: Horikita Suzune said a few words to Kushida Kikyo, and Kushida's eyes instantly turned red, welling up with tears. She covered her face and ran out of the library.

"That combat power is pretty impressive!" Uesugi Hara marveled, looking forward to what would happen next—surely Horikita and Ayanokoji would start arguing now, right?

But the result left him stunned: Horikita Suzune simply lowered her head, pulled a compass out of her pencil case, poked Ayanokoji's arm hard with it, and then turned back to flip through her textbook as if nothing had happened.

As for Ayanokoji, not only was he not angry, but he leaned in and whispered something. Even though Horikita ignored him the entire time, he just shrugged and went back to reading his own book.

Uesugi Hara: "..."

He looked down at the romance novel in his hands, where the page happened to read, "If you love someone, you will tolerate all their little temper tantrums."

He looked back down at the two people downstairs, who were now at peace with each other, and suddenly had an epiphany—so this was what the novel meant by "love"?

Was Ayanokoji tolerating Horikita's coldness and "violence" really because he liked her?

But was that even right?

Uesugi Hara held onto his doubts.

After a long while, Uesugi Hara stretched, put down the novel, and checked the time.

It was time to go eat.

He looked down at the floor below. Most of the people in the library had left, leaving only Ayanokoji sitting in his original spot, holding a book and reading something.

He headed downstairs.

"Ayanokoji, are you going to grab a bite to eat?"

Ayanokoji looked up, meeting Uesugi Hara's gaze, his eyes carrying a hint of scrutiny—was he actually being invited out? Could it be like Horikita, where a meal was just a front for some kind of trap?

Ayanokoji closed his book: "Are you paying?"

Upon hearing this, Uesugi Hara's expression turned incredulous.

He reached out to touch Ayanokoji's forehead, "You don't have a fever, do you? How could you say something like that? Ayanokoji, have you been possessed?"

Ayanokoji's face darkened as he swatted his hand away, "It's nothing. Weren't we going to eat? Let's go."

"Oh." Uesugi Hara was taken aback by his sudden coldness, but he just shrugged and didn't press the issue.

He certainly wasn't kind enough to treat someone to a meal for free.

The two walked out of the library side by side, neither speaking a word along the way, the atmosphere inexplicably awkward.

Uesugi Hara was still thinking to himself: That Ayanokoji who asked "are you paying" just now was definitely a fake!