A Not-So-Smooth Study Session for Class D

"Tsk, Sudo, why are you sitting back down again?"

"I thought we'd be able to leave early today." Ike and Yamauchi, who were sitting next to Sudo, sounded clearly disappointed and voiced their dissatisfaction.

"Shut your traps! Do you want me to punch you?" Sudo, having just sat down, was already seething with frustration. Seeing these two guys pushing their luck, he thrust a fist right in front of their faces, scaring them into scrambling backward and settling back into their own seats.

"Tch, can't even say anything," Yamauchi muttered under his breath, his eyes drifting toward Honami Ichinose, who had arrived with An Xiao. His eyes visibly lit up.

"Ike, look at the girl standing next to that guy. Isn't she that Class B girl with the huge..."

"Yamauchi-kun, let's focus on our studies, shall we?"

Kikyo Kushida hurried forward before Yamauchi could finish his sentence, looking at him with wide, watery eyes and requesting in a soft voice.

"Haha, well, if little Kushida is asking, then I'll definitely study hard... Of course, if you could sit next to me and teach me, I might just turn into a genius overnight!"

Watching Kikyo Kushida, who was hunched over and leaning against the desk with a pitiful, innocent look, Yamauchi's gaze couldn't help but drift downward. He completely forgot his previous train of thought and started bragging without a second thought.

It was sleazy... no, it was incredibly sleazy.

An Xiao's mouth twitched.

Wasn't he the same guy who was shouting about this exact thing at the swimming pool last time!!?

Does he really have no sense of shame?

Or has his skin already reached a new level of thickness?

"Sorry, Yamauchi-kun. I still have some things I need to discuss with An Xiao-kun and Honami-san." Kikyo Kushida maintained a gentle smile on her face, looking a bit apologetic.

"Oh, I see... No worries, no worries, you go ahead, little Kushida." Seeing that she was about to leave, Yamauchi shot a disgruntled look at An Xiao standing nearby, then immediately smiled back at her.

"Then please wait a moment, Yamauchi-kun." Kikyo Kushida said with a smile, then led An Xiao and Honami to a quieter corner.

Horikita watched this scene, her gaze lingering on the members of Class D before finally settling on the retreating figure of Kushida. She frowned noticeably, but said nothing, merely picking up the pace of her writing.

On the other side, Kikyo Kushida bowed to thank An Xiao and Honami.

"Thank you both so much just now. If it weren't for you, Sudo-kun might have just walked out."

"No, no, I didn't really do anything, it was all An Xiao-kun," Honami said, waving her hands repeatedly.

"It was nothing, I just said a few words," An Xiao said, scratching his cheek, feeling a bit awkward.

For some reason, An Xiao felt an inexplicably strange sense of familiarity with the girl in front of him.

"But in the end, Sudo-kun stayed, so I still have to thank you." Kikyo Kushida said earnestly. Then, remembering something, she took out her phone and said to An Xiao, "Um, can we exchange contact information? After all, this is our second time meeting."

"No problem." An Xiao agreed readily, but only after adding her did he snap out of it and ask in surprise, "Wait, have we met before?"

Hearing this, the hand Kikyo used to put away her phone paused imperceptibly, then she smiled and said, "On the first day of school, right at the school gate!"

"My apologies." An Xiao laughed sheepishly.

"It's fine, it's fine, it was our first time meeting back then, after all." Kikyo waved it off dismissively, then pointed toward the Class D study group. "I'll head back now, the study session still needs to continue."

After thanking them once more, Kikyo Kushida jogged back to her original spot.

Watching her retreating back, Honami Ichinose remarked with some emotion, "They really have it tough, don't they?"

"Fifty-fifty, I suppose."

"Shall we head back then?"

"Wait a second, there's something I want to look up." An Xiao pointed toward a machine in the corner used for searching for books.

"I'll wait for you then."

An Xiao walked up to the machine and began operating it with practiced ease, but he stopped abruptly.

"What's wrong? Can't find it?" Honami Ichinose curiously leaned in, wanting to see what book he was looking for, but after seeing the keywords he had typed into the search bar, she froze.

Advanced Nurturing High School past first-year exam papers and answer keys.

"This... An Xiao, I don't think that's a good idea," Honami said after carefully choosing her words.

"Is there a problem with that?" An Xiao asked, feeling a bit puzzled by her reaction.

Isn't it standard practice to brush up on the previous year's, or even several years' worth of, exam papers before a test?

In schools back home, it was practically a basic requirement.

So, An Xiao didn't understand why Honami was so hesitant.

"It's just a pity, though..."

An Xiao looked at the blank screen in the search results. He tried changing the keywords several times, but in the end, let alone a full exam paper, he couldn't even find a single question.

Looks like I'll have to go find Hoshinomiya-sensei after all?

At the thought of that teacher who was nine parts unprofessional, An Xiao felt a headache coming on. He slumped over the machine, running his hands through his hair in frustration.

Meanwhile, Honami, who had wanted to say something else, saw An Xiao push back the hair that had been hanging over his forehead and obscuring the upper half of his face for the past month, and she stood there completely stunned.

"U-um, An Xiao-kun, could you turn around for a second?"

"Huh? What is it?" Although confused, An Xiao stopped what he was doing and turned around to look at Honami Ichinose with a puzzled expression.

"No, it's just..." Seeing his hair fall back down, Honami didn't know what to say. She waved her hands in front of her chest in a panic, and finally, in a moment of impulse, she reached out and brushed his hair back up herself.

"What are you doing?" An Xiao was startled by Ichinose's sudden move and quickly took a few steps back, but her hand seemed to be glued to his hair, stuck fast.

"You are... An Xiao... right?"

Looking at the exceptionally delicate-featured boy in front of her, Ichinose spoke with hesitation, yet there was an inexplicable excitement in her tone as she couldn't help but pinch An Xiao's cheeks a few times.

Suddenly thinking of something else, she hurriedly took a spare hair tie out of her pocket, held it out in her palm to An Xiao, and said, "Do you want a hair tie? If you don't know how to use it, I can teach you."

Looking at the hair tie now held out before him, An Xiao's gaze lifted slightly, and the corner of his mouth twitched.

Hey, hey, do you have any idea how blinding the light in your eyes is right now!