"Um, Ichinose, could you stop looking at me like that? It's kind of scary." An Xiao tidied up his things and said helplessly.
Several days had passed since Ichinose had seen An Xiao push back his hair, but during those days, she had kept glancing at him, intentionally or otherwise. After a while, An Xiao couldn't take it anymore.
Especially with the other people from Class B sitting nearby and watching.
"Hehe." Ichinose gave an awkward, sheepish smile. She was a little embarrassed, but still couldn't help asking, "An Xiao, why do you keep your hair like that? Isn't it inconvenient? It covers your eyes, after all."
"How should I put it..." An Xiao thought for a moment. "I guess it makes it easier to zone out in class."
"Huh?"
After hearing An Xiao's explanation, Ichinose was completely dumbfounded.
She had thought of all sorts of possibilities, but this was the last reason she'd expected.
"Think about it." An Xiao pointed at his eyes. "This way, even if I fall asleep in class, the teacher won't notice. They can't even see my eyes. And my hair keeps the light out, too. It's two birds with one stone."
[If you can't picture a character whose hair covers half their face, you can use Ron Kamonohashi as a reference. o(￣▽￣)d]
As he spoke, An Xiao nodded to himself, looking quite pleased.
As expected, he really was a genius!
"Ow! Ichinose, what was that for?"
An Xiao touched the forehead she had just flicked and asked in confusion.
"An Xiao... you can't do that! You still need to pay attention in class."
Ichinose put her hands on her hips and was about to say more when a loud smack against a table rang through the quiet library.
There it was again...
An Xiao and Ichinose exchanged glances, both looking a little helpless.
There was no need to guess. It was Class D again.
Their study group hadn't disbanded yet, but it was barely hanging on.
This had happened more than once over the past few days.
At first, An Xiao would go over to help out and smooth things over because of Horikita.
That was fine once in a while, but after it happened so many times, even Ichinose was getting fed up, let alone An Xiao.
They had studying to do, too, and whenever Class D suddenly made a racket, it ruined the otherwise peaceful atmosphere.
As a result, An Xiao and Ichinose had to keep an eye on the time and arrange for Shibata and the others to leave early.
Otherwise, they'd be in a bad mood and lose time. It just wasn't worth it.
And after Horikita announced a few days ago that she would no longer take part in the study group... things became even more awkward.
More precisely, most of the pressure had landed on Kikyo Kushida.
Watching Kushida apologize to the librarian while also dealing with Yamauchi grinning behind her, Ichinose tugged at An Xiao's sleeve and gave him an inquiring look.
"Maybe we should leave it... It's a little late to go over now."
"It's getting late, too. They'll probably be wrapping up soon. And as for Kushida..." An Xiao watched Kushida bow as she saw the librarian off and said helplessly, "It's already over."
"Kikyo..." Honami Ichinose sighed. "An Xiao, why do you think Yamauchi and the others are like this?"
"If they were even a little better, Kikyo wouldn't have to put up with all this."
After spending a short time with them over the past few days, even someone as good-natured as Ichinose was starting to lose patience.
She was a girl, after all, and whenever Yamauchi saw her, he would start talking to Ike beside him about things like breast size. He wasn't quiet about it, either, and the way he looked at her...
The thought made Ichinose uncomfortable. After saying goodbye to An Xiao, she left the library.
Watching people gradually leave the library, An Xiao rolled his shoulders and slumped against the sofa nearby. "Exams... Could they hurry up and get here already?"
"Why does studying for them feel so much more exhausting than the exams themselves?"
"Guess who I am?"
As An Xiao sat there thinking, a pair of soft, warm hands suddenly reached around from behind and covered his eyes. A pleasant fragrance followed.
"Hmm... Ryuen, right? It's definitely Ryuen."
"...Wrong." The girl's dissatisfied voice came from behind him. She walked around to his side. "We're obviously so different."
"Besides, when did you get to know Ryuen, An Xiao?"
"The only person I know in Class C is you. I've only heard of Ryuen. I was just teasing you." An Xiao sounded exasperated.
"Oh, I see." Shiina Hiyori nodded, then suddenly changed the subject. "You haven't been coming to read lately."
"Huh? We've got midterms coming up, so I've been busy studying. Isn't your class studying, too?"
Hearing An Xiao say that, Shiina didn't react. She just tilted her head and looked at him, as if to ask why he would even ask such a question.
All right, studying and reviewing really didn't fit in with Class C's usual style.
An Xiao sat up from the sofa, looked out the window at the darkening sky, then turned to Shiina.
"It's getting late. Want to walk back together?"
"Sure."
After quickly packing up their things, the two of them left together.
As they walked back to their dorms, An Xiao looked up at the sky, now completely dark, and suddenly remarked, "Now this feels like a normal high school life."
Thinking back to all the strange, disjointed troubles he'd dealt with before, An Xiao felt like crying.
It was just a school. Why did they have to make everything so weird?
Noticing An Xiao's odd expression, Shiina looked a little puzzled, but didn't say anything. She simply walked quietly beside him.
The two of them chatted casually as they walked, but they hadn't gone far when a string of strange sounds reached their ears.
"What's that? The sound of something being hit? And is someone talking?"
"Probably," Shiina said uncertainly. "Want to go take a look?"
"Sure. Let's go."
They headed toward the sound. The closer they got, the more familiar it seemed to An Xiao. After exchanging a few words with Shiina, he hurried ahead.
"Ah, this is so annoying! So annoying!"
"Why won't you all just die already?!"
"I'm so pissed! Yamauchi, and Ike, too!"
"They kept staring at my chest while we were studying, like I wouldn't notice. And then they had the nerve to say all those disgusting things, acting like they were so great."
"And I'm supposed to smile at them, too?!"
"Disgusting! Why doesn't he just go die already?!"
"And Horikita! She must have known this would happen from the start. That's why she dumped all this trouble on me. She did it on purpose to make my life miserable, didn't she?"
"Bitch, bitch, bitch, bitch..."
"Die, die, die, die..."
Right in front of An Xiao, Kikyo Kushida was nothing like her usual sweet and gentle self. She cursed viciously while kicking the railing in front of her as hard as she could.
Maybe... I should pretend I didn't see anything and just leave.
An Xiao was thinking this and had just started to turn around when Kikyo Kushida seemed to sense something. She spun around abruptly.
"Why are you here, An Xiao?"
"Did you... see everything just now?"
Before you continue