Celebration Banquet

Time passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, the exams were over.

There weren't any major waves, and even Class D managed to pass across the board this time.

Well, that was to be expected; the questions hadn't changed much from previous years. Under the condition of having obtained past exam papers in advance, if they still couldn't pass, An Xiao might have really started to question that person's intelligence.

After these exams, while the class rankings hadn't changed, the class points had seen quite a shift.

[Class Points:

Class A: 1024 points

Class B: 976 points

Class C: 492 points

Class D: 207 points]

"Are the people in Class A monsters? How did every single one of them score so high!"

Looking at the screen of his phone, seeing the gap in class points between his class and Class A widen once again, An Xiao sighed helplessly.

"Hey, An Xiao, what are you standing there dazed for? Come over here quickly," Shibata called out to An Xiao, poking his head out from the living room.

"You're the big hero this time!"

"Are you sure?" An Xiao pointed at the headband on his head—which swayed slightly with his movements and bore the word 'Hero'—his mouth twitched, then he pointed at the floor and looked into Shibata's eyes as he asked.

"I'll let the celebration party slide since you guys were indeed working very hard and were exhausted during that period, and I don't mind and actually support it, but can you explain why the celebration party has to be held in my room!"

"My room is a mess, and it's not easy to prepare food in Ryuji Kanzaki's room, so your place is just more convenient, An Xiao."

"We couldn't exactly go to the girls' rooms, could we?"

"Sorry about that," Ichinose said, looking at An Xiao with an embarrassed expression.

"Sigh~ I feel like I've become your mother," An Xiao grumbled.

During the recent exam period, An Xiao didn't even know how many extra tutoring sessions he had held for the people in his group; he really felt like a mother.

"Then I'll leave it to you, An Xiao-okasan~"

"Eww~" An Xiao shuddered, handing the plate in his hand to Shibata with a look of disgust. "When did you become so gross? If you call me that again, believe it or not, I'll smack you."

"Hurry up and take this over, it's time to eat."

At the dining table.

Once the food was in their stomachs, everyone became more talkative, and even Yuki Himeno, who was usually the quietest, said a few extra words.

"To celebrate us successfully passing the midterms, cheers!"

Shibata held his canned juice high and shouted, then clinked his can against An Xiao's.

"But the fact that the whole class could pass smoothly and get high scores this time is all thanks to the papers An Xiao brought over," Yuki Himeno said, then clinked her drink against An Xiao's from across the table. "To you."

"Yeah, thanks to An Xiao's papers, this is the highest score I've gotten since I enrolled," Shibata said, boisterously draping his arm around An Xiao's neck.

"It's a pity the time was a bit short, otherwise I could have scored even higher."

"No, I actually think the timing was just right," Ryuji Kanzaki said, putting down his chopsticks and adjusting his glasses. "If we had gotten the papers too early, we definitely would have developed a sense of burnout, and the effect of the review wouldn't have been as good."

"We can't always pin our hopes on the exam questions not changing much."

"Mm, learning still has to rely on oneself; we did take a shortcut this time," Ichinose nodded in agreement.

"But even so, we still didn't surpass Class A, and the gap has actually grown."

"Not necessarily," An Xiao said after swallowing his food. He took out his phone and showed everyone the changes in class points for each class.

"Although class points are added based on the exam results, due to various considerations, the ratio of points added should be different for each class."

"You don't really think Class D's results this time would be higher than Class A's, do you?"

Recalling the scene they had witnessed in the library earlier, everyone shook their heads in unison.

"And besides..." An Xiao shrugged and said, "Actually, we don't need to worry too much about class points. As long as we aren't too far behind Class A, we can just keep studying step by step."

"That way, even if we can't successfully promote to Class A in the end, at least we'll be able to get into a decent university."

"After all, in terms of teaching staff alone, this place is quite good."

An Xiao's words seemed to have opened a floodgate, and everyone began talking more. Midway through, Ichinose excused herself to get some fresh air and left first. Seeing this, An Xiao thought of something, told the others, and followed Ichinose out.

"Hm? An Xiao, why did you come out too?" Noticing the figure following behind her, Ichinose turned around and asked.

"What about you? Your expression has been off since the party started."

"Hehe, I guess An Xiao really did notice," Ichinose laughed sheepishly, then looked up at the sky, which was already half-dyed red.

"I just suddenly felt like I wasn't as useful as I thought I was."

"How so?"

"Look..." Ichinose counted on her fingers one by one. "Since the start of school, you were the first to discover the rules, you proposed your own views on the rules, and it was the same for this exam..."

Ichinose rambled on for a long time, and An Xiao listened quietly without interrupting.

"Although I might have provided some help, your contribution is clearly much greater, An Xiao!"

"But everyone always assumes that I did all of this together with you, and even when I try to explain, they don't listen!"

"It feels... like I'm a thief, stealing the spotlight that originally belonged to you, An Xiao."

As she finished speaking, Ichinose thought of something, her smile turning increasingly bitter as she dared not look at An Xiao any longer.

"An Xiao, don't you think I'm pathetic?"

An Xiao didn't speak; he simply stepped forward, stood in front of Ichinose, and raised his hand high.

Ichinose closed her eyes, but the pain she imagined never came. Instead, her head was patted with a moderate force, and then she heard the boy's slightly helpless voice ring out beside her.

"I thought it was something serious, so it was just this?"

He had assumed that Ichinose had been threatened by another class (Sakayanagi) or perhaps someone from another grade, which was why her expression had been so poor. He hadn't expected it to be her doubting herself.

"Ichinose, you're overthinking things." An Xiao bent his knees slightly, looked into Ichinose's eyes, and said, "Being able to unite an entire class is not something an ordinary person can do."

"Even without me, you would still do very well, Ichinose. Besides, everyone is well taken care of by you in their daily lives; the fact that the class is doing so well now is all thanks to you."

An Xiao meant these words from the bottom of his heart, because with Ichinose's presence, there were basically no conflicts in the class, and even if a small problem arose occasionally, it would be resolved very quickly.

It could be said that for Class B to still be a normal, positive, and upward-striving class, Ichinose deserved the lion's share of the credit.

Looking at the boy with the gentle tone in front of her, for some reason, Ichinose felt a tickle in her heart.

"Pfft!"

"Hey, hey! I'm trying to comfort you here, at least show me some respect; this is really embarrassing, you know." An Xiao looked at the girl who had suddenly burst into laughter, his face covered in black lines.

"No, it's not that. It's just that I was looking at your hair the whole time and couldn't see your eyes, and then hearing you say that just now, it felt inexplicably funny." Ichinose held her stomach and laughed.

"Since you said I'm so important, can you agree to one condition?"

"I'll say this first: nothing too difficult or too troublesome." Seeing the girl regain her vitality, An Xiao said with some helplessness, though the corners of his mouth were still curled up.

"It's not hard." Ichinose took a hair tie out of her pocket, her eyes sparkling as she looked at An Xiao and said, "Just taking a photo is fine."

"...Fine, but I don't know how to tie hair."

"Leave it to me!"

After simply tying up An Xiao's hair, Ichinose smiled with satisfaction, then hugged An Xiao's arm and prepared to take a photo.

"Wait, is it necessary to be this close for a photo? Men and women should keep their distance!"

"There's no other way, who told you my phone screen is so small? Just make do with it, Xiao An."

"And what kind of nickname is Xiao An!"

"Hee hee (＃^.^＃)"

Click.