Unexpected

Class 1-D, during morning reading.

Their homeroom teacher, Chabashira, arrived right on schedule. Unlike usual, this time she brought grim news about the upcoming midterms and finals: anyone who failed would be expelled. She also revealed something she had never mentioned before.

The letters A, B, C, and D didn't stand for class numbers. They ranked the classes.

In other words, Class D was the worst of them all—the defective product, the zero-point trash.

As Chabashira delivered one cold remark after another, some of the already-devastated students at the bottom of the class, who had been crushed by the point system, were pushed to the brink of a breakdown.

But Rinya, seated in the back and listening to all this, didn't feel much of anything. He watched Ayanokoji and Horikita Suzune quietly discussing something.

Meanwhile, Hirata Yosuke, Kushida Kikyo, and the others were comforting and encouraging the students who had failed, telling them not to give up.

It seemed Chabashira's words had set the whole class into motion.

Perhaps he was the only one who still looked completely unmoved.

"Rinya, are you going to be okay on the exams?"

A timid voice suddenly reached his ears. Though it came from a little way off, he could still hear it.

Rinya looked toward the speaker. The next moment, a faint trace of surprise appeared on his otherwise placid face.

The girl walking toward him was Matsushita Chiaki, whom he'd met once before at the barbershop.

But they'd only been apart for a little while. Why had she become so shy and bashful when she spoke? Was she really the same person?

Seeing how she instinctively looked away whenever their eyes met, Rinya thought he understood.

Still, he had to answer her question. "Oh, Matsushita. I think I'll be fine on the exams."

"Really? But... Rinya, I remember you only just scraped by on the last quiz. Are you sure you don't need tutoring?"

"Uh... well, I guess I'm not very ambitious." As a skilled score manager, Rinya couldn't tell her the truth, so he stumbled over his words for a moment.

Maybe it was because neither of them usually stood out much.

Rinya was still trying to think of an appropriate response when the girl suddenly made a surprisingly bold invitation. "Rinya, if you're free, would you come to the library and study with me?"

"I'm just not sure I can feel confident about my grades."

"Of course, if you don't like studying around a lot of people, we could go to a café in the park or somewhere like that."

"Uh... wouldn't Hirata be a better choice? I barely scraped past the passing line myself. I really wouldn't be much help."

Rinya thought she would give up once he refused, but a sly glint suddenly flashed in the girl's eyes, which had been shy just moments earlier.

After making sure no one nearby was paying attention, she quickly leaned close to the boy's ear. "Shh, Rinya. You can't turn me down."

"Oh? Why not?"

"Hehe. I think I've discovered a big secret of yours."

As she spoke, the girl tapped her phone a few times.

The next moment, Rinya's phone chimed. It was clear she had sent him a message.

"But why send me a message when you're standing right here?" Rinya asked, looking at Matsushita in confusion.

The girl only gave him a smug, mischievous look. She didn't say a word, just kept pointing at her phone with her index finger.

"What is it? You can just tell me."

"Come on, come on..." The girl puffed out her cheeks and pointed anxiously.

Seeing that, Rinya felt a little curious. He smiled faintly, turned away, and deliberately replied as if he didn't care. "Is it that mysterious? Then I'll just read it later."

As he spoke, he started to slip his phone into his pocket.

At that, Matsushita's puffed-up cheeks seemed ready to smoke with frustration. She wanted to say something but worried someone might notice. When she saw how cluelessly uncooperative he was, and confirmed that none of the girls nearby were paying attention, Matsushita Chiaki couldn't take it anymore. She abruptly leaned over, her fair little hand darting toward his phone to open the message herself.

"Hey, where are you touching?"

"Ah! I'm sorry!" The girl shrieked and snatched her hand back as if she'd touched some forbidden object. Yet a faint blush instantly spread over her face and neck.

A few classmates nearby heard her and started to come over to see what was going on, but before they could move, Rinya's sharp gaze made them all retreat.

Seeing the girl frozen in place, trembling and panicked, Rinya decided not to tease her any further. He smiled reassuringly. "Hehe, it's okay. No one noticed you just now. Look for yourself."

At that, Matsushita cautiously looked around. Sure enough, no one had noticed her shriek. What puzzled her was that three boys had somehow appeared at the front of the classroom, dancing a striptease. She didn't understand what was going on, but their enthusiastic performance had indirectly helped her out.

Once Rinya saw that Matsushita had calmed down, he said, "I'll read the message now, okay?"

"Mm."

But when Rinya saw that the message contained a detailed breakdown of his abnormal entrance exam results, complete with evidence laid out in sections, he nearly wondered if his eyes were playing tricks on him.

She figured it out that quickly? Rinya shook his head with an amused smile.

The confession at the end of the message was clearly what she most wanted him to see. Still, he had to admit, this girl had gone to great lengths to get close to him. By constantly comparing the correct and incorrect answer rates across the school, she'd managed to detect signs that he had deliberately controlled his score, despite everyone having taken the same entrance exam.

"Hehe, I guess I underestimated some people." Rinya knew everyone's records, but he hadn't expected to miscalculate for once.

But Rinya didn't deny it. On the contrary, he'd become quite interested in the girl before him.

After all, unlike Ayanokoji, he didn't like playing word games with people and trying to keep himself hidden.

Since she had found out, he simply asked her directly, "Hehe, interesting. Have you discovered anyone else besides me?"

Sure enough, Matsushita's gaze flicked toward Ayanokoji's seat. Then, as she turned back to the boy, her expectant look instantly reverted to the timid, hesitant manner she'd had at first.

After watching that performance, Rinya thought she could become an actress and win an award for it.

"I want to know which parts of you were real and which were fake throughout your time here," Rinya asked, watching her with an amused look.

"Um... Rinya, you still haven't answered my earlier request."

"Is that so? If you tell me the truth, I'll agree to study with you. How about that?"

"Mm... You can't take it back."

The girl fell silent for a moment, then let out a breath as if she'd made an important decision. Turning away, she spoke softly. "Maybe for most of my life, I've acted and spoken with some degree of pretense. But there's one thing that will never change: when I see you, Rinya, I'll always be my truest self."

As she finished, the girl suddenly leaned forward a little and raised both hands in a gesture of earnest invitation. Her trembling voice was quieter than a mosquito's. "Will you go out with me, Rinya?"

Her voice was very soft, but the emotion in it was unmistakable. Though he'd already guessed, Rinya was still moved.

"This is probably the first time I've ever really been confessed to. Thank you." Rinya gave her a rare, cheerful smile. He could see the sincerity and hope in her eyes.

Matsushita Chiaki seemed to have expected him not to give her an answer right away. Although she couldn't hide her disappointment, she forced a sweet smile. "I'll keep waiting for you. Can I call you Yeye when we're alone?"

"I think the name suits you so well."

"Heh. That's a suffocating name," Rinya said with a hint of distaste.

At his words, the long-held tear in Matsushita's disappointed eyes seemed ready to spill over. But the boy's sly voice made her laugh through her tears, and one tear after another rolled down her cheeks.

"But I accept."

"R-really? Thank you!"

After speaking, the girl bowed deeply, overcome with excitement. Then she looked at the boy before her, a hint of longing in her eyes. Rinya could see it, of course, but they were still in the classroom. Though the back row was inconspicuous, he ultimately chose not to take that next step.

As it turned out, he'd made the right choice.

The next moment, three male voices howled through the classroom.

Rinya looked over and saw that Ken Sudō had arrived late and was giving the class pests a thorough thrashing, his usual lackeys right behind him.

"Looks like I'll have to make it up to her a little more." Rinya checked the points on his phone and smiled helplessly.