I got up in the morning, pulled open the curtains, and let the early sunlight stream through the window into the room.
I'd already washed off the stains from last night and casually wiped the droplets of water from my body.
Yuki Gyakukai stood by the window, looking delighted as he welcomed the sunlight.
That was what confidence looked like. His body was flawless.
Suddenly.
"Mm..."
From the bed beside him, a sleepy Tomie struggled to reach one hand out from under the covers. Her smooth skin gleamed white in the sunlight.
Her long, black hair spilled recklessly across the messy pillow.
"...Let me sleep... five more minutes..."
Like someone had suddenly switched her off, Miss Tomie managed to shake off her drowsiness for a moment, only to be defeated by sleep once again.
Steady breathing filled the room.
After washing up, Yuki picked out a suitable outfit from the wardrobe in Tomie's room and put it on.
Then he picked up his phone from the clothes scattered across the floor and checked the time.
It was still early. His fiancée could sleep a little longer.
He tidied up the clothes strewn across the floor, then picked out a uniform from the wardrobe and laid it by the bed.
Once that was done, he hurried to the kitchen and quietly made breakfast.
When everything was ready, he walked lightly to the bedside and looked playfully at his fiancée, still sleeping with her whole body wrapped in the covers.
He carefully pulled back the covers, and Tomie's breathtakingly beautiful face finally came into view.
A few strands of hair rested against her delicate features. Her butterfly-like lashes trembled faintly, and her small lips moved rhythmically with each breath.
"...Sleeping like a little pig. Cute."
As if she'd heard him, Tomie frowned in her sleep, seemingly displeased that someone had called her sleeping face cute.
All morning,
After hurriedly taking care of Miss Tomie—helping her wash up and eat—he was subjected to a cruel punishment because she claimed she'd had a nightmare.
In reality, he carried Miss Tomie on his back all the way to the Class A classroom, the two of them flaunting their affection while everyone looked on enviously.
After that, Yuki listened attentively in class and teased Chihiro Shiramami, Amikura Asako, and the others during breaks.
"Amikura, I've noticed you're pretty bold today.
How about giving me the spare key card to your room? I'll use it to sneak in and attack you tonight."
Amikura Asako couldn't help feeling a little tempted as they joked around, but temptation was one thing; she couldn't let her character slip.
To maintain her image in everyone's eyes, she firmly rejected his suggestion and even criticized his idea.
"With boys and girls living together at school, giving your room's spare key card to a stranger is too dangerous."
The girls around them nodded in agreement, looking a little embarrassed. Yuki pretended to be hurt and asked:
"So I've always been a stranger to you all?
I thought that after a whole month, we'd become close friends."
Just then, Ichinose, who had finished talking things over with Class C, walked over. She folded her arms across her chest and looked at Yuki with an earnest expression.
"No way. It has nothing to do with whether you're friends or not. Unless there's something you need to discuss,
giving someone else your room's spare key card is dangerous. I hope you understand that, Yuki."
"Is that so?" Yuki looked at Ichinose, who was so easy to fool, and grinned at her.
"Ichinose, as the assistant class representative I appointed, you have plenty of things to discuss with me. So I order you to hand over your room's spare key card by the end of today..."
"Eh—!!!"
Ichinose hadn't expected the conversation to turn to her, and she covered her mouth in surprise.
"How sneaky! I can't believe you're like this, Ichinose."
"Trying to sneak ahead of the rest of us? That's so unfair."
"..."
The girls gathered around them immediately began joking, grinning mischievously.
Ichinose, who had originally been helping the girls fend him off, was suddenly surrounded by their teasing.
She felt a little awkward. Her lovely face flushed faintly, and she waved her hands in front of her chest almost involuntarily.
"How could I do something like that? And besides, don't forget that Yuki already has a fiancée."
"When Tomie comes back and sees us egging him on, she'll definitely be unhappy."
Ichinose played her trump card.
The mention of Tomie sent a sudden, inexplicable pressure through the girls of Class A.
Their laughter died down at once.
They exchanged awkward glances and, noticing that Tomie still hadn't returned, couldn't help breathing a sigh of relief.
Back at her seat, Amikura Asako glanced toward Yuki behind her, seemingly at random.
She was still considering whether she could slip him her key card.
There shouldn't be a problem with giving him the key card, right?
They were just friends, and giving him the key card would strengthen their friendship.
As for crossing the line between friendship and something more, Amikura couldn't help imagining Yuki sneaking into her room in the middle of the night.
The risqué scene played out in her mind, and it somehow felt a little too much...
The library,
That morning, Yuki had sent Ichinose to Class C to discuss the study session.
At that moment, the two classes occupied one section of the library together.
The top students from Class C were tutoring their struggling classmates, while the average students from Class A were also tutoring students from Class C who were having trouble.
As for Class A's top students, they were, of course, helping their own classmates who were falling behind.
The arrangements were very reasonable.
"Yuki, how do you solve this problem again?"
Across from Yuki, Ryuen Kakeru stared at the test question in his hand, looking troubled for the first time.
Doing math problems was like being subjected to mental torture. Even if you couldn't solve one, you still had to keep working at it.
Though he was a delinquent who liked using violence, that didn't mean he was bad at studying.
Even so, his grades were only average in Class C.
Looking at the troubled Ryuen, Yuki took the test paper and fell silent for a moment.
"...I don't know either."
It was worth mentioning that even in Class A, where most students had excellent grades, Yuki's academic performance was only slightly above average.
After all, he seemed to listen attentively in class, but his mind was actually wandering. During breaks, he chatted with others, and when he went back to his room, he either played games or spent time with Tomie.
As he put it: I can't study for the life of me.
Ryuen looked at him and sneered. He was just about to speak when something happening in the distance caught his attention.
"Class D again?"
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