Matsushita, Did You Manipulate the Score?

"Matsushita-san, I find your quiz results a bit strange."

Chihaya Rei suddenly gave Matsushita Chiaki's arm a light nudge, and when she looked up, he spoke with profound meaning.

"Eh?"

Matsushita Chiaki was slightly taken aback.

She raised her clear eyes to gaze at Chihaya Rei, surprised that he would bring this up so suddenly.

A sense of wariness rose within her, but she blinked her eyes with a look of naive confusion and asked:

"What's strange about them?"

Seeing this, Chihaya Rei reached out and gestured toward himself, signaling for her to lean in.

Understanding his intent, Matsushita Chiaki pressed down on the hem of her skirt and shifted her body toward Chihaya Rei's position.

In an instant, the distance between them shrank to just a few centimeters; they could almost feel the breath radiating from one another.

Matsushita Chiaki felt an inexplicable surge of tension.

Chihaya Rei tilted his head and leaned toward her ear, which was partially visible through a gap in her hair, and whispered:

"Matsushita-san..."

Even with a few strands of hair in the way, Matsushita Chiaki could still feel a scorching breath hitting her ear.

It made her cheeks flush with heat, and her heart began to race.

She instinctively glanced at Karuizawa Kei and Sato Maya out of the corner of her eye; seeing that neither had noticed, she let out a silent sigh of relief.

She then focused intently on Chihaya Rei's words, but the next second, she was so startled that she forgot all about her shyness.

"Matsushita-san, you controlled your test scores, didn't you?"

The clear words reaching her ear caused Matsushita Chiaki to jerk her head to the side, her smooth, jade-like forehead grazing Chihaya Rei's lips.

"..."

The two froze, their faces remaining at an incredibly close distance as they locked eyes for several seconds.

He smelled a cold, icy fragrance—that was Chihaya Rei's impression.

There was a warm, moist sensation—that was Matsushita Chiaki's impression.

With a tacit understanding, they glanced at Karuizawa Kei and Sato Maya, and seeing that they were still heads-down working on their assignments, they silently pulled their heads back.

They felt an inexplicable sense of illicit thrills and excitement.

Chihaya Rei was fine; he felt almost no embarrassment.

He was mainly surprised by Matsushita Chiaki's intense reaction; her sudden, violent turn was what had caused the accident.

Only then did a blush slowly creep across Matsushita Chiaki's beautiful cheeks. She pressed her pink lips together several times, looking slightly awkward.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..."

Matsushita Chiaki lowered her gaze and said softly.

As soon as she said it, she wondered why she was the one apologizing.

"..."

Chihaya Rei also blinked in surprise.

Why was she the one apologizing first?

It didn't seem wrong, though; both parties shared responsibility for this sudden mishap.

Besides, if it was Matsushita Chiaki, he didn't exactly lose out.

Matsushita Chiaki was a beautiful girl with delicate features; her meticulously styled brown side-swept bangs just grazed her eyebrows, giving her both the liveliness of a gyaru and a gentle temperament.

Chihaya Rei also pursed his lips and offered an apologetic smile.

"It's alright, that was just an accident. I won't take it to heart."

"..."

Upon hearing this, Matsushita Chiaki stared at Chihaya Rei with complicated emotions for a long time.

She couldn't decide for a moment whether she wanted Chihaya Rei to take it to heart or not.

This was her first time being in such close contact with a boy, and she had even been kissed on the forehead by him...

She couldn't help but wonder, was this Chihaya Rei's first time, too?

However, judging by his appearance alone, she didn't seem to be losing out, right?

It was just that she felt a bit guilty toward Kei.

After all, Karuizawa Kei had asked her and Sato Maya to help invite Chihaya Rei to go karaoke singing, and since then, Kei had been training with Chihaya Rei on the track every day after school.

Matsushita Chiaki had been secretly keeping an eye on all of that.

Thinking of this, Matsushita Chiaki felt the temperature on her face rise even higher.

"Whew..."

Matsushita Chiaki took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down. Now was not the time to let her mind wander.

She clenched her fingers, her heart pounding as she leaned in toward Chihaya Rei once more. Lifting a fair hand to cover her mouth, she whispered, "Chihaya-kun, I think you've misunderstood. I didn't manipulate my scores."

"That is my true level of ability."

A completely unconvincing statement.

Chihaya Rei glanced at Matsushita. Still playing tough, were we? He mimicked her gesture and said, "50, 55, 65, 70, 75. You got these scores on both exams."

"If that isn't score manipulation, then what is? Could such a coincidence really exist?"

Chihaya Rei felt rather speechless.

Then there was Ayanokoji, who scored exactly 50 on every single subject.

These two were being way too obvious with their score manipulation, weren't they?! What kind of student gets the exact same scores on every exam, down to the last point?!

They were practically treating everyone around them like fools.

But, he had to admit, very few students in Class D had actually noticed... Fine, I acknowledge your ability to control your scores.

Matsushita Chiaki's blue eyes flickered, and she said sheepishly, "It's not impossible for such a coincidence to happen..."

"Do you really think I'd believe that?"

Upon hearing this, Matsushita Chiaki sighed silently, then lowered her voice to plead, "Chihaya-kun, could you please..."

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone."

Before Matsushita Chiaki could finish, Chihaya Rei, having understood her intentions, nodded first.

"Thank you!"

Hearing Chihaya Rei's assurance, Matsushita Chiaki revealed a look of relief and cast a grateful gaze toward him.

In truth, it wouldn't have been a big deal if Chihaya Rei had revealed it.

The main issue was Matsushita Chiaki's own predicament; she simply didn't know how to explain it to her two close friends yet.

She would have to find a better time for that.

"Still, it's a pity for Matsushita-san, who tried to play the fool to catch the tiger, only to be taken for a real fool by the school and assigned to Class D."

Chihaya Rei had no intention of ending the conversation there. The corners of his lips curled up, his voice drawn out and laced with obvious mockery.

"You must be regretting it deeply now, aren't you, Matsushita-san?"

[Interrogating Matsushita Chiaki, Interrogation Points +2290]

"I wasn't trying to play the fool to catch the tiger..."

Matsushita Chiaki's mouth twitched, and she couldn't help but emphasize the point.

Of course she regretted it—she regretted it bitterly!

Controlling her scores during the entrance exam had been a spur-of-the-moment decision. Who could have known that Advanced Nurturing High School would assign classes based on those results?

And to be placed in a class full of such freaks...

If Heaven gave her, Matsushita Chiaki, another chance, she would definitely give the Advanced Nurturing High School entrance exam everything she had.

"What are you two doing?"

Just then, Karuizawa Kei looked up and saw Chihaya Rei and Matsushita with their heads so close together, whispering away. She found it strange, and for some reason, felt a inexplicable twinge of jealousy.

"Discussing a difficult problem."

Chihaya Rei replied with a calm expression, showing no sign that he was lying.

"Oh!" Karuizawa Kei pursed her lips.

She felt like Chihaya Rei was just whispering secrets with Matsushita Chiaki!

I was here first, after all...