Three Identical Sets of Answers, Three Perfectly in Sync

Early the next morning, Ken Kaneki stirred groggily from sleep.

Out of habit, he reached out and fumbled around beside him, only to touch a patch of slightly damp sheets.

Ken Kaneki opened his eyes and found that Hiyori was not beside him. He was the only one left in the large bed, and he could not help letting out a soft sigh.

Ken Kaneki got out of bed, stood up straight, loosened his limbs, and stretched before walking over to the wardrobe and changing into his school uniform.

He picked up his phone from the bedside table and saw a message Hiyori had sent half an hour earlier.

"Ken, last night really got a little too wild... I still feel a bit embarrassed, so I left first. I bought breakfast outside, so remember to eat it. Love you, kisses."

Reading the message, Ken Kaneki could not help chuckling. He shook his head helplessly and remarked,

"We're practically an old married couple already. How is she still so shy?"

He left the bedroom and entered the living room, his gaze falling on the dining table. Sure enough, Hiyori had thoughtfully prepared breakfast, though the quantity was truly startling.

Looking at the assortment of bread, fried eggs, bacon, milk, and salad covering the table, he roughly estimated that there was enough to feed at least five people.

Perhaps Hiyori thought he had a big appetite and had deliberately ordered extra.

Normally, he would have finished it all, but he was not particularly hungry that morning.

After some thought, Ken Kaneki turned and left his room. He first knocked on Kiyotaka Ayanokoji's door next door, then went to knock on Rokusuke Koenji's door on the other side.

To his surprise, Koenji, who had been coming and going without a trace these past few days, was actually in his dorm room.

"Morning."

"Morning."

Before long, all three had gathered in Ken Kaneki's room.

At the dining table, the three ate the lavish breakfast while drinking coffee.

Ken Kaneki took a bite of his sandwich and looked curiously at Koenji, who was elegantly cutting his fried egg across from him, and asked,

"Speaking of which, Koenji, you've been impossible to catch these past few days. I haven't even seen a glimpse of you. What have you been doing?"

Beside him, Ayanokoji also paused what he was doing and looked over with some curiosity.

Koenji set down his knife and fork, a mischievous grin curling his lips.

"Heh heh, nothing much. I just happened to meet a beautiful second-year girl. I've spent the past few days in her room, exploring a little life philosophy through some intimate exchanges with her."

Hearing this, Ken Kaneki and Koenji exchanged a glance. Both instantly understood what the other meant, and knowing smiles appeared on their faces at the same time.

Then, in perfect unison, the two shifted their gazes toward Kiyotaka Ayanokoji, who was quietly eating. Their looks gradually turned strange.

Under those two teasing gazes, Ayanokoji put down his cup and looked at them expressionlessly.

"Listen, Kiyotaka, you're not a kid anymore," Koenji said unhurriedly, leaning back in his chair.

"Look, Ken Kaneki and I both have someone to cuddle up with. You're the only bachelor left in our little group. Interested in finding yourself a girlfriend?"

Ken Kaneki nodded repeatedly beside him and picked up the thread. "I think Horikita Suzune from our class would be a pretty good match for you.

"Look, she might have a bit of a nasty temper, but she's certainly pretty. Besides, I've noticed her approaching you and striking up conversations these past few days, whether deliberately or otherwise.

"What do you say? Want to consider winning her over?"

Ayanokoji looked at the two gossip-hungry faces, his mind racing.

He gave it some serious thought, then looked at them and asked in bewilderment, "So, what exactly does being in love feel like?"

At those words, a deathly silence instantly fell over the room.

Ken Kaneki nearly spat out the coffee he had just sipped, while the elegant smile on Koenji's lips instantly froze.

The two were speechless for a moment, staring at Ayanokoji as though he were an alien. They felt utterly helpless when faced with his severe lack of common knowledge.

"This isn't something we can explain just by talking about it." Ken Kaneki sighed and patted Ayanokoji on the shoulder.

"Kiyotaka, some things you have to experience and try for yourself before you can understand what they're like."

Ayanokoji nodded thoughtfully, a trace of only half-comprehending bewilderment in his eyes.

Skipping over that headache-inducing topic, all three turned their thoughts back to the upcoming midterm exams without consulting one another.

"By the way, I've prepared a little surprise to deal with this midterm exam crisis. It'll help those idiots in our class get through it." Ken Kaneki set down his cup and smiled mysteriously.

"Oh? What a coincidence. I've prepared a surprise too." Koenji raised an eyebrow.

"So have I," Ayanokoji added calmly.

All three paused in surprise. Then Ayanokoji and Koenji got up and returned to their respective rooms to fetch something, while Ken Kaneki turned and went into his bedroom.

Before long, the two returned to Ken Kaneki's living room. Each held several photocopied sheets of A4 paper.

"This is the surprise I mentioned: past midterm exam papers and their answers. I just bought them from a second-year boy yesterday."

Ken Kaneki spread the exam papers in his hands across the dining table.

Yet when he looked up, he found that both Ayanokoji and Koenji had frozen.

Ayanokoji silently passed over the sheets in his hands, while Koenji placed what he was holding on the table with an odd look on his face.

Three identical sets of exam papers lay side by side, densely covered with questions and answers for every subject.

They exchanged glances, a faint awkwardness hanging in the air.

None of the three had expected their thinking to fall completely into sync at this critical moment. Without consulting one another, they had all thought of exploiting the rules by buying past exam papers from upperclassmen.

"Looks like we're a little too in sync." Koenji shrugged helplessly.

Ken Kaneki could not help laughing. He waved a hand and said, "It's fine. We've got plenty of points now anyway. What we spent on the exam papers is nothing.

"Having extra copies means we can cross-check them and see whether all the answers are correct, so those upperclassmen don't end up ripping us off."

He paused, then looked at the other two and made a serious suggestion.

"But from now on, we should divide up the work before we do anything. We can't have all three of us paying separately to do the same thing like this again."

Ayanokoji and Koenji nodded in wholehearted agreement.