Even Today, the Genius High School Programmer Cashes In on Day Trades, Completely Flustered by Beautiful Girls' Growing Affection. - Chapter 28: “Third place, was it?”

“Third place, was it?”

“Come to think of it, next Saturday is the National Unified Mock Exam, right?”

During lunch break, Shingo was the one who brought it up.

As usual, the five of us had pushed our desks together and were eating our bentos side by side.

Next Saturday was indeed the date for the nationwide mock exam.

Fortunately, the venue was right here at our school.

Apparently some students from other schools would be coming too.

“Was it? I completely forgot about that,” Ryuusenji said, taking a sip from her plastic bottle of tea.

“Ughhh, do we really have to take it〜?”

Yeah, Hina definitely wasn’t looking forward to it.

“By the way… Kousuke-kun, um… if it’s okay to ask… what rank do you usually get on these mock exams?”

Yukina asked hesitantly, her voice soft and careful.

“Hm? Oh, last time I think I came in third.”

“Eh? Third in the prefecture? That’s seriously amazing!”

“No, third nationwide.”

“Ehhhhh—?!”

“For real?!”

“No way?!”

Personally, I was more curious to see the faces of the two people ranked above me.

That said, I didn’t have any particular obsession with taking first place nationwide.

As long as I could eventually get into Teito University, the exact rank didn’t matter much.

“You’re aiming for Tokyo U, right? Have you already decided on a faculty?” Yukina asked.

“I’m still torn. Something in computer science on the science-and-engineering side, or maybe medicine. Genetic engineering and new drug development sound pretty interesting too.”

“Man, I’m so jealous. You can literally pick whatever you want,” Shingo said, pursing his lips in mock resentment.

“Next year we’ll already be taking entrance exams, huh…”

Yukina murmured, a touch of wistfulness in her voice.

“But honestly, I’m way more excited about the day after the mock exam,” Ryuusenji said.

“Right〜?”

For some reason, Ryuusenji and Shingo seemed to be on exactly the same wavelength.

“The day after the mock exam? Something happening?” I asked.

“It’s the fireworks festival, Kousuke-kun,” Yukina explained gently.

“Oh, already that time of year.”

The fireworks display held along the riverbed in this city was the largest in the prefecture—every year it drew crowds of over 100,000 people.

The fireworks were choreographed to music in breathtaking sequences, backed by major local corporate sponsors, making the whole event feel grand and polished.

And of course, the sheer number of food stalls meant you could spend the whole night just eating your way through the grounds.

“This year they’ve got even more sponsors, so the number of launched fireworks is supposed to be the biggest ever. I couldn’t go last year, so I’m really looking forward to it,” Shingo said.

“Same here! Super excited!”

“Kousuke-kun, have you gone to see fireworks recently?”

“Nah, it’s been years since I last went to a fireworks festival. I think the last time was back in elementary school.”

Back in middle school I never really had friends to go with.

“Eh〜 then why don’t we all go together?”

“Yeah! Kousuke and Sakuraba-san should come too.”

The normie couple can just go by themselves, I almost thought—but then—

“Yeah, that actually sounds fun.”

“I’m going to the fireworks festival too, but it’s for a work event, so I can’t join you guys. Too bad〜,” Hina said with a little pout.

All four pairs of eyes turned toward me at once.

“Um… Kousuke-kun… would you maybe… not be able to come with us?”

Faced with that pleading upward glance from the Snow Princess herself, I’d like to meet the hero brave enough to say no…