Even Today, the Genius High School Programmer Cashes In on Day Trades, Completely Flustered by Beautiful Girls' Growing Affection. - Chapter 52: “Are You Going to Say It? Yourself?”

“Are You Going to Say It? Yourself?”

By the time December arrived, the town had already fully shifted into its winter preparations.

Events were lined up one after another. Christmas during winter break, and right after that, New Year’s.

Come to think of it, this was apparently the season when many students ended up becoming couples.

They wanted to spend Christmas together, after all.

Before any of those events, however, we had something we needed to take care of first.

“Ugh, it’s already time for the final exams…”

Shingo’s voice carried a heavy sigh.

“That’s why you should just do your usual preview and review like normal.”

“Hey, hey, Kousuke, make some more practice questions for us again, okay?”

“Can’t be helped, I guess.”

“Kousuke, should I make bentos again this time?”

“Ah, no. It’s fine this time. Don’t worry about it.”

As usual, the five of us had gathered during lunch break to eat together.

The topic of conversation was the final exams that would begin next week.

While I was fine, both Shingo and Hina seemed quite desperate.

If they scored below the failing mark, they would have to attend supplementary lessons during winter break.

Apparently, they really didn’t want to come to school even during the holidays.

Well, that made sense.

Yukina and Ryuusenji also seemed to feel a stronger sense of urgency this time.

After all, at this point in their second year of high school, the difficulty level in every subject had risen noticeably. Deepening their understanding was becoming quite challenging.

“The practice questions are almost ready. Shingo, I’ll send them over Lime, so can you print them out again?”

“Roger that!”

“Man, you’re a huge help. Thanks to those, I can really see where I’m weak.”

“Yeah, it really feels that way. During the actual test, it’s like the patterns start to click.”

“I’ll try studying a bit harder this time too, Hina.”

“You should always try harder, Hina.”

Conversations like these with my friends felt genuinely enjoyable.

Just like last time, we held a study session.

We worked through the practice questions, checked the answers, and then went over the explanations.

This time, I left most of the teaching for Shingo and Hina to Ryuusenji and Yukina.

It seemed I really wasn’t suited for explaining things to others.

Then came the final exams themselves.

I felt about the same as always.

Ryuusenji and Yukina performed roughly the same as the previous test.

Shingo and Hina seemed to have a better feel this time.

The following week, the graded tests were returned, along with the rankings.

I held my usual spot at the top.

Ryuusenji and Yukina’s ranks had barely changed from last time. Since the content had been quite difficult, they both seemed very satisfied with the results.

Shingo had scored above average in four subjects and managed to avoid failing marks across the board, raising his rank slightly.

What surprised everyone the most was Hina.

Not only had she avoided failing any subject, but she had scored above average in two of them.

Her rank had jumped dramatically to her “highest in Hina history.”

“I might actually be a genius,” she declared with a proud grin on her face.

She really had worked hard this time.

And just like that, December 21st arrived.

Winter break would begin tomorrow.

Since our school was private, winter break started earlier than at regular public high schools.

After the final homeroom ended, I was called to the staff room.

They asked about my future career path before the break.

I simply told them I was still torn between engineering/science or medicine.

They advised me to discuss it thoroughly with my parents. Of course, that was my plan.

Once I was finally released from the staff room and returned to the classroom, I found two girls still inside.

It was Yukina and Hina.

They were whispering to each other in low voices, so quietly I couldn’t make out what they were saying.

“Eh? You still haven’t invited him?”

“U-um… because…”

“You know his Lime, right?”

“B-but… I want to invite him directly…”

“I get that, but… so what are you going to do?”

“What do you mean, what am I going to do?”

“Are you going to say it? Yourself?”

“…”

“You want him to say it, don’t you…”

“Because… at the beginning… it should still be…”

“You really are such a maiden, Yukina. Well, in your case, you’ve been getting confessions all this time. I understand how you feel, but getting one from that super dense, unconsciously tone-deaf blockhead…”

“I can’t understand a word of Japanese. What language are you two even speaking?”

“Uwaah!”

“Hyaai!”

They jumped in complete surprise.

Being startled that much actually made me feel a little down.

“So you two hadn’t gone home yet.”

“U-um, yeah. We were waiting for you to come back, Kousuke.”

“Is that so?”

“That’s right. Well then, Hina will head home first~”

“?”

Hina gave us a small wave and a cheerful “bye-bye.”

She shot Yukina a meaningful glance before leaving the classroom.

Just as she stepped out the door, though, she let out a tiny sigh and muttered something under her breath…

“Haaah… Well, at least it happened before her feelings grew any bigger. That’s the only way to look at it. Guess I’ll just enjoy my Christmas Eve shift at work~”