The Story Of How I, A Gloomy Guy, Ended Up Surrounded By the Top-Tier Beautiful Girls In Class After A Seat Change - Chapter 108-109

Chapter 108: A Place I Want to Go With You

—— The day of the final exams.

I wake up at my usual time, have breakfast at my usual time, and leave the house at my usual time.

Even though it’s one of the few test days of the year, it’s important to stick to my regular routine.

Just because it’s test day doesn’t mean I should get unnecessarily nervous or restless——

“Good morning, Ryota-kun! Today’s the test, right?”

As usual, Kuroki Rui was standing in her usual spot, at her usual time, waiting for me, just as she always did.

She waved her hand, her long black hair fluttering in the wind, standing in front of my house gate.

(That part doesn’t have to be the same every day, though…)

“Good, good morning, Rui… You came all the way here again today?”

“Yep. It’s true that today is the test, but keeping things normal is important, right?”

Keeping things normal, huh? Why is she thinking the same way I am…?

Whether going to school with Rui every day is a good thing or a bad thing is something I’ve been pondering lately. But despite that, I find myself walking to school with her again today.

“You look like you’re pretty relaxed… Aren’t you feeling any pressure about keeping the top spot?”

“Of course not. I’m always perfect, even without doing anything special.”

With a sweet smile, Rui says something that is anything but sweet.

What’s this about “not doing anything special”?

Rui already has special talents, after all…

“But with the Inter-High coming up, isn’t club practice keeping you busy?”

“That’s true… but you know that well, huh?”

“Well, that’s because someone keeps sending me selfies after practice. Comparing the recent ones with the earlier ones, you seem more exhausted lately. Or maybe it’s just that you’re sweating more?”

“Oh? Ryota-kun, you’re even paying attention to how much I’m sweating in my selfies?”

“Uh, no, that’s not what I meant…”

The conversation slips out of my mouth, and now she knows I thoroughly check all of her selfies.

(Argh, I fell for it completely… How could I get caught in such an obvious trap?!)

Rui narrowed her eyes and smiled gracefully.

As if to say, ‘Just as planned.’

“Don’t tease an innocent boy like that so easily!”

“I’m not teasing you, though?”

“Yes, you are! Any guy would look closely at a slightly sexy selfie sent by a girl in his class! It’s just a part of adolescence!”

At this point, I try to escape the situation by lashing out like a child. It’s a desperate attempt.

“Hehe… It’s only a matter of time before you can’t be satisfied with anything else…”

“Huh?”

“…I’m looking forward to it.”

I’m not really sure what she’s looking forward to, but does that mean I’ll keep getting more pictures?

“Oh, by the way, Ryota-kun? If those two manage to avoid failing, you’ll have to do whatever we say during summer break. Are you okay with that?”

“Well, um… I’ve already promised, so I guess there’s no choice.”

“You’re not exactly against it, though, are you?”

She knows me well.

“If I can have you all to myself… maybe I’ll have you come with me.”

“C-Come with you? Wh-Where to?”

“That’s… something to look forward to after the test.”

Rui said this with a playful wink.

(Where is she planning to take me…?! This is way too scary!!)

I could only hope she wasn’t planning to drag me off to some remote mountain.

—

Chapter 109: The End of the Test! Where Will the New Love Lead?

When I reached the classroom, it was completely silent—nothing like the usual noise. All I could hear was the sound of mechanical pencils scratching on paper and the flipping of textbook pages.

Rui and I, who came together, felt the tension in the air. Without exchanging words, we quietly entered the classroom and began studying.

(Everyone’s concentration is on another level… The atmosphere in the room feels tense, too.)

Though many students here are highly motivated, not everyone is like that. Among them are people like Yuria and Airi, who are desperately trying to avoid failing.

At our school, failing a subject means scoring less than half of the average score for that subject. Since it’s a prestigious school, the bar for passing is naturally higher.

Because of this, Airi and Yuria, who had been slacking off since entering the school, had been consistently racking up failing scores on their tests.

(But this time, they’ve been working hard, so I’m sure they’ll get good marks… Wait, where are Yuria and Airi? They’re not here yet?)

I looked at the seats to my left and in front of me, and just then, I saw the two of them entering the classroom from the hallway… but.

(Wh-what’s going on with them?)

Both of them looked completely exhausted even before the test began, with dark circles under their eyes.

There was no doubt about it—they had pulled an all-nighter.

“G-good morning, Ryota…”

Airi greeted me with a weak voice, as if she had only 10% of her energy left.

“Hey, are you okay?”

“I’m fine, I’m totally fine. Airi is full of energy!”

“Full of energy? Where?”

“Good morniiing, Ryota…”

“Even you, Yuria…”

Yuria passed behind me and headed to her seat on my left, her voice sounding completely drained. What’s going on with these two?!

“Are you two really going to be okay like that?”

“We’re fine. The two of us were on the phone studying together until morning.”

“Until morning?”

I admired their determination, but with them in this condition for the actual test… Rui, who sat on my right, shrugged in disbelief.

“After this test is over, I’m going to blow off some steam on you, Ryota. Right, Airi?”

“Sounds good to me!”

“Wait a second. Since when did I become your stress relief tool?”

“Once the test is over, let’s all go on a tour of all the karaoke places by the station!”

“There’s no way we’re doing that! One karaoke place is enough!”

As soon as I shouted, a wave of threatening glares shot my way from all around the room, as if to say, “Shut up, or else!”

(Oh, sorry about that…)

I shrank back and used my textbook to hide my face.

“Anyway, after the review we did last night, we both did well, so I don’t think we’ll fail.”

“Ryota, be prepared for what’s coming, okay?”

The two of them, determined to avoid failing, seemed unusually confident. Well, especially in Airi’s case—she has a part-time job, so she definitely wants to avoid failing.

(But their confidence feels like a bad omen…)

With a bit of unease in my chest, the two days of final exams began.

☆☆

—A few days after the finals, it was the weekend.

Today was finally the day we got our test results back.

All of our test papers were returned on the same day, but for some reason, we had decided to show each other our results after school.

So, after school, Yuria, Airi, and Rui stayed behind in the classroom. They slammed their test results down on my desk as if to say, “Check this out!”

“How’s that, Ryota! Look at our skills!”

From their confident expressions, it was clear—Yuria and Airi, who had been worried, both managed to avoid failing. Despite this test having a higher passing threshold than usual…

“Wow, you two are amazing!”

“Of course! We studied so hard!”

“Yeah, but not just avoiding failing—Airi got 70 in math! And Yuria got 80 in English?! That’s seriously impressive!”

“Don’t praise me too much.”

“Airi and I can totally ace it when we try. Now, we can do whatever we want with Ryota, haha!”

Airi almost slipped up and mentioned her part-time job, but… well, everything turned out fine in the end.

“Hey, Ryota? I got over 98 points in every subject, almost perfect scores, and I’m number one in the entire grade.”

“Huh? Oh, is that so? You’re number one again, huh?”

“I… was number one, you know?”

Rui stared at me with a sullen look, repeating herself stubbornly. Is she… wanting me to praise her too?

…I’m not entirely sure, but if that’s what she wants.

“Th-that’s amazing, Rui! You’re number one again, by a landslide! I bet Kanade is really frustrated right now—”

“Hey… If you’re going to praise me, could you not mention another girl’s name?”

“Huh? Oh, sorry about that.”

Even though I praised her, she got mad at me. Wh-what the heck? Rui always gets first place, so I thought she wouldn’t care about being praised for it anymore!

“Hmph, what’s this? Rui, do you want Ryota to praise you too?”

“Not really? I didn’t say I wanted to be praised.”

“Rui, you’re not being honest! Airi worked hard because she wanted Ryota to praise her! Now we can all have fun during summer vacation!”

Oh, that’s right. I was so surprised by them avoiding failing that I completely forgot about summer vacation.

“Well, the test results were just the prerequisite, right? Now, let’s settle who gets to play with Ryota first… with rock-paper-scissors!”