I endured the humiliation and humiliation while being besieged by the ghost story elder sister.

"Eh?"

Looking at the content displayed on her phone, Ximiao was stunned for a moment, and then let out an incredulous question.

Author's note: _(:з」∠)_

Chapter 45 Arisa's Troubles

It was only a few weeks after the sports meet.

The monthly exams at St. Martin's Private High School, renowned for its college acceptance rates and admissions to prestigious universities, are just around the corner.

But for Nozomi, who studies diligently every night, this is nothing more than a piece of cake.

On the day the results were released, unsurprisingly, he ranked first in his grade, which meant he could save a lot of money on tuition.

But just as he finished looking at his grades and was about to return to the classroom, he saw Arisa standing quietly in the crowd, looking rather unwell.

Out of curiosity, Nozomi looked for Arisa's entry on the report card.

As his gaze gradually moved downwards, he finally saw Arisa's name in the 400s.

This result isn't exactly bad; there are only about 500 students in the entire grade, and she's barely hovering in the middle to lower ranks. No wonder her expression is so unpleasant.

Until the school bell rang, the students who were still on the grade bulletin board returned to their respective classrooms.

In the classroom of Class 1-A, by the window...

Nozomi could clearly sense that the girl beside her seemed to be in a bad mood.

As soon as the teacher started class, she singled out and criticized Arisa, whose score was the lowest in the class, saying that her score had dragged down the average score of Class A by several points.

He could only endure the oppressive atmosphere surrounding Arisa until lunch break.

Before the girl could take out her lunchbox, Ximiao took out two homemade caramel puddings from her bag and placed them on the table.

"Arisa~ How about we have some dessert first to change our mood?"

"…Um."

Clearly realizing that she couldn't stay sullen like this forever, Arisa took the pudding that Nozomi handed her and ate the sweet caramel on top in small bites.

Perhaps it was the sugar content that actually improved her mood a bit.

She couldn't help but steal a glance at Nozomi, who was also eating pudding with a small spoon beside her, and felt inexplicably happy.

The gloom that had been lingering in her heart was instantly dispelled by Xi Ling.

"By the way... Mio, how did you get first place in your grade? I never see you going to tutoring classes on weekends..."

Arisa expressed her incomprehension, as she had never seen the boy study particularly hard on a regular basis.

While eating her bento and enjoying being fed, Nozomi calmly said something after swallowing the food in her mouth.

"After finishing my homework in the evening, I always review it and then preview the material for the next lesson to help me understand it better!"

"Huh? But..."

Seemingly having guessed what Arisa wanted to ask, he continued.

"I usually chat with you, Arisa, around the time I'm getting ready for bed."

However, sometimes due to unforeseen circumstances, I have to postpone my bedtime.

Speaking of this, he couldn't help but recall the photo that Arisa had sent him before, which was still saved in his photo album and hadn't been deleted.

Upon recalling the contents of the photo, a blush suddenly appeared on the boy's fair face.

"Oh my~ Why does Mio's face turn so red when she talks about this? Could it be because of those photos I sent her..."

Before Arisa could finish speaking, Mio quickly covered her mouth, preventing her from continuing.

But Arisa's beautiful wine-red eyes were looking at her with a meaningful gaze, making Nozomi both ashamed and annoyed.

Fortunately, because the lunch break was almost over, Arisa stopped teasing Nozomi about it.

After lunch, Arisa went to the women's locker room in the gymnasium to change her clothes before participating in club activities.

As for Mio, because of the unpleasant memory she had in the locker room last time, no matter what Arisa said, she refused to go there to change clothes again.

He took the clothes he wanted to change into, along with the sports jacket he had borrowed from Arisa, and walked to the innermost stall in the restroom.

As expected, he entered Hanako's room again.

What can be seen is that the girl, still wearing short sleeves and shorts, has her pale, somewhat sickly thighs exposed to the light.

He could understand that ghosts had pale skin, and after getting used to it, he didn't find them that scary.

"Miss Hanako~ I'm bothering you again."

After taking off his indoor shoes at the door, he waved to Hanako, who was not far away.

Although he could change his clothes in the classroom after the sports meet.

However, due to certain parts of his body... after being thoroughly lectured by Arisa, it was not convenient for other classmates to see them, so he chose to come to Hanako's place instead.

"Where's the matcha cake I asked you to bring me?"

Upon hearing Ximiao enter, she put down the game controller in her hand and turned to look at the boy who had already taken off his shirt.

A pair of beautiful eyes stared intently at her fair skin and that inexplicably lewd place.

She figured it wasn't unreasonable for her to lend her room to Ximiao to change clothes and ask him to run errands for her.

Nozomi readily agreed to Hanako's suggestion.

After changing into her gymnastics uniform for club activities and putting on her jacket, Ximiao took out a matcha cake roll she had bought before coming to school that morning from her schoolbag and placed it on the table.

"By the way, Ms. Hanako, I have another question I'd like to ask... as a way of taking your advice into consideration."

Hanako, who was happily enjoying her cake roll, was taken aback when she heard her friend suddenly say that.

"Eh?"

……

stadium.

Having already warmed up, Arisa was standing by the basketball court, one hand on her hip, tilting her head back and drinking water to replenish her fluids.

What puzzled her was why Xi Ling took so long to change clothes this time; she had already finished warming up, and she still hadn't seen him come over to the gymnasium.

Where is Mio?

Just as she picked up her phone, intending to call and ask Ximiao if something had happened, a figure that had arrived late appeared in front of her not far away.

"Mio, why are you only arriving now?" she couldn't help but complain.

After placing the two backpacks on a bench, Xi Ling, who was carrying them, walked up to Arisa.

For some reason, the boy's eyes darted around, and he looked conflicted.

then.

"Um... Arisa, after our club activities end later, how about we go to a nearby family restaurant for a drink?"

"Huh? Of course, but why did you suddenly bring this up, Mio?"

She looked at the boy in front of her with some confusion, feeling as if she had missed something.

Author's note: After the results came out.

Nozomi: Hehe

Arisa: No, hehe

Sister Fanxia: gloating

Chapter Forty-Six: Breaking the Mold

"Mio, are you tutoring me personally?"

Arisa wondered if she had misheard, but looking at Nozomi's serious face, she didn't seem to be joking.

"I don't want you to get scolded by the teacher again after your next exam, and..."

"and?"

She looked at Xi Ling, who had suddenly blushed, with some confusion, and tilted her head.

"I want to go to the same university as Arisa."

Although they are only in their first year of high school and there is still a long time before the entrance exam, in Ximiao's opinion, there is no harm in starting to prepare now.

As for the idea of ​​going to a family restaurant with Arisa to tutor her, it was Hanako who suggested it to him while he was changing clothes.

As Hanako had predicted, after hearing what she said, Arisa's expression visibly brightened with happiness.

"Since you've put it that way, Mio, then I'd feel bad if I didn't give it my best!"

As they talked, the two found a family restaurant near the station and went inside. Nozomi didn't forget to call Honoka, who was staying at home, to let her know so she wouldn't worry about her.

Because there is only one school nearby, St. Martin's Private High School, most of the customers in the restaurant are students from the same school who come to have a drink and dessert after school.

Even though they had only found a spot, they saw several familiar figures greeting them.

"So that's why they like to come here to play after school."

"After all, drinks like cola and orange juice here are free refills!"

Seemingly aware that this place was quite popular, Arisa sat down and calmly explained to Nozomi.

After the two of them ordered some snacks and drinks, Ximiao took out her math textbook and workbook from her schoolbag and placed them on the table.

"Well then, let's start with your weakest subject, Arisa."

As soon as he finished speaking, Arisa looked at the math textbook with the same disgust she felt as a demon seeing a cross, making no attempt to hide her aversion.

"Why is math the first subject?! Mio, can we switch to another subject?"