He tried to save the fallen girls, but they came after him instead.

It tastes even better than rice...

"It tastes good, boss lady."

"Is that so~"

"Okay, let's have dinner together again next time. I want to try the eldest sister's freshly made dishes."

What? Shirakawa wants to taste me fresh out of the oven? That's not good.

Nikaido, completely disregarding whether the bento he made was delicious or not, had some small fantasies in his mind.

Meanwhile, on Mitsu Sakura's side...

The group of hot girls held Sudoku puzzle sheets in their hands, pens in hand, deep in thought.

"Do you have any left over?"

Midori Sakura asked.

"There are a few more."

"Could you...please?" Midori Sakura put her hands together in a pleading gesture.

"Haha, Sakura, don't be so polite. Take them, they're all freebies from fashion magazines anyway." The hot girl laughed and waved, indicating that Sakura could take them all.

Sakura counted the Sudoku puzzles in her hand; there were four in total.

That's great! This way, not only will Shirakawa and I get our share, but Nikaido will too.

Mitsu Sakura wanted to make Shirakawa win at Sudoku by doing things that would cheer him up.

Of course, although Nikaido and Shirakawa have a somewhat ambiguous relationship, she is not very smart, which means that she can never beat Shirakawa in Sudoku.

The only one left who might be able to beat him is herself. Of course, she can go easy on Shirakawa, since her goal is also to cheer him up.

Midori Sakura walked over, carrying the Sudoku puzzle.

"Hey, you shut-in, wanna try these Sudoku puzzles?" Midori Sakura said smugly, hands on her hips. "Hehe, my logical reasoning skills are pretty amazing!"

Sudoku, huh? I haven't played it in ages.

Sudoku is a game where you deduce the numbers in all the remaining empty spaces on a 9x9 grid based on the known numbers on the grid. The goal is to ensure that each row, each column, and each 3x3 grid contains numbers from 1 to 9 without repetition. It's quite a test of your intelligence.

“Sure, Sakura-sama,” Shirakawa replied.

Nikaido frowned slightly upon hearing Sakura's greeting and said to Midori Sakura, "I want to play too."

She then took one of the cards from Mitsu Sakura's hand, half-snatching and half-demanding it.

When it comes to math, Nikaido is the type who can only count from 1 to 100.

But if we keep working hard, the result might be different, and we might be able to show off in front of Shirakawa.

Midori smiled slightly; Nikaido's reaction was exactly what she wanted. She gripped her pen: "Alright, then get ready... 3, 2..."

"Wait, I want to join too." Mito Maki somehow ended up next to them.

It's over.

Mito Sakura sensed something was wrong. Maki-neechan often ranked at the top of her class in exams, and even came in first place several times.

Once her older sister arrived, she quickly finished the Sudoku puzzle, thus defeating the purpose of comforting Shirakawa.

It might even make Shirakawa feel frustrated.

No, no, I can't let my sister, that unsettling element, be added.

"Sorry, we don't have any extra..."

Before Midori could finish speaking, Maki snatched the remaining card next to Sakura in a flash.

Why is my sister so determined...? Could it be that she also sensed that Shirakawa was unhappy and wanted to do her part?

She pretended she couldn't do it either, and then said to Shirakawa: "Shirakawa, you're so smart. Even I, a top student, am not as good as you."

Shirakawa will regain his confidence and be happier.

It turns out I was on the second floor, and my sister was on the fifth floor.

My sister is amazing!

This is how Mitsu Sakura understands it.

But Maki doesn't think so.

As a top student, Maki must give it her all, striving to be number one in everything, whether it's studying or playing Sudoku, to prove her excellence and earn Shirakawa's genuine respect and admiration.

At noon on the rooftop, Shirakawa said he "envied" me.

Therefore, I must maintain my excellence!

Even in this kind of intellectual game, I will try my best to win and show Shirakawa my prowess!

Nikaido muttered something from the side, not even glancing at Maki.

They always try to show their superiority and look down on those bad people.

At least that's what Nikaido thinks.

One is a delinquent, the other a disciplinary committee member; they are natural-born mortal enemies.

Yuzuru Ayako is Shirakawa's deskmate. Midori Sakura turns around and sits in front of Ayako. (That classmate hasn't returned yet.) The Sudoku puzzle is right on Ayako's desk.

Yako didn't care about these things at all; she just kept her head down and played games.

With no other empty seats around, Midori shifted slightly, making room for Maki.

Maki and Sakura sat on the same chair, one doing a problem in front of her and the other doing a problem facing Ako. The two, with their very different appearances, looked quite pleasing to the eye together.

"Ready..." Midori gripped her pen, preparing to calculate. "Start!"

34. Sudoku Game 2

Mito Sakura was careless!

So hard!

To get it right, you have to peel back the layers bit by bit. Every time you check, there are some numbers that are repeated or don't fit in place. Just when you finally get that the numbers in each row and column are not repeated, problems arise in the 3x3 grid.

Midori glanced up at Shirakawa, whose progress seemed less than optimistic, but she remained exceptionally determined with each stroke of her pen.

It seems that shut-ins are the type who take their time and do things meticulously.

To avoid having a higher accuracy rate than the otaku, Mitsu Sakura randomly wrote a small part of the text, and then pretended to be deep in thought while secretly observing others.

Nikaido kept repainting and repainting, but he had absolutely no competitive ability.

On the other hand, her older sister made a very fast pace, finishing most of it in no time. Mito Sakura had seen her so focused many times before.

That's right, my sister has pulled it all out! She's giving it her all.

Mito Sakura quickly nudged her sister's back with her elbow, trying to remind her sister who was writing furiously.

But Maki completely ignored her, focusing intently on her work.

Midori leaned forward slightly to observe Shirakawa's progress in doing the questions, then turned back to compare it with her sister's.

The difference is too great.

Judging from her condition, the older sister is definitely the first one.

It turns out she wasn't on the fifth floor; she was actually on the first floor.

I should have known better than to let my sister come. Now look what's happened. Shirakawa was already unhappy because I got scolded by the teacher, and now Maki has completely crushed him in the Sudoku game.

However, looking at it from another perspective, it's quite normal that Shirakawa can't compare to the top student sister. We can comfort him when the results come out.

Mito Sakura glanced at her watch; it was almost time for class.

"Alright, that's it. Let's check the answers!" Midori announced, then scanned the QR code in the bottom right corner of the Sudoku puzzle with her phone to find the answers.

Shirakawa stopped writing and came to the two of them.

Just then, Mitsu Maki finished writing, and looking at the full Sudoku grid, a sense of pride welled up inside her.

Nikaido stared at his blank screen and the first few rows of the nine-square grid, each line covered in black scribbles.

It made me so angry.

Numbers will never lie to you; you either know it or you don't, and no matter how hard you try, it won't change anything.

"That Nikaido guy, it's time to start checking the answers now," Midori Sakura reminded him.

Seeing Mitsu Maki's smug face and the nine-square grid in her hand, Nikaido was already furious, and now he was even more annoyed.

"I just spaced out and didn't finish writing, so I won't check the answers."

Nikaido crumpled the Sudoku puzzle into a ball of scrap paper and stuffed it into his pocket.

Mitsu Sakura ignored her, stacked the three people's exercises together, borrowed a red pen from Ayako, and began grading.

The first one was her own, and it had many mistakes and was poorly written, which was exactly what Sakura expected.

After judging their own cases, it's time for their older sister's.