I just hope to live a leisurely life in the world of anime.

So... oh well, this kind of thing should be considered interesting, right?

I've made up my mind; let's hear what this guy has to say first.

……

The pleasant sound of the school bell pulled me back to reality as I held a pink note.

Since the start of the semester, I've had the contact information for the second girl...

The sun began to turn a dusky yellow. There were significantly fewer students in the classroom who were supposed to leave after school today; most of them stayed because the study session organized by Hirata was about to begin.

"Although I've already mentioned it, I still want to say it again. Hirata asked me for a similar favor yesterday, but they refused. Even though you're a beautiful girl, I'm not sure they'll be willing to help." I glanced at Horikita, who was about to leave, and slowly called out to her.

“Then I’ll say what I’ve already said. This is your business. That lunch wasn’t cheap, and I haven’t forgiven you for lying to me with Kushida. I hope to hear good news tonight. See you tomorrow, Ayanokouji.”

After saying that, Horikita turned and left without any hesitation.

This attitude...

Well……

She really holds a grudge.

I really don't know why I agreed to it.

…………

We're back!

After taking the key from the door lock, Ram led the other two girls back home.

"Go wash your face when you get back, and we'll get ready for dinner."

An Shu poked her head out of the kitchen and greeted the three people who walked in through the entrance.

"As for Hui, well, I guess I don't need to invite you to stay for dinner again, right?"

Incidentally, he also jokingly mentioned the girl next door. Since the start of the semester, because his daughter felt it was too lonely and troublesome for her to eat and cook alone next door, he'd been dragging her over to eat every day. After so much time, everyone had gotten used to it.

"Mmm." She responded gently, obediently changing out of her slippers at the door before being pulled inside by the little girl.

"Hey, Master's cooking again!" Ram ran a few steps, jumped onto the sofa, and plopped down on it without any regard for her image. She looked at An Shu, who was busy in the kitchen, and exclaimed, "I can eat delicious food again~ And that... beluga whale meat, meat!"

"All you ever think about is eating!" While adding seasonings to the soup in the pot, An Shu also took the opportunity to complain to her, "Well, I spent the whole afternoon frying some jerky for you guys, you can eat it as a snack!"

An Shu's words immediately calmed her down, and she shook her head pathetically, "Hehe~ Master is the best! I love Master the most!"

"It's good to know."

"Mmm, could you give me a shoulder massage after you finish cooking, Master?"

Sure enough... I knew that praising me while complaining was just a way to lower my guard and make me fall for their trick!

An Shu was already familiar with her routine. She took off the apron she was wearing in front of her and gave An Shu a disapproving look, saying, "You're the maid, and I'm the maid."

"Yes, that's me!"

"What maid would make such a demand of her master?"

"Hmm... But I'm so cute... No, Master seems even cuter..."

"So since I'm cuter than little Ram, shouldn't you give me a shoulder massage later?"

"Hmph, no way! Master, don't even think about fooling me! I won't be confused!" She knelt down on the sofa, pouting. "Besides, Master is too cunning!"

"How cunning are you now?" An Shu picked up the spoon next to her, scooped up a spoonful, and tasted the saltiness.

"Yesterday! Yesterday you actually slept with Miori and Rem! Hmm, according to An Tong's timeline, you did that to them during the last two periods yesterday morning! It's so unfair! I was supposed to be studying inside, but you all ran away! Hmm..."

An Shu smiled. The soup was ready. It just needed to simmer for a while longer to absorb the flavor before we could eat. With nothing else to do, he came out and said, "But I went back specifically to wait for Little Ram!"

"That's true, but, well, whatever, Master has really wronged me! You all went off to play, and you didn't even take me with you! Sister An Tong, look at Master... um..."

Ram puffed out her cheeks, rolled around on the sofa twice, and then snuggled up to the little girl sitting next to her to complain.

"Hui is still here, aren't you afraid of losing face?" An Shu took advantage of the little girl's lack of speech, quickly walked in, grabbed her little face, and pulled her away from the little girl.

However, due to the angle, he didn't see that Karuizawa Megumi's eyes dimmed slightly as she sat on the other side of the loli.

She didn't like hearing these words because they made her feel like an outsider, but she didn't dare say anything, since they weren't really related... what could she say...?

That's what she thinks...

An Shu didn't see it, but Ram, who was right across from An Shu and whose little face was being pinched, saw it all clearly.

"Hmph!" She shook her head, shook off An Shu's hand, hooked her slippers, walked around An Shu, ran behind the sofa, wrapped her arms around the girl's neck from behind, and stuck out her tongue at An Shu: "Hui-chan isn't an outsider, hmph, I hate Master the most!"

###Chapter 391 Foolish?###

"Three people, A, B, and C, have a total of 2,150 yuan. A has 120 yuan more than B. If C gives two-fifths of the money to B, then B will have 220 yuan more than A. How much money did A have initially?"

This problem involves a system of simultaneous equations, which is easily solvable by high school students; the difficulty level is moderate.

This was the last question on the last quiz. Horikita took it out and used it as an example before the math teacher went over it.

Because, excluding Kushida, all three of them got the question wrong.

After all, the trio of idiots lived up to their name.

After hearing this, Chi Yi immediately started scratching his head. I think he must have realized that the scene was different from what he had imagined.

Yesterday, he imagined himself and Kushida sitting at the same table in the library, gazing at each other tenderly, in a romantic atmosphere, instead of being driven to the brink of madness by the math problems in front of them. This was a fantasy he had conjured up in the chat group yesterday.

As expected, they still lack any self-awareness...

Following Ike's actions, Sudo and Yamauchi also made similar moves.

Unlike the other three, I felt calm and peaceful in this quiet library, especially with the music coming from the piano recital platform—one of the world's most famous serenades, A Midsummer Night's Dream.

But since we've come this far... there's no need to go into detail about what happened last night.

That's right, the three people who refused to attend the study session the day before yesterday came today.

Of course, they didn't come because of me, but because of Kushida-kun.

As expected, my strategy of asking Kushida for help to persuade the three of them last night was correct! Calling Kushida a "goodwill ambassador" yesterday was also appropriate.

Even though Horikita initially disagreed with Kushida coming over, I don't know how Kushida managed to get Horikita's consent!

I have no way of knowing that.

"Don't know?" Horikita's somewhat cool voice pulled me back to reality. She took the cap of her black pen and tapped the question on the notebook. "Try to think about it a little. If you give up thinking from the beginning, you won't be able to make any progress."

"But even if you say that, I'm completely helpless when it comes to studying." Sudo shrugged nonchalantly.

"I don't know either..." Chi also gave up and slumped onto the table.

"Where's Yamauchi-kun?" Kushida saw Horikita's face darken and quickly changed the subject, drawing her attention to Yamauchi, who was scribbling on a piece of white paper.

Yamauchi patted his chest: "Of course I know! Kushida-kun, this question is way too easy!"

Yamauchi still didn't have the guts to address Kushida-kun in a more intimate way, like Ike did, even though this guy dared to call Chabashira-sensei "Kosae" in class.

“Look, I’m telling you, A, B, and C have 2,150 yuan…” Yamauchi tore off a piece of his draft paper and handed it to the center of the table.

Well, regardless of whether the answer is yes or no, Yamauchi's confident demeanor is certainly something to look forward to.

"B has 120 yuan, and C has two-fifths of B's ​​money..."

Okay, I take back what I said earlier.

"Wait, wait, Yamauchi-kun..."

Horikita's expression, ashen yet about to explode, seemed to alert Kushida, who quickly interrupted Yamauchi.

"What's wrong?" Yamauchi hadn't yet figured out what went wrong with his statement, and looked up with a confused expression.

"Yanchi-kun, did you misread the question...?"

"Yeah, Yamauchi, are you stupid? If it were as simple as you say, how could we not know how to do it?" Ike chimed in irritably.

Actually, the original question was quite simple; even first and second-year high school students could solve it.

The truly difficult part was the last few questions, which were entirely based on material from the second and third years of high school. We haven't covered that at all right now, and we don't even know who created this quiz. The easiest questions were incredibly simple, while the most difficult ones were incredibly hard...

"Ah, what's going on?" Yamauchi lowered his head, picked up the quiz paper and looked at it carefully. Suddenly, he had an expression of sudden realization. "Oh, I see!"

"Hmm, do you know how to do it?" Sudo yawned.

"will not."

"..." Everyone fell silent. Except for Kushida, everyone looked at Yamauchi with hostility.

It's a waste of everyone's time.

Horikita closed her eyes and concentrated for a moment; I think she must have been suppressing her urge to hit someone.

She opened her eyes, picked up the blank sheet of paper that Yamauchi had left on the table, turned it over, and showed the blank side: "Look carefully, this is how you set up a system of equations."

Horikita writes with incredible speed and grace, but unfortunately, besides her, only Kushida and I could understand her handwriting.

"No way, it seems I'm just not cut out for studying. How could I possibly do something like this..." Sudo threw the mechanical pencil on the table and announced his surrender.

“Yeah, midterms are nothing to worry about. I used to just cram some Buddhist scriptures before every exam and I could get through it.” Ike hooked his arm around Yamauchi’s neck. “Hey, Yamauchi, let’s go to my dorm to play games later. My game console that I bought last month is almost covered in dust.”

"Okay!"

I glanced at Horikita next to me, watching her quietly build up her anger, even though she had only been studying for a short time...

Kushida stood up, almost pleadingly urging them, "Wait, wait a minute, everyone, try a little harder! Once you understand the solution, the rest is just applying it, and that should come in handy in the exam! Okay, okay?"

Ike sighed, whether feigning or genuinely helpless, "...Well, since Kokushida has said so, I might as well give it a try...I mean, if Kokushida could teach me, maybe I could try a little harder."

"Uh, this..." Kushida hesitated, glancing at Horikita. She had no problem with it, and she knew the answer to this kind of question, but Horikita was the one who started this study session. I think she was probably worried about this because she wanted to build a good relationship with Horikita.

"Well, it's alright. If Kushida-san wants to teach, then go ahead. I'm going back now." Horikita nodded, his previously dark expression now replaced by his usual cold indifference.

"Eh? Why? Horikita-kun?" Kushida stared wide-eyed, clearly confused.

"Because I made a stupid mistake. I actually thought I could tutor three hopeless students. I might as well just let them drop out of school and stop dragging our class down. I made a stupid mistake today, and then I realized it. That's all."

The atmosphere... became tense.

###Chapter 392 The Study Session That Ended Just as It Began (Part 1)###