What a twist! The loser heroine!

Ah, I remember Tsukinoki-senpai saying before that it's best not to mess with Shikiya-senpai, or the club will get into trouble.

This is bad; we need to calm the senior down quickly.

So Wen Shui immediately said, "Ah, no, what I mean is that we haven't known each other for very long and we don't know each other very well yet."

“We’ve only known each other for a short time…that’s true.” Shikiya Yumeko straightened her body, moved away from the warm water, and then said haltingly, “I…I understand.”

After saying that, Shikiya lazily lay down on the long table, displaying her perfect body curves, and then said nothing more.

Wen Shui turned his head away politely. He didn't want to take advantage of this senior student with her unusual way of thinking, even though she suited his tastes in every way.

[I still don't quite understand what Shikiya-senpai is thinking, but since she said she knows, it probably won't be a big problem.]

He sighed.

[Shikiya-senpai is really hard to fathom.]

She expressed the same sentiment as everyone who had met Yumeko Shikiya.

But for the sake of the literary club's future, Wen Shui plans to get along well with her senior from now on.

The prerequisite for getting along well is understanding the person.

[It seems...it's necessary to observe this strange senior's habits.]

On his first visit to the student council room, Kazuhiko Onami secretly noted down this plan.

He glanced at his watch and realized that his lunch break was about to end, so he stood up to say goodbye to the student council members.

But before he could speak, Hibari Hara noticed his movement and spoke first: "Wen Shui, the girl you mentioned earlier, Xiao Ju, should also be a member of the Literature Club, right?"

"Yes." Wen Shui nodded.

"Okay, I understand." The president said with a smile, "Lunch break is almost over, Wen Shui. If you would like to take a lunch break in the student council room in the future, you are very welcome to do so."

"I... I'll try my best..." Wen Shui returned an awkward smile to the student council members, then left the activity room with her lunchbox.

"Well then, President, I'll go first too." After Wen Shui left, Ma Titian Aixing hurriedly stood up, bowed respectfully to the student council president, and then ran out of the activity room.

Standing next to the chairman, Hiroto Sakurai, who had just wiped the teacup off the table, put the dead teacup into the trash can.

"Sister Yun Que, did you think of something just now?" he asked.

"how you said that?"

"After all, it's strange to suddenly ask about that Xiao Ju's name."

Upon hearing this, Hibari Hohara smiled and said, "Well, that's about right."

"Is it about the Literature Club?" Hiroto Sakurai brought over another cup of black tea.

"That's right. After all, Senior Tsukinoki should be overwhelmed with club activities right now."

Hiroto Sakurai looked up and glanced at Shikiya-senpai, who had sat up straight after hearing the name "Tsuki no Ki".

"Could it be that……"

"It's just a rough and unplanned idea. If we want to realize it, we'll probably need some help." The student council president turned to look at Shikiya Yumeko.

"Secretary, could you please help me out?"

After a moment of silence, Shikiya Yumeko stood up from her seat and nodded.

◇

On the other side, Wen Shui and Yan were carrying lunch boxes and walking back to the classroom.

Recalling the various encounters at noon, a helpless smile appeared on Wen Shui's lips.

Although the student council members are a bit strange, they are actually surprisingly easy to get along with.

Although the president is practically a human object crusher, she can survive with Sakurai's help (?). She might be a bit absent-minded sometimes, but she's very reliable when she's serious.

Shiki-ya-senpai has an unconventional way of thinking and does things her own way, sometimes doing strange things. However, Wen Shui thinks that as long as she keeps a good record of her behavior, she can avoid provoking her in the future and prevent the literature club from being affected.

As for the last person...

"that……"

Kazuhiko Wenshui believed that she was probably the person the student council should avoid contact with the most.

"Wen Shui-san!"

A sudden, amplified voice rang out behind me.

Sigh, I can't pretend I didn't hear that...

Wen Shui turned around with a troubled expression.

"Is there anything I can help you with, Tian Aixing?"

Behind him, Tian Aixing, who had run all the way from the third floor to the first floor, immediately explained her purpose.

"I'd like to ask, did you bring the complete works of Natsume Soseki last Friday?"

After a moment's thought, Wen Shui guessed why Tian Aixing had come to find him.

"Does Tian Aixing want to read the rest of the book?"

"No, it wasn't me." Tian Aixing seemed to know that her words were hard to believe, so she lowered her head and whispered in defense, "It was...it was my younger brother who wanted to borrow it."

Seeing Tian Aixing's expression, Wen Shui naturally wouldn't risk exposing her.

"Okay, if you want to borrow other books... for your younger brother to read, you can come to the literature club after school and pick out a few to take with you."

"Huh...huh?!" Tian Aixing immediately became alert: "I, I don't want to go to that kind of club with a lewd atmosphere—"

"Why do you still believe those rumors?" Wen Shui said helplessly. "Seeing is believing. Why don't you come and see for yourself, Tian Aixing? Actually, the members of our literature club are all very friendly."

After hesitating for a moment, Tian Aixing finally nodded stiffly.

"Well, okay then... I'll go check it out after school, just to inspect the club activities."

"Also, please don't call me by my name!"

~Twenty-first defeat~ This pair of childhood sweethearts

Having finally escaped from Aoi Hoshi's stalker in the school building, Wen Shui and Yan, taking advantage of the last ten minutes, went to the water tap closest to Class C.

At midday, the tap water, due to the rising temperature and students taking their lunch break, accumulates some chlorine and becomes warm. Sometimes, during lunch break, I'd savor the warm water, and just one sip would give me a completely different taste compared to other times of the day. Of course, I'd only taste it briefly.

He stood up contentedly, wiped his mouth, and quietly savored the comfortable feeling coming from his stomach.

"Warm, warm water." Komari Chika came out from around the corner.

"Oh, good afternoon, Xiao Ju, would you like some water too?"

"No, it's not."

Xiao Ju walked to Wen Shui's side, looked up and said, "I... I want to thank you."

"Huh? What's there to thank me for?" Wen Shui was a little confused.

"Thank you for yesterday. I can't go to Nagoya by myself..."

Wen Shui touched her nose: "Oh, actually I'm not familiar with Nagoya either. Yesterday's progress went so smoothly, Komari, you should thank Himegami the most—"

"I've already thanked Hime-hime-kun." Suddenly interrupting Wenshui, Xiaoju became excited for some reason: "I-I just wanted to thank you."

"Really... There's no need to be so polite." Seeing Xiao Ju's insistence, Wen Shui nodded and said, "You can call me next time if needed."

"Really, really?"

"Of course, we should help each other out when we're in a difficult situation," Wen Shui said with a smile.

Xiao Ju quietly looked at Wen Shui's profile, then looked away slightly.

“Just in the corners…” she said softly.

"Then, then, on the day of the book signing, you, you come with me too."

She moved slightly closer.

"Well, keep it on me."

◇

Wen Shui and Xiao Ju walked side by side to the entrance of Class C, and Xiao Ju turned around to say goodbye.

"Warm water, see you at the community office after school."

"it is good."

After Wen Shui finished speaking, she walked into Class C's classroom.

Surprisingly, her seat wasn't occupied. Himegami was pushing tables together at the back of the classroom, sharing her experiences in Nagoya with her classmates.

The girls gathered around Himegami, and sitting closest to Himegami was Anna Hachimi, who was chewing on a fish cake while listening attentively to Himegami's words.

"Speaking of which, the ramen shop I went to yesterday was really good."

Himegami's memories seem to have reached the ramen shop part, and upon hearing this, Anna's expression immediately became lively.

"Oh! Really?!" Her eyes lit up as she leaned closer to Himegami.

"Yes, it's an old shop located in an alley. The soup base is very fragrant, and the portion of char siu pork is very generous."

"I want to eat it! Himegami-san, can you send me the location on LINE? I definitely want to eat it next time I go to Nagoya!" Hanami exclaimed.

"Sure."

[You added me on Line so quickly?!]

Wen Shui was somewhat surprised by the progress between the two, but then she remembered how she had only met Himegami for five minutes before being forcibly added as a LINE friend—

That makes sense, after all, she's Himegami Karen.

Wenshui turned her head and met Hakamada Sosuke's gaze from a window seat in the distance.

Hakamada looked at Awami, opened his mouth slightly as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he scratched his head, nodded slightly, and turned away.

"...?"

Wen Shui was a little confused, but didn't dwell on it.

As lunch break was about to end, the students, realizing this, spontaneously began to rearrange the tables that had been pushed together.

Amidst the chaotic and ear-piercing sounds of the tables, chairs, and floor, Himegami Karen sat back behind Onami, immediately slumping her upper body onto the table.

"You've worked so hard, Wenshui." A tired and weak voice sounded behind the boy.

Princess Himegami made the same remark as last Friday, but the situation was completely different.

After a morning of social activities plus a full lunch break, even Himegami Karen, the ultimate positive type, seemed to be feeling tired.

The thought of being surrounded by so many people, desperately trying to answer their various questions, made Wen Shui shudder involuntarily. If he were to go out and socialize for Ji Gong, he'd probably be seeing his great-grandmother on the other side of the river in less than five minutes.

I feel like I understand Himegami-kun a little better now.

With these thoughts in mind, Wen Shui quietly gathered his attention and focused his gaze on the Chinese language teacher who had just entered the classroom, preparing for the afternoon's lessons.

The two classes passed quickly. In fact, Wen Shui had already previewed this part of the content in her previous tutoring class.

In addition, when he went to the cram school, Ayano Mitsuki would often come with a girl named Asagumo Chihaya to help him consolidate his knowledge. Now, the content taught in class is basically the same as the review.

Wen Shui put her political science textbook, which was already filled with notes, into her schoolbag, then stood up and walked out of the classroom with the other students.

The third class was home economics.

The home economics classroom is located on the first floor of the new school building.

After putting on the aprons and triangular scarves provided, the teachers divided the students into pairs to practice simple housekeeping.

"Today's lesson is about making cookies. If any of you are members of the cooking club, you can come up to the podium and help me out."

The home economics teacher, saying this, walked to the demonstration platform on her own.

Upon hearing this, Wen Shui couldn't help but turn her gaze to a girl who had given her a huge shock on her common sense about food on Saturday. At this moment, Banami was staring at the raw materials on the table, swallowing her saliva with a serious expression.

[Huh? Why isn't Hanami-kun moving? If she can eat that much and knows how to eat well, wouldn't she definitely join the cooking club?]

The fact that things didn't go as he expected left Wen Shui somewhat taken aback. He had no choice but to turn around and look at his temporary partner who had been assigned to his group.

However, it seems this part is more likely to cause surprise.

"Please give me your guidance, Wen Shui."