What a twist! The loser heroine!

◇

The bus started moving quickly and disappeared from Wenshui's sight in the blink of an eye.

The boy on the platform took out his keychain from his pocket and looked at it in front of him.

The silver-white keychain features a heart-shaped decoration, which is cleverly designed so that it does not affect daily use.

[The conversation was kept being steered in, but in the end, I still couldn't bring myself to ask the question.]

Hakamada Sosuke's words still echoed in my ears.

"Really? Snacks? Everyone gets some."

Wen Shui's brows furrowed slightly, but quickly relaxed. Because, not far away, a familiar figure was waiting for her.

He immediately went to meet him.

"What brings you here today, Yoshiki?"

With her long black hair fluttering in the wind, Yoshiki Numizu turned her gaze back from the end of the bus route: "There aren't many student council affairs today, so Yoshiki wanted to come and pick up my older brother from school."

As she spoke, she reached out and helped Wen Shui straighten her slightly wrinkled school uniform.

"Don't worry about me so much, I can take good care of myself."

Wen Shui gently touched her younger sister's head.

"Does my elder brother feel that Yoshiki is bothering you?"

"How is that possible?"

The girl chuckled as she received the reply, then, with her hands behind her back, she skipped lightly across the zebra crossing.

"Jiashu, don't jump like that in the road, be careful!" Wenshui reminded him.

"Brother, you should be extra careful here."

Yoshiki turned around and smiled meaningfully.

Strolling at the intersection of the shopping street, the brother and sister chatted idly about trivial matters at school.

Yoshiki went ahead and turned back to look at her brother's face.

"My elder brother has become much more cheerful lately."

She smiled.

"Hmm? Did I make it that obvious?" Wen Shui touched her face.

“Before, when I talked to my brother about school, it was always Yoshiki who did all the talking, and my brother just echoed Yoshiki.” The younger sister’s eyes seemed to see through her brother’s soul: “But now, my brother also talks about his own things.”

"Yoshiki thinks this is probably because her older brother has made some friends." She winked mischievously.

Wen Shui was stunned. He recalled the past month's events, shook his head noncommittally, and asked a new question: "Jia Shu, if someone gives gifts to the whole class, but—"

"Did my brother receive another gift?! Yoshiki is so happy, my brother will finally not be ignored anymore..."

Yoshiki's face was full of joy.

[Even though Yoshiki used a celebratory tone, why do I suddenly feel like crying?]

Wen Shui didn't say much, he just nodded.

"I did receive a gift, but... Yoshiki, why is the gift my brother received different from the others?"

Yoshiki silently gazed at his elder brother with his bright brown eyes.

"Your older brother received a special gift. Is that how Yoshiki interprets it?"

"Pretty much, I guess."

Yoshiki pursed his lips and nodded, seemingly knowing everything.

"Brother—"

she said softly.

"Please follow your heart and come up with your own answer."

~The Twenty-Fifth Defeat~ Another childhood sweetheart pair

Tuesday, May 5th.

The school bell rings.

As she walked toward the school gate, Wen Shui pondered the key points and difficult concepts from the lesson she had just learned, while simultaneously sending a message to the arts club's group chat on her phone.

Wen Shui: [Sorry, I have to go to tutoring class today, so I won't be going to the community center.]

Every Tuesday and Thursday, Wen Shui would go to the tutoring center after school.

My phone vibrated to send a notification.

Tsukino-Mono [No need to mention this little thing~]

Little Rabbit [(nodding in response to receiving the emoji)]

Hime's Love【See you tomorrow~】

After watching the video, Wen Shui smiled and put her phone back in her pocket.

Looking up, even from a distance, Wen Shuihe could see the tall figure standing in front of the gate, waving goodbye to his classmates with a kind smile.

Ayano Mitsuki is handsome and academically outstanding. As a member of the special college entrance exam preparation class, he perfectly embodies the term "perfect high achiever." Furthermore, judging from the number of times he's been approached by girls, he's quite popular.

Not to mention he also has a childhood sweetheart who is a sports prodigy; by all accounts, he is the standard template for a winner in life.

Handsome guys are popular wherever they go.

For some reason, this handsome white-haired guy with glasses always liked to interact with her. Because Wen Shui was in the literature club, Ayano often borrowed the original works of famous novels that appeared in her Chinese language exercises from him.

They even said that as long as you understand the original work, you will definitely not make mistakes on the exam questions. What kind of weird learning method is this?

[I don't think I have much interaction with Ayano-san, right?]

Wen Shui frowned in distress, carefully recalling what kind of interaction she had with Ayano Mitsuki, who was in the same class as her in junior high school.

However, before he could figure it out, the sound of footsteps behind him drew his attention back to reality.

"Let me see~ Let me see~"

The person behind her mischievously made a sound, so Wen Shui turned around.

She saw Chihaya Asagumo, a petite girl from the same special advanced class as Ayano, looking at her with great interest.

"Good afternoon, Wen Shui."

She flashed a lively smile, making her forehead, visible through her center-parted bangs, even more radiant.

"Ah, good afternoon, Chaoyun."

Wen Shui tilted her head slightly to avoid damaging her retina from the sunlight reflected off the mirror, then smiled awkwardly and asked, "Why didn't you go find Ayano-san, but instead came to find me?"

Wen Shui remembered that Chao Yun and Ling Ye often sat together in the cram school, and the two were in the same top class at Shi Lu, and had a very good relationship.

“Because now is not a good time.” Asagumo Chihaya pointed to Asano Mitsuki, who was still being approached in the distance, “The right thing to do is to walk over slowly and pretend to bump into her by chance. This way, you can avoid misunderstandings and also avoid standing out too much, right?”

What is this? It sounds very professional.

Wen Shui absorbed the mysterious chat theories from Chao Yun, and the two walked forward together.

Asahi Chihaya spoke up, "Um, Numizu-kun, there's something I'd like to ask you."

"Please say."

"Hime-miya-san should have transferred here last Friday, right?" she asked, turning her head slightly. "How are things going between Nuku-mizu-san and her?"

"Huh? Does Chaoyun know Jigong?" Wen Shui asked curiously.

"No need for honorifics anymore~ I didn't expect things to progress so quickly."

Asahi smiled and said with her hands behind her back, "By chance, I became friends with Himegami-san, and she once asked me about where to take a nap at noon—"

At this point, Chaoyun paused deliberately and then paid attention to the reaction of the warm water.

Wen Shui suddenly realized: "So the reason she asked me to go to the rooftop that day was because Chao Yun gave me the location?"

“That’s right.” Asahi raised her chin triumphantly, her forehead shining brightly once again. “But I didn’t expect that Himegami-san would invite you on your first day at the new school.”

"Generally speaking, people would only do this after they've gotten to know each other for a while, right?"

[I didn't expect Chaoyun and I to have such similar views.]

Wen Shui nodded in agreement: "I think so too."

Asahi's face showed a hint of worry: "I've told Himegami more than once in our chats that I want her to take her time, but she seems a little impatient."

"Hime-miya just wants to be your friend. I hope Wenshui won't dislike her because of that?" Asahi asked tentatively.

From the very first day this ultimate hot-eyed beauty came knocking on my door, I was already prepared...

"To be honest, the day Himegami arrived, I did feel like I couldn't breathe." Wen Shui paused, "But I just couldn't bring myself to hate her, after all, that's just who she is."

They are good at chatting and socializing, and although their words are highly purposeful, they know how to maintain appropriate boundaries.

Himegami Karen is a girl that's impossible not to like.

This isn't just Wen Shui's opinion; in fact, anyone who has ever dealt with Himegami Karen would think the same way.

Upon hearing this, Asahi nodded in agreement: "That's right, Himegami-san is just that kind of person."

“I also wish I had her courage…” Chaoyun said softly.

"courage?"

"Haha, it's nothing."

While chatting about Himegami Hana's love affair, Nukumizu and Asahi slowly approached Ayano Mitsuki's side. This handsome male student, who stood out from the crowd, spotted Nukumizu and Asahi at a glance.

"Oh! Wen Shui and Chao Yun, you two came together." He waved with a smile.

Asahi walked up to Ayano with a smile: "I just ran into her on the street and chatted with Nukumizu about friends."

"I see. Now that everyone's here, let's go together." Ayano pushed up his glasses, revealing a very kind and handsome smile.

Wen Shui and Chao Yun nodded at the same time.

The three of them were going to an educational institution near Toyohashi Municipal Junior High School. During her junior high school years, Wen Shui had joined a cram school affiliated with this institution in order to get into Ishibashi High School.

Because of his remarkable improvement in grades, Wen Shui's father decided to have him continue attending tutoring classes in high school to solidify his grades and ranking.

Although she initially complained about not being able to take care of her younger sister, after Yoshiki's persuasion, Numizu agreed to her father's idea.

Yoshiki wants to spend his two years of university with his older brother.

When her younger sister said those words to her, Wen Shui, no matter how much resentment she had, threw it all into the trash can.

To achieve this goal, we need to work even harder.

So, Wen Shui, Ayano, and Asahi boarded the bus to their cram school. To be honest, Wen Shui wasn't really that familiar with them; she had only been passively paired with them as a three-person study group during the cram school session.

Ayano and Asahi sat side-by-side in the front row, exchanging what they had learned in class that day. To an unsuspecting outsider, they looked like a couple. But Wen Shui, who had been attending their cram school classes for a month, knew perfectly well that the two had not yet begun a formal relationship.

However, judging from Chaoyun's various behaviors—the unconscious upward curve of her lips, the shyness brought by unintentional touch, and the hurried avoidance when their eyes meet.

It was obvious that she had feelings for Ayano; even Venusa, who had never been in a relationship before, could tell.

Unfortunately, it had absolutely no effect on a certain oblivious but handsome guy.

and--

Wen Shuihe sighed deeply.

【Ayano-san, Ayano-san, where did you come from to be the male protagonist?】

He gave a wry smile and took out a movie ticket from his pocket.

"This is really difficult..."

◇

Let's rewind to the second physical education class in the afternoon.

Compared to the last PE class on Friday afternoon, Tuesday's indoor PE class wasn't actually that bad.

After finishing a round of basketball, Wen Shui rubbed her shoulder, which had just been bumped, to relieve the pain, and silently walked off the court.