What a twist! The loser heroine!

Sports are not for him; this is a fact he's known since junior high school. While he's not exactly a sports idiot, he certainly doesn't have any talent for them.

He looked at Salted Lemon running on the court. This athletic girl, virtually unbeatable on the field, shone even indoors. She skillfully dribbled the basketball, easily overcoming all the defenders' attempts with her excellent physique and astonishing speed, before steadily sending the ball into the basket.

[As expected of Shao Yan, he's so athletic, even his basketball skills are amazing.]

Wen Shui sighed as she leaned against the box containing the basketballs.

"Ah, Wenshui, that was a beautiful pass." A cheerful voice came from beside her. Wenshui turned around and saw Hakamada Sosuke wiping away sweat with a towel. He and Wenshui had just been assigned to the same team, and their teamwork had brought the team a point.

Since yesterday's home economics class, Hakamada seems to have treated Nukumizu as a friend, and he comes over to talk to him from time to time.

"Why bring that up? You're the one who scored the goal," Wen Shui replied.

"Huh? But passing is also very important in basketball," Hakamada said with a smile. "Don't underestimate yourself."

"How did you suddenly turn into a life coach..." Wen Shui finished complaining, shook her head, and refocused her gaze on the salted lemon.

Hakamada followed Wenshui's gaze.

"Are you watching Yashio-kun?" Hakamada asked abruptly.

"Of course, it's more accurate to say that everyone is watching her." Wen Shui smiled. "The focus of attention in PE class has never changed."

“That makes sense. After all, Yashio is a professional athlete, which is different from amateurs like me.” Hakamada casually mentioned, “It seems she’s going to participate in a city-level competition soon. She’s really working hard.”

"Oh, yeah."

Wen Shui wasn't surprised, after all, there was a guy with glasses who had been sharing things about roasted salt lemons with him and Chao Yun at the cram school.

"What a cold reply! Shouldn't you be cheering for Yashio-kun right away?" Hakamada joked.

Sorry, that's completely impossible for someone like me with such a shady background.

Wen Shui smiled awkwardly.

"And also~" Hakamada whispered to Nukumizu, "Actually, the focus of PE class has already shifted."

He gave a slightly crestfallen smile and pointed to Himegami Karen, who was defending against Yamashio on the court.

At this moment, Himegami Karen was sweating profusely from the intense exercise, her long pink hair lazily clinging to her cheeks and neck, exuding a unique charm. And with her interactions and clashes with the roasted salt, the amount of exercise in a certain area seemed quite astonishing, attracting envious or surprised glances from many male and female classmates.

Wen Shui frowned.

[Wait a minute, did they deliberately use a bra wrap? Considering her size, it should be even bigger—]

Why did I suddenly start doing reviews?!

Thinking this, Wen Shui's face flushed red instantly.

"Right? Warm water."

Hakamada saw that Numizu blushed and gave her a knowing smile.

"You're kidding me!" Wen Shui quickly distanced herself, "I don't understand what you're talking about."

A sudden chill ran down his spine, and he immediately shut his mouth. Turning around, he saw his classmate walking towards Hakamada with a gloomy face, clutching a towel tightly.

Nuku immediately flashed what was arguably his brightest smile of the day, and said to Hakamada Sosuke, "Hakamada-kun—"

"Huh? What's wrong?"

Please take good care of yourself.

The next second, Banami's roar and Hakamada's scream rang out behind Nukumi, who was fleeing in panic.

During the next physical education class, since it wasn't mandatory, Wen Shui rested alone by the basketball hoop.

Aside from occasionally having to pass the basketball back to Himegami when she makes a mistake, things were generally peaceful.

This continued until, after changing clothes, Wen Shui decided to deliberately slow down her return to the classroom.

"Hey, Wen Shui."

I was really popular today.

At the deserted corner, Salted Lemon, who had taken the earlier "hey hey" as a greeting, approached Wen Shui. Wen Shui looked at the wheat-colored girl in her school uniform, whose face still had a few drops of sweat on it, as she seemed to have just finished exercising.

"Is there something you need, Shaoshio-kun?"

Upon hearing this, Shao Yan Lemon immediately reached out and stuffed a ticket into Wen Shui's hand. The ticket was still warm, indicating that it had been in his pocket for a long time.

"Um..." She seemed a little embarrassed, and her awkward posture made Wen Shui misunderstand.

Warm Water's eyes widened: "Uh, Salty Salt, may I ask what this is...??"

“This, this is the movie ticket for Saturday—” Shao Yan explained, pursing his lips.

Oh! I think I have something to do on Saturday, I'm so sorry—

Just as Wen Shui was about to find an excuse to avoid this strange meeting, Shao Yan Ningmeng spoke up again: "Wen Shui, you have tutoring today, right?"

"Oh? There was a tutoring class."

"Then, could you give this to Mitsuki?"

[Ah, so it's for Ayano-kun. Ah, an invitation from her childhood friend. Hmm, that makes sense.]

Wen Shui immediately realized she had misunderstood and quickly adjusted her mindset.

"Uh, Yashio-san and Ayano-san are good friends, right? Why not just give it to him in person? The special college entrance exam class isn't far from our class—"

Salted Lemon touched her cheek awkwardly, a girlish shyness appearing on her face: "It would be a little embarrassing to give it to her in person. Besides... Mom said it would be more effective this way..."

"I... I've written everything I want to say on the back of the movie ticket! Wen Shui, please be sure to give it to him for me." Shao Yan clasped his hands together in a pleading gesture.

“Is that so—”

Wen Shui understood.

Is it to express my feelings, or just a simple date? Well, it seems like a lot of trouble—

He took out his wallet and carefully put the ticket away, never once wondering what was written on the back of the ticket.

"Don't worry, I will hand over the tutoring class to Ayano-san this afternoon."

~Twenty-sixth defeat~ Old classmate

"Don't worry, I will hand over the tutoring class to Ayano-san this afternoon."

Although that's what they said, but—

In the tutoring classroom, Wen Shui glanced at Ayano and Asahi, who were always sitting together in the front row.

[I didn't have a chance to give it to Ayano-san alone.]

He frowned. Even during the group discussion sessions and breaks, Asahi Chihaya had never given Wen Shui enough space.

Salted Lemon's expression and words clearly showed that she wanted to ask Ayano out. But if another girl who had feelings for Ayano found out, the consequences were predictable.

To be honest, Wen Shui didn't want Ayano, this oblivious boy, to get into a messy situation. As for why, Wen Shui herself didn't have the answer.

[Ayano-san, you really are a ladies' man.]

Shaking her head, Wen Shui decided to finish the test questions provided by her tutor first and then observe the situation.

And so they waited until after school was over.

By the time the tutoring session ended, it was completely dark. The students went to the nearest bus stop in twos and threes, or rode their bicycles home.

As soon as get out of class ended, Chihaya Asahi and Ayano walked together and chatted about what they had learned that day, laughing and talking.

Normally, Wen Shui wouldn't choose to disturb their private time, but today was different.

He reached out and touched the wallet in his pocket, which contained the heartfelt gift of roasted salted lemons, a weight that seemed to slow his steps slightly.

The boy, who had already boasted to his classmates, could only follow behind Ayano and the other two with great reluctance, waiting for the opportunity for Ayano to go alone.

Even just getting on the bus with Ayano-san would be fine, as long as you hand over the ticket—

"Hmm? Warm water? Why haven't you said anything?"

Ayano's voice pulled Wen Shui out of her vortex of thought.

"Huh?" Wen Shui looked up, somewhat bewildered.

"I saw you following behind, and I thought you had something to say."

Under the warm glow of the streetlights, Ayano Mitsuki's smile appeared very gentle. It was only then that Nukumizu Kazuhiko realized he had unknowingly moved very close to the two of them.

"Ah, this... uh..." the boy stammered, his eyes unconsciously glancing at Asahi Chihaya next to Ayano.

Seeing this, Chihaya Asahi's lively, chipmunk-like eyes brightened slightly, and she said with a smile, "Oh my, is this a topic that's [boys only]? The kind that I-can't-hear?"

"That's not—"

Wen Shui, quick-witted, said, "Ah, it's like this, I suddenly remembered some things from middle school and I want to talk to Ayano about them."

"Oh, I see. You want to catch up with the old times."

Upon hearing this, Chihaya Asahi clasped her hands together and smiled understandingly, saying, "Then I'll take my leave first. Ayano-san and Nukumizu-san, please enjoy your reminiscences."

See you tomorrow, Ayano-san.

After saying that, she waved goodbye to the two of them.

As Wen Shui watched Asahi Chizaki's petite figure disappear into the corner of the street, she breathed a sigh of relief.

Now we can finally give out the tickets.

“Then, let’s talk as we walk.” Ayano turned to look at Wen Shui.

"Ah."

Under the dim light, two old classmates from Taoyuan Junior High School strolled through the night.

"I didn't expect Wen Shui to take the initiative to talk to me about things from middle school." Ayano started the conversation first.

"Surprised?"

"I'm really surprised, after all, Wen Shui, you don't seem like someone who likes to reminisce about the past."

"That would be a huge misunderstanding."

"Really?" Ayano asked with a smile, "What does Wen Shui want to talk to me about? In my memory, you don't seem to have been involved in anything during junior high school."

"Of course, it's my junior high school classmates—well, I'll just be blunt."

Since Chaoyun had already gone far away, in order to avoid deepening the misunderstanding, Wenshui took out the movie tickets from her wallet.

"this--"

"Hmm? Wen Shui wants to go to the movies with me?" Ayano said with a smile.

Why are you suddenly so excited?

A large black line appeared on the head of the warm water.

"It couldn't be me, it was Shaoyan who asked me to give it to you."

He placed the ticket in front of Ayano, who looked surprised, and the latter reached out and took it.

"This is... the remake of 'Miss Rabbit' which will be released on Saturday—"

Ayano's voice seemed to carry a hint of reminiscence. After glancing briefly at the message written by Shao Shio on the back, he unconsciously tightened his grip on the ticket.

"Why didn't she give me Lemon at school?" he asked, just like Wen Shui.

【Isn't it because you and Chaoyun are inseparable at school?!】

Wen Shui swallowed back the blunt words that were about to slip out. He sighed helplessly, then patted Ayano Mitsuki on the shoulder.

"Hey Ayano-san, there's a limit to how slow you can be."

"Warm water, what do you mean by that?"

Ayano still seemed to be slow to react. To be honest, he was the kind of person who was really frustrating when it came to relationships.

"Have you really thought about your feelings carefully?"

“Indeed, someone said—” Ayano put the movie ticket in her pocket, her eyes gleaming: “that I’m very oblivious when it comes to relationships.”

"Did your classmates say that?" Wen Shui guessed.

"Not only that, it seems like everyone around me says that about me..."

I knew it!