What a twist! The loser heroine!

There was no incident of envelopes being stuffed into the shoe cabinet, nor was there any talk of him or others on the street; the situation was exactly as he had imagined.

Perhaps because the TV report edited the footage of Wen Shui and Ji Gong quite similarly, and Ji Gong's image was so eye-catching that Wen Shui's part became less noticeable.

That's fine. I breathed a slight sigh of relief; this kind of solitude suits me better.

Thinking this, Wen Shui passed by Class A's classroom. Xiao Ju, who usually greeted him in the morning, was not there for some reason. Curious, he approached the window and looked inside.

Xiao Ju was surrounded by a group of curious classmates. Faced with a barrage of questions from her enthusiastic classmates, she looked extremely flustered, her hands trembling as she didn't know where to put them.

Finally, after the string of reason snapped completely, Xiao Ju collapsed weakly onto her desk, startling many students in Class A into a flurry of activity.

"You should try to avoid showing your face in public from now on," Wen Shui said with a wry smile, shaking her head with a sense of empathy.

Leaving the corridor where Class A was located, Wen Shui quickly passed through several specialized classrooms and arrived at the back door of Class C.

Standing in front of the door, Wen Shui took a deep breath and walked into the classroom as if nothing had happened. Some classmates looked up at him, but no one paid much attention.

He sat down smoothly in his seat and nodded to himself.

[Fine, just keep ignoring me like this—]

With a "smack!", he felt a heavy slap on his back.

Wen Shui quickly turned his head and saw that Shao Yan Lemon was looking at him with a sunny smile.

"Oh~ Good morning, Wen Shui!"

She's got the same spirit as always, but why does she have to use such a rude way to greet people?

Wen Shui touched her still slightly sore back and replied with a wry smile, "Good morning, Shao Yan. What can I do for you?"

"I want to thank you for delivering...the thing to Mitsuki."

A hint of shyness, rarely seen on Shao Yan's face, appeared.

Ah, so that's what you're going to talk about.

"It's nothing." Wen Shui shrugged, indicating that it was nothing: "After all, I'm quite familiar with Ayano-san, and we're both in cram school, so it's not that difficult."

"But I still want to express my gratitude to you." Shao Yan chuckled and placed a small package on the table.

"Uh, what is this...?"

"On Saturday, Ayano gave me a sweat-absorbing wristband. I used it and found it very useful, so I thought I'd give you this as a return gift." Shao Shio laughed heartily.

“But I don’t exercise much.” Wen Shui wanted to laugh, but still picked up the box containing the wristbands.

"Haha, Wen Shui doesn't seem to be doing very well in PE class, so I think you should work out more." Shao Yan waved his hand casually.

"Alright then, thank you for the return gift, Shaoyan." Wen Shui said, putting the wristband into the pocket of her backpack.

Since it's a gift from someone, refusing it would be a loss of face. That's a principle my dad taught me when I was in junior high, even though not many of my classmates gave me gifts back then.

"Yes, you need to exercise more, and drink warm water!"

The name "Salt Burner" has changed without anyone noticing; the social distance among the "Sunshine Sports Students" has really shrunk quickly.

"I will."

Just as Wen Shui was looking at Shao Yan Ningmeng, who had turned around and started chatting with other classmates, and reminiscing about her junior high school life where she had absolutely no record of making friends, her homeroom teacher, Gan Xia, had already taken several big strides onto the podium.

She slammed her thick handouts, which she had prepared for teaching the second-year high school students, onto the podium and began to recount her weekend experiences with great enthusiasm.

"I'm sure everyone has already seen what happened at yesterday's book signing event on TV."

The petite teacher, Gan Xia, drew the attention of the entire class by extending a finger. Oh, she actually started with the hottest topic of the moment...? This was the first time such a thing had happened in the recent class meetings.

Wen Shui couldn't help but feel a serious yet curious feeling as she looked forward to the homeroom teacher's next speech.

"Although the teacher really wanted to go, she was forced to attend some weird social gathering because of a friend. As a result, she ended up not only not buying any books, but also not making any friends!"

She suddenly gritted her teeth, as if she had unearthed some unbearable past: "Teacher, while I may not be particularly charming, I'm not so much someone who should be forgotten and left to drink alone in a corner! On the contrary, that friend of mine actually got the Line contacts of two handsome guys, why is that?!"

Teacher, please don't bring your personal emotional problems into the classroom, okay?

However, as if oblivious to the deathly silence that had descended upon the class, Ms. Gan Xia continued muttering:

"I gave up a long-awaited, relaxing vacation, and all I get to do is watch my friends socialize? Isn't that too much to ask?!"

Complaining to us won't get you any comfort; we're only in our first year of high school.

[By the way, how did Teacher Gan Xia manage to obtain her teaching certificate?]

Wen Shui looked away from Teacher Gan Xia, who was angrily waving her doctrines, and let out a soft sigh of distress.

He was about to lean over the table to press his ear against the surface so that Xiao Ganxia's "earnest teachings" would be lessened when he noticed out of the corner of his eye that Ji Gong's seat behind him was empty.

"what?"

Wen Shui let out a very faint gasp, and just as she sat up straight, she was locked onto by Teacher Gan Xia, who was lecturing on the podium.

"Hey you over there!" the homeroom teacher of Class C suddenly shouted.

She really didn't remember my name.

“Ah, yes—” Wen Shui immediately replied.

"Hime-kun seems to be late. Do you have Hime-kun's contact information?" Ms. Ganxia said loudly and confidently.

"Huh?" Wen Shui's eyes widened.

You're the teacher, why are you asking me? And why do you think I would have Himegami's contact information?

Although I really do have it.

"Uh, this..." Under the gaze of the whole class, Wen Shui stammered, her lips twitching.

"Teacher, I have Princess Himegami's phone number!"

The one who came to Wenshui's rescue was none other than Yanami Anna. The fact that the two cute girls had recently become friends was common knowledge in the class, so the classmates naturally had no doubts.

"Oh! Alright then, please have Hanami contact Himegami-san." Ms. Ganxia, ​​shamelessly shifting the responsibility to her student, said with a smile, "Being late isn't a good thing, and besides, Himegami-san is quite famous lately—"

"Teacher Gan Xia!"

The homeroom teacher's words were interrupted by a slightly panting voice coming from the classroom doorway.

Himegami Karen stopped her jogging pace and stood at the door with a smile: "Sorry, I was surrounded by everyone at the school gate, so I'm a little late!"

"Oh, I see. Then there's nothing else. Please take a seat."

"Ok!"

Himegami Karen walked towards Onami with a bright smile and an aura of light, as if some mysterious background music was playing, but Onami couldn't hear it.

She put her schoolbag in the drawer, then chuckled, propped her chin up with her hands on the table, and began to listen to Teacher Gan Xia's strange remarks.

"I'm in such a good mood..."

The words were uttered softly from Wen Shui's mouth, and he himself seemed unaware of it.

It seems she's finally speaking her mind, which is a key characteristic of warm water.

Himegami Karen chuckled softly and leaned forward slightly.

“Me too,” she said softly.

Wen Shui's shoulders trembled violently again.

Princess Himeko's lips curled up slightly, and she seemed to feel even better.

◇

"Okay, that's all for now, get out of class dismissed." Teacher Gan Xia waved her hand and walked out of the classroom, marking the start of the lunch break.

A soft cheer erupted in the classroom as everyone turned to look at Himegami Karen, who had stole the show at the autograph session, seemingly wanting to learn more about yesterday's events from her.

We've already discussed it three times during breaks, but the students in Class C are still incredibly enthusiastic about the book signing.

As the crowd gradually gathered around her, Wen Shui, unusually, remained quietly seated without moving.

because--

"Everyone, I'm sorry~" Karen Himegami took out her bento from her bag: "The student council asked me to come over during lunch break. Let's talk this afternoon."

"Sigh~~" A unified cry of disappointment rang out in the classroom.

Wen Shui watched Himegami Karen's figure disappear down the corridor, then took out his lunch from his bag: a classic croissant.

This morning on the bus, Himegami had already discussed the lunch break with her. It seems the school board is planning a formal commendation for the student who saved the child, adding fuel to the already high-profile publicity campaign for Ishibuki High School.

So, Himegami went to the student council for an event, and Komari is probably busy with her classmates right now, so I can finally enjoy this hard-won lunch break alone—

The vibration of the phone interrupted Wen Shui's reverie.

I took out my phone, and the rice ball's avatar was gently jumping on the screen.

Yana-Chan: "Want to take a lunch break together? I need to talk to you about something."

Wen Shui immediately raised her head.

On the other side of the classroom, by the window, Yanagi Anna was holding her lunchbox in one hand and her phone in the other, and winked at him.

Wen Shui sighed; she knew what she was going to do without even having to guess.

My lonely lunch break...

He was typing on his phone with his head down.

"I'm fine with lukewarm water."

Yana-Chan: "Then let's use the fire escape in the old school building."

After sending the message, Banami walked straight out of the classroom through the back door.

Is the old school building some kind of secret hideout? Everyone seems to like going there...

Komari and Himegami often took her there, and now there's also Hanami.

Although he didn't know why all the people inviting him were girls, he could understand why they chose the old school building. It was now deserted, and the tall buildings could block outsiders' view, making it a perfect temporary haven.

After waiting for two minutes, Wen Shui picked up the bread and left the classroom.

◇

After taking a long detour outside the school building, Wen Shui, carrying the milk she bought from the vending machine, walked towards the old school building.

"Oh, Wen Shui, you're here."

As I climbed to the fourth floor, I saw Banami, who was already sitting down on the stairs, reach out with her chopsticks and pick up some food as a greeting.

"You've come, haven't you?" Wen Shui said, inserting the straw into the milk carton. "So, what's up?"

Asking knowingly.

"Haha, I just wanted to invite you to take a nap together—" Banami laughed it off, but after seeing Wenshui's "What are you pretending for?" expression, she sighed and continued, "We can also discuss how to create a sense of novelty in front of our childhood friend."

Wen Shui took a sip of milk: "The novelty..."

"How did you get along with Hakamada before, Hanami-kun?" he asked. "Novelty is often created by contrast. After 12 years of getting along, there must have been some little habits, right?"

“A little habit…” Banami thought for a moment: “Every time I go out to eat with him, I’m in a good mood, so I order a hamburger combo. Does that count as a little habit?”

"That's just a personal hobby, isn't it?"

"Hmm... I always order him a dorayaki before we meet, should we try something different?"

"I don't think the contrast is big enough."

[And why does this person keep talking about food?]

Wen Shui's appetite was greatly stimulated by what Banami said. He took out a piece of bread, took a bite, and decided to change his approach: "How about this, next time Banami and Hakamada go out, before you subconsciously do something, try to do it in a different way?"

"What do you mean? I don't quite understand." Banami tilted her head, chewing on a rib.

"For example, um..." Having little experience with parties, Wen Shui hesitated for a while before continuing, "For example, if I really wanted to share some snacks with Hakamada, but I restrained that impulse, then Hakamada, who has been receiving snacks from you for the past 12 years, would probably—"

"Huh? No way." Banami said matter-of-factly.

"Uh, what does 'can't' mean?" Wen Shui was taken aback.

"I've never shared any snacks before."

"Not for a full 12 years??"

"Right."

Kazuhiko Wenshui stared wide-eyed in surprise.