What a twist! The loser heroine!

He looked up at the rain streaks hanging from the window.

"To be honest, I don't know how to face Chaoyun right now, so I'll just have to avoid her for a while."

Ayano looked troubled: "Midterm exams are coming up soon, and as a classmate, I don't want Asahi's studies to be affected."

"Wouldn't it be better to end things sooner rather than later? Or are you planning to wait until after the exams to talk about it?"

"Yes."

"Forehead……"

Ayano nodded: "By then, Lemon's tournament should be over, and I want to be honest with Asahi-kun then."

Upon hearing this, Wen Shui sighed deeply.

[But Asahi-kun has already been affected, and you haven't even noticed yet...]

"Alright, it's almost time, let's go back to class." Wen Shui glanced down at her watch: "You're the one who invited me to chat, but I'm the one asking you questions instead."

"Okay, Wenshui, you can go back first. I'll wait here for a while."

"Eh? Why?"

"Thinking about some things, and also... avoiding embarrassment." Ayano awkwardly scratched her face.

Wen Shui looked at him with a strange expression.

[Wait, he's not planning to rush back to class right on time like I do, is he? Wake up, Ayano-san, that's my signature move, it doesn't fit your character at all.]

While inwardly complaining, Wen Shui nodded outwardly: "Alright then, I'll head back now. Don't be late!"

"of course not."

Waving goodbye, Wen Shui dodged other students from different schools who almost bumped into her, and then returned to the classroom alone.

He sat back down and took his basic physics textbook out of his bag. Last week's tutoring class had been canceled, leaving him with some gaps in his understanding. He'd have to study hard when the teacher came—

"Warm Water classmate."

"Ok?"

Looking up, I saw Asahi Chihaya turn around and smile at me.

"Does Wen Shui know where Ayano went?"

Oh no!

Wen Shui immediately put on her usual deadpan expression and said in a flat tone, "I don't know, I didn't see him at all during the entire break."

"That's it."

Chao Yun glanced at Wen Shui, who hadn't returned during the entire break, and nodded, "I know, maybe she wanted to go out for some fresh air because of the rain?"

"Yes, yes, after all, in this humid weather, if people don't go out for a walk, they'll feel like they'll rust," Wen Shui quickly said.

"Hehe." Chaoyun chuckled, turned around again, and muttered to herself, "Yeah, even machines break down in this kind of weather."

[Huh? A machine? What is she talking about?]

Wen Shui instinctively sensed a hint of danger in her words, but didn't take it to heart. After all, Chao Yun wasn't in a good mood today, so it was normal for her to ramble on... right?

With this in mind, Wen Shui looked forward to the next class while keeping a close eye on Chao Yun's movements, afraid that she would turn around and ask her something again.

Finally, the bell rang, and Ayano Mitsuki walked into the classroom with his teacher. As a top student, he was naturally quite popular with the teachers in the cram school. The teacher patted Ayano on the shoulder, smiled, said some encouraging words, and then walked to the podium.

After Ayano returned to her seat, Asahi didn't ask any more questions. After all, class had started, and chatting would probably get her criticized by the teacher.

As the pages of a book turned, the physics tutor began writing on the blackboard.

Wen Shui sat behind the two, her gaze passing through the gap between Ayano and Asahi to look at the blackboard.

He was somewhat surprised by the vastness of the world today.

Although Asahi's grades are excellent, she seems to have a slight weakness: she's forgetful and often forgets to bring certain textbooks, then asks Ayano to share them. Whenever this happens, Onami's view of the blackboard is very limited, forcing her to adjust her posture to see the teacher's writing clearly.

This reminded him of Himegami Karen, who would inexplicably forget her lines in class.

Is being silly a cute trait for girls? Wen Shui was a little confused.

However, it's rare to be able to see the entire blackboard today. It's gratifying that Chaoyun finally brought all her textbooks.

Wen Shui nodded silently, while taking notes of the key points the teacher had made in her notebook.

The first year of high school wasn't particularly difficult, and with the guidance of her tutor, Wen Shui quickly solidified the knowledge points covered in physics class. However, the next step was the advanced stage, where teachers would often present more targeted problems, similar to those used for gifted students, and then have the students discuss them in groups.

Now we've reached the toughest part.

Wen Shui sighed and copied the question the teacher had written on the blackboard into her notebook. Ayano and Asahi in the front row had already turned around as if it were a habitual action.

The classic three-person tutoring group of Shilu started their group study, but this time the atmosphere seemed a bit awkward. Ayano deliberately focused the study on solving problems, and Asahi, who realized something, did not specifically ask Ayano to discuss the problems.

Faced with this situation, Wen Shui, who had volunteered to be the terminator in the previous tutoring class to prevent the two of them from showing affection and affecting the other students' studies, suddenly lost her job.

"Ah, warm water, about this vector problem—"

"Oh, is that so?"

"Warm Water, your line of thinking here is wrong—"

"oh, I understand now."

Not only that, seeing that they couldn't start a conversation, Asahi and Ayano even began to focus their conversation on him. The two of them would frequently bring up topics to discuss with him, making Onami very uncomfortable, so he could only silently follow Ayano and Asahi's train of thought.

Why has it changed to two-on-one instruction?

Wen Shui was somewhat helpless, but with the help of the two people, her understanding of the questions improved very quickly.

This situation continued until the extra time was made up for the typhoon-induced school closures, and the three of them spent a somewhat awkward but not too difficult cram school session like this.

The bell rang, signaling the end of the last part of the class. Amidst the clamor of the students, Wen Shui glanced at her watch; it was already seven o'clock in the evening.

The rain outside the window kept falling, and I wondered what was going on with my sister.

Thinking of this, Wen Shui took out her phone and sent a message to Jia Shu, then got up first.

"Ah, Wenshui, Chaoyun, I have some questions to ask the teacher." Ayano looked up and smiled. "You can go back first, don't wait for me."

"..." Chao Yunqian did not respond, but simply nodded, her smile somewhat forced.

[What problems could there be? You've already solved all the questions.]

Thinking this through, Wen Shui could only nod and say, "Alright then, Ayano-san, please be careful in the rain."

"I will."

See you tomorrow, Ayano-san.

"See you tomorrow, Chaoyun."

Leaving the classroom, I took an umbrella from my locker, protected my backpack, and stepped into the rain that seemed to have continued for three hours without letting up in the slightest.

Following the crowd leaving the cram school, listening to the pattering of the umbrellas, Wen Shui turned to look at Asahi Chihaya beside her.

She lowered her head, her petite body unconsciously tense and shrank, appearing somewhat lonely and weak among the group of students who were chatting and laughing.

I'm a little worried.

Wen Shui said, "Um, Chao Yun, if you don't mind, shall I take you to the platform?"

“Look, it’s raining so hard, and it’s already very late—” he added.

Chaoyun did not answer, but simply nodded silently.

On the way to the platform, Chaoyun spoke softly, as if talking to herself.

"Ayano has started avoiding me."

Wen Shui pretended not to hear.

[It's probably not that they weren't aware of it, but rather that they were unwilling to believe it.]

He kept his words of comfort to himself, because he wasn't sure if Chaoyun was speaking to him directly, and it would be too impolite to say it outright.

The two fell into a silent understanding and slowly walked to the bus stop. As night fell, the frequency of buses seemed to decrease, and after a very long wait, the glaring high beams of a bus finally pierced the dark night.

The car door slowly opened, and Asahi Chihaya stood up.

"Warm Water, did Ayano talk to you about something earlier?"

She suddenly asked the question.

Wen Shui, who had become accustomed to the quiet atmosphere between the two, was startled by the sudden question.

"Huh? He didn't say anything."

"I see."

She smiled and took a step.

"So, in other words, Wen Shui lied before, right?"

After leaving those words, her forced smile was hidden behind the closed car door.

Wen Shui smiled wryly and waved goodbye to Chao Yun behind the transparent glass.

[I knew I couldn't hide it from her.]

~Fifty-fourth defeat~ Unexpected visitor

Wednesday, May 14th, sunny

The dark clouds that had been hanging over the sky yesterday seemed to have vanished overnight, leaving the azure sky completely cloudless.

The puddles in the shallow puddles by the roadside were occasionally rippled by flying insects, as if trying to evoke people's memories of that heavy rain.

The weather in Toyohashi has been really strange lately; the impact of the typhoon is just too great.

Walking along the tree-lined path, Kazuhiko Onami reached out and shooed away a dragonfly that had landed on his shoulder.

Remember to choose a better location next time.

He watched the dragonfly fly away and smiled.

"I'm in a good mood."

As she spoke, Himegami Karen stood at a distance that was neither too close nor too far. She smiled and greeted the other students from Ishiro.

"It's just so-so."

As Wen Shui said this, she unconsciously smiled.

He wouldn't mention that he happened to run into Yoshiki on his way home last night after finishing his student council duties, and that the siblings made dinner together and then devoured the curry rice while watching a late-night variety show.

Finally, at Yoshiki's request, while enjoying the cookies Yoshiki made herself, he helped her solve her homework problem that evening.

Although my younger sister consistently ranks first in her grade, I still have to step in when she encounters problems she can't solve. As a high school student who attends cram schools all the time, tackling middle school level problems is a piece of cake for me.

Spending quality time with family makes me happy, but it's definitely not because I'm a sister-obsessed person. Yes, absolutely not.

Wen Shui nodded, then said quite naturally, "Speaking of which, it seems like not many people came to watch you today."

"Everyone's only enthusiastic for a short time, right?" Himegami Karen chuckled, then added, "It's the same with everyone online. Lately, everyone's been talking about another rising beauty in Okayama, and there's basically no talk about me anymore."

[So there are other girls who can be more eye-catching than Himegami, though I'm not really interested.]

Thinking this, he asked, "But you probably prefer to show yourself off, right? Don't you feel a little disappointed?"

"There's nothing to regret about losing this kind of attention that you gained entirely without your own efforts."

Himegami said with a smile, "Besides, it might attract unnecessary attention."

"Unnecessary attention?"

She thought for a moment: "Hmm, for example, someone might want to know my real identity or something...?"

"Wow, that sounds scary."

Upon hearing this, Wen Shui immediately shivered and quickly asked, "Did someone really do that?"

"Don't worry, no, even if they did, our company would send a lawyer's letter." Himegami chuckled, "After all, I'm a registered model."

Running a company from home is so convenient!

Wen Shui breathed a sigh of relief for no reason. Just as she was about to say something, her shoulder was patted.

"Oh! Ah Wen, Princess Hime! Good morning!"