I Used to Be Very Smart

"What's the difference between hanging out and dating? Aren't they the same?"

Ren didn't answer the question but posed his own.

With his limited common sense, hanging out in his mind meant making plans to meet, and dating meant making plans to go out together.

Therefore, Ren never understood the difference between the two, usually judging whether it was a date or just hanging out based on others' opinions.

"There's a big difference. Hanging out is just hanging out, but dating..."

At this point, Gabriel felt a bit embarrassed to continue, it was truly embarrassing.

"Oh."

He didn't get a detailed explanation, and Ren didn't pay much attention.

It wasn't important, and there was no need to take it seriously.

"Wait, if you don't know the difference, why did you use the word 'date'?"

Gabriel realized that everything seemed more complicated than it appeared.

"Fujiwara-san said so." Ren didn't hide anything.

"She said that? In other words, you used the word 'date' because of her?" Gabriel asked.

"Yes."

"..."

Gabriel felt like she had been deceived.

After hearing him say that he valued going on a date with her, she unconsciously thought that he had some feelings for her.

If not, he wouldn't need to use the ambiguous term "date" to describe it.

But the fact remained that Ren was still an oblivious person who understood nothing. Gabriel thought too much.

Now, thinking back to the recent conversation when Chika and Raphiel were both present, the more she thought about it, the more foolish she felt.

Chika clearly saw how important Ren was to her, so she took the initiative to bring up the word "date" to defuse the tension so she could let go easily.

Raphiel took the initiative to leave because of the ambiguous atmosphere created by the word "date." She might want to give them both space so that she could seize the opportunity to attack or do something.

However, this did not happen.

After carefully considering everything, the ripples in Gabriel's heart caused by those thoughts calmed down.

"It's all your fault..."

"What's wrong with me?"

Ren felt a bit confused. Wasn't what happened earlier in the past?

Why should Gabriel blame him?

"It's all your fault for making me foolish."

Gabriel lowered her head and grumbled discontentedly.

Even though he didn't know what he had done to make Gabriel look foolish, Ren still chose to apologize.

Gabriel lifted her head, reached out, and "cruelly" pinched his face, then continued, "I forgive you."

"Oh."

Touching the spot where she was pinched, Ren replied in a low voice.

"You don't have to choose the place this weekend. I'll decide where we want to go. This is your punishment, a punishment for making me foolish."

"Didn't you just say you forgive me?" Ren asked hesitantly.

"This is your punishment for making me foolish in a different way. It's different from now."

Gabriel took off his glasses, looked into his eyes, and explained word by word.

"Did I make you a fool?"

Ren still didn't understand.

"Once a fool, always a fool."

"What does that mean?"

Ren realized that he had no idea what Gabriel was talking about.

"It means nothing."

Looking back, Gabriel placed his glasses on the table.

"Before I met you, I was very smart, even smarter than Raphi."

When she was in Heaven, her grades were always number one, while Raphiel was only number two, so in fact, she was smarter than Raphiel.

There was no dispute that would be accepted.

"Aren't you still very smart now?"

Ren didn't see anything about Gabriel that looked like an idiot.

"Who knows."

Gabriel didn't answer; she just put laptop back on the table, turned it on, and started searching slowly.

"Okay."

Seeing her not responding, Ren stopped asking again.

...

The next morning.

"Good morning, Gab, Kamikawa!"

Raphiel ran towards Gabriel and Ren with a bright smile on her face.

"Good morning." Ren replied calmly.

Gabriel didn't respond; she walked unsteadily, seeming like she hadn't woken up yet.

"Gab, what's wrong with you?"

The first time she walked closer, Raphiel noticed something strange about Gabriel.

Then, she stared at Ren suspiciously: "Could it be..."

In the ambiguous atmosphere yesterday evening, if either Gabriel or Ren took the initiative, something bad could have happened.

"I suffered from insomnia last night and couldn't sleep well."

Gabriel interrupted Raphiel's unspoken question.

"Insomnia? Gab, it's incredible that you can suffer from insomnia."

Raphiel believed his explanation, then stood between Gabriel and Ren, separating the two.

This action was naturally noticed by Gabriel, but because she was truly lacking energy, she didn't say anything and just stared at her with dissatisfied eyes for a moment.

"Can you tell me the specific reason for your insomnia?"

Ignoring Gabriel's sharp gaze, Raphiel asked gently.

"It's too late to gather information, and I can't sleep thinking about that information."

Gabriel briefly summarized her reason and explained it in as few words as possible.

She was already very sleepy, but she didn't want to waste her energy on something useless.

If she wasn't worried about the impact on herself and Ren's reputation, she would definitely let him take her to school.

"Are you reviewing for the final exams?"

"You don't understand other things."

Gabriel didn't want to tell Raphiel about her busy schedule.

It would be of no use to her, and it might even be detrimental.

What if Raphiel had a bad feeling about what she would do?

"If it looks like that, does it mean you and Kamikawa didn't make any progress yesterday evening?"

Raphiel stopped asking and quietly inquired about what happened after she left.

"Yeah, no progress at all, what's wrong?" Gabriel said with a self-deprecating tone.

"Nothing, I just feel like you missed a good opportunity."

Raphiel shook her head and sighed.

"It's not a possibility." Gabriel complained.