Do You Want to Join the Competition?

"If that's the case, it's settled."

As if fearing to regret it, Itsuki took out two tickets from her pocket and handed one to him.

Just as Ren took the ticket, the school bell rang.

"Class has started, let's hurry back."

Being a diligent and serious student, Itsuki certainly didn't want to be late.

"Okay."

After a quick glance at the ticket in his hand to make sure she gave him the correct one, Ren followed her and ran towards the classroom.

The place where he stopped earlier was not far from the classroom, so he and Itsuki quickly arrived at the class and walked in together.

"Hm?"

Seeing Itsuki entering with Ren from the back door, Gabriel's eyes were filled with confusion.

If she remembered correctly, Ren and Fumino left the class together earlier and headed to the office.

But Fumino had long since returned, so why was Ren coming back late?

And he was back with Itsuki!

Something must have happened in between?

At this moment, Gabriel felt her mind filled with all sorts of questions, and she wanted to ask what happened.

But unfortunately, she couldn't do that; she and Ren were just good friends, and delving into his life now would be wrong.

Of course, it's fine to ask what happened after Ren went to the office.

Moreover, as his good friend, caring about him is only natural.

Just observe him when he returns in the evening.

Yes, that's it.

Ren had just entered the classroom, also noticing Gabriel's gaze, but he didn't care.

After the bell rang, he would attract the attention of others when entering the class; it was normal.

Sometimes he couldn't help but glance at people entering the class, even though he already knew who was coming through the door.

After returning to his seat and sitting down, Ren took out his textbooks and focused on the class.

...

Evening, Nakano's house.

"Today's lessons are over."

After making this announcement, Ren put down the chalk and walked towards the sofa, Asumi cleared away other students' after-school exercises and handed them over to him easily.

Sitting on the sofa, he started correcting yesterday's after-school exercises.

As the final exams were approaching, the exercises given after the lessons were not just a part of the lessons but became more comprehensive.

While he was still correcting, they began chatting while packing up their belongings.

"Ichika, what's wrong with you? Why do you always look tired?"

Nino extended her index finger and poked Ichika, who was lying on the coffee table, seeming like she was about to fall asleep, and asked curiously.

"Really? Haven't I always been like this?" Ichika forced herself to sit up straight, trying to appear energetic.

"Your exhaustion is written all over your face."

Looking at her face, Nino sighed.

"Maybe I study too hard." Ichika said half-truthfully.

Although after communicating with Ren last time, she knew that it was okay even if she didn't do well in exams, she still didn't want to get a bad grade.

"If I remember correctly, your desk in your room is full of clothes."

Nino recalled Ichika's room that she had seen not long ago.

"Who says studying has to be done at a desk?" Ichika said confidently.

Because her room was too messy, and she didn't want to clean it, she could only check it on her bed.

Itsuki sighed and said, "It's hard to imagine Ichika studying so hard."

In the past, she would never hear anything about Ichika studying; only how she would redeem her exams.

"That's true."

Miku nodded repeatedly, quite agreeing with Itsuki's perspective.

"It seems like I should study hard too."

After thinking hard for a moment, Yotsuba decided to learn from Ichika.

"By the way, should we compete in this final exam?"

After rubbing her eyes to cheer herself up, Ichika looked towards Ren, who was correcting his exercises with his head bowed, and an idea came to her.

"Compared to what?" Nino asked casually.

"Of course, grades. Nothing is comparable except the grades in the final exam."

Ichika quickly formulated a plan in her mind and continued answering.

"How can our results be compared... No, we are indeed comparable now."

When Nino was in the middle of her sentence, she suddenly realized that her grades weren't too bad now.

"How about it? Do you want to compete?" Ichika looked at Fumino and Rizu, who had just finished packing their things and hadn't spoken yet. "Furuhashi-san and Ogata-san, feel free to join us too."

"Huh? Comparing exam scores?"

Fumino hesitated a bit; if she agreed, she would overshadow Ichika and the others.

She had a perfect score in liberal arts, and her science was not considered a weakness at all after receiving guidance from Ren.

Moreover, Ichika and the others had the lowest grades in their school; even with Ren's guidance, they wouldn't be able to compare to her.

"Of course, it's fine to compare scores, but since this is a competition, there must be a reward."

Nino didn't reject the competition proposed by Ichika, but she wasn't interested because it could only be said to be dispensable.

"As for the reward, how about Kamikawa-san decides? He is our tutor. If we do well in the exam, it shouldn't be too much to ask him to give us a reward, right?"

Ichika smiled and revealed her thoughts.

"?"

When he heard them talking about him, Ren also lifted his head and glanced over.

"It doesn't sound interesting."

Nino immediately abandoned her intention to participate.

She studied hard not for Ren; no matter how good a reward Ren gave her, she didn't care at all.

"If I pass the exam, what reward will Ren give me?" Miku asked with hope.

"How about the situation?"

Ren felt that he couldn't understand the current situation.

"It means we plan to compete to see who performs better in this final exam. Those who perform well in the exam will be rewarded, and the reward will be decided by you, Kamikawa-san." Itsuki repeated it briefly, acknowledging that they all participated in the competition.

"This is unfair." Rizu said.

"What's unfair?" Ichika asked a little confused.

"It's unfair to Kamikawa-san. Kamikawa-san is only paying but not getting anything." Rizu replied.

Ichika smiled and said, "Don't worry about this; I've already thought about it."