Chapter 11

Hime dropped her gaze on the timetable, stuffing her textbooks and notes into her bag. It became her routine to pack the things for school before heading off to sleep.

"Homework... is done as well."

According to what Itsuki told her , She needs to stop being 'Ms. Goodie'. Because if she stay this way, she will never be allowed to date Fujiyama Anya. Anya only sees her as some kind of saint. She even said that she wanted to become someone like Hime, clearly under the impression that she's flawless.

Hime want Anya to think that she's not perfect. And for that, she came up with her own measures. For starters, she'll act like she have forgotten her homework. That way, Anya should see that she's flawed as well.

Anya got to school a bit earlier than usual, using her arms as a pillow while resting on the desk. After being urged by Hime- san, She put my attention to studying again, but it's not as easy as she was hoping it to be. Since she had a time period where she didn't study much, Anya couldn't focus as much as she did back in middle school. As a result, she was just having a hard time all over yesterday.

When she turned her head, Anya saw Sakura sleeping the same way on her desk. With nobody to talk to, Anya just decided to

wait for the morning bell to ring. However, right as she closed her eyes, a voice called to her.

"Fujiyama Anya, are you sleeping?" A gentle voice tickled her ears. "Nope, I'm awake."

"Sorry to bother you while you're resting."

Anya raised her head and was met with Hime's apologetic expression.

"I forgot to bring my Japanese homework, so I was wondering if you could let me see yours... "

"Ah, Japanese, gotcha."

Anya took out the notes and handed them to her. "Thanks! You're a huge help!"

"It's fine."

"That reminds me, did you manage to solve the final question from our math homework?"

Usually, the math homework is just solving formulas, but the final question is an advanced one. It's a question provided for students who aren't satisfied with just the regular questions, but there's no need to solve them. Up to this point, Anya always left it untouched, but since Hime put her heart into studying again, Anya tried to challenge it. It was a hard battle, but she think she had got the right answer.

"I sure did, which is why I'm lacking a bit of sleep now."

"I see. I was hoping to maybe pay you back for helping me with Japanese, but I guess that's not necessary."

"Yeah. But still, thanks. I'll come to ask you if I need help again."

"Of course! I can see you're working hard. You got bags under your eyes already."

"It's because you gave me so much motivation." "Hehe, I didn't do anything big."

It's because Anya deeply respect Hime for who she is that her words hit so deep. It's the sole reason sge wish to now stand by her side. And for that, she need to beat her in the next exams.

"Did you have much trouble with that question?" Abya asked in an act of reconnaissance on the enemy.

"It wasn't easy or anything, but I guess I did fine." "As expected of Hime-san..."

"Heh, thanks. Anyway, I'll copy this really quickly." Hime- san said and walked back to her seat.

Immediately after, Sakura's bulky back moved.

"Aren't you close? To think you'd start talking more after you rejected her."

"Sakura, were you listening in on us?"

"Never said I was sleeping."

"That is true, but..."

Anya really didn't enjoy being teased by Sakura, but she's just glad things didn't end up awkward between them.

"Still, Hime forgot something..." Sakura mumbled. "That's the second day in a row, right?"

"...Don't you, you know, feel anything at her being this forgetful?"

"Huh? I mean, I always forget stuff myself."

"You and Hime aren't the same. Does Hime really seem like the person to forget something? She's an honor student."

"Now that you mention it..."

"Good." Sakura grinned. "All right, next time she forgets something, just leave it to me."

But this kept on continuing. The next time Hime forgot something was two days after this. As Sakura and Anya were talking before the morning bell, Hime-san came over.

"Anya, sorry to ask you this again, but can you show me your history homework?"

"Got i—"

"—I'll show you mine, Hime. her handwriting can be a bit nasty."

Before Anya could give a response, Sakura immediately broke between them . Hime-san however waved her hands and politely declined.

"It's fine, I can read it."

"Nah, you should borrow mine instead. If you just want to see someone's homework, then mine should suffice. And mine's easier to read."

"Err, um..."

Hime-san seemed troubled and glanced at Anya. However, Anya didn't understand what she's so bewildered about.

"Look, these are my notes." Sakura took out her notes with the homework on them.

As she said, everything was clean and easy to read. He even used colors for some parts.

"And? Mine are a lot better, right?"

"That is true..." She nodded, but still hesitated to accept Sakura's notes.

"I understand how you feel, Hime. If you want to borrow Anya 's notes, then I'll step down. But you need to be honest."

"Um... well..."

Hime-san was bewildered. She put her index finger on her cheek, with her gaze wandering all over. Why is she hesitating this much? Borrowing from Sakura would be a lot more efficient. Not to mention that she looked towards me for some reason, asking for help. She looked like a puppy discarded in the rain. This expression awakened my protective desires, and Anya felt bad for her.

"Come on, drop it. Hime-san's being troubled."

"Hey now, you're siding with her...?"

"Because it looks to me like you're bullying her." Sakura shook her head.

"My bad. Let Anya show you the homework."

Anya handed Hime the notes, to which she flashed a beaming smile. The complete opposite of what she had been acting like before.

"Thanks! I'll quickly copy it!"

Hime ran away when Sakura stuffed his notes away with a sigh.

"You still haven't realized it, Anya ?"

"What exactly?"

Since she couldn't forgive Sakura for bullying Hime-san, she responded with an annoyed tone.

"She always borrows your stuff, right? Even just now, she clearly hesitated to take my notes, right? I believe this is just her pretense at having a reason to talk to you."

"How would you know that? She might just have a lot going on, which is why she keeps forgetting stuff."

"No, definitely not. She's doing this on purpose. Or rather, she probably has it but acts like she forgot the homework."

"No way."

Sakura's eyes flashed up.

"I'm definitely right. And I have just the way to prove it."

The following morning, Both Anya and Sakura secretly observed Hime-san. Arriving at school, she sat down at her own desk, searching through her bag. Following that, she stood up and turned around. It's a familiar pattern they have spotted a lot these past few days. She's clearly forgotten something again. Sakura whispered towards Anya.

"She's coming. Make sure to call out to her first." "Y-Yeah."

Hime-san approached Anya's seat. And then, our eyes met. "Tsu—"

"—Hime-san."

"Y-Yes?"

"Could you show me your homework?"

"Sure! What subject?"

"Err, Japanese history."

"History, got it."

Hime-san headed back to her seat, grabbing her notes.

"I've been relying on you a lot lately, so I have to repay you once in a while."

"We're both in need from time to time, so let's just call it quits."

"You're so kind, Anya."

"Not at all."

Finishing this conversation, Hime-san returned to her seat. Huh? So wait, Hime-san didn't actually forget anything? Anya thought it'd be the same pattern as lately... And why is Sakura grinning like that?

"Let's check through her notes."

Since she lied about having forgotten , there was no need for me to copy from hers. However, Anya was indeed curious about her notes. Anya nodded and opened up the pages with careful hand movement.

"Woah."

Met with such a high level of quality, she was staring at it in shock. Her handwriting was beautiful and easy to read, she marked everything important with four colors of pens, and changed the size of her handwriting to emphasize the respective importance. On top of that, she added puns and word games with every date that made it easier to remember. Also, she drew small pictures of the historical figures. So cute.

"This is astonishing." Sakura was bewildered as much as she was. "After creating notes of such detail, do you really think she'd forget them at home?"

"No way. She'd definitely hand it in no matter if she'd be late."

"Right? So just admit it, she was looking for an excuse to talk with you."

Coming this far, Anya had to accept Sakura's logic. Hime is acting like she's forgotten her homework so that she could talk to her in class.

"But... that's such a detour if she just wanted to talk to me, right?"

"Not really. Talking to another student in a different corner of the classroom takes a lot of courage. That's why the change of seat order is very important."

"Ahhh, that makes sense."

In other words, she needed an excuse to talk to her . Thinking about that makes Anya feel happy, and ticklish inside. However, even if she wants to talk with her, she feel bad for making her do such a detour. Anya want to talk with her myself, and get along better. That's why she can't let her do all the work. She have to be the one to approach her as well. So with her notes in her hand, she stood up.

"Anya , what are you doing?"

"Giving back her notes."

"You got quite the courageous expression though."

Anya ignored Sakura's comment and headed straight for Hime-san's seat.

"Hime-san, do you have a moment?"

Having her name called by Fujiyama Anya, Hime turned around. In Anya's right hand, she held her notes that she had just given to her.

"Did you finish copying everything?"

"Nope, but you can have it back."

"Ah, okay."

She reflexively accepted her sketchbook, but needless to say, she was a bit bewildered.

"There's something I'd like to talk about, so could you come with me for a second?"

"H-Huh?!"

Met with such a bold invitation, shewas baffled.

Why just the two of us? What is she going to talk about? she was riddled with nothing but doubts, but Anya's straightforward gaze left her unable to decline.

"O-Okay." she nodded and got up from herseat.

While passing by Itsuki 's seat, she sent her a desperate gaze asking for help, but she just showed her a thumbs-up. Hime doesn't need that right now, okay?! With the morning bell close, not many people were outside of the classrooms. It was pretty much just the two of us. I wonder what he wants to talk about? she was now a bit nervous . Fujiyama Anya spoke up with a quiet voice that only she could hear.

"You actually didn't forget your homework, did you?"

Eeep. she perfectly hit her where it hurt, she didn't know how to respond. Can she still talk my way out of this? And what should she do, then? Hime wasn't given time to think about that, as Anya continued.

"I finally understand why you kept on forgetting your homework. I'm sorry for being so dense."

"Wha..."

What did she understand? That she was trying to show off how clumsy and anti-diligent she was? Is that even possible?

"You wanted a reason to talk to me, right? That's why you acted like you forgot your homework."

". What?"

"You had trouble talking to me in class, so you created a reason that made it easier, yeah?"

"...Ah, yes, that's right."

That surprised her... But she think she was saved by an unexpected misunderstanding. Well, she did want to talk to Anya , so she guessed she's not entirely wrong.

"I guess you must be hesitant to talk to me in our classroom, huh?"

"Well, something like that."

"That's why... why don't we stop talking while we're in the classroom?"

She felt all the blood draining from her body. Anya saw her talking to her as a chore. That... hurts. she feel like she's going to cry.

"I'm sorry... I won't talk to you again..."

"I-I didn't mean it that way. I just phrased things badly. Why don't we just talk via LINE instead? You don't have to forget your homework if you want to talk to me."

"...A-Ah, that's what you meant!"

"So... how about it? If we're texting on LINE, we won't have to worry about the gazes of the others."

"Yes! Please! With pleasure!" I nodded several times. "I'm glad. Then let's do that."

"Yep!"

With this, They exchanged LINE IDs. The chime rang shortly after, and returned to their seats and yet, she didn't feel lonely at all. she just sent her a sticker she liked. Though they haven't confessed they're love, They kept with each other waiting for they're time to confess