#47 Relaxing

The lunch break quickly arrived and Yuichi went to the cafeteria together with Ayanokoji in tow. Yuichi paid for Ayanokoji's meal set and then explained why he wants him to distract Horikita.

"Why not just give it to her? I mean, she will obviously discover it's you..." Ayanokoji questioned while eating quite a luxurious meal set.

"I don't really care if she will discover it...I want her to be the one to find those papers and hand them out to everyone." Yuichi replied while taking the bite out of his own meal.

"I see...Why do you even bother yourself with helping her so much?" Ayanokoji asked with a confused expression.

"Aren't you helping her too? Of course, our reasons most likely don't align but simply said...I find her behavior amusing and I think she has potential so by forcing her into even more social interactions with her classmates, she will start working with everyone. And by then, I can just sit and watch without being afraid of losing all my monthly allowance." Yuichi replied with a slightly bored expression.

"So you don't want to advance to Class A?" Ayanokoji asked.

"I don't know...I don't really have such a strong desire to advance as Horikita. And to be honest, as long as we can have a lot of points each month, I don't really care for any class ranking. Right now, each class is viewing the class above them while 3 of 4 of them are viewing Class A...That's too much pressure and just imagining if all 3 classes worked together just to throw you at the bottom is a bit scary." Yuichi replied with a thoughtful expression.

"To be honest...I should have rejected the old man and never come into this school, to begin with...Ever since coming here, I can only feel my condition worsening." Yuichi muttered while supporting his chin with his palm.

'Condition?' Ayanokoji thought while quietly listening to Yuichi. He thought of asking about it but he abandoned that idea since they weren't that close to discussing such things.

"Well, if you say so, I guess I can help." Ayanokoji agreed with closed eyes.

"She likes to take her bag everywhere so it has to be in the classroom or right outside of the classroom." Yuichi said.

"You sound like a stalker..." Ayanokoji gave his honest opinion.

"I am just observant. A stalker is a person who is observant of only 1 person, that's not my case." Yuichi replied with a smile.

"What about you, Ayanokoji-kun, do you have any specific reason for being in this school? Or are almost 2 months not enough?" Yuichi asked with a smile, hinting at the 1st day of the school where he asked Ayanokoji something similar.

"I came here with the intention to find answers to my questions" He replied with a stoic face.

Yuichi was slightly surprised to hear such a reply before he smiled.

"I see...Ayanokoji-kun, don't you think that this entire grading system based on classes is just something to motivate students and let them advance to receive better benefits while hiding the truth that this entire system is only about us advancing as human beings? After all, this midterm is completely irrelevant when it comes to Academic ability..." Yuichi muttered while playing with the chopsticks in his hand.

"To advance as human beings...?" Ayanokoji muttered with a thoughtful expression but he never replied to Yuichi. Yuichi didn't try to force the answer out of him so he just finished his lunch in silence while occasionally talking to Ayanokoji.

.

.

.

Only a few days remaining till the midterms and Yuichi's plan with Ayanokoji's help should take place right tomorrow.

Yuichi was currently lying on his bed, still with the school uniform on. He was checking the time and his account's balance.

[7 p.m.]

[Private Points: 106.000 points]

'Maybe I can start gaining points through other students from other classes. I can start at the basketball club, upperclassmen should have the points to spare. Of course, I can't acquire the points through fraud or threat but as long as there is some kind of contract, it's all right. Anyway, now that I think of it, I haven't spent much time with Mei ever since coming here...' Yuichi thought with a stoic expression before he thought of Mei which made him form a faint smile on his face while looking at the ceiling.

He decided to send a message to Mei.

[Hey, it's been quite a long since we did something together due to quite a tight schedule...the basketball club and midterms thing. Still, are you free right now?] Yuichi send a message to Mei and waited for the answer.

The sign "read" appeared within a minute and her reply came almost immediately.

[Hey! Of course, I am free. What do you have in mind?] (M)

[It's already quite late but do you want to visit me and look around my room? It will be like the first time back at the elementary school.] (Y)

[I'd love to but...You have to be in the hallway and make sure that it's clear, I don't want any rumors to spread about me visiting boys' floor in the evening!] (M)

Yuichi agreed to this and went out of his room to wait for Mei. He informed her that it's clear and she quickly arrived through the elevator.

"Hi!" Mei greeted him with a bright smile with her usual hairstyle, hair tied up in twintails.

"Yo, let's get inside before anyone sees you" Yuichi said and unlocked his room with the keycard. He still felt a bit weird after saying that as if they were about to do something immoral or forbidden.

"Huh? It's a bit different than girls' room but not that much" Mei muttered while looking around.

"I will brew some tea, we can talk a bit and after that, I have something to show you." Yuichi said with a smile gesturing for her to sit down anywhere, however, Mei had a different idea.

"Hop" Mei jumped on Yuichi's bed, trying out the mattress.

Seeing this, Yuichi just smiled, he was aware of how timid Mei was in front of strangers or even their classmates but when it was just two of them, she always became quite bold.

"Mmm." 'I thought there would be some stink of sweat in the air or something but his room smells even better than most of the girl's room.' Mei thought while rolling on his bed before she smelled a faint scent of lemon.

'Hm?!' She buried her face into Yuichi's pillow and she immediately recognized that scent.

"Say, are you still using that same shampoo I bought you the 1st day?" Mei asked with a confused expression since Yuichi must have already used it up. It was more than 1 month since she bought it and his length of hair wasn't exactly the shortest.

"Eh? Haha, of course not, it is the second one I bought. When I was browsing the store, I had no idea which one to buy so I simply bought the one from before since you liked it." Yuichi turned at her with a slightly surprised expression before replying with a small laugh.

"You bought it just because I liked it...?" Mei asked with buried face in his pillow, slightly reddened cheeks. Her voice was muffled but since it was just two of them, Yuichi was able to clearly hear her.

"Well, I liked the smell too. No need to take risks, after all, these things cost a lot of points" Yuichi said with a smile.

"Mmm" Mei just hummed to let him know that she heard him but she still had her face buried in his pillow because she was aware that she is most likely blushing. However, the more she smelled the scent of Yuichi's hair, the more she thought about it and in return, it made her blush even more.

"Here you go..." When Yuichi arrived with the tea he prepared, she already calmed down a bit but she was still embarrassed by her own thoughts.

"T-Thank you..." Mei took the cup out of his hand with both her small hands while avoiding eye contact.

"Haha, are you perhaps embarrassed to be in boy's room so late? I guess if you made just a bit of noise, my neighbors would know that girl is in my room." Yuichi laughed.

"T-That's not it!" Mei almost shouted out before remembering Yuichi's words so she quickly toned her voice down before taking the sip out of her cup with slightly red cheeks.

"So tell me, how are you doing lately? Anything interesting happening among the girls or your friends in general?" Yuichi asked with a relaxed smile while supporting his head with his hand.

"Huh? Well, there is nothing special with midterms in front of us but do you know that there are 1st-years ranking charts where girls from all years can vote?" Mei asked with a curious expression, hinting at something in case Yuichi was aware of it but unfortunately for her, he had no idea what she is talking about.

"What ranking charts?" Yuichi asked while remembering their class's ranking of the girls' breast sizes.