Test Rankings

“Please let go of me. I won’t be satisfied unless I go say something.”

“I’m telling you, wait.”

If he let go of her hand, she looked ready to storm straight into the headmaster’s office, so Kent forcibly stopped Caro from acting.

“Kent-san, how can you stay so calm?”

“Well, part of it is that I do not care that much about grades, but I’ll talk about the rest during lunch break. Until then, absolutely do not do anything on your own, okay?”

“…Yes. If you say that much, Kent-san, then I understand.”

Somehow, he managed to calm Caro down.

“To be honest, I’m also holding myself back from wanting to go say something…”

Rachel seemed to feel the same way as Caro. Honestly, Kent was grateful that there were people who would get seriously angry over something that had happened to him.

“Thank you, both of you. It’s not like I can’t move up a grade just because I got zero. I just have to take supplementary lessons and a makeup test, so it’ll be fine. Thank you for getting so angry for my sake.”

Saying that, Kent patted Caro and Rachel on the head.

“Kent-san…”

“Big Brother…”

Since class was about to start, they decided to set the matter aside for the moment, and the three headed to their respective classrooms.

“Good morning, Kent-kun.”

“Good morning, Patty-san.”

“Kent-kun, I saw the rankings, but what happened to you?”

“Mmm, maybe I just happened to be off my game.”

When Kent answered, Patty looked like she wanted to say something, but changed the subject.

“Speaking of which, once next week is over, it’ll be summer vacation. Kent-kun, do you have any plans other than your part-time job?”

“Supplementary lessons, though?”

“Hauwah!”

Patty let out a strange noise. She had casually brought up a common topic, but it seemed she had realized it was a forbidden word. When Kent happened to glance toward Josette, she was looking his way as though she wanted to say something.

The morning classes ended, and it became lunch break. He had planned to eat at the cafeteria again today. He tried to invite Josette, but someone called her away and she left with them. Kent felt a little curious, so even though he thought it was wrong, he decided to follow after her. The place Josette headed to was behind the school building, where Kent and the others had often eaten lunch before. He hid in the shadows and watched what was happening.

The person who had come to call her seemed only to have been asked to do so, and after bringing Josette behind the building, they left. There, one male student was waiting.

“That’s Cedric, the minister’s son. He’s also a second-year, same as Big Brother.”

“I wonder what business he has with Josette-sama.”

“Hey, wai—”

““Quiet! He’ll notice us!!””

“Sorry.”

Before he knew it, Rachel and Caro were beside Kent, hiding in the shadows too. Kent almost raised his voice, but the two stopped him.

“As expected of you, Josette-sama. Congratulations on taking first place on the final exams.”

“Would it please you if I said thank you?”

“You look as though you have something to say.”

Perhaps she did not like Cedric’s tone, because Josette replied unpleasantly.

“It is nothing of the sort. I was merely wondering whether you had started something again. Speaking of which, I heard you placed second on this test. It may be strange for someone above you in rank to say this, but congratulations.”

“Thank you very much. Next time, I intend to strive even harder so that I can take first place and fulfill my promise with you.”

“I see. Then do your best so that you can achieve that.”

“Well then, if you’ll excuse me.”

After bowing deeply, Cedric headed back toward the school building.

“So in the end, was he only talking about the test results?”

“If Cedric-sama takes first place, will something happen?”

Rachel and Caro asked Kent.

“What are you all whispering about over there? Come out.”

Looking exasperated, Josette turned in their direction and said that.

“So you knew we were there.”

“That is because the person I long for was nearby… ahem, ahem, if you were speaking that loudly, of course I would notice.”

Kent stepped out from the shadows. Then Caro and Rachel came out as well.

“Since we’ve been found out, I’ll ask directly. What were you talking about?”

“You really went with the direct approach.”

When Kent said that, Josette looked a little surprised.

“The truth is, that person just now—his name is Cedric, and he is the son of a middle-ranking noble—but the other day, he proposed a relationship to me. I told him that there was someone I had feelings for, so I refused him, but he pressed me rather forcefully, so I told him this: If you take first place even once on a second-year exam, I will consider it. That is what I said.”

“I see… so this time, Josette-san took first place, which means he failed to meet the condition.”

Josette explained how things had come about.

“Come to think of it, to clear Cedric’s route, you have to put all your parameters into academics, right?”

“Parameters?”

Josette asked back at what Rachel muttered.

“No, no, that was just us talking.”

“Was it?”

Rachel frantically waved both hands, trying to show it was nothing.

“As you can see from the test results, I was first and he was second. The score difference was very small, so honestly, it was dangerous. However, there is one thing this time that does not sit right with me.”

“Big Brother’s score.”

“Kent-san’s score.”

Rachel and Caro spoke at the same time.

“That’s right. As I’m sure you know, Kent-san took a perfect score and a splendid first place on the previous test. I know very well how amazing Kent-san is, so when I saw the results of this test, I thought there must be something behind it. The difference in score between me in second place and him in third place last time was small, but there was a large gap between us and Kent-san.”

“So there is someone who sees Kent-san, towering like a high wall, as an obstacle…”

In response to Josette’s words, Caro said that.

“I get it… Big Brother felt like something was going on, so that’s why he stopped us when we tried to go to the headmaster’s office.”

Rachel said that as though she now understood.

“Well, I did not know exactly who it was, but after that exchange just now, I have a rough idea. If someone picks a fight with me, I have to accept it.”

“As expected of Onii-sama.”

“You never normally call me Onii-sama, do you?”

“Hehe, I just wanted to try saying it.”

Rachel laughed with a grin.

“So, Kent-san, what are you going to do now?”

Caro asked Kent.

“This time, I’m not going to do anything. I’ll obediently take the supplementary lessons, take the makeup exam, and that’ll be the end of it.”

“Kent-san, are you just going to suffer in silence?”

Josette said that in surprise at Kent’s answer.

“If the deadline is exams during second year, then there are still four more left, so I’ll make preparations and finish him off next time.”

“As expected of Onii-sama.”

“No, that’s enough of that.”

“Ehh?”

Ignoring Rachel, Kent continued speaking.

“If we make a careless fuss here, it will go exactly the way the other side wants, so not moving here will deal the greatest damage to them.”

That was how Kent answered the three of them.

“Well then, there’s no more time to go to the cafeteria, so today let’s bring out deli boxed lunches.”

“Big Brother, they even had something like that?”

“When I checked the other day, the list had grown.”

Kent ordered and brought out four makunouchi boxed lunches and four teas from the terminal.

“Yay, boxed lunches. This feels nostalgic.”

“Yeah, this container really feels nostalgic.”

“They’ve packed all kinds of ingredients into such a compact space.”

“It’s arranged so beautifully. Maybe I should try making one myself next time.”

Each of them shared their own impressions, and they decided to eat lunch.