Chapter 8 - Chapter 8: This Problem Child

"As I was saying, there has been some changes to the supplementary class system. First of all, congratulations to you, Amane-san for achieving full marks, and also to Chihiro-san and Saki-san for making it into the top 50."

As most of the female students were giving loud applauses, the boys on the other hand were reluctantly clapping as they were still quite unhappy with how things turned out.

"However, I am quite unhappy that I only get to give my congratulations to three students in my class. We have 30 students but to see only 3 of them make it into the top 50 is displeasing so I gave a suggestion to the principal to give intense supplementary classes to those who were not in the top 50 and suspend any club activities for those who had failed any of their classes."

When she finished her sentence, the sounds of unhappy students filled the classroom.

"But sensei! That's unfair! Those academic students are on another level compared to us athletic students!"

"Then talk about it with Saki-san. If she can do it, I don't see why you can't do it either."

Shiki-sensei had actually made a valid point. When Chihaya was admitted into the school, it was due to her athletic record and not because of her academic results. Her academic record was completely average at best even among the other athletic students. When Shiki-sensei mentioned Chihaya's name, the students who were complaining couldn't refute her anymore.

However, Chihaya didn't want to mention to anyone that she received help from Kei who had been staying late after school to tutor her. After all, Kei had made it clear to her that she will tell nobody about him tutoring her or he will stop teach her in the future. Kei also made this condition because he didn't want Chihaya or himself to deal with the other students' onslaught if they find out.

"Now, if there are no more objections, let us start our homeroom…"

When the classes for the day had ended, Kei, who had finished packing his things beforehand, was about to make his way towards the class exit before getting stopped by a blockade formed by some of his classmates.

"Amane-kun, please help us with our studies!" Said the girl in the middle as she bowed, followed by the other girls.

"Umm… please don't bow…"

"Then… will you help us?"

"I'm sorry but… I'm too busy with my other things to have any time to spare—"

As he said this, the group, especially the girls, did not seem to want to give up at all. As he had no choice, he started to turn and make his way towards the classroom's back door. Before he could do this however, one of the girls spoke up.

"But… Surely, if you could help Saki-san, you can definitely spare some time to help us too!"

"At the very least, teach us when you are teaching Saki-san!"

The group nodded in agreement. As he heard this, Kei was starting to get annoyed as he wondered 'Did she…' and looked towards Chihaya who was sitting at the side of the class giving him a nod with her arms crossed that was saying 'I have no idea how they found out.'

"It is unfair that you only help Saki-san… we want to be close to Amane-kun as well!"

'…Are you asking me to teach you to raise your grades or are you just trying to get close to me?' Kei thought.

It looked as if the girls had cornered Kei at this point. He was thinking about how to politely turn them down without hurting anyone's feelings while keeping Chihaya safe from any future harsh treatment by the other girls. When he was scrambling for an answer, the front door of the classroom slid open as Yanagi-sensei walked in.

"Oy, Amane-san. You have the whole team waiting for you, and you're just here flirting with the girls? Do you want more suicide runs?"

"Ah, sorry sensei, I was busy talking with my classmates that I had forgotten the time. Please excuse me everyone, but I have to go." Kei said as he brushed past everyone to walk out of the classroom with Yanagi-sensei.

When he left the classroom, the other students started talking among themselves.

"Wait… team? Isn't Amane-kun supposedly a scholar?"

"Wait… Yanagi-sensei…"

""He's in the basketball team?!""

When the classmates put two and two together, they finally realized that Kei belonged to the basketball team. Up until now, there were only rumours that Kei was actually also an athlete. This was because he had done well to hide this fact from the others so that his life wouldn't be so bothersome. This was the reason Kei sometimes stayed late at school. One girl in the group suddenly spoke up as if she just remembered something.

"I just remembered my boyfriend mentioned something… Isn't there supposed to be a friendly game today?"

When they finally put some distance between them and the class, Kei finally breathed a sigh of relief. Yanagi-sensei who was walking beside him let out an exasperated sigh. It was as though he was quietly saying 'This problem child.'

"Umm… sensei… I really wasn't trying to be late…"

"I know I know; some things can't be avoided. But when are you planning to tell them? They'll find out sooner or later."

"Hmm… to be honest, I just want to enjoy my peaceful life for as long as I could… so I guess never? Besides, you pretty much just announced to everyone that I'm on the basketball team back there…"

With Yanagi-sensei's arrival to the classroom and calling out Kei, he had dropped a big hint to his classmates that he was a member of the basketball team. However…

"Being on the team is one thing, but I don't think that you can hide the fact that you are the captain of the basketball team for long."

The truth was that Kei is actually the captain of the basketball team. His leadership had led his middle school basketball team to the championship title in his second and third year of his middle school when he became the captain. When the scouting committee saw this record coupled with his academic record, they couldn't help but use everything in their resources to snatch him up before other schools could get him.

"Well, sooner or later you're going to have a lot of explaining to do to your classmates, whether you like it or not."

"Mmm…"

"Well, enough of this depressing talk, you have another job to do today."

When Yanagi-sensei said this, Kei reluctantly looked ahead as he had to prepare for the friendly game with another school today.