Facing the varied expressions of the three, Sasaki supported his forehead with his right hand, pinching the bridge of his nose:
"What made you think I had good grades? My face?"
Although they were sitting in front and behind each other, the three of them were not very familiar with each other.
After hearing Sasaki's complaints, they couldn't help but look at each other with slightly embarrassed expressions.
Yasui Sara was fine, she just thought Sasaki's grades would be bad, although not to this extent but this wasn't something out of her imaginations.
Ayato and Chifuyu, on the other hand, saw Sasaki as mature and reliable, and subconsciously thought such a person wouldn't have poor grades.
But the test paper full of red marks in Chifuyu's hand shattered that assumption.
Ignoring their awkward expressions, Sasaki nudged the boy, who was resting his elbows on his desk:
"And you? What's your score?"
"Um..."
Ayato blushed slightly, scratched his head in embarrassment, and handed his paper to Sasaki.
Taking the paper, Sasaki saw the score written on it: 35.
Hmm... more than twice his score. Compared to him, it was a pretty good result.
But as far as he knows, Haruno Kasumi has always been tutoring Ayato.
With such a score... it would be hard to explain to his Kasumi-nee, wouldn't it?
Well..Ayato clearly knew this too.
But Sasaki didn't see the expected panic or tension on his face.
However, assuming he was used to it, Sasaki didn't pay much attention.
Then he glanced at the scores of the idiot Chifuyu and Yasui Sara.
One had a 95, the other a 96.
These scores matched their reputations as top students and their appearances as beautiful girls.
Although he had expected their scores, everyone likes to hear compliments.
So, after learning their scores, Sasaki praised them with words of admiration.
Since Ayato was right in front of him, to avoid any misunderstandings, he didn't interact too warmly with them.
After a few words of praise, he stopped talking to them and turned to chat with the boy instead.
Chifuyu and Sara didn't show any reaction to this.
Sasaki had long explained to Chifuyu that in front of others, they were just ordinary classmates, with a purely platonic relationship as front and back desk mates.
So after Sasaki ended the conversation, the girl naturally turned around and looked down at her paper.
She wasn't reviewing or thinking about her mistakes.
She was thinking about tutoring Sasaki.
As his only friend, she naturally hoped he would have a good future.
The diploma that comes with good grades is the best and most practical stepping stone into society.
But how exactly should she go about it?
Previously, the tutoring methods for Takagi-san were all devised by Sasaki.
Now, being suddenly asked to come up with a method herself made her feel at a loss, unable to find a direction.
Sitting upright in her chair, her flexible spine forming a graceful inner curve, Tsukimi Chifuyu waited for the class bell to ring, frowning slightly, her small hands on her skirt tapping rhythmically.
Could she use Sasaki's own method to help him?
Like telling Takagi-san, "You don't want your parents to separate us because of your grades, right?" Something like that.
With a slight modification...
"Fuyumi... you don't want to lose me as a friend because of your grades, do you?"
Feeling that this method might work, the girl couldn't help but squint her eyes in delight and let out a quiet giggle.
Someone with similar thoughts was Yasui Sara, sitting behind her.
In her eyes, although Sasaki was a foot-obsessed pervert, they were still friends, albeit reluctantly.
So out of both affection and reason, she felt she should care about his thoughts.
But for her, directly saying, "Do you need my help with tutoring?" was still quite difficult.
So after hesitating for a moment and glancing at Miwa Itsuki, who was sleeping on his desk, the girl took out a pen and wrote her indirect inquiry on a piece of paper.
After finishing, she tore off the paper, crumpled it into a ball, and threw it at Sasaki, who was staring out the window.
Thud~
Catching the paper ball thrown at him, the boy glanced at Yasui Sara, who had already turned her head away and smiled, unfolding the paper ball.
[Your grades... you'll get scolded at home, right? Have you thought about how to improve?]
Seeing the concern in her words, Sasaki smiled and wrote a response on the paper, then passed it back to her.
Not bothering with formalities, since it was break time and to avoid their interaction being noticed by classmates, Yasui Sara quickly took the paper ball with a fox-like cunning, glancing around to make sure no one saw.
Then, resting her arms on the desk, she slowly unfolded the small paper ball in her pencil case and read Sasaki's handwriting:
[I haven't been to school for a long time, so I've forgotten everything from before, and I can't understand the new stuff... otherwise, I wouldn't be sleeping in class. ]
[I might get a tutor, but I'd prefer to be tutored by a friend I'm close with~ ]
"A friend I'm close with..."
Muttering to herself, Yasui Sara's eyes flickered as she sensed Sasaki's implied message.
After all, he had only been in the class for a week;
Who else in the class had a good relationship with him besides her?
With the joy of being valued, the girl turned her head and glanced at the sleeping Miwa Itsuki.
"It's just tutoring... it should be fine, right? Itsuki-kun won't think too much, will he?"
Tutoring would require a quiet place, and she didn't want others to see, so it also needed to be private.
However, while meeting these two conditions, she subconsciously felt that it was inappropriate to get along with boys other than Itsuki-kun in this way.
Because her relationship with Sasaki could barely be considered friends, there was no need for her to risk a rift in her relationship with Itsuki-kun by tutoring Sasaki.
It was just the inexplicable restless feeling in her heart that made her not want Sasaki to be scolded for his grades.
After a moment of hesitation, she took a chance that Itsuki-kun wouldn't find out and wrote a sentence on the paper ball.
[Have you found anyone yet? ]
After passing the paper ball, Yasui Sara's heartbeat quickened slightly as she moved her ponytail to the front and, while lowering her head, twirled her pink-purple hair around her finger to hide her slightly red face.
Her shy and bashful look practically screamed, "Pick me, pick me, I won't refuse," in her demeanor.
Sasaki, who was not being blind, naturally understood her behavior, however...
Turning his head to take a look at Miwa Itsuki, who was almost sleeping like a dead pig, he placed the paper ball with a strawberry candy in Yasui Sara's soft hand.
[Who else would I find? Other than Sara, who else am I close with in the class? ]
"Who says we're close... you narcissist who thinks you are the best..."
The girl lightly flipped her ponytail forward, covering her flushed face with her palms, reading on with a smile on her.
[I don't think Sara would refuse, but I thought about it and decided not to bother Sara. ]
[I've noticed Sara's relationship with Miwa-kun. Considering it, tutoring might be inconvenient. ]
[Sara cares about me, so I must also care about Sara. Tutoring can wait, but if it causes misunderstandings between Sara and Miwa-kun and makes you sad, I'd feel worse than getting a zero on the test. ]
"What... Who asked you to decide for me? My relationship with Itsuki-kun isn't that fragile."
Feeling mostly touched but slightly annoyed, Yasui Sara was about to reply when another paper ball landed in her hand.
Seeing Sasaki's cheerful face, she took the strawberry candy from the previous paper ball and read the new message.
[That's settled then. If Sara objects, I'll feel very guilty. ]
Reading both notes, Yasui Sara, who always considered Miwa Itsuki's feelings, felt a strange sensation from the neatly written words.
Sweet, like her favorite strawberry candy.
Sour, like her most disliked lemon candy.
Feeling the sourness at the tip of her nose, the girl unwrapped the strawberry candy and popped it into her mouth, savoring the sweetness on her tongue.
Before putting the exchanged paper balls into her skirt pocket as before.
Ignoring the girl's complicated expression, Sasaki, who had been resting his chin, turned to look out the window while she read the note.
His extra attention would only cause her embarrassment and reduce the candy's sweetness, without any positive effect.
Instead of focusing on the reaction he had already guessed, he might as well think about what to eat for lunch now.
"Why not try to write the novels and anime I remember from my past life?"
Thinking he could earn some money this way, he picked up his pen.
He didn't plan to use his limited imagination for original works.
After all, in this early light novel world, anything he transcribed from his past life would be original so he might as well copy it.