Haruto took a piece of giraffe-shaped biscuit and put it in his mouth. It was crispy, not too sweet, not bland, and just the right taste.
If he had to score it, he would give it a high score above 90.
Nino, calmly brushing her waist-length hair and asked, "How does it taste?"
"Very good."
Haruto said, "If you work in a pastry shop in the future, it will surely be very popular."
Nino slightly raised the corners of her mouth, lifted her chin, and said, "Since you like it, I'll give this cake to you."
"No, let's eat it together."
Haruto took the plate and said, "Now that we're down, let's study together!"
Nino showed a sweet smile and said softly, "Alright, then I'll seek your guidance, Kuromori."
For some reason, Haruto always felt something was off.
After a while, Nino brought a glass of water and placed it in front of Haruto, then sat down, looked at the test paper in front of him, and asked, "Do you want to take the test?"
"Yeah."
Haruto said, "If you don't know how to write, it will be blank."
Nino pulled out a pencil and confidently said, "Don't worry, leave it to me. It's just a test paper, no problem!"
Haruto lifted his eyes and said nothing.
'The five of you have the same deviation score, so where does this confidence come from?'
He felt a bit thirsty after eating the biscuit, so he sipped the iced water.
When Nino saw this, a super sweet smile appeared on her face.
Her voice was soft and gentle: "Hey, Kuromori, please teach us sisters, thank you for your hard work. As a reward, I'll write this paper well."
Haruto put down the glass of water and said calmly, "It's good that you have such a heart."
Nino squinted her eyes: "Of course, we members of the Nakano family repay kindness and seek revenge."
Haruto put on a serious face: "Stop talking nonsense and start writing quickly."
"Okay—"
Nino responded but didn't write at all, instead, she stared at him with a smile on her face.
One second, two seconds, three seconds...
One minute.
Haruto lifted his head and asked, "What's wrong? You can't even solve a single question?"
"No."
Nino immediately turned away, feeling a bit confused.
'What's going on? Why didn't he fall? Did I place it wrong? It shouldn't be! Is it because there wasn't enough time?'
Five minutes later, Nino was a little puzzled as she saw that Haruto still didn't feel anything strange.
'It must be a mistake. Damn it. You're lucky.'
Nino quietly gritted her teeth, but had no choice but to write the test paper honestly.
Half an hour later.
Haruto put down his phone and said, "Time's up, please stop writing."
Yotsuba said with a bitter face, "Kuromori-san, this is so difficult, can you give me a little more time?"
Itsuki pursed her lips and said, "Yotsuba, the exam room won't give you extra time. Stop talking and hand in the paper now."
Nino pushed her test paper forward: "Here you go!"
Haruto looked at Itsuki's paper and said, "Not bad, Itsuki got forty-nine points."
Itsuki's face turned slightly red, and she said shyly, "I'll try harder next time."
Haruto nodded slightly, looked at Yotsuba again, and said, "Good job, Yotsuba did well, keep it up…"
After a slight pause in his voice, he said expressionlessly, "Twenty-six points."
"Ehehe."
Yotsuba stuck out her tongue and laughed awkwardly: "It was too difficult, I didn't know how to do it."
'You didn't know how to do it? If I hadn't asked the question, I'd almost believe you!'
Haruto covered his forehead and looked at Nino.
"How about you?"
Nino crossed her arms, lifted her chin, and said, "I must have done well on the test, right?"
Haruto glanced at Nino, closed his eyes, and said, "Not bad, you got thirty-two points."
"Of course!"
Nino raised the corners of her mouth and suddenly noticed Haruto closing his eyes. She curiously asked, "Hey, what are you doing with your eyes closed?"
Haruto: "You don't want to know."
'Someone has to be honest, so to avoid hurting you, I can only ignore my conscience, close my eyes, and lie!'
"..."
Nino was suspicious, always feeling something wasn't right, but after thinking about it, she couldn't figure it out.
At this moment, Yotsuba, who was beside her, thought for a moment and said, "Are you trying to close your eyes and lie?"
Haruto: "😐"
'Do you know what it means to be resilient despite facing difficulties? Even if you know, you have to pretend you don't know; otherwise, everyone will be embarrassed if you say it out loud!'
Nino was furious: "How dare you lie to me?"
Haruto leaned back: "No, it's just that my eyes feel uncomfortable right now."
"Really?"
Haruto opened his eyes and said, "Of course, how could I lie to you, Nino?"
"Hmph, don't think that just because you said that, I'd be happy."
Nino crossed her arms and felt much better. But after noticing Haruto's eyes, she suddenly became angry.
That look was like seeing an idiot!
It reminded Nino of when she was at the zoo, observing a silly roe deer.
At that time, everyone, including her, looked at the Silly Roe Deer like this!
Nino took a deep breath, took Haruto's cup, and walked to the kitchen: "I'll pour some water."
'Hold it! Don't get angry! This time, I definitely won't mess up again.'
Nino looked at the water with added ingredients, and the corners of her mouth lifted, revealing an evil smile.
After coming out of the kitchen, she placed the water in front of Haruto and said indifferently, "Here you go."
Haruto: "😑"
'This is outrageous! Even though it's just once, did you actually come here for a second time? Didn't I just massage you? You enjoyed it too, so it wasn't a loss.'
"Kuromori, are you tired? Let's have some biscuits first."
Nino diligently brought over the biscuits and looked at him expectantly: "I can't control my anger right now. Will you get angry?"
"No."
Haruto took the glass of water with a calm expression and sipped it. He wouldn't get angry if she did, but that didn't mean he would let Nino do whatever she wanted.
'This time, consider it as the final punishment for the last time. You lied to me about Itsuki, and you didn't even apologize. You acted like nothing happened. That made me angry!'
'But don't worry, because you helped Itsuki, I won't let you sleep in the garden.'
Nino took the glass of water and sipped it, then quietly stared at Haruto.
Then Nino knew nothing.
When she woke up, the night had already covered the vast land.
In the room, she slowly sat up, unconsciously covering her head, with a depressed expression on her face.
Her body ached all over. What happened?
The door opened, and Itsuki walked in. She looked at Nino and said, "Nino, let's go down for dinner."
"Mm, got it."
Nino responded, suppressing the discomfort, got up and climbed out of bed, and suddenly remembered something.
She remembered that she was supposed to be studying in the living room.
And then giving Haruto a glass of water, intending to punish him for deceiving her.
But why did she fall asleep?
Nino vaguely recalled something in a daze.