Our one-on-one study session was supposed to be just Yuria and me, but thanks to a "Tana-flare"—as opposed to the usual "parent-flare"—Tanaka had ended up crashing the party.
And then, about ten minutes after we started...
"Munya... Hehehe... I can't drink another drop, Airi-tan..."
Tanaka was out.
Within minutes, her forehead was glued to the textbook on the low table, and she was fast asleep.
I figured it would turn out like this.
"Seriously? She fell into a dead sleep that fast... Is Tanaka really second in our grade? I find it hard to believe she's the smartest person after Rui."
"Even if she’s like this, Tanaka is brilliant. Or rather, she’s had a superhuman memory since junior high. She can memorize every line of a manga or anime after seeing it once, and when it comes to schoolwork, she apparently memorizes textbooks in an instant."
"What kind of broken cheat ability is that? She’s basically an isekai protagonist. I'm so jealous."
Tanaka wasn't just smart; her memory was on a completely different level. That was the main reason I had gone to her to dig up dirt on Rui’s junior high days in the first place.
The only problem was that she used that incredible talent almost exclusively for her otaku hobbies.
"If she's that amazing, shouldn't she be able to beat Rui, though?"
"I’ve wondered that myself. But since junior high, Tanaka has always been stuck in second place. She’s never managed to beat Rui."
"Wait, really? Not even in a single subject?"
"Nope. Not once. Rui Kuroki might be a 'Perfect Superhuman' precisely because she holds that top spot by overwhelming even Tanaka’s monstrous memory."
The more I appreciated how incredible Tanaka was, the more it highlighted just what a monster Rui was at everything she did.
"I guess Tanaka is fighting at a level I can't even fathom, despite how she looks right now." Yuria sighed in admiration, idly playing with the sleeping girl's hair.
"You're plenty impressive yourself, Yuria. You passed the exam for this school, after all."
"I'm really... not. In my third year of junior high, I didn't have anything better to do, so I just buried myself in books. And besides... I just didn't want to end up at the same high school as that person."
Yuria bit her lip, her voice tight as if she were suppressing a painful memory. Her usual bright, gyaru expression vanished, replaced by a grimace as if she had bitten into something bitter.
"By 'that person'... do you mean that former best friend you mentioned? The one you had the falling out with?"
"Yeah. She told me my hobbies were disgusting and pushed me away. During my last year of junior high, I was basically frozen out of her group. But because of that, I was able to focus on my studies and eventually become friends with Rui, Airi, and you... so in the end, it all worked out!"
She was forcing a cheerful tone, but hearing her say it made it easy to imagine how difficult it must have been.
When you're a loner like me, you tend to become surprisingly observant of the class hierarchy. I’d seen plenty of people get ousted from the popular groups before, and it was always a brutal experience.
The "extrovert" circles might look glamorous from the outside, but the internal politics are cutthroat. Once you're kicked out, there's no safety net. A former popular kid can't just slide into the loner groups; they end up completely isolated within the classroom.
Unless there’s a particularly kind soul in one of the loner groups who's willing to take them in, they're stuck. But since most loners have an inherent aversion to the popular crowd, that rarely happens in reality.
"I'm awkward, so I honestly didn't know how to make up with her. I knew she was going to a private school nearby, so I felt like my only choice was to aim for a public one further away. I guess, at the end of the day, I was just running away."
"...You're strong, Yuria. In every way that counts."
"S-strong? Me? No, I was just telling you how weak I am."
Yuria blinked at me, her eyes rounding in surprise.
"Think about it. If I had been in your shoes, I would have stopped going to school the very next day. I would have given up on everything. But you kept going. You studied hard and made it into this school. That’s incredible, and it’s proof beyond a doubt that you’re strong."
"I'm... strong, huh?"
She might not have realized it herself, but I truly felt that Yuria’s resilience was amazing. It was something I could never have managed.
"Ryouta, you're usually just a lecherous brat, but you say the nicest things at the best times, don't you?"
"Hey, did you really have to include the 'lecherous brat' part right now?"
"But, listen... keep that kind of gentle comforting just for me, okay? I feel like other girls would totally get the wrong idea."
"The wrong idea? What’s that supposed to mean?"
"Never mind. In exchange... I'll always be on your side. Forever and ever, okay?"
Yuria gave me a warm, tender smile—a stark contrast to her usual energetic grin.
W-what did she mean by "on my side"? Was it a straightforward confession, or...
"By 'side,' do you mean... like, the side of my bed? Or is that code for your thighs? Are you saying I'm the ally of your thighs? Because if so, I'm honored."
"Huh? Good grief, you really are... That's it. You're so annoying that I'm banning you from looking at my thighs for an entire week."
"W-what?! Please, have mercy! Anything but that!"
"At the very least, not until exams are over. Try to keep your libido under control for once."
"No way...!"
"Munya... Hey! You two have stopped working! You're supposed to be studying, aren't you?!"
""Don't give us that when you were the one sleeping!""
Tanaka had woken up at some point and started lecturing us with bleary eyes, prompting an immediate, synchronized retort from both of us.