It was nearly eight o'clock, still early—enough time for Shikime Natsu to leisurely retrieve the teaching materials from Asahina Nazuna.
Shikime Natsu arrived at the foot of the second-year dormitory building with practiced ease. He discovered that once there were no beautiful girls around him, the number of students passing by or coming into view increased significantly. Is this not some sort of strange rule found in ghost stories? Once the female lead appears, the existence of passersby becomes superfluous.
Soon, Shikime Natsu arrived in front of the elevator doors. Relying on his photographic memory, Shikime Natsu had firmly memorized Asahina Nazuna's room number. Of course, even without this ability, Shikime Natsu could remember it clearly; after all, he had just visited yesterday, so how could he forget so quickly?
"Ding."
The elevator doors next to him opened, and Shikime Natsu caught a glimpse of someone walking over. It was an acquaintance. Wasn't this Nagumo Miyabi, whom he had just met yesterday? He didn't expect to run into him again at the same elevator; it really was quite a coincidence.
Nagumo Miyabi obviously noticed the person standing at the elevator entrance as well. His brows immediately furrowed, and his eyes revealed considerable dissatisfaction. Shikime Natsu turned around and greeted Nagumo Miyabi quite naturally.
"Yo, good evening, Nagumo-senpai."
"Why are you here?" Nagumo Miyabi's tone was very poor.
"Of course, it's to find Asahina-senpai and ask for the second-year study materials. After all, no matter how you put it, this is an important competition with Nagumo-senpai. I wouldn't go so far as to compete with you, Nagumo-senpai, without even looking at the second-year textbooks. That would be looking down on you too much, wouldn't it?"
Shikime Natsu chuckled lightly, but Nagumo Miyabi didn't hear any respect in Shikime Natsu's tone. Asahina Nazuna had said yesterday that Shikime Natsu placed himself on the same level as Horikita Manabu—who was he trying to fool?
Nagumo Miyabi hadn't expected that yesterday's bet would give Shikime Natsu another opportunity to seek out Asahina Nazuna. Unpleasant. Quite unpleasant!
"There is no need to go find her," Nagumo Miyabi took a deep breath, forcefully suppressing the urge to flare up on the spot, and spoke coldly. "I will have someone send all the second-year textbooks and review materials to your dormitory. You can go back."
He didn't want to let Shikime Natsu see Asahina Nazuna again.
"Oh my, Nagumo-senpai is truly too polite." Shikime Natsu shook his head with a smile, but his attitude of refusal was unusually firm. "However, I have already troubled Asahina-senpai, so there is no need to trouble Nagumo-senpai. Therefore, I appreciate Nagumo-senpai's good intentions, but I must decline."
"You...!"
Nagumo Miyabi's fist clenched slightly, his knuckles making a faint sound. He lowered his voice, his tone revealing a thick sense of warning. "Shiki, have you forgotten something? Don't forget our bet. If you lose, you are not allowed to step within half a meter of Nazuna ever again."
"You said it yourself—that is a matter for after I lose." Shikime Natsu chuckled lightly, his eyes showing not a care in the world. "Right now, Nagumo-senpai is not yet the winner."
Nagumo Miyabi regretted not having someone directly give the second-year textbooks to Shikime Natsu when the bet was made. He had originally thought to increase the difficulty for Shikime Natsu, but he hadn't expected Shikime Natsu to go directly to Asahina Nazuna.
The elevator doors slowly opened. Shikime Natsu stepped in first, then turned around, smilingly holding the 'open' button as he looked at Nagumo Miyabi standing outside.
"What's wrong? Is Nagumo-senpai not coming up?"
Nagumo Miyabi snorted coldly and walked into the elevator with a dark face. The metal doors slowly closed, and the space became somewhat cramped. Nagumo Miyabi felt slightly unable to keep his cool, especially seeing that confident expression on Shikime Natsu's face.
"Shiki, don't think you can defeat me just by purchasing past exam questions. If you want to defeat me, using such petty tricks is completely useless."
Listening to Nagumo Miyabi say these words, Shikime Natsu's expression didn't change at all.
"Rest assured. Even if there really were any, I wouldn't use them. After all, even without using past exam questions, I can still achieve victory all the same."
Arrogant! Simply arrogant to the extreme! Looking at Shikime Natsu's appearance, as if victory was already in his grasp, Nagumo Miyabi only felt the dissatisfaction in his heart about to overflow. How could this school have a guy even more haughty and annoying than himself?
"Good, very good." Nagumo Miyabi laughed out of extreme anger, his eyes flashing with a dangerous light. "Since you are so confident, then I will wait and see."
"Ding."
The elevator reached the designated floor. The doors slid open slowly. Nagumo Miyabi stepped out first, but after taking two steps, he suddenly paused. The thought of Shikime Natsu going to Asahina Nazuna's room next made him very unhappy—even he, as her childhood friend, hadn't been there!
"Goodbye, Nagumo-senpai. I wish you a pleasant evening."
Noticing Nagumo Miyabi pausing his steps, Shikime Natsu added a farewell.
"Hmph!"
Nagumo Miyabi gave a heavy cold snort and left directly. This was the last time. Wait until the midterm exams are over, wait until the moment the results are announced, and all of this will completely end. Shikime Natsu could only be arrogant for this short while longer.
Although angry in his heart, after calming down, Nagumo Miyabi actually didn't truly regard Shikime Natsu as a life-or-death enemy that required his all-out effort, deep down. In the end, this was just a first-year freshman. For this exam, Nagumo Miyabi was fully confident he could get a high score close to full marks.
He had long since memorized the study materials for the third year of high school by heart, and he had also obtained the scope of the exam questions through various means. Relying on the problem-solving ability and intelligence network he had honed during his counterattack from Class B to Class A, he knew the direction of the questions for this midterm exam like the back of his hand.
And what about Shikime Natsu? He needed to face a knowledge gap spanning an entire grade level. To want to master the second-year knowledge learned from the start of school until now, as well as the entire first-year knowledge, starting from zero within just two weeks... it could be said to be as difficult as ascending to heaven.
And since he himself had already mastered the third-year knowledge, the difficulty for the two of them was not on the same magnitude at all. Thinking it was fair competition? In this wave, he was playing on a completely higher level. Nagumo Miyabi sneered in his heart as he walked.
Shikime Natsu had walked into his trap so simply. It seemed this guy, rumored to be god-like, wasn't as supremely intelligent as generally believed. The anger from last night? Heh, that was just a play he deliberately acted out to lure him into taking the bait, making him agree to this seemingly fair but actually unfair bet. If he couldn't even see through such a simple provocation and trap, then this so-called genius was nothing more than this, fundamentally unworthy of being his opponent.
And Shikime Natsu hadn't seen through it. Sure enough. The only one in this school who could truly be called his opponent, worthy of his all-out effort to crush, was that man—Horikita Manabu. The rest were nothing but empty names. What a waste for Horikita Manabu to give this Shikime Natsu such a high evaluation. It seems that even the flawless Student Council President has times when his judgment fails.
Regardless of what Nagumo Miyabi thought, Shikime Natsu had already arrived at Asahina Nazuna's floor. Walking to the front of Asahina Nazuna's room, Shikime Natsu sent a message to Asahina Nazuna saying he had arrived.
[Shikime Natsu: Senpai, I'm already at the door.]
It was almost an instant reply.
[Asahina Nazuna: OK! Wait a moment~]
After waiting for a short while, the door didn't open immediately. Shikime Natsu wasn't in a hurry and stood patiently at the door. It seemed Asahina-senpai's foot injury hadn't recovered very well, and moving around was still somewhat inconvenient. After another minute or two, the door finally opened a crack slowly.
Asahina Nazuna held onto the door frame, an apologetic smile revealing itself on that cute face.
"Sorry, Shikime-kouhai, I made you wait long. The foot I twisted yesterday still isn't very convenient right now."
"It's okay, Senpai doesn't need to force herself so much," Shikime Natsu said gently, his gaze sweeping over her ankle wrapped in bandages.
"Come on in." Asahina Nazuna turned sideways, enthusiastically inviting Shikime Natsu into the room. "I've organized the materials you wanted; they're on the bookshelf over there. I'll mark out the key scope the teacher highlighted for you right now."
"I've really troubled you, Senpai."
Shikime Natsu expressed his sincere gratitude, then stepped into this room filled with a girlish aura. Upon entering, a faint fragrance assailed his nose. It was a scent mixing citrus body wash and some kind of sweet floral fragrance—fresh but not cloying, making one feel relaxed and happy upon smelling it.
Asahina Nazuna was currently wearing very cute pink hooded pajamas, different from the school uniform she wore when he sent her back last night. Although the loose pajamas covered her fine curves, that homely, lazy atmosphere, along with a patch of snow-white collarbone slightly revealed at the neckline, instead added a few points of unique, heart-racing charm.
"Shikime-kouhai, could you trouble yourself to put those few books on this chair and push it over?" Asahina Nazuna shifted somewhat difficultly to sit by the bed and pointed to the chair nearby.
Shikime Natsu did as asked, moving that thick stack of textbooks to the bedside.
"Come, Shikime-kouhai, sit here."
When he got close to her, the scent from her bath became even more obvious. It seemed that although her foot was injured last night, this Senpai still insisted on taking a bath. As for how she completed such a high-difficulty action as bathing while dragging that red and swollen foot... Shikime Natsu wasn't clear on that.
Asahina Nazuna patted the edge of the bed beside her generously. "Come a bit closer so I can explain the key points to you."
"Okay."
Shikime Natsu naturally wouldn't be affectedly bashful and readily agreed. He sat directly on the edge of the bed beside Asahina Nazuna. Because they needed to look at the books and mark the scope, the distance between the two naturally couldn't be too wide. At this moment, their shoulders were almost touching, and the distance between them was barely a few fingers' width.
Following Asahina Nazuna's movements as she leaned over to turn the pages, that pleasant fragrance on her body still drifted into Shikime Natsu's nose unconsciously. Of course, Shikime Natsu didn't have any excessive reaction; after all, when he slept at night, he could often smell the fragrance of another beautiful girl.
Asahina Nazuna opened the books very seriously, using a highlighter to make marks and drawings on them.
"This formula is sure to be tested, and the problem-solving train of thought for this example question... The knowledge points here are relatively difficult, and the teacher mentions them often, so a big question might appear..."
Watching her focused profile, her long eyelashes trembling slightly, her mouth still muttering various points of attention... After a good while, all the key questions were finally marked. Asahina Nazuna seemed worried that Shikime Natsu wouldn't understand, so she thoughtfully made a few extra marks next to several particularly difficult knowledge points and wrote some brief notes in the blank spaces to prevent him from forgetting.
"Phew... finally done." She closed the book and looked up at Shikime Natsu, a smile of relief appearing on her face. "If there's anything you don't understand, you can message me anytime, don't be polite."
Saying that, she seemed to remember something else, turned around, and took out a few textbooks that looked somewhat old from the bedside table.
"By the way, these are the textbooks for the second and third semesters of the first year. Although the exam scope is mainly second-year content, many knowledge points in math, physics, and chemistry are built upon the foundation of the first year. You haven't learned these yet, so I marked out the first-year knowledge points you might use for you as well. You can take a look when you have time; it should be helpful."
Looking at those textbooks filled with densely packed notes, Shikime Natsu couldn't help but sigh with emotion; this Senpai of his was really treating him quite well. To think she even marked out the first-year knowledge he might need. The time required for this was definitely not insignificant; she must have used the time after he spoke with her this morning to organize it.
"Thank you so much, Asahina-senpai. Since Asahina-senpai helped me this much, I definitely must get full marks on this exam."
"Oh my, full marks is too exaggerated. These are just a lifting of a hand. You helped me greatly, and now I'm just helping you back. It's just... wanting to master this knowledge within two weeks is still quite difficult." Asahina Nazuna spoke with a smile, her eyes carrying a bit of worry. "How about..."
"Asahina-senpai, I will win."
Shikime Natsu looked at Asahina Nazuna and smiled. He knew what Asahina Nazuna might say next, but... he wouldn't lose. If he lost even while cheating, then Shikime Natsu could be expelled from the human race starting today.
Shikime Natsu's gaze landed once again on her ankle, which was still somewhat red and swollen. Even sitting on the bed, she would subconsciously place that injured foot in a relatively relaxed posture; obviously, it was still throbbing with pain.
"It seems the sprain was a bit severe, but I estimate it should be a little better tomorrow, at least enough to attend class normally." Asahina Nazuna noticed Shikime Natsu's gaze and smiled; this was something that couldn't be helped.
"Does Asahina-senpai want to recover as soon as possible?" Shikime Natsu asked.
Asahina Nazuna froze suddenly, then smiled. "Of course I want to recover as soon as possible. You don't know how inconvenient it is after spraining it."
Listening to Asahina Nazuna's tone, Shikime Natsu knew that after the sprain, Asahina Nazuna's life was very inconvenient.
"Asahina-senpai, I have learned a kind of massage technique that can accelerate recovery. Would Asahina-senpai like to try it?"
____
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