On the day of the evaluation, Knox, Cindy, Claudia, and Merida had already gathered at the designated meeting point. Since there was still some time before the evaluation began, the four of them settled beneath the shade of a nearby tree.
Cindy, however, seemed far more interested in the food Knox had brought than the upcoming evaluation. With both cheeks stuffed full, she continued munching happily as she spoke.
"Mmph, mmph... Kno-x, I think... mmph... we should aim for... the rarest zombie there!"
Claudia, who had been watching her struggle to speak through a mouthful of food, finally couldn't take it anymore. She raised a clenched fist and delivered the hand of justice directly onto Cindy's head.
Thwack!
"Ouch! Clara, what are you doing?!" Cindy immediately covered her head and glared at her. "Do you want me to throw up all the delicious food Knox made that I just ate?!"
"Heh. You deserved it," Merida commented from beside them. "You were eating like a hamster."
Of course, what Merida said was completely true. The only problem was that she seemed to have conveniently forgotten how she herself had been munching away like a hamster just moments earlier.
A green-colored one.
Knox looked between the two girls before letting out a helpless sigh.
"You guys... You do remember that this evaluation is related to zombies, right? Are you sure your stomachs can handle whatever we're going to see later? I don't want to watch both of you throwing up everything you just ate."
Claudia immediately turned toward him with an incredulous look.
"Wasn't all this food brought out by you in the first place?!"
"...Ehe~"
"Ehe~ your head!"
Cindy quickly swallowed what remained in her mouth before confidently puffing out her chest.
"Don't worry, Clara! We're necromancers! We're Kizen students! Do you really think we'd throw up just because of some zombies?"
"Mm. I agree." Merida nodded calmly. "Besides, I'm already used to seeing zombies. My brother sometimes shows them to me at home."
Hearing their confident answers, Knox nodded several times with an exaggeratedly satisfied expression.
"Indeed! As expected of the girls of Group 8! The Three Black Stars! Each one of you is a tough girl!"
"Huh? What kind of chuunibyou nickname is that?!" Cindy immediately protested. "And since when did the three of us even have a nickname?"
Merida, meanwhile, seemed concerned about an entirely different part.
"Knox, why 'Black Stars'? Other than our Kizen uniforms being mostly black, there's nothing else black about us."
"Merida, that's what concerns you?!" Claudia exclaimed.
"Hahaha! Then if the three of you ever need aliases in the future, how about Gaia, Ortega, and Mash~?"
"I DON'T WANT A MACHO NAME!"
Claudia, Cindy, and Merida shouted at exactly the same time.
Meanwhile, the members of Group 7 happened to arrive at the meeting point and quickly noticed the small picnic taking place beneath the tree.
"Ohh, what a party you guys are having! Can I join~?" Rick called out cheerfully.
"Hehe, sorry for intruding," Cami added with a small laugh.
"Hmph! You guys, why are you treating an evaluation like a picnic?!" Meilyn complained, although her eyes still wandered toward the food spread out in front of Group 8.
Three members of Group 7 had already spoken, yet the last one remained strangely silent. Rick, Meilyn, and Cami soon noticed that Simon had stopped beside them and was staring silently at the food Knox had brought out.
Seeing that familiar look, Knox could already guess what had happened.
"Simon, let me guess. You spent so much time preparing for today's evaluation that you forgot to eat breakfast, right?"
"Ah, haha..."
Simon awkwardly scratched his nose after being seen through so easily. Knox's guess was completely correct.
Having visited Pier's ruins early that morning, Simon had already been starving by the time he headed toward the meeting point. He had at least managed to buy a wheat bun from a snack stand along the way, and had been nibbling on it when he met up with the rest of Group 7.
At first, the simple bun had been enough to satisfy him. However, as they approached the meeting point, Simon noticed Group 8 sitting comfortably beneath a tree.
They were eating!
And not just eating. They were eating happily!
Even worse, everything in front of them looked incredibly delicious!
Simon slowly looked down at the half-eaten wheat bun in his hand. Somehow, it had suddenly lost all of its taste.
Knox helplessly shook his head at the pitiful sight.
"Alright, stop standing there like a dumped boyfriend and come here! You guys too. Come on, eat some of my cooking!"
Hearing that, Cami immediately flinched and turned toward Simon with a complicated expression. Apparently, one particular part of Knox's sentence had caught her attention far more than the invitation to eat.
"Simon... you have a girlfriend?"
The innocent question immediately earned a surprised look from Simon, who seemed just as shocked to learn that he apparently had a girlfriend.
The others, however, reacted very differently.
Almost at the same time, the rest of Groups 7 and 8 turned toward Cami with knowing smiles on their faces. Somehow, every single one of them suddenly looked like an auntie who had just discovered some juicy gossip about the younger generation.
It took Cami a few seconds to realize why everyone had suddenly gone quiet.
Then, as she noticed all those knowing gazes directed at her, her face rapidly turned red.
"Ah...this...."
Cami immediately shrank into herself like a frightened hamster. Or perhaps comparing her to Bocchi would be more appropriate at this point.
Fortunately, at least her hair wasn't pink.
After everyone had their fill of teasing the poor girl, they finally decided to let her go. With that little interruption over, Group 7 accepted Knox's invitation and joined the others for the meal.
Whatever pride, shyness, or embarrassment they might have felt was immediately cast aside as all four of them joined Group 8 beneath the tree. When delicious food personally made by Knox was waiting in front of them, pride, shyness, and embarrassment could all go to hell!
While Groups 7 and 8 happily enjoyed Knox's cooking beneath the tree, the surrounding students could only watch with increasingly envious eyes. In the middle of their little picnic, Rick had been teasing Cami about something, only for Meilyn to immediately rebuke him and leave him momentarily speechless.
Unfortunately for her, there was no chance Rick Hayward would simply accept defeat and move on.
Rick rubbed his face like a man facing the greatest crisis of his life.
"Wow, damn. I was saving this for a special occasion."
"Quit spouting crap and focus on the practical evaluation."
"Now, I shall recreate Meilyn's signature victory pose."
"Signature?" The confidence on Meilyn's face immediately wavered.
"When Meilyn won during the duel evaluations, it was something like this."
Rick folded his arms, placing his left arm across his stomach while raising his right toward his face. He straightened one leg and slightly bent the other, deliberately exaggerating the curvy, tilted pose before pushing his hair back with his right hand and giving everyone a sly smile.
"Try harder, commoner."
"Pffft!"
"Puhuh!"
The students who had been watching from nearby finally lost whatever restraint they had left. Laughter immediately broke out around the tree, while the reactions from Groups 7 and 8 were even worse.
Knox nearly choked on his drink, while Claudia covered her mouth and desperately fought to keep her laughter from escaping. Merida had already closed her eyes and gone completely limp against the tree as though she had suddenly fallen asleep, but the constant shaking of her shoulders completely betrayed her attempt to play dead.
Cindy, meanwhile, didn't even bother trying.
"Ahahahahaha!"
She was already rolling around on the grass, clutching her stomach as she laughed without the slightest concern for Meilyn's dignity.
Simon wasn't much better. The moment Rick delivered the final line, he spat out the bread he had been chewing, while Cami quickly covered her mouth with both hands in a desperate attempt to hide her laughter.
As for Meilyn herself, her face had already turned bright red.
"You...!"
She immediately pulled her bag out of subspace and began beating Rick with it. Rick took several hits squarely to the face before collapsing onto the grass, where the punishment quickly turned into a completely one-sided assault.
"Another beatdown ending!"
"Die!"
Another wave of laughter erupted around them, but just as everyone thought Rick's suffering would mark the end of the joke, Knox suddenly raised his right hand.
"Wait, wait! Everyone, let me try it too!"
That immediately drew everyone's attention toward him. Under the curious gazes of Groups 7 and 8, along with the surrounding students who had already been enjoying the spectacle, Knox slowly stood up and stepped forward.
He crossed both arms over his chest before turning his face slightly to the right. With his eyes closed, chin raised, and an expression overflowing with the smug confidence of a textbook tsundere young lady, Knox gave a small huff.
"Me? Losing? In your dreams, hmph!"
"PFFFFT!"
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Whatever restraint had survived Rick's performance finally shattered.
Claudia, who had been desperately holding herself back until now, immediately burst out laughing, while Merida's attempt to pretend she was asleep completely collapsed. Cindy had already been rolling around on the grass before, but Knox's performance somehow made things even worse, leaving her laughing so hard that she could barely catch her breath.
Naturally, the only person who didn't find any of this amusing was the victim herself.
Meilyn's already-red face somehow became even redder, until she looked ready to compete with a ripe tomato.
"You... KNOX AZNABLE!"
Her furious roar rang across the meeting point, but the moment she was about to move, Meilyn hesitated. She had just shamelessly joined everyone in eating Knox's delicious homemade cooking, so even she couldn't bring herself to immediately repay him by beating him up.
That, however, didn't mean there wasn't another perfectly acceptable target nearby.
"Ouch! Why are you kicking me?!" Rick cried as Meilyn's foot slammed into him. "Knox is the one who just mocked you! Why me?!"
"Hmph! Shut up! Just die!"
Meilyn continued stomping on him without mercy.
Sure, I can't hit Knox after eating his food, but you think I can't hit you?!
"Hah, seriously."
Not far from them, one of the girls near Hector's group scoffed as she watched the commotion.
"They've got zero sense of the mood. They don't even know where we're going, and they're acting all carefree..." She paused when the boy beside her suddenly snickered. "Don't laugh, dumbass!"
"Ow!"
She immediately smacked him on the back of the head, earning yet another small burst of laughter from those nearby.
The lively atmosphere continued for a while longer, with students chatting, laughing, and making their final preparations for the evaluation. However, the noise quickly began to settle when a familiar figure finally appeared before the gathered students.
"Attention."
And with that familiar voice drawing everyone's attention toward him, Professor Aaron had finally arrived.