When she reached the classroom door, she stood there for a while and looked into Reikou's eyes—Reikou also looked into her eyes—for a moment, they just looked into each other's eyes. After a while—
"You foolish," Meiyu whispered and went inside.
"Hmph… Why does she always call me foolish?" Reikou thought with a terrifying face.
When Meiyu entered the classroom, she saw Mr. Yinglan announcing the test results. As soon as Mr. Yinglan saw Meiyu, he whispered, "CONGRATULATIONS, YOU PASSED!"
Meiyu showed a soft smile. "THANK YOU," she whispered, took the test result, and went to sit in her place.
As she was going to her place, she noticed someone. She froze there—when she saw that person clearly, she couldn't believe her eyes because she saw Kaoru.
"Ka-Kaoru…"
"What is he doing here?"
"Has he come back?"
Meiyu thought. On the outside, she appeared calm, but inside, she was deeply unsettled. It felt like she was hiding something—
something she couldn't express.
On the other side, Kaoru also noticed Meiyu but acted like he didn't. Then suddenly, he turned his face toward Meiyu and showed an evil smile while raising his eyebrow—like he wanted to say, I AM BACK.
"Huh?" Meiyu whispered and ignored Kaoru, then sat in her seat.
She showed nothing on her face, but inside, she felt tension seeing Kaoru again.
"MEIYU!" Shiori and Yueko whispered.
"What happened?" Yueko asked.
Meiyu showed a smile and whispered, "No-Nothing."
She tilted her head and whispered again, "Why are Ryuuto and Reikou standing outside?"
"Ahh, it's better not to ask."
"They both failed, so they got punished," Shiori whispered with a sad smile.
"I see," Meiyu whispered.
Outside the classroom, Ryuuto and Reikou stood with their hands behind their backs, leaning against the wall. They both felt sleepy but actually weren't—Reikou was in deep thought while closing his eyes.
Suddenly—
"Reikou, why did you fail?"
"As I remember, you took the B sheet too," Ryuuto whispered for the first time in a normal tone.
"I tried to make my own answers… but unfortunately, they were all wrong," Reikou replied with a simple smirk, showing that he didn't care about it.
"What about you?" Reikou whispered.
For a moment, Ryuuto didn't respond.
For the first time, Ryuuto's expression showed some seriousness, and then he replied—
"To be honest…"
"I just wrote the questions and left the sheet blank."
"But… I don't know why—"
"I'm feeling too much disappointment."
Ryuuto spoke in a simple and normal voice, but his voice showed dedication now.
Reikou watched him and thought—
"Ryuuto… feels disappointed."
"Why am I not?"
They both kept silent now, lost in their own deep thoughts—Ryuuto thinking about his results, his performance—while Reikou was still thinking about Kaoru and Meiyu.
After some time, break time started.
BRRRRINGGGGG!!!
Cheer! Students excitedly celebrated the break.
Chatter - Chatter! Group conversations started.
Shuffle - Shuffle! Students got up and moved around.
The moment the break started, Kaoru stood up and walked toward Meiyu. She noticed him approaching.
"Let's go," Meiyu whispered to Shiori and Yueko so she could leave the class and avoide Kaoru.
But before they could move, Kaoru reached her. Meiyu tried to intervene and avoid him quickly, but Kaoru grabbed her hand.
"Huh!" Shiori and Yueko gasped.
"Where are you going?" Kaoru whispered slowly in Meiyu's ear.
Meanwhile—
Outside the classroom—
"Hey, Ryuuto, let's go," Reikou whispered.
"Hmph."
"You go—I'll come after a minute," Ryuuto replied, but this time, he had a smile.
"Hmm, okay," Reikou whispered.
Reikou looked at Ryuuto for a moment and thought—
"What's with Ryuuto today?"
As soon as Reikou opened the door, he directly saw Kaoru holding Meiyu's hand. Seeing this, Reikou started burning inside so badly, it felt like he was going to lose control—
Because he already hated Kaoru from the start and considered him his rival.
"Let go of my hand," Meiyu whispered boldly to Kaoru.
Before Kaoru could react or reply, a hand landed on Kaoru's shoulder. When Kaoru looked back, it was Reikou.
"Let go of her hand," Reikou whispered.
Kaoru replied, "I won't. What will you do then?"
Shiori and Yueko watched this, unable to understand. But Yueko could understand a little because she was Meiyu's old friend.
But wait—where is Kiyoshi? Kiyoshi wasn't there. Where was he?
Just as Kaoru replied, Reikou smirked, raised an eyebrow, clenched his fist, and swung at him.
WHOOSH! Reikou's fist cut through the air—
But Kaoru dodged it, and Reikou's punch landed badly on Meiyu's face.
SMASH! A brutal punch hit Meiyu's face.
At that moment, Kaoru let go of Meiyu's hand, and she fell down.
Everyone in the classroom stopped in their places, watching the intense scene—
"MEIYU!" Shiori and Yueko whispered.
"Are you okay?" Yueko whispered.
"What are you both doing?" Shiori whispered.
Reikou had mistakenly punched Meiyu.
"Shitt..."
"I - I - punched her"
"Meiyuuu!" Reikou rushed to check on Meiyu.
As he rushed, Kaoru kicked him—because Reikou was running, the kick had more impact, making Reikou fall to the other side.
"Someone call Mr. Yinglan!" one student whispered in the classroom.
"YOU BASTARD!" Reikou shouted and went to punch Kaoru again.
But suddenly, Kiyoshi grabbed him from behind.
From the moment Reikou entered the classroom, Kiyoshi had guessed Reikou's reaction by looking at his face—he was burning inside. So, Kiyoshi had already taken his position like a defender to stop the attack.
"Kiyoshi, let me go!" Reikou whispered, struggling hard to break free from Kiyoshi's grip.
"Reikou! Control yourself! Stop it!" Kiyoshi shouted.
"Just look at this failure," Kaoru whispered.
When Kaoru whispered, Reikou stopped moving. He looked at Kaoru—and not only he, but everyone was looking at Kaoru now.
"Doing this… what do you want to prove?"
"Do you want to impress Meiyu? But so sad—you punched her instead. See?" Kaoru whispered with an antagonist smirk, slightly raising his head with his hands in his pockets.
From the side, Sayomi watched all this. She could feel both Meiyu and Reikou's emotions. She watched quietly and silently.
Reikou didn't respond or react to Kaoru's words. He just listened.
"The one who can't even pass a normal class test…"
"Trying to impress Meiyu?"
"Haha, such a failure," Kaoru whispered.
"I can guarantee…"
"People like you don't even have goals."
"They just chase girls their entire lives."
Kaoru whispered, showing an unsympathetic smile.
Reikou still stood silently, just listening. It felt as if Kaoru was revealing something about Reikou that even he hadn't realized.
Shiori realized that Ryuuto was missing.
"Where is Ryuuto?" she thought in her mind.
Then she whispered, "Yueko, take care of Meiyu, I'll be right back." Shiori whispered and rushed outside the class.
"Meiyu, are you okay?" Yueko asked softly.
Meiyu looked up—her face was swollen where Reikou had hit her. She looked at Reikou for a few seconds. Then—
"REIKOU!" she whispered in her mind while looking at him.