—It seemed he really could do it.
With the start of the study group, the after-school activities in the Service Club for the past few days had changed from 'if there are no requests, everyone does their own thing' to 'if there are no requests, we start studying.'
Yukinoshita was responsible for teaching Yuigahama, while Hikigaya and Mori Shinra learned from each other. Hikigaya helped Shinra with liberal arts, and Shinra taught Hikigaya science.
It was worth mentioning that for as good as Hikigaya's liberal arts were, his science was equally terrible. Even Yuigahama's math score was a bit higher than Mr. Dead-Fish Eyes'.
Although Yuigahama's learning efficiency wasn't high due to her weak foundation, because Mori Shinra, Yukinoshita, and Hikigaya were all the type of people who become extremely serious once they commit to something, their study sessions were completely focused. In this academic atmosphere, Yuigahama, who was adept at reading the room, had no choice but to work hard as well, and her grades were steadily improving.
And compared to Yuigahama's steady improvement, the speed of Mori Shinra's progress could only be described as bizarre.
At least, Hikigaya had never seen anything like it. If Yuigahama's progress was a slow, linear improvement, then Shinra's rate of improvement was practically exponential.
Honestly, to be able to score in the top three in a key high school like Sobu, Hikigaya considered himself to be somewhat of a genius. But now, having met Mori Shinra, he truly understood what a real genius was.
Was this kind of learning efficiency something a human could possess?
This guy's learning speed could no longer be described as merely 'efficient.' It was more like 'copying.' It was as if the knowledge was just sitting there, and all Mori Shinra had to do was pick it up.
And as the one being 'copied' from, Hikigaya felt like he was being squeezed dry by this guy.
Keep in mind, it had been less than a week since the Service Club study group began. Factoring in time for rest and relaxation, the actual time spent on studying and discussion was barely an hour and a half a day, and that didn't even include the time Shinra spent teaching him math...
"Are you a monster?" Hikigaya finally couldn't help but ask, seeing the long list of checkmarks on the study progress schedule next to Shinra.
At first, Hikigaya had suspected that Shinra was just ticking the boxes for the sake of it, not actually completing the tasks but deceiving himself.
But after Shinra performed a brutal feat for him called "reciting backwards like flowing water," Hikigaya never again questioned the authenticity of his study progress.
And what was this brutal feat?
He had Hikigaya randomly pick a text from a textbook. After reading it once, Shinra recited it backwards.
Truly reciting backwards like flowing water.
"Personal attacks are not encouraged," Shinra said without lifting his head, tossing aside the book he had just 'copied' and adding another checkmark to his list.
"You can ask them. Who studies like you? Not even Yukinoshita can do it to this extent, can she?" Hikigaya sought validation from the two girls across the table.
Hearing this, Yukinoshita and Yuigahama exchanged a glance and couldn't help but nod in agreement, with Yuigahama's nod being particularly vigorous.
"Exactly! By the way, if you're so amazing, why were your grades so bad before?" Yuigahama asked, puzzled.
Because it was turned off.
"Because I didn't want to," Shinra said faintly.
"Then why do you want to now?"
Because it wasn't turned off.
"Because of the bet. Being able to make Yukinoshita owe me a favor is enough to make me take some interest in liberal arts. Also, if my grades don't improve, it would probably cause some trouble for Hiratsuka-sensei, who is both our homeroom and National Language teacher."
Although Shinra had chosen the liberal arts track himself, if his grades didn't improve, Hiratsuka-sensei would face some pressure from the school administration.
After all, his previous science scores had been monopolizing the top spot. Even after moving to the liberal arts track, it shouldn't be like this. If there was no improvement, it was highly likely that someone would question her teaching ability.
Shinra didn't want his choice to affect Hiratsuka-sensei.
"So that's how it is?" Yuigahama exclaimed. So this is how top students study. It was a real eye-opener for her.
If Yukinoshita and Hikigaya knew what she was thinking, they would probably deny it in unison.
Wrong. That is not how top students study. This Mori Shinra guy is an exception among exceptions.
"How about it, Yukinoshita-san? Feeling the pressure?" Shinra winked at her.
"Not at all. In fact, this is better," Yukinoshita said, showing no fear despite his heaven-defying performance.
In fact, with Yukinoshita Yukino's personality, even if she knew she would lose, she would never stop or beg for mercy. If she did, she wouldn't be a Yukinoshita.
It must be known that the consistent educational policy of the Yukinoshita family was to establish rivals in order to constantly surpass them.
And Yukinoshita Yukino's rival was her older sister, Yukinoshita Haruno. But to date, she had never won against her sister in any aspect.
It was precisely for this reason that Yukinoshita Yukino was not as delicate as she appeared on the surface. On the contrary, her resilience far surpassed that of an ordinary person, which was also part of her charm.
"As expected of Yukinoshita. But I'm already considering what kind of condition I should demand from you," Shinra said, basically popping the champagne at halftime. He unabashedly looked her up and down.
Feeling his gaze, Yukinoshita couldn't help but lean back slightly, defensively wrapping her arms around herself. She said warily, "We agreed before, the condition can't be too excessive."
"Ho ho, already thinking about how to sign the treaty of defeat?"
"It's just that your gaze makes me feel threatened. Even if there's a one in ten thousand chance, I don't want my chastity to be threatened."
"Is that the kind of person you think I am?" Shinra retorted.
Although Yukinoshita was indeed very cute, he wasn't so despicable as to use such means to obtain her body, was he?
Compared to threats and coercion, Shinra preferred mutual, consensual pure love.
He was only eighteen. Pure love is invincible.
"It's hard to say. After all, males are generally not very reliable in this aspect," Yukinoshita said, making a rare generalization.
Hikigaya felt he should stand up and speak for all men.
"For example, the Hikigaya next to you. His eyes are very dangerous."
Hikigaya sat back down. It seemed he had done a disservice to all men.
Yuigahama laughed. "Hikki's eyes do look a bit vacant, but you kind of get used to them after a while."
"It's very rude to comment on someone's appearance. Besides, I don't think there's anything wrong with my appearance. Even if I can't compare to Mori Shinra, it's perfectly fine to say I'm decent-looking, right?" Hikigaya argued in his own defense.
His little sister had said he was the most handsome boy in the world!