"Finally over!"
Having turned in her paper early and walked out of the classroom, Mio Shirai felt the cold wind blowing at her face and stretched out comfortably.
Her lovely figure was on full display in that moment. It was a shame there was no one around to see it.
There was still half an hour until the exam ended. Her own test was done, but since the teacher still had things to announce afterward, she couldn't leave just yet.
After mulling it over for a bit, Mio headed straight downstairs to the vending machine and bought a can of coffee.
MAX Coffee. This was apparently the kind of coffee Hachiman, that "Great Teacher," really liked. She'd had it a few times herself, but never noticed anything special about it.
It just tasted like ordinary canned coffee.
Just as Mio was thinking about finding somewhere to sit down and relax, a figure both familiar and unfamiliar appeared in her line of sight.
Long, straight black hair. A beautiful face. A gorgeous figure. The most eye-catching thing of all had to be those long legs clad in black tights.
At the same time, a name surfaced in Mio's mind.
Utaha Kasumigaoka.
Mio had heard plenty about her, but had never actually met her.
It wasn't that she couldn't meet her; she just didn't want to, because the moment she interacted with her, then given Utaha Kasumigaoka's status, there was a one-hundred-percent chance she'd get registered onto the System's panel.
So the instant she saw her, Mio didn't say a word. Without another word, she turned on her heel and bailed.
The moment Mio noticed Utaha, Utaha noticed Mio too.
After all, that head of silver-white hair was hard to miss.
And in this school, the only person with hair that color was Mio.
Ever since the girl had transferred in, Utaha had constantly been hearing people talk about her, and had even spotted her from a distance a few times. She'd just never actually interacted with her.
What puzzled her was why the girl had looked like she'd seen a ghost and bolted without a word the moment she saw her.
Utaha figured she was pretty good-looking. Sure, she might be a little hard to approach, but that wasn't enough to make someone run at the sight of her, was it?
Strange as it was, she didn't pay it too much mind. She just walked up to the vending machine, planning to buy a drink.
And that was when she suddenly noticed something on the ground in front of the vending machine.
She picked it up and took a look. It was a student ID. Mio Shirai's student ID.
Meanwhile, having put some distance between them, Mio let out a long breath.
Who'd have thought that turning in her paper early to come out for some fresh air and a little relaxation would mean running into Utaha Kasumigaoka.
Still, it looked like her luck was pretty good. Utaha hadn't shown up on the conquest panel, thanks to her quick reaction. If she'd let the other girl get any closer, she might've triggered a task.
After this little incident, there were only about fifteen minutes left until the exam ended.
To avoid running into Utaha Kasumigaoka again, Mio just hid herself away in an empty classroom.
It wasn't until the bell rang and the exam ended that she carefully stepped out of the empty classroom.
Then, on high alert, she made her way back to her own classroom.
Seeing Mio return, Yui Yuigahama eagerly came over and said, "Mio, how do you think you did?"
"Lucky you. I just went over the answers with someone, and I think I got a bunch of stuff wrong." Yui sighed.
"The scores aren't even out yet, so stop overthinking it."
Speaking of scores, Mio quietly let her gaze land on Yumiko Miura, then walked over to her with a grin and said, "Yumiko, how're you feeling now that the exam's done?"
"How am I supposed to feel? You're the one who handed in her paper without even checking it. You really that confident you can beat me?"
"Heh heh heh. You'll find out once the scores come back."
It was right then that the rest of the riajuu crew gathered around and started chatting about how their exams had gone.
Sadly, they hadn't been talking long before Shizuka Hiratsuka, who served as the student guidance teacher, walked into the classroom.
Once the students were back in their seats, Shizuka spoke up: "The exams are over, which means break is about to start."
"You can probably guess what I'm about to say next, but procedure's procedure, so I'll go through it anyway: the usual safety precautions for the break..."
After Shizuka rattled off a whole list of break-time precautions, she went over the date for returning to school to pick up report cards. She flipped carefully through her notebook a few times, then continued, "That's all for now. You've all worked hard on exams these past few days, so go ahead and get some good rest. Of course, don't forget to finish the homework the teachers assigned. That's it, class dismissed~"
As Shizuka announced the dismissal, a wave of cheering broke out across the classroom.
The students clustered together in twos and threes, discussing where to go next.
The riajuu crew gathered around once again.
Kakeru Tobe took the lead and said, "Hey everyone, it's still early. You want to go find somewhere to hang out next?"
Yumiko quietly glanced at Mio, seeming to want to gauge her thoughts first.
Mio stroked her smooth chin. The riajuu crew invited her every time they went out, but she rarely said yes. With break finally here, it felt a little bad to turn them down again.
At that thought, Mio gave a faint smile and said, "I'm good with anything."
"Oh! Shirai's finally willing to come hang out with us?"
"What do you mean finally? I had actual stuff to do before, okay." Mio rolled her eyes at Tobe.
"Yeah yeah yeah. So, anyone got ideas? My suggestion is the arcade. There's this one game I'm about to beat."
"I vote karaoke. Feels like it's been forever since we all went. Just thinking about the boys singing passionate duets together, I can barely hold myself back..." Ebina Hina said, covering her nose.
"Calm down, your nose is bleeding." Yumiko expertly pulled out a tissue and handed it to Ebina, then quietly glanced at Mio and said, "I think karaoke sounds good."
She'd never heard Mio sing, so she wanted to take this chance to hear it.
Tobe quietly looked over at Hayato Hayama, seeming to hope he'd cast a vote his way.
Sensing his best bro's pleading look, Hayama smiled and said, "The arcade's a bit far from here. I'll cast my vote for karaoke."
"Eeh!?"
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