"Basori-san, what are you doing?"
Sora recognized the girl waiting for him at the school gate at a glance, but he was completely baffled.
We clearly haven't interacted much, why is she staking me out at the gate?
Could it be that the gyaru senpai collapsed in some corner again and needs someone to help?
"I'll explain later, come with me!"
Disregarding the stares of others, Basori Tiara grabbed Sora's right wrist tightly and dragged him away forcefully.
A moment later.
The two arrived at a deserted corner behind the classroom building.
Smack!
Basori Tiara raised her right hand and slammed it against the wall next to Sora's face, forming a standard kabedon pose. She had two faint dark circles under her eyes on her pretty face. Gritting her teeth, she shouted in a low voice:
"Hurry up and give my thing back!"
Sora was confused: "What thing?"
Tia gritted her silver teeth: "You know perfectly well!"
Sora thought seriously for a few seconds, but still shook his head: "Sorry, I really can't remember."
"D-Damn it!"
Tia felt completely awful.
I tossed and turned all night, unable to sleep well, and this guy actually forgot completely. That's too much!
"Take your time and explain." Sora reminded her, "If someone sees our current posture, rumors that Basori-san confessed her love to me will be spreading before school even ends."
"Huh?"
Tia blinked blankly, finally realizing her actions were a bit reckless. Her pretty face quickly flushed red, and she hurriedly covered her chest, taking two steps back:
"Y-Y-Y-You, don't let your imagination run wild! I'm definitely not confessing to a guy like you!"
Sora put his hands in his pockets, taking his time: "So why did Basori-san drag me here?"
"Phew..."
Basori Tiara took a deep breath. She made a fist with her right hand and pressed it against her chest, suppressing her sense of shame that urged her to turn and run:
"I asked Yumeko-senpai. After school yesterday afternoon, Izumi-kun went to get Elf-sensei's clothes, right?"
Sora nodded: "That's right."
A nervous look appeared on Basori Tiara's pretty face: "Was there a report card inside?"
"I remember now..." Sora gave a light nod. "There was indeed Basori-san's report card."
Basori Tiara's voice was tense: "Y-You didn't see it, did you?"
It's just an ordinary report card, not panties. Even if I saw it, it shouldn't matter, right!
"The report card fell out of Elf's clothes. I thought it was Elf's at the time, and I happened to be going to buy a drink for Shikiya-senpai, so I didn't have time to look closely..."
Sora quickly explained the sequence of events.
It wasn't like he stole someone else's property, so he had absolutely no reason to feel guilty.
"Yesterday, when I was organizing Elf-sensei's clothes, the President suddenly walked in. In my panic, I hid the report card inside the clothes..." Basori Tiara explained the reason in a low voice, then looked up, her expression nervous.
"Izumi-kun didn't tell anyone else my grades, did you?"
"Of course not." Sora shook his head. "That's Basori-san's privacy, after all."
"That's good..."
Hearing this, Basori Tiara breathed a sigh of relief as if a heavy burden had been lifted, her whole body relaxing.
Because she was worried the secret of her grades would leak out, she had tossed and turned all night yesterday without sleeping, resulting in dark circles when she woke up this morning, which also worried her mother quite a bit.
Damn it!
It's all Izumi-kun's fault!
If you pick up someone else's thing, return it quickly, ahhhhh!
Watching the girl with straight bangs' constantly changing expressions, Sora quickly formed a guess in his mind:
"Basori-san doesn't have grade-phobia, does she?"
"Eh?" Basori Tiara was slightly taken aback, tilting her head in confusion. "What's that?"
"Just as the name implies." Sora complained.
"A symptom where you feel so ashamed if someone else knows your grades that you want to dig a hole and hide in it."
"I-I do not..."
Basori Tiara parted her pink lips, very much wanting to refute, but unfortunately, she really lacked the confidence.
Sora said casually:
"Exams always have rankings. If someone ranks high, someone naturally ranks low. Bad grades don't mean you're useless."
"S-Stop talking!" Basori Tiara suddenly raised her voice. Her chest heaved violently, and her hands clenched tightly into fists.
"Izumi-kun, ranked second in the grade, doesn't understand anything at all!"
That's right.
In the midterm exams after Golden Week, Sora ranked second in the grade, while Angel-sama took first place.
As for Anna and Kuroneko... better not to mention them.
"Everyone in the student council is super amazing, I'm the only one who failed my exams..." Basori Tiara bit her lower lip tightly, involuntarily expressing the emotions she had suppressed for a long time.
"Even though I'm the vice president of the student council, my grades are actually so terrible. If anyone found out, it would bring shame to everyone in the student council, right?"
"Caring too much about the gazes of others is exhausting." Sora's tone was calm.
"Furthermore, Basori-san shouldn't underestimate herself. You clearly have many good qualities."
"Good qualities...?"
Basori Tiara looked up, her eyes misty, clearly lacking confidence:
"Do I really have such things?"
"Of course you do." Sora held up one finger.
"For example, patience and a sense of responsibility. When I went to the student council with Elf yesterday to handle procedures, if it had been Shikiya-senpai, she definitely would have just tossed the form and let Elf fill it out herself, instead of guiding her through the whole process."
Basori Tiara replied quietly: "That's because Yumeko-senpai has terrible stamina..."
"There's your second good quality." Sora said calmly.
"Very humble."
Tia: "..."
The girl with straight bangs in front of him actually hid a personality that was easily embarrassed beneath her serious and earnest exterior. The proof was that after just two simple compliments, the girl's pretty face flushed crimson at a speed visible to the naked eye. Flustered, she averted her gaze:
"We only just met yesterday, and Izumi-kun talks as if he knows me very well... Too frivolous!"
"Tch~"
Sora gave a light click of his tongue.
That's because your silly appearance makes you very easy to read to begin with!
"...Let's get back to business!"
Tia took a deep breath, clasped her hands over her chest, widened her eyes, and looked at Sora:
"Please keep this a secret, Izumi-kun. Absolutely do not tell anyone my grades... This one thing, no matter what, I don't want anyone else to know!"
"Understood." Sora raised his right hand, giving his guarantee.
"If I tell anyone, Basori-san can break my ribs and send me to the hospital."
"I'm not that kind of violent girl." Basori Tiara glared affectionately with her bright eyes, extending her right hand.
"Izumi-kun, please return the report card to me."
Sora patted his pockets, then shook his head: "Sorry, when I was doing laundry last night, I took the report card out and left it in my room. I didn't bring it with me today... I'll give it to you tomorrow?"
"Then tomorrow." Basori Tiara helplessly withdrew her right hand, earnestly instructing. "Izumi-kun absolutely must not forget."
"..."
After guaranteeing he wouldn't forget, the little episode finally came to a close.
Just as Sora was about to leave, Tia suddenly called out to him:
"Wait a minute... let's exchange contact info?"
Tia's face flushed slightly, and she hurriedly explained in embarrassment: "Tomorrow, when Izumi-kun comes to school, send me a message so I don't have to keep waiting for you at the school gate... Izumi-kun wouldn't want people to misunderstand, right?"
So you also know people might misunderstand?
Being dragged away by you in broad daylight, my innocence is already gone!
In fact, Sora's guess was correct. The scene just now had been seen by gossiping classmates, and the news had already reached Anna at the speed of light.
"What?"
Anna was eating a small cupcake. Her round eyes widened, cake crumbs still sticking to the corner of her mouth:
"My base got stolen again?"