"Congratulations, Ms. Genius! You made the Top 5!"
Reiji made no effort to mask his happiness, the pride practically radiating from him.
Haruna's already misty eyes became even more watery, and she flung herself into his arms for a tight hug, disregarding the large number of people around them.
"I-I can't believe this. Is this a prank?" she stammered, looking up at him with pure excitement as she tightened her arms around him.
Reiji, slightly taken aback by the reaction, ruffled her hair with a wide grin.
"Of course not, this is just what you deserve!"
The reason he'd been so shocked before is that if Hina was the one who'd taught her, her ranking would be the tenth place every single time, maybe to instill a moment of exhilaration, that they'd barely made it in.
No choice made by the player would allow it to be any higher than that.
So even though Reiji's goal was to make Haruna's rank higher than that while also prepping her to maintain that momentum later, he didn't have much expectation for the Top 5.
This was due to the fact that the grades in that range were much closer to full marks, making it highly unlikely to climb the ranks to this extent.
While he was thinking this, Haruna was not still the entire time, her knees bouncing up and down in place, bubbling over with the unadulterated injection of adrenaline.
"Haruna-chan!"
They both looked to the side and saw Hina staring at them with wide eyes, a combination of surprise and joy on her face.
Haruna, who had snapped out of her reverie at the call, suddenly blushed when she realized what she was doing and instantly moved out of the comfort of Reiji's arms, wiping the tears away.
"Haruna-chan, this is awesome! That's an insane jump in the rankings!" Hina grabbed her friend's hand, matching her energy with how thrilled she seemed.
"Right? She worked super hard, you know?" Reiji chuckled, crossing his arms before raising his chin proudly. "Of course, I take 50% of the credit!"
Haruna blinked and then stuck her tongue out slyly.
"Look at you already getting snooty!" she giggled.
"I'm just stating the facts, that's all!"
Hina looked at the exchange between them and turned to Reiji.
"By the way, I didn't think you were this smart, Yagami-kun," she muttered.
Reiji faked a hurt expression and gasped.
"Wow, do I look that dumb?"
"N-No! That's not what I meant!" Hina shook her hands in panic.
"No need to protect his feelings, Hina-tan. The truth would always have come out at some point anyway," Haruna shrugged.
Her rollercoaster of emotions seemed to have settled down, and she reverted to her usual joking manner as she nudged Reiji beside her.
"Then what would that make you, as someone who took lessons from me, who supposedly looks stupid?" Reiji retorted.
"Uh....."
Haruna darted her eyes, trying to think of a reply.
As the trio was bantering in front of the bulletin board, the crowd around them were staring at them in shock.
The quiet whispers running through the other students went mostly unnoticed by them.
".....Why does he seem so easygoing?"
"Right?? I thought I was overthinking it before, but he really does seem to have changed?"
"And he's ranked first as well! I doubt he cheated either, because I remember Kahawara Sensei watching him like a hawk when he was supervising!"
"And he's talking so comfortably with Yuzuki-san and Sakuraba-san. Those two are nice people, so what's going on?"
"Are the two of them dating? She hugged him like it was normal."
"...Damn, he's so hot."
"Go be horny at home, that's so off-topic!"
The continuous discussions that only seemed to be growing with time finally started to be heard in snippets by the three of them, who had started to calm down.
Reiji looked a little uncomfortable as he heard some of them.
'.....I feel like a Zoo animal.'
Haruna, on the other hand, looked pumped up again.
"Reiji-tan, see? They're finally realizing that you've changed!"
"Uh..... I guess? Doesn't really matter though."
"Ugh, can't you use this opportunity and say something?" Haruna hissed.
Reiji looked at her as if she'd grown two heads.
"Huh? What the hell am I supposed to say?"
"I don't know?"
Reiji had the urge to pull her cheeks and make mochi out of them, but before he could say anything, three more figures approached the crowd.
Airi, Greeny, and Ren walked over in a rush, with the latter panting like crazy.
For some reason, he was being supported by the other two.
"S-Sorry *wheeze*, sorry we're late! I twisted my ankles out of nervousness on the way, but thankfully, they helped me out," Ren apologized.
"You're lucky we were a little late too, otherwise you'd just be sitting there on the street," Airi laughed.
"....Wait, you said ankles? As in..... plural?" Reiji asked.
"Pfft, yeah! This dumbass somehow twisted both of them!"
Reiji bit back a laugh at the image of poor Ren twisting both ankles simultaneously.
'Oof, that was a close one...'
Greeny stepped forward as Reiji checked on his buddy, his gaze falling on the Top 50 ranking list.
Airi also joined him, rubbing her hands in anticipation.
"IneedtowinIneedtowinIneedtowinIneedtowin," she mumbled repeatedly, like a manic witch.
They both read through the list, starting from the top.
***
~ Souhei High School 1st Year Midterm Examinations ~
~ Top 50 ~
1. Yagami Reiji
2. Sakuraba Hina
3. Ogura Nanami
4. Yuzuki Haruna
...
10. Fujimoto Airi
...
24. Ichihara Haruki
***
Greeny lit up, his freckled face breaking out with a happy smile.
"Reiji-kun, you came first! That's amazing! Hina-san and Haruna-chan as well, that's so cool!" he congratulated sincerely.
"Ah, he came first! Damn, then he won the bet?" Ren sighed, accepting his fate.
However, Airi hadn't said a word.
She stood still like a statue in front of the board, and then started teetering back and forth.
"ImpossibleImpossibleImpossibleImpossibleImpossibleImpossible."
"Oi, did you finally lose your last remaining brain cell?" Reiji asked, enjoying her breakdown.
"Not only did I lose, but I came 4th in the group?" Airi wailed.
"Well, Hina-tan and I didn't participate, so you came 2nd!" Haruna reassured, but her words seemed to fall on deaf ears.
"SEMANTICS! I'M A FAILURE!"
Reiji finally burst out laughing, unable to hold it back in.
"What are you laughing at! I'll punch your shoulder!" Airi snapped, lunging at him with mock ferocity.
There was no real intention behind her swing, and she would have missed even if he didn't move.
But Reiji sidestepped and then tapped the top of her head.
"You missed."
"Ugh, this time for real!"
She jumped again, but he dodged one more time and tapped her head.
"Missed again!"
"AAAHHHHH!"
The crowd watched in bewilderment at the circus show in front of them.
"..... Whoa, she's actually trying to fight a Yakuza?"
"Are you stupid? They're clearly friends?"
"And what's this about a bet?"
"They look so goofy, haha!"
"Hey, watch it! What if he hears you?"
"Uh... I mean, he doesn't look like a bad guy?"
"Sure, sure. Think that, and maybe you'll be on the list of people he's given a bloody nose since school started."
"Wait, that was him?"
As these talks were being exchanged, a small group of girls in the corner were huddled together.
They bit their lips, and some chewed their fingernails with clear irritation.
"That bitch seems to be doing well....."
"Fucking slut, shacking up with a gang member!"
"Shhh! Don't be so loud!"
"Tch, this is pissing me off."
Their hushed anger was contained within the group, as no one else could hear them due to the distraction of the still-ongoing chase.
Meanwhile, Haruna was bent over with laughter, while the other three occasionally let out a chuckle as well.
Ren already had no hope for making the rankings, so he wasn't too surprised about his name not being up there.
But he was still nervous about the individual marks that would be given out later.
"Dammit, I have a tummy ache now as well!" he groaned, one hand rubbing his ankles while the other rubbed his belly.
"Ren, why so nervous if you don't care about grades?" Reiji asked, holding Airi back at arm's length by palming her forehead like a basketball.
"I don't care about my grades exactly, I just need to make sure I don't fail! If I fail even one subject, the Student Council will suspend my club activities until I can get my grades back up or prove that it was an outlier!"
"That's a thing?? Why have I never heard of it?"
Reiji frowned, surfing through his memories to see if there was anything about this in the game.
But he came up blank.
'Well..... the heroines are too smart to fail. Even Haruna, who had issues at the start, was safely above that mark in all routes. And the player gets close to failing in some of them, but with Hina helping him study, that never happens.'
One more thing to keep in mind was the fact that the failing threshold at Souhei High was different.
Most schools in Japan set 60% as the pass mark, but Souhei High placed it at 70% instead, a reflection of their higher standards.
Even the lowest-ranking student here was at worst below average if they were in any other school.
"Tch, the first rank asking why he doesn't know about the failing rule? I'd be surprised if you did know about it!" Airi snorted, her head still being clutched by Reiji's large hand.
"Right, that makes sense. I'm too smart to know about that," Reiji nodded, understanding it now.
".....You arrogant sleazebag."
"I accept that compliment."
"YOU! I'll remem-..... Oh, look! It's him!" Airi froze, pointing beyond the crowd of people as her indignation was replaced with an evil smirk. "There's one more bet to fulfill today. Right, Haruna-chan?"
Haruna turned to where she was gesturing to, and saw Riku approach their area with a lazy yawn.
He wasn't even wearing his backpack, dragging it along the ground like he was lugging a garbage bag.
She pursed her lips, a glimmer of interest in her green eyes.
"Yes.... there was that bet as well, wasn't there?"