"I've finished all of them."
"Oh. Alright."
I'd half-expected this, but sure enough, I'd been called to the faculty office.
I handed Yukio-sensei the test papers — each one packed with high-difficulty questions from various subjects.
"Sorry about this. I didn't want to do it either, but the other teachers practically begged me on their hands and knees."
"It's fine. I'd have done the same in their position."
"…Did you hit your head or something? You've gone awfully docile all of a sudden."
He muttered that under his breath, then flipped back and forth between my answer sheet and the test paper. A short, disbelieving laugh escaped him.
"Huh. You really did solve everything. Clean work, too. What's especially impressive is that you approached some of these from a completely different angle than most students would."
Well, that's because I learned this in a Korean high school.
I had no idea how they taught problem-solving methods here in Japan, but small differences were bound to show up.
"Anyway, if I show this to the other teachers, they won't be able to cry cheating or leaked questions anymore. Thanks for staying late."
"You're the one who's had it hard, Sensei."
"…Ugh. It's nice hearing you talk like that, but it feels deeply wrong somehow. Suddenly acing your exams, suddenly being all polite about it — you haven't been swapped out for someone else, have you?"
I could only manage a wry smile at his joke.
Whether in the original story as I remembered it, or in the fragments of Ryuzaki's own memories that surfaced from time to time — he had been, without question, a completely irredeemable delinquent.
For someone like that to abruptly transform into a sharp, upstanding student after an accident — it would be strange not to find that suspicious.
*I can't keep performing as Ryuzaki forever.*
Even with his memories inside me, Ryuzaki and I were fundamentally different people. Which meant I couldn't imitate him perfectly.
"…Being hospitalized gave me a lot of time to think. Whether it was okay to keep living the way I was. Whether it was too late to change."
So I gave up on performing as him.
More precisely — I gave up on performing as the reckless, good-for-nothing Ryuzaki.
"But I figured if I didn't even try, I'd regret it someday. So I'm making an effort to be different."
From here on, I'd be playing the role of a reformed Ryuzaki.
Well — "playing a role" is a generous way to put it. In practice, it just meant living as my normal self.
This was a precious new life I'd been given, against all odds.
It might be a little selfish of me, but… I had no desire to spend something that rare imitating someone else, following a script that had already been written for me.
"……"
Yukio-sensei, who had been listening in silence, blinked.
Then his eyes went red at the corners. He dabbed at them with a tissue and muttered:
"…You little punk. Yeah. You! Good thinking! Looking at yourself honestly like that — that's not easy to do. I'm genuinely proud of you. I'm rooting for you. If things get tough, say the word — I'll help. Okay?"
"Thank you."
"Right. Starting today, you're turning over a new leaf."
He patted my shoulder for a long moment, like I was something precious.
Of course, I couldn't take any of it at face value.
I couldn't help wondering if there was some ulterior motive behind it — suspicion kicked in before I could stop it.
An old habit. One I'd never managed to break.
Not being able to trust people easily.
Whenever someone approached me, I'd look for the angle first. Every person who'd ever come close to me had shown one face while hiding another.
So from a young age, I'd stopped expecting anything from others.
If you don't expect anything, you can't be betrayed.
That was also why I had such a particular love for knowledge.
Knowledge, unlike people, doesn't lie.
"Sensei. There's something I'd like to ask."
"Sure, sure. Ask me anything."
"What subject do you teach, and what's your name? I'm afraid I don't have them memorized."
"…What?"
Ryuzaki was such a blockhead that he didn't even know his homeroom teacher's name or subject. Better to find out now while I had the chance.
"…Is that where the new leaf starts?"
Yukio-sensei pressed a hand to his forehead and muttered.
"Hatanaka Yukio. I'm the one who wrote the Japanese exam you spectacularly bombed."
***
Naturally, the way my classmates looked at me had changed.
Before, their eyes had held nothing but fear and contempt.
Now, woven somewhere in between, was a faint thread of bewilderment and curiosity.
The reason was obvious enough.
I'd set a record — first place in four out of seven subjects.
*I slightly overestimated the level here.*
The Academy City label had made me a little nervous, but in the end, these were still just first-year high school students.
They were nowhere near ready to surpass the experience and know-how of a Korean third-year who'd gone to sleep the night before the college entrance exam.
*I probably could've managed fine without even using my ability.*
Subjects like Japanese, geography, and history — where background knowledge and kanji proficiency mattered — I'd bombed spectacularly.
*Up until recently I was a pure-blooded Korean. The kanji I learned in my past life wasn't nearly enough to get through those.*
I'd tried drawing on Ryuzaki's knowledge, but the inside of that guy's head was like a clear blue sky without a single cloud — completely empty — so I'd given up on that cleanly.
The only characters he knew were hiragana, katakana, and basic kanji. I genuinely had to wonder if he was actually Japanese.
If I'd had even a little time to study beforehand, I could've done so much better.
Still, for subjects dealing with universal knowledge — math, English, science — it was like taking candy from a baby.
I'd already learned all of it.
And once I learn something, I almost never forget it.
Anyway. The result was that the way students looked at me had subtly shifted.
Not that I cared in the slightest.
Obsessing over how others see you and what they think of you — I'd learned in my past life, down to the bone, just how exhausting and utterly pointless that was.
What did it matter how people looked at me, or what they said behind my back?
That kind of indirect interference had no real effect on my life.
Which meant, conversely —
"Um… Ryuzaki, do you remember me? We were in the same group for that project a while back — Hiragi Arisu."
This kind of direct interference could have a very significant effect on my life.
Hiragi Arisu.
A presence that lingered, however faintly, both in my memories of the original story and in the fragments of Ryuzaki's own recollections.
One of the Five Genius Freshmen of Academy City. The girl who'd enrolled at Asahi High School as valedictorian.
And one of the heroines of the original story's protagonist.
*If I'm remembering right… Ryuzaki had made a move on her at some point.*
There was an episode where Ryuzaki, having taken an interest in Arisu, reached out to get his hands on her — and the protagonist stepped in to protect her. I was fairly sure that happened sometime in the second semester of first year.
"Hiragi? That's right, isn't it?"
"Oh, come on, just call me Arisu. We're friends, aren't we?"
In short, at this point in time, Ryuzaki and Arisu were essentially strangers who'd barely exchanged a word.
"Actually… there's something I'd like to talk to you about personally. Would you mind coming up to the rooftop after school?"
Why would someone like her — a model student and one of the most popular people in school — go out of her way to approach a delinquent thug like Ryuzaki?
Anyone could figure that out.
*Pretty obvious she's planning to corner me about how I got those scores — or accuse me of cheating.*
The rom-com protagonists I'd read about would've gotten flustered and started blushing at this point, but unfortunately, I was nothing like them.
When the motive was this transparent, there was nothing to get excited about.
I kept that thought tucked away inside, met Arisu's eyes squarely, and answered.
"Sure. No problem."
"Really? That's a relief. Thanks — rooftop, after school. Don't forget, okay?"
With a warm smile and a cheerful "See you later~," Arisu turned and walked away.
"…Lucky bastard."
"Wait, why him of all people?"
At the same time, a wave of envious, resentful stares from the male students crashed over me.
Though the moment any of them met my eyes, they immediately deflated.
Still — I hadn't expected anyone to read that exchange as something resembling flirting. And not just one or two people, but a significant number of them.
*Is this what happens when you're at the age where romance rules your brain?*
Now I was starting to understand why this place had felt below my expectations.
School is for studying. Not for dating.
***
Hiragi Arisu had taken first place overall.
First in three subjects, second in four — out of seven total.
A dominant performance that no one else in the school could touch.
And yet.
*…This can't be right.*
Despite the composed face she wore, Arisu's mind was anything but calm.
Ryuzaki — the one everyone feared and avoided, the delinquent she'd assumed would never have the slightest connection to her life — had walked straight into her territory without a hint of hesitation.
The first thing she'd felt was confusion.
And that confusion had naturally curdled into wounded pride.
Being in the same class as Ryuzaki, Arisu knew exactly what kind of student he was.
He never paid attention in class. He picked fights with teachers on a daily basis and turned everything into a disaster. A human being in name only.
And that person had planted his feet squarely above her. Of course her pride stung.
*— A girl who only survived because of her sister, and can't even match half of that talent. Ha. Not worth talking about.*
She had to be exceptional.
She had an obligation to be better than everyone, to trample over all of them and keep moving forward.
Only then could she earn recognition from her brilliant family.
Only then would she have the right to face her sister.
"Um… Ryuzaki, right? Do you remember me? We were in the same group for that project — Hiragi Arisu."
She approached him with a smile full of practiced warmth.
She needed to find out how he'd gotten those scores.
It wouldn't be difficult.
Most boys caved the moment she smiled at them a few times.
A beautiful face that was the spitting image of her mother's.
A poker face she'd naturally developed from years of accompanying her parents to meet all sorts of important people since childhood.
An ordinary delinquent like Ryuzaki would fold easily. A few smiles, a little warmth, and he'd spill everything.
Before she knew it, after school had arrived.
"Oh, you came? Thanks for making the time."
Beneath the amber glow of the setting sun, Hiragi met Ryuzaki's eyes and let a lovely smile bloom across her face.
"What did you want?"
…Not even a flicker of expression?
That was supposed to be her trump card — and yet Ryuzaki just held his neutral face and asked for her business. Hiragi was more thrown off than she'd expected.
She didn't let it show, of course.
Only amateurs did that.
"Well, I was genuinely surprised. I had no idea you were that good at studying."
"You outscored me. Are you making fun of me?"
"Oh, come on~ I just got lucky. I'm not always like this. A lot of what I studied happened to come up, that's all."
She eased into small talk, letting the atmosphere loosen naturally.
Despite his rough exterior, Ryuzaki turned out to be more normal than she'd expected.
More than that, actually — he was surprisingly witty and easy to talk to.
Most boys pelted her with one-sided questions and fell over themselves trying to impress her.
"Hey, what about question twenty-four on the math exam — the last one."
"That one… oh, right. The one that combined the Euclidean algorithm with indeterminate equations?"
"Yes, exactly! Did you solve it?"
"More or less. The working was a bit long, so it gave me some trouble, but it wasn't unsolvable. What about you, Arisu?"
He asked questions at a natural pace, offered the right responses at the right moments, and dropped the occasional joke — never too much — to keep the conversation moving.
"I made a careless mistake on that one… If I'd gotten it right, I would've had a perfect score."
"Sounds like you need to study a bit more."
"Oh, be quiet. I'll beat you next time."
It felt like the calm ease of talking with a close friend of the same gender.
"Which part of the exam was hardest for you?"
"I don't think I was meant to be born Japanese. I'm considering emigrating to America."
"Is there an academy city in America?"
"There probably is, but — actually, no, that won't work. I love rice too much. My pancreas would give out over there. Do you like Western food, Arisu?"
"It's absolutely amazing! I could eat it every day if I had the chance. The only thing stopping me is the calories."
"Ah, right — it is pretty high-calorie. Gaining weight must be a concern."
The small talk she'd planned as a tool to reel Ryuzaki in had, without her noticing, turned into an ordinary conversation.
About thirty minutes had passed when Ryuzaki glanced at his phone and said:
"…Ah. I should get going. My father's calling."
A pang of reluctance hit her.
"Really? Can't be helped, I guess. Let's talk again sometime."
"Sounds good. See you tomorrow."
He gave a casual wave and headed down the stairs without looking back.
It was the first time she'd chatted this comfortably with someone of the opposite sex.
No — more than comfortable. It had actually been quite enjoyable.
*Highly intelligent people tend to be missing a screw or two, as a rule.*
Someone who had both basic conversational manners and an intellectual level that matched her own wasn't easy to come by.
Like talking with a childhood friend she'd known for years — the conversation had been genuinely fun.
He's not quite the disaster I thought he was.
Arisu's internal assessment of Ryuzaki ticked upward by a notch.
But speaking of which…
"I feel like I forgot something… Oh."
She realized she had completely forgotten her original purpose.
Arisu hurried after Ryuzaki and rushed down the stairs.
Fortunately, he hadn't gotten far — by the time she reached the first floor, the back of his head was just visible—
"……!"
In her haste, she missed a step and pitched forward.
That's going to hurt.
It's definitely going to hurt a lot.
The floor rushed up to meet her.
She squeezed her eyes shut.
— Thud.
"What's the rush. You'll hurt yourself."
"Oh… thanks."
Ryuzaki had appeared in an instant and caught her, sparing her a trip to the infirmary.
Now that she looked — he had quite broad shoulders.
*He was further away a moment ago. When did he get here?*
The question surfaced in her mind, but the question she actually needed to ask came first.
"Hey, Ryuzaki. I have something to ask you."
"What is it?"
"How did you study to get scores like that? Can you tell me?"
"Study? Hmm… I don't have anything especially impressive to share, but I don't mind telling you."
Maybe the conversation had done its work after all.
Ryuzaki nodded readily and opened his mouth.
Just as planned.
Arisu smiled brightly and thought to herself: *perfect.*
"I'll only say this once, so listen carefully."
Go on, then.
Tell me the secret that let you surpass me…!
"I studied from the textbook."
"…Huh?"
…What the hell did he just say?
