My stepmother's burden is my ex-girlfriend.

"Pfft! Ahahahahahahahaha! I-I didn't expect you to actually take it seriously...! Ughh ...

Seeing Nan lying face down on the table, Jie was first stunned and speechless, then blushed with embarrassment.

Oh, so she just took Nan's joke seriously. I found that strange. I really admire her for believing such an obvious lie—

"Pfft! ...W-I mean, how come even Irito took it seriously...?"

Kawaba pointed at the counterfeit Russian black tea in my hand and burst out laughing as well.

"Puhaha, hahahahahaha! I really admire how you two can fall for such a ridiculous trick together! Puhu, you really are siblings, you really are siblings! Puhuhahahahahaha!"

"Don't laugh, you childhood sweethearts!"

I don't know what touched a nerve, but the childhood sweethearts burst into laughter and even cried; we protested, our faces flushed with shame and humiliation.

The two continued laughing until a staff member at the family restaurant politely reminded them, "Excuse me—could you please lower your voice a little?"

"Ugh... my stomach is rumbling..."

After dinner, the group set off on their night journey back to the apartment.

Walking beside Yui, Nan chuckled as she recalled the scene from earlier.

"Who told you to obediently finish that hellish drink?"

"I feel bad about wasting food..."

"So serious—I love Yui's personality!"

Nan jumped up and hugged Yui's neck. Perhaps she was already used to this kind of close contact, Yui responded with an "yes, yes, yes" attitude and hugged Nan back, dragging her forward.

As I looked at their incredibly feminine appearance from behind, I pressed my hand against my churning stomach.

Kawaba, who was walking beside him, said:

"Should I follow suit?"

"You dare try it, and your shirt will be stained with the chaos overflowing from my abyss..."

"I don't understand what you're saying, but I understand what you mean."

Instead, Kawanami distanced himself from me by a step. That was a wise judgment.

"Although I always thought that you and Irito were both a bit naive, I didn't expect it to be this exaggerated."

"The novel doesn't specifically describe how to use the beverage bar."

Until recently, I thought that "drink bar" probably meant "let's have some drinks".

"Hmph, that seems like something I can use. Let's see what I'll teach you next time..."

"Hey, wait a minute, you happy criminal."

I won't fall for it again!

"Hey──! I-rito-kun♪"

Suddenly I felt a heaviness in my left arm. It turned out that Nan had run over from beside Jie and grabbed my arm.

"I heard from Yui that you seem to be very good at Japanese, Irito-san? We're kind of destined to meet, so please teach me—look, the midterms are coming up soon, aren't they?"

What's wrong? What's going on? Suddenly it seems like you can't be separated from me. Is it okay if you don't cling to Yui?

Perhaps sensing my way of thinking, Nan grinned broadly and made a V-sign with her hands, opening and closing like scissors.

"(Anyway, the night is still long! We're currently employing a suspense-building strategy.)"

I glanced over at Jie and saw her looking at us from a distance with a sullen expression. Ah, I see. No wonder she's a natural social butterfly; she's quite the master of psychological warfare.

Kawabata, standing nearby, murmured meaningfully:

"(...The question is, is she really jealous of you?)"

Nan glared at Kawanami, whose smile held a hidden meaning, with hostility. "Please don't drag others into this underhanded power struggle, okay?"

As we continued our whispered conversation, Jie became increasingly ostracized. Honestly, there was nothing we could do with her.

"...I'm sorry, Nan, my current learning methods may not be suitable as a reference."

"Huh? Why?"

"Read one novel a day, and maintain this habit for a whole year... Is that even possible?"

"Waaah, I can't help it!"

"I'm not the type to develop a specific learning method. If you need someone to teach you, that guy is more useful."

I pointed at the woman in front of me who hadn't been able to join the conversation. As soon as she noticed my finger, she exclaimed, "Huh? Oh?" ​​and suddenly panicked.

"Me...me?"

"It's you. You're more suited to be a teacher than I am because you're a hard worker."

She first looked around, seemingly searching for something, then began to tangle the ends of her hair around her fingers, as if trying to conceal something.

"Is that so? I didn't expect you to know so much. That's right, Xiaoyue. If you want to study hard, I'll teach you. I think I can teach you much better than that guy."

"Yeah, unlike me, who has to cram to get good grades, I'm the type who gets high scores by intuition, so I'm not good at teaching others."

"What's wrong with you? You'll die if you don't make me angry!"

That's the truth, so what?

Just as I was ignoring the endless stream of insults and letting it go, I saw Nan's face twitching from very close range, as she was still clinging to me.

"You're... pretty good, aren't you, Irito-san... You actually turned the tables on me to gain points... I'm impressed..."

I don't know what she admires about me. Maybe it's because I'm the type who gets high scores based on intuition.

<Akatsuki☆: Waaaaaaah! I missed Yui's naked body! I was going to show it off!> - 22:32

<Yume: Who taught Xiaoyue to have such a lewd look in her eyes...> - 22:32

<K_KOGURE: Irito-kun, your judgment is correct! That girl is a shockingly perverted loli with the heart of an old man hidden in the body of an elementary school student!> - 22:33

<Xiaoyue☆: Kawanami, you better remember this> - 22:33

Nan posted several kitchen knife stickers. Chuanbo, who was lying in bed looking at his phone, exclaimed "Ugh...!" and started trembling with fear.

After returning from the family restaurant and taking a shower (one at a time, of course), I spread out my textbooks and notes on the coffee table in Kawanami's room.

The phone screen next to me showed the LINE group chat content that Nan had created when we were all heading home. She was talking nonsense like, "I'll live stream my dazzlingly sweet life with Yui to you guys!" Partly to keep an eye on Nan so she wouldn't do anything out of control, I would occasionally glance at it to check. I didn't expect that girl to be so good at protecting herself.

<Akatsuki☆: Irito-kun hasn't said anything, what's he doing?> - 22:38

<K_KOGURE: Studying for exams. Turns out, all that "getting high scores by feeling" stuff is a lie, super boring.> - 22:38

<Xiaoyue☆: Huh? Kawabata, you're not studying? We're LINEing while studying now.> - 22:39

<K_KOGURE: Come on, don't be silly.> - 22:39

<Xiaoyue☆: I'm not kidding you.> - 22:39

<Yume: Kawanami-kun, I think you might be careless because there's still more than a week until the exam, but our school is different from regular high schools. Think back to how difficult the entrance exam was.> - 22:40

"........."

Kawanami stared at his phone screen in silence for a long while, then slowly sat up from the bed.

Then he stiffly turned his neck and looked in my direction.

"...Is it really that scary?"

"It's terrifying."

I answered instantly while flipping through the textbook.

"It's so scary that even though I pride myself on getting high scores based on intuition, I have to open my textbooks before the exam period even starts."

"...Really?"

"I won't cover you."

Not long after enrolling, I was so shocked when I casually flipped through the textbooks that were handed out that I started to tremble. I thought to myself: Is this what a prestigious school is like?

"Kawabata, you must have a lot of friends, right? Didn't your seniors tell you how difficult the exams were?"

"I've heard some rumors, but... oh my god...! Turns out I haven't gotten over the feeling of liberation after the entrance exam yet...!"

I understand how he feels. He barely survived the hellish exam preparation, and he really doesn't have the guts to go back to hell in less than two months.

"Okay, if you just want to get an average score, maybe you don't need to push yourself too hard."

"Hmm? Then why are you studying so hard like this, which is unusual?"

"That's because—"

Let me check the LINE screen.

"I don't want to lose to so-and-so."

Although I failed the entrance exam, I won't always give in to that guy's defeat.

I've already heard that exam results, along with rankings, will be posted in the hallway. That woman's throne, sitting so arrogantly now, I'm definitely going to take it from her next time.

"...You two are really amazing."

Kawanami suddenly murmured these words softly, which made me look up from my textbook.

"I really don't have the motivation to confront them head-on. I'll just pretend to understand on the surface and let it go. I can't put in the effort and energy to deal with them like you do."

"……Yeah?"

I deliberately didn't ask him what he was talking about, and directly answered him like this:

"I think you guys seem to enjoy comparing yourselves quite a bit, judging from today's situation."

"No, you should understand now after seeing what's happening today. If you'd witnessed everything that's happened, you should understand. We just manage to get along alright on the surface, unlike you guys who are constantly having unvarnished, direct conflicts. Because we know that's incredibly exhausting."

"...That's because you're shrewd in your dealings."

Kawanami Kogure is a comrade in a similar situation to me.

However, if we were to point out a difference, it would definitely be here.

"If you ask me, it's your shrewdness in handling things that I admire."

If we had been as shrewd as they are—our relationship probably wouldn't be in this state now.

Kawanami's expression revealed a slightly sarcastic smile.

"The grass is always greener on the other side."

"Not bad, you can practice your Chinese while you're at it."

"This is what is called turning misfortune into a blessing in disguise."

Kawaba got out of bed with a "hey" and took out his textbook from his schoolbag.

"I'll try my best too. Thinking about it carefully, I really want to do better than that guy Nan."

"Right? I'll cheer you on, good luck."

"Seriously? You want to teach me to read? You're the kind of guy who wants to be number one in the whole grade."

And so, we spent the night fulfilling our duties as students.

Kawanami was fast asleep in bed.

It's only 1 a.m., so it seems this guy is surprisingly bad at staying up late.

Although I've finished preparing for today's exam, I'm a night owl and I'm not sleepy yet.

I always felt uncomfortable listening to men snoring, so I went to the living room.

The moonlight streaming in from the balcony gently illuminated the dimly lit living room.

Turning my gaze to the balcony, I could see a vast, starry night view. To be honest, the night view from a multi-family apartment building isn't that amazing, but for someone like me who grew up in a detached house, seeing such a high vantage point from my home was quite a novel experience.

As if drawn by the night view, I opened the floor-to-ceiling window leading to the balcony.

A cool night breeze brushed against my neck. It was May, the height of spring. The breeze was refreshing but not chilly, quite pleasant.

I borrowed the slippers that were lying to the side and leaned against the balcony railing.

On either side of the balcony, there are white signs that read, "In case of emergency, please break through here." To the left is Nan's house—in other words, the house where that girl might be sleeping.

Not only are the walls thin, but anyone with the will can easily enter or leave each other's homes.