To be honest, if the teacher hadn't mentioned that An Yilun was also absent, Haruhino Toru wouldn't have even noticed that this guy was in the same class as him.
Moreover, An Yilun didn't even know that the culprit who made him get hit was actually in the same class as him.
Anyway, Haruhino Toru was usually quiet in class, so not many people paid attention to him.
Of course, An Yilun would never have guessed that the girl who had directly hit him was also in his class.
What a twisted fate this is...
The schools in Neon have always promoted a joyful education. This so-called joyful education, to some extent, implies a kind of all-rounded development.
For example, they establish various clubs, reduce homework, and allow students to have more enriching extracurricular activities.
But the problem is, Neon’s joyful education is somewhat unrealistic, much like that of a certain large country.
If they really wanted to achieve all-rounded development, they should lower the difficulty of the entrance exams for the University of Tokyo.
For those who genuinely want to attend university, not only can they not enjoy the benefits of joyful education, but they also have to pay for a lot of cram schools starting from their first year of high school.
Falling from fourth to fifth is no joke.
But Haruhino Toru doesn't belong to that group of people.
He has no clear plan for the future. In his eyes, as long as he has a skill, even if he can't live well, at least he won't starve, right?
So he never cared about his exam results while in school. After experiencing the exam-oriented education in his previous life, Haruhino Toru had never been afraid of exams.
However, he spent all his time working and taking care of his family, so no matter how good he was at exam-oriented education, he still needed time to study the textbooks, right?
As expected, the boy's grades were always in the middle range of his class, and several times his test scores were just barely at the median.
He also had no particular interest in clubs; places that waste time and don't offer any rewards are best avoided.
There was also a girl named Katou Kei who was in a similar situation.
However, she felt that she would definitely be ignored if she joined a club due to her lack of presence, so why bother making a fool of herself?
At this moment, the boy and girl were walking home together.
They were still sharing the same umbrella.
Today's experience made Katou Kei incredibly happy. Originally, she had been envious of Inori's treatment on Saturday, but unexpectedly, just two days later, she was enjoying everything that Inori had experienced.
And she even got to have Haruhino Toru's special medicinal wine.
“Hmm, how should I get Haruhino-kun to help me apply the medicine later?” Katou Kei felt a bit troubled.
Why do so many people want to become idols or act in dramas?
Acting is clearly very difficult.
…
There's a saying that women are born actresses.
Still conflicted on the way, the moment Katou Kei received the medicinal wine, she naturally transformed into the most professional actress.
“Hmm, my wrist feels a bit weak, and it's so troublesome to apply medicine with one hand.” Pretending to be very interested in the medicinal wine, Katou Kei eagerly opened the bottle that Haruhino Toru handed her, then poured a bit of the wine onto her wrist and pretended to awkwardly rub it in.
The result, of course, ended in failure.
Although pretending to be clumsy made Katou Kei a bit shy, soon Haruhino Toru did something that made her even more embarrassed.
The boy wrapped his large hands around Katou Kei's delicate little hand and began to rub her wrist with his fingertips.
Before long, Katou Kei felt a wave of warmth. But this might not be the effect of the medicinal wine; it could just be the result of someone rubbing her wrist. After all, friction generates heat, and those who understand know what that means.
After rubbing for several minutes, Haruhino Toru shook his slightly sore arms and said to the girl, “Katou-san, try moving your wrist now and see if it feels any better?”
The girl followed Haruhino Toru's instructions and slowly rotated her wrist, discovering that the soreness she had felt before was almost gone, and her expression relaxed a bit.
“I still feel a bit of pain. Is it because I didn't rub it long enough?” The girl lowered her head, making it hard to see her expression.
If Haruhino Toru could crouch down and look up at her, he would see that Katou Kei had actually closed her eyes tightly out of nervousness, her long eyelashes fluttering, her little face flushed, looking pitiful.
But unfortunately, this beautiful sight was destined to go unnoticed.
Katou Kei indeed felt very shy; she now thought of herself as a shameless bad woman, using despicable means to get closer to the person she liked.
But soon, Katou Kei firmed up her thoughts.
She was not the kind of bad woman who used despicable means to toy with others' feelings; she was more serious about this feeling and this person than anyone else!
After hearing Katou Kei's words, Haruhino Toru was a bit puzzled; he knew his medicinal wine better than anyone, and normally, there shouldn't be any problems now.
“Could it be that Katou-san's injury is more serious?” Thinking of this, Haruhino Toru poured a bit more medicinal wine from the jar, rubbed it on his hands, and continued to massage the girl's wrist.
After all, this was caused by him stepping in to help, so he had to take responsibility.
The girl, who had been waiting for a long time without a response, was about to muster the courage to see the boy's reaction when she unexpectedly found that Haruhino Toru had just grabbed her wrist as she lifted her head.
His eyes were also looking in her direction.
The two of them locked eyes like this.
For the first time, Haruhino Toru realized that girls' eyelashes could be so long.
And also, girls' eyes really could speak; he could clearly see the meaning in Katou Kei's gaze.
“Be gentle; if you hurt me, An Yilun will be your fate.” The girl said this.
So Haruhino Toru immediately responded with a look.
“Got it, I will definitely not let Katou-san feel any pain!” With this confident expression, Haruhino Toru felt he couldn't have performed better.
This scene, in Katou Kei's eyes, transformed into another image.
“Has he already seen through my act?”
“It's okay, Katou-san; it's normal for it to hurt the first time!”
Misunderstandings can be quite wonderful.
But in any case, Haruhino Toru continued to carefully massage the girl's wrist.
Until her originally pure white wrist turned red, he finally stopped.
“This time, it should be fine, Katou-san!”
Haruhino Toru vowed that if Katou Kei said her wrist hurt again, he would pour out that jar of medicinal wine.