CH 63

I felt my eyes darken for a moment. Why are you even inviting me to study with you, Claire? Enough is enough, really…….There’s no benefit to participating in this study group. There was still enough merit in Alfred’s case, but not this time. Zero, really.

Okay! Let’s say no! Absolutely not! I tried to say that, but I’ve already agreed to the study session with Alfred.

If I turn down the study session with Claire, I’ll be stuck in a sticky rut of “Why did you say no to me, but you said yes to Alfred’s study session?” If I turn down the study session with Claire, I’ll be left with this sticky situation.

I don’t want to be treated badly when I decide to join the faction of the Alcala family. It’s a pain in the ass! I have to do something to stop this from happening!

I replied as if I were trying to escape, not expressing my childish urge to complain.

“There’s nothing I can teach you, Miss Alcala.”

When Claire heard my words, she narrowed her eyes a little and bent her mouth into a crooked shape.

“Hmm, I thought you had a better entrance exam score than I did?”

Claire said calmly, a change from her previous somewhat restless appearance.

“No, no, I just got lucky that time…….”

“In the first place, exams are a game of how to reduce the element of luck. That’s why I study to eliminate the questions I can’t answer so that I can handle any question that comes up. So, if I don’t pass the exam, it means that I failed to reduce the element of luck.”

“No, but if you’re not feeling well at the time and you can’t perform to your full potential, or if you happen to study something and you can do it even though you don’t know as much or know as much as that person, that’s not really competence, is it? I don’t think you can call that competence, can you?”

“I was in perfect physical condition this time, you know? And even if it was by accident, it’s my fault if I didn’t study those parts and lost. It is true that the depth of one’s knowledge determines one’s exam score. But such is the ability of a scholar. No matter how deep your knowledge is, it is completely useless beyond what is required in the exam. In fact, the ability to anticipate questions is the ability to do well in the exam, isn’t it?”

Well, sure……What should I do? I’ve lost the argument. How do I answer that so I can escape? I’m in a labyrinth, and I don’t feel like I can escape.

There are no benefits and the reality is that I’m going to run out of time if I have to worry about both Alfred and Claire, and I want to get through this. But the worst thing that could happen is if she continues to insist and I refuse, I’m not confident that she won’t notice.

“All right. If it’s okay with you, I’d love to.”

When I whispered to her, Claire’s face lit up as if a flower had opened. She’s usually beautiful and cool, but the gap between her and me makes her look really cute. No, no, don’t be fooled, I’m sure she’s smiling because she’s imagining how she’s going to use this study session to trick me into doing something.

“Let’s study in my salon tomorrow after school!”

“Okay, sure.”

“I’ll look forward to it! Bye!”

With that, Claire turned on her heel and walked out of the classroom humming. The last time I was invited to the salon, she left before anything happened, but this time she’s probably looking forward to it since she failed to set me up last time.

Oh well. If I don’t do something about this situation of being hated soon, I won’t be able to survive. Even though it was my own fault, I was fed up with Claire’s vindictive nature.

I let out a deep sigh and was wondering what I should do now when a voice called out to me.

“Hey, Chris…”

When I looked at the owner of the voice, I saw that it was the boy who had carried Alice away on the stretcher earlier. It seemed that he had come back before I knew it. The fact that he was calling out to her at this time meant that he was probably waiting for me to finish my conversation with Claire.

I was feeling down because of what had happened with Claire and Alfred, but I was excited to have a conversation with someone I hadn’t seen in a long time, not someone I cared about more than I should, but just a classmate. I’m feeling so up and down today.

“Uh, what do you want from me?”

My voice was a little slurred as I answered. I failed. It makes me sound like a dork who’s happy to be talked to after a long time. Well, actually, I am. However, despite my worries, the boy answered without hesitation.

“No, it’s not for me, but Americia-sama has to leave early today, and I have to take her luggage to her place. So she wants Chris to bring it to her.”

It’s not you, is it? I thought I was going to be able to get along with you and get one of the elements of a wonderful school life, a guy friend that I wouldn’t mind…….Alice? Why?

“What? Why would I do that?”

“I’m not sure either, but she said she forgot to tell you something”

“Oh, so it’s about that. Thank you. I’ll be right there.”

She probably wanted to talk about the study session yesterday.

“See you later.”

I strode over to Alice’s seat, picked up the luggage there, and headed for the nurse’s office.