Meanwhile, somewhere in Tokyo, inside a luxurious mansion.
Fujiwara Chika stretched lazily in front of her desk and glanced at the time.
"It's already eleven… I didn't even notice, I've been studying for over two hours."
From this brief review session, Fujiwara Chika had learned one very important truth: the harder you try to study, the more you realize just how many things you don't know…
Human ability has its limits. Wanting to achieve great results in such a short amount of time would require surpassing humanity itself—so Fujiwara Chika decided…
…to continue studying properly.
Well, her actual goal was simply to get a presentable score.
Even though she usually played around a bit too much, she did study when it mattered.
On top of that, her talent was genuinely impressive—fluent in five languages, a prize-winning pianist. Calling her a genius wouldn't be an exaggeration.
So as long as she reviewed seriously, getting a good grade shouldn't be a problem.
"I'll take a short break."
Fujiwara Chika took out her phone, planning to relax a bit.
"I wonder what Tanaka-kouhai is doing. Is he actually reviewing properly? Let this senpai do a surprise inspection."
A smile crept onto her lips as she began typing.
[Tanaka-kouhai, what are you doing?]
After a short wait, a reply arrived.
[I'm testing my handmade project right now.]
Seeing this, Fujiwara Chika straightened up a little and continued typing.
[Handmade project? At this hour, Tanaka-kouhai isn't reviewing but making crafts? Aren't you worried about failing the exam?]
[Not at all. After relentless effort, passing the exam is no longer a problem for me.]
[Tanaka-kouhai is only aiming to pass?!]
[What's wrong with that? Passing means no retakes, no makeup lessons, and no repeating a year. Long live passing.]
[That sounds nice… For me, just passing isn't enough. Most subjects have to be an A, with at most one or two Bs allowed.]
[That's tough, but it just proves how amazing you are. Do your best—Fujiwara-senpai can definitely do it.]
[Oh! Being encouraged by my kouhai like this suddenly gives me motivation. Tanaka-kouhai, let's burn the midnight oil together and study hard!]
[I'll pass on that. Fujiwara-senpai should burn the midnight oil alone—staying up late isn't good for your health.]
[Hmph. Tanaka-kouhai, you really don't get the mood. At times like this, you're supposed to say you'll work hard together with me. That's the correct answer that earns points.]
[Alright then. I'll burn the midnight oil together with Fujiwara-senpai and take first place in the grade!]
[Bleh~ Too late to change your answer now. If you want points, let your exam results do the talking.]
[Then it's time to reveal my true strength. I'll take first place and max out my score in Fujiwara-senpai's heart.]
[Pfft~ Even if Tanaka-kouhai could get first place, you'd only get one extra point from me, you know?]
[Only one point? Then what's the maximum score—don't tell me it's just one point?]
[Of course not. The max score on my side is 100 points—no, 1,000 points.]
[Wow~ Getting points from Fujiwara-senpai is really hard.]
[Naturally. I'm very strict.
By the way, didn't Tanaka-kouhai say he was making a handmade project? What is it? Let me see how it turned out.]
[Since Fujiwara-senpai wants to see it that badly, I'll show you just a little.]
Seeing this message, Fujiwara Chika puffed out her cheeks.
"Tch. He says it like I'm that excited. If what Tanaka-kouhai made is terrible, I'm definitely going to mock him properly."
With that, she opened the image Tanaka Masao had sent.
"Wah!"
Seeing a pitch-black gun barrel pointed straight at her, Fujiwara Chika jumped in shock.
She almost threw her phone away, but after looking more closely, she realized it was just a paper pistol. Only then did she let out a sigh of relief.
Once she calmed down, anger surged up instead, and she started typing furiously.
[Seriously, Tanaka-kouhai, you're awful! Bullying people again!]
[Huh? What did I do? This is a confident masterpiece I worked incredibly hard to make.]
[A confident masterpiece? Tanaka-kouhai went to all that trouble just to shoot me?!]
Fujiwara Chika had originally thought Tanaka Masao's words yesterday were just jokes. She hadn't expected him to actually put them into action.
She was happy that Tanaka-kouhai would put thought into things for her—but she really didn't like what he made.
Only then did Tanaka Masao remember the joke he'd made with Fujiwara Chika before.
The joy and sense of accomplishment from wanting to share his creation had made him forget about it for a moment.
He hurriedly typed a reply.
[Fujiwara-senpai, this is just a coincidence. I made this gun to compete with my little sister—it's not what you're thinking.]
[Little sister? Compete?]
[Yeah. My sister wanted to make a weapon, and it sounded interesting, so I joined in and made this.]
After reading his explanation, Fujiwara Chika believed most of it. As for the remaining part…
[Tanaka-kouhai, you have a little sister?]
[I do.]
Getting a definite answer made Fujiwara Chika curious.
If Tanaka Masao was willing to play along with his sister, he must dote on her a lot. She wondered what his sister looked like.
Without realizing it, Fujiwara Chika's imagination ran wild, conjuring up an image suspiciously similar to Tanaka Masao in girls' clothes.
The moment that image popped into her head, she shook it away vigorously.
[Tanaka-kouhai, can I see what your sister looks like?]
Even if the cross-dressing Tanaka Masao image was painful to look at, her curiosity wouldn't settle down unless she saw the truth for herself.
[Alright.]
At the cost of exposing his handmade pistol, Tanaka Masao got permission and took a photo of Jahy.
There was no helping it—local laws enforced mandatory camera shutter sounds to prevent secret photography.
If he were at home with just Jahy, it wouldn't matter. He could bully her a bit while she didn't understand what was going on and brush it off with some excuse.
But with Yukinoshita Yukino present, openly taking a photo and secretly snapping one were two completely different things. He definitely didn't want to be mistaken for a lolicon.
Fujiwara Chika opened the image Tanaka Masao sent.
In the photo was an extremely cute dark-skinned little girl, cheerfully posing with a paper pistol in her hands.
"So this is Tanaka-kouhai's little sister… she's adorable."
[Tanaka-kouhai, what's your sister's name?]
[Jahy.]
[So it's Jahy-chan. Next time, Tanaka-kouhai, you have to bring her to Tokyo so she can come play with me.]
[If I get the chance, I'll bring her.]
At that moment, on Tanaka Masao's side, Yukinoshita Yukino urged him on.
"Tanaka-kun, hurry up. We're heading out."
"Alright, coming."
[Something just came up on my end. Let's chat next time.]
[Okay, talk next time.]
Ending his chat with Fujiwara Chika, Tanaka Masao quickly headed out the door.