"Hm? This..."
Noa looked back and forth between Haruna's paper and the answer sheet, and then made a mark with a red pen.
"This one's wrong. You made a small mistake at the third step," she muttered.
Reiji walked over to the other side of the desk so that he could read the steps written by Haruna, and then looked up to see the blonde girl with her head down.
"Geez, you shouldn't have rushed," he sighed.
"S-Sorry."
"It's only one question, you'll be fine," Reiji shook his head, but then saw that Noa wasn't continuing with the grading.
She was glaring instead, her purple eyes piercing through him.
"And who said you could come to my side of the desk?"
Reiji stood there awkwardly, realizing that he was leaning over to see Haruna's paper by placing a hand on Noa's chair.
The distance between them was really short, uncomfortably so.
He quickly backed away and returned to his chair, scratching his chin with a clumsy smile.
"Uh, sorry. I was just worried," he mumbled.
Noa didn't blink, but shifted her focus back to the answer sheet after a few seconds.
She gave a red mark two more times as she continued, and Haruna got more and more nervous every time she did so.
Reiji himself clicked his tongue.
'Was she pressured to finish earlier because of me?'
A few minutes later, Noa put down her pen and crossed her arms as she leaned back.
".....While you made a few mistakes, I could tell from your steps that you do know the proper methods or theories, and just made a few silly errors. I believe your 4th-place rank was earned, not acquired, hence I'll approve your result and make sure no problems will arise," she nodded with an almost unnoticeable curve of her lips.
For those who knew her better, like Reiji, that was a clear sign of approval or admiration.
Haruna's pale face brightened up instantly, and she started pulling Reiji's left arm up and down.
"Reiji-tan, we really did it!"
"Of course, didn't I say it from the start?" Reiji smirked with mock confidence.
Noa raised an eyebrow when she saw this, curiosity written all over her expression.
"...By the way, may I ask how you managed to climb the ranks so fast? Were the entrance exams a momentary lapse, or did you really just improve that fast? I'm asking because I'm interested in using you as an example to motivate other students in our school," Noa asked with a slight tilt of her head.
Haruna calmed down somewhat and coughed forcefully to clear out her embarrassment.
"U-Um, I was tutored by Reiji-tan, so that's why I was able to improve," she replied.
Noa turned to Reiji, a trace of surprise flashing by that he didn't miss.
"What?" he asked. "Is it that shocking?"
"...If I'm being honest, then yes. I didn't quite peg you as the teacher type."
"So prejudiced!" Reiji joked, grinning at the complicated look she was giving him.
"Can you blame me?"
"Well.... No?"
"Exactly," Noa shrugged before addressing Haruna again. "Then, do you mind if I bring you up specifically during the awards ceremony on Monday? If you're not comfortable, that's fine too."
Haruna seemed taken aback at the request, glancing at Reiji to see if he had any thoughts.
"Don't look at me, do what you want to do," he said.
"Then...I guess it's fine?"
Haruna blushed due to the oddity of the situation and tried to look indifferent, but her proud and excited face betrayed her real thoughts.
"Good," Noa nodded again, and then checked her watch. "Both of you may leave, and since there are only a few minutes left for lunch, take this slip for now, and I'll inform your homeroom teacher later that you were permitted to skip the next period. That's all."
Haruna took the piece of paper from her and stood up, but stopped when she saw Reiji hadn't moved an inch.
Noa frowned.
"....Do you need something else?"
"Yes."
Reiji's lazy expression was replaced by a more serious frown as he crossed his arms while still seated.
"The teacher falsely accused us of cheating without any reliable evidence aside from his own opinion that we couldn't possibly do this well, and yet we're the ones who had to take a test to prove our innocence, while nothing happens to him? How is that fair?"
Kahawara Sensei was an absolute pain in the ass for the entirety of the game, not only to the villainous Reiji but the main cast as well.
For no reason other than the fact that he was a bitter old man who stubbornly stuck to his own ideal that teachers should be blindly respected.
He caused a lot of minor problems for different characters now and then, like this occasion where even Haruna, who was a model student outside of her comparatively lower grades, was sent to the student council.
He was punished only when the player moved to the third year of high school, but Reiji refused to wait that long.
'Why should I stick to the script?'
Noa's eyes widened at his question, and she took a couple of seconds to think about it.
".....I understand where you're coming from, but even if he supervised the exam room, it's not impossible for a student to get away with cheating at the time, which has happened before."
But Reiji didn't back down.
"The difference is that Kahawara Sensei was practically hovering over my desk for all of the exams. He specifically monitored me most of the time, which can be verified quite easily if you ask around. So please tell me, how on Earth could I even cheat if that was the case?"
".....Is that true?" Noa asked, turning to Haruna, who also seemed a little indignant.
"Yes, it is. It was a little weird to be completely honest, because he clearly seemed to be targeting Reiji-tan! And this isn't the first time either! He constantly picks on him during class and always talks in a condescending tone!"
Noa closed her eyes and rubbed the bridge of her nose tiredly.
"Alright. I'll inform the school's administration about this complaint and ask them to look into it," she conceded.
Reiji lightened up and smiled.
"Thank you."
He wasn't expecting much to come out of this.
Maybe Sensei would get a warning at best, or the claim would be ignored at worst.
But this would at least make the administration aware of this issue, and when Kahawara Sensei inevitably slips up in the future, they'd be forced to address it properly.
If not.....
'I'm not against a more...'drastic' approach.'
***
".....I really want to go back home and tell Granny! If only phones weren't allowed during schooltime, I'd probably have called her by now," Haruna exclaimed, skipping happily next to Reiji.
"Goody-two-shoes, just call her if you want."
"Hmph, I don't want to get into trouble right after clearing my name!"
Reiji chuckled and shook his head.
The hallway was empty, with all the students back in class after lunchtime ended.
They were now heading to a quieter place to eat, lunchboxes in hand as they quickened their pace out of hunger.
Reiji glanced at Haruna beside him, his eyes softening at her stupidly wide smile.
A large burden was lifted off her shoulders after all.
'.....But it's not enough. I gotta clear that debt as soon as possible.'
Only then could she enjoy school life as she deserved.
All of a sudden, Haruna's melodious humming froze abruptly, her joy morphing into irritation in an instant.
Reiji blinked with confusion and followed her line of sight.
'.....Didn't he get sick leave? Why is he back?'
At the end of the corridor, Riku was approaching with his hands in his pockets, the strangely cocky smirk on his face growing when he noticed them.
And when he met Reiji's eyes, he didn't flinch away like he used to, straightening up further instead as he walked up to them.
"Oh? Are you guys skipping class?" he asked.
".....No, we got permission from the Student Council," Haruna replied perfunctorily.
"Really? Why?"
"What's it to you?"
Riku bit back a reply, his confident expression shifting to panic out of nowhere as his gaze started darting around for some reason.
'....What is he doing?'
His head was hobbling sideways, like he was reading something on Haruna's face, or maybe her head.
"Why?? I didn't even do anything!" he snapped.
'The hell?'
"What's wrong with you? Are you still sick?" Haruna asked, perplexed at the random shout.
"Wait, wait! Give me a second," he spoke hastily, turning his head to his right as he continued with his strange behavior.
For a good 10 seconds, there was silence as Riku stared blankly at the empty space, with only his eyeballs moving.
Reiji squinted at the ridiculous scene.
'Did he actually lose it? Or maybe.....'
He had a strange suspicion, but it seemed a little nonsensical.
"Aha!" he finally giggled, turning back to Haruna. "I believe there was no mistake in the midterms, and you earned your place on the rankings! So how about we go to the Student Council, and I can help prove your innocence?" he inquired with his hands on his hips.
Haruna's reaction....
Well, she had no reaction.
She simply gave him a deadpan look and sighed.
"No thanks, we've both already proven that we didn't cheat."
Riku's grin stiffened.
"Huh? Both of you?" he asked, turning to Reiji for the first time.
Reiji didn't say anything and lifted his lunchbox instead as he looked at Haruna.
"Can we go eat? I'm starving!"
"Mhm, me too."
They both started to walk off, leaving Riku behind, who had his mouth open in disbelief.
".....This wasn't part of the script," he whispered, a sentence that went unheard by everyone except for himself.
And one other entity.