Zongman: Unknowingly trapped in the hatchet

?

After Mahiru took a short nap, Su Qing woke her up.

After she packed the two extra buns she made at home into a box, the two of them set off for school together.

……

Came to school.

After parting with Mahiru at the classroom door, Su Qing returned to his class.

A few minutes after he sat down, Hikigaya also came by coincidence.

Compared to the past, he unexpectedly arrived earlier than before.

At least that's what Su Qing thought.

Su Qing smiled and said "Good morning" to him, but in return he only got a slightly evasive look and a slight nod from the other party.

It seems that this is not normal.

Another half second later, Hikigaya pulled his hands out of his pockets, placed them on the back of his head, and replied in the same tone as usual, "Oh... Good morning."

Then he walked straight back to his seat.

Maybe he did something because he stayed up late last night. Hikigaya threw his schoolbag on the table and buried his head in it.

Seeing this, Su Qing fell silent in his seat.

I glanced out of the corner of my eye - Yui hasn't come yet.

After retracting his gaze, Su Qing supported his chin with one hand and tapped the table lightly with the other hand.

[It's strange... why is Hachiman behaving exactly the same as usual]

[But I smell a hint of sadness?]

[Is it because I used Ayaka to confess to him?]

As the frequency of his fingers tapping became faster and faster, Su Qing's thoughts gradually became clearer.

[No... he shouldn't be thinking about this. In his mind, Ayaka is still a man...]

[So, do you think I... deceived him?]

Su Qing stopped what he was doing.

He turned around to look at Hikigaya who was sitting in the back. The other person still looked the same as he remembered, without even moving a finger.

Su Qing couldn't help but sigh.

[How should I do...?]

According to Su Qing's original plan, as long as he waited for the school trip, the other party would understand everything.

But for some reason, Su Qing suddenly felt stuffy in his heart.

Strange feeling.

I think this is the first time.

What does it feel like?

Su Qing recalled all the words and meanings he had learned in the past, trying to find a word to describe this feeling.

But in the end, it was like a drop in the ocean, with no results.

Su Qing's usually bright eyes suddenly showed a hint of confusion.

It is natural to feel angry when you are deceived.

The deeper the trust, the more intense the anger that follows.

The scariest thing is that trust is like a mirror.

Lies told over and over again are like broken cracks.

The more cracks there are, the deeper the breakage becomes.

The only difference is that some people are okay with using a broken mirror and some are not.

But, did he really deceive Hikigaya?

If that doesn’t count, then what does?

?

"Xiaoqing~ What are you thinking about? You didn't even see me say hello to you."

What came to my ears was Yui's usual lively voice.

Coming back to her senses, Su Qing realized that the other person had put down his schoolbag and sat in her seat without her noticing.

When he turned his head, the girl with cherry blossom-colored medium-length hair appeared in his pupils.

Along with the girl's face, there was a slender index finger - it was the girl who boldly poked his face.

The girl's cherry-like lips murmured, and then she uttered repetitive and meaningless mumblings in a childish voice.

"Take care of me, take care of me, take care of me~~~"

"what to do?"

Su Qing replied unhappily.

Come to think of it, Yui rarely seems to do something like this to him, and he doesn't know what happened today.

"Hey. So fierce~"

Yui pouted, seeming a little aggrieved.

While Su Qing didn't grab her finger, she quickly took it back, and finally smiled mischievously at him.

"What are you thinking about? Are you thinking about some math problem?"

"Why do you say that?"

“Eh. Isn’t it?” Yui opened her mouth slightly, seeming a little surprised, “Aren’t there many international math competitions in November and December?”

"You still know this?"

Su Qing looked suspicious and looked Yui up and down for a while, as if to say, "Why, you want to go too?"

"I just heard what Yumiko and the others said...so Xiaoqing isn't going?" Yui asked.

"I've won it before, but I'm not interested in it." Su Qing shook his head and chuckled, "Besides, tutoring you in math is more challenging than participating in math or modeling competitions."

When he said "before", he was naturally referring to the previous world.

But how would Yui know this?

But of course he would not doubt Su Qing's words. He just blushed and stammered with a guilty look on his face, "It should...it shouldn't be that challenging, right? I've been working very hard recently."

"That's right. There has been great progress recently."

Su Qing smiled and nodded, which was considered an affirmation of her.

Speaking of which...

He just wanted to give Mahiru a gift recently.

It's a bit of a stretch to call the [grindstone] a gift on that weekend.

Although he wouldn't have done or said that if the recipient wasn't Mahiru, it was indeed inappropriate as a gift after all.

At the very least, Su Qing thought it was inappropriate.

Besides, Mahiru must be busy researching breakfast lately...

Just think of it as a reward.

At that time, let's prepare together with Yui's [encouragement]...

"I think so too~~ I should be able to get into the top 500 in the next exam!"

Yui patted her chest excitedly and seemed to have great confidence in this.

The top 500 is just at the average level for Sobu High School, which has a population of 1,000.

It is not outstanding and naturally does not have much competitiveness.

But for Yui, whose performance was originally in the middle and lower reaches, this is already a significant improvement.

"Really? Then keep up the good work." Su Qing smiled faintly.

I wanted to tell Yui that grades aren’t necessarily that important.

There are thousands of paths in the world, and stable academic advancement is not the only path to take.

It’s just that most people walk on this road.

The reason for encouraging the other party to make progress is just to give them one more choice.

——When you reach your senior year and want to go to college, you don’t have to give up the option of further study because of your poor grades.

As for whether the other party will choose not to continue their studies but choose something else, it is actually not important.

The most important thing is that the efforts she makes now will not be wasted.

——After hard work is rewarded, the joy of success is still a very valuable asset for an individual.

If you can only choose one, try to make it as diverse as possible.