Aizawa…good luck.

Translated by Dawn

Edited by Dawn

Aizawa…good luck.

Finally, the first day of midterm exams arrived.

On the way to school with Mizutani, I could still feel the stares from those around us.

I guess the rumors hadn’t cleared up.

But I couldn’t afford to worry about such things right now.

When I arrived at the school building, I ran into Yamamoto at the shoe locker.

He glanced at me and went on ahead without saying a word.

It seemed that he was seriously preparing for this.

“Aizawa…good luck.”

Mizutani said as I looked at Yamamoto’s big back.

I looked next to him and saw that his serious expression was somewhat melancholy.

I probably had a hard look on my face.

I forced a smile to soften it.

The muscles in my cheeks seemed to relax a little.

“Well, I’ll just do what I have to do.”

*****

Thanks to my thorough preparation, I had the best performance ever in every subject on the exam.

Maybe because we had studied together, Shuji and the others seemed to feel the same way as I did.

“It would be great to have a gathering like this one, even if it’s at the end of the term.”

Shuji blurted out.

It was true that Shuji asked more questions than I did.

A week had passed since the test ended, and it was homeroom during the 6th period on Monday.

“I-I will now return the midterm exam score sheets! I will call your names in the order of your attendance numbers, so please come to the front to pick them up from those called.”

Kano-chan’s voice, standing at the teacher’s desk, was heard throughout the classroom.

However, this was a standard comment and there was no particular meaning to it.

I was sure everyone was looking forward to discussing the results of the returned test.

“First of all…Aizawa-kun.”

Before I had time to get nervous, my name was called.

Since I had a surname like Aizawa, I was used to being the first one to be called.

I answered “yes” and headed to the front of the teaching table.

“You did a great job, Aizawa-kun.”

As I was handed the report card, Kano-chan looked me in the eye and said.

Was this…her fixed comment?

Thinking “No way,” I replied, “Thank you,” and returned to my seat.

Once in my seat, I put my report card on the desk, still inside out.

Afraid to look through it, I took a deep breath with my eyes dimmed.

Anyway, what matters was the standings.

If I was in first place overall, I was guaranteed to win.

If it was 2nd or lower, I would have to wait for the other side’s result…I hope it would be 1st if possible.

After looking around for some reason, I quickly turned the paper over.

The transcript had a large bar graph in the center.

The bar graph for the average score was green, and the bar graph for my grade was blue.

Blue was 20 points higher than green in every subject.

But that didn’t matter now.

My ranking, my ranking was…!

“2nd place…”

…Not bad.

Of course, normally I would be extremely happy with this ranking.

I had never placed second since I entered high school.

But this time was different. I had a bad feeling about this.

I didn’t want to lose.

But now I knew that I was losing to one person.

I could only hope that someone was not Yamamoto.

“Damn it…”

In my own way, I had done everything in my power to fight.

And yet, I still felt a twinge of regret that I could have done more.

It didn’t matter if it was time to use the restroom, sleep, or whatever.

If I had cut out just a little bit of time to study, I might have been able to improve my ranking by one place.

*****

After the end of long homerooms and the end of the school assembly.

“How was it, Aizawa?”

As I slung my bag over my shoulder and was about to leave the classroom, I heard a cold voice behind me.

I turned around and saw Mizutani’s well-balanced face up close.

Frankly, I didn’t want to face her the most right now.

I might have lost the game.

I felt sorry for myself and it was hard to look Mizutani in the eye.

…But I shouldn’t turn away here.

“Sorry, Mizutani, I was 2nd.”

I looked into her blue eyes and said.

Then Mizutani breathed a sigh of relief.

“Good, you won this. That’s great, Aizawa.”

“…No, did you listen to me? I said I was in second place. That means there’s still one more above me.”

“Ah, right. I didn’t tell you my ranking yet, did I?”

Mizutani took out her own report card from her bag and handed it to me, saying, “Here, take a look at this.”

I looked at the paper I received.

The blue bar graph in the center of the sheet was very high.

If anything, it might be higher than mine. Wait—

“1st place!?”

“Don’t shout too loud. I don’t want anyone else to know.”

“A-ah, sorry.”

While apologizing to Mizutani, I checked my surroundings.

It seemed that the other students didn’t hear me in the bustle after the end of the school day.

With a sense of relief, I checked Mizutani’s ranking again.

Indeed, the number 1/263 was engraved there.

“Your grades are really good, Mizutani…”

“Maybe it’s because of the study group. I usually don’t get such good grades.”

She must have misunderstood something in the way I looked at her.

She looked embarrassed as if she were a child who had done something wrong.

…Hmm? Wait a minute.

“If you’re in the 1st place, that mean…”

“You have beaten Yamamoto, that’s confirmed. Congratulations, Aizawa.”

Mizutani said, taking over the trail of my words.

Mizutani was smiling.

Oh, I see. I won, didn’t I?

Of course, I was happy, but…was I the only one who didn’t understand why?

I didn’t expect this kind of ending at all.

“Hey, Aizawa. You didn’t forget your promise, did you?”

At that moment, I heard a low voice.

I looked in the direction of the voice and saw Yamamoto coming into the classroom and looking at me with a confident look on his face.

I could see that my classmates’ attention was focused on the confrontation between me and Yamamoto.

I guess they were wondering if this was going to be a fighting scene.

As expected, I was already aware of my current reputation in the class.

I glanced over at Satomi, who had her bag slung over her shoulder and was sneaking out of the classroom.

I understood how she felt, but I would not allow her to do so.

I stared at Satomi and she sighed and came over to me.

I turned to Yamamoto again.

“Yeah, of course, I haven’t forgotten.”

“Haha, I see, I see. You’re an unexpectedly honorable guy. Now, I’ll be merciful and not ask your rank. My rank is…3rd!”

Yamamoto showed us his report card with a bang.

I looked at Mizutani, despite the cheers of excitement from those around me.

Mizutani chuckled.

For some reason, I felt sorry for Yamamoto.