Chapter 177
Chapter 177: Yui’s Invitation to the Rooftop
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11 min read
The school rooftop.
It’s a place imbued with legendary charm.
Many high school romances have been kindled there, feelings nurtured and love sparked in its open air. For some, it’s the iconic spot to confess to their crush, hoping to begin a new Chapter together.
Of course, there’s also the rooftop’s darker side—the spot for breakups, heated arguments, and drama worthy of a soap opera.
Kotomi Izumi had always known that Sobu High School had a rooftop, but out of laziness, she’d never bothered to check it out.
Getting to the rooftop was simple: just take the stairs to the very top. While the door used to be locked, ever since high fencing had been installed for safety, students were permitted up there.
When she and Yui arrived, Kotomi found the rooftop was exactly as Yui had promised—quiet, with only the two of them there.
For a couple, the rooftop would make an ideal date spot. Given its privacy, it could easily be a place to get closer, even for some hidden intimacy in the shadows.
Kotomi glanced over to the field below, where crowds of students were scattered across it.
Ordinarily, students would grab their lunch and return to their classrooms, but since classrooms were off-limits for today’s midterms, the field had become the main dining area.
"I bought two flavors of ready-to-heat bento. Which one do you want?" Kotomi asked, sitting on a bench and turning to Yui.
"Hmmm, I think I’ll take the braised beef flavor."
"Alright, then I’ll have the black pepper chicken."
These self-heating bentos sold at school were convenient—you didn’t need water; just pull the ring tab and wait fifteen minutes for a steaming hot meal.
As handy as they were, Kotomi always felt like complaining about the rice in these bentos—it just had a strange texture.
As the meals heated up, Kotomi checked in with Yui on the morning’s exams.
"How did you feel about the Japanese and math exams?"
Sipping her yogurt with a straw, Yui squinted thoughtfully before responding.
"When I first looked at the test, I thought, ’Oh no, I don’t know how to do any of this!’ But after a moment, when I calmed down and went through the questions again, they started looking easier. I started writing answers, even if I was kind of slow. I still managed to finish everything before time was up."
"Everything? That’s great! I heard some students had to leave a question or two unfinished."
"Hehe, maybe I just write fast. But the math exam was close! Just as the bell rang, I managed to finish the last problem."
"What was your answer?" Kotomi asked.
"Twenty-nine!" Yui answered confidently.
She seemed very assured about her answer.
And as it turned out, her confidence was well-founded. Kotomi’s answer for the last problem had also been twenty-nine.
That final math question was worth twenty points—the highest scoring one on the test! In high school exams, even one point could mean the difference between passing or failing, so twenty points were as good as gold.
"Go over how you solved it and the steps you took," Kotomi requested.
Yui recited her answer fluently, and after hearing her explanation, Kotomi nodded approvingly. Yui’s steps, methods, and final answer were identical to her own.
"At the very least, you’ve got those twenty points in the bag," Kotomi praised.
"Yay!" Yui cheered, beaming.
"This afternoon, we’ll have English, history, and social studies, and then tomorrow morning, it’s physics and chemistry, with biology and geography in the afternoon. Keep up the good work!"
"That’s so many exams in a row, my head hurts just thinking about it... But I’ll give it my best shot!" Yui was fired up with determination.
"When you get home tonight, the school isn’t assigning any homework, so just study for no more than two hours, and then relax."
Kotomi, satisfied there was nothing more to remind her of, switched topics and continued chatting with Yui.
After fifteen minutes, their bentos were finally heated up.
Lifting the lids, a delicious aroma rose into the air, making their mouths water.
It smelled amazing!
Just as Kotomi grabbed the plastic spoon to dive in, her expression froze as she spotted the garnish.
I get it, I get it, but why would they add green onions to black pepper chicken bento?!
And there was so much of it!
Kotomi’s least favorite food was green onions. Every time she ate, she’d meticulously pick them out before taking a bite. Ginger, garlic, and onions were all on her "do not eat" list.
As she struggled with what to do about the onions, Yui, who was about to take a spoonful of beef and rice, suddenly noticed a bit of green—green onions!
"Aaah... putting green onions in a bento... this is just cruel. It’s tyranny!" Yui groaned, frowning.
She, like Kotomi, despised green onions.
"Yui, you don’t like green onions either?" Kotomi perked up at the realization.
Yui nodded without hesitation.
"Hate them, totally hate them! Whether it’s green onions or scallions, there’s just no way I can eat them! Every time I see that green stuff in my fried rice or stir-fried veggies, I get chills. Green onions are the work of evil!"
Hearing this, Kotomi suppressed a mischievous grin, adopting a mock-serious tone instead.
"Picky eaters don’t do well in school, you know."
"Eh?!" Yui exclaimed, stunned. Could her poor grades really be due to picky eating?
"If you want to improve your grades, you need to be able to eat the foods you don’t like."
"R-Really..."
"Yes, really. So consider it training and eat all the green onions."
With a serious expression, Kotomi took all the onions from her own bento, spooned them into Yui’s, and, as a parting gesture, swiped a piece of beef from Yui’s bowl.
"Oh... it’s a green onion nightmare..." Yui looked down at her bento with a pale face, but, recalling Kotomi’s words, held her nose and forced herself to eat them.
"Mhm, that’s right, just like that. Good job, good job." Kotomi nodded, her face soft with encouragement, cheering Yui on as she endured the green onion ordeal.
"Ugh... Finally... It’s done... That horrifying green onion nightmare—I’d rather take another exam than eat that many onions again!" Yui gulped down an entire bottle of water after finishing her bento with all the green onions, looking as though she’d barely survived a trip through hell.
"Not bad, you actually ate it all!" Kotomi remarked with satisfaction as she enjoyed her black pepper chicken bento, which was free from any trace of green onions.
"Neither the taste nor the texture of green onions is tolerable!" Yui grimaced, her face pale with lingering revulsion.
"You have to approach it as part of your training," Kotomi counseled her solemnly.
"Of course." Kotomi straightened her face and replied, "Have I ever lied to you?"
With Kotomi’s "advice" in mind, Yui took her words to heart, albeit reluctantly.
"But green onions really are horrible..."
"Yui, being picky is not a good habit." Kotomi encouraged her like a sage imparting life lessons.
The way she spoke made Kazumi, the system spirit within her, nearly laugh out loud, wanting to chime in with, "Look who’s talking about picky eating!"
After finishing their lunch, they only had a thirty-minute break instead of the usual ninety minutes since three more exams were scheduled for the afternoon. The students didn’t mind too much—shortening lunch was one thing, but they didn’t want anything to delay their release at the end of the day.
Back at the exam hall, Kotomi noticed even more students looking at her with a kind of awe. The more outgoing students among the top-performers even came up to ask if they could exchange contact info.
Kotomi, of course, didn’t refuse, taking this pre-exam time to exchange numbers with them. They found her so approachable, far from the aloofness they’d imagined for someone as academically gifted as her. Her voice had a calm, natural lilt—pleasant, smooth, and sincere.
Before long, Kotomi Izumi’s reputation had reached a new height in their eyes.
Meanwhile, in the teachers’ office...
"Ms. Yagawa, how about Izumi Kotomi’s math score?" Mr. Nakamori asked Ms. Yagawa after grading one of the morning papers.
Ms. Yagawa nodded, acknowledging her agreement. "A true talent," she admitted. "Though I couldn’t check her entire paper, I read through her solution to the written section, and if all’s correct, she scored full marks. Honestly, Mr. Nakamori, I thought you were exaggerating at first. Turns out it was me who didn’t see her potential."
"Haha! I told you she was promising. No matter how hard the concept, she always got it on the first try. I was starting to think that even if I didn’t explain something, she’d still figure it out."
Mr. Nakamori couldn’t help but laugh. Having such a prodigy in his class was a point of pride for him.
"Half of the questions on this test are ones I wrote myself, so I’m very familiar with their difficulty," Ms. Yagawa added. "For most top students, even they slow down on these types of questions. But with Izumi Kotomi, not only was she unfazed, but she didn’t even slow down! I’m beginning to wonder if I’ve just lost my touch with creating tough questions."
"Oh, you should’ve seen the blank scrap paper she left on her desk," Mr. Nakamori chimed in. "Not even a single mark on it. I’d feel better if she’d doodled a few rubber duckies on it, but no—she solved the whole test mentally!"
"Mentally?!" Ms. Yagawa was visibly taken aback.
"See for yourself." Mr. Nakamori handed her the scrap paper used during Kotomi’s exam.
The school collected all scrap paper after exams, so if it had been marked on, Ms. Yagawa would have seen her full calculations. But instead, the paper was blank, its pristine white glaringly obvious under the light.
Ms. Yagawa’s jaw practically dropped. After teaching for so many years, she’d never seen a student like this—one who didn’t even touch their scrap paper during a math exam and yet still solved every question correctly.
A hundred percent accuracy.
"Now do you believe me?" Mr. Nakamori teased.
"She’s remarkable. I’ve been teaching math for years and haven’t seen anyone like her. Impressive, absolutely impressive. When she moves up to sophomore year, any chance she’ll be taking the science track?"
"I’ve been hoping to sway her in that direction, but she hasn’t decided yet."
"No rush. After all, she still has a year to figure it out. She may settle on science within that time."
Though Kotomi remained oblivious to the fact that she was being scouted by teachers, she waited in her seat, looking over the English exam paper just handed out while waiting for the start bell to ring.
"Listening for freshmen will begin broadcasting in twenty minutes," Ms. Hiratsuka announced.
With that, the exam officially began. Having already scanned the entire paper, Kotomi started filling in the answers she’d already mentally prepared, her pen gliding smoothly without pause.
Students nearby, upon hearing the sounds of her pen gliding smoothly across her answer sheet, no longer found themselves as stunned as they had been that morning. Instead, they just sighed and thought to themselves:
Here she goes again; Izumi-Oneesama is at it once more.
After two exams, they had resigned themselves to the fact that Kotomi Izumi was simply on a different level. Watching her take on the test without hesitation was no longer disheartening; it was something worth admiring.
In the morning, they’d been skeptical, but after seeing her in action, the students around her could only look on with respect, thinking silently to themselves:
Izumi-Oneesama!
— End of Chapter 177 —