Chapter 11: Inevitably, the Heroine

I Hate Exams (2)

...Why is he here?

I was frozen on the spot, staring blankly at him in this completely unexpected situation. Had he been coming to school all this time? Or... I couldn't continue the thought. It was probably because I realized his gaze was fixed on somewhere.

"...Where are you looking?"

I muttered quietly, and he flinched, his shoulders jerking up. My eyes narrowed, and my arm, which had been down, rose to cover my chest. He had been staring at my chest area since earlier.

"Ah, no... misunderstanding..."

"You crazy bastard."

He didn't even know what he should be saying to me right now, and the first thing he saw upon meeting me was my wet body. My body trembled with rising anger. My slightly elevated favorability plummeted, and the nausea I had been holding back surged up my throat. I was dying to spit in his face and say something.

...But I won't go that far.

I crossed my arms and turned my body slightly, and his face flushed red. The ridiculous sight of him flailing his hands and denying it made me frown even more.

"Then where the hell were you looking?"

"I, it's just that it was wet, so my eyes naturally went there."

"...Die."

"...Sorry."

If it was wet, he should have avoided looking there. Maybe it was because I had become a little more self-conscious since becoming a woman recently, but I became slightly sensitive to people looking at my body. I didn't care who looked before, but now it makes me feel unnecessarily embarrassed.

But he was openly staring at my body, and I almost blushed without realizing it. I'm letting it go because it's Xenon. If it were someone else, I would have frozen them immediately...

No, it's not that I'm letting it go because it's Xenon. It's just that it's better to hear other important things first. There's no need to waste time getting angry, so I'm just letting it go.

"What happened? Have you been coming to school all along?"

"Well, I've been coming to school."

"You didn't come to class."

"I couldn't. I can't go to class during a suspension."

Suspension. My narrowed eyes widened slightly at that word. He avoided expulsion? That means he must have told them everything. Thinking that, my anger seemed to subside a little. It would be a bit much to get angry at him for trying to avoid expulsion by revealing his circumstances.

I unfolded my arms and looked straight at him. He flinched and made a stupid face, which I hated to see, but I still had to ask what I needed to ask.

"How many days of suspension?"

"...Today's the last day. It was a two-week suspension."

It was a shorter period than I thought. And today is the last day, which means...

"You're coming from tomorrow?"

"Yeah."

Oh my god, I put my hand on my forehead and sighed. I had been able to relax for the past few days, but now I'm going to have to face Xenon in the same class again. Should I move my seat to the corner?

...But if I avoid him so blatantly, he might get hurt.

This is a headache. I'll have to stay up all night thinking about how to avoid him without hurting his feelings. As I was worrying about that, I heard his voice in my ear.

"...It's thanks to you."

"What is?"

"Avoiding expulsion and... everything else. If you hadn't stopped the fight back then, I would have been expelled for sure."

I didn't really do anything, so I was a little puzzled, but I wasn't going to say anything since he was thanking me.

"Aren't you curious about how I avoided expulsion?"

"...You must have handled it well."

"I could tell you."

He smiled slightly, adding that to the end of his sentence. I don't know what he means by that. He probably avoided expulsion by talking about his mother, but why would he tell me that? Even in novels, someone only talks about their mother to someone they trust or have feelings for.

There's no way he would tell me, whom he's only met a few times, such a thing. I shook my head and opened my mouth.

"It's okay. It's more important that you just got a suspension. It's a relief you weren't expelled."

"...Yeah, it's a relief."

His blue eyes looked down at me. Maybe it was because of the smile on his face, but his impression seemed much brighter than before. Well, it must be my imagination. Even in the original story, he knew Aisha from the beginning, but he didn't start smiling sincerely until after he fell for Aisha.

Anyway, I think it's fortunate that Xenon only ended up with a suspension. The development was already messed up from the first day, so it's much better to have the protagonist around.

"But why are you standing here?"

I've been wondering since earlier. Why the hell was he standing in front of the women's restroom? Maybe he has a taste I don't know about. Thinking that, I slowly raised my arm again, and Xenon shouted in a hurried voice.

"No, it's a misunderstanding!"

"Then why are you standing in front of the women's restroom?"

"...You can tell if you look at this. I'm here because of community service during my suspension."

He sighed and showed me the rag in his hand. Aha. Seeing that, I roughly understood why he was here. Well, even if it's a suspension, it's rare to just stay at home. They must have made him clean the restroom or something.

"Is that so? Then good luck."

That's all I was curious about, so I tried to pass him, but he grabbed my arm.

"...Wait a minute."

"Why?"

Why is he suddenly grabbing my arm? I glanced at him as if asking what he was doing, and he hesitated and opened his mouth.

"...Your num..."

"What?"

"Ber... I mean, can I have your number? Because, well, you're the only person I know here. Your Smart Box can be contacted too. I don't have any other intentions, I just want to ask if I have any questions..."

"Here."

I threw my plastic box at him. So this is a Smart Box, it's the first time I've heard the name. It's probably an evolved version of a smartphone or something. Anyway, why is he talking so much about asking for my number? I felt a little uneasy about giving him my number, but still, it was the protagonist's phone number.

I can't live without knowing it anyway.

Xenon stared blankly at the Smart Box I threw. He was fumbling with the Smart Box with a stupid look on his face, so I opened my mouth, feeling frustrated.

"What are you doing? Don't you want my number?"

"Ah, no. It's not that."

He flinched and was surprised, then entered the number and handed me the Smart Box.

"..Um, but there are no saved phone numbers? You wouldn't have bought a new one..."

"There aren't, you're the first."

I don't even know how to use it properly, and I don't know anyone. Come to think of it, I need to get Frey's number too. After putting the Smart Box in my pocket, I raised my head to go to Frey, and I could see that his face was flushed red.

He can't even make eye contact, did he see something on the Smart Box...? I should check it out later.

"Are you sick?"

"Uh- no, um. Goodbye. See you tomorrow."

"...Okay."

He was muttering something with his head completely bowed, which was a little strange, but... I turned my back and passed Xenon as he was.

#

Pshhh-

If steam could really escape from a person's head, I'm sure that's what I would look like. Like a steam locomotive, constantly spewing something from my bright red head - I probably thought so. The meaning contained in those words is probably exactly what they mean.

-You're the first.

Those words, to shake a person this much. I don't know what emotion I'm feeling right now. Just simple gestures, ordinary conversations, my heart feels stuffy, and I don't know what this feeling of being anxious for no reason is...

I was so surprised when I entered the phone number into the Smart Box. Seeing the clean address book without even my parents' phone numbers, I had many thoughts for a moment. Maybe she, like me - lost her parents. It's been 5 years since it was discontinued, so has she been living without contacting anyone for 5 years?

Living so lonely, how can she live so normally?

In fact, when the suspension was confirmed, I didn't completely dismiss the idea of going to Aisha to tell her. But I hesitated, thinking, would it be okay to go to her for something like that? I had only seen her briefly from afar.

But as time went on, more and more contradictory emotions piled up. I tried to make excuses to get a little closer, and when I saw her going to the restroom, I deliberately grabbed a rag and pretended to be coming out of the men's restroom. The area I was assigned to wasn't even the restroom in the first place.

When I added my phone number to the empty address book, I felt an indescribable joy. And when I heard that I was the first, my vision went white for a moment - I couldn't bear to look at her face.

When I looked at her face, I didn't know what words would come out of my mouth. I don't even remember what I said when she called me.

What should I call this feeling?

...I couldn't figure it out at all.

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