The mechanical pencil glided over the notebook, writing down one English word after another.
The curves flowed smoothly, while the straight lines were brisk.
Kui especially loved this feeling of solving problems fluidly and the clarity in her mind.
After finishing the exam paper from her target university last year, she picked up the red reference book lying beside her and began correcting her answers against it.
The accuracy rate was pretty good, she roughly estimated the deviation value to be around 72.9.
She stretched lazily, preparing to take a break before correcting her mistakes.
Exhausted, she propped her chin with her right hand while gazing out the window at the clear blue sky, her gaze drifting down to the sports field in Yunbei.
At noon, only a few male members of the sports clubs were taking advantage of their lunch break to play basketball.
Kui remembered herself until she entered her senior year, she had always been a member of the Wind Instrument Club.
To cope with the heavy university entrance exams and avoid repeating the failure in the middle school exams, she left the club despite the attempts of her younger sister and good friend, Huang Qiansanqianzi, to keep her.
The Wind Instrument Club at Yunbei was not worth mentioning.
Though it had been glorious in the past, it had long since become a third-rate club that couldn’t even qualify for the Capital City competition—this was the case before this spring.
Her idle left hand picked up an eraser, unconsciously rolling it between her forefinger and middle finger.
Outside the window, the white clouds stretched far and wide, resembling the body of an alto saxophone.
Now, Yunbei’s Wind Instrument Club, having won the Capital City competition and performed miraculously in the Kansai competition, although they only received a bronze at the national competition, had become a popular club at the school.
The principal even praised them during a meeting, and next year’s enrollment at Yunbei would likely be more popular because of them.
Although she had been in the Wind Instrument Club for two years, if she had persisted into the third year...
Kui stopped twisting the eraser and chuckled self-deprecatingly.
She wasn’t someone like Sekai Kinda—the vice-president of the Wind Instrument Club in the same grade—who was regarded as a special existence by everyone.
Outstanding appearance, excellent leadership skills, a standard of tenor horn playing on par with prestigious schools, and placing among the top thirty in the national mock exams.
How could such a perfect person exist in this world...
Kui thought of her own mock exam scores, still a considerable distance from the private university she was targeting.
Balancing club activities while studying hard was completely impossible for an ordinary person like her.
After some distracted thoughts, she stretched her arms upwards and prepared to continue studying.
Just then, from the corner of her eye, she doubtingly glanced toward the path from the school gate leading to the building, catching sight of a familiar figure.
What was she doing there at this time?
Even if the competition was over, except for the seniors preparing for university exams, the Wind Instrument Club should still be practicing.
While pondering these trivial matters, two figures beside Chisako caught her attention.
In Yunbei, where the winter uniform includes long-sleeved sailor outfits, the two dressed in Western-style school uniforms stood out like sunflowers attracting bees.
Having seen the national competition in Nagoya, Kui recognized these two.
The unparalleled genius of the oboe, the first high school student conductor in the history of Wind Music competitions;
Ranked first and second nationwide in the freshman year mock exams;
Impeccable appearance;
In front of these two, even Tanaka Asuka, a special figure of Yunbei, seemed ordinary.
Why were they at Yunbei at this time?
Chisako, holding a gift, looked around at her classmates with a wry smile.
Boys and girls, upper and lower grades alike; afar, students kept peeking out from classroom windows.
Enough of that! More importantly...
"Dubian, can you stop laughing?" Chisako complained.
"This is me, uncontrollably happy at seeing an old friend. On the other hand, Chisako, please explain why, when you see me who traveled over 400 kilometers to see you, you are not happy at all."
"I am happy... but if you keep this up, after you leave, I’m definitely going to be surrounded by the whole school!"
"That’s your problem, isn’t it? Please deal with it yourself."
"What did you say?" Chisako said incredulously.
"Just kidding, don’t mind it. In Goda, I only dare to smile at my girlfriend and Kiyono, but in Yunbei, I’m only here for a lunch break, so I can laugh carelessly without worrying about the consequences. Imagine, everyone’s so charmed by me, and then they never see me again; don’t you think that’s very youthful?"
"...I just think you are a very, very bad person."
"Someone who directly calls others bad is probably the bad one, right?"
"Yeah yeah," Chisako replied weakly, giving up on persuading Dubian Che to stop smiling.
She looked at Kiyono Lin, who was still panting, and comforted her, "Kiyono, we’re almost at the music room, you can rest soon!"
"...Thank you," Kiyono Lin managed to say with difficulty.
"But how did you get this stuff?" Dubian Che picked up the school entry pass pinned to his chest.
Chisako proudly puffed out her barely existent chest, "Matsubara Michie sensei is the deputy advisor of the Wind Instrument Club and also my homeroom teacher. When I told her, ’Invite the one who plays the oboe to exchange with the wind instrument club,’ she immediately agreed."
"That stern-looking woman who hugged a student and cried after the competition?"
"Eh? How did you know?" Chisako looked at Dubian Che, surprised.
"Of course, I saw it. Wasn’t I there too?"
"You’re lying! How could humans possibly have such good memory?"
"Kiyono, cheer up," Dubian Che turned to look at the almost closed-eyed, pained Kiyono Lin. "Some people are saying we aren’t human."