As Luke opened the classroom door, all the desks had already been neatly separated, one seat apart, in preparation for the exam.
The desk drawers were all neatly emptied.
At first, Luke was startled and wondered where all the things that had been in the drawers had gone, but since this was already the second exam, he wasn’t flustered anymore.
They probably all put their things nicely in their lockers.
Thus, it didn’t really matter where he sat on such a day, but Luke purposefully approached his desk and sat down.
For Luke, who could feel the subtle difference in the height of the desk and chair, his own seat was somehow the most familiar.
After all, once the exam started, they would be arranged in order of attendance numbers.
However, after Luke found his seat, Shirud deliberately sat far away at the end of the room.
Why on earth was he keeping such a distance?
‘Was it something I said earlier that bothered him?’
Luke soon recalled how Shirud had reacted angrily to something he had said, as if he were about to have a fit.
Was he upset because of that?
‘What on earth could it be…?’
But, was it not true?
Honestly, hadn’t he heard such stories everywhere? At first, he thought it was simply because he was a child, and they naturally found him cute, but that wasn’t what it meant.
After all, this body is a vessel of a goddess.
Therefore, it was inevitable that his body felt cute to everyone.
He hadn’t realized it in the past, but now he was certain.
So it was natural for his appearance to look good in the eyes of others.
The creator easily gains affection from the creation.
Just like a child easily loves their mother.
Now that he accepted the fact that he was cute, it no longer mattered whether people called him cute or not.
Objectively, he indeed had the appearance of a quite cute girl.
It was only after seeing the scarecrow he created, modeled after Kate, that he fully understood.
Even when he looked in the mirror, honestly, he didn’t feel how cute he was that much; perhaps that was because it felt like his own reflection.
Because of this, he thought that even at such a young age, he might unintentionally receive love from another boy, so he merely made a vow to himself not to easily show smiles to others in the future.
That didn’t seem like such a big deal.
Shirud, for some reason, appeared to be a bit uncomfortable with it.
“Well… I’ll be fine soon enough,”
Luke shrugged his shoulders and looked around.
He had arrived a little early, but it was usual for most children to come to the exam early, so there weren’t many empty seats.
Seeing this, Luke took out everything from his bag and set it on the desk.
Books, notebooks, writing utensils, and his mobile phone.
All sorts of things ended up on Luke’s desk.
In fact, that was not for studying but simply consideration.
The lighter the bag, the more comfortable Liv would be inside.
Luke murmured softly to the bag, so quietly that no one could hear.
“Now it’s spacious, right? Liv.”
– Nodding.
“I’m glad.”
After patting Liv’s head once, Luke looked around again.
He wondered if anyone had seen him talking to Liv in his bag.
Fortunately, he didn’t feel any particular gazes.
It was just the usual atmosphere on an exam day.
As always, exams have their own unique air.
A messy tranquility.
On one side, a child was studying, while on the other side, others discussed how much they had studied for the exam and what they would do if it was difficult.
No matter how prestigious Tigr Academy was, not all children’s parents were laid-back, and not all of them had good family situations.
Thus, the atmosphere created by children of various forms was similar in any academy they attended.
However, not every child studying was a model student.
There were certainly those who procrastinated their studying until the very last moment and only opened their books out of a panic when they saw the unique atmosphere of the exam.
The desperate cramming of a child who had played until now and the study of a child who had consistently reviewed what they had learned were similar in action but vastly different in atmosphere.
In fact, children who had studied moderately often found themselves chatting leisurely with friends like that.
Mary too was among those chatting.
“Mary, how much did you study this time?”
“Well, you know? My parents don’t really care much about my exam scores. I studied just enough!”
“Hmm, so that means you didn’t study?”
“That’s right!”
……Of course, just because a child was chatting didn’t mean they had definitely studied.
Anyway, isn’t it human nature to not be able to clearly distinguish such things?
——–
The bell signaling the end of the first exam rang.
“Alright, the exam time is over. Please collect the answer sheets from the person behind you.”
At the words of their homeroom teacher, Emma, a child who had already finished writing and was sleeping sat up, while another child, who had not yet written all their answers, began to hastily move their hands even faster.
And Luke stood up from his seat.
Since he had entered as a transfer student, he naturally had the highest number, and thus, now lined up according to attendance number, he was positioned at the very back.
As Luke walked to collect each answer sheet from the back, he noticed a child in front of him who had not yet finished writing and slowed his steps.
The child, with long ears resembling a rabbit, was tugging at them in distress.
It seemed they were quite troubled by the questions.
However, despite that, perhaps due to the lack of time, there were still blank spaces on the exam paper when Luke arrived.
Now that he thought about it, it was that child who had been hurriedly looking at the book earlier.
So it had indeed been cramming.
Upon checking, the number of blank spaces was more than he expected.
If it were just one or two, he would let it slide, but at this rate, he was also feeling awkward.
“Come on, hand it over. The exam is over.”
“Wait a minute! Just this one! Just this one, please!”
“That’s not fair.”
“Just a little bit more…”
Luke briefly glanced at Emma, who was watching the situation from the front.
Emma nodded as if to say to let the child continue working.
Therefore, Luke reluctantly decided to wait a little longer.
Then the child, anxiously bouncing their feet, suddenly seemed to realize something and quickly wrote down their answer.
The child’s pencil danced quickly across the exam paper.
Tat, tap!
“Phew.”
Finally finishing, the child let out a sigh of relief and wiped their sweat.
Luke silently nodded in admiration for the child’s passion.
From an outsider’s perspective, it was as if an incredible scholar had appeared.
“Though, that’s an incorrect answer.”
“Well, good job.”
“Thanks for waiting!”
Still, for their passion in not giving up until the end, they definitely deserved some praise.
It would have been great if they had studied a bit more beforehand.
But hey, if everyone acted ideally, wouldn’t the world be a lot more boring?
Sometimes there are children like that.
Once Luke collected all the exam papers and handed them to Emma, she thanked him for his help, organized the papers, and left the classroom.
Now it was time for a break.
—–
‘Should I take Liv out for a bit to let her get some fresh air?’
Just as Luke was organizing his space and about to stand up, Mary called out to him.
“Luke! Wait a moment!”
“Yeah?”
As Luke stopped, Mary continued.
“Amy has something to say!”
Amy.
That was the name of the child who hadn’t done well on the exam earlier.
Amy approached a little timidly and said,
“Thanks for waiting earlier! Thanks to you, I was able to solve at least one more problem!”
“What? It was no big deal.”
Honestly, it wasn’t even something worth being thanked for.
After all, it was something permitted by their teacher, Emma…
Moreover, that answer was even incorrect despite being so few.
“No, it was really a big help for me! If I mess up this exam too, my mom will really scold me!”
“That’s really unfortunate.”
Luke expressed his sincere regret.
From glancing at the answer sheet earlier, he didn’t think it would be a high score even if it were polite.
It seemed this child would definitely be scolded by her mother.
Unaware of that fact, the child smiled brightly.
“Luke Irushi, right? My name is…”
“Amy Stella.”
“Oh? You already knew! That’s right!”
Amy laughed as if she was a bit surprised.
Mary looked at them with a puzzled expression and asked.
“Oh, did you already know each other?”
“No, this is the first conversation I’ve had. I just memorize all my classmates’ names.”
Amy nodded happily and clapped her hands.
“Really? That’s amazing! I still can’t remember all my friends’ names.”
“Hmm…”
At this point, with nearly the end of the school year, not remembering everyone’s names seemed quite serious, didn’t it?
Maybe this child doesn’t have a knack for learning in general either.
“But you remembered my name well. I hardly ever come to school.”
Then, Amy replied cheerfully.
“Of course, there’s not a single person in our class who doesn’t know your name!”
“Really?”
“Anyone who doesn’t know is weird!”
Well, that would make sense.
People remember special things more easily than ordinary ones, and for these children, being special itself must be Luke.
Anyway, looking back at Amy, Luke couldn’t help but avert his gaze when he saw her bright, sparkly eyes.
“But why? I feel like we haven’t really interacted before.”
At Luke’s words, Amy laughed brightly again and responded.
“Well, you see! I always wanted to talk to you… But you were always with that boy! So I couldn’t talk to you.”
Thinking back, he had indeed been mostly hanging out with Shirud recently.
After all, Shirud had asked him to come to school properly, saying he would get bored without him, so he was just trying to hang out as much as possible.
Suddenly thinking of Shirud, Luke turned to look in his direction.
He hadn’t broken his concentration even with the bell ringing and was still resting his head on his desk.
Luke thought that perhaps the exam had worn him out and took his eyes away from Shirud.
“Well, are you not good at talking to boys?”
“A little…”
Luke nodded at that.
It seemed a stereotype to think that all rabbit Hyuns were lively.
In Luke’s previous memories, there had been no interaction with Hyun, so he didn’t really understand their tendencies.
“So, what made you talk to me?”
“That cookie you made last time, it was really delicious!”
The cookie… Could it be the melon bread he had shared with his classmates?
That was quite some time ago, before the break started.
To be thanking him for it now seemed odd.
“Well, if you liked it, that’s good. I have to get going…”
“Wait a moment!”
Just as Luke was about to stand up, Amy grabbed him.
“What is it now?”
“Well, actually, I wanted to give you something…”
“Give me something?”
Luke raised an eyebrow in question, and Amy smiled as she revealed a hand she had been hiding behind her back.
“This!”
“This is… a cookie, isn’t it?”
A somewhat awkward-looking orange cookie was carefully wrapped.
It had a ribbon and looked pretty cute.
“It’s a carrot cookie! I made it!”
“Oh, you made this yourself?”
Hearing that this child had made it with her little hands made even the somewhat awkward appearance seem new.
For an 11-year-old, it looked quite neat.
“Yes, yes! Your cookie was so delicious! So I thought I’d try making some too… I hope you enjoy it! It doesn’t look as pretty as yours, though…”
“Okay, okay. Thank you. I’ll enjoy it.”
Seeing Luke thank her for the cookie, Amy let out a sigh of relief.
“Phew, I’m glad…”
“Why are you sighing about something like that?”
Did she think that she wouldn’t even receive such a gift in return if she had a little sentiment?
“No, you’ve been expressionless since earlier, so I thought you didn’t like me… I was worried about how you might react if you got mad.”
“Oh. Haha, don’t worry about that. I’ve just been practicing not smiling recently.”
“I see…”
Amy let out another sigh of relief and muttered to herself.
Seeing this, Mary, who was nearby, showed her curiosity and asked.
“By the way, why are you practicing that?”
“Oh, that’s because…”
Luke repeated what he had just told Shirud.
“Because I’m scared that people might love me too much since my appearance is too cute.”
“… Huh? Oh, I see?”
Amy and Mary couldn’t hide their embarrassment at Luke’s confident statement.
Of course, Luke was cute, but one usually wouldn’t say it themselves…
