Today is the day the exam results are posted. This is judgment day…

"Reika-sama, the rankings list has been posted. Shall we go see?"

"I guess so."

I head to see the chart with Serika-chan and the girls. Oh, my stomach hurts…

"I wonder where Kaburagi-sama and Enjou-sama are ranked."

"Oh, they're obviously at the top."

"Yes, I wonder if Kaburagi-sama will be first again."

"Enjou-sama won't lose either."

Serika-chan and the others don't care about their own grades, so they're carefree and predict others' standings.

"What do you think, Reika-sama?"

"Huh? About what?"

"Who will be at the top of the rankings."

"I wonder…" I wasn't really paying attention, so I answered vaguely. Honestly, I don't care about Kaburagi's ranking. I only care about my own. Did I make the top 30…? I'll be fine. I worked so hard. But other students worked just as hard… If I wasn't in the top 30… I imagine Kaburagi's rage. Ugh! The crushing pain in my stomach!

A crowd fills the area in front of the rankings list. Serika-chan and the girls shoo away people to open a path.

"Look! It's Kaburagi-sama at the top!" Kikuno-chan yelled out.

She's right. 1st Kaburagi Masaya.

To defend the top spot with his hard schedule, just how is his brain built?

No, what about me…? I leave Serika-chan and the others to their celebration and look for my name… No, it's not here, it's not here! I turn pale. If I couldn't fulfill Kaburagi's goal, what would he do to me…?!

Oh, god, please protect me, a poor little lamb! I hold the pit of my stomach and look up at the rankings, praying. "Oh!"

18th Kisshouin Reika

I quit breathing, having inhaled. It's not a mirage, right? My name's next to 18th, right? Hey, somebody please confirm it! Serika-chan and the girls only care about those at the top. Hey, your friend Reika-chan might be 18th! Hey!

"Reika-sama is 18th." I turn around to the gentle voice and I find Fuyuko-sama looking up at the rankings chart.

"Fuyuko-sama…!"

"Congratulations." I see a halo on the smiling Fuyuko-sama. If she can see it, I really am 18th!

These difficult few weeks. I battled sleepiness, I fought off stomach pains, I even thought that I might really retch blood, but still studied, and here's the result! I did it! I did it!

Hearing Fuyuko-sama, Serika-chan and the other verified it and "Reika-sama is 18th?!" "Incredible, Reika-sama!" and they praise me.

"Thank you. But 18th isn't so impressive, so please don't make a big deal of it. It's embarrassing."

"That's not so! You should be proud!"

"Reika-sama must not understand how great that is."

"You're so modest, Reika-sama."

I make a look of slight embarrassment and laugh, ohohoho.

"Oh, it's Kaburagi-sama and Enjou-sama!" somebody called out and a path opened for them.

So Kaburagi's come. Now, behold. My name is next to #18!

Kaburagi looked at the top of the list without expression and lowered his eye-line all the way to the bottom. He should have seen my ranking! Not just the top 30, but I even made the top 20 that he first told me to! How about that! Now, extol me! Praise me!

Sensing my gaze, he looked at me. Our eyes met, and he looked away and left. Huh…? That's it?

I'm 18th. I made the goal he set for me. Why did he ignore me? He's leaving without a reaction!?

ARGHH! I was throwing a fit when I was tapped on the shoulder. "Congratulations, Kisshouin-san."

"Enjou-sama."

Serika-chan and the girls held their blushing cheeks and silently mouthed, 'It's Enjou-sama!'

"Thank you very much."

"I didn't do so well." He's fourth. Sarcasm… "See you in the Salon after school," he said, and walked away happily. The girls were gay, chasing his back with their eyes.

Fellow Stalking Horse and Wakaba-chabn came next.

"Oh, there I am!"

"…I lose this time."

"Ehehe, I win!" Wakaba-chan was 3rd, and Fellow Stalking Horse was 5th."

"Reika-sama, we should be getting back to class."

"Yes."

As we stepped away from the rankings list, I heard a boy say, "That girl seriously pisses me off…" I immediately looked that way and saw some boys glaring at Wakaba-chan. They're external students…

"Reika-sama?"

"I'm coming." It must be rough having people be jealous of your grades…

I ran into Tsuruhana-san's group on our way back. I was about to walk by when I heard the English teacher say, "Tsuruhana. You got a 95 on the English exam this time."

We turned at once with enough force to make a sound. No way! Tsuruhana-san, a 95 in English!?

"Oh! Maki. You got a 95 in English!? Wow!

"You were good at English, Maki?"

Her hangers-on are raising a ruckus, but I'm surprised, too. I don't want to say it, but she's a typical internal student. Another words, she barely studies at all, because she'll automatically get into college, an idiot internal student. But a 95? Did she suddenly start studying?!

It was not so. Tsuruhana-san laughed and said, "A friend going to an international school, Jeff, taught me." A boy friend in an international school?! It's in a different world from the prestigious Zuiran, but has a mysterious and fashionable feel! She's a friend with a boy there, and was taught by him? I took critical amounts of damage from that explosive reveal by a Rejoicing in Love villager.

I need to get away from here. Otherwise…

"Oh, Reika-sama? Gokigen yoh." But the hunter spotted her prey, and wouldn't let me escape.

"Gokigen yoh, Tsuruhana-san…"

"I saw the rankings. Well done, Reika-sama. Wonderful grade."

"Thank you."

"It's incredible. You must have studied so hard."

"Not especially."

"Oh, come now. You wouldn't be able to get that grade without studying at home ALL the time." So she's decided that all I do is study. "Compared to that, I only did well in English that I studied with my international friend. Reika-sama must have studied hard every day with your tutor."

I could hear he say, 'Unlike me studying with a boy, Jeff, you must have been lonely, with only your tutor. As expected of the Alone in Love village chief.'

"Maki, that's mean."

"Oh, I was praising her. Unlike us fooling around all the time, Reika-sama was at home studying. Isn't she great?" I want to say something back at Tsuruhana, with a victorious look, but I can't say a thing, since it's true… I lose… A complete loss!

Serika-chan and the others can't find a way to counterattack, and remain silent, but an artillery attack occurs from an unexpected source. "Tutor…?" asked a gentle voice. Fuyuko-sama tilted her head and asked, "Didn't Reika-sama raise your grade by having Kaburagi-sama and Enjou-sama look over your studies in the Pivoine Salon?" Zuiran's top 2, Kaburagi and Enjou studied with me! The situation is reversed at once.

"Is that true, Fuyuko-sama?!" demand Serika-chan and the girls with bloodshot eyes.

"Yes," she nodded.

"How wonderful! To have Kaburagi-sama and Enjou-sama look over your studies!"

"No wonder your grades improved, with those two teaching you!"

"I want to be taught by Kaburagi-sama and Enjou-sama, too!"

No matter what mysterious allure an international student has, nobody surpasses the value of Kaburagi and Enjou in Zuiran, as the very symbol of all that is adored in Zuiran.

Serika-chan and the girls repeat their names in triumph, pounding them into Tsuruhana-san's group. Accepting their defeat, they withdraw while the girls looks on exulting. "Well said, Fuyuko-sama!" they praised her.

"Oh, but wasn't I supposed to keep this a secret, Reika-sama?" she asked. Too late.

But, an international student… Tsuruhana-san shouldn't have any connections to them, being at Zuiran since grade school, like me. How did they become friends? "I wonder where they met…" Whoops, I didn't filter that!

"Reika-sama?"

"Nothing. I was simply curious since there aren't any international students around me."

"As you say…" Everyone wonders, "Hmm…"

"Could it be…"

"A mixer…?"

A mixer!? I never hear of them around me, but do Zuiran students have them, too?! But that's about the only way we'd meet boys from other schools. A mixer…

I barely attended one even in my past life, and never in this life. I have the impression of being desperate by going to a mixer… That might just be my prejudice. There may be wholesome meetings. Maybe I should try a mixer…

"It's unseemly!" yelled Kikuno-chan. Huh…? "Mixers are too frivolous for Zuiran students!"

"Yes, it's inappropriate for Zuiran."

"I think so, too."

"Mixers are immoral."

The others agreed. Huh? Huh?

"Don't you believe so, Reika-sama?"

"Huh…?" Everyone looked at me. "Well, I believe that mixers aren't something to approve of either…"

"I would think so!"

"We must act in a manner appropriate for Zuiran." As I watched Kikuno-chan and the others, I was assaulted by the feeling that I would never escape from Alone in Love village if I stayed with them.