I Swear I Won’t Bother You Again Chapter 49 - Self-awareness and Priority

The sound of cloth being rubbed, tensed breathing, and pens scratching on paper. All of them should be small sounds, but, probably because of her sharpened hearing from being in this situation, they pierced her ears extremely.

And, even though only the person themselves would know when their own heartbeat was fast, she felt like the surroundings could hear how hard her heart pounded in her chest. That was, of course, not possible.

“Vio-chan, your hands stopped, is there anything you don’t understand?”

“Huh? Ah… It’s alright, don’t worry.”

There was no problem… at all. Instead, it felt like it was heading in various good directions. If that was the case, it would be easier to gain points than last time.

She got it, nodding and smiling without any worries was as usual. Basically, Yulan tended to believe in her words completely.

At present, however, the usual caused her a sense of discomfort. Besides, she didn’t feel like everything was alright, and that it actually was a big problem. Moreover, maybe Yulan was a bit slow so he didn’t notice it… she deliberated, but because she didn’t doubt Yulan either, it didn't make much sense.

It was just that she still had questions regarding the members and this place.

“Violette, this text has probably been changed. The teacher in charge was surely…”

Golden hair followed gravity and hung down in front of his eyes. The fingertips showed the copy Violette had brought with her.

It was evidently the past exam questions borrowed from her.

Violette had a good understanding of the situation she was in. No, it was above understanding, and she felt like she should explain it properly.

As to why this happened.

×　×　×　×

It all started when Yulan had come to ask Violette to study with him for an exam.

There is nothing questionable about it, rather, everyone borrowed past exams so this part was natural. It was okay to give them away because Violette no longer needed them, but what was weird was how reluctant Yulan was... He gave off an almost unwilling feeling, and even now, he hadn't taken the papers from Violette's grip. They were only a few copies she left at school, so she didn’t mind it much, but she worried whether it would be inconvenient when reviewing at home later on.

In reality, it wouldn’t be any problem because Yulan only ever studied together with Violette.

A few days later together with him in the library.

When Violette was looking for a place with few people like always, Yulan proposed to her.

“I got a promise to borrow last year’s exam questions from a second-year student, so let’s study that today.”

“Eh…”

A second-year student last year, which means a current third-year student.

It took a while to swallow that fact like it was such a natural thing. Yulan simply smiled at Violette, who was confused, and didn’t urge her on nor explained it further.

Just, like a loyal dog, he waited for Violette to speak.

In a space engulfed in silence, Violette sighed with a mixture of dismay and resignation when she realized that that was all Yulan wanted to convey.

“...Yulan, you made an acquaintance with a third-year student, huh.”

Well, Yulan had made an acquaintance, but he didn’t make contact the way Violette was imagining. He never broke his gentle disposition to Violette, but she wasn’t superficial enough to think she knew everything about Yulan only by his outward appearance.

Only Violette knew that Yulan wasn’t so good with Claudia. The whole school probably felt the complicated feelings between them.

Perhaps, as an extension of that, Yulan didn’t have much interaction with Claudia, a current third-year… At least that was what she had thought until today. It seems like she had misunderstood. Thinking carefully about it, it was no wonder Yulan’s friendly relationships with people stretched over the grades.

“Yeah, well…”

“...?”

“Then, let's go. I think they’ve already arrived.”

“That’s true… we can’t let them wait.”

In an instant, the expression he had on his face returned to the previous calmness, and most people would think they were mistaken for seeing it, but their relationship wasn’t one where she’d mistake it.

Still, Violette knew that even if she asked about it, he wouldn’t answer.

She would probably get the answer if she went, so she didn’t mind.

At the end of the hallway, she had an idea of which room they were going to, and when it turned into conviction, she turned and looked at Yulan several times, but he didn’t respond.

Even though Yulan wasn’t walking behind, he shouldn't have been able to not help but notice Violette’s expression… In other words, he knew about it but didn’t intend to explain it.

They arrived at the Student Council room.

And now, Violette was receiving help to study from Claudia who should have been removed at the very beginning from being a candidate.

Really, how did it become like this?