A week had passed since the tests ended, and the results had finally been returned.
I was looking at my results in my room with Toko.
By the way, after seeing my test, Toko kept rubbing her eyes and even pinched her own arm.
“Is this the power of love…?”
What is she talking about?
“It’s my power.”
“No, there’s a 99% chance it’s the president’s.”
Well, yeah…
I won’t deny that.
“Wow, I didn’t expect to pass everything.”
“Yeah… the 86 in the basics section really looks like 86… not 36?”
I’ve never scored 86 in anything other than health and physical education.
“By the way, what about you?”
“98. I had a bit of a careless mistake.”
I see.
“Shall we go see mom?”
“Yes! Let’s start the operation to make mom cry and then go out of town!”
“That’s a terrible name for an operation…”
I sighed as I held my test results and went downstairs with Toko. When we reached the living room, mom was there watching TV while eating rice crackers.
“Mom, can we talk for a second?”
“Hmm? What brings the two of you here?”
“Our test results have been returned.”
Upon hearing Toko’s words, mom turned off the TV and turned towards us.
“Ah… please sit down.”
So we sat down after being told to do so by mom. Then, Toko handed the stack of tests to mom.
“Hmm… oh my… ”
Mom went through each of Toko’s test papers one by one.
“How about it? Pretty impressive, right?”
“Yes. As expected of Toko. You are the pride of your mother and father.”
That line sounds so familiar.
Can’t she come up with anything else?
“Right?”
Toko seemed pleased as well.
“But, you should still try to write more neatly. This number seven looks like a nine. You caused the teacher a lot of trouble during grading.”
When mom said that and showed us the test, it was indeed a number that could be seen as either a seven or nine. There were also traces of hesitation on the red circle.
“Penmanship is so outdated. It’s the computer era now.”
“Hmph… Alright, you did well anyway.”
With that, mom gathered the tests, handed them back to Toko, and then gave me an intense look.
“Do you want to see mine?”
I asked just in case.
“Hmm… y-yeah… ”
She’s acting like a robot!
It’s so obvious she doesn’t expect much.
“Here.”
I handed the stack of test papers to mom. As she started to look through them, a strange thing happened.
“Uh…?”
Mom unexpectedly looked outside the window.
“Uh… what now?”
This time, she looked at the clock.
“…………….”
Finally, she froze in silence.
“Hey…”
“36 points? But there are too many ticks for that… ”
She’s reacting the same way Toko did…
“It’s 86 points.”
“Cheating? I doubt Tsukasa would do something like that…”
“What are you saying? This is the child you suffered and gave birth to!”
And not just once but twice.
“…………….”
Mom looked up and stared at me for a good minute, then tears started to well up in her eyes.
“She’s actually crying…”
This is so disrespectful.
“Sniff… Huff…”
Toko quickly placed a tissue box in front of mom.
“Huff… Huff…”
Mom took the tissue, blew her nose, and then wiped away her tears.
“I always believed that if you put your mind to it, you could do it…”
Stop lying. Your first reaction spoke volumes.
“Sharl was the one who helped me. Especially with the basics section.”
“I see… what a wonderful child she is. She truly deserves to have become the student council president in just a year.”
Considering she used her family’s influence to become president within a year…
This woman really turns on a dime…
Would her head actually twist off?
“Well, anyway, I’ll keep working hard in August’s exams too. Right?”
Toko gave me a nudge.
“Yeah, we’ll work hard.”
Thanks to Sharl…
“I’ve always thought of you as a child, but you do grow up… You used to be such an idiot… Huff… Huff…”
She finally called me an idiot…
“Hey, mom, since the tests are over, can we go outside of town for a bit?”
“Outside? Outside… this side?”
There’s a train to get to this side of town.
“No, Astral. We want to see some herbs.”
Actually, it’s for monster hunting.
“What’s so fun about looking at herbs?”
That’s true.
“It’s intriguing. They don’t exist here.”
“Hmm… yeah?”
They’re taking advantage of the situation.
“You both didn’t take care of the morning glories when you were in elementary school, so who are you to talk?”
“I intended to take care of them. But mom did it before I could.”
We wake up late and oversleep anyway.
“Hmm… Going outside of town… there are monsters there. Even if you know some magic or martial arts, it’s still dangerous.”
She seems opposed after all.
“They’re just animals.”
“I took down a bear in grandpa’s mountain just the other day.”
“What on earth are you doing… ”
Mom seemed exasperated.
“Hey, hey, mom… Can we go? We won’t go alone… Noel might be… something, but there’s Ilmera and Yuika too…”
“Oh, if I go, Cedric and Frank will join too. Frank is from a martial family and is used to it; he’s strong!”
Cedric is unclear.
He definitely won’t join any battles or training exercises for sure.
“In that case… by the way, why don’t the two of you go alone?”
“There’s no way we would.”
“Been years since Toko and I went out together”.
That’s true.
“Twins… is the relationship good or bad?”
“Our twin status has nothing to do with it; siblings are just like that, right? Mom, you probably didn’t go out with your brother and sister when you were our age too”.
Mom is the youngest, so she has a brother and a sister.
Her brother’s son is Erik, the next heir.
“Umm… now that you mention it, I don’t think I did go out much… Maybe that’s just how it is.”
“Yeah! So can we go outside of town?”
“Hmm… since you’ve worked hard on your studies, it’s fine. But no dangerous activities.”
It seems Toko’s “Operation Cry-Mom-to-Go-Out-of-Town” worked successfully.
“Yay! Then, mom, please sign here.”
“Sure, sure…”
Mom signed two pieces of paper Toko had handed her.
“Hey mom…”
“We’re not buying any tridents.”
She hasn’t even heard what I have to say yet…
Though she’s correct about the “Buy a trident” part.
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