About the Reckless Girl Who Kept Challenging a Reborn Man Like Me Book 2: Chapter 2 (3)

Leaning her cheek in her palm, Kasumi looked over at Rain. There, the socially awkward Rain was conversing with classmates, albeit haltingly. Yuki livened up the conversation, harboring her rivalry with Rain while playing the mood maker role.

“He seed kind of precarious, you know? So I figured causing a ruckus like this might help him make so friends easier.”

“…………”

“After all, I understand the pain of being shunned.”

Staring at Rain from afar, Kasumi muttered wistfully. Seeing her like this left Touri dumbfounded.

She had never seen this side of her before. Touri had viewed her as just a troubleso girl with so odd hobbies, but she would have never imagined Kasumi was considerate enough to provide this kind of support.

“You’re…surprisingly mature, aren’t you?”

“Fufu, want to complint so more?”

Grinning childishly, Kasumi proudly flashed a peace sign, snipping her fingers open and closed like scissors. Touri felt as if she had been fooled by a fox.

The classmates casually chatted with Rain. Though awkward at tis, Rain responded.

The curtain rose on a smooth start to Rain’s school life in the beautiful spring breeze.

He was spacing out a little.

In the classroom bathed in the warm spring sun shining through the windows, Rain’s focus drifted away from the blackboard during science class. Caught in the warmth of spring, he was a bit dazed.

It had been about two weeks since Rain started middle school. He was spending days more tranquil than he had ever experienced before. Despite still being bad at conversing, he was sohow getting by in school life with support from Touri and Kasumi. Yuki’s actions didn’t provide much actual support, rather just noisy distraction, but Rain found her brightness helpful for his awkwardness.

Though there’s an unsubstantiated rumor that bullying decreases at schools with higher academic scores, Rain didn’t care whether it was true or not. He simply felt relieved that he wasn’t currently experiencing bullying.

He diligently paid attention in class. Of course, Rain could understand all the content naturally even without studying. Yet he earnestly listened in class and carefully copied notes from the blackboard. He didn’t really need to, but he previewed material the day before and filled his textbooks with various notes.

This was reflection on the mistakes of his past life. Rain had been the type of kid who could get good grades without concentrating in class. And that was taken as offensive.

So now he properly attended classes and took notes. He created reasons for his good grades and made himself look like a serious, hardworking student to his peers. Despite being a little awkward and cold, he was seen as soone who tries hard and studies to earn high test scores.

He was making an effort not to stand out negatively.

But even Rain spaced out at tis. Not just Rain – the warm spring weather enveloped the entire classroom, sending many students off to dreamland. His eyes wandered from the blackboard, vaguely looking into space. His focus on the lesson completely vanished, spacing out a little.

(Oh…)

It wasn’t for any particular reason. Just a thought that drifted into his dazed mind, making him mutter softly to himself and open his eyes a bit wider.

A certain idea popped into his head.

It was a new insight into a paper he had written in his past life. Rain started filling his notebook with equations and chemical formulas, verifying if this stroke of insight could form a valid theory. The lesson no longer reached his ears at all. With an abnormal level of concentration, he busily scrawled the theory from his mind into his notebook.

No, maybe not this. Or actually that… Rain fiercely scribbled down massive amounts of equations and chemical formulas into his notebook. The page filled up quickly, and he covered page after page with chemicals formulas.

At this ti, Rain was cut off from the outside world.

As this continued, the lesson progressed.

“Okay, let’s have Rain solve the problems on this page…”

“…………”

The teacher turned to the blackboard to conduct the class, then glanced back at Rain when calling his na. But Rain did not react, intensely writing sothing in his notebook.

“….Rain?”

“…………”

The teacher called out again, but his voice did not reach Rain. He was clearly not sleeping, yet gave no response. Even as the teacher approached Rain while addressing him, he did not notice at all.

“Hey, Rain. Rain~”

“…………”

“Yo.”

“Ah…”

The teacher lightly knocked Rain’s head with a textbook. Only then did Rain’s own world dissipate, finally noticing the teacher who had co right up beside him. Blinking vacantly as if not comprehending what happened, Rain looked up. Laughter arose around the classroom.

“Quite unusual to see Rain not paying attention in class.”

“S-Sorry…”

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“Make sure to listen to the teacher properly.”

The teacher gently admonished Rain. Rain seriously listening was a rare sight, but he was the type who beca unable to hear people’s voices when focused on thinking.

The teacher returned to the podium, about to resu class. But before leaving, a flicker of curiosity made him glance at Rain’s notebook.

“Wha…!?”

He was shocked. Turning back to Rain with surprise, he looked again as if seeing double. His over-the-top reaction made the class go “Huh?”

“W-Wait, Rain. Just what are you writing…?”

“Um…”

Rain was caught off guard by the teacher’s response when he thought the teacher was returning to teach. Then without pause, the teacher quickly snatched Rain’s notebook and intently started examining it.

“This is…!?”

“Hey, teach!?”

It contained many complex chemical formulas. The teacher’s eyes widened as he stared fixedly at it. He could not properly comprehend what the chemical formulas in the notebook represented. There were no explanations. But of course, as the science teacher he thoroughly grasped the fundantal rules of chemical formulas. At the very least, he could tell the intricate formulas Rain had written did not violate those basic principles. Rain had not just doodled random shapes that vaguely resembled formulas. The teacher understood this was not the case.

Moreover, they had not covered formulas this complex in class yet. Even if they had, there was no way students should be able to write sothing like this.

“Rain… How were you able to write such difficult formulas…?”

“Um, well…”

Both the teacher and Rain were perplexed.

“Could it be…you’re a genius!?”

“No no no no…”

Rain vigorously waved his hands and shook his head.

“Rain… Could you be…a genius!?”

“No no no no no!”

Rain had been trying not to stand out since starting middle school. But the teacher shivered with excitent, poring over Rain’s notebook. No matter how closely he scrutinized those formulas, he could not grasp what they ant. His bewildernt conveyed, Rain’s classmates also started buzzing curiously.

Rain had not wanted to attract attention. But his disguise was peeling away. The corners of his mouth twitching, he broke out in a cold sweat.

Rain did not want to stand out negatively.

After school that day.

“W-Wait a minute, teach!”

“Just co with for a bit!”

The science teacher appeared in Rain’s classroom, grabbed his hand, and tried dragging him sowhere. As Rain awkwardly resisted, the troublemaking trio watched with grins, following along without making any effort to help Rain. They seed intrigued to trail the science teacher and Rain.

“Here we are.”

The teacher stopped walking. They had arrived at the school chemistry lab.

“Oh, teach.”

A student already in the lab reacted to their presence. Wearing a lab coat, he held a flask containing chemicals in one hand. A few other students in lab garb seed to be preparing for an experint.

“Yeah, right. This is Rain from 1st year. He might be a promising prospect.”

“Promising prospect…well, it’s not like we’re competing over grades or anything… Anyway, nice to et you, Rain. I’m Dustin, the middle school division leader of the science club. Pleasure to be working with you.”

“Uh, y-yeah… I’m Rain, 1st year. N-Nice to et you too…”

The student who introduced himself as Dustin held out his hand. Rain awkwardly grasped and shook it. Dustin was a tall boy wearing glasses.

“I’m Yuki! I have no interest in science whatsoever!”

“Tiffy here. Also not interested in science. My hobby is piano.”

“I’m Kasumi. My hobbies are occult stuff and fortune telling – the opposite of science.”

“Oh, yeah, nice to et you all…”

The division leader responded to the troublemaking trio, perplexed.

anwhile, the teacher and division leader continued their conversation as the science club mbers busily prepared for experints beside them.

“Yo, Tiffy, Yuki, Kasumi. Were you guys interested in the science club too? Surprising.”

“I’m Kasumi. My hobbies are the opposite of science, like the occult and fortune-telling.”

“Ah, yeah, nice to… Why did you guys co?”

The club president responded to the troubleso trio’s question with a hint of confusion.