When I returned to the classroom, it was already silent.
Eikawa Hikoshiro stood alone on the podium, his face showing the timeless expression of an old, stern professor, enhanced by the graying hair on his head.
He looked towards the door at Uesugi Sakura, and the classmates followed his gaze towards him.
The expressions of the classmates varied, most were purely watching the scene unfold with interest.
Goto and Tsubokawa stifled their laughter behind their hands, Ayaka Rie was pleasantly surprised, Kyujuu Rika was puzzled, and Hanamaru Hanabi was worried.
"..."
Uesugi Sakura, being stared at by everyone, didn't know what to do at the moment. Apologize? Or bow?
He didn't think it through, standing silently without any change in expression, seeming a bit indifferent.
A moment later, Eikawa Hikoshiro furrowed his brow, and his eyes turned particularly sharp, like a blade:
"Uesugi, Goto and Tsubokawa just got a reprimand yesterday, and you forgot about it so quickly, didn't you?"
Although Uesugi Sakura hadn't forgotten and remembered how those two looked when they returned yesterday, he was already late. Facts speak louder than words; more formal excuses are just excuses, and he didn't want to make any. He nodded and said:
"Yes."
Eikawa Hikoshiro's expression softened a bit, but his voice remained stern and strict:
"That's quite honest of you. Come in, and visit my office after class."
Then, under the gaze of his classmates, Uesugi Sakura calmly returned to his seat.
Goto Iwao, seeing Uesugi Sakura walk back, was unable to suppress a smile on his face. Despite his curiosity, he refrained from asking immediately because it was math class.
"Class is in session!"
Class time always seemed long, and it was the same for Uesugi Sakura. The black pen continuously scratched over the white paper, jotting down notes from the top of the blackboard:
Slope... When the tilt angle α=90°, the slope k does not exist...
This was an introductory lesson in high school sophomore mathematics geometry, straightforward and easy to understand, and posed no difficulty for Uesugi Sakura.
But during lesson time, the teacher could only explain some basic rules and question types; deeper knowledge points wouldn't be fully summarized in the textbook.
This often led to doubts during exams if what was being tested was the same as what was taught in class.
Time came to the midway point after the second class, and Uesugi Sakura returned to the classroom after a scolding from the old professor.
Eagerly and with excitement, Goto Iwao sat in his seat, welcoming Uesugi Sakura's return:
"Hey, Uesugi, what happened? Why were you late?"
Uesugi Sakura sat back into his seat, straightening up and leaning against the wall to make himself a bit more comfortable, saying:
"I accidentally bumped into a Kyudo club member when I was coming back to class, and they insisted I apologize twice even as class was about to start, so I was naturally delayed."
On his right, Tsubokawa Takahiro, who was playing games on his phone, looked up and asked:
"You bumped into a senior?"
"No, it should be a member who just joined yesterday." Uesugi Sakura remembered that Chitose Mai said she had to go to Kyudo club in the afternoon, likely not going to quit, considered a member of the Kyudo club.
Goto Iwao stood up and said with a sense of loyalty and generously impassioned: "Then what gives them the right to be so arrogant? Tell me their name, and I'll help you take care of them!"
"Fighting isn't acceptable, we're civilized people, we can't do such things,"
Tsubokawa Takahiro said calmly, his fingers rapidly sliding on the phone screen as if playing intensely,
"But you could throw something like rotten eggs in their shoe locker."
"That's not good; that's school bullying, and if caught, you'll be isolated," Goto Iwao sat back in his seat.
Tsubokawa Takahiro raised an eyebrow, looking at him: "Then what were you planning to do just now?"
"You said it, fighting."
"What I mentioned is indirect bullying, what you mentioned is outright violence, there's not much difference."
"Then let's do both,"
Goto Iwao nodded satisfactorily, then looked at Uesugi Sakura in front of him,
"What do you think?"
"..."
What do you think? It's completely unfeasible.
Uesugi Sakura knew the duo was just joking; he hadn't heard of any fights happening at the school, surely some indirect bullying existed, but not as severe as throwing rotten eggs into shoe lockers.
"If you two come along, the three of us will get directly expelled."
"So, you're not planning on getting revenge?" Goto Iwao saw Uesugi Sakura's indifferent look and pressed further.
"When did I say I wanted revenge?"
"Damn! What happened? Died again." Tsubokawa Takahiro, who was engrossed in his game, suddenly shouted out in frustration.
Uesugi Sakura saw the black-and-white scene on his phone, showing a character swaying over a wooden crate, while a ranking appeared at the top of the phone screen, seemingly not making it into the top ten.
Such noticeable features made him instantly recognize the game: PUBG.
In his past life, he had played it before, although at that time it was probably a PC game. Now there's even a mobile version? The graphics looked pretty authentic; he wondered which studio acquired the rights.
Goto Iwao scornfully mocked: "Ha, serves you right for not taking me along."
"You?" Tsubokawa Takahiro retorted unceremoniously, "Wasn't it you who said you wanted to chat and didn't have time to play?"
Watching the two mock each other, Uesugi Sakura suddenly remembered about the study group and asked:
"Haneda-sensei asked me to organize a study group; any of you interested in joining?"
"A study group? No, no, no."
The two, hearing this, shook their heads repeatedly without hesitation, looking scared and worried.
"For something like a study group, you'd better ask the class reps; they would definitely be interested."
Their reaction wasn't unexpected, so Uesugi Sakura didn't inquire further, and he took out the book he hadn't finished from his drawer.
Although it seemed like he was reading, Uesugi Sakura wasn't in the mood for it and instead opened his mental attributes panel.
[Name: Uesugi Sakura]
[Age: 16]
[Height: 174]
[Intelligence: 7]
[Strength: 5]
[Speed: 4]
[Charm: 7]
[Physique: 5]
[Skills: Reading Lv6 (1/20), Cooking Lv0 (-10/1), Sword Dao Lv5 (0/10), Accuracy Lv3 (4/7)]
[Special Skill: Miyamoto Musashi's Legend (Ready)]
[Current Status: Normal]
He still had 43 attribute points left, and to upgrade Intelligence to 8, he would need to spend 40 points.
Through Uesugi Sakura's series of research over the past few days, he found that allocating points to the Intelligence attribute, which is notoriously hard to improve, was evidently more worthwhile.
Attributes like Speed, Strength, and Skills could be slowly improved, but Intelligence, however, requires flying in the sea of knowledge to hopefully improve even a little, which is very difficult.
So Uesugi Sakura directly assigned 40 attribute points to Intelligence.
[You have a new message]
[Intelligence successfully increased to 8, next level upgrade requires 80 points]
Given that a standard attribute of 5 falls within the range of a normal person, an Intelligence of 8 would undoubtedly belong to the exceptional few among humans.
Though Uesugi Sakura didn't immediately feel any change post-upgrade, with his laid-back attitude, he wasn't in a rush to verify it.