[GL] I will max my intelligence

Hani woke up to find herself in the infirmary. She opened her eyes, and the room was dark with only a small table lamp lighting it. At the desk facing away from her, someone was reading a book.

"Hello?" Groggily, Hani pushed herself up to sit on the bed. 

"Hani? You are awake, thank god!" A small figure jumps on top of her and hugs her. It was Emma. 

Emma looks at Hani's eyes, swollen and starting to tear up, "You got me so worried! I saw that girl from morning, and others carrying you to the infirmary. They said you passed out from exhaustion. How can you be so stupid! You need to learn to take a break. You looked tired in the morning, you could have asked the coach to sit it out, it's not like you had special classes." Without taking a breath, fists clenched and puffy cheeks, Emma shouts at Hani. 

"C-calm down, Emma." Hani was a bit flustered. Emma hugged her, digging her face into her shoulder. Frantically waving her hands around, not knowing what to do. Finally, she puts her hand on Emma's head and pats her. She felt her fluffy, soft hair under her hand. 

Emma was one of the few close people in her life. Unlike Hani, Emma was a high-ranked student at A-rank who could wield any weapon with excellent proficiency. So, as someone who was highly regarded, she still did not care much about what other people thought and became close friends with Hani regardless of her rank. 

Hani, who spent her whole life without someone being there for her when sick or sad, was surprised Emma was next to her. While they had become friends, Hani had thought Emma just wanted a friend to talk with since we had similar interests in some books.

To see Emma like this, she was thankful but flustered at the same time. "I'm sorry, I will be more careful next time." 

Emma escorted Hani back to her dorm. Even though Hani said it was fine, she was not budging on this decision and walked home. 

I thought we were just casual friends, I mean, we have only known each other for a few months. But I did not realise Emma cared for me this deeply. I guess she's not like others who are wary about sticking with low rankers!

As she makes her way to her room, she finally plugs in her dead phone to charge and turns it on. She is flooded with an array of messages and missed calls. 

>Missed Call: Miss Ivory x7<

>Call Received: Miss Ivory 4:24<

Oh, why is there a call received?

Hani looks at the time; it's nearly midnight. Worried that she might disturb Miss Ivory, but now in a position where she missed her training day at a job she had not even started, she decided to text her anyway.

>Miss Ivory! I apologise for not being able to reply earlier! Something happened, and I was in the school infirmary and was not able to receive calls or texts! <

Instantly, a reply came.

>It's ok, your friend picked up and let me know. I guess she forgot to tell you. Just come in on Saturday, and I will be there to help. Sleep well, Hani.<

Hani, letting a sigh of relief, flings herself to bed.

---

[Classroom 1-C at Dashmorth High School]

Back to class again the next day, people whispered as Hani walked in, more than usual. She crept her way to her desk as always and sat down, taking a book out to distract herself until class started. 

The door swung open, "Hani!" Emma stomps her way to where she is sitting. "How are you feeling?" She grabbed Hani's face, shoving it left and right, making sure there were no more eyebags or bloodshot eyes from no rest.

With Emma's face getting too close to Hani's as she checks her face turns red. "U-m pi-ne" Hani attempts to mumble out from her squeezed face. "That's gra—"

"Hani! I am glad to see you are fine!" Stella walks in, and all the students' eyes are on Hani now. If it was not obvious before, now it is. 

Stella walks towards Hani, standing next to her, purposely overstepping, causing Emma to step back as she was saying mid-sentence. 

"Oh, S-Stella! Y-yes I a-am fine. Thank y-you!" She looks down at the floor, face burning yet again. With every word, her voice gets quieter and quieter. 

Stella is asking me if I'm fine! Maybe it was worth it to get sick yesterday after all, even though I missed out on studying more. 

Hani grins to herself, aloof to the situation unfolding in front of her. 

"Who are you? Can't you see we are talking here?" Emma scowls at Stella.

With an unwavering smile, she looks at Emma, "Ah, I'm Hani's classmate and friend!" Stela replies without a beat, "And who must you be? Are you a lost 1st year student?" 

"I am not a 1st year student! Also, I am Hani's Best Friend. How come I have never heard about you being her friend? Huh?"

"Ah, we just recently became friends." Stella threw back a quick response.

"Hani, are you sure she is your friend?" Emma banged her hand on her desk, leaned in, and pushed for an answer. 

"Ah..." Hani looks at Stella as she gives her a radiant smile. Hani, now a shade of red she has never been before, frantically nods. One could basically see the steam coming out of her head.

Seeing this, Emma gets annoyed, realising the situation. "You are so stupid, Hani!" With a tight and sour expression, she storms away. 

"Eh?" Confused, Hani watches as Emma storms away, as she stands up, ready to follow in Stella's steps in front of her innocently.

"Hani, it's good to see you are fine." She holds Hani's hands. While Hani is distracted by this whole situation, Stella sees Emma at the corner of her eye, grinning for a split second, "Good game yesterday. I hope we get to play again soon, together!" 

Avoiding eye contact, Hani tucks her hair behind her ear on one side and lets it fall on the other, trying to hide her face as she becomes conscious of how her face is reacting. 

Thankfully, before Hani's heart could burst from the anxiety, the teacher walks in as everyone gets to their desks, and lessons start.

For the rest of the week, nothing eventful happens as everything goes back to normal. A few differences, though, were Stella starting to greet and talk to Hani in the mornings, and Hani chasing Emma at lunch to understand why she was so angry at her.

Every day, Emma peeks at Hani's class in the morning as she watches Hani get flustered while talking to Stella, renewing her anger each day. 

Hani continues her study after school at home since she is still low on funds to go into a magic room. 

The School festival plans are also coming along as people start to plan and design the whole tournament that they are doing. Word spread throughout the whole school about the prize. This caused Hani to be more stressed, as now she had more compositions. 

But one thing that seemed to work out for Hani is that Leo seems to bully her less, as Stella seems to around me most of the time when Leo would normally have the time to annoy me. 

---

[Neo Cafe - Hani's part-time job]

"Miss Ivory! Thank you so much for accommodating me! I promise to work hard!" Hani throws her fist out, pumping it to express her hardworking attitude. 

Ivory laughs at the sight as she hands her a uniform and apron. "Good to see you so energetic! I was worried when I heard the news from your friend, but I guess I was worried about nothing." With crossed arms, she leans on the doorway to the back office, grinning at Hani. 

Face flushed, Hani scurries past her to go get changed. 

By the time Hani comes out, Ivory is already getting some items ready. She hands Hani a notepad and a pen. "We already have some customers, so why don't you get their order? They should be ready now. I will help you through the workday." 

Ivory tightens an apron, fastening the strings around her waist, the fabric hugging her body. Hani mesmerised watches for a while as she stretched her arms up to tie her hair up, emphasising the shape of her body. 

Miss Ivory is so cool and beautiful even in uniform. Hani thinks to herself before a burst of laughter brings her back from her thoughts.

She walks to the table with a group of kids. "Hello, welcome to Neo cafe, what—" Hani sees the face of the person sitting down in the corner. 

It's Leo.

"It's the F-ranker!" He shouts, pointing at Hani. 

With a clenched fist, "Oh, it's the couldn't get an S-rank classmate!" She pushes out with a poker-faced smile on her face. 

"What did you just say, F-ranker?"

"Sorry, I thought we were just stating things that were obvious. Ohohoho!" Hani puts her hand over her mouth, sneering as she laughs in a 'friendly' manner.

"Look here—"

"Hani?" 

Hani and Leo turn their head towards the direction of the entrance. 

Stella was there.