The Next Day, Hida City, Itomori Town
As Kyousuke walked to school, he politely responded to the greetings of the townspeople. If possible, he would have preferred to ignore them, just like he did at school.
However, most of those greeting him were elderly women and men, people who were significantly older than him.
Besides, a large portion of his breakfast this morning came from their offerings. With that in mind, Kyousuke decided to endure it and help boost Mitsuha's reputation in the process.
During math class, the teacher suddenly called on Mitsuha to solve a problem on the blackboard.
Lost in thought, Kyousuke snapped back to reality, walked up to the board, and solved it in two seconds.
Before he could return to his seat, the math teacher wrote another problem and gestured for him to solve it. Kyousuke had no objections and finished it just as quickly.
Then came a third problem. This time, the difficulty had already exceeded what a first-year middle school student should be capable of handling.
Kyousuke had no idea what the teacher was up to, but he solved it anyway.
Then, he watched as the teacher pulled out a white notebook from his pocket, copied another problem from it, and put it on the board.
Looking at the new problem, which was clearly a calculus equation way beyond the level of a middle schooler, Kyousuke furrowed his brows.
This was nothing to him, but he was currently inside Mitsuha's body.
From what he knew, Mitsuha's math skills barely reached the level of the second problem. If he solved this one, it might make things difficult for her in the future.
After three seconds of deliberation, he decided to go for it anyway.
'I'm such a great person. Even though Mitsuha made me lost my title as top student, here I am, returning the favor by building up her image as an honor student.'
With that thought, Kyousuke continued solving the increasingly complex problems.
Even when the math teacher resorted to pulling equations from a mathematics journal, he still solved them effortlessly.
Meanwhile, the rest of the class was utterly stunned.
Teshigawara and Sayaka exchanged bewildered looks, their eyes nearly popping out of their heads.
"Was Mitsuha always this good at math?" Sayaka asked in disbelief.
She had thought they were all equally bad at science subjects, but apparently, Mitsuha had been hiding her true strength.
"I don't think so? She scored two points lower than me on the last test," Teshigawara said, scratching his shaved head in confusion.
"See? This is divine talent! Mitsuha-sama is truly a miko blessed by the gods!" Yamaaka Shunya whispered excitedly.
"Now that you mention it, my mother took me to Mitsuha for tutoring the other night. She was really good at physics and chemistry too."
"Wait, so Mitsuha not only helps with life advice but also provides academic tutoring?"
"I don't think she does it for everyone. I went last night and got scolded pretty badly."
"Stop calling her 'Miyamizu-san.' It's 'Mitsuha-sama' from now on!"
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"Since when did Mitsuha become this popular?" Sayaka muttered.
"No idea. When did she start acting like Futaba-auntie and giving the townspeople advice?" Teshigawara wondered.
"Maybe it's her time?"
"What do you mean?"
"My grandma told me that Aunt Futaba also started receiving consultations from classmates when she was in high school. Now that Mitsuha is in middle school, maybe she's beginning her training."
"So, you're saying Mitsuha is even smarter than Aunt Futaba?"
"That... I don't know."
The two finished their discussion and turned their eyes back to the front of the classroom.
The ponytailed girl stood at the blackboard, chalk in hand, methodically writing down her solutions.
Her beautiful profile remained emotionless as she effortlessly dismantled each problem.
The math teacher alternated between glancing at his reference book and the blackboard.
By this point, even he was struggling to keep up with what was being written. After all, he was just a small-town math teacher from a rural school.
'Ding-dong!'
The bell rang, signaling the end of class. Kyousuke wrote down the final answer and casually tossed the chalk back into the tray.
Clap, clap, clap!
The math teacher applauded enthusiastically. Even though he didn't fully understand the solutions, he could confirm they matched the reference answers perfectly.
The students followed suit, clapping along. Yamaaka Shunya was especially red-faced with excitement, as if he had been the one solving the problems.
Sayaka and Teshigawara watched in disbelief.
Was this really the same Yamaaka Shunya who had called them country bumpkins just last week? Even they, Mitsuha's actual childhood friends, weren't this thrilled.
Kyousuke, unfazed by the applause, nodded calmly and returned to his seat.
"What's up?" he asked as he noticed his two friends staring at him as if he were an alien.
Stare.
Sayaka and Teshigawara leaned closer, their eyes scanning him up and down.
"Mitsuha, you're acting really weird," Sayaka said, rubbing her chin in deep thought.
"Super weird," Teshigawara added, mirroring her expression.
"What? Isn't it obvious? They say I'm possessed by a god, right? So naturally, it makes sense for me to be a bit smarter," Kyousuke bluffed.
"But if that were true, then you're basically—"
Before Sayaka could finish her sentence, Teshigawara quickly covered her mouth and turned her away.
"Idiot! You can't say that out loud!" he whispered into her ear.
Right. If the Mitsuha sitting there really was possessed by a god, then how could they still treat her as a normal friend?
Sayaka hesitantly turned back, nervously meeting Mitsuha's gaze—only to see her watching them with an amused smile.
She yelped in surprise, her twin braids almost bouncing into the air.
"So, have you two decided?" Kyousuke asked with a smirk.
"Heh... yeah, I was just wondering... could you tutor me in math? That way, when you go to university, I can go with you!" Sayaka grinned sheepishly.
"Hahaha! Of course!"
Even though he had already noticed Sayaka's natural airheadedness, her words still made Kyousuke chuckle.
"What about you, Teshigawara? I can tutor you too if you want."
"No need. I'm not leaving Itomori," Teshigawara said, his voice tinged with melancholy.
"Hmm? If Sayaka and I go to Tokyo, won't you regret staying here alone?" Sayaka asked.
Teshigawara Katsuhiko knew she was really asking, 'If I go to Tokyo and you stay here, what will happens to you?'
"After high school, I'll start working at my family's construction company," he answered, looking even more downcast.
Sayaka fell silent. The mood grew tense.
Kyousuke watched them quietly. Unlike Teshigawara, Sayaka shared Mitsuha's dislike of this sleepy little town and longed for the big city.
For Teshigawara, however, leaving Itomori simply wasn't an option.
Then, the bell rang.
Physics class was next. But before Kyousuke could even think about how to kill time, the physics teacher, like the math teacher before him, called him up to solve a problem.
'Did the teachers plan this together?'
Thus began another cycle of flawless problem-solving, earning him yet another round of admiration—and more stunned looks from his friends.
And so the day continued.
Six classes in a day. Fortunately, the last two were math and health.
If it had been modern literature or Japanese history, Kyousuke wouldn't have been able to keep up his godlike performance.
Thank goodness. At least today, he managed to uphold Mitsuha's reputation and didn't tarnish her divine shrine maiden image.
As he walked home after school, he shamelessly patted himself on the back.
Meanwhile, back at Itomori Middle School, in a faculty meeting room…
Since the entire school have both middle and high school they had fewer than a hundred students combined, most teachers covered multiple grades.
Today, every single one of them had gathered in the meeting room, including Yukino Yukari, the classical literature teacher.
"Truly a god-given talent!"
"Exactly! Mitsuha-san always had a knack for literature, but she was never capable of something like this before."
"I see the same brilliance in her that I once saw in Futaba-sama!"
"Really? I didn't see anything special."
"You must be blind!"
Yukino Yukari didn't join the heated discussion; she simply smiled and listened from the sidelines.
Most of these teachers were born and raised in Itomori.
Some had even taught Lady Futaba in the past, while others had been her classmates.
They had all, in one way or another, witnessed her incredible abilities.
Lately, the older generation in town had been saying that Mitsuha was following in Lady Futaba's footsteps—that she had inherited the role of the Miko of Miyamizu Shrine and been chosen by the gods.
The teachers, however, knew firsthand what Mitsuha's school performance had been like up until now. They had been skeptical.
So, they devised a little test.
If Mitsuha truly possessed the same wisdom as Lady Futaba, then these academic questions should be no challenge for her.
After all, Lady Futaba had once carried a book said to contain the answers to all of life's mysteries.
And so, they agreed to quiz her today.
Thus, everything that transpired unfolded.
Now, not just the teachers, but even the students who had heard about the incident…
The very people who prided themselves on their modern education, the highest intellectual authorities in Itomori…
They, too, now believed it—Mitsuha-san was truly possessed by the divine!