What happened with yuki??

Kagami-sensei introduces the leader of Group 3 today, leaving Yuki completely shocked—because it’s Yukito!

Yuki screams right from his seat, "Huh?! Yukito??!" But Yukito doesn’t even bother looking back at him .  The whole class looks back and forth between Yuki and Yukito, trying to match their faces, because they look almost identical.

Slamming the table loudly, Kagami-sensei barks, "Quiet, everyone!" he announces that Yukito will be leading today’s lab class for Group 3. Tatsuya leans in and whispers to Yuki, "Wow Yuki, your brother looks pretty smart." Yuki just glares at him sideways. His  mind is racing, wondering why on earth Yukito was assigned to her group.

Sensei then makes Chiyo from Group 2 stand up. "You missed yesterday's class, so you'll be joining Group 3 today," he says. Then, fixing his eyes dead on Yuki, he warns the class, "Let me make one thing clear. Anyone who skips or tries to sneak out..." he pauses, holding Yuki's gaze. "...will receive a very special 'Prince's treatment' as extra punishment."

As the class came to an end, Yuki packed up his things and started heading out. Seeing his. Leave, Kazuya and Tatsuya immediately tried to catch his eye, waving and calling out their goodbyes. But Yuki didn't even glance their way. Completely brushing them off, he just kept walking, sticking close to Masaru and Yumeko.

As they were leaving, Yuki spotted Yukito. His curiosity got the better of his  and he stepped toward him. "Hey! Yukito..." he called out. "Have you taken this class before? And... what about the—?"

Yukito didn't say a word. He just stared right past her, his silence cutting the conversation short.

Watching all of this from across the hallway was a girl named Kitsune. She rolled her eyes, visibly annoyed by how Yuki kept throwing herself at Yukito.

Suddenly, Yukito turned to everyone and called them back into the room. They all filed inside and took their seats. Once everyone settled down, Yukito took charge, laying out exactly what they were supposed to do for the day's experiment. He gave a quick demonstration first, mixing the solutions seamlessly, before telling the rest of the class to give it a try.

Everyone got to work, but Yuki immediately hit a wall. She spent the next few minutes swirling and shaking her test tube, but absolutely nothing happened.

Yukito walked past her bench and paused. "Yuki, what exactly are you doing with it like that?"

Yuki bit his  lip, staying quiet. He looked around the room and felt a pang of frustration. Yumeko and Kitsune had already finished their tasks perfectly. Meanwhile, Masaru and a student named Tomoe were over by the front desk, casually chatting with Yukito about the assignment.

Once Yukito finished talking with them, he walked back over to Yuki’s station. He noticed that despite all her effort, she still hadn't managed to trigger the chemical reaction. The liquid in her tube remained stubbornly clear.

Wanting to save his from further embarrassment, Yukito spoke up softly. "Ah, Yuki... I think there might actually be something wrong with that specific batch of chemicals. Don't worry about it anymore. Just leave it."

Frustrated and exhausted, Yuki slumped heavily into his chair with a loud sigh. "Ugh, what a complete waste of time!" he groaned.

Just then, another classmate, Chiyo, tapped Yuki on the shoulder and pointed toward the back counters. She gestured for Yuki to look at what the previous groups had left behind. Yuki looked over and saw rows of completed test tubes—each one glowing with a different, vibrant color change. Everyone else had succeeded, yet no matter how many times he tried, hisb tube wouldn't budge.

Feeling completely defeated, Yuki stared blankly at his desk. Masaru walked over and gently placed a hand on shoulder to comfort his . "Hey, come on, Yuki. Don't beat yourself up over it," he said warmly. "Your brother just said the chemical itself was faulty, right? Forget about it. Let's go grab something to eat at Tatsuya's noodle shop."

A little later, they were all sitting around a table at the noodle shop.

Tatsuya and Masaru stopped eating, their eyes fixed on Yuki. he was sitting there completely spaced out, mindlessly chewing on his  bare, empty chopsticks without putting any actual food on them.

Tatsuya leaned over and whispered to Masaru, "Hey, what is he so caught up thinking about?"

Masaru sighed and quietly filled him in on what had happened back in the lab.

Tatsuya frowned, thinking it over. "But wait... if everyone was handed the exact same materials, how could only his be broken?"

"I honestly don't know," Masaru replied, shaking his head.

Looking back at Yuki, who was still nibbling on nothing but air, Tatsuya finally called out to hmi , his voice filled with concern. "Yuki?!