(Haruna POV)
***
'I knew he wasn't that good of a guy, but..... what the hell is wrong with him?'
Haruna frowned as she stared at the person she once called a friend, who was still standing in the middle of the room like an idiot even after everyone had left.
It took a loud reprimand from Kahawara Sensei to snap him out of his daze, and she shook her head with a sigh.
From the very start, something had always felt off about Riku, but she had continued to overlook his transgressions and lack of propriety for Hina's sake.
That would now change.
'I can't believe he made such a ridiculous bet....'
Haruna was referring to both Reiji and Riku, who were both frustrating in their own ways.
She found the latter to simply be mean, insulting her so brazenly behind her back, while also saying the same to her face but in a poorly disguised manner.
Judging by his reaction during their conversation, she knew he probably didn't mean it in a bad way, and yet that was somehow worse in a couple of different ways.
As for Reiji....
'Why does he even believe in me so much??'
In her personal experiences with him, although he liked to joke around with her, this was not one of those times.
He was the type to follow through with his promises.
At least, that was her impression.
So to boldly declare he would record himself licking his own foot if she failed to make it into the Top 10.....
It was either pure idiocy or sheer confidence.
And regardless of which one it was, the burden of proving him right fell on her.
This didn't help, what with the preexisting pressure on her shoulders due to the real-world consequences of her failure.
But she had no heart to blame him, nor any intention to do so.
He was doing it to protect her after all.
She sighed and closed her eyes, using the relaxation method Reiji-tan had taught her a while ago during one of their sessions.
He called it 'Box Breathing', where she had to inhale her breath for 4 seconds, hold it for 4 seconds, exhale for 4 seconds, and once again hold it for 4 seconds before repeating it 5 times.
And just like that, while Sensei was handing out the next set of test papers, Haruna reopened her eyes that were filled with a calm determination.
Feeling her mind and body relax after that stress-inducing chat, she couldn't help but smile.
'Pfft, he knows so many weird things.'
Glancing down at the bundle of papers on her desk, she picked up her pencil in preparation.
'I just have to make sure that he won't have to lick his feet!..... Even though it would be pretty funny.'
"Same as last time, you get two hours for this exam paper. Your time starts.....Now!" Sensei announced from the podium, releasing the mindless beasts from their cages.
She followed the others, jotting down her name and flipping the exam open to read the questions on the first page of the physics paper.
1) A 0.5 kg ball moving at 4 m/s collides with a stationary 1 kg ball. After the collision, the 0.5 kg ball moves at 2 m/s in the opposite direction. What is the velocity of the 1 kg ball after the collision?(Assume an elastic collision and use conservation of momentum.)
2) A 0.1 kg object is attached to a string and swings in a vertical circle with a radius of 1 meter. If the object completes one full revolution in 2 seconds, what is the speed of the object at the highest point of the swing?
3) Two ice skaters, initially at rest, push off from each other. Skater A has a mass of 50 kg, and skater B has a mass of 70 kg. After the push, skater A moves at a speed of 3 m/s. What is the velocity of skater B after the push?
'....'
A flicker of panic flashed across Haruna's face, her inner nervousness threatening to spill over out of habit when she read the complicated-looking questions.
Physics was one of her worst subjects because she hated both math and science.
And even though that was essentially hating most subjects, she couldn't help it.
But as she slowed down and read them again.....
'....I think I can do this?'
Reiji-tan had spent a lot of time making sure she remembered all the necessary formulas and how to apply them, and when her panic started to subside out of necessity, she realized that she could recall them clearly.
'Fuck it, I CAN do this!'
The pencil met the paper, and the second test began.
***
*DING-A-LING-RIIIIING*
Reiji groggily woke up from his nap, yawning as he stretched back in his chair at the sound of the final bell.
After four grueling exams, the first day of the midterms had come to an end.
They were only given one more break after the first one, for lunch, and Riku had refrained from approaching them again after the previous fiasco.
Hina and Haruna had gone out to buy some food since neither of them had brought any, so it was only him and the two pigs eating with each other in class.
The lunch break was much shorter than the usual one, so it didn't make sense to go all the way to the rooftop.
"That's it for today's midterms. There will be no club sessions today or tomorrow, so go focus on your studies and prepare well. You all can leave," Kahawara Sensei dismissed them with a casual wave, organizing the batch of exam papers on his desk.
Reiji slung his bag over his shoulder and glanced back at Haruna, who would be coming back with him for one more tutoring period.
She looked exhausted, rubbing her head like she was in pain and groaning as she pouted at him.
"....I have a headache," she muttered.
Reiji chuckled at her gloominess and coaxed her.
"Don't worry, I'll make you some coffee and give you an aspirin when we get back. Bear with it for now."
"....Okay."
Greeny and Airi ran up to them, with similarly tired expressions etched on their faces.
"Just pretend I said something super-smart and roasted your ass, because I have no energy left," Airi sputtered out with immense difficulty.
"That's strange, because I feel perfectly fine! Was it really that tough for you?" Reiji responded with a smirk.
"....O-Of course not, I was just a little sick over the weekend and I'm still recovering!"
Her gaze was darting around, making her lies a little too obvious.
Reiji's eyes met with Haruna's, who was struggling to hold back a laugh at the irony.
"Oh n-no, that's not good! Maybe we should go to the hospital?" Greeny cried out in worry, his hand shooting out to take her temperature.
Airi froze for a second and then leaned away from him once she regained focus.
"I-I'm fine! Don't just do that out of nowhere!" she exclaimed, hopping away from the group in a hurry, leaving the poor guy hanging in confusion.
'They sounded like each other just now, with all the stammering,' Reiji mused.
The three of them shrugged and followed behind her, but while they were walking out of class, Reiji noticed two things.
The first was the fact that Kahawara Sensei was watching him, despite his hands ruffling the tests in his hand to count the total number.
It was oddly creepy, so he just ignored it.
The second was Hina hugging her bag in front of Riku, who was talking to her in a hushed voice and repeatedly turning towards him with a fierce glare.
Reiji ignored him, but the boiling rage within wasn't going anywhere, which heated up when he once again recalled the stupidity he showed during the sudden conversation.
Find it hard to believe Haruna could actually do it?
Fine, he could accept that.
But making a mocking bet without her knowledge, and then still looking down on her openly?
That was not something a friend would do.
He was wondering which route this version of Riku was pursuing, and now it didn't seem like he was 'targeting' Haruna.
So maybe it was Hina?
But then again, he'd made her cry.
There were no signs he had come into proper contact with Noa yet, so that was even more far-fetched.
'Is he..... not doing any of them?'
It wasn't impossible, given the freedom of choice players were gifted with.
This was only the second time he'd personally talked with Riku, and his impression of him was already in the gutter.
'So..... Why on earth is that wary feeling not going away??'
It was the same sensation he had experienced after the mall encounter, where warning sirens were blaring in his mind.
Only louder.
It had actually managed to distract him quite a bit during the physics exam, since it caught him off-guard, making him finish the exam only 20 minutes before it ended rather than the 30 that he'd been expecting.
But no matter how hard he thought about it, he couldn't figure out the reason, so he once again pushed it out of his thoughts forcefully.
This was the last study session with Haruna, so there was no time to get distracted by the unknown.