I sat down at my desk, next to Sakurako who was early, as usual. With a bit of time before homeroom, I felt a dark presence looming behind me, Randan..
"Hey there buddy" He said, grimacing as he placed a firm hand on my shoulder. I was done for, having Sakurako at my house before him was a cardinal sin in his mind.
"H-Hi R-Randan" I stuttered as I turned to look at his face, he was smiling, but his eyes weren't.
"Having someone over before me huh? Seems like I'm unwanted by you"
Randan was fine over the phone yesterday so he was evidently playing up an act because it was funny, but he also definitely did care.
"It was out of my control"
"Sure it was, what about the past years hmm? Were they in your control to never have me even see the interior of your home?"
"Maybe"
"Maybe you say?"
"What do you say?" As he turned to my left.
Sakurako responded by sticking out her tongue at him playfully, she didn't take pleasure in his defeat, but she surely found it funny she'd beaten him to the punch.
Randan gasped and held his hand to his heart, falling to his knees.
"Wow man, never thought you were such an actor"
"Will you have me over?? Please??"
"You're such a clingy girlfriend"
"Like you'd know"
"Yes I'll have you over sometime.."
"Yes!"
With that, he left and returned to his seat peacefully. He was easy to placate, but he hid most of his deeper emotions from everybody, I could only see them, never hear them. I looked to my left at Sakurako as she looked at me.
"Did you?"
"Depends on the subject of the did"
"Both"
"I studied, I didn't"
"You actually studied? Now I'm concerned"
"About what??"
"Me losing to you in the exams"
"Of course"
I chuckled at that, before we were interrupted by the homeroom teacher, who began class.
Wednesday, I had studied every day prior to these exams, I was going to perform this time around. Studying with Oliver and the group on Tuesday, they were astonished to see me taking initiative and actually working hard. I had the same bet going with Sakurako for these exams, but for Math instead of History, that was just a side bet. I had studied hard over the last three days for Mathematics, I was going to at least put a performance in here.
Going into each and every exam, I performed certainly better than last time, and not only that, but I repeated my excellence in Music, I was acing that class with ease. Other practicals and exams went without a hitch. The major difference, other than difficulty, was that PE wasn't going to be factored into the final average this time around, a godsend for those like Sakurako. This was because it was deemed as purely a
practical examination, not a test.
Before I knew it, the 18th had arrived, and results were released.
Music: A+ (100)
P.E: A (96)
Art: A (94)
English: B+ (87)
Geography: C+ (79)
Science: B- (82)
Maths: A- (90)
History: A+ (100)
Total: 632 (90.2)
I had done remarkably better than the previous exam, of course I knew I had lost the bet to Sakurako, there was no way she got anything below 90 on mathematics.
"Here you go"
She handed me her paper slip, I could see she was first in the year, but had I really lost?
Music: A+ (98)
P.E: C- (70)
Art: A- (90)
English: A+ (97)
Geography: A (95)
Science: A- (92)
Maths: A (96)
History: A+ (99)
Total: 667 (95.2)
She had improved her previous average of course, and while I beat her in History, being top of that subject, I was defeated in the main bet. Now she would get yet another request from me.
"Daniel I want you to join the chess club"
"Huh? That's your request?"
"Yes it is"
"Well I have no quarrels with that, I love chess afterall"
"Yet another mutual agreement"
Oliver approached us, seeking to test his brass against Sakurako, and seemingly myself. I had come in fourth with a 90.2, but surely I hadn't beaten him in much.
Music: A (95)
P.E: B- (82)
Art: C+ (78)
English: A- (92)
Geography: B+ (88)
Science: A (95)
Maths: A+ (97)
History: A- (91)
Total: 636 (90.8)
He had beaten me overall, but he cut it rather close, not something I had expected of him, perhaps he was off his game?
"That's uncomfortably close. Are you rubbing off on him, Egawa?"
"Hard to say.." She brushed her hair over her ear and looked up at me, seemingly prompting me to make some kind of response.
"I think she really has.." I sighed.
"You have been spending a lot of time together after all"
"Don't you have plenty of study time though? You don't have club activities, I thought you'd blow it out the water here"
"Ehhh.."
"Let's not obfuscate here, what's up?"
"I didn't sleep for two days. Straight. Like 55 hours"
"Insomnia?" Sakurako wondered.
"Yes, I was absolutely fried by Friday"
"Cool word there by the way Daniel" Sakurako changed the subject.
"I've had it in the arsenal for at least a month"
"I love when you do that"
"This is really something I'm witnessing"
Oliver backed up a bit, bid us adieu and left.
I was surprised at my heavily improved result this finals season, looking at it objectively, I was now eyed up as a seriously high quality student despite my Ability Rating. Over the course of the day, I stuck with Sakurako and received a few more peoples results.
Music: E (54)
P.E: B (84)
Art: C- (73)
English: F+ (49)
Geography: F (33)
Science: F- (21)
Maths: U (2)
History: C (75)
Total: 307 (43.8)
"Holly, do you want me to study with you?"
"What"
"Dude this is generationally bad, like 20th place in the class, 100th place in the year, what are we doing here?"
"Did she really do worse than class five students?" Sakurako was peeking at the paper from behind me.
"Terribly worse"
"It's not THAT bad"
"You got a 2. How do you get a 2? Like I could answer blind and get more than a 2"
"He's not wrong"
"Like, you could lobotomise me and I'd still get more than a 2. There were multiple choice questions dude.."
"Alright MAYBE I could do with some studying, but we'll see later I guess"
"Sure"
Music: B+ (87)
P.E: A+ (99)
Art: B (84)
English: A- (93)
Geography: B- (81)
Science: C- (72)
Maths: F (38)
History: C+ (78)
Total: 533 (76.1)
Randan had expertly avoided any improvement, despite his P.E score being omitted, he still managed to get the exact same average as the previous exams.
"How is that even possible?"
"Pure skill"
"You got better, but you still failed maths"
"Yeahh.."
"You need to spend more time with Oliver on that dude, you're going to be punished for this"
"Why not spend it with you?"
"I'm nowhere near as good a teacher as him, and it's clear he's better at the subject, guy got the best score in the class"
"Whatever"
"I mean the scores aren't that bad.." Sakurako chimed in, still at my side.
"I see you're with Daniel again"
"That I am, we're friends now you see"
"Are we now?"
"I'd say so" She grinned at me, so I exchanged a smirk.
"Do you always flirt like this?"
"Is this flirting?" Sakurako seemed genuinely clueless. I wasn't much better informed than her to be fair.
"Guess it is if it's coming from the man himself"
"What does that mean?"
"He's had 13 girlfriends in 2 years"
"2 and a HALF"
"Big whoop"
"Wow I had no idea you were such a womaniser" Sakurako didn't look at him any differently, but she chuckled to herself.
"Stop it! You're ruining my reputation!"
"Aren't you the one doing that?"
Randan simply made an exaggerated frown before wandering off to his next companion. Santhush and Macsen came up to us, hopefully the last two to approach us.
Music: B- (81)
P.E: C+ (79)
Art: B (84)
English: B- (80)
Geography: C (74)
Science: C (76)
Maths: C+ (79)
History: B- (83)
Total: 557 (79.5)
Looking at his results, Santhush had done well, no fails or outstandingly bad marks, no impressive results, but a strong average
indicating a solidly decent student. I had never doubted his abilities though, I knew he was a damn smart guy and I was determined to bring him to his potential.
"Solid job Santhush, not too shabby" Santhush nodded in appreciation and Sakurako had no snarky statements, a first for today.
"Let's see yours Macsen" I called for his results.
Music: A+ (97)
P.E: A+ (100)
Art: C- (70)
English: D+ (68)
Geography: D (65)
Science: E+ (57)
Maths: D- (61)
History: C- (72)
Total: 490 (70)
I guess, all things considered, it could be shittier.
"It's not the.. worst thing I've seen all day.."
"Really?"
"Holly failed 4 classes"
"Damn!?!" Macsen was shocked that Holly had been so awful to outshine him completely.
Of course, losing the P.E element of this exam was to Macsen's significant detriment, but he didn't fail anything and a 70 average
isn't abhorrent.
I left the area with Sakurako, walking alongside her to the station.
"It is rather convenient of them to release those at the end of the day isn't it Daniel?"
"Definitely, greatly appreciated move from the Student Council"
"Speaking of the Student Council, did you know the top 5 students from every year in a ranked exam are summoned?"
"Are you serious??" I was panicked by this statement, I didn't want to face my brother, not again, it'd just be a pain for everybody.
"It isn't mandatory, but I'd like you to come with me, Oliver will be there too"
"Fine, I'll go" If I was going to win against this, I needed to face a cause of it.
Making small talk as we wandered over to the station, Sakurako slowed her pace slightly. She was usually a fast walker like myself, but now she was walking at a leisurely pace. I decided not to ask about it and just matched her pace.
As we walked past shops fronts and more commercial areas, I could see Sakurako eyeing certain things in windows or out shop fronts.
"Do you want to look inside?"
"Absolutely"
"Oh! No hesitation there"
It was a clothing boutique, I knew vaguely what Sakurako wore in her free time, but wasn't exactly sure of the specifics. Now it seemed she just wore whatever looked good on her, which was most things if I'm being honest here.
"This looks good" Sakurako stated as she grabbed a petticoat off of a rack, it was black and a women's coat. "You would definitely look good in this"
"Huh?"
We ended up spending two hours clothes shopping, or looking around random shops in the area. I was roped into spending 200 dollars on myself as well, Sakurako said that a few things would look good on me, so I relented and bought them. Strangely I was the ONLY one of us two who spent any money, she bought nothing.