Yukinoshita Yukino had originally assumed that Tanaka Masao was a hopeless academic failure, the kind with absolutely no foundation at all.
But at this moment, she felt an overwhelming sense of relief.
The only subjects Tanaka Masao needed tutoring in were History and Civics (Politics).
His grades in those two subjects were so bad that Yukinoshita Yukino genuinely began to wonder whether Tanaka Masao was actually Japanese.
[My body is, but my soul isn't.]
Fortunately, tutoring these two subjects was fairly simple—rote memorization would suffice.
...
Ten minutes later.
"Oh shit—this damn Japanese government, why the hell does it have so many systems?"
While struggling to memorize civics knowledge, Tanaka Masao couldn't help but curse out loud.
All those awkward, convoluted institutional rules were giving him a headache.
Watching Tanaka Masao scratch his head in frustration, visibly suffering as information forcibly entered his brain, Yukinoshita Yukino's lips unconsciously curled into a smile.
So this is the joy top students feel when watching underachievers study?
That said, there wasn't much Yukinoshita Yukino could do to help him here. Memorization-heavy subjects were something he had to brute-force on his own.
Luckily, the suffering didn't last too long.
After staying in the Service Club for another half hour, it was already past five o'clock. The two packed up and headed home.
As they parted ways, Yukinoshita Yukino said,
"Tanaka-kun, make sure you keep memorizing the exam scope once you get home. I'll be testing you over the next few days."
With a full week left before the exams, focusing only on History and Civics was still manageable for Tanaka Masao.
"…Okay."
Tanaka Masao replied weakly.
Memorizing this dry, lifeless information was truly torture for him.
...
When Tanaka Masao got home, he found Jahy in the living room—looking just as dead inside as he felt.
"What's wrong with you? You were in great spirits when you got back yesterday. Why are you so listless today? Already sick of school life?"
As he spoke, he flopped onto the sofa as well, looking thoroughly drained.
Hearing that, Jahy glanced at Tanaka Masao and let out a helpless sigh.
"Don't even mention it. During language class today, the teacher made me stand up and answer a question."
"She asked me, [What is Yuki thinking at this moment?]"
"I explained it very clearly—I'm Jahy, not Yuki. If she wants to know what Yuki is thinking, she should ask Yuki herself. Why ask me?"
"And the worst part, you know what it was? Those little brats actually dared to laugh at me. Did I do anything wrong?"
After hearing about Jahy's misfortune, Tanaka Masao couldn't help but laugh. His previously gloomy mood instantly brightened.
This afternoon, he had thought his own studying was miserable enough.
Turns out there was someone even worse off.
Suddenly, he remembered something and asked her,
"By the way, have you been able to understand anything in class these past couple of days?"
"Hah? Are you looking down on me?"
Jahy crossed her arms, looking extremely proud.
"I haven't understood a single thing."
[Good thing I didn't have any expectations for you.]
He knew it—there was no way Jahy could handle studying.
He himself had knowledge from his previous life, plus the original owner's academic foundation, so adapting wasn't too hard.
But Jahy was different. She came from the Demon Realm and had never been exposed to human knowledge at all.
On top of that, due to her age setting, she entered school directly as a third-year student. Integrating wasn't something that could happen overnight.
Thinking about this, Tanaka Masao felt a bit of schadenfreude.
"Heh, you should have midterms coming up too, right?"
"Midterms? What's that?"
"It's a periodic exam to evaluate how students have been doing during this period, and then assign scores."
"An assessment, huh. That, I know."
"There'll definitely be rankings. With your current level, unless a miracle happens, you'll probably be dead last."
"Dead last?!"
Hearing that, Jahy shot to her feet as if she'd been shocked.
"How could I possibly be dead last?!"
Jahy's pride wouldn't allow her to accept being last place—especially not in a human-world assessment.
"Other than the Demon Lord-sama, no one is allowed to rank above me!"
"Just wait and see. I'll easily defeat those ordinary humans and take first place!"
With that, Jahy stormed back to her room and began studying in earnest.
Watching her retreating figure, Tanaka Masao shook his head.
"Tch tch, such fighting spirit. But sometimes, effort doesn't actually lead to results."
Jahy's image as a stupid, cute, brainless, food-obsessed demon had already been deeply engraved in his mind.
So he didn't believe her claim of getting first place at all.
Still, influenced by Jahy's sudden enthusiasm, Tanaka Masao decided to return to his room and continue studying as well.
...
The next day, at the Service Club.
Under Yukinoshita Yukino's supervision, Tanaka Masao studied seriously and completed the corresponding tests.
His improvement was quite obvious.
At the very least, he now had a clear grasp of the chronological order of the various periods in Japanese history.
As for detailed information on historical figures, key events—their timing, content, significance, and impact—that would still take some time.
Yukinoshita Yukino took out the notebook she used to record lessons and handed it to Tanaka Masao.
"This contains what the teacher explained in class. It's more concise than the textbook, and it also includes the teacher's detailed analyses of various topics. It's very helpful for exams."
Exams would never simply copy textbook content verbatim onto the test paper.
They would change the angle, requiring deeper analysis and understanding based on the textbook.
That's where classroom instruction mattered.
Holding Yukinoshita Yukino's notes, Tanaka Masao felt like he had obtained a priceless treasure.
In his previous life, this kind of thing had a very famous name.
[Top Student Notes.]
In his memory, the notes of a certain region's national exam top scorer had been bought for an absurdly high price, while those who missed out lamented endlessly.
Tanaka Masao opened the notebook. The notes were neatly structured, the handwriting beautiful—more pleasing to the eye than printed books.
He skimmed a few sections, coincidentally covering exactly what he was being tutored on.
After only a short while, he had already gained new insights.
This made Tanaka Masao extremely excited.
"Yukinoshita-san, did you prepare this especially for me?"
"Of course not. These are my own notes."
Yukinoshita Yukino truly didn't understand how Tanaka Masao could be this shameless.
"I still need them for review, so I'm only lending them to you temporarily so you can copy them."
Hearing that, Tanaka Masao looked up in surprise.
"Even with such good grades, Yukinoshita-san still needs to review?"
"What kind of thinking is that?"
Yukinoshita Yukino was speechless.
"Having good grades doesn't mean you don't need to study. Even if I didn't review, I could still get decent results—but if I want a result I'm satisfied with, I still need to do at least a little review."
And by a "satisfactory result," Yukinoshita Yukino naturally meant a perfect score.