Next came science: physics, chemistry, biology. There weren't many questions and they were all straightforward; Asai Yu only needed to scan them and the answers popped into his head. He felt like the few hours he'd spent reviewing were basically wasted.
Then his gaze settled on the math section and slowed.
These three math problems were more reasonable. One was a perfect-square fill-in-the-blank — wait, that looked odd, wasn't that elementary-school material? No matter; there were still two big problems: a three-dimensional geometry question and a calculus derivatives problem, both of moderate difficulty.
Chihaya Anon saw those two big problems and went blank.
Is this really middle-school math? She couldn't make head or tail of it. What should she do? What should she do?
She heard Asai Yu give a soft exhale and thought he was sighing; panic nearly brought her to tears. She wanted to say something but didn't dare to interrupt, so she forced herself to stay silent. Could an onmyōji really solve such difficult math problems?
Her hand hovered, unmoving, and a gray hopelessness spread through her eyes.
On the other side of the screen the proctor glanced at the exam feed. Seeing the pink-haired girl stuck on the final two problems didn't surprise them — those two questions were the kind of material taught at university, a bizarre choice to put on this test. Whether they'd affect the final grade was unclear.
After settling on his approach, Asai Yu didn't even need scratch work. He finished the solid-geometry problem using two methods — the combined-method and the spatial-vector method.
Anon's eyes nearly popped out. She didn't really understand the work, but Yu clearly could. He wrote full solutions, even two distinct approaches that led to the same answer — that sealed it.
Her despair was instantly filled with joy.
Asai Yu had no idea how her emotions had swung; he moved on to the derivatives question. It was a bit tricky, but manageable. After roughly fifteen minutes he'd solved the big problem too — only the final, hardest subquestion had cost him time.
Anon was astonished anew. This guy wasn't an onmyōji — he was a bona fide academic whiz! A school-genius possessing a literary-anime miracle had taken hold of her situation; she felt as if she'd witnessed something out of a light novel.
By then only an hour and ten minutes had passed in the test. For the remaining fifty minutes Asai Yu went over the paper carefully, checking and double-checking under a principle of caution. The teacher glanced at the feed a few times but didn't focus excessively.
Finally, the exam ended.
"Good work, Chihaya. Results will come out tomorrow — please wait patiently," the math-savvy teacher said. He looked down at the on-screen paper and suddenly froze. Both of the final big problems had been answered — and the first one had two methods shown? Cheating?
"Did you solve the last two problems yourself?" the teacher asked quickly before the live connection closed.
"Yes. I solved them myself," Asai Yu nodded.
The teacher still looked doubtful. "Please hold a moment." He checked the monitoring feeds and, after a few minutes, concluded there was no possibility of cheating. Still, as the responsible proctor, he remained cautious. "Could you explain your approach?"
Clearly he suspected cheating.
Asai Yu expected this and proceeded to explain his entire reasoning in detail, even expanding on related points. The math teacher listened, deeply convinced, and regarded him through the screen with clear admiration.
"Very good. Well done, Chihaya. The school is fortunate to have you," the teacher praised.
"No — thank you very much, and thank you for your hard work," Asai Yu replied politely.
After a few more pleasantries the livestream ended.
A few seconds later a gleeful, slightly theatrical laugh echoed in Asai Yu's mind, followed by a triumphant "Nice!"
"You'll definitely pass," Chihaya Anon cheered. "You're my savior, Yu!"
Asai Yu didn't feel particularly excited. "Passing the test shouldn't be an issue."
Anon calmed down a little. "By the way — you said you're an onmyōji, so why can you even do such difficult math?"
"I'm just good at that stuff," he answered, picking up the guitar that leaned against the wall.
"Wow… that's amazing," Anon giggled into a hand, the sound like a small, pleased cough.
From the voice alone Yu judged Anon's age: she sounded young, probably around his age — maybe one year apart at most. A boy who studied well, had a pleasant personality, knew impressive 'spells,' and was now diligently practicing guitar… wasn't that exactly her ideal type?
She couldn't help imagining.
After two minutes of guitar practice Asai Yu discovered no bonus effect kicking in, so the day's enhancement time still counted according to Japanese hours. Feeling slightly disappointed, he went to wash his face.
In the mirror he examined the body he currently occupied: soft pink hair, pale gray eyes, a complexion that flushed now and then. He pinched one cheek — it was sweetly soft.
Calling Anon "a bit silly" was just teasing; from another perspective she was adorable even when he wore an austere expression. On top of that, she naturally exuded an affinity that made people warm to her. Maybe that "charismatic charm" was truly innate.
Checking the time he decided to head to school.
But just as he was about to leave, Anon suggested in his mind, "How about we go to Buckingham Palace now? I haven't posted a photo yet."
"No," Asai Yu replied bluntly. "Go improve your English first."
"But my followers are waiting," Anon protested, anxious.
Yu had already reached the school gate. "I won't be available from ten in the morning to four in the afternoon today. You can study during the day; come by at night," he said after calculating the schedule.
"Ehh—Yu, can't you at least listen to me for two minutes? This matters a lot to me," Anon sighed, helpless.
Asai Yu didn't indulge. "Tonight at midnight you can come. Review the daytime material by then."