Yesterday's cloying Valentine's Day sweetness and those hidden adolescent stirrings were completely blown away on February 15.
For most students, they hadn't lingered in their minds for very long.
Today's mock exam was the enormous pressure bearing down on them now.
The papers were quickly passed from the front to the back, their edges rustling as they brushed against one another.
As soon as the first question of the mock exam came into view, many faces that had seemed calm instantly tensed.
Just as Majima Tomoya had warned them during yesterday's Class Meeting, this mock exam was no perfunctory test they could breeze through.
The questions were markedly more difficult than before.
After all, some of them would appear on the Final Exam unchanged or with only a few superficial alterations.
With the school year drawing to a close, it was only natural for the School Authority to raise the difficulty as a final dress rehearsal.
But this was Class A.
There were no despairing sighs, and no one grew dejected over questions that were beyond the syllabus.
For students who had diligently mastered the fundamentals, the test was challenging, but still within a range they could handle.
Once the mock exam was over, time seemed to hit fast-forward.
The days that followed brought an oddly peaceful, yet rare, stretch of calm.
No other class provoked them, and no incident broke out that could set the entire year group abuzz.
The remaining two weeks passed uneventfully in a routine of studying and practice questions.
At last, the day of the year-end exams arrived...
February 25.
Every student in Class A wore the words "a sure thing" on their face as the Final Exam approached.
Their confidence wasn't blind arrogance; it was built on the efficient preparation they had done