The week flew by, and the midterm exams had finally arrived!
Since they had the answers, everyone wore confident smiles.
"Ha! This time, I'm gonna show those Class 1-C jerks who look down on us what it means to make a stunning comeback!"
Ike shouted excitedly.
"We have Karuizawa and Shinjo to thank for that."
Even Horikita, the perennial ice queen, rarely praised others, but she did so now.
"Well... actually, it was all Katsuya's doing!"
Karuizawa smiled foolishly. Matsushita, standing beside her, couldn't help but put a hand to her forehead at the sight of her best friend. She was usually pretty sharp, but the moment Shinjo came up, she turned into this lovestruck idiot.
Was this what being in love did to people?!
Chabashira Sae looked at her students and smiled fearlessly:
"For you, this exam is undoubtedly the first hurdle. If you have anything to say, I'll give you the time now."
"Chabashira-sensei! Everyone has done their best these past few weeks! I don't think anyone in our class will fail the midterms!"
Chabashira laughed as she sorted through the exam papers. No one could tell what she was thinking:
"Hahahaha! You're certainly confident, Hirata. But that's fine. It's good that you think that way. If none of you fail this exam or the final exams in July... I'll take you all on vacation during summer break."
"Vacation?!"
"That's right... You'll get to enjoy a dreamlike life on an island surrounded by blue seas~"
At the mention of a vacation, everyone, who was already in high spirits, became even more excited. The boys were especially thrilled. After all, when you thought of the beach in summer, the first thing that came to mind was girls in swimsuits, right?
And there were so many cute girls in their class, too. Th-this... this was the kind of world you only saw in your dreams!!!
However!
For some reason, Chabashira's words sounded strange to Shinjo. He knew the true nature of this school all too well, but it seemed everyone else had already forgotten their painful lessons.
Would the school really give them anything for free?
Just wait! He'd have his chance to settle the score!
Before the school year had even begun, they'd promised them freedom to choose their careers and a monthly allowance of 100,000 points. But after a month, hadn't reality still dealt them a brutal blow?
So Shinjo was absolutely convinced that this so-called vacation would be no good for most of them!
[An island surrounded by blue seas... Hey, there's no way they're going to dump us on a deserted island and make us survive, right? No way...]
Before he knew it, Shinjo had imagined the worst possible outcome.
But the others hadn't thought of anything like that. Maybe they were still lost in thoughts of girls in swimsuits?
What was worse, spurred on by a few of their classmates, the boys actually started cheering:
"Everyone! For the sake of the swimsuits, let's give it our all!"
"Yeah!!!"
It wasn't just the boys getting carried away. The girls were just as eager to go to the beach.
But that was for later. For now, they had to get through the midterms first.
Shinjo glanced over his exam paper, and when he saw that it was virtually identical to the practice questions he'd bought, the last stone in his heart finally settled.
Then he observed the expressions of those around him. As he did, his eyes met Ayanokōji's once again.
That was because the other boy was also observing people.
Wasn't it funny how history came full circle?
This time, Shinjo immediately turned away after their eyes met. He was afraid that the same unpleasant thought would creep into his mind again.
Still, it was clear that everyone in class looked calm and collected. That seemed like a good sign.
One exam after another came to an end, but their good fortune didn't last.
Wanting to check how everyone in the class had done, Kushida Kikyo had gone around greeting practically everyone. But when she got to Sudo, she found him looking gloomy and dazed.
"Um, Sudo? What's wrong?"
"Huh? Oh! Sorry! I... I'm a little busy right now..."
As he spoke, Sudo stared intently at the answer key for the English practice test in his hands. The beads of sweat on his forehead showed that he wasn't feeling calm at all.
At a glance, Shinjo guessed what had happened.
"Um... You didn't memorize the answers, did you?"
!!!!!
At the shocked looks around him, Sudo was at a loss for words.
"I—I looked over everything except English, but I just couldn't memorize English... Damn it!"
There were less than ten minutes before the exam began. If he hadn't been able to memorize the answers in seven days, a few more minutes wouldn't be enough.
Fortunately, Horikita remembered the score-control strategy Shinjo had suggested a while ago.
"Sudo, try memorizing the answers that are easy to remember and worth a lot of points first."
"Okay! Got it."
Then Horikita hurried to her feet and addressed the whole class:
"Everyone, Sudo hasn't memorized the answers for the English exam yet. Could I ask you all to keep your scores as low as possible in this subject? Even if it's just by a little, we should do our best to lower the average!"
"Huh?! Seriously?"
Clearly, this was the last thing anyone had expected, but they didn't have time to say anything about it now.
Once Hirata understood the situation, he also encouraged the other students to keep their scores down as much as possible to lower the final average.
Kōenji was still doing his own thing as usual, but if everyone else helped, they should still be able to manage it.
However, as it turned out, all their efforts were in vain.
Sudo had tried hard to memorize the answers, but English was different from Japanese. To him, the 26 letters of the alphabet looked as incomprehensible as mysterious symbols drawn by aliens.
Even though he'd forced himself to memorize some of them before the exam, the moment he saw the blank test paper, his mind went empty again.
Who am I? Where am I? What am I supposed to do?
Every so often, Sudo would stop writing and bang his head against the desk!
But now, there really was no one who could help him.
After the long English exam ended, Ike and Yamauchi were the first to go over to Sudo and check on him.
"Um, are you okay?"
"I... I don't know..."
At a time like this, Ike had no idea what to say either, so he could only try to offer a few comforting words.
"I think you'll be fine, right? Sure, you didn't memorize the answers, but we've studied for so long, and I did my best to keep my score around fifty. So it'll definitely be fine!"
Faced with his friend's concern, Sudo couldn't even manage a smile. His mind was full of regret. He'd known English was so difficult. He should've studied for it first!
"Sudo."
Horikita walked over.
"What do you want? If you're going to lecture me, you can forget it..."
Horikita shook her head.
"Not memorizing the practice answers was your fault. But I saw how hard you worked, and how much you sweated. If you gave it your all, then I think you can be proud of yourself."
"Huh? Are you trying to comfort me?"
"No, I'm just telling it like it is. I can see how hard studying is for you. So I want to apologize again for disrespecting your dream of playing basketball last time. I took some extra lessons after that, and realized I was wrong. Becoming a basketball player isn't an easy path. So I think if you put the same effort you've put into studying these past few weeks into basketball, you'll definitely become a great basketball player."
After saying that, Horikita bowed to Sudo and left the classroom.
The others were surprised that Horikita had apologized to someone on her own initiative and even encouraged him. But as for Sudo...
[Oh no, I think I've fallen in love...]
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