Predicting the Exam Questions? I'm a Pro / Your Class C Break-Time Activities Sure Are Interesting

What was all this nonsense? I really didn't want to do it.

"I put our clothes in the wash together, okay?"

"Suit yourself."

Staring at the test paper in front of her, Ryuen Shoko scratched her head and fidgeted with her pen. With no other choice, she finally started working through it, one question at a time.

She kept at it for nearly an hour.

"Hmm... I thought you'd have a decent foundation, but your problems are more serious than I expected. Looks like you got into Class C because you're good at sports?"

Scratching his head, Hoya calculated her score. She'd gotten a little over forty.

Under ordinary circumstances, that would've been decent—just about enough to pass. The problem was that everyone had been studying hard this time. If she didn't study, she'd have a hard time passing.

"I guess you really do have to start from scratch."

"So what do you think I should do?"

"There's no magic solution. We'll take it slowly. Luckily, the basics are easy enough to learn. Worst case, I'll narrow down the likely questions for you later. You should still have an eighty percent chance of passing."

Hoya was Chinese, after all, and Chinese people had a remarkable talent for exams.

On top of that, he had plenty of experience turning himself from a struggling student into an average one. He'd gone to school in the capital, but because of his household registration, he'd had no choice but to return to his hometown for high school. The capital's curriculum was a whole textbook behind his hometown's, and the workload and depth of study there were both relatively light. So at the time, he'd unquestionably been a poor student.

Gradually becoming one of the top students was something he could brag about. He'd beaten out eighty percent of the students back home to get into university, which was no small achievement.

"Clearly, your English and modern Japanese scores are terrible. Chemistry and math are passable, and you're pretty good at social studies. Those are the five subjects our school tests, so you'll need to work on them."

Besides those five, there were also history, geography, Japanese, physics, physical education, and other subjects.

Japanese-language classes in Japan mainly covered three things: modern Japanese, classical Japanese, and classical Chinese. The last was like the classical Chinese they taught in high school today, and it was often included in exams.

But at this school, they only studied modern language. In other words, classical Japanese and classical Chinese were assessed, but not tested.

"So, have you figured out how to study?"

"Yeah. The science subjects are easy. I just have to memorize more."

Hoya set the test paper aside and finished adding up her score. It looked a little worrying. Would they have to ask a good student to go easy on her?

Tch. What a headache.

Scratching his head, Hoya decided to get out the study guides and start preparing the humanities material for Ryuen Shoko. Starting tomorrow, he'd have to help this lady with her studies again.

"Then let's start with vocabulary today. Don't look at me like that. Just ten words a day. Is that too much?"

"Little by little adds up. I think that's plenty."

"We'll take it slowly. Don't get discouraged."

Hoya set the English book aside and took out a modern Japanese textbook. "As for modern Japanese... it's mostly about technique. That's easy to teach."

With modern Japanese, everyone could speak it, so most people ended up somewhere in the middle—not great, not terrible. Ryuen Shoko's low score was mainly because she didn't know how to use the standard answer formats. In other words, she just needed to memorize the templates.

"As for the two science subjects, we'll leave those until the weekend. Your social studies score is pretty good, so you don't need tutoring for that. That's more or less the plan."

As he spoke, Hoya began writing out ten English words for her. "Memorize these ten words, then do three modern Japanese practice tests. That should be enough for today. I'm going to cook. Stay here and study. If I come back and you still haven't memorized them, we'll stay here until you do. We won't eat until then. I don't care if the food gets cold."

"Got it. Why are you such a nag?"

Staring at the English words that gave her a headache, Ryuen Shoko nearly swore. Damn it, why did this school have so much annoying crap?

"Take it one step at a time. I'll make your favorite smashed cucumbers tonight. Also, if you finish everything by the time I'm done cooking, you can have a few extra cans of beer~"

"How many cans I drink is none of your business, right?"

"Hmm... Fair enough. Then I'll think of some other reward. You just keep studying."

Hoya was mostly worried that Ryuen Shoko would be bad at science. Science depended more on understanding. Some people got it as soon as it was explained, while others could think about it for ages and still not understand. If she couldn't handle science, she'd need to spend a lot of time studying it.

As for the humanities? He wasn't asking Ryuen Shoko to get a perfect score. She just needed to pass—and not with sixty points, but fifty.

The passing mark was half the class average. Put simply, as long as she scored above fifty, she'd pass. So the best-case scenario was simply to get fifty points.

The exams followed a predictable pattern, and the material was easy to teach. Hoya wasn't worried that Ryuen Shoko wouldn't understand it. From what Shiina Hiyori had said earlier, he'd expected Ryuen Shoko's grades to be terrible, but they were actually decent—better than he'd expected.

That meant he'd have plenty of free time after all.

Hoya's mood lifted. Humming as he stir-fried the food, he happily got dinner ready in the kitchen.

Meanwhile, Ryuen Shoko was suffering. She could only clutch her head and stare helplessly at the English words.

Why did a delinquent like her have to study? For the sake of setting an example, of course. If even the gang leader didn't study, how could anyone else in the class take it seriously?

She wasn't asking for high scores. Surely everyone could get at least fifty?

And so Ryuen Shoko was thoroughly miserable.

Her misery didn't last long. Ten English words really weren't that many, and the three modern Japanese questions took only a few minutes.

"Hmm, you did pretty well. Ready to eat?"

"Hey, Hoya, who's the boss around here?"

Once she saw that Hoya was satisfied, Ryuen Shoko put her feet up on the table. She felt like herself again.

"Of course you are, boss."

"Then why were you ordering me around just now? I didn't feel like much of a boss."

Ryuen Shoko was obviously trying to get her dignity back, and Hoya was happy to humor her. Seeing her roll her shoulders and neck, he went over and started kneading and rubbing them, helping her relax.

"Hmm, my legs are a little sore, too."

"Sure thing. Just a moment."

Hoya obligingly brought her a beer and began massaging her legs.

She was like a donkey that went whichever way you stroked its fur. Earlier, he'd made her study for the sake of her grades. Now that she'd finished, he had to smooth things over before she got annoyed.

He was just glad she wasn't sulking about it.

As for anything else? That was easy enough to handle.

"Hmm, come on. Give me a good massage here, too."

"You got it."

When Ryuen Shoko kicked off her slippers and revealed her soft, pink feet, Hoya reached out and began massaging them.

He had to be thankful he wasn't into feet. Otherwise, he might already have given in to those thoughts.

No. He had to at least wait until after dinner.

"Boss, let's eat first, okay?"

"Fine. Keep going after we're done."

After they finished eating.

"Boss, want to take a bath? I've got the water ready."

"You're pretty attentive. Sure, let's bathe... Wait, why are you taking your clothes off?"

"Chapter 84: Class C's Recess Entertainment Sure Is Interesting"

"You're an animal. A total animal."

"Yes, yes. Whatever you say."

They were lying on the bed. Ryuen Shoko was on her side, playing on her phone and not even looking at Hoya.

She wasn't sulking. She was just exhausted and wanted to watch videos for a while.

She'd known the little brat was up to no good. He'd said they'd take a proper bath, but what happened? They'd bathed together.

It had taken them three rounds before they finally got out.

As for the thing they'd just bought for blowing up balloons... As Ryuen Shoko had put it, she was in her safe period. No need to worry.

After they'd had their fun, they'd played around in bed for quite a while. Ryuen was exhausted, but Hoya had kept going like a tireless puppy.

And so Ryuen Shoko was so worn out that all she wanted was to lie down. Watching videos was the only thing on her mind.

Actually, she was a little sleepy too, but it was too early to fall asleep. It was only eight in the evening.

Who the hell started this at six in the afternoon? And kept at it for two whole hours!

"Come on, don't be upset. You enjoyed it too, didn't you?"

"Enjoyed it, my ass."

Muttering curses, Ryuen let Hoya pull her into his arms, and finally looked away from her phone.

She was cursing him, but there wasn't much anger behind it.

Her behavior made Hoya smile. He'd entered post-orgasm bliss, and as he stroked Ryuen's body, he wasn't feeling especially horny.

"Actually, I'm pretty happy. I always thought I wasn't very popular with women."

"What, did some girl dump you in middle school?"

"Not quite. I just had classmates for three years who never even learned my name."

"Really? That's pretty sad."

Held in Hoya's arms and chatting with him, Ryuen Shoko looked indifferent, but deep down, she was quite content.

After sex, the best thing to do was hold a woman and talk to her, make her feel cared for—not sit off to the side, smoking and scrolling through your phone.

It let her know she mattered to you, rather than making her feel like some girl you'd paid a few hundred bucks for.

Nothing made a woman feel more dejected than a man pulling up his pants and acting like a stranger. If you wanted to keep the relationship going, you had to talk.

It didn't matter what you talked about. Anything was fine, as long as you didn't kill the conversation.

And if you could slip in a few compliments, even better. But Hoya didn't dare compliment Ryuen.

After all, he really had gotten the better of her again. He'd left her struggling helplessly beneath him for a long time.

Don't ask. She was just tired.

"By the way, do I have to call you 'boss' all the time? It feels weird when we're in bed."

"Then what do you want to call me? Your queen?"

"Shoko. Is that okay?"

He whispered her name in her ear. "Shoko, I like you."

"Heh. You like other women too, then?"

"What kind of thing is that to say?"

"I don't mind."

"I don't believe you."

Hoya didn't believe Ryuen Shoko when she said she didn't mind. What girl didn't get jealous? He didn't buy it.

Honestly, ever since he'd come to this world, it had all felt like a dream. He was afraid he'd wake up and find himself still lying in bed.

If he couldn't pinch himself and feel the pain, he'd really think this was a beautiful dream.

"I mean it. I couldn't handle you anyway. You really do go all out."

Even the slightest brush of her legs together brought a faint ache. He'd used a lot of force.

Every thrust had been like a mortar shell striking her as deep as it could, and beneath that assault, she'd quickly surrendered.

She'd collapsed, while Hoya still barely seemed to feel a thing. If they didn't get a few more people to take turns with him, she couldn't handle it.

"But I should tell you something."

With some effort, Ryuen Shoko rolled over and looked at Hoya. They could both feel the warmth of each other's breath. "No matter how many women you find outside, remember this: you're my dog."

"I'll remember."

Seeing the serious look on Ryuen Shoko's face, Hoya's smile faded. He answered just as seriously.

"Then say it again."

"I'm your dog. Ryuen Shoko's dog."

"You really remember that?"

"I can prove it to you."