The week flew by, and the midterm exams finally arrived!
Now that they had the answers, everyone wore confident smiles.
"Ha! This time, I'm going to show those Class C snobs what it means to make a stunning comeback!"
Ike was especially excited, shouting at the top of his lungs.
"We have Karuizawa and Shinjo to thank for that."
Even Horikita, the perennial ice queen, rarely praised others, but this time she did.
"Well... it was all Katsuya's doing, really!"
Karuizawa grinned foolishly. Matsushita, standing nearby, couldn't help but put a hand to her forehead at the sight of her best friend. She was normally a pretty sharp girl, but the moment Shinjo came up, she turned into a lovestruck fool.
Was this what being in love was like?!
Sae Chabashira looked at her students and smiled fearlessly.
"For all of you, this exam is undoubtedly your first hurdle. If you have anything to say, I'll give you some time now."
"Teacher Chabashira! Everyone has done their best these past few weeks! I don't think anyone in our class will fail the midterm exams!"
Chabashira laughed as she sorted the 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 nobody fails these exams or the final exams in July... I'll take you all on vacation during summer break."
"Vacation?!"
"That's right... I'll let you spend a dreamlike holiday on an island surrounded by a blue sea~"
At the mention of a vacation, everyone—already full of energy—grew even more excited. The boys in particular couldn't help thinking of the girls in swimsuits at the beach in summer.
And with so many cute girls in the class, this, this, this... this was the kind of world you only saw in your dreams!!!
However!
The more Shinjo listened to Chabashira, the stranger her words seemed. He knew very well what this school was really like, but everyone else had apparently forgotten their painful lessons.
Would the school really give them something for nothing?
Just wait! There'd be a catch to pay for later!
Before the school year began, they'd promised freedom to choose their careers and a hundred thousand yen in living expenses. After one month, hadn't reality still hit them like a brick?
So Shinjo was absolutely convinced that this so-called vacation would be anything but a good thing for most of them!
[An island surrounded by a blue sea... Hey, surely they wouldn't dump us on a deserted island and make us fend for ourselves? No way...]
Before he knew it, Shinjo had imagined the worst possible outcome.
But nobody else seemed to be thinking along those lines. Maybe they were still picturing the girls in swimsuits.
Even worse, a few of the boys got everyone riled up and started cheering:
"Everyone! Let's give it our all for the swimsuits!"
"Yeah!!!"
The boys weren't the only ones caught up in the excitement. The girls were just as eager to go to the beach.
But that was for later. For now, they had to get through the midterm exams first.
Shinjo glanced over his exam paper and saw that it was almost identical to the past exam he'd bought. The last stone weighing on his heart finally settled.
He then looked at the people around him—and almost immediately met Ayanokoji's eyes.
The other boy was watching everyone, too.
History really did go in circles, didn't it?
This time, Shinjo quickly turned away as soon as their eyes met. He was afraid that the same unpleasant thought would pop into his head again.
Still, everyone in the class seemed calm and composed. That was a good sign.
One exam after another came and went, but their good fortune didn't last.
Kikyo Kushida had gone around checking in with nearly everyone to see how the class had done. When she got to Sudo, though, she found him staring blankly, his expression dark.
"Um, Sudo? What's wrong?"
"Huh? Oh! Sorry! I... I'm a little busy right now..."
Sudo spoke while staring intently at the answers to the English practice test in his hand. The beads of sweat on his forehead showed that he wasn't at ease.
At a glance, Shinjo could tell what had gone wrong.
"Um... you didn't memorize the answers, did you?"
!!!!!
At the shocked looks from everyone around him, Sudo seemed at a loss for words.
"I looked over everything except English, but I couldn't memorize the English answers at all... Damn it!"
There were less than ten minutes before the exam. If he hadn't managed to memorize them in seven days, a few minutes wouldn't be enough.
Fortunately, Horikita remembered the score-control strategy Shinjo had suggested a little while ago.
"Sudo, start by memorizing the answers that are easy to remember and worth a lot of points."
"Okay! Got it."
Horikita hurried to her feet and addressed the whole class.
"Everyone, Sudo hasn't memorized the answers for the English exam yet. Could you please try to hold back on this subject as much as possible? Even if it's only a little, we need to lower the average score as much as we can!"
"What?! No way!"
Apparently, none of them had expected this to happen, but there was no time to say anything now.
Once Hirata understood the situation, he also urged the others to hold back on their scores as much as they could, lowering the class average.
Koenji was still doing as he pleased, but if everyone else helped out, they should still be able to manage.
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 twenty-six letters of the alphabet were like cryptic symbols drawn by aliens.
Even though he'd forced himself to memorize some answers before the exam, as soon as he saw the blank test paper, his mind went empty.
Who am I? Where am I? What am I supposed to do?
Every so often, Sudo stopped writing and slammed his head against the desk!
But there was truly no one who could help him now.
After the long English exam ended, Ike and Yamauchi were the first to go over and check on Sudo.
"Um, are you all right?"
"I... I don't know..."
Even Ike didn't know what to say, so he could only try to offer some comfort.
"I think it'll be fine, right? You may not have memorized the answers, but we've studied for so long. Besides, I did my best to keep my score around fifty. So it'll definitely be fine!"
Sudo couldn't even manage a smile at his friend's concern. His mind was full of regret. He knew English was that hard—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.
"It's your fault for not memorizing the practice questions. But I saw how hard you worked and how much you sweated. If you gave it your all, I think you can be proud of yourself."
"Huh? Are you trying to comfort me?"
"No. I'm just telling the truth. I can see that studying is hard for you. So I want to apologize again for not respecting your dream of becoming a basketball player. I've taken some extra lessons since then, and I realized I was wrong. Becoming a basketball player isn't an easy path. So I think that if you put as much effort into basketball as you've put into studying lately, you'll definitely become a great basketball player."
With that, Horikita bowed to Sudo and left the classroom.
The others were amazed that Horikita had apologized to someone of her own accord and even encouraged him. But Sudo...
[Oh no... I think I've fallen in love...]
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