When I arrived at the classroom, the usual rowdiness was gone. The only sounds were the quiet scratching of mechanical pencils and the rustle of turning textbook pages.
Having walked in together, Rui and I picked up on the atmosphere immediately and began studying without exchanging a single word.
(Everyone is focused on a whole different level... The air in the room feels prickly, almost tense.)
While there were plenty of high-achieving students, not everyone fell into that category. Among the rest, people like Yuria and Airi were fired up for a different reason: avoiding failing marks.
At our school, the failing grade was generally set at half the average score for each subject. Since it was a prep school, that hurdle was naturally higher than most. This was probably why Airi and Yuria—who had both been slacking since enrollment—frequently found themselves in the "Reverse-Posting Group" for constantly failing.
(But they worked hard this time, so I'm sure they'll get decent scores... Wait, huh? Come to think of it, Yuria and Airi aren't here yet?)
I was just starting to wonder as I looked at the empty seat to my left and the one in front of me, but then I saw the two of them dragging themselves through the door... or rather, what was left of them.
(Wh-what happened to them?)
Both of them looked completely drained before the test had even started, with dark bags under their eyes. There was no doubt about it—they’d pulled an all-nighter.
"M-mornin’, Ryouta..."
Airi greeted me in a limp, fragile voice, looking like she only had about 10 HP left.
"H-hey, are you guys going to be okay?"
"I’m fine, I’m fine... Airi’s full of energy..."
"Full of energy? Where exactly?"
"Mornin’... Ryouta..."
Yuria’s voice as she shuffled behind me toward her seat was also "finished" in more ways than one. What was with the sounds coming out of these two!
"A-are you two really going to be alright for the test?"
"It’s fine, really. The two of us stayed on a call together studying until morning."
"Until morning?"
It was great that they were motivated, but showing up in this condition for the actual exam seemed risky. Rui, sitting to my right, looked equally exasperated and just shrugged her shoulders.
"Seriously, once this test is over, I’m venting all my stress on Ryouta without holding back. Right, Airi?"
"Good plan. Roger that."
"Wait a minute. Since when did I become your personal stress-relief tool?"
"Anyway, once the tests are done, let's hit every single branch of that karaoke chain in front of the station!"
"We are not doing that! One branch is plenty!"
The moment I shouted my retort—probably because I was too loud—murderous glares shot my way from all sides, as if screaming, "Shut up! I’ll kill you!"
(Hiee, sorry...)
I shrank back, hiding my face behind my textbook.
"I mean, based on the check we did yesterday, we were already hitting good scores, so it doesn't look like we'll fail."
"Ryouta, you better be ready, okay?"
The two members of the Reverse-Posting Group were remarkably fired up. In Airi’s case specifically, her part-time job was on the line, so she was desperate to avoid a failing grade.
(The fact that they’re so weirdly confident feels like a total flag, though...)
With a hint of anxiety in my heart, the two-day Term-end Test began.
A few days after the tests ended, the weekend arrived.
Finally, the long-awaited day to get our results back was here. Every subject’s score was returned during the day, but for some reason, we had all agreed to show our results to each other after school.
Yuria, Airi, and Rui stayed behind, and the girls slammed their papers onto my desk as if to say, "Witness this!"
"How’s that, Ryouta! Witness our true power!"
As their confident expressions suggested, both Yuria and Airi had cleared the failing line. Even with the unusually high average this time around, they had made it.
"Th-that's amazing, you two!"
"Duh. We studied like crazy."
"No, really—avoiding a fail is one thing, but Airi got a 70 in math! And Yuria got an 80 in English!? That's incredible!"
"D-don't praise us so much."
"When Airi and the others get serious, this much is a breeze! Now we can do whatever we want with Ryouta, instead of—I mean, not the part-time job!"
Airi almost let the truth about her job slip for a second... well, whatever. All's well that ends well.
"Um, Ryouta-kun? I scored a 98 or higher in every subject. I had nearly perfect scores and took first place in the grade by a landslide, you know?"
"Eh? Oh, really? First place again, huh."
"I said... I took... first... place...?"
Rui stared at me with deadpan eyes, her voice sounding weirdly persistent. Was she... looking for praise? I wasn't entirely sure, but if that was the case...
"Th-that's amazing, Rui! First place by a landslide again! I bet Tanaka’s eating her heart out right now—"
"Heh... when you praise me, could you please refrain from mentioning another woman’s name?"
"Eh? Oh, right... sorry."
I’d praised her and still got scolded. What gives? Rui Kuroki never took anything but first place; I didn't think being told she was number one would even make her happy at this point.
"Hmm, what’s this? Does Rui want Ryouta to praise her too?"
"Not particularly. I never said anything about wanting praise."
"Rui-chan is so dishonest! I worked hard because I wanted Ryouta to praise me! Now we can all hang out during summer vacation!"
Right, summer vacation. I’d been so surprised about them passing that I’d completely forgotten the stakes.
"Anyway, the test results were just a prerequisite, right? Now we decide who gets to do whatever they want with Ryouta first... with a game of rock-paper-scissors!"