The next day was Thursday, and I was in a funk. After arriving at school, I had looked for Yotsuba before class in order to give her the notes she'd forgotten, but I hadn't been able to find her. As it got dangerously close to the start of the day's lectures, I finally whipped out my phone, and sent her an e-mail.

The last thing we need is her losing her study materials...

<Hey, where are you? I have some notes for you that you left behind>

There was no response for a few minutes, and I began to eye the clock nervously. There were about four minutes left before class when I finally got a response.

<Sorry! Running late today. Wanna have lunch together? I'll get them from you then.>

I looked down at my phone, looked back up at the clock, and then sighed.

So she's not even here yet. Ugh, I should have just messaged first. Stupid of me.

Mildly irritated, I made my way to my classroom, and sat down at my desk mere seconds before the teacher entered. Leaning back in my chair, I happened to glance behind me, and was surprised to see Itsuki already in her seat. From the look of things, she had been there for quite a while as well; she was well set-up. I frowned -- it was unusual for Yotsuba to be late without her sisters being late as well.

Then, the likely cause hit me, and I sighed in mild frustration. Pulling my phone out under the desk, I finally responded to Yotsuba's message.

<Sure, sounds good. But... you stayed up studying after we finished, and then overslept, didn't you?>

There was a delay in the response. Then...

<Busted :(>

<I know I'm the last one you want to hear this from, but pace yourself. It doesn't help you if you miss class and lose out on learning new material which which will be on the exam.>

<I know...>

I stared down at my phone for a moment, concerned, and then snapped it shut to look back up as the teacher began the lesson. I dutifully took notes, but my thoughts were wandering. Part of my mind was still wrapped up in the Frobenius method, but another part was attempting to plot out the trajectory on which we would need to take Yotsuba's studying in order for her to have a fighting chance on the midterms, given there was officially less than a week left..

No matter how I cut it, her sessions with Second Place-san were an insurmountable barrier.

If she had been able to maintain a reasonable pace through them, then maybe... but no. With the inevitable conflagration that would be the session that evening and the following one on Monday, even my most hopeful estimate for the amount she could cover -- let alone retain -- was woefully short of the mark. Those two days were invaluable. She couldn't do without them.

Eventually, lunchtime rolled around, and I made my way to the cafeteria with Itsuki. While we chatted on the way there, I was finding it difficult to focus on a word she was saying. Luckily, she was mostly talking about the upcoming midterm, and so I was able to get by with nodding and making vaguely affirmative-sounding noises.

Once we received our food, we parted ways, and I located my usual table. To my surprise, Yotsuba was already there, a bowl of karaage in front of her.

"Uesugi-saaaaaan! Over here, over here!"

Rolling my eyes, I sat down in the seat across from her.

"This is where we always sit, I know where you are."

"Ah, but Uesugi-san, you were having trouble finding me this morning! So, I thought I'd help by making it nice and simple!"

"That's... fair, I guess? Anyways, I have something for you."

I pulled out the pile of papers from the night before, which I had collated in a folder, and handed them to her.

"This is the actually useful stuff for the midterm. Please don't forget it -- you need to be focusing entirely on what's going to be tested right now if you want to stand a shred of a chance."

Yotsuba took the folder, glanced through it, and then nodded. She pulled her bag off the floor, put the folder away, and then leaned forward in her chair. There was suddenly a serious look on her face.

"Uesugi-san... I have an important question for you."

"Yes?"

Yotsuba seemed to hesitate for a moment, almost as if she didn't want to hear the answer.

"Please be honest with me... do you think I'm going to make it?"

I paused... and then sighed.

"With, or without Second Place-san's continued interference?"

"With, I guess?"

"No," I said bluntly. "You're screwed."

There was an ugly moment of silence as Yotsuba digested what I'd said. Then, she let out a soft laugh. Somehow, it was pain-filled.

"You don't hold back, do you, Uesugi-san?"

I shook my head sadly. "I'm sorry -- I just don't want to lie to you. If you go to these two sessions, you're probably going to fail. Even without them, of course, you still might; just like I said when we started studying for this midterm, I can't guarantee you'll make it, even with all this effort. I can say with confidence, though, that if you do go, you will fail, unless Second Place-san decided to overhaul his entire pedagogy in the last two days."

There was another moment of silence, and then Yotsuba took in a deep, quivering breath, and slowly released it.

"I... don't think he has," she said, her voice quiet.

"That seems like a reasonable assumption," I said, using every ounce of my willpower to not look away from her. She was clearly upset. Somehow, it was... hard for me to face that head-on.

Yotsuba glanced up at me, and it almost seemed like she had a question in her eyes -- though what the question was, I didn't know. We locked eyes, and she looked over my face. Perhaps she found her answer, because a half-smile flitted across her face, though I could tell that it had the same sad quality as her earlier laugh.

"...Ok." Yotsuba said. She took a deep breath, let it out, and then leaned back in her chair. Whether it was the calm herself, or to steel herself, I wasn't sure.

"Uesugi-san... is it alright if I come over tonight as well?"

It took me a moment to process the implications of what she'd said, and then a small smile crossed my face.

"Sure, sounds good."

Yotsuba hunched up on the table, her jaw clenched. I could tell she was deeply uncomfortable with the decision she had just made; part of me felt bad for her, but another part of me found it difficult to fathom why it had been such a hard decision in the first place.

There's something about this I'm not understanding... but if she wants to tell me, she'll tell me. Maybe she really does have a tragic backstory.

"I guess I should let Itsuki know," she said. "Since I'm abandoning her to Second Pl-- uh, to Takeda-san again."

"Heh. My nickname is influencing you," I said, chuckling.

"Eh? Uesugi-san, I have no idea what you're talking about!"

"Don't deny it! I caught you red-handed, madam!"

Yotsuba finally laughed, and I felt the tension in my chest immediately release.

"You'll never catch me, copper! You ain't got no proof!" she declared, putting on an accent.

"Ah, the joke's on you -- I've got it all in my memory banks."

Yotsuba lifted the metal chopsticks she'd been using to eat her karaage.

"That's not an obstacle, Uesugi-san -- I just have to lobotomize you!"

"No! Anything but that! My brain is a national treasure!"

At this point we were both laughing. Yotsuba wiped a tear from her eye, and then stood up, her karaage only half-finished.

"I'll be right back -- I just want to break the bad news to Itsuki."

"She's gonna be pretty upset," I said, putting some rice in my mouth.

"I know," Yotsuba said, a bit of her prior moroseness returning to her face.

She left, walking over to the table where her sisters were sitting. I watched as she tapped Itsuki on the shoulder, who had a big helping of food in her mouth. After a moment's conversation, I saw Itsuki blanch, throw her hands dramatically up into the air, and then lower her head to the table in despair.

Part of me found that deeply concerning.

The other part found it extremely funny. What the heck was that reaction?!

Yotsuba came back over, a strange look on her face. We spent the rest of the lunch break just relaxing and talking, but I got the sense that her thoughts were still elsewhere. We decided to meet at the footlockers a few minutes after the day ended, and then when the bell rang, we parted ways.

I ran into Itsuki on the way back to the classroom, catching up to her as she mopily walked down the hallway.

"Hey, Itsuki. Everything alright?"

She looked over at me, and sighed deeply.

"Ah. Uesugi-kun. I've been sentenced to death."

I raised an eyebrow. "Wow, Yotsuba not going to the session is that big of a deal to you, huh?"

"Yes! You haven't had a tutoring session with him -- it's unbearable alone! I think I'll surely die!"

"You're being dramatic -- I'm sure you'll be fine."

"I know I'm being dramatic! I'm also right!"

That made me snort, and Itsuki eyed me up, a hint of a smile on her face.

"Does my pain amuse you, Uesugi-kun? Does it?!"

"Yes," I said, trying to contain myself. "Immensely."

"Asshole," she said, shaking her head, the smile growing slightly. "This is your fault, you know."

"Which part? Taking Yotsuba away, or riling up Second Place-san?"

Itsuki stopped short in her tracks, her eyes widening.

"Oh no. I forgot about that."

"Good luck," I said, starting to feel genuinely a bit guilty. "I mean it."

We reached the classroom, and Itsuki bit her lip. "This is going to be terrible. I'm holding you responsible, Uesugi-kun."

"What else is new? Just do your best."

"I suppose so..."

Upon returning to our seats, I was struck by a thought -- while Yotsuba had been working nearly non-stop to try and get caught up to speed, Itsuki was the only other sister who had begun genuinely studying. I glanced back at her, and saw that she had her notes open for the class; but also had a textbook open next to it for a completely unrelated class, a textbook which she appeared to be hastily reading to cram in a few more minutes of studying before the beginning of the lecture.

She's also doing her best... she deserves a tutor who will help her with that.

Part of me felt guilty that I couldn't be that tutor for her -- but it was out of the question.

I'm no tutor -- and besides, I have my hands entirely full with one Nakano. I don't think I can handle two.

Nevertheless, as our classes continued, I turned the problem over in my head. I couldn't really seem to figure out a solution, however; the only thing that seemed remotely plausible was to try and find whoever Third Place-san was, and attempt to convince them to tutor Itsuki. I could see her father, who had presumably hired Second Place-san in the first place, getting involved at that point though. I didn't particularly want to interact with him -- it seemed like a complication that I didn't desire nor need.

By the time the day ended, I had reached no resolution to the quandary, and it was swiftly driven from my mind once I met up with Yotsuba. She seemed to have mostly gotten over her feelings of guilt, or at least had temporarily suppressed them, and as we rode the bus to pick up my sister, she was smiling as we talked.

Raiha had a similar reaction as the first time we'd come, launching herself at Yotsuba and wrapping around her. We then walked home, Raiha talking our ears off the entire time. Once we'd arrived, Yotsuba and Raiha continued to talk anime, and I made tea.

The evening proceeded smoothly in a very similar fashion to the first -- though I refrained from drawing any more cardioids. We used the time where Yotsuba would have been with Second Place-san to catch up to the schedule, putting ourselves almost back on track with the schedule I'd devised before realizing how derailing he would be.

I suppose that means that after the session on Monday, we may even be slightly ahead of schedule. That would be nice.

After Yotsuba had caught a cab home, Raiha and I sat at the table: I finishing my studies, and Raiha reading a book.

"You really like Yotsuba-nee-chan, huh, Onii-chan?" Raiha commented, flipping the page.

"Mhmm," I said, focusing on writing down the definition of a "regular singularity" for ordinary differential equations. Then, I looked sharply up at my sister.

"As a friend,"

"Oh. Ok," Raiha said, flipping another page. For some reason, I had the feeling she'd been somehow trying to catch me out -- as though asking me out of the blue while I was distracted would make me confess my non-existent undying love.

Whatever. I don't need to prove myself.

The next day, I arrived at the gate just as the Nakano's big black car pulled up. The sisters all piled out, and I was not at all surprised to see that Itsuki looked exhausted. Yotsuba, on the other hand, had an extremely guilty look on her face.

As they started walking into the school, I pulled up next to Itsuki.

"Alright, tell me what happened."

She jumped, quite literally, nearly two feet in the air -- which was quite impressive for an unathletic person from a standstill.

"Uesugi-kun! You scared the heck out of me!"

"Sorry, sorry. So, what happened?"

Itsuki frowned. "He was very angry that Yotsuba wasn't there, and so he started the session by ranting about you. I wasn't having any of it though, and told him off -- that he wasn't being paid to rant about his personal grievances, but to tutor. We then got into an argument, but to be honest... I think it may have been somewhat productive."

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. "Oh? Do continue."

"I told him that he wasn't treating me like a person -- if he was, he wouldn't have thought I was just being manipulated by you. I could have easily told him why he was upsetting me, but he just assumed there was some outside force immediately, and that he hadn't done anything wrong. I actually yelled at him quite loudly, to the point that Nino got upset with us."

"Uh oh."

"Yes, it was a bit unfortunate, because then they started going at it too. Honestly, this whole thing has been exhausting. I think I gave him something to consider though, because he seemed quite troubled by what I'd said. Perhaps, after thinking about it some more, he'll come around. I can only hope so."

"Forgive me if I'm a bit less optimistic," I said drily.

"Yeah, well, the other option he might arrive at is that I'm just an idiot, and my opinion isn't worth listening to," Itsuki shrugged, her voice cracking slightly, betraying her true feelings. "Who knows?"

"I'm sorry I wasn't there, Itsuki!" Yotsuba interjected, the guilt written clear as day on her face. "I would have tried to calm things down!"

"It's fine," she sighed. "You need to do what's right for you. I just hope father doesn't find out that four-fifths of us have been skipping."

Yotsuba blanched. "Oh. Uh... yeah, that would be bad."

I frowned. "Is your dad that scary?"

"He mostly... just really likes to get his way." Yotsuba said tactfully.

That's not helping my concern here.

"He's not a bad person though -- he saves people's lives!"

"Our father is a surgeon," Itsuki added. "A fairly prestigious one."

"Ah. I... see," I said. "I suppose that's why he's never home?"

Itsuki and Yotsuba both just nodded. We reached the lockers, and parted ways to change our footwear. Afterwards, Yotsuba left for her classroom, and I rejoined Itsuki to walk to ours.

"I think Takeda-san needs to watch himself, regardless," Itsuki said as we got approached the room, frowning. "If he isn't getting results, our father is liable to fire him... and he certainly isn't getting results."

"In all fairness, Miku and Ichika aren't exactly making it easy for him either," I said drily, sliding open the classroom door. "Not to mention Nino being Nino."

We sat down at our desks, and class started shortly thereafter. Before I knew it, it was lunchtime, and I was seated in the cafeteria quizzing Yotsuba as we ate.

"What's the name for the long side of a right-angle triangle?"

"Hippopotamus!"

"No. Hypotenuse.

"Ugh, I knew that one!"

I raised an eyebrow. "Sure you did. What's the the area of a circle?"

"Uh... Two pi r?"

"Wrong, it's pi r-squared."

Yotsuba buried her head in her arms. "Ugh, math is going to murder me."

"Yep," I said, with a slight laugh. "Don't feel too bad though. All of your answers are only slightly off. Which means at least something is sticking."

"I... guess that's true."

As she picked up some of her food to eat it, suddenly the hairs on the back of my neck rose of their own accord. It was uncomfortably reminiscent of back when Itsuki would glare at me all the time. I looked up from my conversation with Yotsuba, and saw a blond boy marching through the cafeteria, making a beeline for our table.

"Oh crap," I said, grimacing. "Incoming."

"Whatzamazeruezugisan?"

I raised an eyebrow at her. "I have no idea what you just said. That's a really bad habit of yours, you know?"

As Yotsuba swallowed, the incoming torpedo struck home.

"Uesugi Fuutarou, I am here to make a protestation!"

I immediately hid my annoyance, and smiled up at Second Place-san lazily.

"Sorry... who are you again?"

Somehow, the question seemed to completely catch the boy off-guard.

"What?! You don't remember who I am?"

"Nope," I lied, looking back down at my food and taking a bite. "Would you mind? I'm in the middle of having lunch, and I'm very busy."

"Oh... uh, sorry." Second Place-san said, wilting slightly. Then, a moment later, he rallied. "Wait, no! I'm obviously not going to fall for such an obvious fib!"

"Tch."

"You stole my student away from me!"

I furrowed my eyebrows. "I did?"

"Indeed! You stole Nakano Yotsuba away from me!"

I turned to look at Yotsuba.

"Yotsuba, did I steal you away?"

For some reason, her face suddenly had a faint pink tinge, but she grinned cheekily at me.

"Nope! Well, maybe a little..."

I turned back up to Second Place-san. "See? I did no such--"

I paused, and then my head whipped back around to Yotsuba.

"Wait, what?"

She winked. "I'm just kidding. I'm a free pirate, cap'n! I roam the seven seas on my own! Arrrrr!"

I rolled my eyes, then turned back to the blond who was looming over us.

"See? I did no such thing."

"I... don't know what any of what she just said meant, but I'm protesting the fact that she didn't come to my tutoring session. This was certainly your fault!"

"Hang on, Takeda-san," Yotsuba said, her voice filled with confusion. "What are you talking about?"

Almost reluctantly, Second Place-san turned to look at Yotsuba.

"Why would you assume that it was Uesugi-san's fault? I'm right here, you can just ask me why I didn't come."

"Er... uh... that is..."

Yotsuba simply looked up at him expectantly, before taking another bite of her lunch, not taking her eyes off of him.

"Uh... why didn't you come to the tutoring session, Nakano-san?"

"Oh! Thanks for asking!" Yotsuba said, smiling. "Hmmm, that would probably be because I felt that it was slowing down my studying."

"You... felt that tutoring... was slowing down your studying?"

Yotsuba pondered that for a moment, and then nodded her head. "Yeah, that sounds about right."

"Isn't Uesugi Fuutarou tutoring you, though?"

"As I told you last time we had this discussion," I said drily, "I am doing no such thing."

"A-ha! You do remember who I am!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

Yotsuba frowned. "Whether it's tutoring or not tutoring doesn't really matter. I'm actually making progress towards my goals studying with him. I didn't really feel that I was making much progress in your sessions. I'm really sorry!"

As she said this last bit, she bowed her head deeply. It caught both myself and Second Place-san off-guard, and we both remained in awkward silence for a moment.

"Uh... I don't think you need to apologize to him, Yotsuba," I said.

"No, I do! That was pretty rude of me!"

I actually couldn't argue with that, so I just stayed silent. Second Place-san seemed to be having some kind of internal conflict. Finally, he seemed to decide on something, and frowned.

"Nakano-san, I don't think I can accept that you're choosing this... commoner over me. I hope to see you back at our session on Monday."

"Hang on, what the heck are you talking about?" I inserted. "Yotsuba is just as much of a commoner as me."

Second Place-san stared at me. "I wouldn't dare refer to Dr. Nakano's daughters as commoners. Certainly they have... other shortcomings, to put it mildly, but that isn't one of them."

Wow, their dad is a big deal, huh? ...I already don't like the guy.

"Anyways, how about you respect her decision, and then buzz off?" I said, returning to my meal. "She's already said she wasn't going to come because your pedagogy is deficient. How about you revamp that, and then come back?"

"I'm not going to give up," the blond boy growled. "I'm nothing if not persistent."

"Uh-oh, Yotsuba, looks like you've got a stalker."

"That's-- That's not what I meant!"

"Listen, Second Place-san," I said, and I saw his face darken at the moniker. "You may not know this, but 'no' means 'no'. She said she wasn't going to come. I suggest you focus your efforts on ensuring the Nakano you do still have actually passes her exams."

"You little--"

Second Place-san swallowed whatever he was going to say, and then looked back and forth between myself and Yotsuba with a hard look on his face.

"You're going to fail all of these exams," he said darkly. "Without my help, you don't stand a chance."

Then, he left.

Yotsuba seemed a bit shaken by the supposed tutor's words as he left, and met my eyes. She looked uncertain, almost as though she was looking for some kind of support, and so I gave her a slight smile.

"If you do fail, it will have been for no lack of effort -- and certainly not because you didn't go to his sessions, Yotsuba. You're working really, really hard."

A small smile crossed her face.

"Seriously. I'm proud of you. For the work you've been putting in... and also for standing up for yourself. I remember how much you said you didn't want to do that."

Yotsuba's eyes widened somewhat, and the look on her was grew to be almost... embarrassed? Then, she grinned, and leaned back in her chair. "Shi shi shi! Thanks for the support, Uesugi-san! I'm glad to know I'm doing you proud!"

Somehow, I felt like I was being mocked, but I shrugged it off.

"Regardless... you're pretty much in the final stretch now. No slacking off. If you thought I was a hardass before, wait until you see me in 'weekend before exams' mode."

"Roger!"

That evening, Yotsuba came over again after we picked up Raiha. As we reached the door, and stepped inside, I noted idly how repetition lead to comfort -- I no longer had any qualms about having Yotsuba over in our apartment, at least from the point of view of the size of the space.

I brought over tea, and we got to work. We started off with chemistry, writing down stoichiometric equations. It wasn't overly difficult by any means, but Yotsuba was getting fairly confused.

"Uesugi-san, what the heck is a mole?"

"It's a set amount of a material. You know how, if you go to a bakery, you can order a 'dozen' pastries?"

"Yeah...?"

"It's just a name for a number of things."

"Oh." Yotsuba looked down her notes again, and then looked up at me. "How many things?"

"Uh... around 6.022 times ten to the power of twenty-three. I could look up what the exact number is if you want."

Yotsuba blinked at me. "I don't know what that means."

I frowned. "Which part? Scientific notation is probably going to be on the exam... ah, crap, I don't think we covered it yet."

"So... how much is it?"

"A lot. It's approximately six with twenty-three zeros after it."

Yotsuba processed that for a moment. Then, she reeled back.

"Wait, what? That's huge!"

"Yeah, I think it was defined as the number of carbon-12 atoms in twelve grams of the stuff. Or at least, it used to be. Now it just... is."

She frowned. "What do you mean, it 'just is'?"

I frowned in turn, trying to figure out how to describe this simply. "There's this thing scientists have apparently been doing for the last few years where they've been fixing certain quantities to be exactly particular numbers, and then flipping definitions around to be in terms of those numbers. It's... kind of hard to explain."

Yotsuba just waited.

"Ok, here's an easier example. Suppose you want to measure the speed of light. We know that it's around three hundred thousand kilometres per second, because we measured it. There's a problem though -- what's a metre? How do you know what that is, precisely? It used to be defined by a stick in a lab in France... but the stick changes over time, no matter how well you preserve it, and if something happened to the stick and you had to replace it, you wouldn't know that whatever you used to replace it was exactly the same length. It's not a good way to define the metre."

Yotsuba leaned forward towards me, her eyes narrowing slightly in confusion.

"So, you want a way to define a metre without having to rely on a stick in a basement in France. You want a definition that'll be just as good anywhere in the universe. What can you do? The answer the scientists decided on was to measure the speed of light as accurately as possible... and then define it to be whatever number they found. So, the speed of light isn't approximately 299,792,458 metres per second, it's exactly that amount. Then, they use that number as the definition of the metre -- the distance light travels in one second is 299,792,458 metres, definitionally."

"And... they did that to the mole too?"

"Yep, it's defined to be exactly whatever that number is -- I don't remember the decimals after the fourth digit. It's called Avogadro's number."

"Avocado's number?" Raiha asked, looking up from her homework. "Onii-chan, you're gonna make me hungry."

I frowned at her. "It is almost dinner time."

Glancing back over at Yotsuba, I shrugged. "It's a fairly useful number in chemistry, because when you're dealing with substances on a scale we can see, that's usually around how many particles there are in the substance."

Yotsuba leaned back, and it was only then that I realized how close she'd gotten while I was explaining.

"So, if the formula says I have some number of particles... I can figure out how many moles I have by dividing by that number you said, right?"

"Yep."

"And then... I can use the molar concentration to get the volume?"

"Also correct."

Yotsuba frowned, and then got to work solving various practice problems. I watched her work for a moment, her hair dipping down as she scratched on the paper before her, a single strand hanging over her ear. With a start, I realized I was staring. I shook myself, and got back to my own work. Raiha, mumbling something about how she wished we could afford avocados, got up and started making dinner.

After we ate, we continued studying. I was quite pleased with the progress we were making. The lower bound beyond which Yotsuba stood a chance of passing the exam was within sight. We weren't there yet... but it was a real chance.

After not going to the session on Monday... we should be there by that evening, if nothing else goes wrong.

At around eight o'clock, Yotsuba went home, and Raiha went to have her bath. I finished my own work, but I also started working on a third (and final) binder for Yotsuba. This one would, I hoped, get her caught up to the midterm material. I wasn't hopeful that she could possibly master the material in this package before the exam... but if she could even get thirty percent of it under her belt, it would be enough.

The next morning, Yotsuba arrived to study at around nine-thirty in the morning, shortly after we'd finished having breakfast. The studying was gruelling -- I wrote up a series of tests for Yotsuba, and was discouraged to realize that she was retaining less than what I'd hoped. We could still make it, of course, but it would require a bit more work than I had anticipated. Math, in particular, was still the problem.

Raiha was also chattering non-stop, refusing to do her homework, and generally being rambunctious. I wasn't quite sure what had gotten into her, but I was getting annoyed.

"Raiha," I said with gritted teeth, "I need you to stop."

"Stop what, Onii-chan?"

"Energy. Please. 20% lower. I beg of you."

Raiha frowned. "I can't control that. Sorry! Request denied!"

Yotsuba smiled at me. "It's fine, Uesugi-san, it's not bothering me."

Yeah, but it's bothering me though, I fumed internally.

Perhaps it was just the combination of the various irritants, but I could tell that I was crabby. As a consequence of being aware of the issue, however, I could do my best not to allow it to affect anybody else.

"Sorry," I said, shaking my head an hour later. "I need to take a break, and go for a bit of a walk. Clear my head. I think I'm just irritable today."

Yotsuba looked at me curiously. "Huh, you being the one to want to take a break is rare, Uesugi-san. Do you want company, or do you want to be alone?"

I hesitated. What... do I want?

Then, I made a snap decision.

"You're welcome to come if you want. I think I just need some fresh air."

Yotsuba grinned, and got up from the table. Raiha looked back and forth between us, and then flopped on the floor.

"Eh? You're not coming, Raiha-chan?"

"Nah, I'm going to take advantage of Onii-chan not being here to not do my homework."

I frowned. "You were doing that anyways."

"Yeah, but now I'm gonna do it even harder!"

I rolled my eyes, and then got up, and put my coat on. Then, before I knew it, Yotsuba and I were outside, and on the sidewalk.

"Well... shall we wander?" I proposed.

Yotsuba nodded, and we started to just slowly walk along the sidewalk. It was a cool October day, and yet the sky was a bright blue. The leaves had long-since turned, and the trees were beginning to shed their dress, dropping their clothes to the ground below in spinning, twirling dance. Occasionally, a gust of wind would pick up, buffeting us, and sending the leaves skittering around on the pavement, their skritch-skratch of rigid tips scraping on concrete a backdrop to the whistling of the wind.

Occasionally a car would whiz by, blowing the leaves up in similar yet unique patterns. We walked along, eventually reaching an intersection. As though by spontaneous symmetry breaking, we broke towards a particular path and wandered, no particular destination in mind. It was somehow relaxing to just be in Yotsuba's company, quietly enjoying the autumn air. Despite her usual talkativeness, we walked in relative silence.

It was a companionable silence, however.

By the time we began to loop back towards the house, my irritation had been completely wiped away. The cool breeze on my face... the small details to which I'd never thought to pay attention on the random path on which we travelled... it all served to decompress me. Eventually, I was calm again.

It helped that I wasn't alone.

Yotsuba had hardly said a word since we had left the apartment, but whenever I glanced over at her face, she seemed almost... content. Like there weren't any words that needed to be said.

Eventually, like all ephemeral things, the walk came to an end as we returned to the front door of our apartment. I opened it again, letting us both back in... to find Raiha asleep on the floor, napping. I glanced at my phone in amusement -- it was only around eleven-thirty in the morning. I turned back around to Yotsuba, and put a finger over my lips, indicating silence. She nodded, and we both silently returned to our studying.

Yotsuba moved to sit next to me, so that whenever she had questions, she could ask them quietly, so as not to disturb my napping little sister. It was an odd sensation. Whenever she wanted to whisper, she would lean over and cup the left side of her mouth so as to stop the sound going towards Raiha. It did nothing, however, to stop her breath hitting my ear, a sensation that made me shiver.

At around one in the afternoon I got up and made lunch in lieu of Raiha, letting her sleep. It wasn't fantastically made... but it also wasn't bad, either. Perfectly serviceable. After cooking, I woke Raiha up, and we ate together.

The afternoon and evening went by quickly, and eventually Yotsuba went home. I continued working on the third binder for her after she left... but it was slow going. With all the writing for the first and second binders as accumulated stress, I was finding that my hand was getting worse and worse. It had recovered slightly after I'd finished the second one, but it was acting up again, slowing my progress.

The next morning was Sunday, and Yotsuba arrived again at the same time. The morning study session went quite smoothly, and I was happy to see that her retention had improved somewhat. She still wasn't at the level where she was passing the practice tests I was setting, but there was improvement day-by-day... and it was like night-and-day compared to where she had started.

After lunch, I brewed some tea, and set down three mugs. Raiha drank hers quite quickly, but Yotsuba and I drank ours more slowly.

Well, I drank mine more slowly.

Yotsuba drank about a third of hers, and then accidentally put it down on the edge of the binder, which I had handed off to her when she arrived. When she picked said binder up a few minutes later to show me something, the cover lifted and applied a torque to the mug, tipping it over directly onto her stomach. Luckily, it had cooled to the point where it didn't injure her -- but her shirt was soaked.

"Ah, Yotsuba-nee-chan! Are you ok?"

She grimaced, looking down at her stained shirt.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Ugh, that was so clumsy of me..."

"Uh... if you want," I said, awkwardly, "we have a washing machine for the building... we don't have a drier though, so we'd need to hang it to dry."

Yotsuba looked up at me, and frowned.

"I don't have another shirt, though..."

I hesitated for a moment, and then sighed.

"Wait here."

I got up and walked over to the set of drawers we had pressed up against one of the walls, and fished through them. All of my dad's clothes were gone; he'd taken every single set he owned with him to Tokyo. The majority of the things I had in there were school uniforms...

Oh. Right. There was that...

I cringed slightly, and pulled out a T-shirt. It was around the right size for me now -- but it certainly hadn't been when I'd received it. Turning back around, I handed the off-pink shirt to Yotsuba, suppressing the emotions it was dragging to the surface.

"Here, this is one of the few T-shirts I own. Go ahead and change in the washroom, I can wash your shirt for you."

Yotsuba looked down at the shirt, and then she got an... odd expression on her face, and looked back up at me.

"Are you sure?"

I shrugged. "Yeah, it's fine. Go for it. I haven't worn that shirt in ages, though we wash it regularly of course -- don't want it to accumulate mildew or anything."

Yotsuba looked down at the shirt again, and then got up and walked over to our small washroom. A minute or two later, she returned, her old shirt in hand. The T-shirt I'd handed her was certainly a size too large for her... but somehow, seeing her in my shirt evoked a feeling in me that I didn't quite understand.

She seemed a bit self-conscious, looking down at the clothing I'd handed her.

It made sense -- the front was fairly simple, it simply read "I Heart Kyoto" on it in bold white font, with a stylized version of a torii behind it.

"This... doesn't seem like your style, Uesugi-san."

"It's not," I said uncomfortably, shifting on the spot. "It was a gift... from a friend."

Yotsuba furrowed her brow, for some reason getting a look of confusion on her face -- maybe because she knew about my previous lack of friends. Then, she shrugged, and sat back down at the table, handing over her shirt.

"Thanks for this, Uesugi-san. I'm sorry for my klutziness!"

"It's fine," I shrugged. "Accidents happen. I'll be right back. We should do some laundry anyways. Let me just gather our stuff."

I gathered all of our clothes, and then added in Yotsuba's shirt. I wasn't sure how I felt about holding her clothes in my hand, but the indecision about my feelings in and of itself confused me -- so I decided to treat my confused emotions like her shirt, and bury them. I then took the basket out to the washing machine, added some detergent, and set it all going.

I returned to find Yotsuba hard at work, and Raiha very much not doing her homework. The rest of the day went by without incident; overall, we were still slightly behind schedule, but I was quite hopeful that we would remedy the situation following the Monday session.

An hour later, I went to take the clothes out of the washer, and hung them on the line near the window. At one point, I saw Yotsuba glance up at her drying shirt, and a faint blush cross her face... but then she looked away again.

Odd. Maybe I was imagining it.

Unfortunately, the shirt hadn't dried entirely by the time she was ready to leave.

"Just take that shirt with you. You can give it back when you come by tomorrow," I said, shrugging.

"No, Uesugi-san! This was a gift from a friend! I don't want to accidentally steal it!"

"It's fine," I said, glancing away from her. "I trust you."

"Oh. I ...Ok. If you're sure..."

Yotsuba took her still-damp shirt off the line, and eventually went home while still wearing mine.

The next day, at school, I was having lunch, and I could feel the familiar prickle of someone glaring at me. Without even looking, I could guess who it was -- and lo and behold, 'twas indeed a wayward Second Place-san, glaring from across the way.

Maybe he should spend less time glaring at me, and more time helping Itsuki.

That thought prompted a mild feeling of concern in me, and after lunch, I caught Itsuki on her way back to the classroom.

"Hey, Itsuki, I have a question for you."

She raised an eyebrow at me. "Yes? What is it?"

"Is the studying for the midterm going alright for you?"

"I have Takeda-san as a tutor. How do you think it's going, Uesugi-kun?"

"I meant your individual studying. I know you've been working hard on your own."

A flush crossed Itsuki's face, almost as though she were embarrassed by her own hard work -- a concept I found baffling. She glanced away from me, and muttered something I couldn't quite make out. Then, she turned back to me.

"It has been going... alright. I'm hopeful I can pass the science exam, maybe."

"Is that so? Good luck. I mean it."

Itsuki got an odd look on her face, but nodded. We reached the classroom, and parted ways. That afternoon, Yotsuba skipped her last tutoring session pre-midterm, and came to study at our apartment. She returned the shirt as well, freshly laundered.

I was thrilled with how the session went. For some reason, Yotsuba was sharper than she had been in the previous days -- perhaps something or other had clicked. We made significant progress, and easily advanced to being ahead of the schedule. She also was making decent headway into the binder I'd made.

By the time Yotsuba went home, I was in an excellent mood.

She might just pull this off.

Tuesday morning, the day before the midterms started, I arrived at school a few minutes before the Nakanos. As I was opening my footlocker, I saw the whole cluster walk by, talking with each other. I nodded at them, and Yotsuba waved at me. The others acknowledged me in their own ways, though Nino's glare seemed a little half-hearted -- perhaps because I hadn't been to their place in a while, and her fiery rage had died down a bit. Regardless, they then dispersed, and I followed Itsuki to the classroom.

The morning classes were a blur, and soon it was lunch and I was eating with Yotsuba, who was starting to get a little nervous.

"I'm not sure I'm ready, Uesugi-san..." she said mopily, pushing her food around with her chopsticks. "There's still so much I don't know."

"That's true," I shrugged. "All you can do though is your best -- and regardless of the results, you can be proud of how hard you worked."

Yotsuba gave me a weak smile. "Yeah... that's true..."

"Besides. You have a promotion to earn, don't you?"

Yotsuba brightened at that. "That's true! I can't stay as a lowly grunt forever! Nakano Yotsuba's gotta move up in the world! I've got new levels of command to reach!"

"You've gotta climb that ladder," I agreed. "Earn that sweet imaginary promotion cash."

I took a bite of my food -- and then froze.

"Oh no. Oh no no no no."

"Eh? Uesugi-san, what's wrong?"

"He's coming again."

Yotsuba frowned, and then turned to look behind her.

"What are you talking abo--"

Then she spotted the furious blond approaching like a bullet from across the cafeteria.

"Oh. That might be a problem," she said.

"Nope. Absolutely not. I refuse to deal with this shit. Yotsuba, are you ready?"

"Huh? Wait, what? Uesugi-san, what am I supposed to be ready fo--"

"Run."

I grabbed my food, loaded it all onto my tray, and began to power walk out of the cafeteria. Yotsuba stared after me for a moment, then started laughing, and grabbed her food to follow suit. Second Place-san stared after me, adjusted his course, and picked up his pace. However, after Yotsuba caught up to me and we exited the cafeteria, I immediately turned a corner down a hall, and then started running full tilt.

I wasn't particularly fast, but I was able to run for short distances at least. Balancing my food on my tray as I did so, I quickly made a series of turns, and (hopefully) made my escape.

"Damn it, Uesugi Fuutarou! Come back here!"

Second Place-san's words echoed through the hallways after me, but I didn't care. With the number of quick turns I'd made, there was no way the wayward blond would be able to track us -- we'd escaped without getting into an irritating fight. Eventually, we stopped next to an empty classroom, I panting and Yotsuba barely out of breath.

Then, we looked at each other, and burst out laughing.

"What the heck?! Uesugi-san, I think that's the first time I've seen you sprint."

"Look, I was desperate! I'm in a good mood today, I don't need him spoiling it."

Yotsuba snickered. "Now I know your one true fear, Uesugi-san! Aha! Your weakness is mine!"

"Nah, that won't help you," I said, deadpan. "My weakness changes every week. It cycles."

"Wait, what? How does that work?!"

"I could tell you, but I would have to kill you. Let's find somewhere to eat that's Second Place-san-proof."

"Want to go up to that landing from last week?"

I smiled at her. "Sure, that sounds nice."

We made our way up to the stairwell leading to the roof -- but to my surprise, the door was unlocked this time. I cautiously stepped outside... only to find a couple having a heated verbal dispute about twenty metres away. From the sound of things, it was bad.

"Nope," I said, turning around, closing the door, and walking back towards Yotsuba. "Not touching that one with a ten-foot pole."

"Eh? What's happening out there, Uesugi-san?"

"Drama."

We settled on the landing again, and had a peaceful, relaxing, Second Place-san-free lunch. I noted idly that it had already been a week since we'd eaten here last. It was nice, sitting and eating with Yotsuba... as I had previously noted, there was something intimate about how small the landing was.

"Uesugi-san, are you nervous at all for the midterms?"

I snorted. "No, not in the slightest. I haven't gotten less than full marks on an exam in about four years."

"Wait, really?! Wow! That's our genius Uesugi-san! Don't you get worried about slipping up?"

"Not really. I over-prepare just so that I have enough margin for error so as to not let any mistakes slip through."

"I think I'd still be nervous about it," Yotsuba said, shaking her head. "I'm super scared for tomorrow!"

I bumped her shoulder with mine, a mirror image of the gesture she'd initiated a week before. "You'll be fine. Relax. Whatever happens, you can go in with confidence knowing you did your bes--"

The door to the roof slammed open, missing Yotsuba by a hair, and a boy ran down the stairs, tears streaming down his face.

"Wait, Ike-san, come back! I love you! I'm sorry for what I said! Please don't leave!"

A girl ran out through the door and down the stairs after the boy, her long hair flying behind her. The pounding of footsteps faded away, and then there was silence.

I turned to look at Yotsuba, whose eyes were wide.

"Holy crap," she said eventually. "You weren't joking."

"I guess... we needed to not touch that with a twenty-foot pole?"

"Thirty," Yotsuba said gravely.

That made me crack, and then she started laughing too.

We finished our lunch, and then returned to our respective classes. That evening, Yotsuba came to my apartment for the last time, and we did one long review session. I wrote comprehensive practice tests for each of our five subjects, and Yotsuba worked through all of them. It took about three hours for her to finish them all -- with several breaks for food, tea, and Raiha time.

When she finally handed them back to me, I got to work marking... and as I went question by question, I felt something sparking in my chest. It was just a faint hint, but it was there.

Triumph.

She had made remarkable progress over the week prior. As I stared down at the tests in front of me, which I had modelled on what I thought the midterms might look like... all of the marks were either in the mid-thirties or low forties, except for math, which was a thirty-one.

If I modelled the midterms correctly, and this wasn't just a fluke... She stands a chance. A good chance.

I looked up at her, and saw that she was practically trembling with nerves. That was fair -- I had spent the last hour marking the practice tests. It was a bit like a puppy waiting to be allowed out the door into the yard. I decided to take pity on her.

"See for yourself," I said, turning the tests back around and handing them to her. She looked at them each in turn, and her eyes slowly widened.

"Wait... what?"

"Before you celebrate too hard," I interjected, "There's a massive caveat. I'm the one who made these tests, not the teachers -- and given how notoriously difficult our exams are, if I miscalibrated them, it's far more likely that I made these tests too easy, rather than too hard."

Yotsuba nodded, attempting to suppress her glee.

"Nevertheless... well done."

A huge grin burst out onto her face, and Yotsuba had a look of pure joy on her face. It was a beautiful sight to see, and I could feel warmth bubbling up in my chest. A strong feeling of pride was swelling beneath the surface, and I couldn't stop myself from grinning.

Raiha flung her arms around her. "Congratulations, Yotsuba-nee-chan! You're gonna crush that test tomorrow!"

Yotsuba hugged her back, and then looked over at me.

"I'm going to do my best tomorrow, Uesugi-san."

I smiled. "I believe in you. Also, like I've been saying -- even if you fall short somehow... there's a world of difference between a twenty-nine, and a zero. A twenty-nine is a springboard for passing the next exam. Regardless of the results here... you're going to be set for future exams so long as you study."

Yotsuba nodded. "I will."

"Also, do not study when you get home. Getting enough sleep is more important than any late-night cramming. I'm serious."

After some final review, she departed, and I finished the last section of my own studies. Raiha and I put the table away, and laid out our futons to sleep.

"Huh, Dad gets home tomorrow evening. This week sure went by quickly," I mused.

"Yeah! He'll be happy -- not one molecule of water got burned while he was gone!"

"That's because he was gone," I said drily. "Regardless, I need to sleep -- I have an exam tomorrow too."

"G'night, Onii-chan!"

As I laid in my futon, the lights off and the shadows cast by the trees outside dancing on the ceiling, illuminated by passing cars, I realized that there was a feeling of anxiety in my chest. It was easy to identify though -- I wasn't nervous for my own exams. I had absolute confidence in my own abilities, and also in my recall of the material.

No, I was nervous for Yotsuba's sake.

I guess this is a side-effect of having friends, huh...?

The morning of the first midterm, I got up early, and took Raiha to school. Then, I made my way to my own high school, making sure to arrive ahead of schedule so I had time for some last minute cramming. Before I went to my classroom, however, I decided to wait by the door until Yotsuba arrived; which she did, about fifteen minutes before the start of the exams.

I pulled her aside, like a coach giving a pep talk to his star athlete.

"Did you get enough sleep?"

"Yep! I conked out as soon as I got home."

"Good. Do you have water, or some other type of hydrating drink?"

"Yeah, I've got that too! Look!"

She showed me a green metallic water-bottle with stickers of the number 428 and a four-leaf clover on it. It sloshed around as she moved it. I looked down at the water bottle, then looked back up at her.

"Alright, good. Do you want to meet at lunch and debrief over how it went?"

Yotsuba smiled at me. "Sure, that sounds nice."

I glanced up at a nearby clock. We needed to part ways soon.

"Uesugi-san, I think you might actually be more nervous than I am!"

I winced. "Yeah, that... may be true."

Yotsuba laughed, and eventually I chuckled. Then, I reached out, and grasped her by both of her shoulders, a gesture that made her let out a small squeak -- which I ignored.

"Before you go in there... I just want you to know that you did an amazing job. You worked your ass off, just like you promised you would. I know this wasn't easy for you, and that you had to sacrifice some things to get enough studying done... So..."

I trailed off, then shook my head.

"I guess what I want to say is: I'm proud of you."

Yotsuba's face turned a bit red, but a soft smile came across her face.

"I... Thanks, Uesugi-san. That means a lot."

I glanced up at the clock again, and then withdrew my hands.

"We need to go."

Yotsuba nodded, then squared her shoulders

"Wish me luck!"

"Good luck! Kick their asses!"

Yotsuba laughed, and marched away to take her exam... and as I watched her retreating back, I wondered if this was how a general felt, sending his troops out onto the battlefield, not knowing if they would return unscathed. The unknown was killing me...

But there was nothing I could do. The results were entirely out of my hands.

All that was left was to wait.