"Uesugi-kun."

I watched Yotsuba's retreating back, nerves and pride admixing in my chest. We had put so much effort into studying and preparation... but some part of me was still fearful that it wouldn't be enough. That our efforts would be in vain, and that everything would go down in flames.

"Uesugi-kun?"

After all, her weakest subject was in the afternoon -- I had hoped that the mathematics exam would be on the Friday, so as to give her a few extra days of prep time... but the goddess of exams was cruel, and time was most certainly up. However much Yotsuba had managed to learn from her studies, coupled with whatever she may have picked up in the classroom... it would have to be enough.

"U-E-SU-GI-KUN!"

Itsuki's voice, loud in my ear, made me jump. I spun around to find her intensely frowning at me.

"Huh? Itsuki?! What's wrong?"

"We have seven minutes until the exam starts! Let's go!"

I looked up at the clock in shock, and then clenched by jaw. She was right.

"My bad, let's hurry."

She and I took off at a brisk walking pace, the classrooms flashing by as we hurriedly navigated the halls.

"How are you feeling?" I asked, rounding a corner. "Confident?"

"I'm fine," Itsuki replied curtly. "All I can do is my best. I'm going to pass everything with my own power, without any help -- despite not really having a tutor."

"Yeah... sorry about that."

Itsuki shrugged. "I've accepted it. It is what it is."

She slid the classroom door open, and we both hurried inside, luckily having made it before the proctoring teacher. As we both settled into our desks, I turned back around to her and mouthed, 'Good luck!'

'You too,' she mouthed back.

'No need,' I returned, smirking.

She rolled her eyes at me, and then the teacher walked into the room. He immediately went to the front of each row of desks, and placed a pile of papers on each one.

"Pass 'em back, and keep 'em flipped over," he said tiredly. "No gettin' ahead of the pack."

My small packet of sheets, stapled together, arrived in front of me along with a number of others, and I separated it out before passing on the remaining packages. The teacher glanced up at the clock, then as it ticked to exactly nine, he slammed his hand on the lectern at the front of the room.

"Alright, staaaaaart!"

An hour and fifteen minutes into the allotted three, I finished the social studies exam. I then spent the next fifteen minutes reviewing for errors, but I found none -- my work, as always, was perfect. At the hour-thirty mark, I raised my hand, and I saw the teacher actually heft a large sigh.

Well, that's uncalled for, I mentally huffed.

He got up, and walked over to loom over my desk.

"Yes?" He said, his voice laced with mild annoyance.

"Sensei, I'm finished."

He gravely looked down at me, and then shrugged his shoulders.

"Alright, Uesugi. You can go."

He picked up my test, and I stood up, stretched, picked up my bag, and left. I glanced back into the room as I left to see Itsuki with her face centimetres away from her paper, eyes wide. The look on her face, from the little I could see, could only be described by one word -- panic.

Well... that doesn't look good.

I had an hour and a half until lunch, and so I decided to wander over to the library. It was, as expected, deserted, and so I settled down into my usual spot with no fear of intruders. Leaning back in the chair, I closed my eyes and enjoyed the silence; save for the ever-present ticking of a distant clock.

I liked finding these small little spots where I could be all alone -- though being there by myself, at this point, felt odd. Wrong, even.

Eventually, I got bored, and decided to pull out my flashcards to review. I briefly went over the mathematical concepts that would be tested on the afternoon's midterm -- and formulas that were worth remembering, as well as operational procedures that I'd thought would be useful. I wasn't particularly worried, but if there was one precept I'd learned to live by, it was the following: there was no such thing as too much practice.

Caught up in my cards and my review, I didn't even notice the time pass, until there was suddenly the ringing of a bell and I realized it was lunch time. Anxiety flared instantaneously, and I hurriedly put away my notes.

I need to check in.

The hallways passed me by as I walked quickly towards the cafeteria, nerves building in my chest. I pushed my way through the doorway, and looked around hastily.

I don't see her. Where is she?

The cafeteria was curiously devoid of Nakanos, and in particular the one Nakano that I wanted to see. Suppressing my anxiety, and telling myself quite reasonably that she may have just had to take a little extra time with the exam, I forced my nerves to quieten, and went over to get my lunch.

"Barbecue meal without the barbecue," I said absent-mindedly, lost in a world of my own internal thoughts. I couldn't still the sickly feeling in my chest.

"I'll have the barbecue meal with the barbecue, please!"

I swung my head to the right at the sound of the familiar voice, and saw Yotsuba standing next to me -- she had appeared as though from nowhere, summoned forth from the void. Reeling back in surprise, I stumbled a bit before righting myself.

"Geez, Yotsuba, you scared me. I didn't hear you coming."

She winked at me. "That's because I'm a ninja, Uesugi-san! I've been training long and hard to be able to perfect my ninjutsu!"

I sighed, masking the internal flood of relief that was cascading through my veins. "You've been studying the Sengoku period too much."

"Huh? Weren't you the one who said you could never have enough practice, Uesugi-san? Look, I've been practicing my moves!"

Yotsuba then proceeded to do a series of complicated "ninja moves", which looked extremely silly. I just watched her silently, and when she was done, I bowed my head, putting my hands together as though praying.

"Unfortunately, Yotsuba-sama, your moves were too fast, and I could not follow them with the naked eye. My deepest apologies."

"Hehe!" Yotsuba sniffed smugly, rubbing a finger under her nose. "That's right! My ninjutsu is unrivalled!"

"Uh... your... food is ready...?"

The two of us turned to the cafeteria worker, who looked far too tired to be dealing with our nonsense.

"Thanks," I said, taking my bowl.

"My deepest regards, my kind sir!" Yotsuba exclaimed, performing a deep bow.

I snorted, and the cafeteria worker just stared at her awkwardly. Yotsuba stayed bowed for far too long, and so I grabbed her by the ribbon.

"Come on, let's go -- I want to grill you on the exam."

"Ahhhh, Uesugi-san! Not the ribboooooooon."

We made our way to our usual table, and sat down. Then, I folded my hands into a steeple, and leaned forward.

"So?"

"I think it went pretty well!" Yotsuba said, smiling. "This is the best I've felt after an exam in... a really long time."

Immediately, the tension in my chest vanished.

"That's great to hear," I said, a smile appearing on my face entirely without my consent. "Really. Hopefully the rest of the midterms are the same."

"Yeah... but," Yotsuba said, her grin fading a little, "next up is my eternal nemesis."

"True," I said, frowning. "Well, all you can do at this point is your best, and maybe a little bit of extra cramming. Want me to quiz you?"

Yotsuba nodded solemnly, and as we ate, I asked her all sorts of conceptual questions I thought might be on the mathematics midterm. She was able to answer around half of them correctly, which gave me some hope that everything would, perhaps, be something approximately resembling "fine".

As the lunch period ended, Yotsuba packed up her things, and got ready to leave for the next exam.

"Wait! One more thing before you go," I said. She turned back curiously.

"What's the name of the trigonometric function given by the sine function divided by the cosine function?"

"Uh... Tangerine?"

I stared in disbelief. Oh my god she's screwe--

"That was a joke, Uesugi-san," she said, sticking out her tongue. "It's tangent!"

Smiling in relief, I shook my head. "You're gonna kill me here. Go get 'em."

Yotsuba saluted, and ran off. I finished loading up my bag, and then returned to my classroom. I got there just as my classmates were beginning to slowly filter in, and I sat in my spot significantly in advance of the beginning of the exam. Lazily, I stared out the window, watching the birds flit about in the grey October sky. It looked cold out there -- I was glad to be inside.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a flash of red, and I turned around to see Itsuki had entered the room. I held a hand up to her, and she wandered over.

"How'd it go?" I asked pleasantly. I was, unfortunately, not shocked when she grimaced.

"Not... not great."

I frowned. "That's rough, I'm sorry. Hopefully the next one goes better!"

Itsuki silently nodded, and then returned to her desk. Somehow, her expression didn't exactly convey a sense of hope -- nor confidence. The teacher entered, and handed out the next set of exams. Soon enough, the time had begun, and I was permitted to flip over my paper.

The midst of an exam was my happy place.

It was like I could finally stretch my limbs all the way out, feeling the sweet burn of extending the joints to their full reach. I was in a solo duel with the pages laid out before me, individual combat in a maelstrom of personal battles being fiercely waged all around me. The challenge, the interpretation of the examiner's intent, the problem-solving...

I was in heaven.

Question after question fell to the tip of my pen, slain by my ample preparation, my skill, and my ingenuity. It was like going to a buffet, and taking a small sample of every item -- the pleasure of the first taste was never-ending, repeated over and over. There were the flavours of which I would never tire.

Yet, alas, despite my never tiring of the taste, the taste eventually tired of me. Like all good things, it ended far too soon, and I finished the three-hour mathematics exam in a mere forty-five minutes. I went over all my answers again, and again... and was convinced there were no errors. I leaned back in my chair, and sighed unhappily.

That was too quick. I wanted it to last longer. I feel... unsatisfied.

Cutting my emotional losses, I quickly handed in the test to the chagrin of the proctor, and then left. Cut loose, I wandered the halls, restless. There were another two hours until the exam ended. Two hours until I could ask Yotsuba all the pressing questions I had about her personal battle.

There was naught to do but pace.

Eventually, I returned to the library again, and resumed studying. It was all I could think to do. Time crawled at the pace of a snail, achingly ticking along at the offensively slow rate of one second every second. Every few minutes, I found myself looking at my phone, checking the time. The seconds were molasses, and I was caught in their grip.

Is it time yet?

No.

Is it time yet?

Still no.

How about now?

"Finally," I muttered to myself as the bell rang. "I need to take more time finishing exams."

Then, I paused, and shook my head.

"Actually, no, scratch that -- they need to make the exams longer."

I pulled out my phone, and shot an e-mail to Yotsuba.

<Meet in the library to debrief?>

Five minutes later, I got her response: but it was just a thumbs up.

I sat there, tapping my foot, my pent up restlessness leaking out through every single one of my pores. The passage of time seemed to continue to decrease, undergoing critical slowing as a phase transition approached. At one point, I felt the overwhelming, suffocating urge to get up and pace -- it took all my willpower not to do so.

With each passing second, I could feel my anticipation build.

Then, a certain ribboned quintuplet popped out from behind a bookshelf, and it reached its peak.

"Well?" I blurted out, unable to contain the anxiety in the meagre confines of my chest any longer.

Yotsuba seemed exhausted. As she walked over to the chair, I could have sworn I saw her stumble slightly, then right herself. She leaned on the back of the chair for a moment, then pulled it out, and collapsed into it. She shook her head, and then swallowed.

"That... was definitely harder than the practice test."

"...Oh."

My built up enthusiasm was still there, but it was suddenly as if a thin layer of hoarfrost had built up over the surface, rendering its movement brittle and liable to destruction.

"Well... well hopefully it still went alright," I said, extending a vestige of hope.

She nodded wearily. "I don't really know how to judge it, Uesugi-san. It was harder than the practice test... but I don't think I bombed the exam. I guess we'll just have to wait and see."

I nodded in turn. "That makes sense."

Suddenly, I felt a buzzing in my pocket, and I whipped out my phone to see that I'd received an email from my father.

<Just boarded the train! Wow, the workshop was amazing -- but I'm ready to be home!>

I put it away again. Yotsuba looked at me curiously.

"It's just my dad. He's on his way back from Tokyo tonight."

"Oh! Right, he's coming back now," Yotsuba said brightly, perhaps attempting to wade her way through the exhaustion on the basis of pure willpower. "I guess that means no more studying at your place..."

I shrugged. "I mean, we still can, if you really want -- my dad's a bit of a character though."

Yotsuba grinned at me and leaned forward, all vestiges of her exhaustion suddenly extinguished. "Oh? Do tell, Uesugi-san!"

Simply grimacing, I shook my head. "I can't do him justice. You'd just need to meet him yourself."

For some reason, that made Yotsuba's face go a little red, but then she shook it off. "I... I guess that's fair. Can I still come along to help pick up Raiha?"

I smiled. "Yes, of course. You can also come to the station if you want to -- though of course, don't feel pressured! You just wrote two three-hour exams, it's ok if you just want to go home and sleep."

"Eh? But... Uesugi-san, didn't you also write two three-hour exams?"

I shrugged. "No, I wrote an hour-thirty exam, and then a forty-five minute exam. I spent most of the day kicking my heels in here, being bored out of my mind. Regardless, I'm a bit more used to it than you are."

She stared at me for a long moment. Then, she slowly shook her head in disbelief.

"Wow, you... really are a genius Uesugi-san."

"This is true," I said smugly. "Though also, I work really hard."

We packed up our things, and then left the school together. Yotsuba elected to go home after collecting Raiha (perhaps wanting to put off meeting my... raffish father for another day), and so it was just we two siblings that found ourselves waiting outside the train station at around 6:30pm. The last vestiges of the setting sun were already long gone behind the horizon, and Raiha briefly shivered as the autumn cold was brought swiftly home by the howling wind.

It was, to put it mildly, blustery.

None of that mattered, though, when we saw a blond figure with sunglasses on his head pulling a suitcase through the turnstile. Raiha immediately took off and gave our father a big hug -- I was a bit more demure, but no less happy to see him.

"Dad, dad! Tell us everything you did in Tokyo!" Raiha squealed.

"Gimme a second, kid! There was a lot!"

The three-way hug was broken apart by my dad's announcement that he had brought souvenirs, and that he would share them when we got home. We boarded a bus, and quickly lost ourselves in conversation on the ride back to the small apartment. Raiha was bouncing in the seat next to my dad, while I sat on a sideways seat perpendicular to the two of them, holding the suitcase in place so it wouldn't roll.

"So, kid," he said, eyeing me as the bus rolled to a halt at an intersection. "How did the studying with the girl... what was her name? Nico?"

"Yotsuba. You're thinking of Nino, maybe -- that's her sister that I... don't quite get along with."

"Right, right. How did it go?"

I shrugged helplessly. "I mean, we'll know some time next week. For now, I'm cautiously optimistic... but I don't think the math midterm today went well. So... all we can do is wait."

My dad nodded several times. Then, he turned to Raiha.

"Raiha, they didn't do anything... improper while I was gone, did they?"

"Dad! What the hell are you saying in front of Raiha?" I hissed.

"Onii-chan passed Yotsuba-nee-chan notes with hearts on them!" Raiha said, swinging her legs back and forth. "He tried to make up some excuses though."

"Oh-ho! Did he now?" my dad said, smirking over at me. "Now this I would like to hear about."

I muttered some obscenities under my breath, but then the bus pulled to a halt, and I realized that it was our stop -- my sister, unlike the two of us, had actually been paying attention, and had pushed the button.

"No time to talk, bus off-loading," I said, grabbing the suitcase and wheeling it off the bus.

"This isn't over, kid!" my dad cackled from behind me. "I'll get the juicy details from Raiha if I can't get 'em from you!"

"There are no juicy details!" I insisted, taking the suitcase up the stairs. "It was a cardioid, it's a geometric shape associated with optics and-- stop laughing, damn it!"

The rest of the evening was spent bickering with my father and sister -- but in truth, I was really glad he was home. I hadn't realized how much I was missing him until he returned from his trip. As we put away the table and set out our futons for the night, there was something about the resumption of his snoring that made me feel extremely warm.

The next day had the science exam in the morning, and English in the afternoon. Naturally, I had absolutely no trouble with either -- a feat which backfired immensely in that I spent the majority of both those days kicking dirt (metaphorically) in the library. With nothing to distract me, I worried myself sick over Yotsuba's prospects. Both times, she came out of the exam tentatively confident, but not supremely so.

"It's just really hard to judge, y'know, Uesugi-san?"

"You're asking the wrong person. I haven't had that problem in five years"

"Oh... heh. Good point."

Before we knew it, it was Friday, and it was the final day of exams. It was a half-day; there were no classes in the afternoon, due to there being only one exam that day. As I entered the classroom for the language arts exam, I saw a very distraught Itsuki rocking back and forth in her chair. There were still a few minutes left, so I wandered over to her.

"You doing alright there, Itsuki?"

"I'm.... I'm fine," she said, completely unconvincingly. "Just fine, Uesugi-kun."

"You know," I said helpfully, "where I'm from, we call that a fib. You should try and relax."

"Will that make up for my complete lack of a support structure and guidance from a qualified tutor?" Itsuki asked with feigned hope.

"No, probably not?"

"Well, then I suppose it won't help. Thanks though, Uesugi-kun."

I returned to my seat, mildly worried about Itsuki. Such thoughts were, however, quickly driven from my mind by the language-arts exam before me. Though I certainly had no doubt I would get full marks... this was the trickiest subject to do so, in my mind. Subjectivity played a much more prominent role, and so I had to make an effort to dissect the additional psychological layer that clung, like a membrane, to the test -- the teacher's intentions.

Deriving that information was certainly no small task. In these exams, the majority of my time wasn't spent analyzing texts, nor memorizing obscure kanji; no, it was spent attempting to psychoanalyze the creator of the exam so as to give exactly the sort of answer they might want.

Luckily, I was extremely good at it.

At the two-hour mark, I was done. I handed the test in to the grumpy proctor, and then departed for the library. With bated breath, I found myself pacing repeatedly. The anxiety was monotonic; it kept growing and growing and growing with time. There was something about being so close to the end; to being on the precipice... it made the wait that much more unbearable.

I found myself once again constantly checking my phone for the time. Twenty minutes left. Fifteen. Ten. Five. Three. The minutes seemed to stretch... until the bell finally rang, and I slammed my phone down.

It's finally over.

I got up, throwing my bag over my shoulder, and left for the cafeteria. I ran into Itsuki outside the doors, looking like she had been caught in a twister, thrown through the air alongside a house, and crash-landed on top of a wicked witch with fashionable footwear. In other words, dazed, lost, and confused. She was meandering towards the cafeteria, but it looked almost like she had no clue where she was going.

"Itsuki? Are... are you ok?"

She just turned to look at me, her eyes glazed over.

"Uh...." she said, zoning out. "I... huh?"

"Itsuki? Hello? Earth to Itsuki?"

"...Eh? Oh, Uesugi-kun... I... I didn't notice you there," she said, shaking her head. "I... what were you saying?"

"I asked if you were ok,"

"Oh... I see..." she said, and then shook her head. "Sorry, I'm really out of it. No, I don't think so. I'm going to have lunch and then go home."

"Ah, I see... take care then."

She nodded, and then walked away -- though it would perhaps be more accurate to say that she staggered off. If I didn't know better, I would have thought she was drunk -- but it was very clearly the after-effects of the examination.

Frowning, I made my way into the cafeteria itself in Itsuki's footprints, and quickly got my food. I set up in my usual spot, and a few minutes later Yotsuba meandered over with her own lunch. She flopped into the chair, and then smooshed her face into the laminated surface of the table.

"Uesugi-san, I'm so tiiiiiired."

"Hi tired," I said, smirking. "I'm Fuutarou."

Yotsuba's ribbon twitched, and she stuck her tongue out at me.

"Come on, Uesugi-san, that was such a low-effort dad joke! I know you can do better. I believe in you!"

"Nah, my joke reserves have run dry. I am barren. Besides, that's not important right now."

"It's always important to have good jokes!"

"Debrief."

"Fine, fine."

Yotsuba stretched, and then she leaned back in her chair. Her face furrowed in thought, and she rocked slightly in the chair.

"I think... I think this one was the best one."

Relief flooded through me.

"Excellent -- I'm really, really glad to hear that. That's it. That's five out of five done now."

Yotsuba nodded. "I can't believe it's over. It feels like the last two weeks have been a fever dream -- I never knew I could study so intensely. Now that it's done... I just feel completely drained. Like I could sleep for a million years."

"You deserve to sleep for as long as you want to. You worked your ass off."

She gave me a tired smile, and then let out a yawn, covering her mouth with her hand.

"I might go home and have a nap."

"Do it," I said. "You need the recovery time."

"What about you, Uesugi-san?"

I shrugged. "I'm fine. I'm a bit tired -- but to be honest, I think most of my energy was eaten up worrying, rather than by writing the exams."

"Worrying?" Yotsuba asked, furrowing her brow.

"About you."

"...Oh," she said, her ears going a bit pink. "Right. Yes. That makes more sense."

I rolled my eyes. "Anyways, going home and taking a nap seems like an excellent idea. I wholeheartedly endorse it."

Yotsuba squared her shoulders, and then threw her arm up in a salute. "Aye aye, cap'n! Private Yotsuba, heading home to nap!"

We packed up our bags, and left the school. Parting ways at the gate, I slowly made my way home. The midday sun overhead, coupled with the relatively low volume of traffic, made the whole experience feel almost... ethereal. There was something non-real about going home in the middle of the day. The break from the mundane felt fictitious.

As I walked along the sidewalk next to a major road, I was suddenly struck by an overwhelming urge. Looking around, I saw a crappy hundred-yen store, and a grin crossed my face. Popping into the store, I made a purchase, and slid my ill-begotten goods into my bag.

...and by ill-begotten, I mean I bought it. With money.

How sinful.

Upon returning home, I followed through on my impulse. It took me about twenty minutes to finished my little pet project, utilizing my limited artistic abilities. I was not exactly a regular practitioner of the dark magicks known as "arts and crafts". Regardless, with that finished and out of my system, I relaxed on the floor...

...and then realized I had absolutely nothing to do. Almost every waking hour for the last two weeks, I had been thinking about either studying, or helping Yotsuba study. Now that the latter was no longer a pressing concern, I almost felt bored. The challenge had been exhilarating. Now, however, there was absolutely nothing left to do but wait.

With my back on the tatami mats, I stared at the ceiling.

"I... guess I'll study," I said blandly.

I sat back up, grabbed my bag, and got to work.

The next day was Saturday. It was about halfway through the day, as I lazed about and half-studied, that I realized that, for the first time in two weeks, I wouldn't be seeing Yotsuba at all during the day. There was something strangely discomfiting about that realization -- like there was a piece of my daily habit that was suddenly missing.

The feeling intensified over the two days that I was at home, and I was almost relieved when the weekend ended, and I was finally able to go back to school on Monday. The weekend had been extremely boring, filled with nothing but half-attempted studying -- but I hadn't even been able to do that properly. My thoughts had been filled with the upcoming exam results, and unable to really focus.

Frankly, the past couple of days had been a blur.

Well, that sucked.

As our classes began for the day, the teacher began with an announcement.

"I expect the midterm results to be out on Wednesday at the end of the day," he said, pushing his glasses up with his finger, giving him a distinctly mouse-like appearance. "The rankings will be posted on the big board, but of course the individual breakdowns won't be there -- I'll be giving you those scores during the final period on Wednesday."

The sudden presence of a hard horizon loomed large in my mind, and it was only with considerable effort that I was able to return my attention to the lecture happening in front of me. By the time lunchtime rolled around, I was a nervous wreck. It was all I could do to just keep calm.

I've never been like this before an exam result before. What the hell is wrong with me? Just calm down.

"Hey, Uesugi-kun... what's wrong?"

I jumped slightly as Itsuki's mind-reading voice came from behind me. Spinning around, I saw her standing with her arms crossed in front of her, her brow furrowed in concern.

"Ah. Itsuki. I'm... I'm not sure. I find myself overcome with worry, which is completely atypical of me. How concerning," I said.

She snorted. "Somehow, hearing you say it like that makes me less worried. Seriously, what is wrong?"

"I was being serious!" I said indignantly. "I'm just really distracted, worrying about the exam results."

"I see," she replied carefully. "So... you're... worried about your grades?"

"Oh, no." I said, dismissing the notion out of hand. "Of course not. I'm worried about Yotsuba's. We put all this work in... it's natural for me to be concerned, right?"

"I should have known," she rolled her eyes. "Yes, that does seem reasonable. Well, have fun with that."

Itsuki walked off, but I suddenly had the distinct impression that I'd offended her somehow.

"Itsuki?"

"Yes?" she said, turning her head back to look at me.

"Did I say something to upset you?"

She opened her mouth, then paused, then closed it again. She was silent for a moment, and a pensive look crossed her face.

"I was about to say no... but now that I think about it, I think I am upset. I am not totally sure why, though."

Itsuki thought about it for another moment, and then her face got a bit red.

"Actually, nevermind. I'm not upset. Please forget about it."

She turned around and began walking away, and I frowned.

What was it Yotsuba said the other day? 'That's the face of a liar'. Well, that was certainly the face of a liar.

"Itsuki?" I called again.

Turning back around, she simply raised an eyebrow at me. There was an oddly hard look on her face.

"I just wanted to remind you... we both promised to tell each other when we screwed up, and when we upset each other. Remember?"

Itsuki's face softened, and she nodded silently. Then, she turned back around and walked away.

Well, that was weird.

Pondering this development, I made my own way to the cafeteria. Getting my food, I sat at my usual table, and dug into my lunch. Eventually, I glanced over to see that the quints were at their usual table, all five of them together. Pulling out my flashcards, I began to review, munching on my food... but I felt strangely lonely.

I'm being irrational, I chided myself.

The rest of the day went quickly. As the school day ended, I found myself habitually making my way to the library. I sat at my usual table in my usual spot at my usual time, alone in the library. I puled out my textbooks, and through sheer willpower forced myself to begin to study. In maintaining the top spot in the grade, I couldn't allow myself to slack off... as much as part of me wanted to.

I glanced across the table at the empty chair.

I glanced back down at my work.

Irrational.

Suddenly, I felt a buzz in my pocket, and I hurriedly pulled my phone out of my pocket, accidentally slipping and dropping it on the table. Cursing quietly as it skittered away, I reached over, picked it up again, and flipped it open to see that I had an email from Yotsuba.

<Uesugi-san! Itsuki is bullying me into going back to the session with Takeda-san today, since exams are over. Do you wanna meet up in the library tomorrow though?>

I slowly put the phone down, and leaned back in my chair. Taking a deep breath, I felt myself calm down.

Like I said. Irrational.

Cursing my stupid, traitorous amygdala, I quickly typed a response.

<Sure, sounds good. Try not to piss him off too much.>

<Hey! That's not my fault! ...Mostly.>

<Uh huh.>

<You don't believe me! Shame, Uesugi-san! Shame for a thousand years!>

Snorting, I put my phone away. The room seemed somehow brighter now, and as I looked down at the notes in front of me, they felt somehow... less repulsive. I found it easier to slowly submerge myself down into the depths of studying, sinking down into the depths of flow.

The next day, as I was having lunch, Yotsuba flopped in the chair across from me.

"Uesugi-san! Save me!"

"What am I saving you from, exactly?" I asked, taking in a mouthful of soup.

"Takeda-san spent the whole session talking about how sure he was that I would fail everything. It was really mean! So now I'm sad. Save me from the sad!"

"Ah, I see," I said, taking another sip of my soup. Then, I reached over, and gently bonked her on the head.

"Sad, be gone!"

Yotsuba gave me a brilliant smile.

"It worked!"

I snorted. "Wow, incredible. I have magic powers."

"Very impressive Uesugi-san! Such incredible powers -- it's almost enough to make me forget about what Takeda-san said."

"Don't worry about it -- he's an idiot," I grumbled, ignoring the obvious incongruence involved in calling the second-place student in the grade an idiot. "So, if he says something, the opposite must be true."

"Eh? I don't think that's how it works..."

"Please," I said, smirking. "I'm a genius. If I say that's how it works, that must be how it works."

Yotsuba stared at me for a moment. Then, she laughed.

"That's hard logic to argue with, Uesugi-san!"

"Right? So cheer up. He's about to get the shock of his life tomorrow."

"Yeah," she said, smiling. "Maybe. I hope so."

The two of us continued to eat our lunch, luckily uninterrupted by any wayward Second Place-sans. That evening, I couldn't sleep -- the moment of truth was finally upon us. I tossed, and I turned, and eventually I worried myself to sleep. It was a broken sleep, and eventually I woke up before either Raiha or my dad, an intense feeling of grogginess permeating my body.

Today is gonna be a very long day, I mentally complained.

Contrary to my grumpy musing, however, the day seemed to flash by. Before I knew it, it was the last period of the day, and our teacher was handing out the slips of paper containing our marks.

"Uesugi Fuutarou."

I got up, strolled to the front, and took the slip from my teacher, who gave me a smile.

"Well done, Uesugi. Impressive as always."

I nodded at him, and nonchalantly flipped the slip open as I made my way back to my desk.

As expected, nothing less than perfect.

I slipped the strip of paper into my pocket, and leaned back in the chair. My mind was far away, still within the school, but not held within the confines of the classroom.

Yotsuba should be getting her score around now.

"Nakano Itsuki."

Itsuki rose, and with no small degree of trepidation made her way to the front of the room. Gulping, she took the slip from the teacher, and made her way back to her desk. I caught her eye as she walked back, and she gave me a fearful look. I gave her a thumbs up, and she smiled slightly, though it didn't quite make it to her eyes, which were portraits of anxiety. She kept going, and slowly sank into her seat.

The girl opened her slip, glanced over it slowly, then closed it again. She shut her eyes, and slowly lowered her head to her desk.

I was overcome with a wave of compassion for her, and a small sense of guilt. The one who had put her in this situation was, indirectly, me -- but I wasn't going to sacrifice my own well-being to tutor her. My hands were tied.

When the final slip was handed out, the teacher closed his binder, and nodded to us all.

"The class average was fifty-five percent -- by our school's standards that's a pass, but I expect even more out of all of you. Uesugi is dragging the class's numbers up. If I take out his score, it drops to fifty-three percent. I hope to see that number increase during the finals. Please do your best."

I sighed in annoyance. Great, now the whole class will resent me even more. Also, anyone with sufficient math grades could infer my mark from what he said; not that anyone would expect me getting anything less than a perfect one-hundred.

Shrugging, I got up from my desk, ignoring the glares coming from a portion of the class, and exited the classroom.

I pulled out my phone, and emailed Yotsuba.

<Meet in the library in ten?>

<Ok.>

I frowned down at the nearly immediate response. I couldn't read from it what her likely results would be.

Then, I had a thought, and turned back to see Itsuki still hunched over her desk. The small pang of guilt returned, and I popped back into the classroom, making my way over to her.

"Itsuki... Yotsuba and I are going to meet in the library to debrief on the midterms. Do... do you want to come?"

Itsuki looked up at me, and sniffed. Then, she squared her shoulders, took a deep breath, and nodded.

"S-Sure."

I stepped back, and she got up, grabbing her bag. I emailed Yotsuba that I was bringing Itsuki, and she sent back a thumbs up. The two of us made our way to the library, arriving before Yotsuba. Settling down at the table, Itsuki pulled out her slip again, stared down at it, and seemed to almost wilt.

"I... I really thought it would go better, Uesugi-kun."

I gave her a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry... how bad was it?"

Itsuki shook her head. "It... it's bad. I only managed to pass the science exam, and even that wasn't as high as I'd hoped. Here... have a look."

She slid the sheet over to me, and I looked down at it.

I instantly winced.

___________________________________________________________________

Name: Nakano Itsuki

Japanese: 18. Math: 14. Science: 43. Social Studies: 10. English: 15.

TOTAL: 100

___________________________________________________________________

Itsuki sighed, and slumped down on the table. "I knew you would react like that... The sad thing is, if you take thirty as being a passing grade... I think I actually did better here than my last exam. I guess I just need... just need to work harder."

Her shoulders trembled slightly.

I smiled thinly. "What you need is a real tutor. You should talk to your dad about this."

Itsuki looked conflicted, and didn't say anything. Suddenly, I heard the door to the library open, and a moment later Yotsuba walked into the room. She had a completely neutral look on her face, but I had grown quite good at reading her since we had met -- it also helped that she was a terrible liar.

I knew exactly what she was feeling.

Wordlessly, she sat at the table next to me, and then slid her slip of paper over. I looked down at it, picked it up, and slowly opened it. My hands were, I realized, shaking.

Moment of truth.

___________________________________________________________________

Name: Nakano Yotsuba

Japanese: 53. Math: 27. Science: 43. Social Studies: 47. English: 38.

TOTAL: 208

___________________________________________________________________

I looked down at the slip, my hands still trembling. Then, I looked up at Yotsuba. I raised a single eyebrow at her, without saying a single word.

She looked back at me, her face deadpan -- or at least her best attempt at deadpan. We held eye-contact for about five seconds... and then she couldn't hold it anymore, and exploded.

"AHHHHHH UESUGI-SAN I'M SO HAPPY BUT ALSO SO FRUSTRATEEEEEEEED!"

I finally allowed myself to smile.

"Congratulations. Passing four out of the five exams is something to be extremely proud of. You worked really hard, and--"

Yotsuba threw her arms around me in a hug, cutting me off. I could feel my face going red as I felt her pressing against me.

"I DID IT, I REALLY DID IT! UESUGI-SAN, THESE ARE THE BEST GRADES I'VE EVER GOTTEN! EVER! IN MY WHOLE LIFE!"

I winced as Yotsuba caused irreparable damage to my eardrum from close range, then smiled, and patted her gently on the head.

"Good job. I'm proud of you."

Yotsuba pulled back, and grinned at me, her radiant smile blinding. Then, Itsuki coughed from across the table.

"Yotsuba, I'm really proud of you... but I don't want to watch you guys flirt today. I'm not feeling up to it right now."

Immediately, Yotsuba's face went bright red, and her ribbons went completely rigid. I could also feel my face growing hot, a physical reaction which surprised me.

"Eh? Itsuki? What are you talking about?! We-We're not! I was just super excited!"

"Sure," she said, sighing. "Whatever you say, Yotsuba."

"Uh... How did it go for you, Itsuki?" Yotsuba asked, suddenly nervous.

"Take a look for yourself," she said morosely. She reached into her pocket, and then frowned.

"Wait, where did it... oh, Uesugi-kun has it."

I slid the slip of paper over to Yotsuba, who gave it a read. She then got up, and immediately ran around the table to give Itsuki a huge hug. She sighed, and accepted the hug, leaning into it.

"Oh well," she said quietly. "I did my best. I just need to work even harder next time."

"You'll do even better next time, Itsuki!" Yotsuba declared. "And... and look! You did really well in science! You've got one subject down, now you just need to get the rest up!"

Itsuki nodded, perking up slightly. "I... I guess that's true. I at least managed to pass my strongest subject."

A thought crossed my mind, and then I immediately made the tactical decision to not mention the fact that Yotsuba had managed to get exactly the same score in Itsuki's best subject as she had.

"Yeah! You did!" Yotsuba said, grinning. "We should go celebrate!"

"Celebrate?" Itsuki asked curiously.

"Yeah! Let's go get crepes!"

Itsuki definitely perked up at that.

"I... I suppose I wouldn't say no to that," she said, glancing from side to side. "You know. If pressed."

"You are being pressed," I said, amused. "I don't think you have a choice."

She sighed. "Well, I suppose that's true. Fine, let's go."

Itsuki got up and packed her things. As she did so, I surreptitiously extended my hand to Yotsuba under the table, and she gave me a quiet high five.

Operation Make-Itsuki-Not-Sad is a success.

"I would love to join you," I said as I loaded my bag and we all began to leave the library, "but I don't really have the funds for that sort of thing. You should enjoy yourselves though, and congra--"

"Nope," Yotsuba declared, wagging her finger at me. "You're coming anyways. You also don't have a choice, Uesugi-san!"

"But... but finances!"

"No buts," Yotsuba said, poking her finger directly into my nose. "You're coming. And also, I can't stress this enough, Uesugi-san -- you're not allowed to pay for yours."

"...Eh?"

"This is my treat. It's the absolute, most minimum thing I can do after all the help you gave me!"

I suddenly, unexpectedly, found myself choking up.

"I... I... ok," I finished weakly. Yotsuba gave me a smug grin, then turned on her heels and began to march out of the school, practically skipping. I looked at Itsuki, and was only mildly surprised to see that she'd cheered up considerably at the prospect of the treat. She looked at the retreating Yotsuba, looked at me, and shifted uncomfortably on the spot -- clearly trying to hide how much she wanted to dive into the magical world of crepes.

"Shall... Shall we go, Uesugi-kun?"

I sighed. "I guess I have no choice. Let's go."

We followed Yotsuba out of the school, and soon enough we found ourselves seated in a crepe store with a waitress taking our orders. I was sitting next to Yotsuba, while Itsuki was across the table. Carefully, I looked through the menu... and then realized I'd never had a crepe before in my life.

"Uh, Yotsuba... I have no idea what's good."

"Eh? Having trouble deciding, Uesugi-san? I never took you for an indecisive kind of guy!" she teased.

I rolled my eyes. "I'm just inexperienced. How about you pick for me?"

"Wait, really? I can?"

I nodded silently.

"Excellent! I'm gonna... hmm... wait, I need to take this responsibility seriously! This is a very important choice!"

Yotsuba spent the next five minutes agonizing over what I should get, before finally deciding on a crepe with chocolate mint ice cream in it. Then, exceedingly proud of herself, she leaned back in the booth, and gave me a big grin.

"Shi shi shi, you're gonna love it, Uesugi-san!"

"I trust you," I said simply. "Even if it is the colour of radioactive waste."

"Hey! It's mint! It's choco-mint! It's not radioactive waste!"

"Does it taste like radioactive waste?"

"Noooooo!"

As Yotsuba launched into a passionate defense of the crepe she'd ordered for me, Itsuki just glanced back and forth between us in some confusion. I just shrugged at her, and she shrugged back.

Before long, our crepes were out, and I very reluctantly admitted that not only did it not taste like radioactive waste (or at least, what I imagined it would taste like -- I didn't have first-hand experience, after all), it was actually quite delightful. I promised myself that I would get one for Raiha at some point.

"There is one thing I'm a little bummed about though," Yotsuba sighed, about halfway through her crepe.

"Yeah?"

"I really wanted to pass all five exams... I wanted that promotion!"

"What, being a private isn't good enough for you?" I smirked.

"No, I want that sweet, sweet raise!"

"Is that so?" I said, taking a bite of my crepe. "Well, do you recall the criteria for promotion?"

"Eh? It was to pass all the midterms, right?"

I put down my spoon, and then crossed my arms into an 'X' shape in front of me.

"Bzzzzzt. Wrong."

"Wait, what? I thought--"

"It was that, but then you declared it was impossible -- so I changed it to not getting zeroes on all of your midterms. Remember?"

Yotsuba frowned for a moment... and then her eyes widened.

"Oh... oh, right! I guess... I still get my promotion! Hehehe, I get to be corporal Yotsuba now!"

"Indeed," I said gravely, "and with that promotion comes great responsibility, corporal Yotsuba."

"Eh? Responsibility?!"

"You must keep this safe," I said, and reached into my bag. I pulled out the 100-yen store ribbon I'd bought, which had originally said "Birthday Girl" on it, emblazoned in tacky print; but I'd taken a permanent marker, and had drawn over the central part of the circular ribbon, inking the whole thing in except for a few sections I'd left blank; the empty spots spelled our "Corporal Yotsuba", with the word 'birthday girl' half-peeking out from underneath.

Yotsuba looked at the badge. She looked up at me. She looked back down at the badge.

Then, she snorted.

"Oh my god, Uesugi-san, I love it."

I grinned. "Right? Here you go."

Yotsuba took the badge from me, and stuck it to her vest with the safety pin attached to the back. She then puffed out her chest, extremely proud of her ribbon denoting her promotion.

Itsuki took a bite of her crepe, and rolled her eyes.

"You guys are both massive dorks."

"What! No we're not!" Yotsuba said indignantly.

"Yes, and?" I said, at the exact same moment.

We looked at each other, and then laughed.

"Case in point," Itsuki said drily. Then, she took another bite of her crepe.

We got back to eating, and eventually, our celebratory crepes were gone. With those done, Yotsuba placed her hands firmly down on the table.

"With midterms finally done, we have to prepare, Uesugi-san! Prepare for the next big event!"

"Yeah, that's true, finals are just around the corn--"

"No! Not finals!"

"Wait... what?" I asked in bemusement. "There's... something besides finals?"

Yotsuba stood, her hands pressing on the table intensely.

"We have to prepare for the school camping trip! There's so much fun stuff that we have to do! It's going to be really intense, I want to make sure we have as much fun as humanly possible!"

I just stared at her blankly.

"The... the school camping trip?"

Yotsuba nodded. I scratched my head in confusion. Then...

"...There's a school camping trip?"