"They can get a perfect score."
"I'm jealous."
Students outside class C especially those who have low academic abilities staring at the screen with jealousy seeing class C students have the opportunity to get perfect scores.
Glancing around the classroom for assurance, I didn't notice any students looking flustered or confused. I assumed that many of them had engaged in some last-minute studying. Slowly, I went through and answered all of the problems.
Then came the break.
Some members of our study group, including Ike, Yamauchi, Kushida, Horikita, and myself, gathered together.
"An easy victory! We've got this test on lock!"
I feel like I might get 120 points." Ike sounded pretty sure of himself. Yamauchi must have felt the same, judging from the smile on his face. Confident, they looked over the old test papers for a final review.
"Sudou-kun, how about you?" Kushida spoke to Sudou, who sat alone at his desk and stared fixedly at the old test material. However, Sudou looked sullen.
Everyone can immediately feel something wrong when they see Sudou who is on the screen.
"Ku ku, I bet that idiot will definitely disrupt," Ryueen said chuckling.
"Tch! If he falls asleep or something then I don't know what else to say," Ibuki said.
"Then he is a very stupid person," Ishizaki said. If he has the old test questions, he will definitely use it as well as possible.
"Sometimes the problem comes at the worst time," Shiina said sighing, she could only hope that Sudou could overcome the problem.
"Sudou-kun?"
"Huh? Oh, sorry. I'm kind of busy."
He didn't look up from the questions as he spoke. He was reviewing the English test material, his forehead covered in a thin layer of sweat.
"Sudou, did you...not study the old test material, by chance?"
"Everything but English. I fell asleep partway through." Sudou sounded irritated. In other words, this was his first time reviewing the material.
A groan of disappointment can be heard in the room, many feel disappointed with the negligence of Sudou. Ibuki just snorted when she saw her guess was right.
"He ... falls asleep?" Kinoshita said hesitantly.
"Oh, you must be kidding," Kondou said in surprise.
"Impossible ... after all the effort, he overslept? He missed the opportunity to get a perfect score!? " Shibata said stunned.
"Are you still discussing that?" Hamaguchi said lifting his eyebrows to Shibata's obsession to get a perfect score.
"Tch, this person is very stupid," Machida said irritably.
"Yeah, how could he make a mistake like that," Takemoto nodded in agreement.
Other students began to express their disappointment in Sudou's mistakes, even some of them began to insult him with harsh words.
Of course the red-haired boy did not accept what the people said.
"HEY! I hear you jerk! If you have a problem with me, come forward here! " shouted Sudou who was angry stood staring at the whole occupant of the room.
The room immediately fell silent at Sudou's screams, all the words of insults immediately disappeared because they did not want to be the target of Sudou's anger. Seeing those who insulted him silent, making Sudou snort satisfied before looking back at the screen.
"Eh?!"
That also meant that Sudou only had ten minutes to review.
"With such a short time, it is impossible for him to memorize everything. Plus the English problems is difficult to memorize," Katsuragi thought crossed his arms while analyzing the situation experienced by Sudou.
"Damn, I can't get any of these answers to stick in my head," he muttered.
Unlike the other tests, the English problems weren't easy to memorize. Trying to cram all of the answers in just ten minutes would be impossible.
"Sudou-kun, memorize the problems that are worth a lot of points and those with the shortest answers." Horikita leapt up from her seat and moved next to Sudou.
"Oh, that is one of the right ways to overcome this situation," murmured Amikura.
"Yes, their goal is not to get the highest possible score, but to get enough score to pass them," Ichinose said.
"O-okay." He stopped focusing on the low-point questions and instead zeroed in on what would net him the most points.
"A-are you going to be okay?" While trying to avoid getting in the way, Kushida appeared anxious.
"Unlike Japanese, I don't know the basics of English. These letters look like some kind of magic spell or something. Memorizing it'll take time."
"Y-yeah. I struggle with English, too..."
The break passed in the blink of an eye, and the heartless class bell rang.
"I did all I could. I'll try to answer the questions I remember first, before I forget them."
"Yeah..."
And thus began our English test. While the other students calmly made their way through, Sudou clearly had trouble. Occasionally, he'd stop writing and whack his pen against his head. However, no one could help him now. Whether Sudou sank or swam was entirely up to him.
Sudou sighed in annoyance, not for others but for himself. Everyone has tried to help him but what he did was only to bother them.
"Sorry Kiyotaka, even though you've bothering to get those questions, but all I do is to mess it up," Sudou said apologizing.
"There is no point in regretting the past. You are still in this school, that's the most important thing, "Ayanokouji replied.
Sudou paused for a moment before speaking, "I guess you're right, I will not let myself be negligent like that again," Sudou said, grinning, "Plus Suzune has saved me from the expulsion at that time, it was impossible for me to experience the same mistake."
Horikita's expression stiffened after hearing Sudou's words, something that was not missed by her friends.
"Suzune, is there something wrong?" Asked Sudou worried.
Horikita glanced at Ayanokouji before looking at Sudou, "Ken-kun, about that problem ... there is one thing you need to know," Horikita said hesitantly.
Seeing Horikita's doubts, a suspicion emerged from within Sudou.
"Wait, don't tell me ..." Sudou widen his eyes, suspicion was getting stronger when he saw Horikita's expression.
"Keep watching, Ken," Ayanokouji said suddenly, making others staring at him, especially Sudou who looked at him attentively.
"Kiyotaka, if you say that does that mean my suspicion is true?" Sudou asked curiously.
"I will not deny it, but if you think that your gratitude is a wrong place, then you are wrong," Ayanokouji said.
Sudou tilted his head in confusion because he did not understand what Ayanokouji meant, but before he could give a question, Horikita suddenly cut him.
"As Kiyotaka-kun said. Keep watching, "Horikita said to Sudou.
"O-oh, alright," Sudou said nodded. He then looked at the screen curiously, impatient to see what his friend meant.
= = =
After the last test, we gathered around Sudou's desk again.
"Hey, did you do okay?" asked Ike, anxiously.
Sudou was on the verge of losing his cool.
"I don't know... I did everything I could, but I have no idea how well I did..."
"Don't worry. You studied as hard as you could. I'm sure you did well."
"Damn it, why did I fall asleep?" Sudou fidgeted, clearly frustrated with himself. Horikita then stepped in front of him.
"Sudou-kun."
"What is it? Are you going to lecture me again?" he grumbled.
"It was certainly your fault for not reviewing the old test's final section. However, as you said, you did everything that you could with the time that you had. You didn't cut any corners or give up. Considering how much effort you put in, I think you should hold your head high and feel proud."
"What is this? Are you trying to comfort me?"
"Listen to her, Ken," Miyake said.
"You have given the best you can do. As Suzune said, you must be proud of everything you do," Yukimura said.
"Yeah, you're right. Thank you," Sudou said with a small smile.
"Comfort? I'm speaking the truth. When I look at how far you've come, I understand how hard studying is for you, Sudou."
Horikita was genuinely praising him. None of us could believe what we were seeing.
"Let's wait for the results."
"Yeah... Okay."
"There's...one more thing. Something I need to amend."
"Amend?"
"Earlier, I said that your dreams of becoming a professional basketball player were foolish."
"Why is she bringing that up now?" muttered Shibata in a low voice, he still didn't like Horikita's words about that.
Meanwhile Sudou suddenly had a bad feeling creeping up on him, but he didn't know what that feeling was.
"Why are you reminding me of that?"
"I researched how someone could become a professional basketball player, and I learned that the road to success is an incredibly rocky one."
"So, you're telling me to give up because it's a reckless dream?"
"Not at all. I know that you're passionate about basketball. I also realize that you probably understand how difficult it is to play professionally." Horikita still acted in her normal, aloof manner, but this was clearly an apology, albeit an awkward one. "There are many Japanese people who fight to enter that profession. There are some among those who wish to become internationally renowned. You're one of those people, right?"
"Yeah. I'm incredibly stupid, but I want to play ball. Even if I have to live a pathetic, miserable life as a part-time worker or worse, I'm going to achieve my dream."
"I never thought I needed to understand anyone except for myself. So when you first told me that you wanted to play basketball, I insulted you. However, I now regret that. Someone who doesn't understand how difficult, how arduous basketball is has no right to dismiss that dream as foolish. Sudou-kun, don't forget the hard work and effort that you poured into studying. Apply that diligence to basketball. If you do, you might be able to go pro. At least, that's how I feel."
Everyone in the room wondered if they were dreaming or their ears hurt, because they never expected those words to come out of Horikita's mouth.
"Fu fu, looks like Ayanokouji-kun's previous words made quite an impact on her," said Sakayanagi.
"Phew, that was something new. To think she would say that," said Hashimoto whistling.
"Yeah, she's a bit sober now," Kitou said.
"Why didn't she just apologize right away?" Kamuro said frowning. She didn't like how Horikita beat around the bush just to apologize, it was so troublesome.
Horikita's expression was the same as always, but she bowed her head to Sudou.
"I'm sorry for what I said back then. Well. Now that I've said my piece, I'll be going."
"Wow, she apologized, Shibata," said a stunned Hamaguchi.
"Yeah, that's a relief," Shibata said with a sigh, his irritation at Horikita slowly fading away.
"And she just walked away," said Amikura shrugging.
"Ha ha, what a Suzune-san trait," said Ichinose giggling.
Horikita left the room, her apology still hanging in the air.
Suddenly a realization hit Sudou as he realized what was giving him an uneasy feeling. Of course he was very panicked when he knew that premonition.
"HOLY SHIIIIIITT! This is the worst, why did this scene have to be shoooownnnn!! I really wanted to confess my feelings to Suzune but this isn't the way to do it!! And also I won't be confessing to her anytime soon since I'm sure I'll get rejected!!"
Sudou shouted all that inside his head, his face turning pale and sweat running down his face in panic. Luckily he was sitting at the very back so no one was paying attention to him, Horikita who was sitting beside him also didn't notice Sudou's anxiety as her attention was focused on the screen. So none of the other students saw his panic
Well, except for one person.
Ayanokouji looked at Sudou who was worried and sweating, just like Sudou he also knew what was going on and he understood why Sudou was so worried right now. But he had no intention of helping him, after all it wasn't something he could help.
Also, he was interested in seeing Horikita's reaction when she found out that someone had a crush on her.
"Hey, did you just see that? Horikita apologized! And so nicely!"
"I can't believe it!"
Ike and Yamauchi were both completely stunned. I was pretty surprised, too. Kushida was as well. Horikita had acknowledged that Sudou had done his best. A dumbfounded Sudou, still seated at his desk, looked after Horikita as she walked through the classroom door. Soon after, Sudou, put his right hand over his heart and looked at us.
"O-oh, no... I... I think I might be in love with Horikita..." he said.
Video ends.
Horikita's expression stiffened and she widened her eyes, Sudou who was sitting beside her shifted uncomfortably and his face reddened with embarrassment.
Meanwhile, some of the students cheered after hearing Sudou's declaration of love and they turned their heads to see the continuation of the play.
"Ku ku, so this is where Suzune got her pet dog from," Ryueen said chuckling, he didn't look at Sudou like the others because he wasn't the least bit interested about it.
"Hate turned into love. Huh, what a classic," said Ibuki in a mocking tone.
"Isn't that romantic, Ibuki-san?" Shiina said with a smile.
"Sounds stupid," Ibuki snorted.
Meanwhile in the Ayanokouji lineup, silence was being held due to an awkward atmosphere between Sudou and Horikita. Horikita kept her expressionless face while Sudou was agitated and trying to calm himself down.
After a while, Horikita decided to break the deadlock.
"Ken-kun, I-"
"Wait, Suzune!"
Just as Horikita was about to speak, Sudou stopped her immediately.
"What?" asked Horikita frowning.
Sudou took a deep breath before letting it out, then he looked at Horikita nervously, "I know this makes you uncomfortable, but can we talk about it later after all this is over?" Sudou asked in a pleading tone.
Even though Sudou knew that he would be rejected, at least he didn't want to hear Horikita's answer in this place, not in front of everyone let alone in front of people he hated like Ryuuen and the gang.
Horikita could only stare into Sudou's imploring eyes silently, actually she also didn't know what to do in this situation since this was the first time she found out that someone liked her. But no matter how much she thought, she agreed with Sudou that this wasn't something they could talk about right now.
After a moment of silence, Horikita finally nodded, "Alright."
"Thank you," said Sudou with a sigh of relief.
The students groaned in disappointment at not being able to see the confession scene, but as much as they wanted to complain, there was nothing they could do.
= = =
Thanks for reading!!!
Sorry if there are mistakes in words, repeated words, or language errors during writing.
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