CH 33

“Midterm Exams?”

I was sitting in my seat in the classroom at the Academy, which I was getting used to.

I asked Taisho back as I sat down in my seat.

“Oh. You just transferred to a new school, so I thought I’d tell you. Midterm exams start next week.”

“Next week? …… That’s pretty early for midterms.”

“We have an early opening ceremony compared to other schools.”

I nod to Taisho’s words.

But I didn’t know we had midterm exams next week.

I haven’t heard anything about it from Shizune-san, but …… in any case, I’ve been doing my daily preparations and reviews without fail. When I heard that the exams were coming up, I did the same thing.

“By the way, here are the past exams.”

Taisho showed me a stack of papers.

“How did you get the past exam papers?…”

“They’re handed out in front of the staff room before exams. If you need them, you’d better go get them.”

“…… Does the academy prepare the past papers?”

“Yes. Well, the past papers are just to give you a rough idea of the scope and difficulty level of the questions. There won’t be exactly the same questions.”

I asked Taisho to show me the past papers.

When I saw the contents, …… I broke out in a cold sweat.

“What’s the matter with you, Nishinari?”

“……Ughh.”

I smiled painfully at Taisho’s question.

I took a quick look at the past questions and found that most of the …… questions were ones I didn’t know how to solve.

–I think I might be in trouble.

Will I be able to solve these problems by next week’s exam?

It’s not that I’ve been slacking off, but I feel like I’m in serious trouble.

◆

Lunch break.

As usual, Hinako and I were eating our lunch together.

“Itsuki … I want to eat that next.”

Hinako said as she looked at her lunch box.

But I kept my mouth shut, concentrating on my thoughts.

“… Itsuki?”

“Oh, sorry, ……. then … Hamburger.”

I picked up a hamburger steak made from black Japanese beef with my chopsticks and brought it to Hinako’s mouth.

“Ihiuhi…… hohuhuhuhu?”

“…… Swallow properly before you speak.”

I can’t understand what she’s saying.

Hinako swallowed the food in her mouth with a gulp before opening her mouth again.

“Itsuki …, what’s wrong?”

Hinako seems to have sensed that I’m behaving strangely.

Answer with a sigh.

“It’s nothing serious, but …… the midterm exam seems harder than I thought. I am a little on edge.”

It’s actually a big deal. At any rate, if my score was bad, I might be fired from my position as a caretaker. I had endured Shizune-san’s hellish training up to now, but all that hard work would be for nothing.

Social studies, economics, and English are subjects that can be improved by memorization. However, I couldn’t do anything other than memorizing them.

“Do you want me to teach you ……?”

“……What?”

When I asked her back, Hinako puffed out her chest with pride.

“I’m the top student in our grade, even though I may act like this. …………”

Hinako said proudly.

That’s what she said. I’m not sure if I know the real Hinako when she’s not acting, but she’s the most intelligent girl in the academy.

“Come to think of it, you were always teaching all kinds of people in the classroom.”

“Hmm, my skills are well known.”

Hinako put on her proudest face to this occasion.

But I had a little trouble answering. I’m trying my best to be someone that Hinako can trust, but I can’t believe I’m going to have to ask for help from her …….

I can’t turn my back on her. I made up my mind and lowered my head.

“Can I ask you a favor?”

“Leave it to me ~ ……”

I fed Hinako, who was in a good mood, some of the dishes from my lunch box as a token of my gratitude.

After finishing my meal, I returned to the classroom and sat down in my seat.

As I was feeling relieved that I had a good plan for the exam, Taisho and Asahi approached me.

“Nishinari-kun, I heard that you’re worried about the midterm exam.”

Asahi-san said. Apparently, Taisho had told her.

“Yes, I am. …… Just for my information, Asahi-san, do you have any ideas for studying for the exam?”

“I don’t really have any ideas. I don’t think there’s anything special about it. If I had to say, I’d say I spend more time studying than normal, but that’s about it.”

“I do the same as Asahi-san. I review instead of prepare.”

The students of the Academy routinely study after school.

I guess they can keep up with the exams without doing anything different.

“On the other hand, Nishinari, how did you study at your previous school?”

“Well, …… basically the same as the two of us, with the occasional all-nighter. Then there are study groups.”

“Study groups?”

I explained to Asahi-san, who tilted her head.

“We all get together and study. When people are studying together, it makes you want to do your best, and sometimes we teach each other what we’re good at and cooperate.”

In many cases, though, the cooperation is mainly chatting and not studying.

“Why don’t we give it a try?”

“Huh?”

Asahi-san said happily from beside me.

“Study group! Let’s try it, it sounds interesting!”

Both Taisho-san and Asahi-san’s eyes were shining for some reason.

“Let’s have the same members as at the tea party, there were a lot of high graders.”

“I like that! I’m going to invite them right away!”

I brought up the topic of a study group just for the sake of chatting, but before I knew it, they were completely on board.

But …… what should I do? I was going to ask Hinako to teach me how to study for the exam, but …….

“Nishinari-kun, when are you free?”

Asahi-san asks.

“I’m not sure. I haven’t decided yet that I’m going to join …….”

“What? You’re not coming, Nishinari-kun? You’re the one who came up with the idea!”

(TLN: Hold on, this whole operation was your idea.)

“That’s right! Since you mentioned it, you should also be the organizer!”

It was hard to say no.

Well, we can have a …… study session and ask Hinako to teach us.

The more opportunities we have to study, the better.

“……Fine.”