Earlier today, I was invited by Nora to join his group study session at 7pm.

It was now after school. While I would've used my spare time to go ask Keisaki if he knew anything about Minanohara, it was a bad idea since the restaurant gets really busy after school, especially on a Friday night.

It was better to visit the restaurant later, closer to when they were about to shut for the night. In the mean time, I spent my afternoon reading light novels and studying to prepare for the finals.

When the allotted time came around, I left my room to go walk to Nora and Katsumi's place.

"Wassu, Yuu-yuu! How ya doing?"

When I entered the elevator, greeting me was Shouko, wearing her casual clothes and holding a handbag. I waved at her.

"The same as usual. You?"

"Ah, I'm nervous... but at the same time, excited!"

"I'm guessing you're also going to Nora-san's revision session then?"

"Of course. I left super early just for it. I can't wait!"

This was her idea of early? It was 6:45pm right now, fifteen minutes until 7pm. If anything, we'd barely make it on time.

"Sounds like it'll be fun. You're not going with Suzuki-san?"

"I asked her to come, but she has a date today."

I wasn't surprised that someone like Suzuki would value going out on a date more than studying.

"Oh... with who?"

"Oozora-senpai. She asked him out the other week and he said yes."

Wow, Suzuki managed to get a date with the 2-A class representative? I guess Oozora doesn't care about the hierarchy if he's willing to go out with a girl from E Class.

Come to think of it, Shouko did mention that Suzuki had a thing for ikemen types like him. I guess the saying "you miss 100% of the shots you don't take" really is true.

"That's really impressive... and bold too."

"Mayuri-chan might look all bored and cool, but she's actually got quite a ferocious appetite, y'know?"

"I know all too well..."

Shaking off the unpleasant memory of Suzuki berating me while we were at the swimming pool, me and Shouko left the dorm together.

It felt strange walking together peacefully with a girl who used to hate my guts. It was like she changed into a completely different person. People really do treat you differently depending on their perception of you.

I expected her to make some small talk with me on our way there, but to my surprise, she stayed quiet. Never in a million years did I expect to see this calm side of her before. In fact, I didn't even think this side of her existed until now.

In the end, it was me who ended up making the small talk.

"Hey, Shouko-san."

"Yeah?"

"I was wondering something. You don't have to answer if you're not comfortable."

"Okay, and that is?"

"Before, you mentioned you were a loner in middle school."

"Oh. Yeah, and? Aren't you a loner too, Yuu-yuu?"

"I was... kind of still am, but that's not important right now."

If one thing didn't change, it was her bluntness.

"It's more like... I was surprised you were a loner, considering how sociable you are in class."

Shouko started to giggle.

"I was only a loner at school. Outside of school, my older brother's friends loved me!"

"You were a hit with the boys, huh?"

"He had friends that were both boys and girls. Naturally, I got along better with the girls."

"Ah... you seem to very close to your brother."

"Of course I am. If it wasn't for him dragging me out of the house so often, I don't know how I would've ended up."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Like I said, I was a loner at school. Ever since I was little, I always found it hard to make friends."

Come to think of it, I only ever saw Shouko hang out with Suzuki. Otherwise, she didn't really talk to any other girls.

"During middle school, it got really bad."

"What happened?"

"Mama and papa got a divorce."

"Oh... I'm sorry to hear."

"Back then, it was the worst thing to ever happen to me... even though I saw it was coming."

Shouko sighed.

"Did your parents fight a lot?"

"Way too much. Whenever things got bad, I used to lock myself in my room and cover my ears, while Takanori-nii would leave the house and come back super late at night."

Her older brother sounded like some kind of delinquent...

"One night, when he came home super late, Takanori-nii saw me cry over them fighting when he went into my room to give me some candy he bought at the konbini. It was after that when he started taking me out of the house with him."

I wondered if Shouko knew about Nora's past. If there's one thing they had in common, it was that they both had rough family lives.

"I'm really grateful he did that. Sure, we spent a lot of time doing dumb things, and it felt weird talking to people much older than me, but I was happy that he cared about me. Takanori-nii's a huge idiot, so he doesn't realise it, but he protected me back then. One day... I want to do the same for the person I love. I want to become a dependable onee-san!"

Shouko left a strong impression on me when she expressed her dream without any fear. I thought she would be embarrassed or stingy about talking about these kind of things, but she was actually quite bold about it.

"Somehow, that really fits you."

"Thanks! I'm working hard to achieve it."

"Although, isn't that kind of incestuous...? Being a big sister, and all."

"Ha? Don't lecture me about incest when you had a crush on your mom!"

"When I was four. Wait, why do you even remember that?"

"Who wouldn't? Weirdo."

"You're the weird one..."

"I'm not weird for wanting a little brother."

"Ahh? No wonder you like Nora-san."

"Took you that long to figure out, huh?"

Instead of getting embarrassed by my teasing, she snappily riposted me without fail every single time. No wonder she was a gyaru...

We arrived at the house and knocked on the door. Answering us was Sakigamiya. It seems she was here for the revision session as well.

"Oh, Fujimura-san and Takanori-san? What a strange duo. Glad you two could make it!"

"Wassu, Alice-san!"

Shouko casually waved and stepped inside, wasting no time to head into the living room where everyone else was.

As I took off my shoes, Sakigamiya crouched besides me and whispered into my ear.

"Mikitaka-san explained the situation to me."

Oh, right... he was going to get Sakigamiya involved in helping Shouko get closer to Nora.

"What's the plan then?"

"We're going to eliminate Kou-san."

"...I'm sorry?"

An image of Sakigamiya stabbing Kou popped into my mind.

"We need to get rid of her from the situation to give Fujimura-san a chance."

"That shouldn't be too hard... there's knives in the kitchen."

"What the heck are you on about?"

"Oh, nothing. How many people are here?"

"There should be seven, including me and you."

"Make it six, Suzuki-san isn't coming."

"Figures. I knew something was up when I saw you with Fujimura-san. I really thought it'd work..."

Sakigamiya sighed as her plan to get Suzuki to join study sessions failed.

"It's not your fault. She has a date with Oozora-senpai, apparently."

"Eh?! That girl managed to score a date with him?!"

"...what, is it that big of a deal?"

"Yes, of course it is! Even you should know about how impressive Oozora-senpai is!"

"He didn't look all that impressive to me when we visited 2-A."

"That's because you were too busy chatting up that Kurosaki-senpai."

When she puts it that way, it makes me sound like some kind of sleazy playboy.

"Fair enough... I still don't see what the big deal is, aside from the fact he's 2-A rep."

"Maybe this will jog your memory... ever heard of the Great Sky Hero?"

"Great Sky Hero...?"

That title was certainly familiar to me. Thinking over it, I finally realised where I had heard it before.

"Wait, isn't he the champion from the Vanguard Junior League two years ago? The one who's gimmick was being a masked middle schooler?"

"Yes! And guess what's his real identity?"

"Don't tell me..."

"It's Oozora-senpai!"

I knew GEN Academy was filled with impressive people, but to think someone as amazing and powerful as the Great Sky Hero also attended this school... and Suzuki was on a date with him? I wonder if she even realised it.

Actually, I was more surprised by the fact that Sakiamiya knew about this. I guess she was a bigger fan of Vanguard than I initially thought. Or maybe, that just shows just how famous the Great Sky Hero is. Even riajuu like her knew about him.

"Okay, I get why he's a big deal now..."

"Good grief. You really are a nerd."

"You should've started off with that."

"I thought everyone knew Oozora-senpai was the Great Sky Hero. That's part of his appeal."

Come to think of it, Sakigamiya did blush while around him. Maybe she had a thing for Oozora as well?

"Anyways, having an even numbered group works out better for us."

"It does? What do you mean?"

"Grab Mikitaka-san. I want to explain my idea to both of you at once."

Sakigamiya nodded and went to get Mikitaka. Meanwhile, I took a deep breath to mentally prepare myself.

Forget the special exam, this was about to be the biggest hurdle in my life. Getting two people to fall in love.

If anything, I can't believe I'm actually going along with this and playing matchmaker for these guys...

"Yo, brother. What's cooking?"

"I have an idea on how we can make Shouko-san get closer to Nora-san."

"Yeah, and that is?"

"We should have everyone split up into study pairs. If we put Nora-san and Shouko-san together, that will give them some alone time to become intimate with each other."

"Hey, that's the same idea I had!"

Sakigamiya excitedly raised her voice, but covered her mouth when she realised she was being too loud.

"Shush, this is top secret business you know!"

"Sorry..."

Sakigamiya sheepishly apologised when Mikitaka chided her.

"I like that plan. If both of you thought of it, then it must be good."

"Same, I have no qualms about it. Any idea how we'll go about it though?"

"Yeah. The configuration of the groups will also be important. Naturally, we need to pair off Nora-san and Shouko-san. However, once we set this up, our priority is to make sure Katsumi-san doesn't interfere. We need someone to keep her distracted."

"I can do it. We can pair off under the premise I'll be tutoring her, since I'm just as smart as Nora-chan. Plus, I'm close to Kou-san, so it will look normal."

Sakigamiya proposed a responsible suggestion, but I couldn't let this happen since I was also trying to help Katsumi get closer to her crush as well. The outcome I wanted was to have her pair with Mikitaka.

"Actually, I was thinking Mikitaka-san should do it."

"Huh? Me?"

Mikitaka pointed at himself dumbfounded.

"Hang on, what? That makes no sense! If you do that, then we'd be paired together, Takanori-san. Wouldn't it make more sense for you to go with Mikitaka-san?"

"I don't mean to be rude, but if you two were together, I think Katsumi-san would get distracted by you because you're her friend. Right now, she needs to concentrate on revising so she doesn't fail the special exam. If we make her work together with someone she's not close to, like Mikitaka-san, I think she'd be able to work more diligently."

I realise that what I said was a complete and utter lie, and that Katsumi would be distracted either way, but I had to say this to convince Sakigamiya and Mikitaka that Katsumi should go with him, and not her.

"It's not a bad thing if we got paired together, Sakigamiya-san. We can work on the English and history questions for the special exam or continue trying to find ways of bringing Nora-san and Shouko-san closer together. Plus, all the pairs would be boy-girl, making it more equal."

I kind of felt bad for Nora though. If he had the choice, I think he'd prefer to partner up with Katsumi. However, he did get to live together with Katsumi, so I guess it's only fair that Shouko gets this chance to be with him.

"When you put it that way... I guess I don't mind either way. How do you feel about it, Mikitaka-san?"

"Distracting her? Easy. It'd be good to get to know her anyways, I want to make friends with everyone in E Class!"

I'm sure Mikitaka didn't mind one bit, since Katsumi was practically his type.

"Kou-san is a lovely girl, I think you'll like her. She's a bit air-headed and stupid at times, but she's friendly and means well!"

I couldn't tell if Sakigamiya was praising her or insulting her.

"She is pretty clumsy isn't she?"

Katsumi was always nervous and stuttered around Mikitaka, so it makes sense that he has this impression of her.

"To add to your idea, Takanori-san, let's have each pair study in a separate room. Nora-chan and Fujimura-san can study in his room, Kou-san and Mikitaka-san can study in her room, and we can stay in the living room."

"Good idea. If they're alone in a room together, Shouko-san might be able to be put more moves on him."

"Maybe this time they'll kiss for real, ya ha ha!"

"Sakigamiya-san, I'll leave you in charge of suggesting this to the others."

"Yep, can do!"

Finishing our discussion, the three of us entered the living room.

We gathered round the table where Shouko and Katsumi were hard at working revising, while Nora was helping them out. Then, after waiting a few minutes to make it look natural, Sakigamiya suggested my idea to the rest of the group.

"What do you think?"

Nora looked sceptical, but Shouko looked ready to pounce on the opportunity.

"That sounds great! It'd be like having my own personal tutor!"

"I'm fine with that."

Mikitaka added, trying to create a snowball effect. I also nodded to try and help out.

"Sounds good!"

Just as Nora was about to speak up, Katsumi raised her hand in approval. Now he was outnumbered five to one.

"Ah... o-okay."

"What were you gonna say, Takayuki-san?"

"It's not that important."

Nora shook his head at Mikitaka's question.

"Nah, tell us. You don't seem to be on board."

"I-I am, I don't have any problems with what she suggested... I just thought it'd be nice to study as a group since Takanori-kun and Sakigamiya-san came all the way here to join us."

"Yeah, but we've been studying as a group for the entire past week now. It's fine if we change it up a bit, no?" Shouko said.

"Y-you're right... sorry."

Noticing Nora look down, Shouko added this at the end.

"Although, it is more fun to study together as one big group. Shall we do that after?"

Nora nodded in agreement.

"Let's do an hour in pairs and an hour as a group? Then we can head home, since it'd be 9pm." Sakigamiya said.

"That works!" Shouko grinned.

"Great, let's split up into pairs then!"

"I'll go with Takayuki-chan!"

Immediately, Shouko grabbed Nora from behind and squeezed him.

"A-ah! S-Shouko-san...?"

"What~? I can't wait."

"I-I've never seen you so excited to study before..."

Nora laughed nervously, but he seemed happy that Shouko was taking her studies more seriously.

"Takanori-san, you and me?"

Immediately straight after, Sakigamiya offered to pair up with me to force Katsumi to go with Mikitaka.

"Sure."

"Guess that leaves you and me, Katsumi-san."

Mikitaka grinned at her, making Katsumi blush.

"H-ha ha! Let's study... um, work hard together, M-Mikitaka-san!"

"Me and Takanori-san will work in the living room, if that's okay?"

"Um... yeah, sure. D-do you want to study in my room then, Shouko-san...?"

"Yes, of course!"

With her arms still wrapped around him, Shouko nodded with a bright smile. However, Katsumi looked panicked when Nora suggested that, since that would mean she would have to study with Mikitaka in her room.

"I-I don't think that's a good idea, Takayuki-kun..."

Katsumi mumbled, trying to get Nora to take back his offer. However, by the time she said that, Nora and Shouko had already left to go upstairs.

"Geh?!"

"You good, Katsumi-san?"

Hearing her make that weird noise, Mikitaka looked at Katsumi with concern.

"O-of course I am! S-so, like, where do wanna s-s-study, M-Mikitaka-san?"

"Is your room good?"

I think Katsumi was going to explode if Mikitaka entered her room. Maybe I shouldn't have gone along with Sakigamiya's idea after all...

"Uh... m-my room...? A-ah... hmm... well... i-it's a bit messy, and I haven't cleaned up, and..."

"It's fine, I don't really care. My dorm looks like a dump, so it can't be worse than mine."

Mikitaka shrugged and got up. He was handling her erratic behaviour really well.

"B-but... a-are you sure? Y-you'll regret it if you come into my room!"

"Nah, the only time I regretted going into someone's room was Mitsuba's. When I went to visit him, I accidentally sat on some used tissues he left lying on his bed after—"

"Too much information!"

Sakigamiya screamed before Mikitaka could finish his sentence.

"Katsumi-san, it'll be fine. Just go with him."

"B-but Takanori-kun ..."

"Think of it as a chance."

I winked slyly to Katsumi to convey that I set this up for her. However, she didn't seem to notice, and Sakigamiya began looking at me suspiciously.

"C-chance... you're right! This is a chance!"

"Yeah, a chance!"

Mikitaka echoed her words, having no idea what we referring to. Katsumi stared at him blankly.

"What? It's a chance to revise, right?"

I'm glad that he didn't catch on to what I actually meant...

"Yeah, a chance to revise. You can't fail in this exam, Katsumi-san. Try your hardest."

"I will! Let's learn some... um... Japanese and math, M-Mikitaka-san!"

"Ya ha ha, my worst two subjects!"

Katsumi laughed nervously before showing Mikitaka the way to her room. These two were going to get along just fine... I think.

That left me and Sakigamiya alone in the living room.

I wonder how awkward this is going to be.