I returned to the Drachma Red dorms and put away what Siyeon gave me for later.

Then, I headed out and went to Kouji's dorm. Somehow managing to talk with this week is going to be essential.

I gave one initial knock on his door before beginning to knock multiple times.

Knowing Kouji, he was probably sleeping in his room. I decided to skip the whole song and dance of slowly escalating my knocks by just going all out from the start.

However, despite my persistence knocking, Kouji still hadn't answered yet. Five minutes had passed, and my knuckles were turning red from hitting the wooden door constantly.

Last time I tried talking to him, I had to wait fifteen minutes for a simple conversation that lasted less than a minute. I'm not sure if I had the patience for that again, but I really needed to talk to Kouji, so I had no other choice but to wait it out.

When a minute passed, I knocked on his door again. In total, I must've knocked over a hundred times.

"Is he out...?"

Fifteen minutes had passed. It was really strange that Kouji still hadn't answered, even after how aggressively I was knocking on the door. I tried once more, this time shouting to grab his attention as well.

"Kouji-san! It's me, Takanori-san! Can you answer the door?"

Even so, still no response. Just to be sure, I waited another five minutes.

However, when that passed and he still didn't answer, I decided to cut my losses and leave. After wasting twenty minutes of my life waiting for a response that obviously wouldn't come, I didn't see any point in continuing.

Instead, I went to Nora's place so we could finalise the exams we made for C Class.

Ultimately, we decided on shifting our focus on making the math and science exams as hard as possible, since their scoring system was purely objective. Depending on how many questions you answered correctly, you'd get a fixed score.

This unique advantage meant there were clearer boundaries of where "failing" was. In comparison, Japanese and history had a subjective scoring system due to being essay based subjects.

Depending on who the marker is, and how harsh they are with the rubric, they could barely pass or barely fail. We didn't want to leave anything to chance, so we went with the most secure option.

By the way, English was a strange blend of objective and subjective marking. The first half was objective due to being translation questions, but the second half was subjective due to a compulsory extended writing piece.

Regardless, we still had to make this as hard as possible alongside math and science since Zyriot and Albert would have probably helped teach their class English.

"Do you think this will be hard enough now?" Nora asked.

"We'll only know when we test it out."

However, I was certain this was a huge step up from our last draft.

If it wasn't for Rinbayashi scoring 100% on everything, I think me and Nora would've thought it was fine and handed it over to Suzune without a second thought.

In that sense, I'm glad our first draft got destroyed by her, because this second draft was much stronger.

"Are you going to ask Rinbayashi-san again?"

"No. I think we underestimated her academic abilities. She's probably smarter than the average student."

That, and she'd probably end up scoring 100% on everything again.

"We probably took the wrong approach last time. Instead of testing it on someone average, let's test it on someone on the same level as D Class."

As if reading my mind, Nora nodded in understanding and took out his phone.

"I'll call Mikitaka-san to come over."

"That's exactly what I was thinking."

And so, after briefly explaining the situation to Mikitaka, we tested out the math, science, and English exams on him.

Four gruelling hours later, we were all done. Mikitaka had completed the exams to the best of his ability while me and Nora had finished marking how he did.

"Takanori-kun... look!"

Nora tugged me by the sleeve and pointed at Mikitaka's science paper with a gasp. My eyes widened as I peered over his shoulder.

Mikitaka failed that exam.

When Mikitaka looked over the results, even he was surprised by this outcome. Despite being a former delinquent, he was actually a fairly smart guy, so one of our exams stumping him gave me and Nora the confidence in submitting them to C Class.

"We did it... we really did it!"

Nora was overjoyed that all the hard work we put in together was finally paying off.

"Damn right you guys did! Holy hell, those were some of the hardest tests I've ever done in my life!"

Mikitaka slung an arm around Nora's shoulder and cheered. Despite failing, he was happy for his best friend's major achievement.

"D Class is gonna be really screwed over if you guys submit this."

"You think so?"

"I know so. Those guys are dumbasses through and through! I hope they took my advice seriously and studied in their down time..."

Apparently, when he was the leader of the delinquents, Mikitaka used to make his group raid the library so they'd actually do some studying.

This was also a source of trouble for Nora, since he usually went to the library to read books, but ended up getting harassed by them. Funny how things have changed...

If you told me that Nora and Mikitaka would end up becoming best friends, I would've laughed and called you crazy.

But now seeing it play out in front of my eyes, it just makes sense. Their personalities, despite being opposites, complemented each other really well.

I seriously don't think anything can get between these two. Well, maybe except Katsumi, but we'll get there when we get there.

A knock was on the door. It must be about time for Nora's study group to meet up.

"I'll get it."

Mikitaka volunteered and went downstairs to answer. Nora turned to me.

"So, what do you think, Takanori-kun? Should we work on it some more?"

I thought about it for a moment.

"No. I think it's ready."

Nora breathed a sigh of relief.

"I'm so glad... we're going to make it after all."

"Yeah. Thanks for your hard work, Nora-san."

I picked up our finalised draft and put in my bag.

"No, thank you for helping me out Takanori-kun. I never thought making tests could be fun, but being with you... I enjoyed every moment of it, even if things got stressful."

Nora laughed nervously. The door to his room suddenly flung open.

"Takayuki-chan, you never told me about starting early!"

It was Shouko, who seemed a little upset at the fact me and Mikitaka were already at his place.

"Yo, yo."

Mikitaka snuck in behind her, throwing up peace signs.

"Ah, even Yuu-yuu's here too?!"

Shouko pointed at me. I casually waved at her.

"S-Shouko-san, wait! T-this is a misunderstanding!"

Nora backed off slightly as Shouko began driving him into a corner.

"Oh my."

Mikitaka snickered. I saw this as my cue to leave.

"I'll give C Class the tests tomorrow, thanks for having me round."

I quickly got up, picked up my bags, and left Nora's room without saying another word.

"See ya, brother."

"Later, Yuu-yuu!"

The last things I heard were Mikitaka and Shouko saying goodbye to me before Nora began meekly explaining what was happening to an overzealous Shouko. Since when was she so enthusiastic about studying...?

When I reached downstairs, I saw a surprising visitor waiting in the living room. It was Suzuki, Shouko's best friend.

"Bleh... you again."

Suzuki shot me a dirty look. We keep bumping into each other in the most random of places.

"I'm surprised you're here."

"I didn't have anything better to do this evening."

That sounded like a gyaru's way to say "I'm actually really worried about failing these exams so I'm actually going to show up to a study session", probably.

"I thought you'd be on another date with Oozora-senpai."

"He's busy tonight."

Without even looking at me from her phone, Suzuki casually chatted to me.

"I see. Well, everyone's upstairs if you want to join them."

"I'll pass. I don't really like it when Shouko-chan gets all flirty around him."

That was surprising to hear. I thought Suzuki would be supportive of Shouko's advances of Nora.

At my lack of response, Suzuki finally looked up at me from her phone.

"If you have nothing else to say, could you leave already? You're being an eyesore."

"Sorry. I was just surprised by what you said."

"Don't you think it's kind of... like, sad?"

I raised my eyebrow.

"Shouko-chan can like whoever she wants, but... Nora-san? Really? I don't see the appeal."

Considering cool ikemen types like Oozora were Suzuki's type, I guess this makes sense. She probably thought Shouko could do better than Nora.

"I mean, the only good thing about him is he's smart. I guess he's like, cute, but that's only cuz Alice made him that way. Before, he was just as ugly as Mitsuba or Tanaka."

"Isn't that a bit harsh to say? There's a lot of good things about Nora-san too."

"Sure, he's a good guy, but there are better partners out there, y'know?"

"I wouldn't, since I'm not a girl."

Suzuki chortled at my dull response.

"I don't mean it literally, dumbass. I wish he'd just reject her already."

It seems even Suzuki's recognised as Nora's feelings are divided between Katsumi and Shouko.

"What do you mean by that?"

"During her birthday party, Shouko-chan tried to advance on him again. Despite also seeming to want it, Nora-san hesitated and pushed her away."

I suspected something happened between them during Shouko's birthday. Nora probably rejected her due to his conflicting feelings with Katsumi.

"I hate guys like that. In such decisive moments, they can never make up their minds. Nora-san should feel lucky Shouko-chan still likes him. If a guy did that to me, I'd give up on him instantly."

That is true. What Nora did must've hurt Shouko, considering how strong her feelings are for him, but because her feelings are that strong, she wasn't disheartened by the setback. It makes me wonder if she was beginning to become aware of Nora's other crush.

"Oh, Suzuki-san and Takanori-kun, what are you two doing here?"

Speaking of her, Katsumi entered the house after finishing what seemed to be a workout session. Suzuki looked at her, giving a small wave. I raised my hand lightly.

"Just waiting for everyone else to come downstairs so they can start the study session."

"I was going to leave."

"Oh, you're not joining us?"

"Nah. I've got some other stuff to take care of."

"Aww... that's a shame. It would've been fun to have you around, Takanori-kun!"

Katsumi grinned and slapped me on the back. I coughed from that. Suzuki giggled at me.

"Let me go change into some casual clothes real quick and drag everyone downstairs."

"Sure thing. I'll wait in the living room."

Katsumi and Suzuki went their separate ways. Meanwhile, I went to leave the house since my job here was done.

Teenage youth really is a silly thing.