Why is electricity such a long topic? I ask myself that too. Welcome once again to electricity hell.

Yukimura's POV:

"...mura-kun."

Ha...?

"...mura-kun, wake up!"

Who's calling for me...

"...of the day!"

If it's Mitsuba, I'm gonna kill him...

"Yukimura-kun!"

I raised my head and blinked, seeing Sakigamiya standing in front of me. A gust of wind blew her hair to the side, which made her look good.

Ah, to wake up to a beauty angel like her is the goal of every man. I wasn't pissed at all. In fact, I felt really refreshed.

"Mou, I called for you nearly five times now. It's the end of the school day."

"Didn't realise. I slept through Toujou-sensei's class again. I don't get English."

It was a good nap though.

"Anyways, E Class and B Class are holding their first joint session in order to celebrate our new formed alliance."

Us and B Class were in an alliance? This is the first I've heard of this. What would B Class want from a bunch of failures like us anyways? Do they even benefit from working with us?

I'm pretty sure all the other classes would shit on them for doing this. Who the hell let this happen?

"What kind of session?" I yawned.

"Study session. The B Class students are going to tutor us on whatever we desire. It'd be good for you to come, since you can learn more science from them."

"You sure they're not trying to screw us over?"

"No, they're fully serious about this. You know Ichinose-san, don't you?"

"The one with huge boobs and strawberry hair?"

"Yes... you know that's the only Ichinose-san in our year, right?"

I remember her because Mitsuba was going batshit insane over her breasts.

"Had to be sure. Is she trustworthy, that Ichinose?"

"I'm friends with her. She doesn't care about social status. She just wants to help others."

A good, kind person, huh? I mean, if she got other B Class students involved, I guess she wouldn't be all that bad. Plus she's a girl. I know I have enemies in B Class like Fukae and Yukada, but they're both boys.

"...Guess I got time to kill. You gonna be there?"

I'd only really care for this revision session if she was there.

"Yep! Both E and B Class reps will be present so we can properly discuss things."

I tightened my fist. So that bastard Matsushita will be there as well... damn it.

This could be a good chance to bond with Sakigamiya, but with a guy like him around, I'd be trying my hardest not to slug him in the face rather than talk to her.

"I'm bringing Mitsuba-san and Kou-chan as well since their grades are low."

"Yea, that's whatever. When and where's it taking place?"

"Right now, in the school library."

"What?!"

"Everyone else went ahead. I stayed behind to get you." Sakigamiya tilted her head and smiled.

There's no way I could back out now! She waited specifically for me! She made a super cute smile! I can't let her down!

"Alright, let's go there right now then! Or else we'll be late!"

"I've never seen you so enthusiastic to study, Yukimura-kun..."

We arrived at the school library. There were fourteen others there sitting on a long table facing once another. Sitting on the left side was our class: Mitsuba, Nora, Katsumi, Demiza, Rinbayashi, and that damn ikemen, Matsushita!

I clenched my fists and let out a hardened sigh.

On the right side was B Class. I recognised like three people there. Ichinose, who definitely had big boobs, Ritaka, a pervert, and Sekine, another bijin type.

The other five, I had no clue who they were. However, a guy with long bangs and dark red hair sat next to Ichinose, in the middle, which was where the reps sat. So he was the male rep for B Class, huh? He looked pretty tough.

I took a seat next to Mitsuba and we exchanged some banter. Sakigamiya took her seat in the middle.

"Everyone, thanks for coming today nya!" Ichinose cheered. "Today is the start of both of classes first step towards A Class! I hope this alliance will last us until graduation, and bring us many prosperous opportunities, such as this one! A study session will strengthen our knowledge and bonds so we can tackle this month's midterms well-prepared!"

It's hard to concentrate on what she's saying when her boobs are swaying in every direction. I think Mitsuba was gonna cream his pants just at the sight of her.

"But before we do, let's take some time to introduce ourselves to one another. I'm B Class's female class representative, Ichinose Natsumi, nya!"

The long bangs red head stood up to speak. He looked like he was pissed to be here.

"I'm Machida Kouta. The male class representative for B Class."

With that short statement, he sat down with his arms crossed. The rest of B Class began to introduce themselves.

"I'm Chikuji Megumi. I specialise in English." A girl with silver hair and ponytail said.

"...Mato Takara. Science. Nice to meet you." A creepy girl with maroon hair said.

"My name's Sekine Sayuki, and I'm actually quite weak at academies, ha ha... so I was hoping maybe one of your stronger students could help me out?"

Everyone almost immediately looked at Nora. He's got experience in teaching already, so this shouldn't be an issue for him. Probably. He usually breaks down into a clumsy mess around girls. It's embarrassing when he does, cuz it makes me look uncool.

"Yo, I'm Ritaka Takahashi. For E Class students, you ladies look extremely lovely. I specialise in Japanese." Ritaka smirked.

Man, if this pervert starts flirting with Sakigamiya, I'm going to break his face.

"I'm Kasai Touma. My best subject's history and geography." A blondie said. He looks like a refined, fancy Takanori.

"I'm Koishi Eizan. I'm good at everything, but I specialise in math, science, food and business." This guy was freakishly scary. His hair was slicked back, he had piercings in his ears, and wore a pair of shades over his eyes. Gold chains and jewellery were on his neck and wrists. Was this guy part of the yakuza or something?

It was now our turn to introduce ourselves.

Matsushita said something dumb. Sakigamiya went after him.

"It's a pleasure to meet all of you. I'm Sakigamiya Alice, the female representative. I'm half-French, half-Japanese, but I speak perfect Japanese, so don't feel afraid to talk to me! I'm good in a wide variety of subjects, but my best one would have to be Japanese or English."

"I'm Demiza Taiga! My best subject's history, but I'm hoping to improve my maths today."

"Rinbayashi Amou. I don't mind which subject we revise."

Ritaka wolf-whistled. "Aren't you a hottie?" He grinned. Rinbayashi ignored him.

"Um... I'm Nora Takayuki... my best subject's history..."

"Nora-chan's actually really good at academics. He'd be perfect to tutor you, Sekine-san."

Nora bashfully nodded in agreement. At least he's building some confidence.

"Oh, that's awesome! Let's work well together then, Nora-san!" Sekine said.

"Yes, same here." He smiled.

"I'm Katsumi Kou. Please help me with all my grades!" She begged.

"Koishi-san, this seems perfect for you." Ichinose said.

"It seems so. I'll beat the information into your head. Thoroughly." Koishi grabbed a thick text book and slammed it into the table.

Yeah, definitely scary. Katsumi was visibly shaking, but nodded.

"I'm Mitsuba Jun. I suck at everything too, but I'm like good at... Japanese. Just salvage my English grade. Please?"

Everyone laughed at his introduction. Mitsuba's a funny guy, that's for sure.

It was finally my turn. These introductions were such a pain.

"My name's Yukimura Fudou. I'm good at sports. I'm here to improve my science. Specifically physics."

"I think we can safely pair Yukimura-san with Takara-chan!" Ichinose smiled.

Oh god, I'm getting paired with the creepy girl? Damn it...

Some more discussion was held, and we got our pairs sorted out. Nora and Sekine, Katsumi and Koishi, Rinbayashi and Ritaka, Demiza and Kasai, Mitsuba and Chikuji, and finally, me and Mato.

We pretty much spread out in the library to start our private tutoring. Some A Class snobs looked at us with disgust. They probably thought the B Class students were insane.

I sat across Mato on a table not too far from Sakigamiya's. The class reps stayed together and began talking about some menial things.

Mato just looked sort of blankly at me, like she was trying to analyse me. It was really creepy. I mean, she wasn't bad looking, but... the way her orange eyes just kind of stared through me just... really put me off.

"Yukimura-san, you want to get better at physics?"

"Obviously. I kind of said it in my introduction."

Mato narrowed her eyes and nodded, bringing out her books and highlighters onto the table.

"You should get your study materials out as well."

I threw a pen on the table and leaned back in my seat. Mato looked extremely puzzled.

"That's... all you brought?"

"I left my notebook at home. Though I was studying electricity."

"You're extremely unprepared."

"I'm not gonna lug a bunch of note books around, am I? All the information is stored up here, in my head."

"Regardless, you knew it was a study session, so you should have brought more than just a pen. You'll forget most of the information we do here unless you write it down. It's scientifically proven that writing things down increases the likelihood we remember it. That's why we take notes."

"Taking notes is stupid. If I'm writing while listening to you, I lose focus. I'd rather just get the explanation. Plus I don't even read the notes afterwards."

"But you should read the notes you take as it's good revision? You just said you'd rather get the explanation. Taking notes condenses the explanation into neat chunks of information to refresh yourself with."

"I just said that taking notes doesn't work for me. Stop pressing me for this crap, will you? I want to learn, not get talked down on how I learn."

This girl was beginning to piss me off.

"I'm trying to give you the best chance at remembering the material. If you continue to act pigheaded and refuse to take my advice, you'll do a lot worse when it comes to revision."

"I didn't ask for your damn advice! I'm asking you to teach me physics, you bitch!" I slammed on the table.

"Now why should I have to teach someone as vulgar as you?"

"You came to the study session to help E Class out, didn't you?"

"Yes, but I never expected to be paired up with someone with such a short temper and such a small brain. Feel free to continue living the horrid life you have."

"Oh, now you want to turn this into a B Class vs E Class thing, huh? You might have an upper hand in academics, but in sports, I'm king!"

"This isn't a bragging contest, and bringing up sports is irrelevant to our debate."

"Since when is this a debate?!"

"It's been a debate the moment you called me a bitch. Are you that thick?"

"Shut up. You're acting all high and mighty for no reason now."

"Actually, I think you're the one who's acting high and mighty. You're the type of person who believes everything should be handed to you on a silver platter, and you don't need to put any work or effort in. That's why you forgot your notebook. That's why you're unprepared. That's why your way of studying is going to be less effective."

"Whatever way works for me works for me. Different strokes for different folks. Now back off my case before I leave."

"Then feel free to leave. As a threat, it means nothing to me. I'm only here because I support Ichinose-san. I thought that by meeting an E Class student, I could change my perspective on you. But instead, you prove to be exactly as the school describes you. Ignorant, foolish, vanity-driven garbage. The only person you're hurting by leaving is yourself and this alliance."

I slammed on the table.

"If you have no rebuttal, then it's better not to say anything at all. Acting in anger is foolish. You may something you'd regret."

Despite her haughty attitude, Mato has a point I guess. I'm angry and frustrated at the words she said. I don't get why she's trying to be so domineering of me. I don't need someone to talk down to me like I'm less than them.

I'm just as equal as you are.

Though, I'll admit that she was willing to give me a chance. Instead I just made E Class look like a bunch of idiots. We aren't a bunch of idiots... we're not the drop outs of the school either!

Maybe this alliance will let us prove that we're not at the bottom of this dump.

"Have you calmed down yet?"

"Damn, you're annoying." I muttered.

"If you have something to say about me, say it to my face. Talking behind someone's back shows your cowardice."

At least that was something I could agree on. Why do people get so annoyed when I talk shit to them in their face? It's better than saying it behind their back like a snake. Get some tough skin damn it.

"I said damn, you're annoying."

"Ritaka-san tells me that everyday."

I looked over my shoulder to see that sleazy perv talk to Rinbayashi while having the time of his life. Was he staring at her tits or face? I couldn't tell.

Actually, that list Mitsuba sent in the group chat got me wondering. How can Rinbayashi have such massive tits but conceal it so well? I've never noticed just how big her boobs are until now.

Wait, why am I thinking about boobs? I've got to study...

I picked up my pen and tapped my head.

"Right, we've wasted enough time. Let's study." Mato said. "From my text book, can you show me where you're at with electricity?"

I pointed at the end of the last section Nora taught me and Kawaguchi.

"Hmm. You're awfully quiet now." She said. "So you're now on currents."

"I don't have anything else to say to a person like you." I said.

"Are you sure? Most people have in the back of their minds I'm a weird person. I never understood why."

Oi, is this girl one of those socially awkward types? The one's who're incapable of reading the air?

That'd explain a lot...

"Maybe it's the way you act around other people. You speak like a robot."

"Kasai-san tells me that everyday."

I looked at Kasai, who was paired with Demiza. Somewhere along the lines, the concept of studying was thrown out of the window since the two of them were playing Vanguard.

From my view, it looked like Demiza used Shadow Paladin, and Kasai used Pale Moon. Edgy.

"How much of currents do you know?" Mato asked.

"Uh... well, they flow around a circuit as direct current or alternating current. I dunno much else."

"I see. Then allow me to draw this simple voltage-time graph. On here, I'll draw a straight a red line. This represents a direct current. This is because direct current flows in one direction only, so on the graph they have a constant voltage. Car batteries, dry cells and solar cells all provide a direct current."

"Oh yeah, the currents have different directions. Alternating is the one which changes, doesn't it?"

"Yes. I'll draw this blue line that goes up and down. This represents alternating current. This is because in an alternating current, the direction of charge regularly changes. On the graph, they appear as a curve alternating between positive and negative values. These positive and negative values indicate the direction of current flow."

I thought about it a bit. Well, that makes sense if it's negative. Current goes the right way, it's positive. Since in an alternating current, it switches around, it goes the other way, making it negative. Since the cells have positive and negative ends. The current starts at positive and goes to negative.

At least, that's what I think is happening. I'm not that smart.

"Power stations usually provide alternating current. The mains electrical supply is generated at a frequency of 50 hertz and delivered to houses at about 230 volts. This leads onto the next topic, household electricity."

Mato explains it fine and all, but I feel so bored. Everyone else seems to be having a better time than me. Hell, even Mitsuba is having a good time with Chikuji, and he's a sleazy pervert who'd focus on Chikuji's boobs instead of her tutoring.

"In domestic devices, energy is transferred from the batteries or ac mains, which we just talked about, to the energy of the motors and heating devices. We'll first take a look at plugs."

Mato pulled out her phone charger from her bag, and showed it to me.

"A plug connects a device to the mains electricity supply. Underneath this plug, there are five main components. The fuse, three wires, and a cable grip. On the outside, where cable is, there is outer insulation made from plastic. In actuality, this contains three copper wires coated with plastic. This is because copper wires are good conductors, and plastic is a good insulator."

"What's a conductor and insulator?"

"You don't know what they are? That should've been one of the things you learnt at the start."

"...I forgot."

"And that is why you should revise regularly." Mato said, exasperated.

"I revise semi-regularly."

"I'm surprised a punk-looking guy like you even cares about his education."

"I just don't want to stay in E Class, that's all."

"Then you'll need more than good academics to reach the top. Conductors are materials which allow current to pass through easily, and has a low resistance. An insulator is a material that doesn't allow charge or heat to pass through it easily."

I never had any plans to reach the top, honestly. If I get to at least C Class, then I'll be content.

"Let's discuss what's inside the plug. Firstly, the cable grip. This holds the cable tightly in place so that the wires do not become loose. Next is the fuse. It's a glass or ceramic canister containing a thin wire. The wire melts if current gets too high."

"So the fuse breaks...?"

"We'll get to that in a bit."

If the fuse breaks... isn't that a bad thing?

"There are three copper wires inside this plug. The live wire, which is coated in brown plastic. This wire connects to the alternating potential difference pushing the current in the circuit. The neutral wire, which is coated in blue plastic. This wire is connected to a voltage close to zero, to ensure the live voltage always has a difference in potential to make the push for the current. The earth wire, which is coated in striped plastic. It provides a path for current to flow from the case of the device to the ground if there is a fault."

That's a lot of damn wires... I tried to think about it and how they all connect together.

"So the live wire connects to alternating voltage that pushes the current. The neutral wire makes sure the live wire has a difference in voltage so the current can be pushed around. The earth wire makes a path for current to flow to the ground if a problem occurs."

"I may have taken your intelligence for granted."

"Oi, what's that supposed to mean? I might look stupid, but I'm smart."

"I heard you scored abysmally low in the first mock exam. You were one of the six possible failures, weren't you?"

"Let's not dig up old test scores. I got caught off guard. I'm planning to do better next time round."

"Then good luck. You'll need it. The midterms are harder than ever before."

"But they're not the finals?"

Mato bit her lip and stroked her chin.

"There's a rumour going around that they're going to use final papers for the midterms, and for the finals, they're introducing something new altogether."

What? Where did they hear that from?! Final-level papers for our midterms?! That's insane! If they did that, I'd have no chance at getting 80%!

"Where... where did you hear that from?!"

"Our homeroom teacher, Toujou-sensei, let it slip. B Class was told to be quiet, but now that we're in an alliance, keeping secrets is pointless and would create mistrust."

I scratched my head in agony.

"I assume you're not ready for this at all?"

"No... I'm not prepared. Not in the slightest..."

"Since how long have you been studying?"

"Since the start of May."

"And midterms are coming up in around a few weeks... then you have no choice but to begin studying everyday in order to boost your grade."

"This school is way too cruel..."

"Cruel? I don't think so. I think they're pushing us to break our limits."

"I think they're trying to fail all of us."

"E Class don't have much at stake, though? If we fail, we'll be sent to your class. It's just how it is."

Oh, yeah. E Class is the classroom for defectives. If a B Class student really fucked up, they'd get moved down the ranking.

In other words, this midterm could also be my chance to move up a class... no, there's no way I'd score enough to move up. That's impossible!...

"Let's forget about that terrifying exam. We have still more to cover. Such as Earthing."

I sighed. Time to get back to the swing of things.

"Without the earth wire, if a fault occurs and the live wire becomes loose, there is a danger that it will touch the case. The next person who touches the appliance could get electrocuted. That's why the earth wire is connected to the case and attached to a metal plate or water pipe underground. As the wire is made of copper, the earth wire provides a low resistance path to the ground, instead of passing through a person. However, this would generate a very large current, leading to intense heating which could start a fire, so a fuse or circuit breaker is also included in the circuit."

In other words, earth wire saves lives. The current will travel to the ground, but since it could start a fire, a fuse is included in the circuit to stop it.

"A fuse's job is to provide a built-in failsafe in the case something goes awry. As you know, the fuse contains a thin wire that will melt if the current gets too high. If there is a fault that causes the casing of the device to become live, a large current will flow through the live wire and earth wire. This high current melts the fuse."

And if the fuse is melted...

"As a result, the circuit is broken, and no more current flows through the device. This means the case of the device is no longer live and there is no more risk of electrocution. A circuit breaker can serve the same function as a fuse, but can be reset without the need for replacement if it trips. The fuse or circuit breaker must be connected in the live wire side of a domestic circuit to ensure that it keeps high voltage from reaching the user, or surroundings, if a fault develops."

It's like a series circuit, then? Where one breaks and the rest goes out. So they can use that to their advantage it seems. Heh, I feel smart when I analyse it like that.

"Finally, we'll look at electrical appliances. All electrical appliances transfer energy from one store to another. For example, a chemical energy store - in the fuel in power stations - is transferred into a kinetic energy store of a fan or an internal energy store in a cooker. The amount of energy transferred depends on the power and the amount of time the appliance is switched on for."

If I remember correctly, power is the energy transferred each second.

"The power of an appliance can be calculated using this equation."

Oh god... there's math involved... damn it, why?!

Mato wrote in her book "Power = Energy Transferred / Time". In shorthand, P = E / t.

"I assume you know the measurements if you got this far."

"Power is watts, energy is joules, time is seconds."

"Good. One watt is the power when one mould of energy is transferred in one second. Make sure to convert minutes into seconds for this. You can do it by multiplying the number of minutes by 60. For example, a hair dryer has a power rating of 1,500 watts. How much energy is transferred by the hair dryer in 15 minutes?"

Ugh, I don't want to answer this. I can't multiply 15 and 60 in my head!

"Do you require a calculator?"

"...yes."

I conceded and let Mato give me her calculator. It was a nice red colour. I punched in the numbers.

"15 x 60 is 900. Then if I put it in the equation... I need to rearrange?"

"Correct."

"I don't know how to rearrange..."

Mato looked at me blankly.

"That's... a middle school level topic. You learn it in your 1st Year. It's one of the core basics of algebra... You should know how to do this."

I didn't pay attention to crap in middle school. Mato sighed and taught me how to rearrange. It's pretty easy, actually. Just do the opposite function given to move to the other side.

"So you rearrange to make energy the subject. If you multiply by time, it goes to the other side. Energy = Power x Time. So if the power is 1,500 watts, and you have 900 seconds, when you multiply them, you get..." I plugged it into the calculator. "1,350,000 Joules. Jesus, that's massive..."

"If you divide it by 1,000,000, you get it in mega joules. 1.35 mega joules. Much smaller. However, that's not the only equation."

Mato wrote more equations down.

Power = Potential difference x current

P = V x I

(W) = (V) x (A)

"This means that the energy transferred by an electrical appliance can also be calculated from a combination of the equations already seen here."

She wrote down another long ass equation.

Energy = Potential difference x Current x Time

E = V x I x t

(J) = (V) x (A) x (s)

"Remember when you're working with mains electricity and appliance, the potential difference is always 230 volts. Let's try an example. What is the power rating of an electric heater that draws a current of 12.5 amps when plugged into the mains?"

"Power... so you take current and voltage to multiply. 12.5 amps multiplied by... Oi, what's the voltage?"

"When plugged into the mains mean the voltage will be 230 volts."

"Oh, I get it... you get 2,875 watts."

"Let's use the other equation now. If the electric heater is used for 15 minutes, how much energy is transferred in that time?"

"You take the 2,875 watts and multiply it by 900 seconds. So, 2,587,500 joules."

"Or 2.59 mega joules. Good work, Yukimura-san. You survived our revision session."

"Huh? It's over already?"

"It's now 5pm. Nearly everyone else has left. I think we should be going too."

I looked around and saw Kasai and Demiza were gone. Same with Mitsuba and Chikuji. Even Nora and Sekine were gone. Katsumi and Koishi were still here, alongside Rinbayashi and Ritaka.

"Time flies fast, huh? Well, thanks for tutoring me today. With that, I've finally completed the electricity topic..."

"It only gets easier from here on out."

"I doubt it. Science is hard as hell."

"It's actually really simple. Though, I guess you aren't a science-type."

"Yeah, I'm not. I'm only doing it since I don't suck at science as much as every other subject."

"Playing to your strengths, huh. I would try branching out to the other sciences too."

"I can only wrap my head around physics right now. Maybe when I've conquered it."

"You've got three years worth of content plus high school's content to catch up to. It's a pretty daunting task if you ask me."

"It won't happen overnight, but it will happen with my own will."

Mato nodded and held out her hand. I shook it.

"I wish E Class the best of luck."

"Same to B Class. Take A Class down a peg, will ya?"

"I'll try my best. But first there's another threat we must take down."

"Midterms, I know. It's shit."

"Not midterms, but someone else."

"Someone else? Who?"

Mato looked at the class reps, who were still discussing things. She then looked back to me.

"Never mind. I shouldn't get your class involved." She stood up. "Thank you."

Bowing, she left the library. I cleaned out my ear and yawned.

What was all that about?

I should probably wait for Sakigamiya to wrap up so I can home talking to her. That way I can also cuck Matsushita.

Just as I was smirking to myself, Machida stood up and left suddenly. Ritaka and Koishi saw this and looked at each other.

Koishi put away his things immediately and followed suit. Ritaka apologised to Rinbayashi, but forced his phone number upon her. He then left afterwards.

Rinbayashi quietly put the scrap of paper with Ritaka's number on it into the bin. Ouch. Just as she did, Katsumi wondered over to my table.

"Yukimura-kun, what's going on? Koishi-san didn't say anything to me and suddenly left."

"I'm guessing that Machida leaving had to do with it."

"Why did Machida-san leave so suddenly? I thought they were on good terms..."

Rinbayashi walked by us, leaving the library. I looked over to the class rep table, and Ichinose looked real depressed. Even though Sakigamiya tried to console her, she just laughed it off.

They exchanged some form of goodbye and Ichinose was off. Matsushita and Sakigamiya talked to each other for a bit, but then went to me and Katsumi.

"Let's go home now." Sakigamiya said.

"What was that all about?" Katsumi asked.

"Don't worry about it. It's something the class reps have to deal with. Not you guys."

I picked up my stuff and followed them as we left the library. As we walked through the complex hallways, I swear I saw Machida and Nora together in the corner of my eye.

When I turned to look, Nora was gone. Only Machida stood there, slicking his bangs back with a toothy scowl as he leaned against the wall.

I'm just imagining things, aren't I?

I really should get some sleep.