Our favorite time of the year came by, when the weather is hot, bugs are flying all around everyone and when we are forced to give our nationwide known mid-term exams, for this exams I was forced to stay more time at home studying aggressively

Thankfully it wasn't June, our school holds the mid-term exams early so we can attend a summer camp that it hosts, but we are not getting away since even when we are at a camp we are still progressing with our education

Funny thing is that I didn't even study the material given, I mostly studied the language, I know most things but I can't bring myself to write them on paper, math is different, I can solve the problems and the theory makes sense but as I said I can't write anything else at a damn paper

For me history and language are the hardest since it is only theory, of course, I have a little help due to the fact I was not raised in Japan but that still doesn't make up for all the lack of writing skill I have

"You should go out, too much time inside will make your brain go numb!" My aunt said as she dropped me some slices of apple that I requested earlier

"I know but I don't want to do poorly on my tests" I told her before eating a slice

"Well it's only some test, I would have understood if this was your final exam!" Hikita said as she left the room

Yeah like I care about that, Yua isn't going to shut up if she gets a better overall score from me, and I'm not risking her downgrade being for an actual reasonable reason, but now that she mentioned it I have many hours inside so I better head out

So that's what I did, I filled a bag with whatever I needed and went jogging at night, originally I planned on going to the gym but it wouldn't really make a difference from inside the house, right?

While I was running jogging I came across Inei, it seemed like he returned from extra classes or something, maybe cram school, I don't know might as well ask

"Yo Inei!"

"Su! What's up?"

Su? I guess the nickname Ichika gave me left a mark, I kind of like it

"What are you doing this late at night?" I asked him

"Oh you know, mid-terms are coming so I'm attending cram school, how about you?"

"Just jogging! Relaxing my mind from all this studying, do you have a moment to relax?" I said as I willingly pointed at a vending machine

"Sure!"

Inei and I relax on a bench near the vending machine, he bought a black coffee and I got myself some carbonated water, I heard it does well to you from the internet

"I kind of worry about my sister! I heard that you are tutoring her in math but I'm still not confident she can write well in math, it's just not her field!" Inei said as he sipped his coffee

"Well she doesn't really have to be the best, just pass the test" Inei looked a bit troubled by what I said

"Well she IS the principal's daughter, of one of the most academical revolutionary people in Japan that created many university, college, and high school level books that are spread worldwide so I wouldn't say she doesn't have to do well, you know people like us have certain expectations to fulfill" Inei looked very passionate talking about that

"That sounds lame, I wouldn't sweat it too hard just to meet some expectation someone set for me, just trying my best would do but I guess I'm not at the same level as you two" I swear that Inei looked a bit mad at my statement

"Image is everything in a society like this Iriasu, if you can't build something like that then you will get damned, don't confuse it with your island" He said with an aggressive tone

"Is this why you make your friends date your sister?"

Inei angrily got up

"Who dares speak this nonsense! I would never do something like that!"

"Relax, it was just a rumor I heard is not like I know who said it"

I lied, not to protect Ichika, but to protect myself, I don't want someone as powerful as him on my butt

"I don't like gossip you know and this school is filled with them so I suggest you don't believe and of course not spread whatever lie you hear"

I honestly don't know the truth but Inei does have a point there, I mean Ichika could tell me anything back there to convince me, plus even if I don't want to admit it deep down I wanted to make Yua break up with this third-year guy

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"Anyway, I don't like people saying stupid things either so you have every right to be mad at me for saying this to you" I told him as I tossed the finished can of carbonated water into the trash

"I'm not mad, I'm mostly disappointed you fall for something like that, you know people in this school aren't exactly angels so might as well watch your friends closely" Inei said as he also threw his finished can

"I will be leaving now, goodnight!" He told me, and he then disappeared in the night, I too continued my run

…

Day 1:

It didn't take long but one of the promised days came, it was the first day of our exams and it was math day, a relatively easy one for me so I went in with confidence

Day 2:

It was the day we wrote Japanese so I was screwed, I tried and surprisingly I managed to complete the test but let's not beat around the bush, I either wrote like 60/100 or I failed, because I can't see myself writing above that

Day 3:

Another easy day, it was the time we wrote English so being a native I had a complete advantage

Day 4:

Science time, I wasn't very good at that but I was good at memorizing formulas and funny things formulas were the only thing present so, 80+ for sure

Final Day:

Today was the final day, A.K.A social studies, well I never actually studied this subject since most of the things we did I understood them, it was basically history

…

"Ahh! I'm finally free from all this!" Takito said as he stretched, we were relaxing outside the school yards, waiting for the results of our tests

"Don't worry in about 7 months you will once again feel even more stressful"

Takito glared at me

"Why are you such a d*ck?"

When he told me that memories of his friends came to my mind

"I kind of have to, those guys back there didn't hold back either so why would I?"

Takito looked a bit sad about what I said

"Look, I would have told them to stop if they...."

"No it's okay, I know your situation, I'm just saying that if that happens again and you don't stop them, we will either fight or we will no longer be friends"

"Am I interrupting something?" Yua said as she suddenly came running to us

"Nah, just talking, how about you? Are you nervous about the results?" I asked Yua

"Not really, I was very confident about what I wrote" Yua pridefully said

"Good for you, but you will never be sure until you see it" Takito told her

Some minutes passed by with us talking about random things and suddenly the bell of the school rang

"EVERYONE INTERESTED IN KNOWING THEIR RESULT GO TO YOUR NEAREST NEWS BOARD"

Someone said through the speaker, all of us then quickly located a news board and made our way to look at the results

#1: Yua Yosuke: 96 points

#2: Trita Hanako: 92 points

…

#7: Iriasu Hikita 82 points

I was very shocked at the results, Yua saw that so she immediately started teasing me

"Maybe you shouldn't have taught me math, maybe you would have passed me if you didn't"

She said with a smug face

"Damn I managed to score above 80, I should go to a shrine to thank God, things such as these are simply miracles"

Yua looked very confused

"Y-You didn't get higher than me..."

"So? I don't care, we didn't agree to a competition or anything, plus I was expecting to write much worse"

That's the truth, English and math was the only thing I expected to do better than Yua, everything else I was sure I won't do remarkably good

Takito on the other hand looked glad that he even passed the class, and surprisingly I saw a familiar name second on the board, Trita, the book chick managed to rank second, it's not like I didn't expect it, I mean she gets very passionate when books are involved

After the announcement of the results, the school requested us to call our parents/guardians, since Yosuke knew that Hikita was at her job he told me to come to the office alone so I could get my grade paper

"Looks like you are happy about your results, huh?" My homeroom teacher asked

"I ranked in the top ten so that's good I guess"

She stared into my eyes, and then with a cold voice said

"When are you going to stop pretending to be a fool?"

It was the first time seeing her talk like that, she looked serious

"What do you mean?"

"Don't give me that, you know very well, you are not stupid, you could easily score above everyone in your class but chose not to, why is that?"

I looked away, I don't know what she is talking about

"You got the first science question right but then failed a similar problem after and when it comes to the truth or false you managed to score 0, you know that in a question like that there are close to 0% chances to not get even one correct right? Meaning you failed on purpose because you know every correct answer"

I was surprised Terresa managed to see right through this

"And what if I did?"

She smiled

"I like when people do things like that kid, I don't have a reason to punish you but I'm simply confused, are you doing that as a favor or something else?"

She asked me

"You don't have to know really, no one has, I like to picture myself as a free individual, I know that this school isn't everything in my life but for some people it is, I'm not these people so I can basically do this with no care, understand? Is a form to express freedom and to prove to myself that I can do whatever I want, and funny thing is that I ranked 7th, imagine what I could do if I actually tried"

Terresa looked excited just by hearing that

"People like that shouldn't hide their potential kid, and feeding your pride with this kind of action isn't healthy for you"

"That's your take on this, and it's acceptable but it won't make me change, I don't like being the center of attention and I don't like people surrounding me, right now I'm very peaceful" I said as I got up

"You truly are Domic's son, heartless and selfish but yet so talented..."

My teacher said once again with this smug smile of hers

"What did you say? You know my father, don't you? It's not the first time you said something about him so what's the deal with you? Explain yourself!" I said as I cornered her in a corner

"Violence huh? He was also fond of that, anyways if you really want to know I will tell you, why not? He was my lover, that's right, from middle school to high school we dated, but poor me, I didn't realize he was playing me all the time, but it's not right to talk behind people's backs is it?"

She said as she slightly pushed me away from her, she then walked away from me and back into her little office, she returned with my grades and a phone number written on a small piece of paper

"We can go out for drinks when we discuss such things right? School isn't the place to talk about past drama"

She said with a smile, she is weird, she always was but if I can learn more things about my mother then I can even try going out with my teacher...