42ND GEAR - THE BLOODY AFTERMATH OF EXAMS

After two weeks of hardships, headaches, and night crams, the midterm exams are finally over. Those fourteen days have gone by so quickly that I couldn’t remember much of it, except those illegal nighttime practices Flu and I did. We limited our nightly practice to two hours during weekdays and three hours on weekends, which is quite the same time we spent our hours studying.

I just hope the results would be favorable to us.

I was waiting outside our classroom for about five minutes now. I just finished the last exam of my class, and I’m planning to wait for Flu to finish too. I looked at my test papers which have a passing average score of B. I don’t mind the mundane score as long as I get to finish the course.

Suddenly, the door opened, revealing Flu’s face with a smug. When she saw me, she smiled wide like a kid who just won candy.

“Look, Coach!” Flu revealed her test paper to me. She got a lot of C’s, but there are B’s on her scores too. “Look, I passed!”

“That’s great!” I smiled back. “Now we just have to submit our scores to Prez so that we can now be free from the shackles of this hellish day.”

“Yes! We can finally do some real practice! Hooray!” Flu celebrated with her arms raised.

“Shush!” I kissed my index finger to silence Flu. “Some students are still taking their exams!”

“O-Oh, right. S-Sorry!” Flu covered her mouth and whispered.

“Let’s go to the Students Affairs Office. Prez told us to meet there.” I said.

Flu excitedly nodded in affirmation.

We started to walk through the corridors when I noticed that Flu was humming a hymn I immediately recognized from my high school years. It didn’t take long before she started mumbling the lyrics.

“Rumbling! Rumbling! It’s coming! Rumbling! Rumbling!”

“Bewaaaaaaaare!” I continued her lyrics with my pretend death metal voice. “Coming for youuuuuuu!”

“Whooaaa!” Flu smiled in amazement. “You know that song?”

“Of course, that was my favorite anime!” I said.

“Yeah! It’s awesome, right!?” Flu pumped her fists. “I never thought you to be an anime guy! I thought you were just a serious person who loves to be left in silence!”

“I’m not as boring as you think, you know. Those animes are the only ones that lighten up my childhood since I do not have friends.” I said.

“We are quite the same, coach! I love those classic animes, especially those that rely on the power of friendship! But since I’m a failure, I often relate myself to anime characters who will train hard and work to the bone until they are strong enough to beat the villain!”

I guess Flu has inherited most of those classic anime tropes. She kept on practicing and training speed spells in her quest to become the Speedmage Champion. I think she also inherited her personality from those loud airhead main characters in those classic animes. Believe it.

We finally reached the door of the Students Affairs Office. I still feel quite nervous even though we have no violations to be summoned here. We are here to talk to Prez Ericka, and not Professor Azure. But the goosebumps are still real as ever.

I knocked three times and then opened the door. There, I saw Professor Azure and the President of the Merry Knights Guild having a chat over a cup of tea and biscuits. This is quite a picturesque scene where two beautiful sisters with blue hair and crimson violet eyes have a peaceful tea time together while the wind on the window behind them blows the curtain.

“Oh, your ace members are here.” Professor Azure smiled.

“They are not my aces. I am still the ace of the club!” Ericka puffed her chest.

“You should be honest with them sometime.” Professor Azure grinned.

“I am honest!” Ericka burst out. She put her cup of tea down and then cocked her head towards Flu and me. “So? How are your exams?”

Flu went ahead and exploded with happiness. “We passed, Prez! We can go practice now, can we!?”

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“Let me see your scores first,” Ericka said as she opened her hand wide. She’s acting more like her sister Miss Terror. I guess it runs in their blood.

Flu and I gave our test papers to our president, and she started to scan through our scores. Professor Azure also took a peep at our papers. While the two sisters are busy, Flu can be seen marching around while chanting “Practice! Practice! Practice!”. Guess who’s eager to practice?

After a few moments, Ericka scrunched her eyebrows. Professor Azure also had this forced smile.

“Wha… What the hell are these scores!?” Prez roared.

“Ack!” Flu stopped marching and chanting and froze like a statue.

“Why? What’s the problem? We passed, didn’t we?” I asked.

“Yes, you two passed, but barely! You guys should study more for the finals!” Ericka roared.

“U-Uwuuuu…” Flu started to whimper like a scared kid.

Ericka crossed her arms and then looked at my pink-haired classmate of mine. “Tell me honestly, Flu. How many hours did you a lot for studying?”

“A-About two hours a day?” Flu gave a wry smile.

“And how many hours did you spend practicing with your coach?”

“Wait, you know that!?” Flu cried.

“Answer!” Ericka roared.

“A-About two to three hours.” Flu bowed down.

“And how many hours did you spend sneaking out trying to test out your new speed spells in secret and alone?”

“Y-You know that too!?” Flu gasped.

“Wait, you’ve been practicing in secret other than our secret practice!?” I asked.

“Answer!” Prez shouted once again.

“O-Oh, a-about two hours too. Tahahaha.” Flu scratched her head. “I-I’m so sorry, Prez.”

“Okay, apology accepted. Next time you should focus on studying instead of running around.” Ericka said.

That was quite a quick sermon from her. I can finally rest my shoulders knowing that I might get off the hook easily since my grades are better than Flu’s.

“One thing I will not accept an apology though is Jon!” Ericka pointed at me as if I were a criminal inside a trial court!

“M-Me!?” I pointed at myself.

“Yes, you!” Ericka said as she revealed my test papers. “What did you do with this exam!?”

“What did I do? I answered it of course.” I said with a smart-aleck smile.

“You answered it perfectly for the first eighty items! All are correct! But why didn’t you answer the rest? All your answers from items 81 to 100 are left blank!”

“Do I need to? 75 is the passing score, so I think answering 80 is enough. I’m 100% confident in my answers so I can just leave it at that.”

“You cannot leave it like that, you magicless dwarf! You could have perfected the exams, but you purposely did not finish answering all of them!” Ericka sermoned.

I started cleaning my ears with my pinky because the useless president’s shouts is making my earwax dance around my eardrums. “Eeeh? I’m too lazy to finish all the questions. I just needed a passing score anyway, so I see it as counter-productive.”

“How cocky are you!? You could have failed the exams if you answer some of these wrong! Overconfidence might get you a failing grade in the finals!”

“As I told you before, I was 100% sure of my answers. No need to worry, no need to worry.” I said lazily.

“Grrrrr!” Ericka clenched her fists, crumpling my test papers as a result. She is trembling as a result of her suppressing her anger, but she’s doing a bad job.

In fact, I can see frozen fractals of mana gathering around her. I think I will be frozen to death by her killing spell. I was preparing myself to sprint toward the exit, but then again, Ericka is a Speedmage. She could easily catch up to me and turn me into a popsicle in a blink of an eye.

Thankfully, somebody just appeared to ease the tension in this room.

“Ahahaha! I’m here!” Cruzo opened the door as his entrance. He has a wide smile on his face.

“Cruzo!” I immediately went behind our panda upperclassman and hid. I think his fats would be enough to catch all those ice magic that Ericka can cast, so I will be using him as a human shield! “Please protect me from the Useless Prez!”

“Useless Prez!?” Ericka’s anger stockpiled!

“Ahahaha! Don’t worry, Jon! I cannot assure you that I can protect you, but I can assure you that we can die together!” Cruzo continued to beam a smile.

“Eh? What do you mean?” I tilted my head.

“I got an F in one of my subjects!” Cruzo gave a thumbs-up and a dazzling smile!

“...”

“...”

“...”

“...Heh.”

All of us are silent, except for Professor Azure who just gave a single chuckle. She knew how much deep shit we are in. And she knew how furious Ericka can be.

“W-What did you just say, Panda!?” Ericka’s hands and feet are now covered with ice armor. The room has become ice-cold, and there is already a blizzard brewing.

“Don’t worry, Prez! Even though I got an F, I was granted to take a remedial exam! So all is well that ends well! Ahahaha!” Cruzo laughed from his diaphragm.

“Then let’s get you studying then! I will teach you personally so that you will either pass or die!” Ericka grabbed Cruzo’s wrist, which was immediately frozen solid! Then the president of ice dragged the poor giant panda towards the exit.

“A-Adios! Ahahahahaha…” Cruzo laughed but each syllable was one degree closer to despair. That laugh was just him to save face and show a brave front. He knew that Prez will be furious at him.

When the doors closed, the blizzard almost immediately faded. The only ones left in here are Flu, me, and Miss Terror. Professor Azure took a sip of her now-cold tea before smiling back at us.

All of a sudden, Flu raised her hand as if she was eager to answer a recitation.

“Oh, oh! How about Prez, Miss Terror- I mean, Professor Azure!? How did her exams go?” Flu asked.

“No need to worry. Ericka got an A+ in all her subjects. She is an aspiring valedictorian, so she has to keep her grades almost perfect.” Professor Azure nonchalantly said.

“A-Almost perfect!?” Flu became pale and her eyes opened round and wide. Her jaws are even hanging so that it’s about to fall off. “I-Is she an alien!?”

Professor Azure just ignored Flu’s remark as she gulped down the last of her cold tea. Then she looked at us in the eyes with a crimson-purple glint. Her smile is still there, but it’s not menacing or adorable. Her smile looked teasing as if she is offering a challenge to us.

“So, you two can now focus on the Regional Speedmage Tournament. Are you two ready?”

Flu looked at me with a cheerful smile before answering our professor.

“Ready!”