Bad Exam

After lunch ends Kei and the rest of the girls go back to the class waiting for the day to be over.

When the final bell rings Kei packs up his things and goes outside the school to the gate. He stands there waiting for Anna and Megumi to come out. Yuri has a club after school and Utaha has a part-time job she goes to.

As Kei is waiting for Anna and Megumi he sees a girl with long brown hair and brown eyes looking at a paper. She has a dejected look while looking at it and accidentally trips. So before she falls he catches her in his arms.

"Are you okay?" asks Kei.

The girl looks up at Kei with a blush on her face and starts stuttering. "I-I'm fine. T-thank you." says in a quiet voice.

"No problem, be careful next time alright?" Kei says with a smile.

He then looks down and grabs the paper that fell and the girl starts panicking.

When Kei sees the paper he realizes the reason behind her dejected moon earlier. It was an exam paper and she scored a 20 on it. Kei looks at the girl and she puts her head down.

He gives the exam back and says "I'm sorry for looking without permission."

"No, no it's fine you helped me after all and it's my fault for gaining a bad test score ehehe." She laughs at herself mockingly.

When Kei saw this he frowned. He knows the type of person she is. The type that believes they can only follow and can't help anyone. He also knows that they would sacrifice themselves for the people they love without asking for help.

Kei looks at her and decides what to do. "Hey, do you want me to help you study?" Kei asks.

She looks at him surprised and asks, "Why?"

"Well I am a good tutor and I know it may not be my business but you want to get better at your exams right?" Kei asks.

"I indeed want to do better, however, I am just not good at studying and retaining information." She says with a sad smile.

"Well, you should not give up so easily. There are multiple ways to help someone retain memory. So even if you can't find the right way, it doesn't mean someone else can't help you." Kei says with a smile.

She looks at him and for the first time since Kei has seen her, she smiles for real. "Ok, then I will accept your offer."

Kei smiles at her and says, "Okay then meet me at the cafeteria at school and I'll help you study. By the way, we haven't introduced ourselves. My name is Kei Himura, what's yours?"

"Oh right, my name's Ayano Tateyama, nice to meet you Kei." Ayano says with a smile.

"Nice to meet you too, Ayano" responds Kei with a smile.

"Oh I have to get going or my siblings will worry. Bye Kei." She says while running off. Kei waves back at her while she is leaving.

When Kei finishes waving he looks back toward school and jumps, seeing Anna right in front of him. She looks at him with a judgmental gaze and he starts sweating.

"Um Anna, what's with that look?" he asks nervously.

Anna looks at him with a glare "Who was that girl Kei?"

Then Kei explains what happened. When Anna hears about it she nods and doesn't say anything more. Kei wipes the imaginary sweat off his forehead and sees Megumi walking toward them.

They talk for a bit then head home. Anna and Kei walk the same way as Megumi and drop her off at her home first then they go to their home.