Passes and Fails

"And then?" Kuma asked, starry-eyed with his hands wrapped around a bottle of juice.

"And then the strong ninja prince and princesses all fought the evil monster together and banished it! Never to be seen again!" I said, closing the book shut with a snap.

Kuma was still taken aback by the awe of being read such a book that he just shook in his seat for a few moments before grabbing it from my hands and opening it again, flipping through his new prized possession.

I had bought him this novel on my way back home from the graduation exam, it was marketed towards an older age group but I knew Kuma wouldn't have any issues reading it; I also bought Numa a toy horse so the boy wouldn't get jealous. 

"Aoki, can you read it again!?" he asked, putting it back in my hands. 

The words in the book were a bit too hard for the kid to read, but he found no issues listening to me read. Sadly, it was getting too late.

"Aoki? Why'd you stop calling me Aki? Think you're a grown-up now, hm?" I asked with a small smile.

Kuma shook his head, refusing to be teased and snatched the book from my hand with his cheeks puffed up. Numa giggled in the background, stacking the toy horses I bought for him on top of one another before breaking the tower down with a kick.

"Alright kids, time for bed," Tomo said, sweeping into the room and scooping the two kids up; they both wriggled out of her hands and opted to run up the stairs instead, hoping to get some more play in before bedtime.

Tomo gave me an exasperated sigh before walking up after them.

'...'

*Sigh*

I needed to get ready for tomorrow.

I walked into the hallway where my room was located only to be distracted by a crack of light coming from Sasuke's door, it was especially strange since Sasuke had told everyone he'd be going to bed early.

Unable to withhold my curiosity since the boy had gone to bed early, I took a peek inside.

I was met with the sight of Sasuke gripping the opposite ends of a towel with both hands, moving them up and down to polish his egghead.

*PF-*

I dashed to my room before I laughed out loud and alerted Sasuke to my presence.

It took a moment before I had managed to calm down. I was trembling trying to contain the giggles that threatened to erupt.

"Keuk... Pfft.. oh no... oh my god..." 

I covered my mouth and took a few deep breaths, unknowingly Sasuke had just taken off a lot of the pressure I was feeling tonight.

'Oh Sasuke, I appreciate you and that egghead of yours more than you'd know.' I thought, calming down and walking up to my school bag; filling it with everything I'd need for the week ahead.

Tomorrow was more important than any regular Monday, tomorrow, me and the rest of the class would get back the results from our graduation exam.

Based on everything that happened, I felt confident about passing... but I was still nervous as hell.

I silenced my overthinking mind and threw myself to bed, going over some of my plans one final time before closing my eyes, willing myself to sleep.

'...'

'...'

Can't sleep.

'Let's do some more push-ups until we're tired...' I thought, jumping off the bed and starting a quick workout.

-----

'1054...1055... 1056...' 

Sunlight peeking through the curtains blinded me as I completed my last sit-up, I winced slightly and got up to draw the curtains fully; I hadn't managed to sleep at all.

I sighed and got myself ready, arriving at the living room where Sasuke was munching on a rice ball with bags under his eyes, he looked even more nervous than I did! Considering that he doesn't have my stamina, he probably feels a hell of a lot sleepier too.

"Managed to get any sleep?" I asked him as the boy reached for another rice ball.

Sasuke just shook his head and continued stuffing his face, I guess stress-eating was a thing in this world too.

Although time moved at a snail's pace yesterday, it seemed to exponentially pick up speed and before I knew it, I was sitting down in my classroom, surrounded by a group of nervous children.

Even Ryoma, the class chatterbox didn't make a peep.

Everyone held their breaths as Jinbei opened the door and walked in, holding a stack of papers as he scouted the room, ensuring that all the students were present before plopping the stack of paper on his desk and turning to us, saying nothing for a moment.

If I didn't know any better, I'd think that he enjoyed this.

*Ahem* he cleared his throat as if trying to get everyone's attention, although this was heavily redundant as every single eye was trained on him.

"Your results are back." He said with an air of finality.

"This paper has everything from last week recorded, including the overall result of your exam. They are alphabetically ordered, based on last names," and with that declaration, he sat down on his chair and pushed the stack forward, inviting us forward.

Immediately all the students whose last names began with "A" stood up and made a beeline to Jinbei's desk, even students whose surnames began with letters near the middle had stood up in excitement.

There was only one person who sat down with an air of resignation. The only one who didn't have a last name at all, pushing him to the last of the group every time this process played out.

'I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing, but I have some more time to stew and worry I guess...' I thought, relaxing back into my seat.

Ryoma grabbed his sheet and instead of walking to his desk, walked up to stand between Arashi and me, his eyebags indicating a lack of sleep almost as bad as Sasuke's.

"Arashi... Aoki..." he put the sheet face down and slid in next to a seat beside us that was empty. 

Ryoma looked at us with tired eyes, "Look with me okay? I don't want to know alone..." he said, tapping the sheet.

Before any of us could reply, Byakko and Denki arrived, plopping their sheets down with a smack.

'Damn, none of these kids got any sleep.' I realised, noticing how each of them looked like they could collapse at any moment.

'If I threw a pillow at them, would they get knocked out first, or go to sleep?' 

Arashi started placating the kids about how they'd all be fine but I was too busy to help, it was almost time for the final sheet. I quickly made my way forward, waited for the line to finish and swiped the sheet without taking a glance at it.

"Ready?" Arashi asked as everyone got ready to turn their sheet up.

We all nodded, a solemn oath of understanding being shared by every student. By now, there was an air of hopelessness around the classroom, almost everyone had looked at their sheet immediately after getting it back, and if the mood was anything to go off, not many had passed.

I counted us down as everyone else was too worried to start.

"3...2...1... go!"

*Shoom!*

Selfish it may be, but I was fully focused on my paper as we all turned them upside down.

I ignored everything from my written test marks to the Jutsus and honed in on the line at the bottom which would decide my fate. My eyes grew wide as I read what it said.

<AOKI: PASS>

A stupid smile spread across my face, I resisted the urge to whoop out loud and flicked my head up to check out everyone else's results.

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[A/N: Any predictions for who passes and fails?

Powerstone goal for extra chapter: 370

Review goal for extra chapter: 25]