Chapter 27: Mid-year Exams... (III)

And so, time flew by as Fuutarou and Kaori worked together to help Kaori improve.

Music was indeed the best way to help people like Kaori, who was musically-inclined, improve her academic results.

Like this, another month passed, and July had finally arrived.

Their mid-year exams were finally here, and everyone was nervous about it. Of course, there were people like Fuutarou who wasn't too worried. He had always gotten top scores for the entire grade since grade one, and he did not plan to change the outcome this year.

"Wah...I'm very nervous..." Kaori muttered as she looked around with nervousness present in her eyes.

Standing next to her was Shouko and Fuutarou, both of whom didn't look too nervous. Shouko had always consistently gotten above average results, and with Fuutarou's help at home, her results had only risen since.

Fuutarou looked at her and smiled reassuringly, "Don't worry. You have performed very well this past month. In the exam, don't worry too much. If you ever get stuck on a question, all you have to do is to take a deep breath and think back on all the songs I have played for you."

Kaori was about to thank him for his advice when he continued, "Besides, it's just elementary school topics. I don't think it would be that hard since what the teachers had taught us is very limited."

"Moo...of course, you can say that since you're brilliant. You're literally like the perfect student...I still wonder why girls don't flock to you every single day."

"Cause I've got my dear little Shouko to kick all the other girls away, am I right?" Fuutarou grinned and hugged Shouko in the middle of the corridor.

Shouko was a little embarrassed by his public display of affection but smiled nonetheless.

"I'll make sure you would have a happy school life without any excessive bothers around you."

"Wow...it seems that you've gotten yourself a very caring wife at this age. How lucky..." Haruma whistled at them.

"Yep. I'm a very guy." Fuutarou didn't deny it and did not release Shouko from his hug.

Ringgggg!

Kaori was about to say something when the bell suddenly rang.

"It seems that the exams are going to start soon. Hopefully, you don't fail. Otherwise, while we'll be out playing around and having fun, you'll be stuck in school with the teachers for summer school." Fuutarou stated while checking the clock.

He turned towards Kaori and spoke solemnly, "You don't want that, do you?"

Kaori looked aghast at the thought of not seeing Fuutarou for the summers and resolved herself.

"No." She said before lowering her voice, "Is the promise still valid?"

"Of course." Fuutarou smiled and answered, "So let's all do our best, all right?"

""Yes!!"" Shouko returned her hug before Fuutarou finally released her.

Fuutarou was about to follow her into his classroom, but he felt a tug on his shirt.

He turned back and saw that Kaori was pulling on it.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"C-Can...I have a hug too?" Kaori murmured softly.

"What? I can't hear you." Fuutarou cupped his hand over his ear and leaned in towards her with a teasing smirk.

Of course, Fuutarou managed to hear her, but his instincts to tease others kicked in once more.

Kaori recognised his usual grin and pouted cutely. She didn't reply to him and immediately rushed in and hugged him without warning.

"Huh?" Fuutarou was a little surprised but recovered after a few seconds of silence. He placed his hand on her back and started caressing it softly.

"There, there. Just do your best, all right? No pressure."

"Thank you..." Kaori smiled happily before skipping to her own class. After her hug with Fuutarou, all her nervousness seemed to have disappeared into thin air. She was now motivated to do her best. For herself, and more importantly, for the time she can spend with the boy who made her life colorful.

As Fuutarou walked into his class, everyone wished one another good luck, and he was no different. Most of the girls seemed particularly thrilled when they received their good fortune, while the few boys in his class were also delighted to receive their luck from him.

Though he was the most popular boy in the level, and possibly the school, there wasn't much jealousy flying around. With the skewed up ratio of boys to girls in the current society, each of the boys was 'trained' from a young age by their families to leave a good impression on the girls to have a bigger family.

Though some might have lesser popularity, most boys would have their own fans and secret crushes, so almost no boys would be jealous of another boy since they would be too busy with their own girls who would surround them.

"Hey, Did I just see that Kaori hugged you just now?" Haruma, who sat to the right of him, leaned in and whispered.

Fuutarou was confused but nodded his head nonetheless, "So what?"

Haruma nodded his head and stated in an 'I-know-it-all' tone, "Hmm...good. It seems that you've gotten your harem plan started at an early age."

Hearing what he said, Fuutarou almost spat at him. True, Fuutarou thought Kaori was an energetic, bubbly, and cute girl, but it didn't mean that he would instantly fall in love with her.

At best, he now had a positive impression of her due to her musical talent and determination to work hard.

As for falling in love with her? That was a thing for later. Right now, he had Shouko, who was staring intently at him with an unreadable expression.

"Don't be jealous, Shouko. You'll always be number one in my heart."

Fuutarou immediately turned towards his left and started coaxing his girlfriend when she suddenly giggled.

"Don't worry. I know that you'll definitely get a harem later on, seeing how kind your personality is. Even if you don't actively do anything, girls would naturally flock towards you. Just don't forget about me when you get all the beauties by your side, all right?"

"And an understanding wife too..." Haruma interjected.

Fuutarou shed an imaginary tear hearing Shouko's kind words before sending a glare towards Haruma that said, "Shut up!"

"Shou-chan is too kind~." Fuutarou didn't know who to thank for this blessed lady.

[You have a message. Do you want to hear it?]

"Eh? Open it then." Fuutarou was startled at the sudden message that appeared in his system and communicated in his mind.

[Hey, Fuutarou! How's life these days? I know, no need to thank me. Muhahahaha. Anyway, I'm here to tell you that there would be a surprise for you later on. Or will it be a shock? It depends on how you would see it.

And that's about it. So if you have any questions, try to figure it out yourselves since I won't be looking after you any longer. And if you ever want to thank me, just build me a shrine and worship me there as God.

Haha. I'll see you again after you die!]

"..." Fuutarou was speechless at this carefree God. He wondered what the surprise was but decided not to overthink it. He also chose not to build a shrine for now since it would take too much money and manpower to construct and maintain it. But sending a small offering wouldn't be too much.

As for the future, if he ever gets rich, then he'll build a shrine to worship God.

Fuutarou wanted to continue the conversation, but the invigilator had arrived, and the test papers had already been given out.

"Alright! You have one and a half hours to complete this paper. Your time starts..."

The invigilator looked at the digital clock as it turned to 0800.

"Now!"

And like this, their week-long of exams had begun.

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"And...time's up! Put down pens and pencils, and hand in your papers to the front."

"Phew...the week is finally over, and the weekends are here!" Haruma stretched out his hands and shouted excitedly.

Shouko also smiled happily while Fuutarou just yawned in boredom. While he did enjoy school, it was not due to the thing he could learn from there, but the friends he had. To be honest, if Shouko, Kaori, and Haruma weren't here, he would have chosen to skip elementary school and directly entered junior high school or even high school.

"What should we do now?" He didn't have many past times to enjoy and mostly played the piano during his free time. Either that or he would practice his taekwondo every once in a while to keep his body fit.

While the system said that there wasn't magic in this world, it didn't hurt to be strong enough to defend himself and his girlfriends.

"Hm...you and Kaori would be joining a competition during the summer holidays, right? Why don't you invite us and we'll watch you perform there?" Haruma suggested.

"I was already planning to. What I mean is what we can do now? There's one more week before the summer holidays." Fuutarou responded.

"What else can we do apart from our usual routines? You might be one boring guy, but I can't seem to get away from you."

Fuutarou donned on a shocked face and hurriedly covered his chest with his hands like a shy girl.

"No! I don't know about you, but I don't swing that way!" He replied with a regretful tone before hurrying over to Shouko and hugged her from behind, "I have Shouko here already, after all."

"This guy is your future husband. You do realise that, right?" Haruma said with a deadpanned expression as he looked at Shouko and pointed towards the guy behind her.

Shouko giggled at their antics and patted Fuutarou's head, "I know, and I'm lucky."

"Hey, no head patting me! I'm the one who is in charge of head patting you!" Fuutarou exclaimed, but he didn't dodge the head pat.

"These lovebirds..." Haruma was tongue-tied and sighed once more.

"Hello! How did your exam go?!" A wild Kaori suddenly appeared as the class door slammed open.

However, she saw Shouko and Fuutarou hugging each other the moment she opened the door and felt a little sour in her heart. Ultimately, she decided to push it to the side for now since she would be accompanying Fuutarou to join a concert together.

"Oh, Kaori-chan. How well did you think you fared for this exam?" Fuutarou asked. Although the deal was that Kaori had to pass every exam before Fuutarou could accompany her to join a competition, he didn't plan to follow it.

Whether she passed or not, he had already decided to join her for a piano-violin duet competition. He felt touched after seeing the amount of hard work Kaori had put in and had decided to reward her for her efforts.

Of course, he had another goal, which was to slowly build up fame. He didn't draw mangas because, firstly, he only got his eidetic memory on this life, so Fuutarou couldn't remember every single detail of each manga or anime he read or watched. And secondly, he wasn't good at drawing in general.

Since he had gotten the grandmaster's piano skill, he might as well use it to it's fullest potential.

For now, music was the direction he wanted to pursue. As for the future? Who knows, his goal and ambition might change.

This was his second life, after all. His job now was just to relax and hang out with his friends and family, two things he didn't have in his past life.

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A/N: Phew, this was one long chapter. I was planning to separate this into two chapters, but I'm afraid that some people might kill me so there we go. Like this, the mid-year exams are over and it's finally time for summer holidays!

What would happen in summer holidays? Will there be new characters?

And by the way, I changed the synopsis a little. I've decided to add a little supernatural. Nothing too differing from what I originally planned. Supernatural side wouldn't affect daily life much. Main thing will still be school life and romance.

I'll see you next week! Ciao!