Exams

Finally, the day of the exams had arrived. After two weeks of intense study with Ken and Sato-san, I felt somewhat relieved that our private lessons were over.

Don't misunderstand me, I had fun. We had a great time together, and besides studying, we engaged in conversations covering different topics.

However, it was a bit exhausting doing it every day. I thought I was well-prepared for the exams before the last two weeks, but I could never have imagined finding myself in such a situation.

Although I must admit, Sato-san was learning everything with terrifying speed. Even I was left speechless by her performance, which explains why she doesn't need to study as much.

The two of them hadn't shown up yet, and we only had fifteen minutes before the exams started.

Lost in my thoughts, I felt a hand reach out and grab my left shoulder. I slowly turned my head and saw Ken giving me a reassuring thumbs up.

I looked at him with a puzzled expression, and he seemed to understand, saying, "I'm telling you that everything will go alright thanks to your teachings."

"Oh, I see. That's good, I guess," I replied, still looking around for Sato-san as she was nowhere to be found, and we only had five minutes left.

But just in the nick of time, she arrived, panting and with a red face, indicating she had been running to catch up with the exams. The moment she saw me looking at her, she returned the gesture with a thumbs up and a warm smile. "I guess those private lessons were worth it after all," I whispered to myself, also smiling.

Once the teacher handed out the test sheets, the exams began, and I took a quick glance around to see how the other students reacted to the questions.

Most of them looked displeased and on the verge of tears, signaling that this year's questions were particularly challenging.

In comparison, the questions for me were normal—neither too easy nor too hard, although some still required me to push my limits to answer.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ken answering questions at an unusually fast pace, making me wonder if he was guessing or genuinely knew the answers.

However, he soon paused, indicating that not all of his answers were guesses.

Sato-san, on the other hand, answered questions at a slightly slower pace than me, which was expected considering her learning speed. There was nothing about her that could surprise me anymore.

I continued writing until I finished the test without even realizing it. Since I had nothing better to do, I decided to wait until the others were done.

While waiting, I started thinking about what I would do during the vacation. I was confident that I would get good marks, so I didn't have to worry about that.

However, planning the vacation was another matter altogether. I needed to think about where to go, whether to travel with someone, and who that someone would be.

I didn't want to travel alone as I'd be bored to death.

Having Sato-san along would be nice, but I wasn't sure if she'd be up for it. Though we were pretending to be a 'couple,' it was just a facade, and I knew she'd never have genuine feelings for me. I wanted to move forward with my life and find someone who could truly love me, but this situation held me back.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed Sato-san's company, but I also feared that my feelings for her might deepen if things continued like this, which wouldn't be healthy for either of us.

After a few hours, we finished our exams, and most of the students seemed disappointed. I felt proud of my performance, although I knew I could have done a little better.

Ken approached me, touching his head awkwardly. "So, how did it go?" I asked.

"Hmm, I could have done better, but I'm satisfied, not gonna lie," Ken replied.

Nagisa joined us. "Hello, Kurokawa-san," I greeted her.

"Hello, guys, how did it go?" she asked.

"W-well… great, haha," Ken stammered, laughing awkwardly.

"That's great, Ishikawa-kun. How about you, Takahashi-kun?" Nagisa turned to me.

"I did great, I'm sure of that," I replied confidently.

"Oh, I like that confidence, haha."

"Oh, Aoi… I'm sure you did well, right?" I asked her.

"Ah? Fine, I guess. Thanks for asking," she mumbled.

I gently touched her head and then held her hand. "So we're going to leave you guys. We need to go, okay?"

"Ah, sure. See you later," Ken said.

Of course, I did that on purpose. I wanted to give Kurokawa-san and Ken some time alone, hehe.

The following days passed, and we finished all our exams. Now, our break had finally begun. The results would be available in two weeks, so we had plenty of time to do many things and spend our time however we wanted.

"Any plans for our break?" Ken asked.

"Well…"

"Hehe, why am I even asking? You lovey-dovey couple must have already arranged something, right?" Ken said with a smirk.

"Ahh… well…"

"We can all go to the beach," Sato-san suggested.

"To the beach?"

"Well, that sounds like such a nice idea," Ken blurted out.

"Beach? I'm dying for the beach! Let's go," Kurokawa exclaimed.

"Okay then, I will talk about it to some of my other friends too," Sato-san said.

"Oi, Haru, tell Gyu to come too," Ken urged.

"Gyu? Damn, I have forgotten about him. That guy is always in his room plus he can't concentrate on his studies at all."

"Well, he is technically a university student, so…"

"Anyway, I will call him, I guess."

"Okay then, Beach it is," Sato-san said.

The weather was getting hotter – the perfect time for the beach.