Athletic Festival Arc
14 Tests and Seriousness
The card game tournament that had given rise to a lot of trouble had ended safely and Meru had recently become an executive. Thanks to the urgent holding of the tournament, an impending important event had been completely forgotten even as it drew near.
"Excuse me."
Meru opened the student council room door. There were still many critical eyes on her, but Meru steadily moved forward carrying her self-awareness as an executive.
"Meru-chan, you're wearing the summer uniform!"
No sooner had Meru entered the student council room than Fuuga moved to embrace her. However, Meru caught his face with an eagle's grasp and defended against it.
"Think about the meaning behind the summer uniform and behave accordingly, ok."
Meru's appearance was of a short-sleeved, black dress shirt with a red ribbon and a pleated skirt, not all that different from the winter uniform without the blazer. Today marked the start of the transition period, but the number of people wearing the summer uniform were few while the number of people who had just taken their blazer off was lage. Presently, the student council members were all doing their work in that style. As for why Meru had immediately changed into the summer uniform, that was because Fuuga was sweltering.
"Huh… That's strange."
When Laila muttered that from where he was sitting in front of his machinery-crowded desk on the edge of the room, Shoutarou and Yuuri responded from where they were working at the long table in the middle.
"What's wrong?"
"It looked like Fuu-chan and Ruu-chan had a pretty good atmosphere during the card game tournament."
On the day of the tournament, when Laila found Fuuga who wasn't showing up at the gym, Fuuga was hugging Meru while Meru was giving a rare smile.
"It appears as if that situation was just my imagination."
The three shifted their attention to Meru and Fuuga. Meru dealt with Fuuga vaguely and was placing her things in a locker near the door.
"Huh? Kamishiro-kun hasn't come yet?"
Meru sat in front of Yuuri and Fuuga sat next to her.
"So it seems."
"It's this time of year after all."
"Ah…"
Fuuga, who was set on hugging Meru, suddenly became meek the instant Yuuri and Shoutarou's conversation reached his ears.
"…? Rengetsu-kun?"
"Leave him be."
Shoutarou told her with an exasperated expression when Meru tilted her head at Fuuga who had fallen prostrate on the table. Meru felt that even if he said to leave him be, one would be worried if a dog that had been yapping noisily until just a moment ago suddenly collapsed on the floor.
"But even Kamishiro-kun can be late…"
"Being late is unthinkable."
A voice sounded from behind her and Meru looked over her shoulder in surprise.
"Wah, Kamishiro-kun. When did you get here?"
"A second ago. But I more or less got here before any of the other executives. I just went to take care of the last bit of work."
Hayate said while heading to the president seat in front. Meru was stuck on that "last bit of work."
"Ahh, you don't know, do you, Meru? The student council is the same as club activities where activity is suspended one week before exams."
That's right. The important event, finals, was in one week.
"Ahh, right."
"And so, Fuuga."
"Y-Y-Y-Y-Y, Yes!"
Fuuga straightened his back and turned to face Hayate.
"You don't have any obligations for your ranking, but make sure you study without sparing time to sleep. The excuse of being surrounded by girls doesn't apply. If when I see you, you aren't studying…you understand, right?"
Hayate said to Fuuga wish a full-faced smile as his chin rested on his clasped hands. The color drained from Fuuga's face and he responded, "Of-Of-Of, Of course!"
"Studying that much and not getting a high ranking is genius in a sense."
"Shut up, Laila."
Laila laughed and Fuuga pouted.
"Also, aside from Fuuga, everyone is required to enter the top five. Got it? Meru."
Hayate's orders made Meru blink in surprised. Thinking she had misheard, she repeated his words back questioningly to confirm once more.
"Top five?"
"Yep. People who stand at the summit should, more than anything, always stand at the summit. If you don't make it…"
Hayate took out mountains of documents from who knows where and placed them in a row on his desk. "You'll have to finish all of this," he smiled. At that, Meru sympathized with the reason Fuuga's face had turned pale.
"No..but, I'm always around the 100th rank…"
"You won't hold back anymore, right?"
When Hayate grinned like that, she could only forcibly agree in the same way Fuuga had.
And with that, the testing period began. Having become proud after Meru became an executive, Matsudsensei gave the outrageous order for Class F, whose students' average ranking was around 160, to all rank within the top 100.
"That Matsuda, isn't he riding the mood too far?"
During their study time, Maiko had turned around and was solving math problems on Meru's desk.
"But you're always in the 50s, so it should be easy, right, Maiko-chan?"
"That's because I can't go to my club if I'm in supplementary lessons."
When Maiko said that, Meru thought I see, that's how it is and clapped her hands together.
"What?"
"No, no. It's nothing."
Being suspicious of Meru's reaction, Maiko stopped writing and spun her mechanical pencil around, then opened her mouth as though something had come to mind.
"Speaking of which, the executives are always in the top five, right? Except for Rengetsu Fuuga. Especially the emperor as the top student with full marks."
"Ahh, it seems that way."
Meru answered carelessly, but Maiko guessed that, since all the executives were in the top five, Meru also had to get a place close to that.
"Will you be ok? Meru."
"Ahahahahaha."
Maiko asked worriedly, but Meru dodged the question laughing with half-open eyes.
"Kusuhara! Please teach me!"
While Meru and Maiko were spending the study time leisurely, Takimoto thrust himself onto the desk with the vigor of a wild boar.
"Ehh. Maiko-chan has better results than m– Sorry."
When Meru went to pass him off to Maiko, she was overpowered by Maiko's sharp eyes.
"I'm begging you! Kusuhara! Your notes are easy to understand! You're actually smart, right!? Look, you even won the card game tournament!"
"Ehh…"
"Ah, teach me, too. Kusuharsan."
"Me too!"
Because Takimoto's voice was too loud, their classmates gathered around Meru with their reference books.
"Meru, work hard."
"Ugh…"
Meru sighed heavily.
"Oh? Aidou-kun, you're heading back, too?"
After school, while Meru was by the shoe boxes, Yuuri happened to pass by.
"Ah, Kusuharsan. I was thinking of studying in the student council room, but…would you like to join, Kusuharsan?"
"Ahh, sure. Then I'll go for a little bit."
She still had time before she had to go home and make dinner, so Meru followed Yuuri.
"At any rate, Kusuharsan, you were still here?"
"Yeah. The people in my class said, 'Teach me' to me."
When Yuuri heard that, he said, "I want to get in on that, too," and smiled wryly.
"You don't need it, Aidou-kun."
"That's not true. My case is different from Kamishiro-kun and the others. If I don't study a lot, I can't maintain those grades. Well, that aspect might still be better than Rengetsu-kun."
Fuuga's grades didn't rise even if he studied, so Meru thought that Yuuri was certainly on the blessed side.
"Does it seem like you'll be ok, Kusuharsan?"
"Mm. Everything I heard in class and everything that was on the blackboard is in here."
Meru pointed at her head and Yuuri nodded in understanding. However, he soon made a baffled face and asked Meru a question.
"But if that's so…why aren't your grades in the top rankings?"
Because it was after school, the hallway connecting the second year building to the main building was quiet. Yuuri's voice sounded even more clear than usual, and Meru smiled bitterly.
"Memorizing everything perfectly after just one time is foul play. With that, taking a higher ranking wouldn't feel good, right?"
"That…did someone say that to you?"
When Yuuri asked that concernedly, Meru didn't answer. In other words, his thought was correct.
"If I get an appropriate amount of points, no one would complain and this memory also wouldn't be discovered, so it was convenient. But it's already out in the open so there's no point anymore."
Meru said carefreely, walking down the hall. However, because the sound of footsteps walking had changed from two pairs to one, she stopped and looked back over her shoulder.
"Aidou-kun?"
"It's not unfair, not really."
"Eh"
Without understanding what he was talking about, Meru asked for clarification. However, Yuuri said, "It's not unfair," to her once more.
"…?"
"Rengetsu-kun always uses his mind reading during class. So he knows what questions similar to the ones in class will show up on the test to some extent.
"Ahh."
Meru was halfway amazed that, even with that, Fuuga couldn't take a top ranking. Meru was taken aback by that and looked at Yuuri.
"Being able to remember everything is truly enviable, but I don't think you could get good grades with just that. If you don't comprehend the material, then similar questions would be unsolvable, wouldn't they? Understanding is a question of effort…so, Kusuharsan, you aren't being unfair."
Yuuri said with a dead serious face. She was surprised by his rare talkativeness, but more than anything, that was the first time anyone had said something like that to her.
"…Ok, let's go?"
Yuuri passed by Meru's side and stood in front of her. His ears had become a little red and Meru unintentionally let a chuckle out.
"Kusuharsan?"
"It's nothing. Let's go~"
Meru lined up next to Yuuri.
"I'm heading for the top five!"
"I won't lose!"
Meru and Yuuri shared a small laugh. There was still quite some distance to the student council room, but for some reason, it felt shorter than usual.
The testing period passed in the blink of an eye and the results were posted in a row in the hallway.
"YESSSSS!"
The one who shouted in the middle of the hallway was, as expected, Takimoto. Somehow or other, he had barely scraped into the top 100.
Maiko kept her usual ranking and Class F accomplished the brilliant feat of bringing their average into the 70s. Under these conditions, Matsudsensei would probably keep his arrogance for a while.
Meru headed toward the end of the hallway with Maiko.
Because the executives had already arrived, a crowd had already gathered and it was boisterous as expected. While thinking that if Fuuga wasn't there, the numbers would probably decrease a bit, Meru pushed her way through the crowd with Maiko.
However, when they went to push through, they found it easier to pass through than expected. Or rather, at the moment they saw Meru, the crowd began to whisper and make way for her. Thinking it was a privilege of an executive and admiring that, she arrived in front of the double-sized paper with the top 5 written on it.
"You, seriously, what kind of person are you?"
When Maiko looked at Meru with narrowed eyes, Meru had a little bit of panic written on her face.
"Yeah, I felt like I had done pretty well, but…"
"What…did you say…?"
When Meru muttered that, the nearby Shoutarou's shoulders shook. Meru felt bloodlust and went to hide herself within the crowd of people, but Shoutarou caught her collar from behind. Meru let out an unfeminine "Gueh."
"Me placing something like third is unbelievable. You…!"
"Shou-chan, you're acting unsightly. I'm frustrated about dropping a rank, too."
Laila rapt Shoutarou's head and Fuuga rushed over to Meru worriedly. As expected, since the main body of Fuuga's fans were there in the background, he didn't cling to her.
"But Meru-chan, you're amazing. I might be more surprised than at the card game tournament. About Shoutarou losing, too, but with Hayate…"
"Rengetsu… the 236th rank should close its mouth and leave this place."
The gloomy Shoutarou muttered with a low voice and Fuuga clung to Laila with teary eyes. The female students in the background were entranced by Fuuga's appearance. While Meru was looking at those girls in astonishment, Yuuri came up beside her.
"I said it wasn't unfair, but…"
"Yeah. I'm a little surprised, too."
"I'm surprised as well."
Hayate, who had been staring at the ranking list to an almost frightening level until just now, approached Meru and Yuuri.
"I'm surprised by you every day, Meru."
Hayate smiled helplessly.
That ranking list was something to be surprised about. Next to Hayate's usual perfect score ranking #1 at the top, one more name had been engraved…
Hah. Sucks to suck, Shoutarou. And so, we've entered the new arc, but it hasn't been officially mentioned yet. Probably next week. Hope you enjoyed next week, and please look forward to the next~
Side note, I really love Maiko.