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26. Periodic Examination
More than one week have passed after that. A page of the calendar have been teared off, and it’s already June.
There’s no cicadas crying anymore, just silence. And yet, the heat fills the library room.
Although wind enters from the window sometimes, it’s useless.
The sounds of the writing pencil and the breathes of several people echoed in such library room.
[Gunununu……]
[Suu……Suu……]
[………]
From top to bottom, it’s Iwato, Eita, Karen and Ayame.
Iwato and Ayame are full of composure to the extent that they’re not even studying, while Karen is sleeping.
Upon looking at them, Eita shouted as if he can’t endure it anymore.
[Fueee!? I can’t drink anymore!]
And then, Karen leaked out her dream by the sudden shout.
–What exactly did she drink?
Is it shampoo? As expected of my pupil.
Iwato thought of such thing, but above all, he spoke to Eita who shouted just now because they’re in the library now.
[Ugu]
Eita unintentionally gulped upon hearing Iwato’s words, and he apologized to the surrounding students.
Ayame who closed the floating book while looking at Eita, opens her mouth to talk.
[[Gufu……]]
Ayame’s words dealt critical damage on Eita and Karen.
That’s right. What demanded by this Force Academy are experience in battle, absolute height of Battle Rank, and the minimum and neccessary academic studies.
In other words, this school provides studies that completely exclude the so-called 『Will this be useful in the future?』 in other schools.
That means 『Classroom lectures are not very hard』, and leaving aside the intelligent Iwato and Ayame, the two idiots is a little over the mark.
[A-Ah, I’m also an outdo……]
At the next moment–the two cast them away easily.
[Why don’t you go out of the wall if you’re an outdoor type that can’t study?][In the first place, while saying that you’re an outdoor type, your Battle Ranks are lower than us, isn’t it?]
[[Abuha!?]]
There’s no way to make an excuse anymore.
That’s right–though they say they are outdoor types, they basically didn’t study while in the class.
Karen will just sleep or eat something or writing her notes after looking at Iwato.
Eita just do nothing or sleep as if he don’t intend to listen at all.
If it’s like this, it’s obvious that there’s a gap between them and Iwato who attend the classes properly and Ayame who’s a genius that knew everything already.
Neither Karen nor Eita were able to defy them.
☆☆☆
That happened after school.
Well, you might wonder why they’re studying at this point of time. These two words is the answer.
Biku!?
In the Nagumo’s house which the population have increased by two.
While having dinner, Karen showed an excessive reaction after hearing Tsumugu muttering those words.
Upon seeing that, Tsumugu looked at Karen with an amazed look.
[W-W-What do you mean by stupid!? You could have say something like study more!]
[Stupid…that’s all. Improvement is…impossible]
[WHY!?]
Tsumugu who magnificently ignored Karen’s words, extends her hand towards Iwato’s handmade pepper steak–but she can’t reach it.
Ayame who saw that, used the long chopsticks to take several of those and put it on Tsumugu’s plate, but Tsumugu showed displeasure when she saw the plate with a lot of vegetables.
[No, Tsumu-san. You won’t grow if you don’t eat a lot of vegetables]
[Then, Ayame should…eat it]
[W-Wait, what do you mean……]
[Flat chest]
Tsumugu told her frankly and pushes the plate towards Ayame who’s sitting next to her.
Upon seeing that, Iwato had a dry smile, and Karen looked at Ayame with sympathy. And, Ayame trembles and becomes teary eyes.
Iwato sighs after feigned laughing in his mind, and he speaks to Tsumugu gently.
Will that solve–Everything was solved.
[[[Seconds!]]]
What an outrageous return.
Iwato’s face twitches in this situation without being able to say anything, and he brings the seconds that he made in advance from the kitchen.
Then, the girls rushed for the seconds before Iwato himself, and the competition for the long chopsticks began.
Apparently, they still have their reasoning because they didn’t eat it directly with the chopsticks, but the girls who learned that it’s Iwato’s handmade, don’t know the word “stop”.
[Who’s the hindrance!? You two usually don’t eat that much!]
[Kuu, you cow tits! What do you plan on eating this much!? How about using this nutritions into your height and brain!?]
The three who starts the quarrel.
The quarrel gradually heats up, and they gradually lose sight of the surroundings.
[H-Hmph! I only said the truth!]
[……Munch munch]
[[Ah!?]]
And, the two who realized Tsumugu eating the pepper steak while hiding, immediately tries to stop her–and the plate slipped.
[[[……Ah]]]
Gashaan!!
The plate fell to the floor, and the sound of the plate breaking resounded.
The pepper steak that was prepared on the plate, spilled on the floor, and upon seeing that, the three became pale as they realized that there’s another person in this place.
–This is the dish Iwato made with effort. Because of that, they struggled for it, and it became like this.
He’s surely angry. While thinking that, the girls looked at Iwato timidly–
Upon seeing him standing up from the chair with concern–their heart hurts.
[Aaah, what a waste. You girls still can eat…right? Wait for a while. I’ll go and make your portion……][[[I’m sorry!!]]]
There’s no greater punishment than tormenting them with guilt.
The girls lower their heads in silence towards Iwato who worries about them from the bottom of his heart.
☆☆☆
With this and that, day after day passed. Several days before the periodic examination.
[Huh?……Isn’t this kinda bad?]
Karen muttered so at this point of time.
Iwato who heard it next to her, sighes deeply and looks at Karen.
[Y-Yeah! It can’t be helped because there’s really no time to study at all!]
[Yosh, then let me explain it more simple. Because you have nothing but free time, you just spent……]
[Enough! I myself know that very well!]
Karen falls to her desk by Iwato’s merciless words.
That’s right. After all, since then, Karen didn’t study at all, and when she heard the word “study”, she would escape to Tsumugu. Even if she has a little free time, she would train. As if she’s behaving to escape from studying.
In fact, that’s roughly the right opinion, and in conclusion, it’s Karen’s fault because she still don’t feel like wanting to study even after being told so many times.
However–even so, Iwato can’t stand to watch a girl being troubled.
[T-T-Two of us!?]
Karen who raised her head quickly by Iwato’s words, and Ayame who looked at Iwato with a flustered look. And Eita who had teary eyes like an abandoned dog.
Iwato ignores the two, and asks Karen [Your answer?].
[I see, then okay]
Iwato said so, and smiled–
[If you failed in the first periodic examination of this school, you won’t be able to go for the training camp(宿泊研修) because the supplementary lessons overlap with it]
He exposed such an unfunny joke.
And by that, the class became silent, and there were few students having cold sweats and also the sound of gulping can be heard.
–Please just be Iwato’s joke.
Everyone thought of that unintentionally, but Nakajima-sensei who entered the classroom by chance, read the situation and said this.
It was Nakajima-sensei who’s slightly off in reading the situation.
☆☆☆
After that day, Karen and the rest studied desperately.
The male students who don’t intend to study up until now, start to memorize the test scope desperately, while Karen studied hard to the extent that she don’t even need Iwato’s help.
Because of that, the atmosphere in the class has changed to the extent that even the teachers will ask 『Did you guys eat something weird?』.
In exchange to that, the students in Iwato’s class studied desperately, and the day of the test is here.
–Iwato burned out in pure white upon looking at the test paper.
(W-Wha……Ha……….Eh?)
What occupied his head is countless questions.
Iwato attended the classes properly.
He wrote down the test scope, and above all, he studied the test scope beforehand.
And yet–why he don’t know the answers for the questions?
The past which Iwato desperately studied inside him, his memories, disappears gradually, and he recalls a certain memory from a few weeks ago.
Few weeks ago, Tsumugu unusually searched Iwato’s bag.
At that time, Iwato asked her this.
『N? What’s wrong, Tsumu? I don’t think…there’s any lewd things in there, you know? Probably』
『……N…suspicious, but okay for today』
She said that and stopped searching. Then, she wiped her sweats and said this towards Iwato.
『Nii-san…surely one day…remember this word』
『What’s that, something like foreshadowing before the final episode?』
『Nn…probably…after a few weeks』
Saying so, and the words she said was–
『I’ll say this now…sorry…Nii-san』
(She switched the important parts of the textbooooook!?!?)
In this periodic examination, it’s said that there’s only one person from the first years who had to receive supplementary lessons.
