Ooishi Shuuichirou looked up at a notice board which was almost fully covered by several sheets of paper.

These were the results of the mid-term examinations.

Being the warm, friendly and caring vice-captain he was, he decided to study the first-years rankings; he hoped to offer some encouragement to those who did badly, and congratulate those that had received good results.

74. Mizuno Katsuo (257/350)
75. Horio Satoshi (256/350)
76. Katou Kachirou (255/350)

Raising his eyes to examine the top, he noted their only freshman regular's name.

3. Echizen Ryôma (346/350)

Nodding in approval, Ooishi moved on to the second-years' rankings.

98. Momoshiro Takeshi (201/350)

The vice-captain tutted, his arms now folded tightly. He needed to have a good talk with Momo about the importance of studying after this.

42. Arai Masashi (288/350)

48. Ikeda Masaya (274/350)

Ooishi was happy to see some of the non-regulars doing well (or at least, better than Momoshiro did).

12. Kaidou Kaoru (339/350)

He wasn't that surprised, he had several visits to Kaidou's class before and had witnessed him studying.

Shifting his position a little to the left, he tilted his head to read the third-year ranking chart.

From the bottom, he spotted a name he really did not want to see.

122. Kikumaru Eiji (197/350)

Ooishi twitched for a moment, then let out a long sigh. Once again, Kikumaru's grades were the worst on the tennis team. He had reminded his fellow doubles' partner time and time again to make time for studying, but in the weeks prior to the exams, Kikumaru seemed to have totally forgotten the concept of 'test' and abandoned all revision attempts.

21. Fuji Syuusuke (322/350)

40. Kawamura Takashi (296/350)

Fuji and Taka-san were at least accomplishing more than their redhead acrobat, but Ooishi noted that Kawamura's grades had slipped from last year.

Probably due to business at the sushi store, he suspected, making a mental note to speak to Taka-san about this.

Fuji, as usual, was doing better than most of the third-years. There was nothing Ooishi could critique on here.

6. Tezuka Kunimitsu (337/350)

Tezuka, being an honour student, had to keep his grades up or face…

Actually, Ooishi wasn't too clear on this detail himself. But he did know that Tezuka certainly lived up to be their captain – good in tennis and academics.

4. Inui Sadaharu (340/350)

After close scrutinising, Ooishi saw that Inui had topped the level in Science. No surprises there.

The vice-captain, satisfied at most of his club members' grades, turned around to walk back to his classroom, only to bump into a random student who was seemingly in a rush.

"Agh, sorry, senpai!" the student chorused, but took one look at Ooishi and skidded to a halt.

"Congratulations," he added, then ran away.

Ooishi was confused. It wasn't his birthday today, and he definitely didn't win anything lately.

It was only then he remembered the one person whose grades he hadn't checked.

He swiveled around to face the board.

1. Ooishi Shuuichirou (347/350)