It was private study time and everyone was expected to quietly study at their desks. Most people were at least. His neighbour, on the other hand, was fast asleep as usual.

"Honestly, Masato, you've got to study sometime," Riki muttered. His gaze wandered over the rest of the classroom and settled on Kud, who appeared to be reciting from a book. Mio had brought her chair over and was listening attentively. It was an unusual scene in the classroom so naturally his curiosity was provoked. Snatches of dialogue reached his ear as he walked over.

"Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand. Come, let me clutch... the?"

"That's 'thee'," Mio said. "It means 'you', by the way."

"Oh, really?" Kud tilted her head, her brow furrowing. "There are a lot of words in here that I don't know."

"What are you reading, Kud?"

"Huh? Oh, Riki. Nishizono-san's helping me out with my English. I'm reading lines from, um, what was it called?" Kud paused to check the cover. "Maku... vest?"

"You mean Macbeth, don't you?"

Kud's face promptly turned crimson. "Wafu?! I mispronounced the name of the main character. Even though I already heard it a few times. I'm so terrible at this." A dark cloud seemed to fall over her as she crouched over her desk and pressed her head to the wood. She started gently hitting her forehead against the surface. "I'm so confused because of all these difficult words and it's making my head spin."

"Don't worry about it, Noumi-san. Would you like me to read the passage for you?"

"O-okay... this Shakefear guy's writing is really hard to read."

Riki decided against correcting Kud this time. He did however wonder what on earth Mio was thinking, having Kud read Shakespeare of all things.

"Well then." Mio took the book and started to recite the words. "Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand?" Her voice grew ominous. "Come, let me clutch thee. I have thee not, and yet I see thee still. Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible to feeling as to sight? Or art thou but a dagger of the mind, a false creation-"

"Uwaaaaahn!" Komari's wail floated over. "Mio-chan is scaryyy!"

"Uuu." Kud crouched over in her seat, her small body shaking. "It's too scary, I want to read something else. No wonder he's called Shakefear."

"Oh? Is this not to your taste?" Mio shut the book, regarding her with a quizzical expression. "Well, it's understandable that it wouldn't be to your liking-"

"If you know that already, don't make me read it!"

"But, you see, it only gets worse after this." Mio's voice lowered and a shadow fell over her face. "He ends up murdering the king in his sleep. His wife helps with covering up the crime too."

Kud let out a yelp. Another wail was heard from Komari. Riki glanced over to see her covering her ears. It looked like she was pretty close to tears too.

"No matter how much the wife washes her hands, she can still see the blood on them, and it drives her to insanity, and finally, suicide."

"Nishizono-san." Riki wondered if Mio was aware of how much she was traumatising the girls. If she was doing it on purpose, that sure was awfully sadistic of her. "I think that's enough now."

"Hey, cut it out, you're upsetting Komari-chan!"

Rin's shout went unheeded by Mio, who carried on speaking.

"He commits murder after murder, even of his own best friend, until he gets defeated by a man not born of a woman." Mio's lips curved up into a smile and she raised her head. "Ahh, MPreg."

Kud was doing the same thing as Komari now, and didn't seem to hear her last comment.

Riki raised an eyebrow. "MPreg?"

"Well, actually, he was born by caesarean, but I find it fun to interpret the phrase in different ways. Anyway, the matter of how he was born doesn't change the fact he was still carried by a woman in the womb. I find the claim of not being born by a woman a bit odd."

"I see what you mean. Anyway, I think you need to take your audience into consideration when you're reading things. Why Shakespeare? That's surely too difficult for Kud."

"Yes, it is. In fact, it's not uncommon for native English speakers to hate it, and even call it gibberish. That's not surprising really, considering it's an antiquated form of English."

"Whaaaa?" Kud clutched at her head. "That's way, way, way too difficult for me!"

"Sorry, I thought I'd test you a bit but it seems it was too much." Mio took another book from the bag sitting by her chair. "How about Goldilock and the Three Bears?"

"Ah?" Komari had been whimpering with her head in her arms until now but the mention of that particular fairy tale seemed to have piqued her interest. "I know that story! I want to hear it!" She scampered over with a delighted expression.

"Now it's a children's fairytale?" Riki wondered why Mio even had a book like that on her in the first place. "Well, do your best, Kud." With those words, he left them to it and returned to his desk.