Two days later on Wednesday, we got our test results back. Luckily for Eiji-kun, the day he forgot to hand in his worksheet also happened to be the day that it was announced we would have a reliever for a week while Sensei recovered from a cold. Thanks to this, Eiji-kun was allowed one more day to hand in his work; which I helped him with in the library after school. That hadn't stopped him from worrying about the other English test that I'd been revising for all night.

Eiji-kun came and sat across from me at my desk, not noticing the displeased look of the student who had left her seat at his mercy.

"How'd you do, Aoharu?" He noticed that the paper was still sitting on my desk, unturned. The nerves in my stomach were bubbling and fizzing, and my hands trembled from where they were clenched on my lap. I couldn't speak, I was too tongue-tied, so I just shrugged. Eiji-kun had his own results in his hand and he pushed them towards me, "Well, considering I didn't revise at all, I could have done worse." I let myself peer at his score.

67.

No doubt if he'd revised, he would have been one of the top scorers. Eiji-kun might like to act the tough delinquent, but I knew he was one of the smartest - if not the smartest - person in our year. I'd noticed it when we were studying - when I helped him go through his English worksheet yesterday, he'd ended up helping me more than I was helping him. Because of that, I realised just how low I would score on that worksheet, which just made me more nervous about my test score that had yet to be revealed.

Eiji-kun noticed my deadpan faced and frowned, "Ne, are you alright Aoharu? You look kinda pale."

"Really?" I felt pale. I felt thin and fragile and wispy - as though I would fade away at any moment. Recently I'd been feeling under the weather too, although I hadn't mentioned that to anyone. I'd been pulling all-nighters more recently as finals were coming up at the end of this month. Good - no, excellent - test scores were crucial for me, and then after that, I would have entrance exams for high school in January. I hadn't told Eiji-kun just how much pressure I had been put under; it felt like an awkward topic to breach, even for someone as understanding as him. I'd rather not trouble him with things like that. This was my problem after all.

"Aoharu? Aoharu? Oi Aoharu!" A hand on my shoulder jolted me back to reality. Eiji-kun looked worried.

"Are you sure you're feeling alright? Should you go to the infirmary?" I shook my head and smiled at him reassuringly, a habit I'd gotten into recently, "No, I'm seriously okay. Now then," I clapped my hands and dipped my head in silent prayer, "Time to look at these results."

I flipped my test over quickly and relief washed over me when I read the number.

99.

"No way Aoharu! You're amazing!" I blushed at the compliment and tried to slow down my heartbeat. I had been beyond nervous, but it seemed I had nothing to worry about - my all-nighter had pulled off, and if I worked hard like I had been until finals, I might just score high enough to not disappoint my family.

"I did it," I exhaled happily, "Arigatou, Eiji-kun."

He looked away with a shy pout forming, "I didn't do anything."

"No, you did. Thank you for supporting me these last two months." He blushed harder, "Then do you want to go somewhere after school today?" He caught sight of my face, "Not anything weird! I just meant to hang out - we don't really hang out unless there's some test to study for or cleaning duty."

I bit my lip. I knew that mother had set a rule that I was to go straight home after school when I wasn't on duty or studying in the library. Unplanned social calls were completely off limits... but today I'd have good news to tell her... So, maybe... Just this once would be okay.

I nodded, "Mmmm! I'd like that."

He looked relieved, "Cool! Then you can show me around the city, right? I haven't had a chance to look around properly and it would be cool to go somewhere and not look like an idiot who's got himself lost."

I didn't have the heart to tell him that I barely knew the city either. I only knew the area around my previous schools, and my home. Oka-san never let me go into the city with friends before - not that I'd ever had the opportunity.

"That sounds nice," I nodded with a small smile.