"Mean-eyed troll!"

"Unforgiving ninny!"

"Arrogant asshole!"

"Stubborn female!"

Chibi let out a wheeze and lay on the sidewalk, waiting for the fireworks to be over.

"Oh yeah, bring up gender, why don't you? I thought you were a genius, Irie-kun!"

"I never said I was a genius! And you are stubborn! And female! Plus," he paused to take a breath, "I'm willing to tutor you."

"Willing? Doubtful." She folded her arms and presented her back to him.

"Okay. I'm sorry I yelled. And insulted you." He circled around to face her. "Kotoko-baka brings out the worst in me."

Konomi snickered, almost against her will. "You bring out the worst in her, too. Sometimes she's scary when she gets on a roll."

Yuuki laughed with her. "You don't know the half of it." He quickly sobered. "It would be a good review for me. Won't you let me help you?"

"Well, as long as we study someplace other than your house!" She shuddered. "Kotoko-san probably would start making crazy plans again."

"With my mom right beside her!" Yuuki agreed. "Okay, library maybe?"

"Sure!" She gave him a big thumbs up. "Bye-bye, Chibi-kun!" The dog woofed in acknowledgement. "Say," she looked up at Yuuki, "why'd you bring him along? Trying to soften me up?"

"No," he snorted, "Mom had him at the front door and just shoved the leash in my hand. Seems he'd been whining a while to go out."

"Well, it was good to see you, anyway." She kissed him (the dog, that is) between his ears then looked up at the owner. "I'll see you tomorrow afternoon."

He nodded and turned away. "Come on, boy." Yuuki gave a tug on the leash. "No, we're not going any farther! I swear, one would think you had a girlfriend the way you always want to head that direction."

The dog cast one last mournful look in the distance but followed his master obediently.

Despite Yuuki having set a time limit of Christmas holidays for the study help, he never failed to assist Konomi afterwards when she came across a particular stumper. That is not to say that he did it without complaining, however.

"The deal was that I only tutor you over the winter vacation!"

"Yes, I know," she gave him a wheedling smile, "but just this one thing?"

"Ugh, that's what you've been saying ever since we started third term…!"

She pulled one of her mother's homemade macarons from a bag and waggled it in front of him. "Ple-e-ease!"

"Well, come on, then, what is it?" he growled as he snatched the cookie from her.

"Good luck, Konomi-chan!" Her mother and step-brother waved her off on the day of the qualification test. She had been treated to a hearty breakfast with plenty of fish to help her brain remember what Yuuki had tried to shove into it. Hiroto had even sent her a wake-up text so that she wouldn't oversleep.

Konomi chuckled as she walked briskly. Her head had never felt so packed full of information. She had a good feeling about today.

The sudden screech of brakes and a thud accompanied by a "Yip!" had her spinning around. What? Some idiot had hit a dog and then sped off like the coward he was? As she ran toward the prone animal, she got a dreadful feeling of familiarity. "Chibi!" she called as she sped up. The dog whined and turned his head to her.

She looked every direction, searching for an accompanying Irie, but saw no one. "Did you sneak out, Chibi?" she asked, patting him down to find the injury. When he whined louder as she touched his back leg, she rocked back on her heels. "Well, it looks like it's up to me. Let's see how much you weigh, big boy!"

Needless to say, Konomi was late to the test. After silently enduring a harsh scold from Sensei, she was allowed to take the remaining portions. As she glumly walked toward the shoe lockers, she thought she heard Kotoko call her name. Before she could lift her head, Yuuki's cold voice spoke out.

"Hey."

He was scowling at her, and for good reason, Konomi thought. All of his hard work gone to waste. "Irie-kun," she began.

"Pretty lackadaisical, aren't you?"

"Eh?"

"My classroom has a great view of the front of the school. I happened to be looking out at the beginning of third period. Guess who was high-tailing it in at that time?"

She flinched. "You...saw."

"Why were you late? Go on, let's hear it."

"Um," Konomi's brain, already over-stressed from the morning's emergency and the tests, felt sluggish. Even if she told him the truth, there was still no doubt that she had wasted his precious study time. She plastered a smile on her face and answered as unconcernedly as she could, "I overslept! I was so anxious last night that I couldn't sleep, and—" Once her tongue started moving, she couldn't stop it. "Haha, I totally can't believe myself either. I never knew I was such a Nervous Nellie."

"I thought you were serious," Yuuki gritted out. "So was that the extent of your determination?" The calm gave way to the storm. "I was stupid for ever helping you! You realize I'm never going to get back all the time I wasted on you, don't you?" Oblivious to the growing audience, he proceeded, "Whatever! Don't make the cut-off! Drop out! See if I care!"

The outsider among the teenagers suddenly burst forth as Kotoko shoved her way through. "How could you, Yuuki-kun? There are some things you just shouldn't say—"

He turned and gave her the hairy eyeball, as if pointing the finger at the true culprit.

Kotoko was only silenced briefly. "Hey, wait a minute—!"

"It's all right, Kotoko-san," Konomi said softly. "Yuuki-kun is right."

"Konomi-chan." Kotoko sounded as if she was about to cry.

"He tutored me so well, and I wasted all his efforts. It's no wonder he's angry with me." She covered her face with her hands. "I'm so sorry."

Seeing that all the females in the immediate area moved to engulf Konomi in sympathetic hugs, Yuuki ground out a curse and spun on his heel.

Dinner was fairly silent at the Irie home that evening, mainly because two of the family members were not speaking to each other. Yuuki left the table early. "Oh! Are you finished eating already?" asked his mother.

"Yeah, I'm done," he said quietly, heading for the stairs.

Concerned, his father called after him, "Hey, Yuuki? What about today's test?"

"I'm pretty sure I got 100%," he replied in a monotone.

"Oh, okay," Mr. Irie said, slightly confused. "Why's he in such a bad mood?" he asked his wife.

"Really, it's so unpleasant." She frowned after him.

Kotoko didn't say a word.

"Hey, what's this?" Naoki suddenly asked, kneeling down next to the resting dog. "Chibi, what happened to your leg?" He touched a professionally wrapped bandage.

His mother hopped up. "Oh, that's right, I forgot to tell you. When he came home earlier, he had that bandage on, and he's been dragging his foot a little bit too. He ran out again this morning and seems to have gotten hurt somewhere."

"What? Then who fixed you up, Chibi?" Naoki rubbed his head, but all the dog could do was whimper.

"It's a mystery," his mother pronounced. "There's no way to even thank whoever it was."

Meanwhile, Yuuki lay on his bed in his darkened room, recalling various looks of comprehension that had spread on Konomi's face whenever he successfully explained something that her Class F brain could understand. Idiot, he muttered, throwing a review book against the wall.