Disclaimer: I do NOT own Love Live!

The end of May was near, and that signals a few things for the students of Otonokizaka High School. Summer is almost near, but that means they have exams to pass first. And while it's not quite as bad as last term, Muse still has some concern for three of their members and their grades.

"Come on, Honoka-chan, just a few more problems," came Umi's voice.

"I'm trying, I'm trying." Honoka erased another mistake.

"No, no, not that equation. You use this one for these kinds of problems."

"Umi-chan, ease up a little," Kotori said uneasily.

"She has to get this for the exam though."

"Yes, but raising your voice isn't making it easier on her."

"Ah...sorry."

"Umi-chan," came Honoka's voice again. "Is this the right one?"

"No. Here." Umi wrote in Honoka's notebook. "This should help you remember which to use."

"Mm.. okay. Thank you."

Meanwhile, in a different part of the clubroom.

"Always so hard working."

"Nico-chan," came Eri's voice.

"Huh?"

"Come on, don't get distracted."

"R-right." Nico turned away from watching Honoka being tutored by Umi and Kotori. She finished writing something in her own notebook.

Eri read it over. "Mmm... ok. Onto the next prompt."

"Here you are," Nozomi handed Nico the paper with prompts, with the next one circled.

"W-why..."

"You need to be able to write no matter the prompt, Nico-chi."

"But this?"

"You're wasting time questioning things," Eri reminded her.

"Right, right." Nico started writing the next essay.

And it another part of the clubroom.

"I don't think she's having too much trouble over there.."

"Hey, Maki-chan," Hanayo called.

"Huh?" Maki turned away from the third-year trio and back to her group.

"Come on, now.. You need to help me with Rin-chan."

"Right." She looked at Rin's paper. "No Rin-chan, this is how you get the atomic number."

"Eh? But I was doing what you told me already," Rin looked at her paper confused.

"That was for the last question, which was asking something different."

"These terms need to be easier to remember."

"You just have to take the time to remember them."

"But the way you explain it is confusing."

"Rin-chan, I'm saying it simply as it can be said."

"Really...?"

Maki gave Hanayo a look, who gave a little laugh in return. As Maki turned back to Rin to help, Hanayo looked passed Maki at the third-year trio. "I wonder how they are keeping her on track so easily," she wondered to herself.

One of the two in question looked up from Nico's paper and looked at the second-year trio, particularly at Honoka who was focused on her work. "She seems to be doing fine," she thought.

"Eri-chi, if you're going to tell Nico-chi to focus, you should focus as well," Nozomi's voice came.

"A-ah, right," she turned back to Nico's paper as Nico continued writing.

"Done!" Honoka immediately laid her head on the table.

Umi read over the problems. "Mhm, they're fine. You can take a break now."

Kotori giggled at Honoka's immediate reaction. She patted Honoka's back for her hard work.

"Am I almost done?" Rin asked.

"Finish that page, Rin-chan." Maki replied.

"Alright..."

Nico just sighed at her half-finished essay and continued writing. Eventually the two of them finished as well, and everyone decided to take a break.

"Why are these study sessions getting longer and longer.." Nico asked tiredly.

"Because you decided not to study until now, so we have to make up for lost time," Maki said.

"Three hours straight, though?" Rin asked.

"We may have saved the school but you still need to keep your grades up, you know," Eri said.

"Make sure to do well, or extra classes won't be the only thing you'll have to worry about," Nozomi said, with a hint of mischief. Nico and Rin both immediately nodded their understanding.

"I don't think you need to go that far, Nozomi-chan.." Hanayo said.

"I think a little motivation could go a long way," Umi thought.

"What are you trying to do to us Umi-chan?" Nico asked, a little exaggerated.

"I almost agree with Umi-chan in this case," Maki said. Eri and Hanayo both nodded.

Rin grabbed onto Nico. "Nico-chan everyone's turning against us."

Nico held onto Rin. "This doesn't look good. We need to get out of here now."

"Oh, you're not going anywhere you two," came Nozomi's voice.

Hanayo and Maki grabbed Rin and Nico from behind to keep them from moving. "This is for your own good, you two," Hanayo said playfully.

"K-Kayo-chin?" Rin said in surprise.

"Maki-chan, let go," Nico said, struggling to break free.

"N-no can do, Nico-chan. You can't escape," Maki said.

Kotori watched a little off to the side as the girls continued to play. She was quite content where she was to just watch. Also, there was someone she was keeping her eye on. Honoka this whole time had been laying on the couch. Though she looked forward to taking a break, she was already back to working. She was reading one of the books they'll be tested on while she lay on the couch.

Eri turned away from the playful scene that continued and looked to Kotori, noticing she wasn't joining in. "Kotori-chan?" she called out. Kotori turned, put one finger to her lips to ask Eri to be quiet, then pointed her finger toward Honoka. For the first time Eri noticed that Honoka hadn't been with them during this break. She sat next to Kotori, facing the others to be less suspicious, and whispered to Kotori.

"Has she been working this whole time?"

Kotori nodded. "She didn't take much of a break either. I turned for a few minutes after everyone else came over and when I turned back she was already reading."

"Not going to help?"

"She's just reading, I think she'll be fine for now." Kotori seemed quite confident in that considering how much Honoka had asked for help earlier.

Eri believed Kotori. Even so, as she got back up, she went to Honoka, rather than rejoining the others.

"Hey, Honoka-chan," she said as she got up to Honoka.

Honoka looked away from her book as she heard her name. As she saw Eri, she gave her a small, tired smile. "Hi, Eri-chan."

"Back to working already? Didn't you want a break?"

"Yeah.." Honoka said, returning her attention to the book. "I took a break. I know you all don't want us to take too long of a break until we're better with the material."

"Even so, you should still give yourself more rest than that."

"I suppose. I'm not really good with poetry, though. So I thought I should put in extra work for it."

Eri looked a little surprised. "Is this really the same Honoka that I met earlier in the year?" she thought to herself. When Eri first met Honoka, she definitely didn't see her as the type to be this dedicated to something like studying. Yet here she was in front of her, reading rather than playing with everyone else during break.

Eri pulled one of the seats from the table and sat down where Honoka lay on the couch. "Well, how about I help you then?"

Honoka looked from her book to Eri again. "Eh? Are you sure? You don't have to you know."

"Y-yeah I know, but someone should make sure you're understanding everything." Eri wasn't looking at Honoka as she spoke, though.

"Well, I'd be glad to have your help then," Honoka said with another small smile.

Eri relaxed a little at that. "Well, how about you read it out loud, then tell me what you think it means."

Honoka nodded, then began reading the page to Eri.

Back where the others were, two girls had noticed that Eri and Honoka weren't with them.

"Oh? What are those two doing over there..." one thought, her chest tightened a little at the sight.

"Eh? She's still working even now? She's supposed to be taking a break right now." the other thought, though in admiration that Honoka was working so hard. The thought was interrupted as a voice called her back to her senses.

"Nico-chan, Nico-chan!"

"Eh?" she turned to face who called her name.

"Come on, you should get back to work now," Maki told her.

"Eh? That break didn't feel long enough.."

"Enough complaining. Here I'll help you while Eri's helping Honoka." she led Nico, who was still was half paying attention to her surrounds, to one of the three work spots they created.

"Nozomi-chan?"

The voice snapped Nozomi out of her own thoughts. She turned from where Honoka and Eri were to look at who called her. "Yes, Hanayo-chan?"

"It looks like we're getting started again. You should probably help one of the three," she told Nozomi.

"Kayo-chin," Rin said, grabbing hold of Hanayo's arm. "Come on, help me with this."

"Alright, alright," Hanayo replied, and she and Rin walked to the other work area.

Nozomi, Kotori, and Umi had yet to choose where to go.

"Who are you two going to help?" Umi asked them.

Nozomi looked again at where Eri and Honoka were. "I think I'll help over there," she said, and moved toward them.

"What about you, Kotori-chan?"

Kotori wasn't paying attention. She looked in the same direction as well. "Maybe I'm too late?" she thought to herself.

"Kotori-chan?" Umi called again.

Kotori snapped out of her thoughts. "Uh, what?"

"Who are you going to help?" Umi repeated.

"Oh. Uhm... I'll go help over there," she indicated Nico and Maki, and got up to move over there.

"Are you alright, Kotori-chan?"

"Y-yeah.. I'm fine.." Kotori tried to put on a smile and walked to where Nico and Maki were.

Umi looked after her. She wasn't convinced with Kotori's response, but she decided it could wait till later. She went to join Rin and Hanayo.

Muse continued to have these after school study sessions for the rest of the week. The other girls made some time to focus on their own studies as well as helping Honoka, Rin, and Nico. After a seemingly long week, Friday finally came. The girls were wrapping up their last study session.

"Alright everyone," Eri said. "Next week we have exams. I expect passing grades from everyone."

Everyone nodded. Eri continued.

"Make sure to study over the weekend, but don't push yourselves too hard. You also need to be rested properly all week so you can focus during the exams."

While Eri said that for everyone, there was one person in particular that came to mind. A few eyes wandered to the ginger-haired girl in question.

"You all worry too much," Honoka said, noticing a few girls turn to her. As she said it though, it was obvious to anyone who looked at her right now how tired she was. Honoka had spent a few nights studying as well, and it was showing to the other girls.

"Like I said." Eri wasn't being as subtle anymore, as she looked directly at Honoka as she spoke. "Please get some rest this weekend."

Honoka nodded. She knew she would be trapped if she tried to argue or anything at this point.

"Just the same, don't only take it easy this weekend," Maki said to Rin and Nico this time. "Make sure to actually study."

"You don't need to worry about us, either," Nico said.

"After what happened last time.." Maki started.

"Alright, alright," Nico said hurriedly.

Hanayo gave a little yawn, and Nozomi laughed a little. "We should probably go home now. Everyone's tired," she said.

"You're right. It's also getting late," Umi said.

"Alright then. Good luck to you all," Nozomi said, and everyone left for home.

Next week came, and Otonokizaka High School entered exam mode. No one saw each other much outside of their classes, as there were no meetings during this week until exams were over. Slowly but surely they worked their way through the week. At last, the final day had come. The students waited to be dismissed for the last time of this school year. Muse gathered in the clubroom at long last.

"Hello everyone," Nozomi greeted as she and Eri entered.

"So how are the results looking?" Eri asked.

Umi and Kotori held up their papers. "All high marks here," Umi said. Their scores ranged from 89 to 95.

"Same here," Maki said.

"More like perfect marks," Nico said. Indeed, Maki had nothing below 95 on her papers.

"Nico-chan?" Eri asked.

Nico showed the papers. "Well, I passed, like we needed to." Eri saw mostly 70's and one 82.

"I passed too!" Rin said excitedly. Her papers showed a 79 average across everything.

"I did good, but not great," Hanayo said. She averaged in the 80's range.

"That's still good," Nozomi reassured her.

Eri looked around. "Where's Honoka-chan?"

"We're not really sure," Kotori said. "The teacher asked her to stay after to have a word."

Everyone held still after hearing that piece of news. Just then, the door opened, and everyone turned to see Honoka enter.

"Oh, hi everyone," she said, noticing everyone else was already gathered.

"Are you okay?" Hanayo asked.

"H-how'd you do?" Eri asked nervously.

"Well, I did my best.." she said slowly. But, she smiled, and held up her papers. Everyone was surprised once again.

Honoka averaged 95 across all papers.

A collective wave of relief and happiness hit the room.

"That's great, Honoka-chan!" Eri said, hugging Honoka.

"We're proud of you, Honoka-chan," Kotori said.

Honoka smiled as everyone enjoyed the moment. However, Honoka collapsed in Eri's arms.

"Honoka-chan?!" Kotori was the first one that rushed over. The others all gathered.

Maki did a quick check. "It's alright. She's just exhausted," Maki told the others. Another collective sigh around the room.

"She probably overworked herself again," Nico said.

"Eheh, I'm not that surprised, really," Hanayo said.

"It wouldn't be the same Honoka-chan if she didn't push herself so hard," Nozomi said.

A while later, Honoka had recovered. She sat up where she was laid on the couch. She found Eri sitting close by.

"Ah, what happened?"

"You collapsed from exhaustion," Eri told her. "We were all worried for a little, you know."

"Especially Eri-chi. She wouldn't leave your side," Nozomi said, teasing Eri a little.

"Nozomi-chan..."

"Eheh, thank you for watching over me then," Honoka said with a smile.

"Well, now that you're awake," Maki said. "I have an announcement. I got permission from my parents. We can use my family's beach house for summer vacation."

"Ah, really?!" Honoka asked excitedly.

"Calm down, Honoka-chan," Kotori said, resting her hands on Honoka's shoulders to settle her down a bit.

"Eheh, sorry."

Muse started planning for their vacation to Maki's beach house. They spent the next day packing their stuff for the month they'll be spending there. They met back up on Sunday and left together for the beach house.

Hi guys, nobodD here! Hope you enjoyed this simple chapter :p

Like I said, I got started on this chapter almost right after I finished the last chapter, so I got it done rather quickly.

Yup, summer fun time is the next focus for our Muse girls.

Actually, we're approaching the end, only a couple of chapters left. -shocked- Hope you guys have enjoyed so far. And get ready cause a few things need to happen before we reach the end and the last single, which is TOTALLY not going to be the 3rd PV ;)

I hope I've left enough hints about what's up next. Be prepared though, cause it's going to be what you expect, but it's also not going to be at the same time.

I'll probably work on the next chapter as soon as I can. I should study for midterms, but, writing is a lot more fun :3

Alright alright, I'm done. Until next time~