I stretch as classes ends. We've got proficiency tests in two days, but I'm not the slightest bit worried about that. With Shintaro and Akashi out of the way, I have a shot at placing first. I'll be top ten at the very worst. Just as I finish packing my bags, one of my classmates calls me. "Tsukino?"

"Yes?"

"Kasamatsu-senpai is looking for you," he replies.

I nod. "Thanks," I reply. I grab my bag and head outside to find Kasamatsu waiting for me right outside the door. "Can I help you?"

"It's about the proficiency exam," he begins. Ah. Why do I get the feeling that I know where this is going?

"Let me guess," I say. "You're worried that Kise will fail the test, therefore, not allowing him to be a starter on the team?"

"Exactly," he replies with a nod. "Your grades are good, right?"

I nod. "You want me to teach him, don't you?" I reply.

"If you could," he replies.

I nod again. "Understood. I don't want to say it, but we all know that we'll need him in order to stand a chance."

He nods. "I bet he's thinking 'who needs grades if you can play basketball?' right now," he says.

"Strange. I thought the exact same thing." I fold my arms. "Well I suppose that I'll go and get started then. With his grades, I'm going to need all the time that we have left."

I head into a nearby coffee shop, because I spot Kise sitting with a book in hand by the window. I head in and stand behind him. He's got headphones on. He puts his book on the table and leans back in his chair. "Who needs grades if you can play basketball?" he asks with a sigh. This idiot... Stop being so predictable. If I can start guessing what you'll say word-for-word, we're going to have problems. He looks at his book again. "That whole 'you can't be a starter on the team if you flunk this test' stuff was a lie, right?" He leans back in his chair again. "Just how uptight is our team?" He rests his head on the table. "I'm bored."

I choose to make my presence known. "Then allow me to keep you from being too bored," I say as I take the seat across from him.

He bolts upright immediately. "Kimikocchi?"

"I'm going to have you study so hard, you won't even have the energy left to be bored," I say seriously. Kise cringes. "Go get another coffee, and get one for me while you're at it too," I command. "You're going to need it. Your cram lessons begin now." He looks somewhat scared.

"K-Kimikocchi, you can't force people into these things," he says with a weak smile.

"Says who?" I reply as I fold my arms. "Do you want to win nationals or not? If so, you'd best get me that coffee now and begin cramming."

I fold my arms and think as it quickly becomes evident that my way of studying doesn't work for him. "Alright fine. We'll do this differently," I decide. I'll make everything interesting for him so he'll remember some of it at the very least. I let out a deep sigh. "This place is going to close soon. We're going to my house to continue then," I decide. "You're studying until classes start tomorrow, understood?" Kise's eyes are wide. He looks like he might cry. He follows me back home though. As we head back, I start to figure out ways to make this work somehow.

Nothing comes to me as we walk down the street, so I decide to give Shintaro a call. He's bound to have something, at least. Shintaro picks up on the second ring. "Kimiko?" he greets. "What is it?"

"Straight to the point already, Shintaro?" I reply. "Well, whatever. Do you have any ideas as to how I could help Kise cram for the proficiency test?" I ask.

"You have time to be helping others out like this?" he asks.

"I should be fine," I reply dismissively. "Besides, it's not like I have much of a choice, Senpai walked all the way to my classroom after classes to ask me to help."

Shintaro sighs. "You didn't carry your lucky item today, did you?" he replies.

"Well... no," I reply with a wry smile. Seriously? You're putting the blame on that?

It's quiet for a moment and then Shintaro says, "I can't be certain myself, but I'll give you a hint."

I nod. "That should be enough for me."

"Think about his special skill," he replies. "That's all."

I consider it for a moment and nod. Good enough. "Alright, thanks," I reply. I think I've got it. "Well, good night."

"Good night," he replies before hanging up.

"What did Midorimacchi come up with?" Kise asks.

"Shintaro gave me a hint. I think I have an idea," I reply as I unlock the door to my house. "I'm home!" I call out as I take my shoes off. "I brought Kise home with me. We're going to study!"

My mom walks over to us and looks at me and then Kise for a moment before smiling. "Hello, Kise-kun. Should I bring up some tea later?"

"Thanks, Mom," I reply.

"What was this about a boy coming over?" my dad asks. He walks into the room and looks at, or rather, looks up at, Kise. "And who would this be?" my dad asks.

My sister, Rina, runs over and holds a magazine up. "This guy," she explains as she points at a picture of Kise.

"A model?" my dad asks. He looks at me and then Kise and then back to me.

"Kise's a starter on the basketball team in school. I'm going to help him study so he can play in Saturday's game," I explain.

My dad nods. "Well, make sure you have time to study yourself, too," he replies.

"I know," I reply with a nod. "Anyways, we'll be be upstairs."

When we head into my room, Kise's eyes light up for some reason. "Wow, your room is much girlier than I'd thought it be!" he comments. I sigh. Well, it's true that the deco in my pastel blue room room is a bit girly, but honestly, he doesn't have to comment on that. I sit down on the white carpet under the table on the floor and start to lay out my study materials. Kise sits down next to me. "By the way, I didn't think that your parents would be okay with me staying over like that," he says.

"No, I'm sure that my mom is freaking out right around now," I reply with a shake of my head. "It wouldn't surprise me if she was waiting outside and listening to us talk right now." I turn to the door and stare at it. The sound of retreating footsteps follows and I sigh. "See?" I reply. "It doesn't matter though. I haven't brought anyone home or talked about any friends in so long, I'm sure that they wouldn't want to scare you off."

Kise is quiet for a moment. He doesn't seem like he knows what to say.

I shake my head. "You don't have time to worry about that right now. Just focus on understanding the material at least. I think that I've thought of a way to help you."

I sigh as Kise falls asleep again. "Fell asleep again, huh?" I ask. I watch him for a moment longer. He looks rather peaceful while he's asleep. I pull out the spray bottle I usually use for my plants and spray him. "Wake up," I command. Kise groans and I spray him again a few more times. "Come on. At least get through this next section first." I take a sip of my tea as Kise sluggishly forces himself to sit up. He looks at me drowsily.

"How are you still awake?" he asks slowly.

"I do this all the time. It's pretty normal," I reply dismissively. "Anyhow, if you can get this next section down, I'll let you sleep for two hours before moving on."

"Only two hours?" he asks. He's beginning to pout.

I nod. "Listen, I'm only having you study the absolute minimum, but there's only a day left, so you'll have to make the most of it. We're not even reviewing English since it's your best subject."

The next day...

I sigh as I go on a hunt for Kise. He's not in my class, so I had to rush to get out of my classroom the moment we got out for lunch break to find him. I'd apparently just missed him though, so I'm left to scour the school for him. I can hear his voice from further down the hall, I think. I head down the hallway and into the overhead crossing area and see him talking on his cell. "Do you still have that thing? I really need it!" he exclaims. He pauses. "You know, that secret weapon for acing tests!" Kise exclaims.

I know exactly what he's talking about now. As a matter of fact, Shintaro gave me one as a graduation gift.

"Gosh, you're so mean!" Kise whines.

Of course, it's obvious enough the Shintaro wouldn't agree to lend it to Kise. I don't even need Kise's reaction to know that Shintaro said something along the lines of "lucky items only work for those who do everything in their power. I won't give it to someone who doesn't" or something like that.

Kise continues, "My starting position on the-" I'm sure that Shintaro hung up on him because Kise exclaims, "Midorimacchi!" He sighs. "Oh man, I'm in huge trouble!" he whines to himself. He dials another number. "Oh yeah, Kurokocchi must have one."

I'd bet my bank account that Kise won't get Kuroko's either. I do my best to stifle my laughter as I realize that Kuroko didn't even pick up.

Meanwhile, Kise leans against the glass. "He definitely ended that call himself. That's mean, Kurokocchi!"

I figure that now's a good a time to appear as ever. I roll up the notebook in my hand and hit the back of Kise's head with it. "Idiot. Don't go begging for lucky items. Study."

"But, Kimikocchi-" he begins to whine.

"Do the work on your own!" I reply sharply. I grab his hand. "Let's go."

"W-Where are we going, Kimikocchi?" he asks.

"To the place I used to spend all my time in before I was forced to manage the basketball club," I reply. "The library."

After practice ends, we head back to my house again and when it's around one in the morning, Kise puts his head on the table an whines, "You're so mean, Kimikocchi..."

"Mean?" I ask. "Me? Mean for helping you study?" I fold my arms. "Do you understand what I've done? I've taken out two days to help you prepare for this test. That means, I've lost two days of studying myself. Do you know what I could have gotten done in two days?" I raise an eyebrow at him. "I could have taught myself the next unit in at least two subjects, so don't complain."

"Okay, okay. I get it. I'll read the next page," he replies reluctantly. "But...what do you think you'll get on this test?" he asks.

"Nothing less than second in our grade," I reply. "I'll place top one percent in Tokyo at the very least."

His eyes widen a little. "You're too smart, Kimikocchi..."

"I'm not that smart. Most of it is hard work," I reply. "Now get back to studying. What don't you understand?"

I sigh as we get to school. "Well, I suppose that you've done all that you can," I say to Kise as we stand outside of my classroom. "Do your best, alright?" I tell him. I turn to head into my classroom. "I believe in you."

His whole face lights up. "Kimikocchi..."

I smile faintly and head into my classroom. I get the feeling that Kise will be fine. He might just pass marginally, but he'll do fine.

The next day...

I smile to myself as I see that I got first in my grade. My cellphone goes off. It's Shintaro asking me how I did. I report my results to him and he congratulates me. He beat me in science again by a point, but whatever. I stand up and head over to Kise's classroom, but as I'm about to walk in, Kise jumps up and hugs me. "I did it, Kimikocchi!" he cheers. "I'm at the top of the bottom half!" he exclaims.

"Of course. You worked hard," I reply. "Plus, you had me as a teacher."

"How did you do, Kimikocchi?" he asks.

"First in our grade," I reply.

He sighs. "You're really too smart, Kimikocchi..."