A/N: So the second half of this chapter is a waste of time, I just wanted to get an extra character in there but it's just babble. Excuse my poor writing skills but this was written years ago lol. Thanks for reading still! -whoosh19

After Nel's certification exam was in, she was about to take her leave when Mr. Jaegerjaquez called her over to his desk.

"I'm really glad you are feeling better; I thought you were going to end up missing this exam! It was good to see you this morning, Neliel."

"Um, thanks, and same, Mr. Jaegerjaquez," she whispered.

"I'll see you next Tuesday."

"Y-yeah."

With that, Nel backed herself out of the classroom, feeling very awkward. It was when she had walked away from his room that she began to wonder why in the world he knew she was sick that weekend.

Maybe… maybe Hisagi told him at Starbucks on Sunday!

All of a sudden, Tatsuki's train of thoughts made so much more sense.

They had been talking about her.

But how much does Mr. Jaegerjaquez know?

Nel's phone buzzed, signaling a text message. She looked at her screen, revealing Tatsuki as the messenger.

meet me in milas rm #209 in da dorms, it read.

Nel closed out the message and smiled to herself, speeding up her pace.

"So, what is it that you want me to do for you guys again?"

Mila Rose sat on the floor of her dorm room, painting her nails.

"Okay, so Tatsuki told you the story about West Shore, am I correct?"

Mila nodded.

"Well, like, who would've known that a college instructor could afford a Shore house? No one. Everyone knows it's next to impossible… unless… you have a big bucks boost from somewhere else. You follow me?" Nel asked.

"Yeah."

"So… where is his big bucks boost from?"

"I don't know."

"Which is why you ask Tia."

"… Why does any of this matter to you?" she finally spoke after a silence.

Nel, a bit shocked about the sudden question, blushed.

"… I… don't know," she admitted. "It's just… it's been bothering me."

"Ah, one of those nagging anticipations, I see."

"Well… yeah, I guess," Nel confirmed. "Can you ask her?"

"Sure thing. She most likely will guess who really wants to know; she has a knack for doing that," Mila warned her.

"I think… I think it's better if she knows. But don't straight out tell her it's me. Let her figure it out herself, okay?"

"Aiight."

"Thanks so much, Mila," Nel said, smiling.

Mila laughed.

"No problem. I've got your back. You too, Arisawa."

"Heh, you know me too well, Mila," Tatsuki responded.

The girls exchanged farewells, and Nel and Tatsuki took their leave. Once they were in the safety of their own dorm room, Nel burst.

"Tatsuki, they were talking about me. I'm sure of it."

"What?" she asked, confused.

"Jaegerjaquez and Hisagi. Two days ago. They were talking about me in Starbucks."

"Oh, so now you agree something was up?"

"Well, this afternoon after my exam was in, J was all like, "Ooh, I like how you're not sick today, Nel."" She mocked his voice by deepening her own. "And exactly how did he know I was sick? I sure as hell didn't tell him! Which means Hisagi did!" she accused.

"Or maybe Kurosaki. You can't be that sure it was Hisagi," Tatsuki reminded her.

"Or Kurosaki, yeah. But c'mon, Hisagi's told him at least something about me."

"But what?" the black-haired woman asked.

"I don't know."

"Well, let's just say that Jaegerjaquez, Hisagi, and Kurosaki share with each other everything that any one of them has gotten out of you. What does that mean?"

"That means that they all know I got a ride from Kurosaki that day. They all know I got sick while doing so. And they all know… no, they all decided to use Hisagi to squeeze out info from me!" she exclaimed.

Tatsuki blinked at Nel before shutting down.

"… HUH?!"

Neliel groaned.

"Remember that little conference?! Something tells me it was all set up!" Nel clarified.

"It was set up? By them? Why would they want to know about what he asked you?"

"That's what we're trying to figure out!"

"Nel, we don't know if they do share everything they know about you among themselves," Tatsuki reminded.

"Okay. I agree. But there's a chance they do, and now there's a chance they set up the conference."

"The conference set-up chance is smaller than the sharing info chance."

"Whatever."

"So back to my question. What would they get out of knowing what Hisagi asked you?" Tatsuki pondered. "What exactly did he ask you?"

"He asked me… he asked… he was worried about my personal life, like he could see something else going on in me."

"Well he's a psychologist; they're usually half-crazy anyways."

"But what would J benefit out of knowing about my personal life?" Nel murmured.

"Oh my God. You can't just blame J. Kurosaki and Hisagi himself are both suspects too."

"… Ugh, this is too confusing!" Nel yelled. "I give up!"

"So three guys—three random guys— are supposedly sharing information with each other about this one… person. Right?"

Tatsuki and Nel were seated across from Ggio "G" Vega, the leader of Alpha-Phi-Sigma, an incredibly math-savvy honor society. Tatsuki had once been in the group, but dropped out after things got a little busy for her. Saturday study sessions with her girls were definitely enough.

Anyways, Tatsuki had insisted they go see him to help sort out this whole chancing thing, since Nel had a tendency to blame things all on one person.

"Yes," Tatsuki answered.

"And the chances are slim that they are sharing info?"

"Well—okay. Guy 1 found something out and we know he told Guy 2. Then Guy 2 found something out and told Guy 3, but didn't necessarily tell Guy 3 what the first guy found out," the black-haired woman clarified. G scribbled on his paper.

"Are you sure that whatever Guy 2 found out was told to Guy 3?"

"… No."

"And do you know if Guy 1 told Guy 3 anything himself?"

"No."

"… So it's an arrangement like this. Guy 1—Guy 2—Guy 3, with the information being passed on the lines. We know that anything Guy 1 finds out is being told to Guy 2 but we don't know if Guy 1 tells Guy 3. However, the info being passed from Guy 2 to Guy 3 could be three things: What Guy 1 told him, what Guy 2 found out himself, or both. Am I correct?" G asked.

"Yes."

"Wow. And there's more to this problem?"

"Yeah. There's a probability that Guy 1, Guy 3, or both of them helped Guy 2 find out his info," Tatsuki added.

"… I don't follow."

Tatsuki sighed.

"Okay. Nel here is Guy 1. I am Guy 2. And you are Guy 3. The subject is this very table. Nel finds out that the table is brown, so she tells me. Then, since either you or she wants to know some more about the table, they blindfold themselves, and bring me the table. Don't laugh— it's just an example. So I find out the table is shiny. But no one knows if I told you, Guy 3, brown, shiny, or both brown and shiny."

Nel sat through the whole conversation, lost by extreme measures.

It seemed as if Tatsuki and G understood it, though.

Well, I knew from a young age that probability math wasn't for me, she thought to herself.

"Your chances for all of this are quite slim," G said after some silence. "I wouldn't even begin to come up with the set-up thing if I didn't know if Guy 1 was telling Guy 3 stuff or not. Right now, there's hardly any proof for that." G stood up. "You want the paper?"

"No thanks," Tatsuki said. "But I appreciate the help."

"No problem. But all you can be sure about is that Guy 1 told Guy 2 everything. That's your given. Hold on to it hard and you'll find the rest out later. Sorry to bust out on you ladies, but I have a class in 20 minutes that I need to get ready for," he confessed.

"Thanks again, G."

"Thank you," Nel added.

"It's not a problem. I'll see you two around."

He bowed slightly and left.

"Thanks, Tats," Nel said sarcastically. "Now I'm more confused than before."

"Ugh, forget it," Tatsuki replied. "Your brain is the size of my fingernail anyways."

"Tatsuki!"