Miracle

When Noda didn't show up to school the next day, I was disappointed. I thought for sure that he had considered trying to change things.

But during the passing period between math and English, I caught a glimpse of Noda as I came out of the bathroom.

"Please attend Yankumi's review session so Fujiyama Sensei won't be fired," he was saying, head bowed to some of our classmates, who looked at each other.

"Alright," they agreed after a pause.

"Really?!" The joy in Noda's voice was unmistakable.

"Noda," I said, stepping into view.

"Ah, Kana…" he said, seeming a little embarrassed. "Where are the other guys right now?"

"Probably on the roof*," I said.

He followed me up there, looking a little apprehensive.

"Oi Kana, what took so long?" Minami asked me.

"Stupid! You don't ask why a girl took so long in the bathroom!" Uchi scolded him.

I rolled my eyes. "I ran into someone that I thought you guys might want to see," I said.

Noda walked out onto the roof, and the guys all sat up.

"Noda!" they all exclaimed.

"Hey," he said quietly. He suddenly stepped forward and bowed his head. "I'm sorry for the way that I've been acting! Even if you're mad at me, please attend the review sessions for Fujiyama Sensei!"

"We're not mad at you!" Kuma said. "We were just worried!"

"Yeah, and besides, we need those lessons more than you do," Uchi said with a grin.

"We missed you!" Minami said, punching him in the shoulder.

"…Thanks guys," he said sheepishly.

"Now it's just whether we can get the rest of the class to the review sessions," Sawada said.

Noda nodded. "I asked some of the guys, and they said yes. But others seemed a little bit more reluctant."

"Leave it to me," Sawada said.

Noda skipped class the rest of the day, saying he wanted to study English some more before the review session. We all knew that it was actually because he wasn't quite ready to face the class and Yankumi yet, but we didn't say anything.

"Hey guys," Sawada said suddenly at the end of our last period, and the class fell silent. "I know that it might not seem possible for us to achieve 30% on our English final, but think about Noda. He is our friend, and we should make sure that he doesn't quit school. Yankumi's doing her best already, so all we need is for you guys all to participate in her after school English sessions until the test. That's all we ask." He stood and bowed his head.

"Please!" Minami, Kuma, and Uchi and I said, also standing and bowing to their classmates.

The other guys began to murmer among themselves, until Uesugi spoke up.

"Man, first Noda, and now you guys? How can we say no to that?"

The class nodded along, smiling.

"We'll do it then. Noda is our classmate, after all," Oishi said.

"Besides, whose class would we look forward to if Shizuka-chan is fired?" Shimazu added.

Minami shouted, "You guys are the best!"

I texted Noda the good news and asked him to come quickly, since the review session would begin shortly.

When Yankumi walked in, carrying a huge stack of papers and books, she looked amazed.

"You're late! Let's hurry up and get started, Yankumi!" Uchi called out.

"You guys…" she exclaimed. "All of you are here?"

"We'll do what we need to if it's for a friend."

"It's not bad to study once in a while."

"Besides, how could we say no to bowed heads?"

Yankumi stared at us in surprise. "Who bowed their heads to you?"

"It's obvious, isn't it?" Sawada said and the rest nodded. I gestured toward the door.

Yankumi looked over to the entrance of the classroom. "Noda…"

He walked up to her slowly, biting his lip. "Sorry," he mumbled. She beamed and began to ruffle his hair, dropping all of her materials.

"Stop it!" he laughed as he struggled to get away. The class cheered and clapped for him as he made his way to his seat.

"Alright, guys, let's begin the review session!" Yankumi said earnestly. "For Fujiyama Sensei, OH!" she shouted, pumping her fist in the air.

"Oh…?" the class mumbled.

"That's weak! Again, OH!" she repeated with enthusiasm.

"OH!" the guys roared.

With the class pumped up, Yankumi began a crash course in High School English.

"A," she said, pointing.

"A," the class repeated, tracing letters in the air.

"B," she continued.

"B!"

Minami kept drawing humongous letters in the air, and it was more fun to watch him than listen to Yankumi, but I willed myself to try.

"Hey, what about your job?" Noda asked me discreetly when the other guys weren't paying attention.

"I explained about the class to my boss, and he's letting me come in later for this entire week," I said.

Noda nodded. "Thanks," he mumbled.

"I'm glad you're here." I replied with a smile.

Our conversation was cut short when two of our classmates, Oda and Gamo began to fight about whose answer was correct and Yankumi had to go break it up. I laughed, because no one would believe that our class was fighting about test answers.

For the next week, we all studied harder than any of us probably ever had. Everywhere we went, we had an English book, shocking the other classes. The class continued to get into arguments over English, but that slowly changed to an attitude of wanting to help each other out instead of fighting about it.

Sawada had a knack for English, so he helped everyone out, including Yankumi, who didn't quite know everything about the language. But who could blame her? She was a math teacher.

There were even several times that Yankumi had to smack people on the head when they fell asleep during the review sessions. In any other circumstance, they would have grabbed her and punched the crap out of her in fury, but because this was for a common goal, they endured.

I felt like my brain was turning into English-flavored mush. Even during lunch, the guys would constantly quiz each other about English grammar and vocabulary. But there was nothing else to be done, because Kuma began his review of English by using a children's English book, meaning he was levels below high school English.

It was good that he absorbed information quickly because he went from asking Sawada "What does 'dog' mean?" to "Where would this preposition go in this sentence?" by the end of the week.

At home, I would often fall asleep on top of my English textbook. I couldn't count the number of times I woke up to one of the guys' jackets or Shun's blanket on my shoulders. The guys did their best to give me a quiet place to study. Even Chiba seemed to refrain from making fun of me for studying so hard, so I was sure that Shun had said something to him and I was grateful.

For me, grammar was the trickiest. Why did English have to be so different than Japanese?

When Yankumi asked things like "If this sentence is in third person with a singular noun in the present tense, what should the verb be?" my instinct was to hurl my book at her head. I for sure knew that I was never going to use English in my future, so why did it matter if I knew the difference between past and present tense for singular nouns?

But I had to admit that when the class would enthusiastically congratulated each other when they got the answer right to a question, I had to smile.

"What's the answer, Noda?" Yankumi asked.

"FOR!" he shouted, and got it right. The class cheered.

Kawashima, the school nurse, even made us huge rice balls for a snack on the final review day. They were gone in an instant.

"For Shizuka-chan, let's do this!" Noda shouted, standing on his chair and holding up his pencil and rice ball.

"OH!" the class shouted in response.

I glanced up and saw that Fujiyama watching our class from the window, an unreadable expression on her face. Her job relied on us now, and all she could do was trust us. I wasn't even sure we would be able to deliver the results she wanted, but we had to try…

The day of the test came almost too quickly.

"Do you feel ready?" Shun asked me as I was about to leave for school.

"Even if I don't, I have to be," I said.

"Hey, no matter what happens, you worked really really hard, kid," Shun assured me.

"I honestly wouldn't have gotten this far without Yankumi," I admitted. "She had handwritten packets for us every single day to study off of, and she even customized some of the material with each of our names. So even more than saving Fujiyama, I really don't want to let Yankumi down."

"Well no matter what happens, you've earned the day off," Shun said. "Just don't go too crazy after school."

"Deal," I said. "Thanks Shunnie!"

I ran off before he could smack me on the head.

When I got to class, everyone was studying like crazy. I pulled out my notes and began to review as well.

"Alright, put away your books! Pass the test face down," Sawatari demanded as he walked into the room.

"Everyone calm down," Yankumi said. "Read the questions carefully and it'll make a difference."

"You have one hour," Sawatari said. "Begin."

I stared at the test. It didn't look too difficult, since Sawatari wrote the test, but tests are tests, and I always clammed up. I sighed and picked up my pencil.

The grammar questions continued to stumped me, but just as I was about to give up, I would remember something that Yankumi had said.

Surprisingly, I finished the test in a little less than an hour. The rest of the class kept writing, but I saw Sawada sitting there looking bored, indicating that he had been done for a while. Our eyes met. Suddenly, 30% seemed possible.

"Time!" Sawatari shouted at the end of the hour. "Put down your pencils."

The class passed up the tests and began to murmur loudly amongst themselves.

We waited in nervous silence as he walked out with our tests. Once Fujiyama graded our tests, we would know our results.

As a class, we had decided to write encouraging messages to her on our tests, such as "Don't give up on us! Don't leave!", "I worked really hard for you, so stay!", and "This test grade is for you!"

I wasn't sure what to write, since I had never really talked to her. I finally decided on "The guys will be really sad if you leave, and I'll have to deal with them then, so you better stay."

When Fujiyama came back, I could see the traces of tears on her face. So our messages had been read…now it was up to our grades.

"When I call your name, please get you test," she said. Our class had never been this quiet.

Matsudaira was the first to walk up and receive his test. He glanced at it and then whooped.

"It's a 37%!"

Hazama also got a 37. Slowly, as each student went up and got something higher than 30%, the class loosened up. Gamo even began to dance as the class cheered.

"Isn't this awesome? Isn't it?" Uchi said, holding his test high above his head.

"Yay!" Minami said, putting an arm around a bewildered and slightly disappointed Sawatari.

"I got a 60%!" Noda shouted happily. Everyone clapped and cheered.

"Wow! Sawada got a hundred!" Minami shouted and the class oohed. Sawada looked like he had expected no less.

"Nakajima Kana."

I walked up and received my test. 75%. Relief and amazement flooded me. I had never gotten an English grade that high.

"That's awesome Kana!" Uchi said to me, but his smile faltered when I only nodded. I was exhausted, from working late shifts and studying late and taking the test.

"Kumai-kun," Fujiyama said.

We all waited in deafening silence as Kuma walked up and looked at his test. He seemed to be frozen until Sawatari walked over, a grin spreading across his face.

"29%!" he announced. What…

"I'm sorry," Kuma said, devastated. The class could only sit in silence. Minami and Uchi clapped Kuma on the back encouragingly, but nothing could be done.

"Promises are promises. Fujiyama Sensei will have to quit," Sawatari said.

"I understand," she said sadly. It was the first time I had seen her look so upset.

"Shall we leave?" Sawatari suggested heading for the door.

Noda stood up abruptly, almost knocking over his desk. "I did it!" Noda shouted, nearly in tears. "I sent you the picture! Please, please don't fire her. If she's fired, how on earth can I take responsibility?"

"You're the one who did it?" Sawatari asked with a grin.

Washio, another teacher who very much sucked up to Sawatari, said, "We need to punish Noda for this too, don't we?"

I clenched my fists. They wanted this to happen. They wanted both of them punished and gone.

"Quit messing around!" Uchi shouted angrily, knocking over a desk.

"I can't accept it either!" Kawashima vouched for us.

"Yeah!" the class shouted in protest.

"I'm sorry!" Noda said to Fujiyama, bowing, but she shook her head, as if she really understood why he had done it. She looked on the verge of tears herself.

"We don't need teachers or students who cause problems!" Sawatari shouted over the class.

I stormed to the front, trying to get to Sawatari. I didn't work this hard so that Sawatari could just throw two "problematic" people aside.

"Everyone makes mistakes!" Yankumi suddenly shouted, and the class suddenly became quiet again. "Even you, Sawatari Vice Principal."

"Me?" he asked, as if the notion was crazy. "Like what?"

"Like when you blamed Kuma for taking the money that you lost!"

He didn't respond. The air was so thick with tension that I held my breath.

Yankumi continued. "But Noda recognized his mistake and is now trying to change things! Fujiyama Sensei also knows that what she did was wrong. Are you trying to prevent people from bettering themselves without giving them a second chance? Fujiyama Sensei, what do you think? These guys worked so hard for you. Do you really want things to end like this?"

At her silence, Yankumi shouted, "I'm asking you what you think!"

All of us jumped a little.

Fujiyama took a breath and began to speak slowly. "I didn't have any dreams or high hopes about being a teacher. But now…today, I realized for the first time that I do want to continue being a teacher." She held her head up confidently. "I want to continue!"

"Either way, a promise is a promise!" Sawatari said stubbornly.

It looked as if Yankumi was about to explode in fury when "I think the answer to question 4 can be A or E," a voice said. We all turned to see the principal looking over Kuma's test. We all crowded around to check it.

"Uh, I don't know," Yankumi said.

"Yes, it could be A or E," Fujiyama confirmed.

"Which means Kyoutou made a mistake when making the test!" Kawashima said.

"Which means he gets to extra points so…31%!" Yankumi said.

Kuma had been sitting there, depressed, but his face broke into a smile. "YES!" he shouted, and the class erupted in cheers of approval.

"So this means Fujiyama Sensei can carry on as normal," the principal stated with a smile. I looked at him curiously, wondering if he had been on our side the entire time.

"A promise is a promise, right?" Yankumi said, nudging Sawatari, who looked stunned at the turn of events. "Don't worry, everyone makes mistakes." Sawatari ran out of the classroom, completely defeated.

"Fujiyama Sensei can STAY!" Noda shouted, throwing his test in the air. The others followed suit. I was surprised when I looked over and saw Sawada smile genuinely as he watched the class celebrate. It was a nice smile, not the arrogant smirk he usually wore.

But I was even more amazed with the class. They had persevered so much, and now they got what they wanted. For most of the class, it was the highest grade they had ever received in their high school career.

If they could try really hard and achieve things, could I do it too? Was graduating actually achievable for me?

But there was a difference. Working hard to make Fujiyama stay was a combined class effort. What I had to do, I had to do myself.

"Kana, are you okay?" Uchi asked me as I was lost in my thoughts. I didn't even realize that most of the class had already left.

"Yeah…I'm just…worn out, I guess," I said. "From studying too much," I added when he looked at me worriedly. I couldn't tell him about my job…or anything else.

"Well now you don't have to study!" he said. "Do you want to hang out now?"

"OOOHHH!" Minami said, popping out of nowhere. "Uchi asked Kana out!"

"Shut up! It's not like that," Uchi growled.

I nodded. "Just for today," I said.

"Really?!" he exclaimed.

"Why are you so surprised?" I asked before I could stop myself. I cringed, knowing the answer.

"Because you hardly go out with us anymore," Uchi said. I looked away. I probably wouldn't be able to, from now on.

Luckily, Noda spoke up, capturing the guys' attentions.

"I'm going to ask Fujiyama Sensei out on a date if I get 80% on higher on the final!" Noda announced, and Uchi, Kuma, and Minami went with him to see if Fujiyama would agree. 80% seemed a little extreme…

I slowly packed up my stuff and stood up to leave. Sawada was standing by the door, as if waiting for me. We walked out in silence.

"You know, Uchi's worried about you," Sawada said once we got outside.

"Don't you start," I said, slinging my bag over my shoulder.

"What's up?" he asked me.

I shook my head slowly. "Nothing, I promise," I said softly. Sawada just looked at me.

We suddenly heard a loud ringtone nearby, interrupting the conversation. Sawada picked up a small white cell phone from the ground.

"Whose is this?" he muttered. I shrugged, not recognizing it. Sawada flipped open the phone and pushed the talk button.

"Ojou*? Ojou, it's Tetsu. Ojou?" we heard.

Sawada and I stared at each other. Ojou?

Author's Note:

*the roof: Japanese high schools usually have a flat roof and they're basically just large open spaces. Some schools allow students up there and others don't.
*Ojou: literally means "queen" or "princess", but it can also be a title for a noblewoman in a high position

Thank you so much for reading! Thank you to those of you who followed, favorited or commented on my story! It really does mean a lot to me.

- Reisa