The following day, Shujinkou approached his homeroom's door until he felt a sharp pain emanate from his head.

"Man, my head still hurts…" Shujinkou groaned, gently clutching his head.

He could still remember the power the rogue basketball had when it knocked him off his feet. If there wasn't a wall for him to crash into, he was absolutely sure that he would have flown further than he did.

"Kiyoko has a really strong arm," Shujinkou noted. "I need to be careful around her when she has a basketball in hand…"

The pain left as quickly as it has arrived, allowing Shujinkou to finish his daily morning passage. As he walked into the classroom, he couldn't help but catch a glimpse of Kiyoko peacefully sleeping in the desk just behind his own.

Despite finding it a tad bit surprising, he assumed it was because she exhausted herself from yesterday's practice. After all, if she did what he saw her do for hours, he would be more surprised if she wasn't asleep.

"Shujinkou," he suddenly heard.

Recognizing the voice that called him, Shujinkou quickly turned around and met eyes with Monika.

"Good morning," Monika waved.

"Morning, Monika," Shujinkou with a wave back. "What are you doing he-?"

Shujinkou was rendered speechless once as he noticed that everyone in class was staring at the two of them, their faces lit with shock. He could not blame his classmates though. If it was not for the fact that he was in the club she created, the chances that they would interact at all would be zero.

He then proceeded to watch Monika as she reached into her bag and pull out a sketchbook.

"You left this behind yesterday at the club," she said as she returned the lost item to its owner.

"Ah, thanks. I was looking all over for this last night," Shujinkou chuckled. "It was kind of maddening that I couldn't finish my latest drawing."

"I know the feeling of not being able to finish something you want right away," Monika sympathized. "By the way, what were you drawing?"

"Secret," Shujinkou chuckled.

"Are you saying that just because I wouldn't let you read my story," Monika questioned.

"No…" without turning away, Shujinkou neatly tucked his sketchbook in his bag. "Yes."

"Fair enough," Monika giggled. "Well, se ya later."

With a quick wave goodbye, Monika left the classroom, leaving Shujinkou alone among a sea of stunned faces. It was an awkward situation but, throughout the day, Shujinkou would learn that his classmates' reactions would be the least of his worries.

At the end of the day, Shujinkou looked down at a heavily marked paper, a sight that he was sadly familiar with at this point.

"Man, I'm going to flunk if this keeps up," Shujinkou sighed. "What am I going to do?"

All he could feel was anguish. He led himself to this point and was unsure whether or not he could get out of the whole he dug for himself.

Suddenly, a firm hand resting on his shoulder brought him out of the realm of self-pity. He curiously turned around and watched Kiyoko let a giant yawn escape from her body.

"What's wrong, Shujinkou?" she asked.

"Well, it's just that I haven't been doing well in one of my classes…" Shujinkou sighed.

"Ah, chemistry still getting to ya?" Kiyoko queried.

Shujinkou found himself shocked to hear that. How did she know what subject he has been failing in? But the look of surprise on his face allowed her to tell exactly what he was thinking.

"I kinda saw your papers a few times," Kiyoko shrugged. "What seems to be the problem with that class?"

"I just can't seem to grasp any of the concepts," Shujinkou sheepishly admitted. "If this keeps up, I'm going to end up failing the class."

"Hmm…" Kiyoko looked down at his paper with an indecipherable expression on her face. "That would really suck."

Just then, Kiyoko casually grabbed her bag and stood up.

"Well, it's a good thing for you that the solution to your troubles is within your grasp," she grinned. "See ya."

Confusion firmly cemented itself on Shujinkou's face as he watched Kiyoko leave for basketball practice.

"What solution?" he wondered aloud.

That question was all he could think about as he gathered his things until he reached for his sketchbook. It was only at that moment of clarity that Shujinkou realized what Kiyoko was possibly hinting at. He needed to talk to…

"MONIKA!"

The unfazed club president looked up from the teacher's desk and watched Natsuki angrily storm up to her.

"Why'd you move my stuff again?" Natsuki asked.

"Sorry, Natsuki, but the teacher keeps asking me to move it around for their stuff," Monika explained.

"Ugh… What's the point of organizing my stuff if someone keeps messing with it," the pink haired girl sighed. "This wouldn't keep happening if we had our own club room like the others."

"That would be nice, but the school can't afford to give us one right now," Monika replied.

"Why not?" Natsuki complained.

"Because we're at the bottom of the priority list," Sayori interjected.

Natsuki was clearly startled by her sudden appearance, but the bubbly vice-president failed to notice such a clear fact.

"Not only are we a relatively new club with few members, but we're also one that not too many people know about and the people that do know think that a literature club would be super boring," Sayori continued. "The only way we would get an official club room would be either for us to move up on the priority list or for us to find an empty space."

"I doubt we'll find a good spot…" the irritated Natsuki let out a giant groan before releasing a dejected sigh. "It's a lose/lose situation…"

The annoyed girl returned to the classroom's closet while Sayori happily skipped back to the desk she was sitting at. Just then, Shujinkou walked into the room looking very worried.

"What's wrong, Shujinkou?" Monika asked.

"Um, do you think we could talk outside?" her club mate sheepishly requested.

"Okay…" Monika nodded.

She curiously followed Shujinkou outside into the hallway and closed the door behind them.

"So what did you want to talk about?" Monika queried.

"Okay then…" Shujinkou nervously scratched his right cheek as he struggled to speak the words he wanted to say.

But after a tedious internal battle that felt like it lasted forever, the indecisiveness that led to such a fight finally annoyed him enough to talk.

"Please tutor me!"Shujinkou suddenly requested.

"Eh?" Monika said.

"I'm failing Chemistry and I need help. Please help me!" Shujinkou asked again.

"Okay," Monika answered with a smile.

"R-Really?" Shujinkou said in disbelief. "Just like that?"

"Well, a friend needs my help. How could I say no?" Monika replied.

Despite his surprise at such a quick answer, Shujinkou felt great relief that Monika would take up the task on tutoring him.

"Are you free this weekend?" Monika asked.

"Yeah," Shujinkou nodded.

"Great, then you can come over to my house and we can study as much as necessary," said Monika.

"Sounds like a plan," Shujinkou happily agreed. Though it would not be long until his mind completely processed what he just heard. "Wait, did you… did you say that we would be studying at your house?"

"Is that a problem?" Monika worriedly asked.

"No…" But in reality, he really wondered if he could actually focus on his studies if the two of them were alone. That said, a look back at all of the previous moments where he was alone with a girl provided enough evidence that he actually could keep his mind on the task. "Wait a minute…"

Thinking about the entire situation even more, Shujinkou eventually remembered that he already was alone with Monika on more than one occasion and that he was already pretty comfortable being around her for the most part. Which only brought up the question: why was he briefly nervous in the first place?

"Because I'm still going to a girl's house," Shujinkou thought. "But to be fair, it's still a first time thing for me. But I can't let that get to me. After all, Monika is my only hope plus I wouldn't want to waste any of the time she's giving to help me."

"Shujinkou!" Monika called.

"Huh?" returning from the depths of his thoughts, Shujinkou awoke to find Monika worriedly waving her hand in front of his face. "Sorry, I kinda drifted off into a deep thought."

"It happens to all of us," Monika said. "So, I guess this is where we exchange contact info so we can keep in touch."

"Uh, right," Shujinkou nodded his head.

After a quick exchange of phone numbers, Shujinkou followed Monika back into the classroom to begin the day's club activity.