Mai still doesn't pick up her phone when you wake up and call her. She really needs to charge her phone! Sheesh. Sometimes you'd think her head would fall off if it wasn't attached. You touch Mai's heart again before taking a shower and going to school. You finally manage to find her at lunch.
"Hi, Ganko," she says, with that occasionally-plastic smile she wears, as you sit down across from her. "Are you still planning on becoming a heroine?"
You nod rapidly. "Yep! I've decided, I'm going to become a heroine no matter what it takes!"
Mai looks glum. "My power isn't really good for being a hero," she says.
You tilt your head. "So? Just do something else."
"I want to be with you, though," she adds.
"Don't be so morose, Mai," you say, chidingly. "I promise, no matter what happens, you'll always be my friend." She breaks down crying at that for some reason, sniffling and rubbing at her cheeks and face.
"If you want to stick around so bad, you can become a hero too! A study buddy would help me learn, anyway."
Mai pulls her head out of her hands for a moment, her lower lip trembles as she stares at you. "You're just becoming a hero to get with Ten Man."
"And Keiko only became a swordswoman to attract Akira," you say, making a cultural reference that would be lost on someone not from Kurogaya but is easily understood by Mai. "I guess that means she wasn't the best swordswoman of all time, huh?!"
"You always bring her up whenever I point out how everything you do is to impress a boy," Mai says, sulkily, crossing her arms. Her eyes are still pink from her now-aborted crying.
"Because she's the pure expression of undying love and lust! To take one's passion for another, and use it as the fires to stoke the body that becomes the blade! That, Mai, is the pinnacle of romance!" You pause. "Also, Ten Man isn't a boy, he's a man!"
Mai sighs. "It's impossible to convince you to change your mind whenever you do this..."
"It is," you agree. "So you can come with me, as I study to become a grand hero, or you can... not do that. We'll still be friends, though, no matter what! But no complaining about me going off to be a hero if you're not going to take up the opportunity to join!"
Mai shifts uncomfortably in her seat, sighing. "Fine... I guess... I don't have a choice, if I want to stay by your side..." Her eyes flick up, and her cheeks glow a little as she says that. It confuses you. What's embarrassing about wanting to stick around your friend?
"Great!" She sighs in relief. Weird. "Let's get to studying, then!"
Mai sighs and leans forward as you pull out the Official Hero Association Rules and Regulations handbook.
Your study sessions are diligent and thorough. No detail escapes your sight! You read every page a hundred times! Nothing can stop you from learning! Mai doesn't try as hard as you do, only spending one or two hours on studying with you, and sometimes it seems like all she wants to do is rub up against you as you work. Her grades are much better on your practice tests, though, so you guess you can't argue with results!
In terms of physical training, you're excellent as always, but all of the sudden, Mai starts doing much better in fencing. It's amazing what a little motivation can do, you suppose! She's not constantly getting beaten around by you any more. It's as if she finally decided to start actually trying, but you can't think of why she wouldn't have been trying before. I mean, what's the point of fencing if you're just going to lose all the time?
Once you've set your sight on a goal, there's nothing - absolutely nothing - that can stop you from achieving it. So when you take the entrance exams for the Akitsuki Hero Academy - the school that Ten Man is an alumni of - you know in your heart you'll manage. Physically, you're top tier! Even Mai's physique has risen to a point she actually can claim to be in shape, rather than just counting on youth and femininity to let her stay slim and trim!
Your preliminary scores come in sheet form as you depart the facility. You hurriedly rip it out of the envelope and read it to yourself. A bare pass on the written and oral parts of the test, and an exceptional pass on the physical tests! Absolutely, 100% perfect, since it means you can get into Akitsuki!
"I'm in! What did you get, Mai?" You ask excitedly, as you shovel the completed test form into your pocket, crumpling it in the process. Hopefully she can join you, for whatever reason she really wants to come to Akitsuki with you.
"Good pass written, good pass oral, bare pass physical," she intones, with a long sigh. There's a faint frown on her face as she folds up the sheet and places it in her purse.
"Great! Let's celebrate!" You're not sure what she's so melancholy about... maybe she's not going to be able to get together with the guy she likes if she's at Akitsuki? You mean, she passed! What could be the issue? It's not like anything will change at the academy. (Other than you potentially getting together with Ten Man, of course, but that's inevitable!) "We'll go get some ice cream!"
"Can we get a milkshake and share it instead?"
"Sure! That's fun to do too!"
Mai smiles, a faint melancholic tone still in her eyes. "You're such an exuberant light in my life, Ganko."
"Thanks! Now come on," you say, grabbing her by the wrist and halfway dragging her to an ice cream shop to buy a milkshake. She blushes the whole time as the two of you share it, and you're not really sure why. She can be weird sometimes, that way!