10. Study

''I'm boreeedd...'' I slumped on my desk. ''I wanna go plaayyy. Why do I have to spend it slaving away on these stuff. Ugh.''

Shoji rolled his eyes. ''Stop being so dramatic. It's just physics.''

I glared at him. ''That's exactly why I'm complaining.''

Shoji sighed. ''I don't understand. You do very well on every other subjects, but why are you always struggling on stuff like this?''

That Shoji, because I used to be a Literature student before I died and become a reincarnator in this world. The last time I meet physics was when I'm in my first year at highschool as then me. After that I was shipped to social department and guess what? We don't have physics in that department. So that's eight years plus the time I spent as a toddler here without stupid physics problem to solves.

Yeah, no.

''... It's just me hating physics, I guess.'' I reached for my glass.

Shoji looked at my notes sceptically. ''But your notes on this subject is so nice. It's color coded and everthing. Not like your history one, but like you clearly made some efforts to write it.''

''That Shoji, because I thought that with pretty looking notes I can understand those stuff better. Guess what? It doesn't work. My history one is so crappy because I don't need that extra efforts to understand it.''

Shoji stared at me and I can literally see him processing that piece of wisdom. He shrugged. ''Makes sense.''

''Right.''

Suddenly there's knocking at the door and my mum walks in with snacks. She smiled. ''How's the studies going?''

I let Shoji answer for me becauseーIs that Sugarbun's fruit pie?! I excitedly retrieve the tray from my mum.

''ーand we're working on physics right now.'' Shoji bowed his head a bit. ''Ah, thank you for having me here today and I'm sorry for the disturbance.''

''Nonsense. Mary here is always a bit awkward with people her own age, so we're happy to have you here.'' Mum waved her hand lightly. She checked on her watch. ''I have some errands to do so I'm going to go out for a little bit, watch the house and study well okay. Oh and Shojiー'' said boy just tilted his head in question. ''ーGood luck.''

Then she saunters out, but not before throwing a teasing wink to us.

''Huh?'' I blinked. ''What was that about?''

Shoji shrugged. Tense.

Huh? I spied on the blush slowly creeping under his mask and to his ears. Realization suddenly dawned on me. Oh my God, don't tell meー

I groaned inwardly. My mum totally shipped us together. Dang it. Look at what she's done to Shoji and the atmosphere of this room in general. Gosh, I'm like thirty something mentally, definitely too old for some teenage romance bullshit, and it's like two weeks before Yuuei entrance exam of doom.

... Yeah, no. I don't have time for this.

Just wing it like I always do then.

Outwardly, I just calmly slides one of the plates in front of him. ''Here's your cake. This store's fruit pie is to die for, I swear. Like the best in the entire town. Try some.''

Shoji accepted it. Good, it seems like he has calmed down a bit. Poor guy, I definitely don't miss all that teenage awkwardness. Thank God I'm older inside. He scoped a bit of his cake and offered it to the mouth shaped tentacle on his rightー

''Wait.'' I stared intensely at him. ''Use your actual mouth Shoji.''

''Butー''

''No. I know you can't taste anything when you use your tentacle to eat. That cake is fricking heavenly and you have to give it the proper appreciation it deserves. Don't be rude to it. Use. Your. Mouth.''

He hesitates, but in the end he sighed and tugged off his mask. ''... it's delicious.''

''I know right!'' I crowed victoriously. I'm not even joking, the cake is just that good. ''The bread is so soft and the fruits is sooo fresh. I don't usually like cream that much but this cake make it works somehow. It's not that sweet too so that's another plus for me!'' Ah, whoops, I got carried away. I coughed and gestured to the spread notes on the table. ''That aside, what do you think I should focus moreーaside from physics obviously.''

He looked amusedly. ''Just that, I think.'' Shoji said idly. ''I need to work on English and Math too. But aside from that, I think we'll be fine on the written part of the exam.''

''What about the practical one? I heard Yuuei's always kinda crazy on that part of the exam.''

Shoji asked. ''What do you think it's gonna be? The practical I mean.''

''Mock battle, probably, fastest way to weed out the weaker one.'' Who says I had tact? No one.

Shoji must have thought so since he threw a look at me.

I shrugged. Now... what should I do with these plot knowledge I have inside my reincarnator head? Hide it or use it for my own benefit? Nah, screw that. ''Maybe fighting against something for points. Like robots.''

''That's... realistically possible.''

''You know what, Shoji. I think we could do with some more training. Let go to the backyard!'' I grinned and move to stand up when suddenly one of Shoji's arm shoot up and grabs mine.

''Finish your work first, Mary.''

''... che.''

ーーー

A/N: ... and that's the end of the pre-cannon stuff. I'm thinking of making separate fic based on every arc, but no promise on when... Anyway, thanks for reading this fic and for all of your feedbacks.