/Sigh Aw man. It's been soooo long since I've written this. I really am terribly sorry that this had taken so freaking long. It seems like every time I add a chapter I'm apologizing for it being late. I'm gonna try and stop that. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this new chapter. I have a lot planned for this story so I hope you continue to read this! =] Thanks everyone! Enjoy!

Chapter 4: Big Day

It's been almost two months since Tsubaki confessed her love to Black Star. They've been a couple since then, though they haven't gone out on any dates yet. The two have been too busy with training. They've also been studying for the big exam that was coming up soon. Since the day that the two watched that beautiful horizon, the cooking has been left up to Tsubaki. Black Star ended up blowing the food to bits that night when she tried to teach him how to cook dinner. She is determined, though, to teach him how to make something in the kitchen even if it's just a hard-boiled egg. It's been hard though because she has been trying to study for their test and also attempting to get Black Star to study as well. Tsubaki's had a real hard time trying to do that. He always wants to go outside and train. His short attention span doesn't fail when it comes to these kinds of things. It's always been like that though, so she's used to it by now. Unfortunately, she hasn't found a good way to make him, or somehow trick him, into studying. Well, today was the day of the exam. It was very important since it was worth a good portion of their final grade.

Tsubaki was sitting in her usual seat in the classroom nervously waiting for the exam to begin. She was also very worried. The exam was supposed to start in a few minutes and Black Star wasn't there yet. Tsubaki began to fidget in her seat a little. Maka, who was sitting in the row in front of her, noticed and turned back to Tsubaki.

"Are you doing alright, Tsubaki-chan?" she asked concerned.

"Huh? Oh yes, I'm fine, Maka-chan. I'm just a little worried about Black Star. He's still not here and we're supposed to start any minute now," she replied and kept glancing at the door. Tsubaki was unintentionally putting the side of her index finger on the side of her lip in a worried fashion. "He promised he'd be here on time today," she added.

"I'm sure he'll be here," Maka said, "Let's just hope that he isn't trying to steal the answers again like last year."

"Oh no!" Tsubaki gasped. She had completely forgot about that. The last couple of years Black Star had tried to get the answers from the teacher's office the night before the big test. Tsubaki began freaking out. She was looking back and forth across the classroom as if someone or something was going to give her an answer to her racing thoughts of Black Star's mischievousness. Maka quickly realized that wasn't the right thing to say to the already concerned girl. She got out of her seat and tried to comfort Tsubaki.

"I-I'm sure he learned from the last time though! S-so he's probably waiting to make a big entrance or something," Maka frantically said with that awkward kind of smile, trying to calm Tsubaki down.

The last time that Black Star tried to swipe the answers, he was sneaking around the night before and snuck into Sid-sensei's office. He got caught by Sid-sensei and was beaten to a bloody mess. The day of the exam he was tied up and was placed in the front of the classroom so that the other students could see what happened those who cheat.

"Yeah. Yeah. I think you're right. That's something he would do," Tsubaki said almost as if she were trying to convince herself. She did seem to calm down a little bit, though she did still have that seed of doubt. There was always that possibility that he would do something that you would never expect. Then again, this is Black Star we're talking about here. He's always doing things that people never expect. He's one of those people who does something completely predictable or something completely unpredictable.

It was only a few moments later that Stein-sensei came into the classroom slightly hunched over holding the exams over his shoulder. He told everyone to quiet down and to sit in their proper seats. Tsubaki's heart sank a little when he came into the room but then the door slammed open, scaring half the class including her. No one was in the entryway. Pretty much everyone was looking there waiting for someone to come through.

"HA HA!" a loud voice called from the other side of the room by the window. Tsubaki as well as many other students looked in that direction. "Black Star has arrived on the scene!" Black Star said with his arms akimbo and gave a big laugh. A wave of relief flooded through Tsubaki when she saw him.

"Black Star, sit down," Stein-sensei said un-phased by his entrance. The boy did what he was told, loudly of course, but he still listened. Before he sat down though he said, "Haha! I'm gonna ace this test because I am the amazing Black Star!" Tsubaki sighed at this and gave a tug on his shirt, telling him to sit down.

Stein-sensei was not amused. "Sit down, Black Star," he said showing a little irritation in his voice. He plopped down into his chair and their sensei began explaining the rules of the exam. They were the same as any other test. There was no cheating or else you fail the exam (and are possibly humiliated), the time limit was one hour and it was pencil only.

"You may begin," Stein-sensei said and immediately you could hear pencils scratching answers down on their papers.

Tsubaki looked to her right to where Black Star was sitting. He was looking at his paper but not writing anything down. He didn't have a pencil. Tsubaki came close to rolling her eyes and grabbed a pencil out of her bag. She hid the pencil underneath the table as she went to poke Black Star's leg with it. He looked and gave that big grin that Tsubaki loved so much. She looked back at her test and started by writing her name on the top of the paper.

"Pencils down," Stein-sensei announced. The sound of clattering pencils filled the room. Tsubaki saw Soul stretch out before leaning on the back legs of his chair. Maka sat still as she looked through her test answers once more to make sure that they were correct. Tsubaki looked at Black Star next and saw that he had a bored look on his face. He was leaning his cheek on the palm of his hand with his elbow on top of the hard desk. Tsubaki immediately thought that he hadn't finished his exam. Maybe he stopped halfway through like he usually does when he gets bored with a paper…Oh I really hope he didn't.

"Pass your papers forward. When I have all of the exams you can all leave," Stein-sensei said. The students followed his instructions and as soon as the last paper was collected he students immediately began filing out the door. Tsubaki walked out with Black Star. He walked in front of her with his hands folded behind his head. Tsubaki walked with her hands together in front of her. She smiled as they made their way out of the classroom. She actually felt very confident about how she did on her exam.

"So how do you think you did, Black Star?" she asked as she leaned over his shoulder slightly as they walked to the grounds for some possible relaxation.

"Hm?" he asked turning his head slightly back to get her in his sights. "I did perfectly! I am going to surpass God after all! What good is it if I can't master a measly test?" he said and laughed. Tsubaki smiled. Perhaps I was wrong. It seems like he did finish the test. Sigh…Thank goodness. The two quickly met up with Maka and Soul who were walking just a bit ahead of them. Black Star jumped on Soul as he through one arm around his neck as a way of greeting. Tsubaki caught up with Maka, who was giving Black Star a most dissatisfied look. She noticed Tsubaki and her expression quickly changed to a smile.

"Hey Tsubaki-chan, how do you think you did on the exam?" she asked.

"Hi Maka-chan," Tsubaki smiled back, "I think I did pretty well actually. How about you?"

"I think I did really well. Stein-sensei almost got me on a couple of those trick questions but I saw right through them. I had to triple checked my work too because of them, so I'm fairly confident that I got a hundred percent," she replied with much confidence and pride.

"That's wonderful Maka-chan! I hope you do get the hundred percent on it," Tsubaki said with a smile. "Oh, which ones were the trick questions that you saw?"

"I believe there were three of them. I think they were numbers 17, 21 and 38."

"Oh no! I thought those might have been trick questions but then I thought that Stein-sensei wouldn't do that…"Tsubaki said sadly as she hung her head as if in defeat.

"It's alright, Tsubaki-chan. You'll get it next time. I know you will," Maka said with an encouraging grin as she gave Tsubaki a pat on the shoulder.

Tsubaki lifted her head and then gave a small smile in return. "Yeah," she said, "You're right! Thanks Maka-chan."

Maka's face beamed, she was so glad that Tsubaki was gaining more confidence in herself. She's been noticing that it was growing a lot lately in the past month. Ever since the day that Tsubaki told her about her confession to Black Star, Maka has noticed that Tsubaki's been gaining more and more confidence in herself every day. Maka was really happy for Tsubaki. It seemed like telling Black Star was the best thing for her to do. She hoped that this continued and one day he won't break her fragile heart.