Chapter 16 – “Study War I: The Midterm Menace”

The library study room looked like a war zone before the battle even began.

Stacks of papers towered like bunkers, pens and markers lined the table like ammunition, and in the center stood Yuuto Kanda—arms crossed, glasses gleaming with grim resolve.

“Troops,” he said, his tone deadly serious, “the enemy is near.”

Rika, Mizuki, and Akari blinked at him.

Yuuto slammed a practice test on the table. “Our foe: Midterms! Code name—The Midterm Menace. Operation: Pass-or-Perish begins now!”

Akari saluted dramatically, nearly spilling her juice box. “Aye aye, Commander Kanda!”

Rika adjusted her glasses, smirking. “Finally, a leadership structure I can respect.”

Mizuki nervously clasped her notebook. “U-um… do we need weapons?”

“Knowledge is your weapon!” Yuuto declared.

He pointed at the whiteboard, where he had drawn an overly dramatic map labeled Battlefront A: Math, Battlefront B: Literature, and Battlefront C: Physics.

Rika squinted. “Did you… actually make tactical zones for subjects?”

“Yes,” Yuuto said firmly. “We lose even one test, and our GPA collapses faster than Akari’s attention span.”

Akari gasped. “Hey! My attention span’s fine! Look, a butterfly—oh wait, that’s just your eraser.”

Yuuto groaned. It’s going to be a long week.

---

Hour One: The Physics Frontline

Rika had turned the desk into a full-blown research lab. Her ruler, protractor, and calculator were spread like surgical tools.

“Newton’s Third Law,” she said, tapping her pen, “states that every action—”

“—has an equal and opposite reaction,” Yuuto finished automatically.

“Correct.” Rika’s eyes glinted. “So when I hit Akari for eating chips during study time…”

Akari munched louder. “It’s just Newton’s revenge!”

Yuuto pinched the bridge of his nose. “Focus!”

Then—disaster.

Akari reached for her juice box and spilled it all over the test papers.

“Ah! Emergency! Emergency!” she yelped.

Yuuto scrambled to grab tissues while Rika barked orders like a sergeant. “Contain the spill! Save the equations!”

Mizuki rushed in with napkins, tripping over her bag and landing face-first into the pile of drying notes.

For a brief moment, time froze—her hair sticking to the pages, Yuuto awkwardly hovering just above her.

“I-I’m sorry!” Mizuki stammered, sitting up. “I just wanted to help—”

“It’s fine,” Yuuto said, cheeks pink. “You saved the data.”

Rika frowned, noticing the faint blush between them. “…Hmph. Sentimentality won’t solve friction problems.”

Akari grinned. “It might cause them, though.”

---

Hour Two: The Literature Lament

Mizuki had taken command of this round. She stood at the front like a nervous poet before a crowd.

“Okay,” she began softly, “if the author describes rain falling endlessly, it represents…?”

“Depression,” Rika replied instantly.

“Romance,” Akari said at the same time.

“Hydrologic cycle,” Yuuto muttered.

All three turned to him.

“…What?” he said. “I’m being literal!”

Mizuki giggled behind her hand. “Kanda-kun, you really do think like a textbook.”

Before he could protest, Rika accidentally sat down on Yuuto’s notebook while leaning to grab her ruler.

Yuuto blinked. “Uh—Rika, that’s my—”

She froze. Looked down. Realized.

Her face turned crimson. “I-I was testing the friction coefficient of the seat!”

Akari cackled. “Sure you were!”

Mizuki’s soft laughter joined in, and soon the room filled with chaotic energy again.

That’s when the door slid open.

Sensei Amamiya entered, holding a clipboard and an aura of mischief. “Well, well, how’s my elite squad of geniuses?”

Yuuto sighed. “Barely alive, Sensei.”

“Oh, don’t be so dramatic.” She leaned over the table—way too close to him—and whispered, “You should reward them when they answer correctly. Positive reinforcement~”

“R-reward?” Yuuto stammered.

“Mm-hmm,” she teased. “A pat on the head… a compliment… or maybe something sweeter.”

Rika nearly dropped her pen. Akari grinned ear to ear. Mizuki’s face went pinker than a strawberry milkshake.

Amamiya winked, scribbled something on her clipboard, and glided out of the room humming, “Ah, young love and academic suffering~.”

Yuuto slumped onto the desk. “I’m going to die.”

---

Hour Three: The Math Meltdown

By now, everyone was half-delirious.

Rika was muttering formulas like war chants, Mizuki had resorted to praying to “the gods of poetry,” and Akari had built a tower out of erasers.

“Focus!” Yuuto barked, pacing like a commander. “If we can just get through trigonometry—”

“Triangle trauma,” Mizuki whispered. “It’s all triangles now… even love triangles…”

Rika blinked. “You’re delirious.”

“Romantic,” Akari corrected.

Then—snap!—Rika’s pencil broke in half. “Ugh! Friction! Force! Failure!”

She slammed her hands down, accidentally knocking Akari’s juice box over again—this time spilling across Yuuto’s lap.

“Gyaaah!” he yelped, leaping up.

Mizuki gasped, fumbling for tissues. “S-sorry! I’ll clean it!”

“Don’t!” Yuuto shouted, waving his hands frantically. “It’s fine! Really!”

Rika covered her face. “This study group is a statistical anomaly.”

Akari, trying not to laugh, whispered, “You mean a wet anomaly?”

Yuuto groaned, burying his face in a towel.

---

By sunset, the once-orderly study room looked like an explosion of papers, snacks, and emotional damage.

But as they packed up, Yuuto noticed something—amid all the chaos, everyone was smiling.

Rika was jotting formulas calmly again, Mizuki was humming a small tune, and Akari was actually solving her worksheet.

“You all did great,” Yuuto said quietly. “Really.”

Rika blinked at him. “Even though we nearly drowned your notes?”

He chuckled. “Especially because of that.”

Mizuki smiled softly. “You make studying feel… fun.”

Akari threw a peace sign. “Told you we’d survive!”

Yuuto leaned back, sighing in relief. “Maybe next time, we’ll actually study instead of starting World War Homework.”

Rika smirked. “Statistically improbable.”

Mizuki giggled. “But not impossible.”

And as the sun dipped below the windows, Yuuto couldn’t help but grin.

Operation: Pass-or-Perish had ended in utter chaos—but somewhere between equations, spilled juice, and flushed faces, their bond had grown stronger.

Maybe, he thought, that was the real lesson.