An excitement filled study session...?

*Thud*

The door to the student council room opens as usual, except there’s a loud thud as the door hits something. Yuri carefully looks behind the door to see what she hit. To her surprise she finds Yaoi sitting on the ground while holding her hand to her nose. She also has a slice of bread on her lap.

Eh? What is she… - before Yuri could react to this absurd scene Yaoi jump up with the bread in hand and:

“Fateful encounters!” - she exclaims, ignoring the previous event.

“Chance meeting that can completely change the way you look at somebody. That’s our plan of attack for today!”

Yuri stands in confusion for a few moments then shakes her head:

“I have so many questions. First, are you okay? And why were you behind the door?” - Yuri asks.

“...?” - Yaoi used feigning ignorance. It didn’t really work.

“...Okay, what about the bread?”

“Ehm, I was hungry?” - Yaoi answers and she takes a bite out of it.

“That doesn’t-... wait”

This reminds Yuri of something:

Was she trying to recreate that trope, where two people meet by running into each other? I mean bread is used pretty often in those scenarios as well. - Yuri turns around

But why was she behind the door?...Ah! No, that can’t be it. Can it? Did she forget that the door opens in-

“N-now you might be thinking...”

Yaoi feels that Yuri might be getting close to the truth, so she tries to move the conversation forward:

“Kei and Rin already know each other, so what’s the point in doing this? However, as I said this might be a chance for them to see each other in a different light. So our plan is-”

“Ehm, senpai?” - This time it’s Yuri interrupting Yaoi.

“Hm?” - Even Yaoi is a bit taken aback by the unusual behaviour.

“Uhm, I’m sorry, ...but I can’t help you out today.”

“Huh? Well, okay. Sure.”

“It’s just, with the upcoming tests, I really need to focus on studying.”

“Ah, so that’s it.” - Yaoi sits down at her desk - “I understand.”

Hm. She seems more dejected than I expected, although it’s still hard to read her. Ah, but I can’t let my grades drop. Huh, wait. Studying? - Yuri has an idea:

“What if we make a study session with the four of us? That’s something that’s often used in romance stories right?” - Yuri asks excitedly.

“Ah, the tutoring clishé.” - Yaoi says - “I guess we could try that.”

“So what’s the plan?” - Yuri asks.

“Hmm.” - it doesn’t really look like Yaoi got invested in the idea. - “I think it’s fine if we just let it play out.”

Huh? She always has a plan. Even at the sports day, she arranged a lot of different events. Something feels off. - Yuri thinks, but she decides not to push it:

“Okay, if you say so.”

The four of them gather in the library for the study session.

“Wow, those pens are really cute!” - Kei exclaims as she sees Rin’s panda themed pens.

“Ah, ehm. T-thank you.” - she answers, feeling flustered from the sudden compliment.

Huh, this might have actually been a good idea.

Yuri thinks as she watches Rin and Kei interact.

“Where did you get them?” - Kei asks.

“Sorry, but shouldn’t we start studying?” - Yaoi suddenly interrupts them.

Huh? What are you doing senpai? - Yuri thinks, as Yaoi would usually enjoy watching this sort of thing.

However she decides to go with the flow and the studying begins. They decided to start with math, so everyone begins to solve practise exercises. After a while Kei exclaims:

“Agh, I don’t get this! Yaoi, can you help me a bit?”

Oh, I guess this is the part where Yaoi-senpai starts things off. I bet she’s going to make Kei-senpai ask Rin for help. Although, I don’t know how that would work... - Yuri excitedly thinks.

“Ah, for this you need to use this formula here like this, see?”

Yaoi shows Kei her notes and after a few instructions it seems like Kei understood what Yaoi said.

Huh? Ehm, I guess she’s just waiting for the right moment…?

Yuri thinks. But after a half an hour passes like this she gets a bit concerned.

Hmm. Yaoi-senpai’s acting weird. I noticed it yesterday too, but today it’s even more obvious. I wonder why she’s acting like this. Well I guess I’ll try acting like her a bit for now. Hm. I doubt that I could come up with a complicated plan right now, so I guess something small should do.

Yuri thinks and then she looks around in order to find something she could use. Everyone else seems immersed in studying at the moment, so they don’t notice her.

What would cause Kei-senpai and Rin to interact?

Her eyes stop on one of Rin’s pens that is at the very edge of the table and it seems a small force would be enough for it to fall down.

Yuri carefully looks around again and once she confirmed that it’s the right moment, in a swift motion she “accidentally” hits her leg into the table.

Ow.

The table was a bit harder than she expected, but the kick was just strong enough to cause the pen to fall down.

Yes! Did you see that senpai? A perfect execution!

Yuri proudly thinks as she looks towards Yaoi, who seems to have noticed the pen on the ground. However:

“Ah, Rin. Your pen fell down.” - Yaoi picks it up.

“Oh, thank you.” - Rin answers and takes it.

Heh? What is going on today?

After this Yuri decides to give up on scheming for now and just tries to focus on studying. After a while Yaoi suddenly says:

“I’ll be back in a bit, I’m going to the restroom.”

Upon hearing this Kei hits Rin with her elbow.

“Uh, I’ll go with you.” - Rin says and stands up as well. The two of them leave, leaving Yuri and Kei together.

Huh? What was that about?

Yuri wonders, but before she could get anywhere Kei moves a bit closer to her, drawing away her attention.

“Um, Yuri?” - Kei calls out to her with a troubled expression.

“Hm? What is it Kei-senpai?” - Yuri is surprised by Kei’s serious look.

“Did… hm... Was this study session Yaoi’s idea?” - she asks.

Yuri is shocked for a moment as she thinks that Kei might be onto that she and Yaoi have been scheming together. However this time she can truthfully answer:

“N-no, I came up with it. Why do you ask?”

“Ah, just as I thought.” - Kei scratches her head. - “It’s just..” - she looks around for a few moments and after confirming something she continues talking:

“Look, I know you didn’t mean anything bad, but...”

Kei stops again, trying to choose the right words. By now Yuri grew quite concerned, especially since she had never seen Kei like this before. Then it looks like Kei decided on her answer and says:

“It’s not really my place to say this, but let me tell you a short story about Yaoi. I don’t know if you know this, since she doesn’t really talk about it, but she is from a ...rich family.”

Yuri nods

“And her family put a lot of expectations on her, especially her father. Now, I have known Yaoi since we were kids and back then she was a bit different. She was much more expressive, playful and she always came up with all sorts of different plans as to what we should do.”

Huh? That kind of sounds like the Yaoi-senpai I know. - Yuri thinks.

“She was at the top of the class then too. But one time she really got into a video game and spent a lot of time on it. And well, she did really poorly at the next exam because of it. Well compared to her previous achievements, she still did way better than me, but that doesn’t matter. I don’t exactly know what happened, but I’m pretty sure she got scolded real bad, because after that she, well she became more similar to what she’s like now. So I guess what I mean to say is that Yaoi doesn’t have many good memories about studying, so I usually try to avoid bringing it up to her. And I didn’t tell you this to make you feel bad, it’s just that you probably noticed that Yaoi has been acting differently, and since you seem to be close, I thought you should now.”

After hearing what Kei said Yuri thinks for a while. But it isn’t long before Yaoi and Rin come back. Yuri stands up after seeing her and calls out to her:

“Y-Yaoi-senpai!”

I-I need to apologise to her! - Yuri thinks - ...But that wouldn’t really do anything, would it?

“Hm?” - Yaoi tilts her head because Yuri didn't continue speaking for a few seconds.

“I’m...I challenge you to a duel!” - Yuri exclaims confidently.

“Huh?” - this is the best way to describe the expressions of the other three people nearby.

“Let’s see who can rank higher on the upcoming exams!” - Yuri explains.

“Uhm, Yuri?” - Kei tries to calm Yuri down, but:

“Pfft. Hahaha.”

Yaoi’s laughter interupts her. Her previous uninterested attitude completely crumbles away. Her sudden outburst takes everyone by surprise, but Yuri keeps up her determined look. Kei feels relieved upon seeing this scene and she thinks that she underestimated Yuri. However Rin is just completely stunned, because she has never really seen this side of Yaoi.

“You know what? I accept. But, what does the winner get?” - Yaoi asks in her usual teasing tone.

“Ehm...” - Yuri didn’t think that far ahead.

“How about, the loser has to do something that the winner says?” - Kei suggests.

What, you’re betraying me? - Yuri thinks as she looks at Kei.

“That’s a good idea. Deal.” - Yaoi accepts.

“Huh? Wait, that’s not what I..” - Yuri says as she thinks about what she heard about Yaoi’s academic performance.

“Now then, better get to studying.”

Yaoi says and everyone gets back to their seats and get back to studying. Except, Yuri keeps standing for a few more moments thinking about her options. But she reaffirms her determination:

No! I won’t lose. I can do it! And Kei-senpai might have been exaggerating anyway so I shouldn’t lose heart. - she thinks and she joins the others.

And after a few days of intense studying, it was time for the duel.

Yuri lost.

Which was kind of unsurprising as Yuri looked up Yaoi’s previous achievements and saw that Yaoi’s been placing as the first one ever since she got to this school. After getting the tests back Yuri went to meet up with Yaoi:

“Ah, I can’t believe it. I lost by five points.” - Yuri complains. - “I mean the second year exam was probably harder as well, but still.”

“Well then. I believe I have a request to make.” - Upon hearing Yaoi say this Yuri freezes in place and prepares herself.

I mean, she won’t ask for anything weird...right? - Yuri thinks.

Yaoi pretends to ponder and slowly starts walking towards Yuri.

“Hmm. I wonder what the best choice would be?” - Yaoi says and gets really close to Yuri’s face and then she says in a low voice:

“I want you… to… help me carry out my plans to make Kei and Rin get together!”

“Huh?” - Yuri is completely confused by Yaoi's conflicting demeanor.

”Haven’t I been doing that already?”

“Hm, well sure. But until now I relied on blackmailing you into helping me.” - Yaoi bluntly answers.

“What!? You did?” - Yuri feels like she unknowingly avoided a number of problems.

“Actually, I should start preparing for the next event.” - Yaoi says with a villainous smile and sits down in her chair.

“I already have some things in mind for the summer.” - Yaoi opens her notebook and starts writing something. Yuri just sighs and decides to leave Yaoi alone for now.

“...Thank you.” - Yuri hears a faint voice behind her as she turns to leave.

“Yeah, you’re welcome.” - she says with a smile.