Final Exam

The following weeks were among the most stressful of Yuta’s life. Every day, he spent as much time studying at school as possible, taught Shiori after school, then went home and studied for the rest of the day. He even asked his parents to give him time off from working in the restaurant, which they granted.

On the day of the exam, Yuta stepped into the school more nervous than ever before. His worries weren’t for himself. With how much he was studying, he knew he would get a perfect score. What worried him was Shiori. She made a lot of progress, but she was still behind. From his calculations, her chances of getting a passing grade were around twenty percent.

The class was unusually quiet. All the students sat quietly in their seats with their notebooks in front of them, screaming in their minds that they should’ve studied more. All except for Yuta, of course. Yuta leaned his head against his fist, staring at Shiori. She was following everyone else’s example and reading all of the notes in her notebook. It wasn’t hard to tell that she was anxious about the test.

‘I hope she doesn’t have test anxiety…’  Yuta sighed and decided to focus on himself. He ran through the information in his head that he was sure would be included in the test.

Mr. Sawajima entered the room with a thick stack of papers. Yuta heard a collective gulp from his classmates. The test was about to begin.

During the exam, Yuta breezed through the questions. He knew the answers to every question in every subject without having to think very hard. He was the first to finish.

Occasionally, he glanced over to Shiori. Her hand was trembling. A look of panic remained on her face throughout the exam. She was too focused on the test to notice Yuta staring.

…

The results were posted outside the classroom the next day.

“Man, I hope no one got less than seventy...” Hitomura’s hands were behind his head. Apparently, he was doing it because he thought it looked cool. “I would hate to lose my chance to miss the beach episode!”

Yuta would have rolled his eyes in the past, but he was used to Hitomura by now. “Beach episode? Come on, this is real life. Get your head out of the clouds.”

Hitomura grinned. “I bet you’re looking forward to seeing Shiori in a bikini.”

“Trust me, I don’t care to see that. Besides, she doesn’t even have a bikini. She’s not comfortable wearing one.”

He stopped in the middle of the hallway. “Wait. How do you–”

“She talked to me about the beach trip and told me, that’s how. Nothing to it.” Yuta kept walking, forcing Hitomura to run to catch up.

“So, nothing spicy happened?”

“Nothing. We’re only friends, you know.”

“I see…” Hitomura lowered his voice, but Yuta was still able to hear what he said. “...Note to self, get Yuta and Ozaki together…”

They reached the classroom and stopped behind a crowd of students to view the results of the exam. Yuta quickly found his own name at the top, along with Hitomura’s. Both of them got a perfect score. He searched the list for Shiori’s name and found her at the very bottom.

Shiori Ozaki. Seventy out of a hundred.

It suddenly felt like a weight was lifted off his heart. ‘I’ll have to reward her later.’

Excited squeals came from the girls in front of him. “We’re going to the beach!”

Hitomura’s arm landed on Yuta’s shoulder. “Looks like that beach episode is happening, after all.”

“Oh, shut up about that, would you?”

“Make sure Ozaki has a good time, alright?”

Mr. Sawajima started the class with a clap. “Congratulations, class! Everyone got at least a seventy on the exam. You know what that means?”

The class erupted with cheers. “Beach trip!!!”

It took a minute for the class to calm down, but the homeroom teacher patiently waited. “That’s right. The beach trip will be this Saturday, so if you want to attend, make sure to clear your schedule.”

It was currently Wednesday. Yuta didn’t particularly want to go, but for some reason he found himself pulling out his phone and texting his father to not schedule him to work on Saturday.

Looking over to Shiori, he saw a mixture of emotions. She seemed nervous and excited at the same time.

‘Maybe that’s why I plan on going on the beach trip… Shiori wants to go, but if I’m not there, she’ll feel lonely.’

Mr. Sawajima continued. “We will be going to Kirihama beach. There will be buses, so if you can’t get there on your own, take the bus. Please keep in mind that it is a four-hour drive. The buses leave at ten.”

…

“T-Thank you for walking with me, Yuta…” Shiori bowed her head.

It was Saturday, and Yuta had accompanied Shiori to the school. It was his idea to walk together. He figured she would have been more nervous about the trip if she was left alone with her thoughts.

“No problem.” Two buses were parked in front of the entrance to the school. At first, Yuta was confused as to why there was more than one. Then he remembered that class 2-A was also coming on the trip. “Let’s go find a seat before the bus fills up.”

Shiori nodded and followed him onto the bus. A few of their classmates were already there, but not many. Kurosawa sat behind the bus driver, downing a whole can of coffee.

“Kurosawa? I thought you’d be the type of person to sit in the back of the bus.”

“Normally I am. But I’m sitting in the front so the guys don’t stare at me the entire way to the beach.”

“But they’ll still stare at you when they get on…”

Kurosawa raised a sports manga. “Not if I have this blocking their view.”

Yuta looked at the seat across from her. “Then we’ll sit here. You don’t want anyone staring at you from across the aisle, right?”

She nodded before opening the book in front of her face.

Yuta stepped aside for Shiori to sit first. Then he sat down next to her. “I figured you might want the window seat.”

Shiori’s cheeks turned pink. “Y-Yeah… Thanks…”

“Did you bring your school swimsuit?”

“A-Actually… Kurosawa let me borrow one of her old swimsuits… I-It’s not as modest as the school one, but… it’s still better than a bikini.”

“Oh, really? That’s nice of her.”

More students filed in, and soon the bus was full.

Yuta turned to Shiori. “Are you ready for the beach?”

She took a deep breath. “Y-Yeah… I think so…”