Of course she would be! Why did I think just because I was done, it would mean the two of us could chat? Now I’m going to get in trouble after Sensei grades my paper, and it’s going to all be for nothing!

When I sit back down at the desk, it’s exactly as I thought. Yukio is too focused on her work to have even noticed I left.

Now with nothing else to do, I stare at my desk and disassociate. I keep peeking over at Yukio’s work in the hopes that she will finish pretty quickly, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. It looks like she’s really thinking hard about each question.

After a few minutes of nothingness, Sensei calls me back up to her desk. And thinking I’ll be in trouble, I quickly make my way to her "So how bad is it?" I say when I get up to her desk.

"Well to be honest, I'm going to need an explanation." she responds while I brace myself "Have you taken any Japanese lessons before? Because you answered every single question on here right!"

My body jolts “Wait, what? How is that possible?! I’ve barely even heard any Japanese before, let alone speak any. Are you sure that I didn't make any mistakes?"

"Yes, I made sure to triple check. But if what you’re saying is true, then it is very odd. Are you sure you didn’t cheat? You know I have to contact your parents if I catch you cheating, right?”

I feel my heart sink at the mention of her speaking to my dad "No, please don't! I swear I didn't cheat! Please don't call my parents! I would be in so much trouble if you did! Plus, I'm innocent and all."

"Don't worry, I was just joking about you cheating.” she chuckles, thinking it was just harmless teasing “I watched you while you were filling it out, and your eyes never left the page. But that doesn’t stop it from being surprising… you must be a really good guesser!”

I’m still shaking a bit from the teasing, so I don’t say anything in response. Though she doesn’t seem to notice “Well since you're done with today's assignment, why don't you go back to your desk and quietly look through future lessons in your book?"

My heart is still beating quickly once I sit back down at the desk. Was that assignment really all luck? It just doesn’t seem possible to have guessed the answer to all the questions. Maybe I should go through the book and see if the writing looks familiar.

Since Yukio is still deep into her assignment, I reach into my bag to take out my textbook. I begin flipping through the pages only to see what looks like a regular foreign language book. Nothing stands out as familiar.

I read through the book up until I notice class is about to end. When I look over to Yukio, she still hasn’t completed her assignment. Her strong focus on the sheet is exactly the same as it was in the beginning of class. It makes me accept that the two of us aren’t going to be able to talk today.

Once class is dismissed, I sadly say goodbye to Yukio, then run to the parking lot.

Today was a total failure. I wasn’t able to get any of my answers, and now it’s going to drive me crazy for the rest of the day. And with my mom being the one waiting in the car for me, everything feels as if it’s back to the routine. We have the exact same ride home that we do every day.

Except I have a plan today. When I get home this time, I purposely empty my back pack on the floor while making it look like an accident. I need a reason to stay in the car a little longer. I want to wait and see if Yukio gets dropped off by the same black car.

Which works out just as planned. My mom gets frustrated at my supposed clumsiness and tells me “I’m not going to wait for you to pick all that up.” then gets out of the car to walk into the house. And with my alone time, I’m able to stay in the car for a few more minutes.

And guess what ends up happening? The same car that I saw the day before pulls into the driveway. Then once again, Yukio steps out and goes into the neighbors house. With it happening two days in a row now, that must mean she lives there, right? But the only way to confirm that is by actually asking her.

Unfortunately, as the next few days pass, that shows to be a lot harder than it sounds.

Every day is exactly the same as the one before. Yukio comes in just as class is starting, and flatly walks to her seat with no emotion. Then Sensei immediately hands out an assignment for us to work on in silence. Every time she takes the entirety of the class to finish while I complete mine rather quickly.

And in that quiet time after I’m done with my work, I remember something that Yukio had said on that first day. Wasn't this class suppose to be an interactive class? So far it hasn't been anything like she said. It's like this class has just become another part of my routine. What changed so much compared to that first day?

Actually, there has been one weird thing about the class: my continued success in perfecting the assignment every day.

Even though I finish it way before anyone else, I never get any answer wrong. It just feels so easy once I started taking the time to read it. And it's not just the assignment either. All I have to do is read something once, then I'm instantly able to memorize it. I’ve never been able to learn anything this easily before, but suddenly I’m a star student when it comes to Japanese?

I just don’t understand how that can even be possible. It makes this class feel so different than any of my other classes. Those classes are so boring that I don't even remember them at the end of the day. Almost as if I never even went to them at all. This class is the only one that I’m able to remember every moment of.

But of course the thing that's upsetting me the most about this whole situation, is my continued failure to speak with Yukio.

It was such a short conversation on that first day, but I still feel like I'm going through withdrawals by not talking to her. Besides saying “Hi” and “Bye” to each other, nothing else is said between us. She hardly even looks at me. She was so talkative the first two times I met her, so why is she acting like this now?

Does she not like me anymore? I did turn her down a lot on that first day of class… maybe that caused her to rethink wanting to be friends with me… I know that’s what I initially wanted, but it hurts me now to think that could be true. I really want to get closer to her. Something about her feels special.

After a few more days of the exact same events happening, I begin to loose hope we’ll ever speak again. My Japanese class goes from being my favorite part of the day, to my most depressing part. The days all begin blurring into one just like all my other classes.

Then one day, something changes.

It feels like any other day. I get to class at the same time as usual and sit down at the empty desk. Only today, right after I take my seat, Yukio comes bursting through the door. Her personality seems to have shifted back to that first day. With a giant smile upon seeing me, and her body language having the same animation to it as before.

She walks with much more emotion than any of the other days and plops down into her seat "Oh my god, I was finally able to make it early! Recently I've been so bad with my time management!"