The awkward silence filled the room, sometimes broken when someone scratched down a note on their notebook or coughed to clear their throat. Tsukiko tried to ignore it and focus on the book she was supposed to be reading, but she couldn’t keep herself from glancing around the table.

How can so many people gather and be this quiet? I know we’re studying, but still… She forced her eyes back to the book again, but she hadn’t finished reading the first line when she peeked at the boy on her right.

Taiyou-kun did what she was supposed to be doing; reading. He never noticed the girl looking at him as he moved on to the next page. Despite his calm expression, there was something in his eyes bothering Tsukiko.

Is he mad? He must be… Even the girl couldn’t tell by the boy’s face. He’s mad, she decided, pressing her lips. I mean, who wouldn’t be after that… Wait, it’s not my fault, right? I thought it was a good idea… Argh, damn it! How did things turn this way?

Tsukiko eyed the boy on her left. Though Kobayashi-kun seemed to read the book, he looked just as bored as he did during school. The girl knew the boy was a few moments from dozing off. Are you feeling guilty for the way you treated Taiyou-kun, Kobayashi-kun? Are you ready to apologize? Tsukiko wanted to say, wanted to vent out her anger… but she quelled down her feelings. This would probably bother Taiyou-kun even more, she knew. The last thing she wanted was to make the boy even unhappier.

With a heavy sigh, Tsukiko forced her eyes back to the book, though no matter how long the stared at the page, she never moved past the first sentence.

“Thanks for this, Aozora,” Kobayashi-kun said after a while. In few seconds, he closed his book and gathered all his material, ready to leave. “It helped a lot, but we gotta go.”

“Yeah, we go practice,” Kenichi-kun added with a heavy voice.

“Even with midterms coming up?” Tsukiko blurted out.

Kenichi-kun scratched his cheek and showed an awkward smile. “Yeah, actually—”

“The coach doesn’t know,” Kobayashi-kun interrupted his friend. Tsukiko had hung out with the boy long enough to know he felt pride for that. “I’m the one who set up this. Even if we have tests coming, the matches are more important. I mean, there’re a lot of expectations if we make it to nationals or not.”

You mean expectations on you? Tsukiko held her initial words. Lashing out at him like this won’t help at all. Instead, she tried to treat him as normal as she could. “Is that so? Then good practice.”

“Thanks. I’ll promise my next goal will be for you.” Kobayashi-kun flashed his smile before heading towards the front door of Tsukiko’s apartment.

“Yeah, thanks for everything, Aozora. Believe it or not, this will help our stupid captain improve his grades to the bare minimum,” Kenichi-kun said, standing up and gathering his materials.

“Hey, I heard that!” came Kobayashi-kun’ voice from the entrance and Tsukiko, Yui and Rika-chan laughed. All but Taiyou-kun, who remained in silence while staring the book. Tsukiko noticed his eyes weren’t moving.

“And sorry for our captain, Fuyuzora,” Kenichi-kun added in a low voice to keep Kobayashi-kun from hearing. “I know he seems like an idiot, and to be honest, he is, but he’s not a bad person. Hope you can help us again in the future.”

Tsukiko didn’t notice, but she held her breath as she waited for Taiyou-kun’ reaction. She looked between her classmate and her friend, the seconds going by slowly. The boy turned his head Kenichi-kun and made a small reverence without a word. The vice-captain showed an apologetic smile and then went after Kobayashi-kun.

“I think I’ll go too. Lately, mom’s been bugging me about staying out until dinner time,” Rika-chan said a few moments after the boys left. “I don’t think she believes me when I say I’m studying with friends.”

The girl smile and Tsukiko chuckled, though it was plain to everyone her friend just wanted to get out of there. I can’t blame her.

“Imagine if you had my grades,” Tsukiko joked, trying to light up the mood.

“If she had your grades, her mom would be crying from morning to dusk asking where she got wrong,” Yui said in an indifferent tone.

Rika-chan laughed and looked away when Tsukiko turned to her. The girl got red and was about to reply Yui when she saw Taiyou-kun trembling and using the book to cover his smile. The sight of the boy laughing made the girl sigh in relief and let her friend’s joke slide. For now, she thought.

“I’ll go with you, Rika.” Yui gathered her books and rubbed her head. “I can’t study anymore. I reached my daily quota a long, long time ago.”

“Thanks for everything, Taiyou-kun,” Rika-chan said with a gentle smile. “Hope you can help us again.”

“Yeah, thanks. Taiyou. When Tsukiko suggested this, I never thought it would be this helpful.”

“I told you, didn’t I? You should be thanking me too.” Tsukiko had a note of pride in her voice.

Yui stared her friend for a long time without a word. “Yeah, thanks again, Taiyou,” she said, tilting to the side to look past Tsukiko.

“Hey, don’t ignore me!” The girl tilted to block Yui’s sight and overreacted to lighten up the mood some more.

After they stopped laughing and said goodbye, the girls went to the entrance. When Yui was about to close the door, she eyed Taiyou-kun with her eyebrows raised and raised her chin a few times. I know, I know, Tsukiko said with a nod.

The moment they left, Tsukiko stared the door, taking deep breaths. She walked to the table without looking at Taiyou-kun. When she was next to him, she bowed her head and clasped her hands together. “I’m sorry, Taiyou-kun!”

“You didn’t do anything to apologize…”

She only raised her head when she heard him sigh, close the book and turn to her. Tsukiko bit her lips when she saw his face. Though it was his usual expression, the lack of anger in his face made her feel guilty.

“I know but still… You came here to help us and Kobayashi-kun treated you like that,” her voice trailed off as she remembered. “If I knew he was going to behave like that, I’d never invited him.” Actually, I never meant to invite him, she recalled, trying with no success relieve her guilt somewhat. He invited himself…

One day during the classes, Tsukiko was caught by surprise when the teacher reminded they had midterms coming up soon. She was even more surprised when pretty much everyone said yes. The only reason the girl didn’t panic was because her friends told her they hadn’t studied. But when Yui and Rika-chan added that much, she became worried.

“Let me guess,” Yui said with a smile. “You completely forgot about the exams helping the clubs and hanging out with Taiyou and haven’t studied anything. Am I right?”

Tsukiko gulped, ignored Yui and turned to Rika-chan. “Please, help me!”

“It’s okay, Tsukiko-chan. There’s still time,” her friend said with a smile very different from Yui.

The girls made plans so each could help the other two with their best subject. There was only one problem. “History…” they said together, their good mood plummeting. None of them had good grades on that. In fact, Tsukiko was dangerously near the red mark line ever since her second year and if not for the teacher insistence on giving her extra homework, she would have had summer school last year.

“Ah! I know!” Tsukiko brightened up when she remembered, smiling as if she had the greatest idea ever. “How about we ask Taiyou-kun? He’s—”

“Ask a first year? Are we really that desperate?” Yui interrupted her. “Even if you put him on a pedestal, I doubt he can help.”

“Will you let me finish taking, best friend of mine?” Tsukiko closed her eyes, raised her hand and moved one finger slowly, showing the smuggest face she had. “Even if he’s a first year, he sometimes has private lessons with a great teacher. Dan-sensei or something.”

“Wait, you mean that Dan-sensei from Hyouzan high?” Rika-chan widened her eyes in surprise. “How does he know such a famous teacher?”

“He’s a friend of the family.”

“And you really think Taiyou can help? I mean, even if he’s good at history, he’s still a first year. Can he help us with the Warring States Era?” Yui too looked surprised for a second, but soon she was back to her disbelief.

“Let me ask him.” Tsukiko smiled from ear to ear as she pulled her phone.

He was so happy when I asked him, Tsukiko remembered, the guilt growing in her heart when she stared the boy’s empty expression. Why didn’t I refuse when Kobayashi-kun invited himself? It’s not my fault… Ah, damn it! He ruined everything! Why did he have to be so rude to Taiyou-kun?

After the girls finished their planning, Kobayashi-kun appeared out of nowhere, asking with his usual smile if he could join them. He said that if his grades didn’t improve to a certain minimum, the coach might not let him play in the next matches. After Kenichi-kun’ and Rika-chan’ insistence, there was no way Tsukiko could refuse.

Despite a few mishaps here and there, including a day when they all mixed the subject and brought the wrong books, the study group was going without a hitch. Tsukiko was actually feeling confident those would be her best grades in a long time.

Until when it came time for history. Rika-chan had already met Taiyou-kun, but Tsukiko was surprised to know Kobayashi-kun and Kenichi-kun also knew the boy. But what really shocked her was the reason; their schools were facing each other on the next soccer match.

How did Taiyou-kun manage to keep that from me? Tsukiko thought at the time, already considering how much she was going to tease him for that. Then she realized the reason, and gave up the idea altogether. If he hid from me, it’s because he’s nervous… I mean, technically he’s playing against my school… and we’re stronger, according to Yui… and Kobayashi-kun.

The next moment, however, Tsukiko had no more time to think about that. Kobayashi-kun began making jokes and comments about Taiyou-kun, wondering if he could help them, being a brat and all, in his words. Or if the boy really wanted to help, since they would be facing each other and without him, Teikou’s chance of victory would increase slightly…

“He’s indeed… arrogant,” Taiyou-kun said, looking her in the eyes. Though Tsukiko could do nothing besides agreeing with him, she averted her gaze. There was something she didn’t like in the boy’s eyes right now, though she didn’t know what it was. “I heard he was like that, but I thought it was only on the field…”

The next instant, she understood. For him to be talking like that about someone he just met… It’s not that he’s mad. That sweet and gentle boy I know is hurt, she realized with a pain in her heart. “Yeah… I can’t really disagree… but he can be nice… when he wants… sometimes…” Wait, why am I defending Kobayashi-kun?

“Is that so?” Taiyou-kun’ voice became lower and for the first time since she met him, Tsukiko felt it was cold. “He really fooled me. I thought he was just selfish. It’s hard to believe you two are friends.”

Tsukiko felt another pang in her heart when she heard those words, but again she couldn’t do anything other than agree with them. This isn’t right… The Taiyou-kun I know and like wouldn’t say something like this… Kobayashi-kun really hurt him…

Kobayashi-kun only reduced the mean comments and jokes when Taiyou-kun mentioned Dan-sensei. The moment he heard that, he changed his attitude towards the boy, treating him with some decency.

But he still made fun of Taiyou-kun here and there… Ah damn it! That’s it! Taiyou-kun shouldn’t think about that idiot anymore. “More important than that, did you pick up anything between Yui and Kenichi-kun?” She changed the topic the moment she remembered. With today’s disaster, she had forgotten, but during their studies sessions, a few situations left the girl wondering if her best friend liked the vice-captain or not. “Though she doesn’t show anything, nor will she tell me, I think she likes him.”

“Eh?” Taiyou-kun widened his eyes, the dark and cold air gone in the same instant. The change was so sudden it caught Tsukiko off guard. “You really didn’t notice?”

“Eh? Notice what?” Tsukiko got closer to him, her face inches away from the boy. Taiyou-kun’ expression changed from surprise to afraid, and then regret. “Hey, Taiyou~~kun… What are you hiding from me?” she whispered into his ear. The boy pulled away, his face an alarming shade of red.

“No… that’s… it’s not…” Taiyou-kun stumbled with the words as he tried to get away from her, but Tsukiko didn’t let him.

“Ne, Taiyou-kun. Didn’t we promise we wouldn’t hide anything from each other?” She pressed on, looking the boy in the eyes. Somehow, Taiyou-kun got even redder.

“Errh…but this isn’t about us… I mean me…”

“So you lied to me…” Tsukiko looked down and sniffed. She knew Taiyou-kun knew she was faking it, but nonetheless, it affected him. He pressed his lips and then lowered his head.

“Yui-san… doesn’t like Kenichi-san…” she barely heard his whisper.

“Eh? So whom does she like?” Tsukiko stopped pretending to be hurt and widened her eyes. “Kobayashi-kun? For real? I never noticed… and she was pushing us together, though she stopped for some reason…”

“No… She doesn’t like him either…”

“Eh…?” It took a while, but Tsukiko finally understood…

“Time’s up. Put your pencils down,” the teacher said in his voice full of energy the moment the bell rang.

“It’s finally over.” Tsukiko passing the test sheets to the person in front of her and rested her forehead on the desk, enjoying the cold wood against her skin. “My head feel like it’s melting…”

“And it’s gonna get worst from now on. I can’t imagine when the high school entrance exams come.” Tsukiko heard Yui’s voice. She looked up and saw her friend rubbing her eyes. “I’ll bet my mom will be like you shouldn’t relax! Start studying for the next exams! You shouldn’t waste any second!”

“Imagine in three years when we’ll be studying for university exams.” Tsukiko gave a weary laugh.

“At least this time history was easier thanks to Taiyou-kun,” Rika-chan joined their conversation.

“Wasn’t it? I think it was the first time I actually finish the entire test before time was up.”

“We should give him something as a thank you. He really went out of his way to help us.”

“Yeah. I have an idea what he’d like.” Yui turned to Tsukiko with a glance full of meaning. Before the girl could ask, however, “I need to use the bathroom. Been holding for too long.”

“I’ll go with you,” Rika-chan said.

Tsukiko watched as her friends left the classroom talking and smiling. Does Yui really likes Rika-chan in that way…? The exams made the girl put the idea aside, but ever since Taiyou-kun mentioned it, his words were there, lurking at the back of her mind.