The Inazuma Scrapbook

The Terrors of Homework

Homework was the one thing Coach Hitomiko wouldn't stop nagging them about.

In which fighting aliens to save the earth doesn't exempt you from studies, apparently.

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There is only one thing that can ruin a camping trip. Actually, there are more than one, but for now, Rika is only concerned with only one of them. Homework. For a coach who barely seems to care about what they do as long as they're performing well, Coach Hitomiko sure can be serious about studies, going as far as to postpone practice until they finish them.

Now, Rika would love to take a day off and spend it with Darling on a shopping trip or something equally as fun, but homework is not something she likes to do even at home, let alone at camp.

"What's that supposed to be?" Touko asks.

Rika glances at the girl by her side, who is staring at Rika's diary, and pouts. "What do you mean "what"? It's me and Darling!"

Touko, being the awful friend she is, says, "That doesn't look anything like Ichinose."

Rika rolls her eyes. Clearly, Touko can't appreciate a work of art to save her life. "You just don't have any artistic sense." Rika turns to find Tsunami and a grin makes its way to her face as she thinks of an idea. "If you want, I could draw Tsunami for you. I mean, you'd want a memento, right?"

"Memento for what?" Poor girl obviously thinks she's subtle about her crush.

Still, Touko needs to come to terms with it on her own. No use forcing someone's feelings out, especially if they're that shy about it. Like Darling's feelings for her.

Well, a small prod here or there wouldn't hurt.

So, Rika just grins and says, "You know what."

Touko pretends to look even more mystified, as though it is actually fooling someone. "I really don't."

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Endou scratches his face with his index finger. "I'm lost."

Yuuto sighs, barely keeping his frustration at bay. No matter how much Yuuto likes and even admires Endou, he can't deny that the latter is denser than osmium. "We've already gone over this ten times. What is it that you don't understand?"

Endou frowns at him. "It's hard, okay? It doesn't make any sense. Why does it become negative on the other side?"

Sitting next to Yuuto, Gouenji sighs as he flips the page of his history book, having long given up on making Endou understand.

"Because," Yuuto says for the eleventh time that hour, "we need to keep the equation balanced."

It's times like this that Yuuto really wishes Endou wasn't such a soccer freak. If he didn't have that single-minded hyperfocus, maybe he would understand things that weren't soc—

Wait a minute. There was only one way to make Endou understand Maths. "Picture this. This is a field, and that is the opponent's side. When you switch sides after half-time—"

"You switch directions!" Endou's eyes seem to sparkle and a bit of understanding seems to show in his eyes. "So, the signs are like directions?"

"Congratulations," Gouenji says, though his smirk is definitely teasing.

"It's not my fault Kidou didn't explain it like that sooner!" Endou objects, although he, too, is grinning with triumph.

Yuuto smirks. Really, Endou was a true soccer freak.