Butterflies [Nino Nakano x Male Reader]

Chapter 34 - Snowfall

Y/N POV:

With everything that has been going on lately, I actually forgot that my job is on the line here. The quints aren't the only ones who need to do well on this exam. After all, I need to be placed either second or above in our school - or more importantly, I must somehow ensure that Takeda ranks third or below. I haven't forgotten about that asswipe. Just prioritizing other things first.

I guess I should be taking a bit of time off my day to study, but the problem is that at the level we're at, the questions we get wrong are often way too specific given the subject we're studying, and so, there is no technique I know that can make you prepared for everything. That said, one thing that can be done is to ensure that I don't ever get any of the simple problems wrong - which is what I've been trying to do in between our sessions. Catching some of the mistakes the girls make is actually a pretty good way of understating the gaps in both their knowledge, as well as my own. The problem for me always has been Socials. All other subjects can be reduced to a set of instructions for problem-solving. Some more than others, of course. But Socials, history, and stuff... there are no rules. There's only a long list of facts and occurrences that need to be memorized.

That's not to say the others can't get me either. I'm a bit rusty on chemistry, and my knowledge of the Krebs cycle could definitely use some revising. I've arrived a little earlier at the quints' place anyway so I'll use a few minutes to quickly learn the latter.

Itsuki was the one who welcomed me into their home. Judging by the scribbled notebook she was carrying when she opened the door, it's safe to assume she was getting work done on some exercises before I arrived.

"Welcome, L/N-kun", she said with a smile, "Please, come in."

I'm glad to see she's doing well.

"Thanks. Is that math you're revising? You know we're not studying that today, right?"

"It's physics actually."

"We study them together."

"I know. And I know we're not seeing that today, but I wanted to get some of the extra exercises done beforehand. Is it ok if you help see what I've done wrong?"

"That's why I'm here. Let me just set my things in the living room and refill my water, then I'll go sit with you, ok?"

"Okay."

As sad as it is to admit this, seeing her like this is a little odd. For now, I'll just pretend as this problem has indeed magically been solved. I need to spare my neurons as much as possible for these coming days.

"Is everyone at home?" I asked as I set my backpack on the table.

"Not yet. Nino went to get groceries with Yotsuba, but they should be back in no time."

Interesting. From what I know, cooking and groceries are Nino's sole responsibilities, and from what she told me, she typically does the latter with one of the sisters. Maybe going with Yotsuba this time is an attempt to get some information out of her. Or not... when I phrase it this way, I almost make it seem as if she's interrogating her. In any case, I'll let tsun handle this one for now. She'll do what she thinks is best.

"Okay," I said as I sat at the table, with her sitting adjacent to me, "Show me what you got."

"Here," she leaned closer, showing me last year's last exam, "When it says that the normal force on t=30 is equal to 20% of the weight of the pilot, does he mean 20% of 70 kg? Isn't that too little?"

"Nonono. 70 kg is the mass of the pilot. He wants the weight, which is mass times gravity. In this case, the weight would be 700 newtons and the Normal Force is 140 newtons."