School was a hassle. I knew I had to do well, so I begrudgingly studied every single day. Everyone was caught up with the coming exams, and the week before exams, clubs were cancelled.
I studied like a maniac. Mom had told me a week or so before that we were all going to a party on Christmas Eve. It was a business party in the northern part of Japan, so it was going to be freaking cold there. And of course I didn't want to go. Mitsukuni and I were going to meet up on Christmas and exchange gifts and... go on a date. We hadn't gotten very far with our plan, other than spending the day together. Probably go get some cake.
Anyway, Mom and I came to an agreement: if I got number one in the exams, I wouldn't have to go to the party. Thank goodness I wasn't in the same grade as Kyoya. There'd be no way I could beat that guy.
Then exam week rolled up.
"Good luck Rika!" Mitsukuni told me with a bright grin in the morning on our first day of exams.
"Thanks! You too," I replied.
The math test wasn't bad, but the history one sucked! And don't get me started on the Japanese language test...
"What should we do on Christmas?" Mitsukuni asked me. We were waiting to get our scores back the day after our last test.
I shrugged. "I don't know. I might have to go to a business party on Christmas Eve." I sighed. "Is your family doing anything over Christmas?"
"Not really!" he replied, all-smiles as usual. "We usually celebrate it with family." "Then can we still..."
"Of course!"
Agh, I better have gotten first!
"Haninozuka."
Oh man. Mitsukuni came walking back down the aisle looking pretty pleased. Is that a good thing? But no, that's his results! Not mine. Ahh.
"Hayashi."
I stood to get my exam papers back. Once they were in my hands, I immediately flipped to the page that showed who was the top in our grade.
Well. Let's just say that...
Damn! Damn it!
"How'd you do?" Mitsukuni asked curiously.
I frowned.
His eyebrows rose. "But you got second place, didn't you?"
I nodded. "Yeah, but now I have to go to the Christmas party," I whined, making a pouty face. "I don't want to. Mitsukuniiiii."
He giggled. "It's okay. It's a party on Christmas Eve, right? You'll be back by Christmas." "Right." I smiled. "So we can still meet up?"
"Yup!"
