𝕊𝕡𝕚𝕣𝕚𝕥 || 𝕂𝕪𝕠 𝕊𝕠𝕙𝕞𝕒

I Almost Can't Believe It

This is probably a given, but test-taking was not Hiyori Kato's strong suit. Add to that her inability to handle stress and its a recipe for disaster. The past two weeks of March had been rough; she hadn't been too worried about most of their subjects. But when it came to history and math...

Well, she was screwed. Or, at least, she would have been if not for Yuki. He was her saving grace -- like an angel descended from the sky to help her study. When he first offered to tutor her and Tohru, Hiyori tried to say no. Not because she didn't need it, but because the last thing she wanted was for Yuki Sohma to think she was stupid.

But thankfully, she realized that it was either that or the risk of failing her tests. And since this year's finals didn't make her want to cry at her desk, she was sure she made the right choice.

At the end of the alloted 50 minutes for the last test, Miss Shiraki broke the silence of the class. "That's it, time's up." A few whines and groans came from the students. "No complaining. Pass your test to the front."

After all the tests were passed forward, Hiyori leaped right out of her seat. She skipped back to Tohru's desk, where her cousin was stretching over the surface with a smile. Hiyori threw her hands down on Tohru's desk with the biggest grin on her face.

"We did it~!" She cheered. "Our last exams as first-years are over!"

Tohru giggled. "That's right! It feels good to be done!"

"So," Yuki walked over to them. "How'd it go?"

Standing up, Tohru grinned. "You know what? I think I did better than I expected to! I filled in a lot more of the blanks than usual! What about you, Hiyori?"

"Well, honestly, I was expecting to radiate despair the entire time." Beaming, Hiyori clapped her hands together. "But I actually felt pretty decent about it! I didn't draw a single frowny-face on my test this time, either!"

"Oh, yeah?" Walking over with Hana, Uo set her hand on Tohru's head. "Well, that's a good sign if there ever was one. I'm real proud of you two."

Hiyori giggled sheepishly. "Thanks..."

Hana squeezed her shoulders. "I knew it was within your powers to pass the exams."

"Yuki tutored us, so he's the one who should get the credit." Tohru told them.

"Mm-hm!" Hiyori turned to Yuki. "You were a huge help, Yuki! Without you, I know it would've been much harder!" They both bowed. "Thank you so much."

"Seriously, we couldn't have done it without you."

Yuki blinked. "Thanks, but..." He smiled. "It was nothing."

Getting closer to Yuki meant making an enemy of the Prince Yuki Fanclub. Ever since that fateful day when they met him at his house, they couldn't go anywhere near him without invoking the wrath of his admirers. Most often, it was their classmates Kinoshita and Iwata. And it was so common that Hiyori developed some kind of sixth sense when it came to those glares. She could always feel them, whether they were on the back of her head or from across the hall.

Of course, they still scared her. And she still couldn't protect herself from them at all. That's why she was lucky to have Hana, who kept them back with her threatening dull stare.

"Hey, Hanajima!" Hiroshi called over from where he stood at Yusuke's desk. "You're lucky you've got that brain wave stuff. Bet you ace every test, don't you?"

"How'd you feel about the midterms?"

"Oh, those? Let's see..." Hana glanced up at the ceiling. "I went to special tutoring for them. After the tests, the school called my house." She stared ahead. "...Yes. I recall my mother weeping."