Hikigaya's Route to Senior High Is Not Normal, As Expected

The Sitting of Midterms

Hikigaya's Route to Senior High Is Not Normal, As I Expected

"I have my own high standards for what I want in a partner and how I want to be treated. I bring a lot to the table. I'm not talking about material things but what I have to offer as a person - love and loyalty and all the things that make a good relationship." – Jennifer Lopez

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Hachiman's POV

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Thursday. Of the second week of May.

Tomorrow was Friday, when the midterms would be upon them all. Class had ended for Thursday, and Hachiman had managed to do quite a bit regarding for Sudou, Ike, and Yamauchi. They had been progressing rather smoothly, especially when Hachiman finally put them to the test about the hardest potential questions, they worked through it relatively fine.

Sure, there were some issues, but it took some time and motivation, and even Sudou was able to acknowledge and understand it.

Ironically, he was a bit smarter than Ike and Yamauchi.

If anything, Sudou was the smarter of the two now, followed by Ike, and then Yamauchi.

However, even then, they seemed guaranteed not to fail at least, which should be fine. As for whether Sudou can somehow make the extra deal of scoring 75 in two subjects, Hachiman was unsure about that.

In the meantime, Hachiman looked on, about to leave, especially since Chabashira had ended the class. Instead, before Hachiman could even leave, Kikyou had already gotten up, almost leaping and heading to the front of the desk to relay whatever message she had.

"Everyone! Before you return to your dorms, would you mind listening to me for a moment?" Kikyou started, clearly bringing everyone's attention towards her.

Everyone from the boys of Sudou, Ike, and Yamauchi, to the girls of Satsuki, Kei, and Maya all looked on in confusion as Kikyou seemed to be doing something completely unorthodox, and new to the table.

"I know we've all been studying a lot in preparation for the test tomorrow. Therefore, I've managed to get something of help, something that will make it a bit easier for us to do well on the midterms. I'm going to hand out some papers." Kikyou explained as she began to distribute the question-and-answer sheets to the student in the first row.

"Are these test questions? Did you make these, Kushida?" Suzune was visibly surprised by this turn of events as she stared, as if trying to quickly see if the answers and questions, the bridge between the two connected foundationally.

Her surprise was evident she this was the first time she had publicly acknowledged Kikyou as well.

"Well, actually... these are old test problems. I got them from a third-year student lastnight." Kikyou explained, scratching her head nervously before she went in a sparkling smile.

For Hachiman, he felt something strange by that reaction Kikyou had.

She was lying.

The way she scratched her head and then smiled; it was almost like she was gearing herself up for it to be smooth.

The transition that is.

Simply put, in the moment, the transition would be abrupt, and then start up. The shock would freeze before consciousness brings it back.

The way Kikyou had transitioned from scratching her head to smiling was way too smooth for it to be in the moment.

That meant she had planned for such a reaction.