Sincerely, Me [Kindaichi Yuutarou] | ✔

For Cake's Sake

"Good morning class," Hashimoto-sensei (otherwise known as big-and-mean-sensei by Kurokawa Najimi as well as most of the class) said as he walked in, a very strained smile on his face.

Instantly, everybody straightened with varying looks of shock and terror on their face. Hashimoto never ever greeted them with something as boring as "good morning". Not unless...

Hashimoto, still smiling that strange little smile, held up their graded practice math exam papers. And despite themselves, everybody groaned, Kindaichi even going as far as to smack his forehead onto the desk.

Shit, he thought listlessly. I totally forgot about the pop quiz we had the other day. He cast Kunimi a hapless glance, which the other boy ignored. Kunimi's eyes were following Hashimoto as he moved around the room, passing their papers back. He was still smiling. Kindaichi suspected that he had gotten botox, and he wasn't the only one.

"Fifty percent," Hashimoto suddenly said, and alarm bells instantly went off in the students' minds. The math teacher's voice was dangerously calm. "That was the class average..." Then his smile fell. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU ALL DOING WITH YOUR LIVES?!"

Kindaichi winced, fingering the corner of the paper of his exam. It was face down, as was the case with most of the other papers.

"I'VE TOLD YOU ALL TIME AND TIME AGAIN THAT WE HAVE TUTORS AVAILABLE AFTER SCHOOL! BUT DO YOU USE THEM?! NO! NO, YOU DON'T!" Hashimoto slammed one meaty hand on the table of a student in the front desk. The student's eyes rolled to the back of his head as he promptly fainted.

"DO YOU PEOPLE EVEN REVIEW THE CONTENT I TEACH?! YOU THINK I DON'T KNOW THAT SOME OF YOU JUST COPY HOMEWORK FROM YOUR FRIENDS?!" By now, everybody except Shino was shaking, even Kunimi, who was trying his best to hide it. "AND JUST SO YOU KNOW, I WON'T BE CURVING THE TEST, NOR WILL I GIVE OUT EXTRA CREDIT! You've all been spoiled long enough..." Hashimoto exhaled to catch his breath, his face completely red. Then his eyes glinted meanly. "You're all so lucky that this was merely a quiz. Those of you that get below eighty percent in the exams I'll set for you first day next week, I will make sure that you're taken off the roster for your clubs until midterms come around in June!"

"WHAAAATT?!"

"QUIET!" roared Hashimoto, scaring the student in the front row back into unconsciousness. "ALL OF YOU WILL USE THIS TIME TO REVIEW YOUR OWN PAPERS WHILE I PREPARE TODAY'S LESSON!"

Some sniffles could be heard at the unfairness of it all, and Kindaichi sighed to himself. What did I get anyway? The quiz wasn't that hard if I remember correctly. I should have gotten at least an eighty. The small smile that had grown on his face twitched as he turned his paper around.

"What did you get?" Kunimi asked, leaning across the space between their desks. "Kindaichi?" Kunimi's eyes moved up to Kindaichi's face and he was shocked to see a comical tear rolling down Kindaichi's face. "That bad, huh?"

Arm shaking erratically, Kindaichi held up his paper for Kunimi to see, his face hidden in his other hand.

There was a large 62% circled in red marker on the top of his exam, close to where he had written his name.

Kunimi nodded, understanding Kindaichi's behavior. "I see."

"What did you get?" Kindaichi bemoaned, folding his test in half. Knowing Kunimi, he probably got a ninety...

Kunimi flipped his paper around for Kindaichi to feast his eyes on.

"Eh?" Kunimi's score was only a little higher than his, just shy of seventy percent. "How can you be so cool about that mark?!" he whisper-shouted, eyes wide in disbelief. "Didn't you hear sensei? If we don't improve in the next test, he'll ban us from volleyball!"