Freedom!

(Haruna POV)

***

"Granny! I'm back!"

Haruna took off her shoes at the entrance and waddled in to see the old woman hunched on the sofa while sipping on a mug of hot tea.

"How were your exams today?" she smiled, gesturing for her to sit on the couch as well.

"Honestly, I think I did really well.... But I'll need to wait for the results to see if I cracked the Top 10."

"I saw how hard you worked, and I know you can do it," Granny reassured, patting her granddaughter on the back.

"Mhm...."

Seeing the distracted look on Haruna's face, Granny nudged her.

"Okay, out with it. What did he do now?"

"Huh? Who?"

"You know who, just tell me," she rolled her eyes in exasperation.

Haruna blushed slightly at the fact that she made it sound like it was so obvious, but simply sighed wearily and placed her head on Granny's lap.

The old lady started to smooth back her hair affectionately.

After setting down her mug on the side table, she gave her full attention to the girl, who looked irritated.

"....I didn't tell you how Reiji-tan got a fever, did I?"

"No, why?"

Granny's forehead crinkled when the topic seemed to be more serious than she anticipated.

"He got injured pretty badly. A long cut on his shoulder over here," Haruna muttered, showing her the spot on her own arm. "He wouldn't tell me how he got it, so I only know it's because of his family's 'business'."

"....What??"

Granny's hands stopped moving, a grim expression dawning on her wrinkled face at the severity of the issue.

"Yeah..... So I'm just worried about him, you know?"

"That little shit..... I need to have a good talk with him!"

Haruna chuckled wryly, playing with her grandmother's calloused fingers while she continued to rant, completely lost in her worries.

"He's coming over tomorrow after school, so give him a good talking-to."

"Damn right I will!" she snapped, before slowly calming down after a minute of silence. "But is he fine? Did he need stitches? And what about his fever, you didn't tell me this morning because you were in such a rush...."

Seeing the anxious look on her face, Haruna couldn't help but smile.

"You're what the kids call 'gap moe', Granny. I keep forgetting you care about him since you guys are always bickering," she laughed.

"Tch, stop speaking nonsense and just give me a report of all the medicine you've given him!"

"....Geez, okay!"

As Haruna explained everything she did in a detailed manner, from the tablets she administered to the meals she made, Granny nodded along approvingly and gave her a pass.

"Good, good. At least his fever is gone."

"Hmph, did you doubt me?"

"No, but I had to make sure, and I still need to give him a full check-up later. Now go to sleep, you still have midterms tomorrow."

"Ughhhh, yeahhh..." Haruna groaned, slowly slipping out of her embrace and slinking away into the bedroom with exhaustion.

'Just one more day, and then.... Freedom!'

***

Haruna clicked her tongue and rubbed out one of the answers on her sheet.

'That's not right..... I don't understand this question!'

She had the sudden urge to scratch her head furiously, but held it in because she was in the middle of the classroom.

This was the final midterm on the agenda, and she was determined to end it on a confident note.

The previous ones had been just as tough, but there didn't seem to be any significant problems that she noticed, like in this case.

She tried hard to think back on the sessions with Reiji and whether or not he'd covered this area.

'Wait..... I remember. He was teaching this while he was standing over me..... He smelled like wood....'

Haruna quickly pinched her forearm when she realized she was drifting away, biting her lips with embarrassment at her thought process.

But, surprisingly, associating the topic with that image and the scent made things clearer in her head, and she remembered the tips Reiji had been giving her.

Throwing the memory out of her mind, she wrote down the answer that seemed correct with a grin plastered on her face.

'Aaaaand.....DONE!'

She let out a huge sigh of relief and placed her pencil down on the desk, rubbing her aching hands together to soften the pain.

Haruna glanced up at the timer and saw there were still over ten minutes to go, so she rechecked all of her answers as much as she could before closing her papers once and for all.

Most of the others seemed to still be writing, which spoke volumes about the difficulty of the test, so the fact that she was able to finish early gave her the confidence she was looking for.

After all, even if she did well on the other tests but did poorly on the last one, that would be the only thing she would think about for a long time.

"Shit....."

Hearing the audible cuss diagonally from her, Haruna narrowed her eyes at Riku, who was gnawing on his pencil like a squirrel.

The seating arrangements had changed again today, and she had the bad luck of being near him.

Thankfully, they didn't talk at all.

It was almost as if he was actively avoiding her for some reason, even though he'd been looking at her repeatedly at random times during the breaks.

After finding out what type of person he actually seemed to be, this made Haruna a little wary.

*DING-A-LING-RIIIIING*

The final bell rang throughout the building at the same time as the timer ran out, shaking her out of her thoughts abruptly.

Kahawara Sensei immediately stood up from his desk and clapped his hands to get everyone's attention.

"Everyone, stop writing NOW! If I see a pencil in your hands, I will deduct points!"

"Noooooo...."

Riku once again piped up, dropping his pencil in despair as it rolled over his desk and smeared his saliva across his paper.

'Ewwwww....'

Haruna grimaced at the sight, turning away as fast as she could.

She looked for Reiji instead, and the opposing sight made her brows twitch with amusement.

He was conked out yet again, lying his head on the table as if this was just another day for him.

His luck seemed to be terrible, since he had to sit at the front once again, allowing Sensei to watch over him like a predator.

'It seems like Sensei has an agenda against him..... But maybe I'm overthinking it.'

He used to be a troublemaker, so it could just be that.

Kahawara Sensei started collecting all of the papers from the students, knocking on Reiji's desk as loudly as he could, rousing him out of his nap.

".....Hmph," he glared, grabbing the paper from the outstretched arm of the yawning boy.

'Pfft, was he drooling? How cute.'

Reiji wiped the wet spot on his chin with a frown and leaned back on his chair as he stretched his long legs out from under the table.

Soon enough, all of the papers were collected and organized, signaling the end of the midterms.

"Good. On that note, you've made it past the first hurdle at Souhei High. But I would advise you not to get too engrossed in relaxing just because it's done, since this is just the beginning. Now that these exams are out of the way, teachers are going to start assigning projects in certain classes, and trust me when I tell you that they're a bigger headache than a mere exam. The results will be announced in two days, on Thursday morning, with the Top 50 students in the first year being posted on the bulletin board in the hallway. As promised, the Top 10 will have this semester's fees reimbursed alongside a commendation from the principal. That's all from me, you can go on your way."

As Sensei finished his long and dull speech, the students leaped out of their chairs with constrained cheers of celebration, only because most of them had disappointed expressions.

'I need to get the Top 10....'

The reminder at the end jolted her, and the hopeful panic began to set in after the joy of ending the grueling exams faded.

She stayed still in her seat, fiddling with the stationery in front of her absent-mindedly while some of the others had already started to trickle out.

"Knock-knock, Miss Quiet. I thought you'd be happy that it's over."

Haruna tilted her head upwards and saw Reiji smiling at her, with the sleepy eyes still blinking rapidly as if resisting the decision to wake up.

"....I am happy, I'm just tired because not everyone is smart enough to finish more than half an hour earlier and sleep for the remaining time," she snorted jokingly.

"That's *yaaaawn* true, I guess," he shrugged.

'.....I wanna punch him.'

"Let's go, Granny's looking forward to bea-....meeting you."

".....I'm pretty sure you were gonna say some other word," Reiji squinted.

"You heard wrong."

When Haruna finished packing her bag, Greeny and Airi came up to them.

The former seemed normal, but the latter looked nervous.

"Hey..... I see you slept most of the time, which means you gave up, right? How about I show you some magnanimity and void the bet because I feel sorry for you?" she offered, forcing a smile.

"That's so kind of you! But I'm a man of my word, so if you beat me, I'll accept it like a decent human being," Reiji replied, feigning a touched look as he jabbed back with a hidden dagger.

"I-I see..... O-Okay then, don't regret it later. This is your last chance!"

"It's fine."

"Ugh...."

Haruna chuckled at their exchange, already feeling sorry for her new friend.

She looked around for Hina and saw her leaving with Riku, which made her a little frustrated.

'.....Maybe I should tell her how he really is.'

It was clear she still harbored feelings for him, but she also saw signs of her trying to pull away.

For example, she would normally have never ratted out Riku on the nonsensical bet he made, but she did so yesterday.

As they walked out of the classroom and headed towards the school gates, she thought about whether she should try to pull her into this new friend group that was a lot more genuine, at least in her opinion.

Even though she had been formally accepted into the 'Gluttons', she never really participated in the group chats and only came for the rooftop potluck twice.

And if Hina opened up and joined her happily, she could spend more time with these goofballs that she'd only recently come to befriend.

'But this attachment with Riku-san.....'

Haruna shook her head and followed behind the chattering three, who had caught sight of Ren in the hallways, calling him over to join them.

So the five of them exited the building, discussing plans for what to do now that the midterms were over, bouncing different ideas off of each other.

But before they could go further in their conversation, Haruna saw Reiji freeze in his tracks.

"Hm? What's wrong Reiji-tan?" she asked in confusion.

Reiji didn't respond, his face contorting with a fury that she'd never seen before, with dangerous eyes and bulging veins that made her step forward with bewilderment as she clutched his sleeve.

She, as well as the others who'd noticed his abnormality, followed his line of sight and saw a man standing right outside the school gates.

A man with overly neat, slicked-back hair, a business suit with a red tie, and worn-out leather shoes that were tapping the ground, either with excitement or nervousness.

And a name came from Reiji's mouth that meant nothing to any of them.

"Keito....."