134. Culmination (2)

(Riku POV)

***

"Welcome, the only two failures in the entire school!"

".....Huh?"

Morikawa, next to me, widened his eyes as the color drained from his face.

I myself wasn't doing much better.

'.....There's no way, right?'

It had to be some sort of sick joke, maybe something orchestrated by Yagami or this hateful guy with glasses.

"Vice-President, that's overly harsh," Noa spoke up.

But her tone didn't have much reproach, merely a hint of annoyance.

"I apologize, but it's true," the man, who was apparently the VP, replied.

"Regardless of that, there's a proper procedure to handle this."

"Of course, President. I'll leave it to you," he bowed and retreated a few steps.

I couldn't tell if he was a simp or a bootlicker, but neither option was that great.

"You two, do you have any explanation?" Noa said, turning to us with a stern tone.

"Uh....Did we really fail?"

Morikawa fiddled with his fingers, guilt and despair all over his face.

"Yes. Morikawa Tooro, you have an average score of 72%, failing in two subjects, with the lowest score being 64%. You have a lot of room for improvement and can probably recover soon, so please be more mindful in the future."

And then she turned to me.

"Kazama Riku....Yours is much worse."

My heart dropped at her words.

'Did I really do that badly? Just a few minutes ago, I was hoping that I'd made the Top 50...'

I felt like laughing at myself.

"...How many did I fail?" I asked.

Noa looked down at her document and sighed.

"An average score of 63% across all subjects, but you only passed two of them and failed the rest. the lowest score was 45% in the Mathematics exam."

'.....Oh.'

So I was a bigger moron than I thought.

But I didn't feel like it was completely my fault.

After seeing Yuzuki-san being so close with that asshole, as well as the 'bet' that he unilaterally pushed on me right after, it's not surprising that I wasn't able to focus.

Hina also didn't teach me as much as she usually used to back in Middle School, probably because Yuzuki-san wasn't with us.

Why was everything going to shit?

I knew the answer now.

It was Yagami.

I was so lost in my intense feelings that I only snapped out after Morikawa nudged me.

".....Are you even listening?" Noa asked.

"Uh..."

The VP stepped up again and glared at me.

"Not only did you fail so badly that you affected the reputation of our school, but you're not even paying attention now?" he snarled.

"But.....Both of us technically passed if we were in any other school!" I retaliated, not wanting to take such an insult.

"Then drop out and join those other schools," he snorted back.

"....."

I had no words, because that would be impossible.

Not after Dad used his connections to get me into this school in the first place!

I'd get belted.

"Vice-President," Noa warned firmly.

".....I apologize."

He retreated, but the dissatisfaction on his face was visible.

"As for you," she said, looking at me with those cold, violet eyes. "Even if his words were harsh, he's right. You can't approach your studies with that attitude, of being satisfied with mediocrity. Would you really be happy with that?"

Her reprimand was like a knife, stabbing right at my insecurities.

It reminded me of that barrage of insults from that redhead a few days ago, and I clenched my teeth.

"It's not my fault, I was distracted!" I snapped.

Noa raised an eyebrow at my outburst.

"...Distracted by what?"

"I...I can't say," I mumbled.

There was no way I was going to let her know about the source; it would just make me look stupid from the point of view of someone who definitely wouldn't understand.

"Instead of blaming external things, can't you take responsibility and ensure this doesn't happen again? Surely you realize how immature that sounds?" she responded.

*CRACK*

There it was again.

'What the hell is going on today?? Am I going crazy?'

Her words hurt so much.

Not because of the content, but because it was coming from her!

I didn't even know her personally, and yet it felt like a punch in the gut.

Morikawa had his mouth zipped, not wanting to interfere with this in case he'd be dragged into the crossfire.

"...Okay," I finally said, biting my lips with reluctance.

"Good. Regardless, both of you are suspended from club activities until the end of this semester, where you will have to pass the end-of-term exams if you want to continue."

"WHAT!" both of us yelled out.

We were in the E-Sports Club together, and that club was our life!

It was impossible to be forced away from it.

"There's an alternative, if you aren't comfortable with that. Though I don't think you'll like it," Noa said, as if she was expecting this reaction.

"We'll do it! No matter what it is," I cried out, raising an arm to show my acceptance.

Noa leaned back in her chair and flickered her gaze between us.

".....From next week, you will come to the Student Council on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for a supervised study session. A month later, you will be provided with a supplementary exam for all the classes you failed, which you will have to pass. This won't interfere with your E-Sports Club on Tuesday and Thursday, but if you end up failing those exams as well, then the first option will be forced upon you."

"...Ugh."

That sounded ridiculous and overly excessive.

"Why can't we study on our own time and take the exams next month?" Morikawa asked with confusion.

"For two reasons," Noa nodded. "One, as a punishment for failing the exams. Think of it as detention in a way. And second, to ensure that you are capable of discipline and can focus when it comes down to it. Souhei High doesn't tolerate failed grades, and we have to make sure you belong here."

"Isn't that too much? It's one small slip-up," I pleaded, dreading the fact that I'd have to spend extra time at school every day if I included club activities.

".....Failing all subjects except two, and you think studying to make up for it is excessive?"

Noa's already indifferent face became even colder, looking at me with a faint hint of disdain that sent a shiver down my spine and a spike of pain through my head.

*CRACK*

At this point, I was numb to the strange noises, believing that I really was going insane.

I lowered my head out of shame, realizing that saying anything else would just be shooting myself in the foot.

Seeing that I had quietened down, Noa rubbed her temples and waved her hand.

"That's all I wanted to inform you two about. You may leave and go back to class. Read through the papers that will be handed back to you by your Teacher and understand where you went wrong."

".....Thank you," Morikawa bowed, pulling my sleeve to take me with him when he saw me staring blankly at the floor.

Can you blame me?

I will have to go through this torture because of that delinquent, a punishment that sounds so exhausting that I want to collapse right here, right now.

I didn't even say goodbye, allowing myself to be guided out of the office.

But when we exited, and the doors closed behind us, Morikawa shoved me away lightly.

He had a frustrated frown on his face.

"This is all your fault!" he growled.

"Huh? Why are you blaming me?"

"Who was the one who begged me to play Ranked Matches all day right before the midterms?"

"I...."

He wasn't wrong.

When Hina refused to tutor me for more than a few hours, I dragged Morikawa online to play a few games.

"But that's not my fault? I didn't put a crossbow to your head, you were the one who accepted readily!" I retorted.

"Ugh.... I must've committed a genocide in my previous life to have a friend like you!"

"Okay, that's a little much."

We slinked back to class, not looking forward to getting our test papers back.

And for me, I wasn't excited about seeing Yagami and the rest either.

Who knows, he might backtrack and force me to uphold the bet, which fits right in with his character.

We slid the class door open and entered, with most of the other students already in their seats for homeroom.

Yagami and his gang were in their corner, and Yuzuki-san and Hina didn't even look back.

"Oh, Riku and Tooru are back! Hey, what'd you guys get called over for?" someone asked curiously.

"Nothing, just club stuff," I shrugged, avoiding the real reason like the plague.

We took our seats quietly, ignoring some of the more probing questions, which were starting to get a little irritating.

But before I could throw a book at one of the detectives, Kahawara Sensei entered the room with a bundle of papers under his arm.

He looked over the class with his usual stern demeanor, like he had a stick up his ass, and slammed the papers down on the desk.

"Some of you did really well. Some made significant jumps. And some were downright atrocious," he dictated as he surveyed the room.

"Kazama and Morikawa," he called out.

My blood went cold.

My heart started thumping.

My brows were sweating.

'Surely he wouldn't?'

But he did.

"I don't want to see you two failing again in the future. Got it?"

'Ah...Fuck this deranged, mentally-ill, brutally-aged old man.'