The first exam for the new school term is coming up soon. Naturally, I don’t have any problems with it. But two people in my class do.

   ‘Suzu!’ Nagano cries.

   ‘Yuka-chan!’ Nitta says in a loud voice.

   ‘Save me!’ the two of them say at the same time.

   I look at Takaki.

   ‘Does this happen all the time?’ I ask her.

   She lets out a tired sigh. ‘Pretty much.’

   ‘Must be tough for you.’

   ‘It is, but I got used to it. All right, stop crying Yuki. You’re bothering the others.’

   ‘Thank you, Yuka-chan! Thank you!’

   Meanwhile, Nagano is still bothering Suzu. She’s very close to grovel down on the floor.

   ‘Suzu, you got to help me! Please!’

   ‘You know Aiai, you should really start to study on your own~.’ Suzu says while showing a really unenthusiastic expression.

   ‘I would if I could! I’m begging you! You know I definitely can’t miss the first week of summer holidays by filling it up with supplementary classes!’

  ‘For some reason, that last sentence made Suzu all serious.

   Don’t worry Aiai. I’ll help you. You’re not going to fail a single subject with me around.’

   And she’s even talking seriously. I wonder what that’s all about.

   ‘Thank you! Thank you so much!’ Nagano keeps on saying to her gratefully.

   ‘We could turn this into a study session so that we can help each other.’ Takaki suggests.

   ‘Sounds good.’ Nitta agrees.

   When Suzu looks at me, her expression is all laid-back again.

   ‘Do you want to join us, Takkun~?’ she asks me.

   Now it’s my turn to look unenthusiastic.

  ‘Oh, I don’t know. Teaching one idiot is bad enough, now there’s actually two of them? I don’t think my sanity can hold.’

   ‘Hey!’

   ‘Now that’s just rude!’

   ‘Come on, Takkun~. If we held the study session at my house, you could play all my games~.’ Suzu tempts me.

   ‘Well, if you put it that way…’

   ‘You do realize the reason we have this study session is to, well, study, right?’ Nitta asks me.

   I shrug. ‘It’s not like I need to study, anyway.’

   ‘Must be nice to be that full of confidence…’ she says enviously.

   Kanae appears out of nowhere after hearing our conversation.

   ‘Can I join too, Suzu-chan?’ she asks Suzu.

   ‘Of course you can, Ri-chan~.’

   In the end, it’s not only Kanae. Masato, Takeuchi, Kazuki and Murata joins in as well. Suzu made sure to tell them the address of her house.

   ‘Are you sure your house can fit all of us, Yoshinaga-san?’ Kazuki asks Suzu.

   ‘Don’t you worry, my room is big enough~.’

   ‘She’s right. We can fit everyone here in her room plus some more if we want to.’ I tell him.

   ‘Are you really okay with this, Bandou-kun?’ Kanae asks me with a smug smirk. ‘We’re basically intruding your love nest with Suzu-chan, you know.’

   ‘Give it a rest already, Kanae.’

   Nagano is so desperate to get good grades this upcoming exam she’s even bringing her reference book when we’re heading outside for lunch.

   ‘Boyle’s Laws, Newton’s Laws, so many laws to remember…’ she mumbles to herself while flipping through the pages.

   ‘You know, you better take a short break or your brain might get fried.’ I tell her. ‘You rarely use them, after all.’

   Nagano straight up ignores me.

   ‘There’s no point in talking her out of it, Takkun~. Not when Aiai is like this.’ Suzu says to me.

   ‘Man, I never thought that I would see a diligent Nagano. I think it’s going to rain blood tomorrow.’

   Nagano was so engrossed with her studies she almost bumped into Ogasawara. I’m so glad I managed to pull Nagano back at the last second, or they would definitely have collided.

   ‘Oh, I’m so sorry, Ogasawara-san!’ Nagano quickly apologizes to Ogasawara. ‘Are you hurt?’

   ‘No, I’m not. No need to be so scared. We didn’t even tough each other, you know?’

   Nagano turns her neck to look at me.

   ‘Thanks for pulling me back, Bandou-kun.’ she tells me gratefully.

   ‘You’re welcome. Now could you stop studying for a while and concentrate on where you’re walking?’

   ‘Yes. I’m sorry for doing something so dangerous.’

   Ogasawara sighs. ‘You too huh, Nagano? I’m kind of worried for our next exam too.’

   ‘Are you grades bad, Ogasawara-san?’

   ‘I would say it’s average, but my History and English aren’t really good. I used to have Juri teach me, but now…’

   ‘You know, you really shouldn’t restrain yourself just because those two have become a couple.’ I say to her.

   ‘I know. I know that, okay? But I still do it out of some stupid consideration.’

   ‘You could join our study session instead~.’ Suzu offers.

   ‘Oh, you’re having one too? Well, I’ll take up on your offer if it’s not too much bother.’

   ‘No need to worry. Everyone is welcome to my house~.’

   ‘Thank you so much. Where do you stay, by the way?’

   ‘My address is…’

   And so, even Ogasawara is joining the study session. Oh joy.

   When we’re about to begin our consultations of the day, Shimada-sensei comes inside the club room while holding some piece of papers.

   ‘How are all of you faring?’ she asks.

   ‘We were just about to start another consultation.’ Nagano informs her. ‘Do you have any business with us, sensei?’

   ‘As a matter of fact, I do. I got the green lights so that our club can go for a field trip during the summer holidays.’

   Suzu and I let out a collective groan.

   ‘Do we really have to~?’ Suzu asks in agony.

   ‘Can’t we just stay indoors all day and play video games or something?’ I plead.

   ‘Come on, you two. You only go through high school once, so you should live it to the fullest.’ sensei chides us.

   ‘If we’re talking about field trips, we already have one in our schedule whether we like it or not. You know, the one to Kyoto and Nara?’ I remind her.

   ‘That field trip is one where you go as students of Jindai. This one is for all the Love Consultation Club members.’ she explains.

   ‘I don’t see any difference.’

   ‘The trip will be three days and two night.’ she continues while ignoring me. ‘It’s nowhere exotic. Just Odaiba.’

   Futaki raises up her hand.

   ‘What exactly will we do there?’ she asks.

   Sensei proceeds to hand out the papers she’s holding to all of us. I look at mine. It’s a schedule.

   ‘You know, sensei. You said it’s beneficial for our skill in giving out advise, but the seminar only lasts for a few hours. The rest of them are all random sight-seeings.’ I couldn’t help but notice after taking a quick look at it.

   ‘I-I can’t help it, okay? And you should be glad that you get to go to a hot spring!’

   ‘I don’t really care about that. But we get to eat fresh seafood, so I guess that’s something.’

   Suzu’s drooling at the mere thought of it.

   ‘Your saliva are about to dirty the table, Suzu.’ I tell her.

   She lets out a light gasp and wipes her drools away. ‘My bad~.’

   ‘I don’t mind going to the trip, sensei. However, where did all the money came from?’ Nagano asks sensei. ‘I know we received club funds after we became an official club, but I don’t think it’s enough to cover all the expenses.’

   Wow. Nagano’s actually being careful. Now the sky will definitely rain blood.

   ‘No need to worry. We did use some of the club funds given to you. The rest of them are paid for by Chairwoman Seki herself. I don’t know why, but she was willing to donate some of her money so that we can have the trip.’

   Okay. Forget raining blood. The world is going to end real soon.

   ‘Now then, any more questions?’

   None of us do.

   ‘I’ll be taking my leave then. Good luck with your consultations today.’

   I bump into Miiko at the school gate after the consultations were over. Her tennis practice finished at the same time, so we get to go home together. Along the way, I told her about the study session I’ll be attending on Sunday.

   ‘You’re actually going to a study session, onii-chan?’ Miiko asks. ‘You? Someone who loathes the crowd and doesn’t even need to study to get good results?’

   ‘I couldn’t care less about the studying part. It’s just that I got tempted by all the consoles Suzu has.’

   ‘Speaking of study sessions, maybe I should have one too.’ my cousin thinks out loud.

   ‘You could make it the same day as the one I go to so that you can have this place all to yourselves while I’m gone.’ I suggest.

   ‘I guess. Or we could do it at someone’s place. Like Maya-chan’s.’

   ‘What makes you so sure that she’ll even join you?’

   ‘She has some trouble with Literature. I took me quite a while, but I finally managed to convince her to let me help her with it.’

   ‘Wow. She must be really desperate.’

   ‘She kind of is. I mean, what kind of student council member fails her exams? She would be kicked out for sure.’

   I doubt her grades are as bad as Nagano’s, but I guess it’s better to be safe than sorry.

   Sunday soon arrives. And I got prepared to head to Suzu’s mansion right after eating breakfast.

   ‘Well, I’m leaving. Just remember to call me if something happens while I’m gone.’ I tell Miiko right before I leave.

   ‘Got it, onii-chan. Have a nice trip. Motozawa-kun and Enri-chan will be here soon, so you don’t have to worry a thing.’

   I didn’t take me long to reach the Ikebukuro station and from there, Suzu’s house. Masato, Kazuki, disguised Nitta, Ogasawara and the others are already outside the gate when I got there. Strangely enough, they’re not going inside even though they looked like they were standing there for quite a while now.

   ‘What are you guys doing out here?’ I ask them. ‘Just ring the doorbell already.’

   ‘Well, we were so surprised by the size of the mansion that we don’t dare to.’ Masato replies.

   ‘I’ve heard that Suzu-chan’s place is big, but it’s more like huge.’ Kanae adds.

   I look at Takaki.

   ‘I can’t really blame them, but you’ve been here, right? Why are you being scared?’

   ‘I was just following the two of you last time. It’s kind of difficult to lead the way.’ she tells me bashfully.

   ‘Oh, all of you are hopeless.’

   ‘By the way, Bandou-kun. Why aren’t you carrying any bags or files?’ Ogasawara asks me.

   I tilt my head in confusion. ‘Why would I need them?’

   ‘Um, because we’re here to study?’

   ‘Don’t bother worrying about him, Ogasawara-san.’ Takeuchi tells her. ‘Bandou-kun is the type of student who gets good scores even though he never studies.’

   ‘Now that you mentioned it, his ranking in the exam last year was quite high.’

   ‘Right? It’s so unfair~!’

   ‘Whatever, can we just go in?’

   I proceed to press the doorbell. A few seconds later, Serizawa-san the butler comes out and opens the gate.

   ‘I welcome all of you to the Yoshinaga mansion.’ he says to us while bowing deeply.

   ‘Wow, it’s a real life butler!’ Kanae whispers.

   ‘I guess Yoshinaga-san really is an ojou-sama.’ Murata says in a soft voice.

   ‘Thanks for having me again, Serizawa-san.’ I say to the butler. ‘Has Suzu wake up already?’

   ‘She has, and Nagano-sama is inside with her right now.’

   ‘I take it that Nagano was here since last night or something?’ I ask him drily.

   ‘Indeed she has.’

   ‘Well, guess we better go in too.’

   ‘Right this way.’

   Serizawa-san brings us inside the mansion, then to the front of Suzu’s room. He then excuses himself and leaves. I knock on the door lightly a few times with my fist.

   ‘We’re coming in.’ I say to those inside.

   ‘Sure~. Go ahead~.’ Suzu’s voice comes from inside.

   I open the door and let myself in. I hear gasps form behind me as those who’ve never been here are busy admiring the sheer size of the room.

   Suzu is wearing a really loose white shirt that reaches all the way to her thighs. I just hope, for decency’s sake, that she’s wearing something underneath. As for Nagano, she’s wearing her casual clothes.

   ‘Welcome, all of you.’ Suzu says to us while waving her hands at us. ‘Just sit down wherever~.’

   ‘Thank you for having us today, Yoshinaga-san.’ Kazuki tells her politely.

   ‘Geez, there’s no need for you to be so polite, Tabata-kun~. We’re classmates, but not strangers, you know~?’

   While the rest of them are preparing to get busy, I head straight for the consoles.

   ‘You don’t mind if I play with these, do you Suzu?’ I turn my neck to ask Suzu.

   ‘Go ahead~. I’ll be joining you shortly~.’ she tells me.

   ‘Suzu, I don’t know how to do this!’ Nagano whines.

   ‘Or maybe not~. This might take a while~.’

   I was content in playing games until some of them refuse to leave me alone.

   ‘Takuya, I need your help!’ Masato pleas.

   I sigh and pause the game.

   ‘Where do you need help in?’ I ask him as I go towards him.

   ‘This part!’ he says while pointing at a maths question.

   ‘Oh, that one. Yeah, it could get kind of tricky. Just use this formula and you’ll be fine.’ I tell him while scribbling down a formula with his pencil.

   ‘Oh, that was it? Thanks man!’

   ‘What about this one, Bandou-kun?’ Takeuchi asks me next.

   I take a look at everything she wrote. I point at the last part of her formula.

   ‘This part is wrong. You’re supposed to square root it first before subtracting it.’

   ‘So that’s why! I thought something was wrong. Thank you, Bandou-kun.’

   ‘Sure. Anyone else before I get back to my game?’ I ask while looking around.

   ‘Yuka-chan, how am I supposed to deal with this?’ Nitta is asking Takaki.

   ‘Just calm down and do it like this.’ Takaki teaches the idol patiently while scribbling something on her notepad.

   ‘Like this?’

   ‘No no no, like this. See, just do the same thing I did.’

   ‘I guess not.’ I mumble.

   ‘Hey, don’t just ignore my predicament Bandou-kun! Help me!’

   ‘You can’t be serious. What hope do I have if even Takaki can’t teach you?’

   ‘Please do not say that. There’s still a chance that you’re better at teaching than I am.’ Takaki tells me.

   ‘Well, if you insist…’

   I go over to sit beside Nitta and looks at the question she’s having trouble with. I then look at the formula Takaki wrote down.

   ‘Try using these instead.’ I suggest while writing down some new formulas. ‘If a concept is too difficult for you, don’t use a complicated formula. Break down the question and solve it one by one.’

   It’s Nitta’s turn to try and solve the question.

   ‘...Do you do it like this?’ she asks once she is done.

   ‘That’s it. Now you get it.’

   ‘So you can do it like that too.’ Takaki says with a realization. ‘I never realized it.’

   ‘As I said, this method is for those who find the question too complicated. If you already understand the concept, there’s no need for you to break it down and complicate things in the process.’

   ‘I could finally move on. Thanks, Bandou-kun!’ Nitta happily thanks me.

   ‘Sure.’

   ‘Hey, Takkun~. Can I continue with this~?’ Suzu says to me.

   I turn to look at the screens. Suzu is sitting in front of one of them, and she’s holding a controller. The controller that I was holding, to be exact.

   ‘Wait a second, I was about to beat the boss!’ I tell her.

   ‘A boss that I was always too lazy to beat~. I can go in and take all the credit, right~?’

   ‘No you won’t! Give that here!’ I quickly go to her and snatch away the controller.

   ‘Boo~, you’re so stingy~.’ Suzu pouts.

   ‘If you want to beat the boss, do it yourself. And just so you know, I’m not going to save after I’m done.’

   ‘Fine fine, I’ll do it myself when I have the time~.’

   She proceeds to turn on another console and play another game.

   ‘Oh, is that B*rderlands 3? Can I play as well, Suzu-san?’ Takaki asks.

   ‘Of course you can, Takayu~. You probably got used to using the keyboard, so you can use my computer instead~.’

   Suzu points towards a computer at one corner of her room.

   ‘Thank you. Please wait for me while I log in.’

   ‘Finally, I’m done with Maths. Now to move on to Chemistry…’

   I look at Nitta. She looks really worn out, and she has some metaphorical smokes coming out of her ears. It’s not only her. Nagano isn’t doing so well either. She has the look of absolute despair.

   ‘I’m finished. There’s no way I can cram all these knowledge inside my head on time.’ she says while laughing hollowly.

   ‘I know, right? Let’s just give up.’ Nitta agrees.

   ‘Don’t you have a reason to pass this exam, Nagano? Amd Nitta. What will Mino-san says about your grade?’ I remind them.

   ‘Don’t worry Aiai, you’ll be fine~.’ Suzu tells Nagano.

   ‘You too, Yuki. You don’t have to worry so much.’ Takaki assures Nitta.

   Even with all the assurances, the two of them are still depressed. They’ve proceeded to curl on the floor like cats.

   ‘Please don’t be depressed. We’ll be sure to help you if you have anything that you don’t understand.’ Murata the kind-hearted girl tries to comfort them.

   ‘Don’t worry. Exams aren’t everything.’ Ogasawara tells them.

   ‘You’re not really helping, Ogasawara-san.’ Murata chides.

   ‘Sorry. I was never good at this kind of things.’

   ‘Say, what are we doing about lunch?’ I ask Suzu while ignoring the state of those two.

   ‘No need to worry. Seriseri and his team is going to take care of it for us~.’ she assures me.

   ‘That’s good to hear.’

   When lunchtime approaches, someone knocks on the door.

   ‘Ojou-sama, the meal is ready.’ I hear Serizawa-san’s voice from the other side of the door.

   ‘Okey dokey~! we’ll head to the dining hall in a bit~!’ Suzu replies.

   She slowly gets up from where she was sitting.

   ‘Well the, shall we go~?’ she asks us.

   As expected, the dining hall is as huge as the rest of her house. In the middle of the hall, there’s a really long rectangular table long enough to seat twenty people. The material of both the table and the chairs are some sort of expensive-looking marbles.

   ‘Before we serve you the food, is there anyone with a particular allergies or religion which forbids you from eating certain food?’ Serizawa-san asks.

   No one does.

   ‘In that case, please take a seat. Lunch will be served soon.’ he says with a bow.

   I sit down at a random seat somewhere in the middle of the table. Nitta sits on my left, Suzu sits on my right, and Ogasawara sits right opposite me.

   ‘Shouldn’t you sit at the host seat?’ I ask Suzu.

   ‘I don’t want to~.’ she tells me bluntly.

   ‘Man, now it’s like the classroom seating all over again with Nitta and you at my sides.’

   Ogasawara raises her eyebrow. ‘It is?’

   ‘Yup. You can’t possibly know how annoying it is.’

   ‘Hey~!’

   ‘That’s mean, Bandou-kun!’

   After waiting for a while, lots of maids appear and serve us food. So far, the only servant I ever see whenever I was here is Serizawa-san, so it’s kind of weird to see other servants.

   The lunch is nothing fancy. Just a piece of steak with some potatoes and boiled broccoli on the side. We’re also served sparkling, non-alcoholic champagnes.

   I decide to take back what I said about the steak the moment I bite into a piece. It’s literally the best beef I’ve ever eaten. I have a sinking feeling that it’s a Wagyu.

   ‘Are you eating food like this everyday, Suzu?’ I ask Suzu in a soft voice.

   ‘Pretty much. Still, I prefer the food you cook, Takkun.’

   Well, I guess you’ll be bored with luxury food if you eat it all the time.

   ‘Besides, what’s the point of eating expensive food if you’re eating it alone?’

   I look at her. She’s having a rather lonely expression right now. I reach out and pat her head.

   ‘Don’t worry. We’ll always hang out with you if you’re ever lonely.’ I tell her.

   She looks at me with sparkling eyes.

  ‘Does that mean you’ll stay at my house and become my butler, Takkun?’ she asks.

   ‘Um, no. How did you even got to that conclusion?’

   ‘Aww~.’

   After we finish our lunch, most of us continue with studying. The whole study session lasted the rest of the afternoon. When it’s time to go back, we said our farewells to Suzu and Serizawa-san and head home.