Following Yamikuro's, Kaminari's, and Isabella's encounter with Urashin, they returned back to the dorms.
That day, Isabella found out what great cooks Elara and Deia were.
Rye didn't say a word about Urashin.
That day remained a mystery for days to come.
A few days later, on a Friday, after school hours.
Cedar told Yamikuro to wait in the dorms' lounge.
Yamikuro had no idea why, but Cedar seemed rather excited.
It was quiet and hot in the dorm, despite the air conditioner being on 24/7.
Yamikuro wondered what the girls were doing. Elara had gotten surprisingly quickly used to the life of The Hideout.
Deia seemed to be more comfortable around her and Isabella.
The quietness was suddenly disturbed by Cedar rushing down the stairs.
"Sorry it took me so long, Yamikuro."
Cedar seemed to have held something behind his back.
"I hope you're happy with my gift."
What Cedar held in his hand shocked Yamikuro more than he could have expected.
It was a brand new phone inside a case.
"This is for me...?" Yamikuro asked, looking down at the phone and back up at Cedar.
"I thought about the fact that you didn't have one, so... Here you go." Cedar smiled, slightly moving his hand closer to Yamikuro.
"H-hold on.... This means you guys had phones the entire time?"
Cedar adjusted his glasses while holding the phone case in his other hand.
"You didn't notice?"
Yamikuro tried to think if he had really been that blind.
"...No?"
"Well, now you know at least."
Cedar had a habit of buying useless stuff at every store he passed by. His dorm room was filled with junk, but today he decided to instead spend his money on a phone for Yamikuro.
"I hope a mobile device doesn't distract you from preparing for exams, though."
"Thank you so much, Cedar." Yamikuro's cheeks turned slightly red. Nothing like this had ever happened to him before.
Kaminari, who was half-asleep on one of the three couches, didn't pay attention to anything Cedar and Yamikuro were saying, but it was almost like his body jumped up on its own, hearing the word 'exam'.
"Exams?!" Kaminari yelled, startling others before him.
"Wait, exams...?" Yamikuro quietly asked.
Cedar adjusted his glasses once again.
"Neither of you knew that? You two really seem to be living inside your own bubbles."
Yamikuro started to slightly panic.
"Just how many things have I missed?"
Kaminari's tiredness was gone; he was now wide awake at the news.
"I haven't studied at all! How am I meant to go through all the material in three days?!"
"It's not like you would've studied, even if you knew that two months ago," Cedar noted.
"W-well, you have to help me, being the smart guy and all that!" Kaminari shouted.
Cedar sighed.
"Why do I have to help you? I got my own exams to focus on."
Kaminari fell to his knees, and he started begging.
"Please, Cedar! Help me and Yamikuro out!"
"Can't you ask Kazuhiko to help you?"
Something clicked in Kaminari in that moment.
"That's right... Kazuhiko! He can help us out!"
Kaminari rushed out the door, yelling for Yamikuro to follow him and thanking Cedar.
Yamikuro bowed slightly to Cedar.
"Thank you so much."
Cedar laughed a little.
"It's fine. I think your focus should be on the exams... and following Kaminari."
Yamikuro followed Kaminari, shutting the door.
Both of them hurried through the streets.
Yamikuro wore a blue collared T-shirt without a logo on it, with white shorts.
Kaminari, on the other hand, wore a yellow shirt with a skull surrounded by red flames printed on it, and black short-sleeved sweatpants.
They eventually arrived at Kazuhiko's house, with Kaminari leading the way.
It was a one-story building with a rusted roof and a small, overgrown garden surrounded by metal fences.
Kaminari knocked multiple times in a loud way to get Kazuhiko's attention, like that would've made him react faster.
The door creaked open.
Kazuhiko was slightly confused, seeing Yamikuro and Kaminari standing at his door.
"What is it?"
Kaminari hadn't been this nervous in a while.
"We need you to help us!!"
Kazuhiko didn't answer; his eyes instead went to Yamikuro, hoping for him to explain it.
"We forgot exams were coming up and... We need you to teach us." Yamikuro said.
Kazuhiko looked at them as if he were slightly disappointed.
But that look quickly changed into a warm smile.
"Ah, whatever. Come on in, it's not like I have anything to do anyway."
Kazuhiko didn't mean that in a sarcastic way; he had been watching TV ever since getting home.
He had already visited Mai at Dine Diner, and now he had no plans for the rest of the day.
Yamikuro and Kaminari entered Kazuhiko's house, closing the door behind them.
Yamikuro instantly got flashbacks to the day he visited this place. It was also where he spent his first night out of he hospital.
There was a short yet wide enough wooden table on the carpet of the living room.
Yamikuro and Kaminari sat down on the ground next to each other.
A few silent minutes went by with them having nothing to do but wait as Kazuhiko went to his room.
When Kazuhiko got back, he was carrying a few thick books with him.
"Now then, I want you guys to go over this material, and once you're ready, I'll ask you a few questions." He said, sitting down on the brown couch.
Kaminari didn't seem pleased at all.
"...Do I seriously have to read all of this?"
"No complaining, you came to me for help, remember?" Kazuhiko smirked.
Kaminari had no choice but to try to read whatever material he could.
Yamikuro got to work without hesitation. His grades were on the line here.
A few hours passed by.
Yamikuro was hard at work, reading every line.
But as usual, Kaminari slacked off, even taking his time to look at meaningless pictures in the books to entertain himself.
"Grahh! This is so boring!" Kaminari yelled, dropping his head on the table with an open book.
Kazuhiko clapped his hands together.
"I think that's enough revision, now, it's time for me to test you."
They spent another few hours going over questions, with neither of them answering any of the questions correctly.
Until...
Kazuhiko flipped to a bookmarked page in the material and tapped it.
"Alright, final two."
He looked over at them, now visibly exhausted but focused.
"What's the unit of electric current?"
Yamikuro thought on it for some time.
"Uh... is it ampere?"
A wide smile appeared on Kazuhiko's face, almost like Yamikuro exceeded his expectations.
"That's correct!"
He turned to Kaminari.
"If a 2 kg object accelerates at 3 m/s², what is the net force?"
Kaminari tried to use every part of his brain; he even closed his eyes to focus.
"It's... It... Wait, I remember seeing those numbers. It was six... What was that man's name again? Oh, I got it. Six Newtons!"
This time, Kazuhiko's eyes widened. Even Kaminari exceeded his expectations.
"That's also correct!"
"Haha! I've never been prouder of you two idiots!" He suddenly yelled like a proud father. All of his prior exhaustion disappeared.
That day was the closest Yamikuro, Kaminari, and Kazuhiko got to each other. They were almost like a family.
The next two days, Saturday and Sunday, Yamikuro and Kaminari were able to join the others for study sessions.
Elara, Cedar, and Isabella were almost like leading it. They seemed to know every answer and even asked questions themselves.
Of course, Rye and Deia got everything correct as well, but only spoke when they were asked questions.
Yamikuro and Kaminari were struggling to keep up. Kaminari felt lightheaded, having to force all that information into his brain.
Then came the day of the exams.
Yamikuro tried to remain calm, rereading everything and filling in as much as he knew.
Kaminari gave up halfway through and instead looked at everyone in the room, trying to guess what they had for breakfast.
Isabella filled out every possible question, hoping she got everything correct.
Elara did the exact same. It became a slight competition between the two to not only see who can fill everything out the quickest, but also who can achieve the highest score.
Deia took her time, but she couldn't answer two of the questions.
Cedar and Rye were the quickest to fill everything out.
The following days were spent in anxiety, waiting for the results.
"Guys, check this out!" Someone yelled in the hallway.
On the wall, everyone's scores were put on display.
Everyone gasped, seeing who was in first place with perfect scores.
Rye Ginfay - Class B205
And right behind him-
Cedar Kaien - Class B205
Both of them had perfect scores.
Behind those two were Isabella and Elara with the exact same scores, but Isabella was one place higher.
"I actually did it!" Isabella yelled in excitement.
"No way..." Elara almost dropped to the ground.
Deia was in the top ten.
Yamikuro barely passed with 51 points.
But Kaminari's heart sank to the bottom of his stomach.
"Thirty points... That means I failed..."
Yamikuro patted him on his shoulder.
"Don't let this get to you."
Kaminari slowly nodded.
"It's fine... I expected this anyway."
And as the crowd split off-
Terror beyond their imagination hit.
The school building trembled.
And into the courtyard walked Gisurd, Kazuhiko's old rival.