Chapter 87: Chapter 86 - The Battle Before the Midterms

The school annual event was quickly coming up.

But before everyone could have fun; something much scarier was going to happen.

Finals.

To most of the students, finals are nothing but regular school work.

But to Akari Tachibana finals were like a tornado.

"KUROOOOOOO"

When Kuro came home, Akari jumped into the living room all excited.

Kuro knew there was something wrong.

"What happened?"

Akari slammed a piece of paper on the table.

Her test score stared back at him.

A Big fat C.

Kuro looked at the paper.

Then at Akari

Then back down at the paper.

"You want something."

"It hurts that you know me so well."

Kuro sighed.

"What do you need?"

Akari immediately grabbed both of his arms.

"Teach me."

"No."

"Please."

"No."

"Please."

"No."

"Please."

"Please. "

Five minutes later, Kuro was somehow coming up with a study plan.

Meanwhile, Aoi sat watching from a distance while drinking tea.

The number one student in the whole year looked completely entertained.

"You could also ask Aoi."

Kuro pointed her out.

"She has the highest grade in the whole school."

Akari quickly shook her head.

"No."

"She got the highest test score in the school."

Akari shook her head immediately.

"No."

"Why not?"

"She’s too smart."

Aoi blinked

"What do you mean?"

"Whenever you ask me a question, you explain it like it’s obvious."

"..."

"That’s because it is obvious."

Akari put her head down on the table.

"See?"

Kuro could not argue with that.

Thus began tutoring sessions that lasted several days.

Kuro would sit across from Akari each evening after school at the kitchen table.

Textbooks.

Practice Sheets.

Notebooks.

Flashcards.

The battleground was set.

Sadly, Akari remained Akari.

"Kuro?"

"Yes?"

"I’ve been studying for ten minutes."

"Uh-huh."

"I’m tired of thinking."

"No, you’re not."

"Yes, I am!"

"You spent five of those minutes staring outside. "

Akari turned away from him.

"That’s not the point."

"Sounds like the point to me. "

Meanwhile, Aoi was sitting at the side reading a book.

Every once in a while, she would look over at them and then correct something very quietly.

"No, Akari, that’s not the right formula."

"Hmm?"

"That’s the wrong formula."

Akari groaned.

"Why do they have to be so many formulas?"

"Because there is Math."

"I don’t like Math."

"Math does not care."

Kuro almost laughed.

Even Akari could not argue with that.

As time went by, something was changing.

Akari was beginning to actually put in the effort.

Not due to her devoting herself to her studies.

There was no way she could do that.

But because of Kuro spending his timehelping her.

By answering questions.

Creating problems for her to solve.

By going over what she got wrong.

Everytime she got something correct,Kuro respected that.

Everytime she got something incorrect,he helped her understand why.

For possibly the first time in her life,Akari was dedicating time to study.

On one evening after she solved a tough problem correctly,she jumped up with her arms in the air celebrating.

"I did it!!!"

Kuro looked at the response sheet.

"Correct."

Akari had a big, proud grin on her face.

Then she immediately took full credit.

"Looks like I am a genius."

"You have six incorrect answers before that."

"Hey, they are just details."

and quietly shook her head.

"You are always able to put on a brave face."

"Thank you."

"I didn’t give you a compliment."

"Doesn’t matter."

After some time, the family had developed a pretty good routine.

Shizuka sometimes brought snacks.

Daichi made sure that they were both keeping up with akari and that Kuro was still on track.

Aoi would point out if they made any mistakes.

Somehow, akari was managing to get through all this.

By the end of the night before the exam, the group had finally finished studying for the test.

Akari flopped down onto the couch

"I can’t do this anymore."

"You will be fine," Kuro said. I promise you will do great.

"But what if I forget everything on the test?"

"You won’t forget anything."

"But what if the exam is too difficult?"

"We won’t make it impossible."

"What if I don’t succeed?"

"You will."

The amount of confidence Kuro had in his voice caught Akari off guard.

For a second, Akari just stared at him.

Then she started grinning.

"Thanks."

It was rare when you saw an Akari being sincere.

Kuro gave a slight grin.

"You’re welcome."

Kuro went to bed earlier than normal that night.

He had an extremely bizarre dream.

In the dream, he was sitting at a classroom but it didn’t feel or look like one.

In this classroom was Akari; she was dressed as a teacher and had on an extremely large pair of glasses.

Akari was facing him and pointing towards a blackboard like how a teacher would.

"I will teach you how to become the greatest stepbrother ever today, lesson number 1!"

"Huh?"

"Lesson number 1."

And then she posed.

"You should always buy snacks!"

"That is not a lesson!"

"Well now it is!"

As his dream progressed, it became harder and harder for him to keep up with anything Akari was teaching him.

Lesson 2 involved helping with homework.

Really, lesson 3 was just Akari listening to Kuro when he complained.

For no reason, lesson 4 involved him carrying bags for Akari while shopping.

By the time he woke up, Kuro was left confused instead of educated by Akari’s lessons.

Then he woke up.

Stillness.

"What happened?"

As of current date, no answer.

The semester exam days arrived.

As a matter of fact, the whole school had a lot of anxiety.

The students went over their notes; the teachers prepared for the day.

The whole environment became serious.

Akari even looked nervous.

Very Nervous.

"Don’t forget to breathe."

Kuro told her.

"I am breathing."

"Good."

"Poorly."

"Still Progress."

About a week after the exam date, the results were released.

A crowd of students formed at the bulletin boards.

Excitement filled the hall.

Akari fought her way through the crowd.

Next, she began looking for her name in desperation.

And for her grade.

After what felt like a small eternity.

Then—

"KURO!"

A well-known voice rang out between Akari and Kuro through the hall.

Kuro correctly inferred that Akari had achieved victory.

Akari practically threw herself into Kuro’s arms.

"I DID IT!"

as she held a piece of paper in her hands with big red B +.

It improved a lot.

However, she did not get 100%, & that would not be considered a very good score.

But she got a better than A +.

Kuro looked at the B+.

He nodded his head.

"Well done."

Akari didn’t joke.

She didn’t brag.

She didn’t add to it.

Instead, she beamed an enormous smile.

"The way you helped was especially important."

Across the room, Aoi grasped the score.

And smiled back.

"You put forth effort into your work."

Akari puffed out her chest with pride.

That’s right!

Everything was back to normal.

There were only a few days left until the school festival.

Booths were being prepped by students.

Teachers were nailing down time slots for all of the activities they were planning to have.

There was excitement all over the campus.

Kuro couldn’t help but smile as he watched Akari’s joy over her increased grades and accomplishments.

The festival date was approaching fast, so there was some chaos that would follow after that.

Kuro had an idea that this festival and the craziness surrounding it would be one for the record books due to a specific purple-haired teacher and multiple girls that were very driven to complete what they had set out to do.

The real adventure had just begun!

Kuro had gotten back from school that night, he went into his room for a quiet evening. He looked to his study desk and found an envelope that had been folded and decorated with a few hand drawn stars, and he immediately knew who it was from by the way it was written on the outside of the envelope.

To Kuro, From Your Favorite Sexy Hot Sister.

Kuro could feel a headache coming on already; he still opened the envelope. Inside, Kuro found a letter that was surprisingly neat and clean.

"Thank you for always helping me study! I know I complained a lot and tried to escape from studying every time you came over to help me, but you still helped me. Even though a B+ might not be the greatest grade in the world when comparing it to you or Aoi’s grades, it’s actually the best grade I’ve ever received because I really worked hard for that.

"You always help people out without expecting anything in return. Sometimes I think that you don’t understand how much your help means to others. I joke around all the time, but I was actually really happy that you were willing to take time out of your life to help me study! I promise I will work even harder next time!

"Thank you for continuing to help me in the future. Not just with studying, but with everything.

"Your Cute Hot Sister, Akari."

At the very bottom of the letter, there was a drawing of a smiley face on the bottom and below it had been written the name "Akari" over a small stick figure. Also near the bottom of the page was another stick figure about six feet tall and it was labeled "Kuro." Kuro looked at the letter for a long time.

Kuro smiled for the first time in a long time.

Akari usually does not display her feelings openly. She generally uses humor, or playful ribbing, or her seemingly limitless well of energy, as a mask to hide how she truly feels. But this note had more weight to it than any amount of conversation could convey.

Kuro carefully folded-up the letter and placed it in the top drawer of his desk instead of throwing it away, because for some reason, it felt like something he should not throw out. Outside of his room, Kuro could hear Akari arguing with Aoi about what to have for dinner; the house was as hectic as it usually was.

However, listening to their voices caused Kuro once again to break into a smile. The letter remained safely stored in the top drawer of his desk, a small token of evidence that his efforts were meaningful to someone other than himself.