The week started with a cruel announcement.
"Midterm exams begin next Monday."
That sentence, spoken by their homeroom teacher with all the emotion of a tax form, sent a wave of groans through the classroom.
Yuki dramatically dropped her head onto her desk. "Goodbye, sweet freedom."
Sora, seated behind her, sighed but said nothing—already pulling out a highlighter.
Hana looked visibly betrayed. "Didn't we just have a quiz?!"
Leo blinked, flipping through his planner. He had barely settled into the rhythm of school life. Now exams?
---
By lunch, the entire campus was abuzz with panic and planning. Study groups were forming like spontaneous cults. Libraries were suddenly crowded. Snack shelves emptied. Whiteboards were being erased and rewritten so fast, it looked like teachers were prepping for war.
Leo found himself cornered.
Specifically, cornered by Yuki, Hana, and Sora.
In the library.
He didn't even remember agreeing to this.
"Okay," Yuki said, spreading out a color-coded chart, "we split subjects. Sora handles math, I take English and literature, Hana tackles science."
Leo blinked. "What about history?"
Yuki smiled sweetly. "You. You take history."
"…Fair."
---
That afternoon became the first of many quiet study sessions.
At first, it was chaotic. Yuki couldn't sit still. Hana kept getting distracted by the snack vending machine. Sora would answer questions in ways that made Leo feel dumber.
But gradually, something clicked.
They weren't just a group.
They were a rhythm.
Leo helping Hana understand chemical equations by drawing ridiculous cartoons of atoms dating each other. Sora correcting everyone with surgical precision but offering encouraging nods. Yuki cracking mnemonic jokes to remember historical dates.
"Remember the Treaty of Edo was signed in 1643 because 1-6-4-3 sounds like 'I want sushi for me.'"
"...That doesn't even—"
"You'll remember it though."
He did.
---
Between sessions, moments happened.
Hana fell asleep on a pile of notes, and Leo quietly adjusted her hoodie.
Sora stayed behind after the others left, asking Leo if he needed more help—with a look that suggested she meant more than just math.
And Yuki...
She grew more still.
She didn't joke as often.
Didn't tease as much.
Instead, she watched.
Leo noticed.
But said nothing.
Because maybe… he was watching too.
---
By the fourth day, something new had formed between them.
Not tension. Not awkwardness.
Just… quiet understanding.
They no longer needed to say when someone forgot a formula or misread a passage. One would just reach out and fix it.
Leo once found a note tucked in his textbook: "You're not dumb. You're just tired. Take a break –Yuki."
He smiled.
That evening, he bought her a melon soda and left it on her desk before class started the next day. He didn't leave a note.
But she knew.
---
On Friday, the rain returned. A soft, steady drizzle that turned the windows gray and the world outside misty.
The group met in the library again. They barely spoke. Just worked.
At six o'clock, Sora quietly closed her textbook and stood. "I'll stay behind to copy a few problems. You guys go ahead."
Hana stretched and yawned. "My brain is soup. I'm going to crash early tonight."
Yuki glanced at Leo. "Want to walk together?"
He nodded.
Outside, they shared an umbrella.
Again.
But this time, the silence was warmer.
More comfortable.
They didn't talk much. Just listened to the sound of rain tapping on the plastic above their heads.
When they reached the corner where they usually parted ways, Leo hesitated.
Yuki noticed.
"…What is it?" she asked.
Leo looked at her, eyes unsure but earnest. "Do you think we'll still study together after exams?"
Yuki was quiet for a moment.
Then she said, "Only if you bring the melon soda."
Leo smiled.
"I will."
"Then yeah," she replied, stepping back under her umbrella, "we'll still study. And talk. And... maybe do more."
She didn't elaborate.
And Leo didn't ask.
He just watched as she walked away, strawberry umbrella bobbing in the rain.