Ulf stared at the list.

Fuck!

He knew his goal had been nothing but petty revenge, but failing it still hurt.

Third. Noriko second and the same guy who’d made some kind of unholy reservation with the gods of the list first. Just as he’d been on every exam session since their first mid terms as freshmen.

That first spot had been his goal ever since he started to senselessly cram like the rest of the students. Sure, third would still create an uproar, but, well, it wasn’t the same thing.

Ulf growled silently. It wasn’t just that he failed to get the first place. Given his opinion about himself and his capacity at studying when he really made an effort, the result in Japanese came as an ugly surprise.

And the day had begun so well. Waking up to the sound of his phone calling and Noriko’s voice from it a few moments later. A Noriko who not once admonished him for giving in to Ryu’s request he’d spend his afternoon biking around with Christina last Sunday.

Which he did, and while doing so realised he’d become friends with the woman he still loved. And he’d listened and he’d talked, and he’d laughed with joy at realising how her feelings for Ryu had grown into something that carried weight for the future. The joy, though, vaporised when he heard how Jennifer’s brutal bantering in the corridors was nothing but a shell that hid her broken core.

Still, the day had begun so well. A broken Jennifer wasn’t anything he could mend, and Ulf made it a point not to put too much energy into something he couldn’t affect. Comments about him being a cold hearted bastard be damned – he couldn’t affect those neither.

Now his promise to Noriko to share an after school date tasted sour in his mouth. He’d planned to celebrate with her, and if he was honest with himself, to tease her a little, but with her grabbing second place hers were the rights of teasing. Not that that mattered much. Her mind went places he could barely grasp, and if he got stuck in her shadow he’d just feel that much more pride in her.

But 85. It wasn’t as if 85 was a poor result by any means, given that Japanese very much was a foreign language for him, but he’d poured in long hours. The difference between 85 and the 95 he aimed for was momentous. As in at least another year’s worth of serious studying.

Ulf growled again. Now he was stuck with handling the inevitable uproar for making such a visible spot on the list after never having made the top fifty at all before. And all for a performance that lay far behind what he had hoped for.

Bloody hell, it’s high school level! The result sullied his two academic degrees, especially as one of them was language studies, and English sharing a Germanic heritage with his Swedish be damned. Learning Japanese was merely more difficult and he was still supposed to be a linguist of sorts.

But we didn’t really learn English at university, did we? That part was over and done with after high school. And it was. University English was learning about the English language, and Himekaizen was very much a high school, albeit a Japanese one.

He fled up the stairs to his classroom. Soon he’d be mobbed by classmates who wondered how he popped up from nowhere to a top position among the second years in the science track.

Ulf tapped his fingers against his desk. He’d prepared himself for that part. Soon both Noriko and Ryu would bug him as well, and they had different reasons to wonder what he had done. Solid reasons, but Ulf didn’t care any longer, and for that reason he hadn’t prepared for the onslaught from his friends.

After a while his classroom slowly filled up, but there was still a lot of time left of their lunch break. Given the decent weather and all Ulf normally only expected to see those who ate their lunch in the classroom here by now, but there were almost a dozen more present.

He looked up and met questioning eyes. He couldn’t do much more than shrug in response, and that created even more questions since it wasn’t a gesture universally used here.

With a sigh he dug up a book from his bag and pretended to study, which was exceptionally stupid since they had just received their mid term results. Ulf shook his head at his own ineptitude at subterfuge, and admitting it brought an involuntary smile to his lips.

Well, 3:1 was last year’s rumours, and the club. This year I guess anything goes. And that was a bloody awful thought, because the part with anything goes included the atrocity the two girls had to live through.

Ulf wiped he smile off his lips and pretended to study again. Concentrating took an effort, because that result in Japanese still plagued his mind.

Then there was some commotion by the doors, and Ulf looked up.

Well known as the faces were the still didn’t belong in his classroom. Most of them not even to this wing. He met Noriko’s eyes and felt embarrassment crawling all around inside himself. There was little left to do but studying his own shoes.

***

Just minutes earlier Noriko stood staring in disbelief at the billboard with the juniors’ mid term results. Urufu putting real effort into it should bring him clearly into the top fifty.

Now only friends cared about what happened outside the top ten, and she had searched for him to make an unprecedented jump from nowhere into the top twenty.

She couldn’t find him, so Noriko threw a quick glance at the very top to look for her own spot before searching for his name again.

Third. As in Urufu had claimed the third place with her as second.

There was a difference between astonishing and absurd. She’d pushed herself this time, and that made her beat him by a mere three points. As for the top student he still nailed his first place position with close to perfect scores.

But third. That was tantamount to a joke. Urufu didn’t attend a cram school. Sure, neither did she, but she was a first rate student born and raised here.

And this was the reason she barged into his classroom accompanied by students from both wings.

“Urufu?” she asked. “What happened?”

There was no answer. Urufu just stared at the floor and refused to meet her gaze.

“How did you get that result of yours?”

“Japanese,” he said and kept looking at his feet.

“Japanese?”

“Yeah, 85 happened.”

“85?” Noriko stared at Urufu. “How did you manage to score 85?”

Urufu’s gaze never left the floor.

“He scored 85?” That was Ryu, as he came in through the door. Kyoko, Kuri and Yukio followed in his wake with equally stunned expressions on their faces.

The sound of voices from the corridor filtered into the classroom as the rumour spread like wildfire.

“Did you see the list?” a voice from outside shouted.

“You got 85 in Japanese?” Yukio said.

“Yes, I did,” Urufu admitted. He blushed shamefacedly, and continued staring at his feet. “That's what you get for an overblown self-confidence.”

“Huh?”

“Japanese wasn't just a matter of brainless memorisation. In the end it was impossible for me to get it right.”

“Wait, wait...”

“You're ashamed you scored 85?” Noriko interrupted Yukio.

Finally Urufu raised his head and looked at her. “Yes, I'm sorry. I left you alone for almost an entire month, and I still failed to get an aggregate above 490.”

“Failed?”

“Yes. I think I got 480. Once again I apologize.” His eyes were downcast. “I tried, for you,” he added.

He's truly ashamed. I don't believe him! Noriko walked over to where he stood, his head still hanging, and hugged him close. “You make me proud. I love you,” she said.

There were sudden gasps. While there were a lot of people who knew about them their relationship was nominally still a secret.

Noriko looked around and dared anyone to comment her public confession.

Then Kuri broke the spell. “Ask him about his grades, his original grades,” she said softly.

Noriko looked into Urufu's eyes. “U-kun?”

“Five,” he answered.

“Five? Five what?”

Once again Kuri's voice reached her from behind. “Across the board, fourteen subjects, he averaged five point zero.”

Noriko turned, even though she never let go of her embrace. “What does that mean?” she asked, but she already knew the answer.

“He is, easily, the brightest man I've encountered in my entire life.” Kuri chuckled. “Seems you made a good catch there.”

Noriko felt her cheeks heating up. Then she glanced at the wide open door. The corridor was packed with students staring at them. Furiously blushing she hid her face in Urufu's embrace. “I knew that,” she said.

Then she remembered the promise she had given herself earlier. She grabbed Urufu’s face in her hands and bent closer. It took more courage than she had thought, and she had to block out thoughts about impropriety she shared with a younger version of Kyoko. With more than a little glee she felt his astonishment as he met her kiss, and then everything else was lost in a roaring dizziness of pleasure as she grabbed his head and tasted his closeness.

It lasted for longer than she had imagined, but probably for a lot shorter than she had believed. Slowly voices from around her filtered into her private world of joy.

“They’re going out?”

“No it’s just a hobby. Don’t you also french people just for fun?” That was Kuri’s voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Sis!”

Noriko disregarded the outburst. Urufu was hers, and her idiot bro could ditch his crappy attitude about it somewhere.

Then she felt Urufu’s hands grabbing her under her arms and her mouth left his. Suddenly her feet lost contact with the floor and moments later she sat on Urufu’s desk. After that his arms wrapped around her again.

“Thank you!” he whispered in her ear. “I love you."

“I thought Wakayama-san wouldn’t settle for anyone with poor grades,” some genius said from behind her back.

Noriko smiled.

“Moron! She didn’t.” That voice also came from behind.

She smiled some more. “U-kun, I love you.” Noriko dug her fingers into his hair and pulled him closer into the embrace. “And I don’t care about your grades,” she added.

He hugged her back.

Then more rational thoughts finally entered her mind. “Urufu,” she began, “other people might care though,” she said and allowed herself to leave his embrace.

Urufu grinned and laughed. He nodded at the classroom entrance and when Noriko looked there she saw how it was packed with students staring at them.

“I love how you’re quick on the uptake,” he said.

She glared at him.

“Why don’t we handle that problem when it arrives?” Suddenly she was pulled into his arms again. She felt his lips touching her ear. “Right now I’m more interested in an after school date,” he whispered.

Noriko just nodded. The last weeks had been lonely. Problems could wait. “Anywhere but Haven.”