Oh Heavens! The Long-Awaited Tuesday Morning Finally Arrives
Oh heavens! The long-awaited Tuesday morning has finally come. My eyes are those of a battle-ready warrior. I wanted to declare, "My battle power is 530,000!" but I kept it to myself for the sake of a little dignity.
I slipped into my familiar school uniform and glanced at the mirror. There she was—a total supermodel beauty.
Instead, I shot a playful wink at my reflection, like I'd morphed into some virtual idol straight out of Mingu Nano Idoru. My emotions had been a whirlwind last night thanks to Sora Group's proposal, but obsessing over it had actually settled me down.
"Hehe... The identity of Lee Haru Dou has been narrowed to the top five."
Staring into the mirror, I pulled a ridiculous earthworm face before throwing on my uniform and heading out the door. My biggest worry—the contract—was sorted; Dad had stepped up as my unbreakable breakwater. Now, all that was left was acing these exams.
Sure, it was a Japanese group, not Korean, but my memories were pure J-Pop anyway, so no regrets there. Honestly, a Japanese agency was a relief. The only domestic VTuber group that came to mind was Cyber Bowling.
-Slide.
I pushed open the classroom door, and there was Jisu—unusually sporting glasses. Her eyesight was perfect, but she was cosplaying as the model student... wait, she already is one. Anyway, she looked like she was trying extra hard to seem intellectual.
"Haru! Your vibe's different today?"
Jisu spotted me through the school gate, flinched at my expression, and asked.
"Hehe... Even you, Jisu Dou, are rocking glasses for once."
"Ugh, here we go again. Don't get cocky just 'cause you aced history and science yesterday. Performance evals matter too..."
Jisu gave me that pitiful look, but she slipped a chocolate bar into my hand anyway. The standard convenience store kind. Textbook tsundere move. I chomped into it with gusto and plopped down at my desk.
"Alright, everyone stash those books. If you're caught cheating, even aegyo won't save you."
The proctor was the school nurse. Whoa... consistently impressive. Obviously talking about her height here.
Men really do... notice, huh...
The girls just shrugged it off, but the guys—including me—flinched every time we glanced her way. Jisu's face soured as she caught me staring, but I didn't notice.
The bell rang, and the classroom filled with nothing but the scratch of pens and pencils. I took a deep breath and flipped to the first page. The early passages were familiar ones. With about half the class being cram-school grinders, the problems looked deceptively easy... but tricky.
Hehe... Korean lit, huh...
I scanned the passages while keeping up my persona, cheering inwardly. It pulled from a classic text, but it unraveled pretty smoothly. I'd never actually read the classics, but these questions were all about guessing what the setter was thinking when they picked it—easy once you got that.
I breezed through the marking and checked the clock: a solid 15 minutes left. I casually closed the test booklet, propped my chin on my hand, and started doodling Sora Group's VTuber members on the back page.
A little crooked, sure, but I thought they came out pretty distinctive.
"Time's up. Hands on heads."
They collected the OMR sheets, and break time erupted in groans. The classics passage was objectively brutal, and the rest weren't slouches either. But the real hell started with the next subjects. I wanted to yell, "Hey, up ahead is hell!" but in this vibe, I'd probably get mobbed, so I stayed quiet.
"Haru! How'd it go?"
"Eh... decent?"
Jisu snatched my test paper and started comparing answers with hers. No guarantees on a perfect score, though.
Yesterday's subjects were rote-memorization types, so they felt easier by comparison—but far from easy. One of my weak spots, so I gave it my all... honestly, 80 points would've satisfied me.
"Ooh, Haru actually studied? Only two diffs from mine."
"Hmph..."
Jisu's low odds of messing up meant I probably did. One 4-pointer and one 5-pointer wrong—91 points? Everyone else was busy cross-checking too.
"Arrrgh!!! Oh heavens!"
Groans echoed from kids comparing scores. Before we knew it, the prep bell rang, and Jisu and I hustled back to our seats.
"Phew..."
Stay calm. Korean probably capped at two wrongs, so nail math. Proctor was the nurse again—her walk was distracting. Even I couldn't focus... no, especially with my guy's memories.
"No peeking ahead—that's cheating. You know the drill~"
Bell rang, and I tackled the first page mechanically. With the guy's memory of solving plus my own studied steps, computations flowed perfectly.
High school first-year stuff felt like a breeze with an ex-engineering major's brain, but no complacency. Equations broke down and reassembled in my head, spitting out results.
Phew... 20 minutes left.
Descriptive section remained. Three problems total. First two likely easy; last one the killer.
Sure enough, #1 and #2 wrapped in two minutes each. 16 minutes to go—factoring marking time, ten minutes max for the beast.
Why so many conditions?
True killer: positional relations for max/min, plug into new function. Time vampire, way beyond first-year level.
But I don't back down.
These need brute-force basics.
Some might sneak untaught formulas, but this was descriptive. I knew the intent—no past-life shortcuts with just plugging numbers. Use what we learned, period.
-Scribble. Scribble.
My mechanical pencil blackened the margins. A few formula slips midway, but it smoothed out.
Answer's 14.
Finished the write-up, inked the OMR and answer sheet—and the end bell hit. Razor-thin.
Whew...
Might've bombed to zero if I hadn't crammed it all in.
"Pass 'em back from the rear."
Teacher's words unleashed mass groans from kids still stuck on the last one. I set down my pen and stretched lightly.
"Nailed the exam?"
"Yeah... think so?"
Jisu sidled up, peach scent wafting strong. She peeked at my paper and whistled.
"Whoa... that last one hung me up, but you erased mistakes, rewrote, and powered through? You studied."
"Hehe."
Her dumbfounded face finally made it sink in. Combined IQ 200, after all—cramming like this pulls scores like that.
"But... you missed one of the easiest?"
"Eek!"
No time to double-check with the clock ticking. Excuses aside, I'd maxed my potential.
"Celebration time! My treat!"
"...Wasn't it my turn today, Haru?"
"Ah..."
Tomorrow wrapped exams, but I'd crushed the two toughest. Confident on the rest. Total scholar-warrior perfection.
Dad would handle the Sora Group contract, and my bank account was set for NewTube revenue plus song royalties. Life felt like a bed of roses.
Answer keys dropped; grading confirmed it. Jisu aced all four subjects from yesterday through today. I was plenty satisfied. She grinds daily, after all—no denying that gap.
"Hotpot today, Haru."
"Sure."
"Tomato base and mild spicy—won't wreck tomorrow?"
And just like that, Jisu and I strolled out of school, hand in hand.