15 Karaoke
Days were passing by fast and I spent most of them exercising and studying together with Inogashira. She even joined my training a few times already. I also tried to subtly advise Horikita to focus on Sudo's English. I am aiming for first place in midterms, therefore the failing score will go up and then even the whole class wouldn't be able to buy Sudo enough test points.
It is finally a day before the midterm and just as in the original, Kushida was the one who came to the podium and gathered everyone's attention before anyone could leave. Not gonna lie, I thought there was a small chance for Horikita to be the one doing the honor. That was also one of the reasons why I mentioned the idea back in the library.
I looked at my stats that have experienced a decent change thanks to being diligent.
*----*
Kanji Ike
Private Points: 58.410
-Normal Stats:
Strength: 1.010 / 5
Endurance: 1.780 / 5
Agility: 1.410 / 5
Speed: 1.210 / 5
-Special Stats:
Intelligence: 3.9
Charm: 2.9
-Special Skills:
Silver Tongue lv. 1 (15/100, passive)
Eyes of the Reader lv. 1 (25/100, active)
Iron Will lv. 1 (25/100)
*----*
The moment Kushida mentioned the old midterms' questions, I felt someone's gaze on my back. It was Horikita who was looking at me with a surprised expression but I quickly waved my hands as if to say it wasn't me.
Kushida handed out the printouts and when I received them, I indeed couldn't read a single thing mentioned in them, the text was too blurry for me to read.
'I guess it's normal since she joined them from the second study group. She was the only one who could bring Sudo and Yamauchi back after I refused Horikita's request.'
If I wanted to be completely prepared, I need to start studying immediately, therefore I contacted Inogashira through the message and asked her if she could spend the rest of the day studying with me.
[Ino Koko: Right after school hours? How will I get to your room without being seen at this hour?]
Reasonable.
[Considering that midterms are tomorrow, most of the students should head right to the dorms for the last chance to study. Let's go to karaoke, no one should go out to play at least from our class. But let's go separately, we will meet up at Keyaki Mall an hour from now]
I replied and went back to the dorms to drop my stuff at my room.
In an hour, I met up with Inogashira at Keyaki Mall and we immediately went to karaoke and rented a room.
"Do I have to read the questions and answers aloud like always?" Inogashira asked as she took out the stack of papers from her bag.
"Yes, pretty please!" I said with lowered head and a pleading smile.
"Alright, just...raise your head."
As such, we began "studying" from the old midterm tests. I ordered some snacks to survive a few hours closed up in this karaoke room.
.
.
"Good, I think it's late enough for us to move to my room...or yours it doesn't really matter." I said, standing up and stretching my back.
"You still want to continue?! Isn't that more than enough for you to pass? You are studying so frantically as if you want to take first place on midterms" Inogashira exhaled in a tired manner. I wasn't really surprised since we have been studying for the past week or something. Usually, our studying session lasted only around 2 hours but today was different, I wanted to make use of this chance otherwise my previous efforts would be pointless.
"I am not trying to just pass the test. It is possible we may earn some class points by getting higher scores." I explained to which she could only sigh aloud.
"Can't we...at least sing a few songs before leaving?" She asked while looking at me with puppy eyes.
"Eh...I am not really the type to sing aloud but since we are already here...it's not like I can refuse your request after all the help you gave me.
---Kokoro Inogashira--- (Boost for the affection and influence)
Affection: 25 -> 26
???
???
"Yaay! Just a few songs!"
'Please tell me they have at least English songs!' When I looked at the selection of songs, I was surprised to see a lot of songs I knew and I noticed that there were some songs that shouldn't be out yet.
[This is just a little change to make this entire world more comfortable and relatable]
The moment I read the blue text in front of my eyes, I understood it was the system's intervention that made this possible.
"Ladies first" I offered her microphone with a smile.
"...Oh! Yeah, thanks!" She stood stunned for a second while staring at me but she quickly recovered and snatched the mic from my hand.
I laid down on the couch and supported my head with my hand. Inogashira chose some K-pop songs that I have never even heard of. Her singing wasn't bad but her voice was relatively quiet and lacked...confidence or determination which was just according to her personality.
"Your turn now!" She stuffed the microphone into my hand without giving me a chance to refuse.
Seeing my hesitation, she began pushing me in front of the screen.
"Uh, fine, fine. Just...don't push me"
'Let's just pick easy songs that I know'
For my first choice, I went along with Phoenix from Netrum & Halvorsen.
The lyrics were extremely simple and easy to remember therefore I had no trouble singing this song aloud even if I have never done it before, at least not in front of the audience.
"Wow, I really didn't expect you to choose an English song and even sing it so well! Even your voice sounds really nice!" When the song ended, Inogashira instantly stood up and complimented me with sparkling eyes which honestly made me feel slightly embarrassed but I tried to act normal.
"One more song!" She requested while staring at me with eyes full of interest and curiosity.
"I am not sure..."
"Please..." The fact that she isn't even trying to appeal to my consciousness by mentioning how much she is helping me is making it only worse for me to refuse her.
'It's just one song, whatever' I sighed and agreed.
"Alright, one more song, and then we will go study again"
She quickly nodded her head several times after sitting down.
"I am going to choose something a bit...different from the first song"
It took me a short moment before I found the song I wanted. It was Demons from Hayley Kiyoko and honestly, it was a much harder one in my opinion.
.
.
After the song finally ended I released a sigh of relief since it was finally over.
When I turned at Inogashira to tell her we should go now, she was just staring at me with wide-open eyes.
"That was amazing! I had no idea you were such a good singer!" She exclaimed but I couldn't match her enthusiasm.
"Let's go before I get even more embarrassed." I said while leaving without giving her a chance to stop me.
"What are you talking about? You were good!" She kept trying to convince me on our way back to the dorms. We obviously parted ways when we were close enough to avoid being seen together.
.
.
We ended up studying till around 8 PM when Inogashira felt like she should go back to her room.
'Now...unlike the original, Ike (me) is going to get a much higher score and Inogashira will most likely get a much higher score too due to all the studying with me. With that in mind, if Sudo will get the same score as in the original, he is going to fail in English by several points.'
Fortunately, I remembered the reason why Sudo failed.
At around 10 PM...I took my phone out and decided to call Sudo's number.
"Ehh, what is it?" I heard Sudo's tired voice as if I just woke him up.
"Sudo"
"Huh? Ike?! Why are you calling me?"
"To make sure you are studying and not dozing off. By the tone of your voice, it seems like I have had a good reason to worry."
"OH shit! I barely looked at the test from English, thanks for waking me up! And...sorry about before" Seemed like apologizing over the phone call was much easier for Sudo.
"No problem, make sure to check on Yamauchi too" I reminded him and ended the call before he could say anything else.
If he is not going to fail, he probably won't truly learn his lesson but I can't take any risks here plus it's not like I care if he is going to have some character development. I can make him do whatever I want thanks to that incident.
