[h3][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dilI_gy2KdI]Sato Hashimoto // Rokurou's Place[/url][/h3][b]JULY 12TH 2015, SUNDAY
Evening[/b]
	It'd been a while. To all of it. Studying, Rokurou, Mako, worrying about school. Exams were tomorrow.

	He and Mako hadn't talked much since that day at the arcade. Well, they texted and stuff and all that, but they hadn't really... done anything together since then. Maybe he was trying to rush it-- the chemicals in his head screaming for treatment. That was all love was, right? Just a series of fires in your brain, but it really felt like a lot more to Sato.

	"Hey," Rokurou muttered, erasing everything he'd just written. Sato narrowed his eyes as he watched the numbers fade away; most of it was actually right, it was just a few things that had been forgotten. Maybe he should've said something before Rokurou erased it all, but then again, he was too lost in thought to think of words. "How'd you do this one?"

	Sato sighed, picking up a mechanical pencil and scribbled everything they had just done again. "You were on the right track, you just forgot the exponent rules again. It shouldn't be that hard, Rokurou." Rokurou knit his brows and watched Sato write out the actual answer. Nothing seemed to click in his head, so after a moment of praying, Sato pointed to where Rokurou had messed up originally. "Right here-- two similar terms multiplied together add together their exponents. Come on, this is middle school stuff."

	"Sorry I don't remember stuff good," Rokurou huffed, leaning back and staring down the remaining questions Sato had written out. "How're you so good at this stuff?"

	"Because I study, Rokurou."

	"I'm pretty sure I'm naturally a piece of shit and you ain't, bud." Rokurou said, leaning forward once again. "It's hopeless, man. I'm not passing this."

	Sato, at this point, was visibly frustrated. Studying was a lot more obnoxious when you were trying to tutor someone who could barely understand why a negative times a positive is a negative. Maybe Rokurou was right, maybe it was in their genes to be good or bad at math, but something in Sato couldn't stomach the notion. At the very least, he wouldn't let such a thing stand in their way of passing a stupid exam.

	Sato looked up from the papers suddenly, eyes snapping directly to Rokurou's. The sudden directness surprised Rokurou, causing him to left his eyebrows out of amusement. "I don't really care that bad at math at this point, the fact is that you have to pass this exam and I'm not going to let all the studying we've done together go to waste because you got upset. We will both pass this regardless of whether we're 'good' or 'bad' at it. The only thing we need is you to belief in yourself for fucking once in your life, okay?"

	Rokurou couldn't help but give a wide grin at this, and Sato suddenly felt his face go red. That was definitely too much. But...

	"Okay, okay," Rokurou chuckled, picking up a pencil once again. "I'll try, but I still think this is a waste of time." 
[hr]
[center][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbDkfG56Jbk][b]JULY 13TH 2015, MONDAY 
through 
JULY 18TH 2015, SATURDAY

Week of the Exams[/b][/url][/center]
	Once Monday started, the entire week was nothing but exams and studying. The more studious students would of course, study all evening in preparation for the next subject. The less serious ones might also do a bit, but ultimately, the evenings were recovery periods for a lot of people. Rokurou would've fallen into the latter if had not been for Sato forcing him to study together.

	The first exam was Math. Sato, of course, excelled here; he was confident he didn't get a single question wrong. Rokurou, on the other hand, almost cried when he got out of the exam. Key-word almost. The following exams followed the sequence of Japanese, English, History, Science, and Literature. Rokurou reported that he did best on the English one, which was both surprising and disappointing. Sato felt confident about all but Literature. He had forgotten to really study for it much at all and found himself having to cram as hard as possible on the night before. If there was a place where he lost most of his points, it was definitely there.

	Soon enough, though, exams were over. For what felt like the most cathartic of all the times, everyone rushed out of the room as soon as possible, flooding the halls in staggered bursts. Anxiety permeating the school with the scent of nervous sweat and the tears of students who knew they failed. All that remained between them and the dreaded results was Sunday, but Sato didn't really realize that until Monday. As soon as he got home, as far as he was concerned, he woke up Monday morning.
[hr][h3][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZYJ-5sLazQ]Sato Hashimoto // Warakuma High[/url][/h3][b]JULY 20TH 2015, MONDAY
Noon[/b]
	July 20th meant two things to the students of Warakuma High: One, school was finally over for the summer and they had weeks of break to enjoy! And Two, exam results were posted. For some they were a beacon of their accomplishment, but for some they were a damnation to hell. It wasn't the final test at least, so anyone could still raise their marks with the rest of the school year, but Sato doubted any significant change could be made in half a year-- after all, the third-years were graduating by the end of it.

	That realization hit Sato like a truck. He'd been so focused on getting good marks so he could go to medical school for his family, but after everything that's been happening... All he knew was that the path he'd been on was no longer the one he walked, and while it may have concerned him normally, the only part of the future he could concern himself about was the cult and the mirror world. It was like bleeding out on the road and worrying about the kid you left at daycare.

	That was pretty a ham-fisted metaphor, Sato thought. Or was it a simile?

	Anyway, Sato found himself arriving at pretty much the same time as everyone else. The crowd around the noticeboard was huge, but Sato slowly made his way in as people left once they got their results. Once he could see, Sato checked a few things first: Several people had failed, mostly in the lower grades. Most notably, Noboru, who was being dragged away by the remedial teachers as everyone watched. He had failed apparently, just by a point. Would that conflict with mirror world stuff? Either way, second of all was Mako-- he did pretty well at a 95, but was outclassed by other students who scored significantly higher. Not bad. Third was Rokurou... Sato felt his heart beating as he searched for Ishihara on the list, but felt the relief flood over him once he saw the 82. The same result as the midterm.

	Sato oddly found himself less concerned about his own mark, but he was still pleased to find that familiar 97. Considering the finals were harder than the midterms, Sato was pleased with the result. All that studying had paid off for both of them, even though he still felt a bit of bile rise up in his throat when he saw Ayano's 99. That was better off left uncommentated, though, as he was trying his best to move on from... all of that.

	A lot of people stepped to the side to discuss in groups, and Sato even recognized people he knew from class or from the investigation team. He spotted Kotori, Rui, and that guy that had just recently rescued, Katsuro, chatting together, but he decided against it, seeing as it felt rude and they were underclassmen anyways. 

	Whatever. Sato quickly decided that he'd much rather go home and watch some shows anyway. Self-care and all that.