Work Text:
It was just after lunchtime at Hanasakigawa Girls’ High School. Rimi and Saya were both in the same Math class, sitting quietly on their seats. The teacher had just finished giving out a long test for the class to answer. It was not much of a problem for most of the class, like Saya, who even finished the test early. Rimi, however, had been staring blankly at her questionnaire since the beginning, absolutely dumbfounded by all the problems.
“I don’t remember how to solve this…” she thought. “Maybe it went like this?”
She jotted down a few lines of scratch work on her paper. “I think I remember… was it this way?” She tried all the methods she assumed could find the solution to the problem, already managing to fill up most of the space on the paper. “No, no, no! Why can’t I remember?! I already studied hard last night! I’ll just come back to it later.”
The cycle repeated as Rimi went through problem after problem, most if not all the time unable to answer the given questions. She looked around and saw that some of her classmates were already turning in their papers. “Focus, Rimi!” she told herself. “You can pass this test, you can pass this test!” She gathered all her concentration and started from the beginning.
“Five minutes left,” the teacher announced just as the bell outside rang. Rimi stopped to look at her answer sheet and saw that it was almost completely empty. Knowing that she was going to undoubtedly fail, she buried her face in her hands and started to cry. “I don’t know anything…” she sobbed.
Rimi walked to her next class halfheartedly with her eyes still wet from tears. “It’s not fair!” she cried. “How does everyone know what to do?” As she went to her next class, she spotted Saya standing near the stairs. She spotted Rimi as well and approached her.
“Hello, Rimirin!” she greeted her cheerfully. “How are you- w-why are you crying?”
Rimi wiped the tears from her eyes with her sleeve. “I-I failed today’s Math test…” she sniffled.
“Oh…”
“I didn’t know how to solve anything in the test! I-I’m such a failure…”
Saya, not knowing how to respond, instead hugged Rimi to try and console her, which did assuage her sadness a bit. “It’s okay… it’s just a test…” she said patting her on the back. “You’ll do better next time…”
“But I don’t get anything at all! Even if I studied hard! Everything is always so confusing and stuff!”
“Well… maybe I can teach you how after class!”
Rimi looked up at Saya with sparkling eyes. “Really?”
Saya assured her with a nod. “Really.”
“B-But don’t we have band practice after class?”
“Forget practice! Your grades are still the utmost priority!”
“A-Are you sure? Arisa-chan might yell at us…”
“Don’t worry, I’ll tell them about your situation. They should understand, and maybe they’ll even lend a helping hand!”
Rimi hugged Saya back, now with a big smile on her face. “Thank you so much, Saya-chan!” she beamed. “I’ll try my best!” Saya smiled and patted her on the head.
When the end of the school day rolled around, Rimi and Saya traveled together to the Yamabuki bakery, the business Saya’s family ran. The two of them took a seat on a table beside the bakery’s window. Once they were comfortable, Saya pulled out her notebook and a pen from her bag. Rimi did the same.
“Okay Rimirin, show me all your notes.”
Rimi opened her notebook and skimmed through her notes. “Umm, this,” she said showing Saya a page. Saya read through it for a few moments and nodded. “Mhmm, it seems like you miscopied some of the teacher’s notes.”
“H-Huh?!” she gasped.
“It’s supposed to be solved like this,” she said as she wrote on her paper. “You isolate the terms with this first and then factor out their coefficients. You don’t touch the coefficients first or else you’ll get confused.”
“Ah!” she exclaimed. “Now I understand!”
“Your other notes… they seem to be alright. You really just need to remember the steps and the correct sequence in doing so.”
Rimi nodded. “Okay…”
The day turned into dusk as Saya continued to teach Rimi all she knew. Rimi was gradually beginning to understand the lessons and was answering all the sample problems correctly. She even asked her to give her harder questions and managed to get them all right. By the time the moon was already visible over the horizon, the two of them wrapped up.
“Thank you, thank you!” she exclaimed packing up her bag. “You’re such a great teacher, Saya-chan!”
“No problem,” replied Saya blushing a bit at her praise. “Before you leave, have a choco cornet on the house! It’s a prize for your hard work!”
Once final exam days neared, Rimi studied as hard as she could for her Math test. She did not want to disappoint Saya and put all her effort into waste. She reviewed, again and again, the notes she wrote down, plus the additional notes Saya gave her. She became so engrossed with her studying that she fell asleep on her desk.
“Five more minutes,” the teacher announced. Rimi was already done answering everything and was using the remaining time to review her answers. When the results of the exams were returned, she found out that she only had a single mistake in the test! She stared at her paper in disbelief as her mouth formed a very wide smile.
“I got a perfect score!” she cried out in happiness. Saya, on the other side of the classroom, looked at her and grinned.
When class ended, Rimi ran up to Saya and gave her a big hug. “Saya-chan! I aced the test!” she told her happily. “And I wouldn’t have done so if it wasn’t for your help!”
Saya chuckled and wrapped her arms around Rimi too. “That’s great! I’m so glad I was of help!”
“Saya, will you teach me again next time?”
“Sure! But make sure you listen carefully and copy the notes correctly next time! I doubt that, though…”
“Whaaat?! What do you mean?”
“All I see you do in class is eat choco cornets!”
Rimi became flustered by her statement. “A-A-A-I don’t!” she asserted her face turning slightly red.
Saya laughed. “Your notebook had bread crumbs everywhere! I think I also saw a chocolate stain there somewhere!”
“N-N-Hmpf…”
“Ehehe, let’s go,” she said as she and Rimi continued to their next class.