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"Does it not bother any of you that we have our last final in two days?" Jellal asked. "Don't any of you want to finish strong?"
"No," Sorano calmly replied. "By the way, it's your turn, Dark Wizard Zeref."
"My apologies." He grabbed the die and rolled.
Ever since Erza, Mirajane, and Laxus have expressed their desire to participate in their game, Jellal has regrettably playing as well when he was supposed to be convincing the group to study. He simply divided his time where he was able to both study and ace the majority of his final exams, while still being there for the group. However, it is the final week of the semester, which leaves the last final exam, which, interestingly, they must all take. Unfortunately, it may also be the most difficult exam due to their history professor enjoying writing very specific and in detail questions. If there was any exam that they should study for, Jellal believes it must be this one. However, he knows this is a difficult mission, especially since Erza, Mirajane, and Laxus have been encouraging their behavior. At the very least, Richard has been studying.
"You all do know that this exam won't be easy?" Jellal has to remind everyone.
"I think they already know, man," Laxus answered. "You really need to stop trying to get them to study. It's not going to work. Also, I would appreciate if you stop blabbering about that exam. Just thinking about it is making me sick."
"Oh, I know," Mirajane groaned in disgust. "He always asks questions about the most specific of dates and events. His exams are always impossible."
"I didn't do so well on the first three," Erza said ashamed. "But, hopefully, this exam will go better."
"You shouldn't be embarrassed, Erza!" Richard hollered. "As long as we try our hardest, it doesn't matter what score we receive. As the magnitude of our character cannot be determined by a number we receive from any exams."
"Well, said, Richard." Macbeth smiled.
"That still doesn't pass the class, though," Sawyer quipped.
"Yeah, especially since not all of the questions are multiple choice, either," Erik laughed. "You can't just hope your luck is the best with his exams."
"Yet, you still somehow do fine?" Jellal raised an eyebrow.
"And what's wrong with that?"
"Jellal's just upset you don't work as hard for the grade like he does," Laxus rolled his eyes. "Freed has the same issue with you, too."
"Yeah, didn't Erik get a better score than you on all four of our history exams, so far, Jellal?" Sawyer asked with a smile.
Jellal turned his head away. "I don't remember, actually."
"I remember him getting one or two points higher than you every time," Macbeth coolly said.
"Maybe we should all be more like Erik, then?" Sorano joked knowing that it would piss off Jellal.
"Now, now. It's very impressive that both Jellal and Erik receive some of the highest scores. Surely, a competition is not necessary?" Richard asked.
"No, it is. I want to see this unfold," Laxus commented.
Mirajane looked around the table as her face lit up with an idea. "The six of you should have a contest!" She beamed.
"For a higher score? I'm not sure about this. Trouble will surely brew," Erza replied sternly.
"You're right, Erza. That's why we shouldn't participate and just be here for their drama," Laxus concluded.
"Exactly!" Mirajane agreed.
Jellal turned around again to face Mirajane and Laxus. "No, Erza's right. We should just focus on ourselves and improving and not on a competition."
"Afraid that you're going to be embarrassed, Jellal?" Erik taunted.
"Since I am not a child, I will not fall for your childish threats, Erik. Honestly, how old are you?" Jellal rolled his eyes.
Sorano locked eyes with Macbeth, Sawyer, and Erik. "If you win, we'll do whatever you want," she stated.
Jellal's eyes widened. He, immediately, begun shaking his head. "No, I am above this. I will not be forcing the five of you to do anything."
"We all have already consented, and Richard never minds, anyways," Macbeth eyed him.
"No, this will be wrong."
"Such a strong will you have there, Jellal! I can't blame you. Erik will probably get a better score than you like always, anyways," Sawyer continued.
Jellal winced and faced his body towards the group. "Alright, then," he decided.
"State your conditions already and make this interesting," Laxus drawled as he gave a thumbs up to Mirajane for coming up with the idea.
Erik, Sawyer, Macbeth, and Sorano huddled up to discuss their thoughts as Jellal already knew his answer. Jellal waited to give them two minutes, then they released themselves from their huddle. Jellal raised an eyebrow signaling them to state their conditions first.
"You have to convince the principal of our former high school to lift the fighting ban," Macbeth stated with smile.
"I'm sorry?"
"My siblings can't fight anymore in the hallways because he placed a ban. What's hard to understand?" Erik rolled his eyes.
"That's your condition? There has to be more to it. Why would you all choose this?" Jellal shook his head.
"Because we think it would be funny when the former valedictorian, the pride of our year, came back to convince the principal to let the students fight," Sawyer shrugged.
"Don't forget to say hello to Counselor Gryder for us, too!" Sorano chimed in.
Jellal's face fell realizing how awful the situation would like. "Definitely, not. That would ruin my image! Secretary Lahar was already not fond of me. Do you really want to give him a reason for him to be right?"
"Yes," Laxus replied for them, which caused Jellal to glare at him.
"What? We can start placing bets on who would win, if this goes well," he reasoned.
"It would also be good training for Natsu and Gray," Erza thought out loud.
"Training for what, Erza?" Mirajane asked.
"Of character!"
Jellal sighed. "Fine, but I'm placing my conditions too."
"If not even one of you can receive a higher score than me, then you must each join the club of my choosing for next semester. That will be all."
"That's not really bad, though?" Erza speculated, however the group in question had other thoughts.
"But those always ruin my sleeping schedule!" Macbeth whined. "Do you know how much less I can sleep when now I have organization work to do on top of my coursework?"
"Not to mention, they take forever. Meetings are like 90 minutes. Just send us an email and let us be on our way!" Sawyer groaned.
"You want us to join a club, Jellal? Why didn't you say so! I would have joined since the beginning of the year!" Richard informed him.
Jellal rolled his eyes. "Do you two have any complaints?" he asked Sorano and Erik.
"Yes. I don't want to," Erik replied.
"Which club anyway?" Sorano asked.
"The student body government."
"But, Ultear is the president, and she's known for being way too ambitious," Macbeth continued to complain.
"And, she's scary! She hates me because I used to pick fights with her brothers!" Sawyer added.
"Even if I were to join a club, that would be my last choice," Erik scoffed.
"No," Sorano pouted.
"Jura Neekis and Lyon Vastia are members! It would be my honor to stand by their sides," Richard expressed.
"Lyon's there too?" Sawyer whined.
"Yes, but there was no bias in him joining. He's talented in public speaking and taking leadership roles," Jellal answered. "So, do we have a deal?"
"Fine," the rest groaned.
"Erik, you are our only hope," Sorano said seriously.
"Thanks for that."
"You should actually start studying, now," Laxus snickered.
Later, that night, at Natsu's household, the siblings were preparing dinner, excluding Erik, who the second he arrived home went to his room. They were surprised to see him early home for the past two weeks, but they were even more shocked to see him run off to his room and close the door. Their guardian was out due to work related reasons and, after calling them many times to ensure that no trouble has been happening between the siblings and that they are safely preparing dinner, has left them in full confidence. Rogue took the responsibility to attempt to cook for everyone, but, after nearly burning down the house, the siblings agreed to just order food, instead, especially since Natsu was the only one willing to eat Rogue's burnt food. After the food has arrived, the siblings started setting the table, however Erik was still not with them.
"Should we call on him?" Sting asked.
"Erik, come eat," Gajeel said not raising his voice the slightest.
There were no footsteps to be heard.
”Weird, that’s usually enough for him to come down," Wendy wondered.
"Maybe, he couldn't hear us?" Rogue asked.
"Impossible, he has the most sensitive ears I've ever seen," Natsu admitted.
"We should, probably, check up on him. Maybe, he's sick, and it's messing with his hearing!” Wendy panicked.
"I think he's fine," Sting consoled her.
"I'll go check on him, since I know none of you will be willing to do so," Rogue muttered. “Wendy, stay downstairs in case he actually is sick.”
"Thanks, man, you're the best," Gajeel laughed as Rogue ran up their stairs.
"Should we start eating?" Natsu asked.
"Not without Rogue!" Sting replied.
"And Erik!" Wendy reminded.
"Hold on, I hear footsteps," Natsu realized.
Rogue came down by himself without their oldest brother. However, the usually calm Rogue was wide-eyed and panting as if he's seen something shocking.
"Is he okay?" Gajeel tentatively asked.
"Who cares?" he panted leaving them confused to why he would say that. "I went upstairs to his room and saw his door closed. So, I knocked, and he didn't answer."
"He didn't hear that?" Natsu stressed.
Rogue shook his head. "So, I opened his door, and he was wearing his noise cancellation headphones."
"He's ignoring us!" Gajeel angrily concluded.
"Because, he's studying," Rogue finished.
The siblings went quiet.
Sting burst out laughing. "I didn't know you were this funny, Rogue!"
"Rogue isn't laughing, Sting," Gajeel realized.
"You're serious?" Sting composed himself to ask.
Rogue nodded his head, which caused Gajeel, Natsu, and Sting to stand up from their seats.
"I got to see this," Gajeel said before running off.
Natsu and Sting followed leaving Wendy and Rogue alone at the table.
"We should bring his meal to him since he's studying," Wendy said.
"I'll help you. We should give him Cubellious's food, as well," Rogue offered.
Gajeel, Natsu, and Sting were running down the hallway happy for once they don’t have to keep quiet due to Erik’s inhuman hearing. When they finally reached the door, they huddled on the ground and opened it slightly to see him. Sure enough, Rogue was right. Erik had his headphones in and had his computer to read his textbook and his notebook out to look at his notes.
“So, what do you think is the occasion?” Natsu whispered.
”Beats me. I’m texting Laxus right now to ask in case he knows anything. Also, why are you whispering? There’s no way he can hear us with those things on!” Gajeel laughed.
”Something about this still feels odd, though,” Sting wondered.
“We’re about to leave, anyways. Just wanted to see if Rogue was telling the truth. We still have dinner to eat,” Gajeel reminded.
“Hold on! Yukino just texted me and said Sorano is studying for the first time, too!” Sting smiled.
“Is Erik eating with us?” Natsu asked. “He seems busy at the moment.”
”I brought his food for him!” Wendy said coming up the stairs with Rogue.
”You all should probably leave him alone now,” Rogue advised taking out his phone.
“Are you really taking a picture of him?” Natsu questioned.
“No, I’m recording him. And that's enough,” Rogue correcting him. “We can leave now.”
”Whatever, let’s go eat,” Gajeel got up from the ground.
”Guys, where’s Cubellious?” Sting asked fearfully.
”Oh, shit,” Gajeel muttered.
Cubellious poked her head through the door leaving Gajeel and Sting stumbling back. She playfully stuck her tongue out and snapped her jaw at them. The two brothers wailed in fear and hurried downstairs. She eyed Natsu as the other two left.
”Easy there, Cubellious. I was on my way out anyways,” he gave a strained smile and left in a similar fashion as Gajeel and Sting.
Rogue turned to Wendy. “Do you think they know that Erik was lying about her being poisonous?”
She shrugged and went to pet the snake. She raised her head to let the girl stroke her neck like Erik would usually do.
”We’re just here to give Erik his food! Can we come in?” Wendy asked leaving Cubellious to nod her head.
Wendy walked in the door and carefully place the food next to Erik’s desk in a method that didn’t allow him to see her. She was on her way out until she accidentally tripped over his bed causing him to finally turn around due to feeling the vibrations. He raised an eyebrow at her confused of why she was there.
“We brought you and Cubellious’s food,” she panted as she pointed at her and Rogue “Good luck on your exam!”
Before Erik was able to thank her, she ran out with Rogue to keep him focused on studying.
“Thank you, Wendy,” Erik called out after her smiling to himself.
The day has finally arrived and all the students were sitting in auditorium with their computers out to take their final exam. Their backpacks were left at the front to stop any cheating that might happen, and there were teachers and teaching assistants walking around to make sure nobody snuck anything in. Sorano, Sawyer, Erik, and Macbeth were the most nervous they have ever been seen for an exam. After the deal was made, they rushed to begin cramming as they studied harder then they ever have. Everyone made it to their assigned seat without any issue, except for this one drunk student that needed assistance. The exam begun and as expected it was as difficult as the previous four, and, possibly, even more so. Whenever anyone finished, they were excused to leave. As usual, Sawyer submitted his exam first out of everyone, looked at his score, and begun leaving quietly. As promised to the rest of his friends, he waited silently outside the room for the rest to come out. He was surprised to see Erza come out next of who he knows.
“How did you do?” He asked.
“Well, I passed at least,” she smiled. “I received a 75%, my highest score so far!”
“Nice one!” He high fived her. “73% for me, but like you said, at least I passed. Hopefully, Erik does well.”
“You all depending on him to beat Jellal?” She laughed.
“Yes, we are,” they heard a sigh to see Macbeth coming out.
Sawyer looked at him. “84%,” he shrugged. “Not good enough to be higher than Jellal. Looking at the statistics already for this exam, though, it is one of the higher scores, but Jellal hasn’t finished, yet.”
“You did so well! You still should be proud of your achievement!” Erza attempted to console.
“Yeah, but I really don’t want to wake up earlier than usual to come to the meetings,” Macbeth sighed.
Macbeth continued to eye the exam statistics as he noticed someone just received a new high score. “The highest score as of now is a 95%. Do you think it was Jellal?”
“You shouldn’t be stalking the scores like that. Some of us have a right to privacy,” they heard a new voice leaving the exam room.
”Pretty boy,” Sawyer rolled his eyes.
Hibiki Lates smiled at him. “Those manners. Please, don’t tell me you treat Sorano like that, too. As a lady like her, she must definitely deserves better company.”
“Sorano likes our company,” Macbeth frowned at him. “Do you have the highest score, so far?”
“Yes, of course!” He smiled at him. “Are you impressed, Erza? It was all, so I could earn your respect.”
“I doubt it was all for me as you pull this saying with all the girls you come across,” Erza stopped him.
They suddenly heared a groan as Mirajane and Sorano came out.
"That exam was awful," Sorano whined.
"Like I said, I couldn't remember much of the dates," Mirajane frowned.
"Scores?" Erza raised an eyebrow.
"74%," Sorano said defeated.
"79%," Mirajane lowered her head.
"Cheer up, you two. That's still better than me," Sawyer pulled Sorano towards him, so she could bury her face in sadness. She looked up at him. "I got a 73%, but Macbeth got an 84%."
"My dears, Sorano and Mirajane! Do not worry because next time I can help you beautiful ladies do better! I received a 95% just for the two of you!" Hibiki cut in.
Sawyer tugged on Sorano slightly tighter. "Didn't you just say it was for Erza?"
"That's not important," he flipped his hair.
"I didn't expect all of you to be awaiting the rest of us!" Richard came out beaming as he was happy to see his friends.
"Richard! How did you do?" Sorano left Sawyer to hug him.
"86%!" He smiled at her.
"Wow, that's higher than Macbeth!" Her eyes sparkled.
"Well, done," Macbeth smiled at him.
"Is Jellal almost done, yet?" Sawyer asked.
"I'm not sure, but don't believe that he'll be enough to secure the victory that you desire," Erza answered for him.
Macbeth went back to check the exam statistics as there were only 20 minutes left. His eyes widened as he read the newest high score. "Someone just received a 98%."
"I'm sorry?" Hibiki's pride fell.
"He said someone beat your score," Sawyer answered smugly.
"I see Erik and Jellal coming! They're both done!" Mirajane informed the rest.
"Please, be Erik!" Sorano breathed.
Instead of the familiar faces of Jellal and Erik, Laxus came out the door. "Why are all of you staring at me?"
"Laxus, you received the highest score?" Mirajane asked happy for him.
"Oh, I wish," Laxus laughed. "I got a 82%, which is pretty good. I need to thank Freed for that."
"Hello," someone interrupted them as the group turned around to see Erik and Jellal waiting for them.
"Erik, what did you make?" Jellal asked eyes locked on him.
"An A, what about you?" Erik answered.
"Same, here."
Macbeth sighed. "Jellal, what was your exact score?"
"98%."
Macbeth, Sawyer, and Sorano groaned falling to the ground in defeat.
"That's the highest score," Sawyer cried out. "Erik, you failed us!"
Erik's eye twitched. "Yeah, sorry about that, my bad."
"What was your score?" Laxus asked him.
"97%," he responded annoyed.
"Of course," Jellal mumbled.
"You were so close, too!" Sorano whined.
"You really received the second highest score?" Hibiki asked glaring at him.
"Yeah, why what did you get?" Erik smirked at him.
As Hibiki seethed, Richard begun hugging Erik. "You should be so proud of yourself, Erik, even though Jellal received a point higher!"
"I guess," he sighed.
"It's time for my sleeping schedule to be ruined, though," Macbeth sadly expressed.
Sorano composed herself after her cry of anguish. "You know I'm not that against this anymore. My sister is coming next year, and I would like her to see me as such a responsible and respectable person of the student body government."
"See, Sorano? I would never make a deal that would be damaging to any of you," Jellal smiled at her.
"Well, congratulations Jellal for receiving the highest score on the exam," Erza patted his back causing him to slightly blush.
"Yeah, there's only five minutes left on the exam. What are the odds someone gets a higher score than you?" Laxus snickered.
"Someone got a perfect score."
Everyone went silent.
"Macbeth, I'm afraid that we didn't hear you, can you repeat yourself?" Mirajane asked in shock.
"The last person in there got a 100%."
They heard a loud hiccup as the stench of alcohol came to view. Bacchus Groh was limping out of the door holding a gourd of alcohol.
"Damn, where are my men at? I can't see a thing! This is so wild!" He laughed.
"It can't be," Erza shook her head.
"It's definitely someone else," Hibiki commented.
"Bacchus! What was your score?" Erza rushed over to him.
"Is that you, Erza? Damn, you look nice!" He flirted.
"Just give us your score," Jellal said in between gritted teeth.
"I don't remember. It just said I got 60 of the questions right. Anyways, I'm going to go party! Finals are done!" He hiccupped and then passed out the second he exited the building.
"There were 60 questions in total," Laxus groaned.
"I'll call the hospital for him," Mirajane finally said.
Jellal sighed. "I know that the semester is over, but Ultear wanted so see us one last time to discuss the next semester. So, I'll see you five tomorrow morning at the meeting. Please, don't be late."
The student body government was sitting at their usual meeting room the next day. Ultear, Jellal, Jura, and Lyon were already seating waiting for the new members that Jellal said would come. However, Ultear's patience was starting to run thin.
"Jellal," she gritted her teeth. "You said that they'll be here."
"Don't worry, Ultear. We still have 10 minutes until the meeting actually starts. You can't call them late, yet," Jura reasoned with her.
She scoffed. "I still don't know who they are either. But, if they are late, I'm going to make sure that they will never lose track of time ever again."
"Isn't that a bit much, Ultear?" Lyon asked.
"Maybe, you're right," she sighed. "I'll take my anger out on Jellal, instead."
"Oh, they better be here, then," Jellal snapped.
Suddenly, the door flew open to reveal Erik, Macbeth, and Sawyer all panting and Richard fully composed and ready to begin the meeting.
"We're not late," Sawyer breathed. "Five minutes till the meeting begins."
"Where's Sorano?" Jellal asked him.
Sawyer turned around to reveal that Sorano was being carried on his back. "I didn't want to ruin my hair through running," she said in regards to his confusion.
Sawyer set her down and took a seat next to her as Erik, Macbeth, and Richard took the remaining seats.
"It's so nice to see you, Richard," Jura greeted. "Jellal didn't actually tell us who will be joining us, but this is a pleasant surprise."
"I'm so happy to be in the same organization as you, my friend," Richard smiled at him.
"Hold on, aren't you guy the used to race Gray and me back in high school?" Lyon asked shocked.
"No? That must be a different guy that looked exactly like me," Sawyer answered sweating and attempting to avoid Ultear's eyes.
Ultear coughed signaling for silence.
"Well, these new members are certainly a surprise, and I don't exactly now why they took so -"
"It's because I overslept," Macbeth explained knowing her confusion.
"Don't interrupt me, but let us now begin the meeting as we will be working together until graduation."