Chapter 32: The Upcoming Second Round of Auditions
After finishing the dishes, Hikigaya Hachiman planned to return to writing his manuscript.
Although they were very familiar with each other, it wasn't appropriate for Hikigaya Hachiman to linger in a girl's room.
"Yukinoshita, thank you for your hospitality. I should head back now."
"Going back?"
Yukinoshita Yukino's body stiffened.
The occasional presence of warmth in her otherwise solitary life had clearly left Yukinoshita Yukino immersed in and deeply savoring the feeling.
But she couldn't stop him when he wanted to leave. Besides, she suddenly thought that their relationship might not be as good as she unilaterally imagined, and he might even be very bothered.
After all, counting every minute, they hadn't known each other for long.
Yet, Yukinoshita kept troubling Hachiman-kun with one thing after another.
Sensing that from his standpoint, she couldn't say anything to make him stay.
Yukinoshita Yukino felt a wave of low spirits at this thought.
Hikigaya Hachiman immediately picked up on this.
"Speaking of which, the exams are coming up. Are you ready, Yukinoshita?"
As a form of comfort to Yukinoshita Yukino, Hikigaya Hachiman reminded her as a friend caring for another friend before leaving.
"No, actually, I'm completely in the dark.
I don't even know what to review."
Yukinoshita Yukino's tone was somewhat strained.
"As a transfer student, it would be better to score as highly as possible in your first exam."
High scores command respect from everyone. Shirogane Miyuki became the Shuchiin Student Council President as a student from an external high school.
Besides Hikigaya Hachiman's lack of interest in the position, Shirogane Miyuki 's rapid academic improvement was the main reason he stood out from the field of student council candidates.
In other words, good academic scores are a strong hand to play.
This is why Hikigaya Hachiman recommended Yukinoshita aim for high scores.
Hikigaya Hachiman knew that sample exams were always available on the school's official website.
Teachers for each subject prepare a sample exam based on the knowledge points to be tested and post it in the examination section of the school's official website for students to review.
"I recommend you go to the Shuchiin school website, download the latest sample exams, and work through them. That way, you'll at least have an idea of what the Shuchiin exams are like.
If there's anything you don't understand, you can come right next door and ask me later."
Hikigaya Hachiman sent the school website link to Yukinoshita Yukino.
"Won't that be too much trouble for you, Hikigaya-kun?"
Yukinoshita Yukino hesitated.
"It's fine, no trouble at all."
Hikigaya Hachiman shook his head. Doing these kinds of problems is as simple as eating and drinking for him.
He never does the sample exams, nor does he feel the need to look at them, as all the knowledge is already in his head.
"I should be home until dinner time."
After saying that, Hikigaya Hachiman returned home.
The liberal arts subjects were all variations on a theme, but Yukinoshita Yukino looked at the science and math papers and found the difficulty quite high.
Even at Yukinoshita Yukino's level, she could tell that for the later, more challenging problems, even with a strong foundation, she would lack the problem-solving approach. They tested ingenuity and flexible application of formulas.
Yukinoshita Yukino spent over two hours on just one paper.
Yukinoshita Yukino took the paper and knocked on the door next door. It opened shortly after.
Hikigaya Hachiman opened the door and let Yukinoshita in.
Yukinoshita Yukino walked in cautiously, quietly saying, "Excuse me for intruding."
The first thing she saw was the incredibly spacious living room. Beside the huge floor-to-ceiling window, there was only a single sofa and a small coffee table.
"Is this Hachiman-kun's home?"
There was no television in the living room; it was very simple. The high-quality dark brown sofa gave an impression of extreme minimalism.
The only noteworthy feature was a massive bookshelf in the area connecting the living room and dining room. The bookshelf was packed tightly with books, indicating that the owner was very fond of reading.
Next to the bookshelf was a large desk with a laptop screen still lit. The screen was covered in tiny text, which Yukinoshita Yukino couldn't read clearly from a distance.
Of course, Yukinoshita Yukino also noticed a cello bag hanging on the wall.
Yukinoshita Yukino suddenly realized this was her first time entering a boy's home, especially a single man's home, and her curious looking around was clearly very impolite.
"Which paper did you work on?"
Hikigaya Hachiman was in the kitchen, making a cup of coffee for Yukinoshita.
"Math."
Yukinoshita Yukino took a deep breath to calm herself, holding the test paper, and sat at the dining room table, no longer scrutinizing the surroundings.
Since Hikigaya Hachiman was sitting next to her, a math paper was within his expectations. Because the science subjects at Shuchiin are difficult, he had specially broken his rule and quickly reviewed the sample paper.
Before long, Hikigaya Hachiman handed Yukinoshita Yukino a blank sheet of paper filled with problem-solving steps and answers, telling her to check her work first.
Hikigaya Hachiman had reviewed the sample paper and understood why Shinomiya Kaguya was so confident that she could definitely outscore him this time.
It was because the sample paper used quite a few newly renamed formulas, which would not be listed during the actual exam, essentially assuming that students had already reviewed and memorized them.
A total of 150 new formulas outside the textbook were given, and only 15 of them would be drawn for the exam.
Shinomiya Kaguya knew that Hikigaya Hachiman had no habit of looking at sample exams.
So, she thought this arrogant guy might not even be able to understand the questions.
But this was merely her wishful thinking.
Regardless of whether he looked at it or not, Hikigaya Hachiman's problem-solving approach was always straightforward.
Yukino's score was decent, an 'A' grade.
However, she was estimated to be about 15 points behind the level of Shinomiya Kaguya and Shijo Maki.
This meant that Yukinoshita Yukino, the transfer student, should have a deviation score within the top ten of the grade.
However, with his help, Hikigaya Hachiman thought Yukinoshita should be able to give Shinomiya Kaguya and Shijo Maki a surprise.
After studying with Hikigaya Hachiman, Yukinoshita went back and arranged to study together again soon.
Time quickly moved to the weekend. A game company aiming to turn the Blood Angels into a wargame was running a highly publicized public contest to recruit a theme song.
Hikigaya Hachiman was invited as a special judge. The company took the event very seriously, even reserving the recording studio of a major record company.
They were tasked with selecting three musical scores from the initially screened submissions to be used as promotional music themes.
Togawa Sakiko's submission also passed the initial screening and became one of the finalists for the second round of auditions.
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