The Pokémon Elites - Year 1

V1.C9.1: A Relationship of Mutual Trust

A month and a half had already gone by since I started high school. For the most part, my days had passed without incident.

It's one week before the midterm exams begin. Horikita and I begin brainstorming on how to get Ike, Yamauchi, and Sudou to study for the midterms once again. 

Unfortunately, Ryoma left us already to have another Pokemon Battle with a random student. So I'm here once again helping my honorable tactician.

I invited Kushida to join us for lunch so that we can discuss things regarding the midterm, especially the Idiot Trio. 

At Pallet, we once again requested Kushida's assistance to help us, to which Kushida happily agrees once again, but on a condition that if they succeeded, then they'd let her help Horikita to reach Class A. 

She invites the Idiot Trio to join her at Pallet. After they arrive, Horikita asks them if they would join her study group once more. 

All of them express their dislike of studying and want to cram, notably Sudo, who wants to put basketball first. However, Horikita had a plan to suit them.

She explains the plan that they made to get them to study while also not using their free time, which consists of spending their time during class to memorize and study questions, and then using the time in between the periods to personally teach them whatever they had issues understanding. 

They were reluctant to agree to Horikita's plan until I did a spectacle.

I asked Kushida if she had a boyfriend, although I already knew the answer. I told her to go out with me if I scored 50 points in the midterm. Then, Ike and Yamauchi got mad at this and persuaded Kushida to date them if they scored higher than me.

Basically, the plan was to offer the person who gets the highest score in the midterm a chance to take Kushida out on a date. With this, their motivation to study will go up. Kushida probably understood what I'm trying to get at.

After all that, the study group has gotten off to a good start. Of course, nobody ever developed a deep love for or joy in studying. To keep from being expelled so they could keep hanging out with their friends, they all contributed to the effort. The Idiot Trio began to act differently. 

Once the afternoon class had ended, a satisfied-looking Horikita gave a small nod and glanced at her notes. Apparently, she'd compiled everything together. 

Even though Horikita was teaching the Idiot Trio, she wanted the best possible results. That was her nature. 

Our class's evaluation would improve, as would the individual students' abilities. 

When the lunch bell rang, everyone made a mad dash for the cafeteria. Our break was forty-five minutes long. After lunch, everyone agreed to meet in the library for a twenty-minute study session. 

At first, we'd planned to study in the classroom. However, for better concentration, we decided to avoid noise and use the library.

However, the main reason was that Horikita wanted to avoid Hirata. His study group also met during lunch, and if we were reviewing materials nearby, they'd likely try to talk to us. Horikita absolutely did not want that.

"Horikita, what are you doing for lunch?" I asked.

"Well—"

"Ayanokouji-kun! Do you want to eat lunch together? We don't have any plans today!" Kushida unexpectedly hopped out in front of me. Behind her was my best friend Ryoma, who is waving at us, although his expression was rather gloomy.