It was now lunch time, which gave us an hour or so break to relax and talk to our friends. Seeing as I needed to save up points for a certain something, I decided to skip lunch. To compensate, I usually ask for extra when Fumio and Himeji cooks dinner for everyone in the Drachma Red dorms.
As I've started to skip lunch, my new routine became going to the library with Nora. The school library was really impressive, with shelves upon shelves of books and a nice, cozy atmosphere. I could reliably find a new light novel series without much effort, especially since the student librarians were hospitable people.
"Let's go, Takanori-kun."
Nora was smiling more than usual as we walked to the library.
"Did something good happen?"
"U-um... not particularly..."
"I see. You look happy."
If there was one thing I appreciated, it was that Nora was like me when it came to socialising, and thus understood the troubles of communication. That's why, even though I was talking to him in a cut and dry manner, he didn't judge me for it.
"I-I do?"
"Even more so than usual."
I suspect it has to be the new attention he gained from his new appearance.
"Sorry..."
"You don't have to apologise."
I didn't mean to ruin his good mood. Seeing Nora happy was a nice change of pace, since he usually has an anxious expression.
"S-so... um... I finished volume 8 of TOP during break time..."
"Oh, really? What did you think about it?"
"I-I think... the story got better towards the end. When Kiyo-kun got involved more I mean... because he had to overcome the threat of Yoichi's plan..."
In some aspects, TOP reminded me of my life here, because it also took place in an intense, cutthroat, high school setting. The protagonist, Minamoto Kiyotaka, has to battle his way from the bottom of the school all the way to the top, and various students get in his way due to a conspiracy against him.
The school is like a tower. When the students enter the school, they are placed on a level indicative of their rank. At each level of the school, the students on that level have to achieve a certain "invisible goal" in order to proceed, with hints being provided along the way and a set time frame.
If they can achieve the goal, they would ascend a level. If not, they would descend a level. This made the story interesting as each volume focused on a different level and what the goal of that level was, and the levels always kept changing goals, so when the characters descend, they aren't repeating the same level.
It leaned heavily into psychological and thriller aspects, with lots of strong characterisation and mind-blowing solutions to the problems. What made it chilling was the story was set in reality, with no fantasy aspects except the unrealistic school. It made you believe this really did exist in our world somewhere.
I suppose GEN Academy might be the closest thing we'll get to the story in real life.
"I'm going to return this volume first. Could you wait for me?"
"Sure."
Me and Nora entered the library, going up to the front desk. The student librarian sitting behind it, Tokihara Mitsuki, a 2nd Year from B Class, greeted us.
"Afternoon, Takanori-san, and um... you brought a new friend today?"
"O-oh no, I'm, um... Nora... I'd like to return this..."
"Eh? Nora-san, is that really you? I couldn't recognise you at all!"
Tokihara was genuinely surprised at Nora's new appearance. She took his book and returned it.
"I'm guessing you want volume 9, right?"
"Y-yes please..."
"Not a problem. I predicted something like this would happen."
From under the table, Tokihara pulled out a copy of volume 9. She scanned it and put a return stamp on it.
"T-thank you!"
"Takanori-san, what about you? Do you need some new recommendations?"
Seeing as I hadn't taken a book out in awhile, I came to the library to search for something new to read. Tokihara was good noticing this sort of thing. She had memorised what the repeaters liked, and tailored her help towards them.
"Yeah, if you can."
"You like... psychological series, right?"
I nodded. I loved stories with mind-games and strategy the most.
"There's a series I'm currently reading, Chess King, that does it really well. The main character is an underdog chess player trying to overtake the chess world and become number one. There's a lot of psychological aspects involved, and when I was reading it, I kept thinking you'd like it."
This seemed perfect for my tastes, though, I had no interest in chess whatsoever. It'd be a new experience for me.
"Yeah, that sounds good. Can I take it out please?"
"Of course. Talk to me about it, I'd love to discuss the series. Are you a fan of chess, perhaps?"
"No, I don't know how to play the game."
Tokihara stamped the book and handed it to me.
"You'll learn more from reading this then. This series does go in-depth about chess strategy. It's really interesting."
"Sure. Thanks for the suggestion."
"Not a problem. Have fun!"
Tokihara was a good person. Even though me and Nora were from E Class, she didn't look down on us, and instead helped us like anyone else. It was rare to find friendly people like her in the school.
I sat down next to Nora, who was doing some math homework. I opened up the book and leisurely read through it. As I did, I could tell the author was really good at compelling character narratives. So far, I didn't care much about the game at all, but now I was fully invested in it.
As I skimmed over the intense chess match unfolding before my eyes, a familiar grumpy face came strolling towards us. Looking dishevelled and frustrated, Yukimura slung his bag onto the table from his shoulder, heaving a troubled sigh. This can't be good.
"Nora, can you help me out with something?"
Just as Nora finished factorising the last of his question and submitted the answer, he put down his pen and looked up at Yukimura with wide, innocent eyes. These two were such a contrast to look at. Just from the way they wear their uniforms, you could tell what kind of person they were.
However, these polar opposites were surprisingly good friends. That's the impression I got from them, at least. It's because Yukimura invites Nora out to play, but he's never asked me to go play with him. I really am unpopular, aren't I...
"Yukimura-kun? Weren't you with Mitsuba-san and the others?"
"This is a problem I can only turn to you for. Same with you, Takanori."
I was surprised to hear he needed me help. What skills did I have to be useful? I was an average student with no stand-out skills. Well, I'd prefer to keep reading, but I'm scared I might get punched by Yukimura if I decline.
"What's the problem?" I asked, slipping a bookmark into my book.
"Huh, you read books too? Nerd."
Yukimura said off-handedly. An unnecessary comment, but I bore with it.
"I got some science and English work due today, so if you guys don't mind, can you do it for me?"
So he just wanted to use me for his homework. I guess he didn't see me as a friend after all.
I could try to extort private points from him as payment, like how Mitsuba did this morning with Matsushita, but he'd punch me for sure if I tried to do something sneaky like that. I'd rather avoid unnecessary conflict, so I was inclined to nod and agree.
"Thanks Takanori, you're a real bro."
Yukimura slapped me on the back and took out his English work from his bag. It was a booklet Toujou-sensei handed out last week. I remembered I finished it during lunch time. Seriously, this was mostly foundation level stuff. Just how dumb is Yukimura?
I took the booklet, which had some gross stains on the front, and opened it up. Taking out my pen, I began going through the questions. It seemed he didn't even bother to attempt the booklet. He just left it in his bag until he found it, and gave it to me to handle.
"I'm not very good at science... if you want to ask someone for help regarding it... A-Ayano-san is a master at science. He's incredibly smart at it."
Nora was being shy about his abilities. However, after what transpired between him and Ayano this morning, Yukimura didn't want to hear any of it.
"Ayano is a loser and I have no intentions talking to someone like that, especially after what he said to you today."
Just as he said that, Yukimura stopped. He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.
"Sorry for making you cry."
"E-eh? P-please don't apologise... it's not your fault..."
"I know it's not, but... just, I don't want to see you cry again, okay? It's embarrassing to me."
Even though he was trying to be heartfelt about it, instead Yukimura was being prickly. I think Nora got his feelings though, because he didn't rebuke Yukimura. He just smiled slightly with soft eyes.
"W-why do you think Ayano-san is a loser? He's good at academics..."
"That means crap to me. Do you see him in class? He's a loner, like Takanori. Gloomy, like Takanori. The only reason he's not like Takanori is because he's got better looks than him and has a girlfriend!"
Why am I the target of abuse here?
"Ayano-san has a girlfriend?"
"Yeah, yeah, Kita, that girl who's never in. I dunno how she even got invited to this school, she's more useless than Takanori."
You know I'm right here, Yukimura...
"Actually, they aren't dating."
I decided to cut in. I was really agitated at how he was taking side shots at me so blatantly.
"Even if they aren't, I'd never date Kita. She's not even pretty and she's got no boobs."
At least Yukimura's honest...
"Anyways, we're getting side tracked. Nora, just do what you can, since that's more than enough."
"I don't... I don't think... that's a good way... to do things..."
Nora reverted back to his shy speech pattern when he voiced his opinion. While he usually spoke more casually to Yukimura, he suddenly became recluse when going against him. Well, he had more bravery than me.
"Huh?"
Yukimura slammed the table.
"Why not? Just do my work. We're friends, aren't we? I can't focus on science when I gotta focus on sports. How else am I gonna become pro? This is good practice for you, isn't it? You're an academic type, so training your knowledge will benefit you. It's mutually beneficial."
"You know more than you think... Yukimura-kun. Mutually beneficial relationships... it's a term used in biology... a science. A-and you just used it... right now."
"Damn, guess I do underestimate how smart I am sometimes. Well, anyways, that's biology, I'm struggling on this."
Yukimura shoved physics papers in front of Nora.
"Physics! My best science subject, but I still suck at it! Mainly because I hate the math aspect."
"Physics, huh...?"
Woah, I've never seen Nora look that depressed before.
"Well, physics is my weakest science subject, so um... we're in this together."
"Well damn. You aren't that smart after all."
Nora scratched his cheek, laughed derisively and nodded.
"Yeah... I'm not smart at all... I mean, I only scored 15 on the science portion of our first exams. That's the same score Takanori-kun got..."
Yukimura raised an eyebrow, looked at me, then pulled up a seat.
"Well, you're more smart than me, and you got a better score than me so... don't put yourself down. I'm gonna need your help regardless. Your the only one I can turn to, because you're my friend. You too, Takanori."
I think he was trying to show compassion, but failed at it. Also, did he try to imply we were friends? What kind of friends insult each other? Ah, I don't get relationships at all...
"Sure... um, how much of physics do you know...?" Nora said.
"I dunno. I just remember things when I look at questions." Yukimura said.
"Do you know what scalar and vector quantities are?"
"I think, yeah. Scalar quantities only have a size, while vector quantities have a size and direction."
"That's correct. Well, maybe there's still some hope. What's speed?"
"How fast someone's going?"
"I mean... what kind of quantity it is."
"Oh, uh... a scalar quantity?"
"Yep! Velocity?"
"Vector?"
"Yep! Yukimura-kun, that's a good start!"
"It is? Isn't that just the basic level..."
Wow, he's self-aware of this too. Poor Nora, he's doing his best to encourage Yukimura, but it turns out this might be a subject that Yukimura doesn't completely suck at.
"U-um..."
"Look, I don't like it when people sugarcoat things. Just tell it to me straight. Am I stupid at physics?"
"Well, considering you got everything right so far, I don't think so... umm, there's a couple topics to cover... about twelve in total... so..."
"Twelve topics? Twelve damn topics on a subject I'll never use later in life? C'mon, this is a joke... yeah, forget learning it. Nora, just do the work for me, I don't really care if I flunk the exams."
If he flunks the exam, it might affect everyone else in E Class. Didn't Chabashira-sensei's hints get to him at all?
"B-but..."
"But?"
"Umm... well, it's just... you shouldn't think of it that way... you need to put... effort in..."
Nora withdrew, looking at his lap and preparing himself for Yukimura's wrath.
Instead, Yukimura sighed listlessly.
"Ugh, I don't want to put effort in."
"But it's the best way... to learn."
"This is useless to me. Physics isn't going to do me much good on a football pitch, will it?"
"It's not about that sort of application..."
"Then what is it? Are you trying to say the football managers actually look over my other grades?"
"Well, they might..."
"But my football skills are crazy good. If they decide to turn me down based on my other grades, that's a mistake they're making."
While Yukimura is good at football, he's being extremely arrogant about this. Nora was fumbling through his words and wasn't able to come up with a good response.
Tired of this argument that wasn't going anywhere, I decided to set things straight to clear the misunderstandings and misconceptions between them.
"I think what Nora-san's trying to say is relying on someone else to do your work is wrong, Yukimura-san. It doesn't work like that in the real world. Your boss would fire you if you shoved your tasks onto someone else. Instead, you have to learn the skills and apply them with your own abilities, even if you don't like it. That's what Nora-san wants you to do. Learn science and apply your knowledge to the midterms and pass. Failing could lead to expulsion at this school. We can't cruise by because we're E Class students."
"If my manager let go of me, I'd just join a different club and shove it in his face that he lost me. Besides, I'm going to move up the ranks through my physical abilities. I'll get to at least C Class and graduate without getting expelled."
Even when faced with logic, he refutes it somehow with delusions.
"That's what you think you can do, but you haven't put the effort in to do so."
"God, stop preaching to me Takanori. You're also in the same situation I'm in, aren't you? I don't see you putting effort in class."
I ignored this weak argument and decided to use another example to get my point across.
"Just think of learning like football training. Tell me, what's something you hate in football?"
"Being goalkeeper or defender."
"Do you know the skills to be those things?"
"Well, yeah. It's necessary for me to learn it, even if I don't like it. If I don't know how those players act, then I can't counter them or understand them."
"That's the same about these subjects at school, isn't it? It's a necessary thing to learn so you know how to deal with them in the real exams. There'll be parts you like and dislike, but as long as you put the effort in, you'll get there."
Yukimura's lazy face slowly changed. He scratched the back of his head and sighed exasperatedly.
"Gah, I can't fight against that solid logic. I might not like it, but I still gotta do it, basically."
"Yeah. That's what Nora-san was trying to tell you."
Nora nodded in approval.
"Thank you, Takanori-kun..."
"Fine, let's crack down and learn physics then. I'll be in your care, Nora."
"Okay... lets do our best together, Yukimura-kun!" Nora took the booklet and opened it. "Ah, the particle model topic... this one is fairly straightforward, but we'll need to visit Ike-sensei to do a practical so you can understand it."
Ike-sensei was GEN Academy's head of science. He's a mad scientist that's very cool, and a sonuvabitch, in a good way. He's the homeroom teacher of 2nd Year B Class, the same class Tokihara was in.
"A practical, huh. At least it'll make it less dull."
Yukimura scratched his head.
"So... what's this particle model stuff about?"
"Well... it's to do with things like matter, density, temperature changes, etc... We'll start off in the beginning. Yukimura-kun, you know what a solid, liquid and gas is, right?"
"Huh? Yeah, of course I do. That elementary school level stuff."
"Explain it to me then."
Yukimura looked confused, but went along with it.
"A solid has particles tightly packed together in a regular structure, liquid has particles tightly packed but are free to move past each other, and in a gas, particles are spread out and move randomly."
"Wow, that was a near perfect textbook answer!"
Nora was legitimately impressed that a numbskull like Yukimura had some brain in him.
"You're more smart than you give yourself credit for, Yukimura-kun!"
"Eh, I always found science made more sense then say, Japanese or mathematics. It's logical and straightforward."
It was ironic since Yukimura, while straightforward, was extremely irrational and unpredictable.
"Physics is closely linked to mathematics, so you might pick up some skills there. In fact, figuring out density, which is necessary in this science topic, is a skill required for the mathematics syllabus."
"Well, this is gonna kill two birds with one stone. Nice."
"Anyways, back to density. The formula for density is Density = Mass / Volume. Make sure to remember it, because you won't be given it in the exam."
"Okay, so density is just a measurement for the mass divided by volume?"
"Correct. More specifically, density describes how closely packed the particles are in a solid, liquid or gas, which is why I asked for those definitions earlier. You should know that there's little difference between the density of a liquid and its corresponding solid, for example, water and ice. This is because the particles are tightly packed in both states."
"That's great and all, but what about gases?"
"Well, gases are a little different. They have the same number of particles as their liquid or solid counterparts, but they're spread further apart than in the liquid or solid states. As a result, the same mass takes a bigger volume, which makes the gas less dense."
When talking about science, Nora was extremely confident. His usual stammering vanished as he explained the science behind density.
"Man, you're too good at this. An idiot like me would never understand it."
"No, I think you'll understand. After all, you gave me that super detailed explanation about solids, liquid and gases earlier... h-have more belief in yourself."
"Dude, I got less than 10 in physics. This kind of stuff bores me to death."
Yukimura began losing focus and started complaining.
"Just hold on for a little bit longer... the good part's just about to come."
"You mean the practical?"
"Y-yeah. It's not the most flashy, but it's a simple experiment that we'll do... together."
"Ah, fine. I'll hold out. Hit me with more knowledge, Nora."
Nora nodded and continued to explain concepts to Yukimura.
"Density also depends on the material. For example, a piece of iron with the same dimensions as a piece of... um, aluminium, will be heavier. This is because the atoms are more closely packed in the iron, and an individual iron atom is heavier than an aluminium atom. We can measure how tightly packed the particles are by measuring the mass of a certain volume of a material. For example, one cubic centimetre."
"Hang on, atoms? Isn't that chemistry based?"
"A lot of science crosses over with each other. You'll find physics in biology and chemistry as well."
"So its kind of like a puzzle. Everything comes together in the end?"
"Yes. Science is all about our natural world after all. Thanks to science, we've made millions of advancements in mankind. What we learn in school is just a fraction of what endless possibilities are out there."
"Damn dude, you sound like a real science nerd right now."
"I prefer mathematics... so, um..."
"One day we're gonna have to study that too, ha ha. Anyways, back to science."
I continued to do work in Yukimura's booklet while listening to their conversation.
"Yes... okay, um... let's move onto calculating densities. I've shown you the formula, but I haven't explained how to use it. So, density is measured in kilograms per cubic metre, kg/m^3. You have to make sure your mass and volume is in the correct measurement unit. Mass is measured in kilograms, kg, and volume is measured in cubic metres, m^3. You could alternatively use gram per cubic centimetres, g/cm^3, since you mainly measure things in laboratories in grams and cubic centimetres."
"Can you show me an example? I understand it better that way."
"Sure. For example, um... say that the mass of this object is 2,200 kg and it's volume was 4 m^3. To figure out the density, you would divide 2,200 by 4, which is... 550 kg/m^3."
"Oh, so it's just division. That's easy."
"It is! In the exam, it might ask you to find the mass or volume instead. In that case, you rearrange the formula." Nora wrote on the booklet "d = m/v". "You are aware of rearranging formulas, right? You need to know this skill in math too."
"Yeah, you can multiply volume on both sides to get rid of the volume on one side."
"And that's how you figure out mass." Nora wrote "m = dv" on the paper. "For volume, you just switch it and density's place." He wrote "v = m/d". "If you know how to rearrange formulas, you only need to learn d = m/v."
"Alright, I can do this! It's just dividing, this is easy!"
"See? It's not that hard! You're learning too, Yukimura-kun!"
Nora looked genuinely happy to see Yukimura be positive about learning.
"How do you turn g/cm^3 into kg/cm^3? And vice versa?" Yukimura asked.
A good question.
"If 1 g/cm^3 is equal to 1,000 kg/cm^3, it means to make it bigger - g/cm^3 to kg/m^3 - you multiply by 1,000. To make it smaller - kg/m^3 to g/cm^3 - you divide by 1,000. For example, take iron. It has a density of 7.9 g/cm^3. What's that in kg/m^3?"
"If you multiply it by 1000... you'd get 7,900 kg/m^3?"
"Correct."
"Wow, physics is easy..."
"Well, it's this part that's fairly straight forward. The next part is actually doing this in a lab."
"So, we're paying a visit to Ike-sensei then?"
"Yep. It's a good thing lunch is so long, isn't it?"
"Yeah, it is, but it drags when you have nothing to do."
The two of them stood up, about to head to Ike-sensei's lab. As they were about to leave the library, Nora turned to me.
"Do you want to come too, Takanori-kun?"
I shrugged and nodded.
"Here's your English work, by the way. I've done about a third of the booklet." I said, handing it to Yukimura.
I wanted to tack on "do the rest yourself", but I was scared of getting hit by him.
"Oh damn, thanks Takanori! You're a life-saver!"
As I picked up my stuff, we left as a trio to go to Ike-sensei's lab, which was located in the laboratory facilities of GEN Academy.