Lesson Learned

You're so beautiful

She nearly tripped and skidded down the rest of the slope when she picked up her pace and jumped over a large stone.

She felt a rush of excitement when she saw her brother further up ahead with his friends—a small frown marred her face when she saw they were talking to Nagisa, Okajima, and Sugino and Karma was there as well—but the hesitation faded when she thought about how Gakushuu would react to her mark.

"GAKU-NII!!" She belted, running over with her envelope raised high. "GAKU-NII!!!"

Her brother frowned when he looked over his shoulder along with the others.

Nagisa and Okajima hastily rushed out of the way when she practically barrelled through and tackled her brother into a hug, winding him and nearly sending him falling backwards.

"Can you not?!" Gakushuu yelled, trying to pry her off him while she grinned. "You're going to break my ribs."

"Aw, how cute." Karma smirked from behind, crossing his arms.

Mitsuko grinned and pulled back, holding her results up to view. "Guess who ranked seventh place?" She laughed. "Not bad for E Class right?"

"What?! How come you and Karma ranked so high?" Okajima exclaimed, earning a nudge from Sugino. "Uh, I mean...I guess you weren't holding back like the rest of us."

Wait, what was Karma's score?

"Holding back?" Mitsuko looked over at them and raised an eyebrow, earning a sheepish look from Nagisa. "Wait, Karma, what did you get?"

Karma smiled while her brother and his friends glared. "Second Place."

Mitsuko's eyes widened. "Second place?" She glanced at her brother and started to understand why he was glaring. "Oh...well, congratulations!" She smiled at him. Gakushuu narrowed his eyes at her. "What? It was a good mark?"

She saw Karma's smirk grow before he turned to leave. "Thanks. You too." He stretched and walked away. "Finals should be interesting."

"Nice job, Mitsuko," Sugino said, smiling as he, Nagisa, and Okajima started to follow Karma's lead and walk away.

"Yeah, see you tomorrow," Nagisa said, while the rest of the Big Five glared at them.

Mitsuko waved at them. "Bye!" She raised an eyebrow at the glares the Big Five were shooting her friends. "You know for students who got top scores you don't half look miserable."

"Shut up!" Seo snapped. Gakushuu narrowed his eyes at him, making him yelp. "Uh...I mean...."

She rolled her eyes and looked back at her brother. "So, not a bad result right?" She linked arms with him, smiling.

He stared at her for a moment. "Yes. Congratulations." His face smoothed out and a small genuine smile was just visible. "I'm impressed."

She grinned. "I told you to watch out." She walked with him, stuffing the results under her other arms. "You can bet I'm going to get higher next time as well." Her smile grew crooked, glancing at Seo and Koyama who glared. "I think I might get into the top five come finals."

Koyama glared at her. "As if, you're not even in our class anymore!"

"So what?" Her smirk grew as they walked. "You've been shoved out of the top five so many times you shouldn't even qualify!"

Ren and Araki snorted from laughter while Koyama went red in the face.

"You're such a bitch!" Koyama scowled.

Gakushuu raised an eyebrow. "She does have a point, Koyama, you have been slacking."

Koyama looked terrified. "Asano-kun!"