The next afternoon at the service club looking at Yukinoshita, who had, as usual, arrived earlier than him, Masao couldn't help but muse inwardly.
'Is this some kind of spawn point? Does she instantly spawn in the Service Club after the final bell?'
"Good afternoon, Yukinoshita-san."
"Good afternoon," she replied with a curt nod, pulling a sheet of paper from her bag. "I've prepared a test for you. There are three questions for each subject. You have exactly one hour to complete it."
Masao took the test. The questions were all composed by Yukinoshita herself.
Looking at her elegant, neat handwriting, an image surfaced in his mind: Yukinoshita staying up late last night, diligently flipping through textbooks and carefully crafting these problems just for him.
Thinking of this, a twinge of guilt struck him.
Yesterday, he had gotten a little carried away playing games with Jahy and had almost neglected his regular homework.
Yukinoshita certainly had a knack for setting questions. The three problems for each subject were perfectly tiered.
The first question was always the simplest—what teachers often called the "free points" question. If you couldn't even answer that, you might as well give up.
The second question was slightly more challenging, but any student who had paid basic attention in class should be able to solve it. Nailing these meant you were comfortably on track for a passing grade.
The final question in each set was of a higher difficulty, requiring consistent diligence throughout the term—the kind of problem aimed at students scoring in the 'good' range, around 70–80%.
As for the truly advanced, killer questions, Yukinoshita hadn't included any. She didn't expect Masao to be able to solve those anyway.
—
Yukinoshita held Masao's completed test paper, her brow furrowed in a slight frown.
His performance couldn't simply be called poor; it was more… bizarre.
In Mathematics, English, Physics, Chemistry, and Biology, he had correctly answered all three questions for each subject—an impressively strong showing.
But when it came to Japanese Language, Arts, History, and Social studies, his answers were a mess.
She pointed at a question from the Japanese reading comprehension section.
"Masao-kun, could you please explain why you interpreted the line 'The moon is beautiful' as expressing the author's homesickness?"
"Uh, isn't that right?" Masao countered. 'Wasn't the moon a classic symbol for longing and missing someplace?'
"Then was it meant to express the author's concern for his home and people, or perhaps the frustration of unrecognized talent? Or maybe even a critique of societal realities?" He offered another all-purpose interpretation, confident he'd nailed it this time.
Observing his confident answer, Yukinoshita let out a soft sigh.
"Masao-kun, what on earth goes through your mind? This passage describes a scene where a young man and woman are strolling together on a moonlit night, and the male character says this line. Why would you think he's missing his home? And 'concern for his people'? Why would he be contemplating such grand things in that romantic atmosphere?"
She was baffled by the associations his brain produced.
"When the male character says, 'The moon is beautiful,' he is, in fact, confessing his feelings to the female character."
Masao blinked. "Why?"
In his past life, this kind of reading comprehension question would almost always be tied to grand themes of society, or familial duty.
Subtle expressions of romantic love like this were rare, if they appeared at all.
"It's an indirect, reserved way of expressing oneself. Compared to a direct declaration of love, this approach is considered more aesthetically refined and romantic." She explained
Even with Yukinoshita's explanation, Masao still didn't fully grasp how complimenting the moon equated to a confession.
"But what if the female character doesn't understand? What if she just replies, 'Yes, it is pretty'? How is the male character supposed to respond then?"
"Let's not trouble ourselves with hypotheticals, Masao-kun. The female character is probably not as… unique as you. She would understand the subtext."
Yukino had officially given up on expecting reasonable reading comprehension from him.
"However, what I didn't expect is that your Poetry is quite excellent."
The Poetry section, which involved classical poetry and texts studied in Japan—and which Yukino had categorized as the most difficult part—was answered perfectly by Masao.
Hearing her praise, Masao puffed up slightly with pride.
"I know a little something on the subject," he said modestly. He had studied classical poetry for years in his previous life; this level of difficulty was nothing to him.
"While your reading comprehension is lacking, your performance in classical literature and other subjects suggests that passing shouldn't be much of a problem. But…"
Yukinoshita pointed to the next question.
"Can you explain this one to me?"
The question read: 'Please write about a famous military commander you admire, including your reasons and a summary of their achievements.'
As everyone knows, Japan holds its Sengoku (Warring States) periods figures in high regard. Writing about a renowned samurai or shogun like Oda Nobunaga or Tokugawa Ieyasu was the standard.
This question essentially gave free marks, as long as you wrote something vaguely reasonable.
Yet, it was this very question that gave Yukinoshita a headache. Because Masao's answer was:
Commander: Yamagami Tetsuya
Reason: Successfully took out the enemy commander amidst a crowd of thousands without harming any civilians. Universally acknowledged as the Japan Server's #1 Male Gunner.
Achievement: Successfully assassinated a former Prime Minister.
Masao blinked, thinking his answer was rather brilliant. "What? Are his achievements not significant enough?"
'Not significant enough'?! Is that really the issue here?!'
Yukino took a deep, steadying breath, struggling to maintain her usual cool demeanor.
"Masao-kun, if you were to write this in an actual exam, failing the test or getting a lecture from the teacher would be the least of your worries. In a severe case, you could face expulsion. While I may not be particularly fond of certain aspects of our current society either, such sentiments are best kept to private conversations, not written on official schoolwork."
"Oh. Right," Masao nodded, finally understanding the gravity. "I didn't realize it was such a big deal."
Yukinoshita was now convinced that even if Masao's Emotional Quotient (EQ) was a bit lacking, preventing him from grasping subtle romantic nuances, his basic intelligence was fine.
He was almost certainly just clowning around.
And she was right.
Masao's answer about Yamagami Tetsuya was a joke.
Another reason was his genuine feeling that Japan's historical "famous commanders" weren't all that impressive. Their "Warring States" period often seemed like little more than village-scale skirmishes.
After all, it was a relatively small area (Japan) divided into over sixty countries. An army of a thousand men was considered substantial.
It was only during later, larger unification campaigns that battles reached scales of tens of thousands—which, in his mind, they were a lake compared to the ocean of blood spilled between Rome and Carthage; a stream beside the tidal wave of Genghis Khan's conquests.
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