Chapter 140: Chapter 139 - The Operation To Save The Genius
Chapter 139: The Operation To Save The Genius
The trouble started when Akari discovered the truth.
Leading directly to another problem.
Since Akari learning something always was risky.
Very risky.
They met up after school had finished.
Minami had reluctantly told them about Yui’s troubles.
Well, the important details.
Yui Kanzaki.
Med student.
Genius.
Failing the med licensing exam.
Two times over already.
But.
She finally had one last chance.
Third time’s the charm.
The silence was thick.
Mina was shocked.
Rika put down her pen.
Even Akari wore an unusual expression.
For almost five seconds.
Then she rose to her feet dramatically.
"I’ve made my decision."
Kuro immediately detected danger.
"What now?"
"We’ll help her."
Silence.
Akari pointed toward the ceiling.
"Operation Save The Genius starts now!"
Silence.
Then Mina raised her hand.
"I agree with this plan."
"So do I," said Rika.
Aoi closed her book.
"Sensible move."
Kuro let out a sigh.
Of course, it had to be like that.
The following day.
Yui came to the library.
To find everyone waiting there.
Akari was standing on top of a chair.
For whatever reason.
Nobody knew.
Including Akari herself.
The moment Yui entered.
She pointed dramatically.
"There she is!"
Yui froze.
"...Should I leave?"
"No way."
"May I leave?"
"No way either."
Yui immediately turned to look at Kuro.
"Help."
"I tried."
"Not really."
"Well..."
Akari hopped down from her seat.
Successfully.
Rare achievement.
Then she grabbed Yui’s shoulders.
"We know everything."
Silence.
Yui stiffened.
Then slowly turned to look at Minami.
Minami turned her head away.
Betrayal.
Complete and utter betrayal.
Yui let out a long breath.
"So everyone knows already."
"Yes."
"And no one’s planning on leaving me alone."
"Nop."
Yui looked toward the ceiling.
As if expecting divine intervention.
Unfortunately.
There was none.
Instead.
She got Akari.
Much worse.
The tutoring began.
That was the intention, at any rate.
Ten minutes later.
Chaos broke out.
As expected.
Akari kicked things off first.
Slamming a notebook on the table.
"Motivation training!"
Yui immediately looked nervous.
"That doesn’t sound medical."
"True."
"Why does it appear here then?"
Akari ignored the question entirely.
Standing behind Yui.
Sports coach style.
"YOU CAN DO THIS!"
The whole library turned.
Several people glared.
Librarian appeared out of nowhere.
Yui hid her face in her hands.
"Please don’t..."
"BELIEVE IN YOURSELF!"
"Louder please..."
"YOU ARE A GENIUS!"
"THAT IS THE PROBLEM!"
Silence.
Akari stopped midword.
Pause.
"... Oh."
She actually understood something.
Once in her life.
---
That was alarming.
---
Back in the meanwhile.
Rika had been oddly quiet.
---
Which implied that something horrifying was happening.
---
And Kuro found out what it was.
---
Drawing.
Again.
Always.
---
"What are you doing?"
Proudly turning the notebook.
"Medical case manga."
Medical Case Manga.
Title:
Doctor Yui and the Evil Virus King.
---
Silence.
---
Yui stared.
Then stared harder.
The virus king had muscles.
Who had muscles?
Even Rika had no clue.
---
"Educational material."
Rika claimed proudly.
---
"It’s definitely not."
Kuro pointed out.
---
Ignoring the comment.
The next panel depicted Yui killing bacteria with friendship.
Medical science silently left the room.
Aoi observed for a few moments.
Then closed the notebook.
"We should use actual medicine."
"You’re a party killer," said Rika disappointedly.
Aoi agreed with this assessment.
Meanwhile Mina had a contribution too.
One that terrified everyone.
Color coding.
Multiple shades.
So many colors.
All the table covered in notes.
Red.
Blue.
Green.
Yellow.
Purple.
Orange.
Pink.
Silver.
Golden.
---
"How many colors is that?"
Mina grinned widely.
"Thirty."
Silence.
Even Aoi looked impressed.
Yui paled.
"Why?"
"To organize."
"This looks like a rainbow explosion."
"To organize."
Unchanged answer.
Mina then added even more notes.
Nobody knew where she got them from.
And the pile kept growing.
And growing.
And growing.
Yui started backing away slowly.
She had good reason to.
At this point.
Those notes seemed sentient.
Probably.
Finally, Aoi interfered.
Someone had to.
"Everyone stop!"
Silence fell immediately.
Aoi pointed at Yui.
"What exactly are you having trouble with?"
Caught off guard.
Because that was an unexpected question.
Practical.
Realistic.
Normal.
Rare event.
Thinking a bit.
Yui answered.
"With the actual exam."
"That’s not the problem."
"No."
"Pressure?"
Yui turned away.
"... Yes."
Silence fell in the room.
For a few moments.
No jokes.
No interruptions.
Everybody got it.
Even Akari.
Impressive achievement.
Then Akari ruined it.
Jumping to her feet again.
"We have a new plan."
Groans all around.
Ignoring the protests.
"We’ll do pressure training."
Silence.
Then she produced a whistle.
Nobody asked why Akari owned a whistle.
Even less wanted to know.
Next thirty minutes were hell.
Questioning mock sessions.
Fast firing medical terms.
Unexpected interruptions.
Creating exam conditions.
Akari shouting motivation phrases.
Rika pretending to be a villain.
Mina making notes about notes.
Aoi directing everything.
Kuro trying to keep what remains of humanity.
But somehow, logically speaking.
It worked.
Little by little.
Yui started relaxing.
Not fully, but enough to.
Answer with confidence.
Stop questioning every single thing she says.
Look normal.
Sun was starting to set outside.
While in the library.
Books were open.
Notes on the table.
Energy drink supply switched to proper food.
Good progress.
Slow.
But tangible.
When Aoi completed the final practice question.
Yui gave her answer.
Quickly.
Accurately.
Right.
Silence.
Then Aoi nodded.
"Good job."
Simple.
Meaningful.
Yui blinked.
For the first time today.
She looked surprised.
Then Mina grinned.
"You did excellent."
Rika nodded approvingly.
"The Virus King had no chance."
"That isn’t helpful."
"It was helping me."
Naturally.
Akari immediately threw her arms in the air.
"VICTORY!"
Librarian appeared instantly.
"Quiet."
"Sorry."
Akari slumped on her seat.
Defeated.
Again.
The group started packing stuff.
Orange skies outside.
They didn’t say anything for a while.
Then it happened.
Unexpectedly.
Yui chuckled.
Not the fake chuckle.
Not the teasing laugh.
Not one of her usual laughter.
Real.
Cheerful.
Natural.
Room fell silent.
Because everyone noticed that.
Even Yui seemed surprised.
Putting her hands over her mouth.
Chuckling again.
This time a bit louder.
Akari pointed.
"Found it!"
"What?"
"The genuine laugh."
Yui froze in shock.
Then turned her head away.
Blushing.
For once.
In her life.
Mina chuckled.
Aoi nodded with satisfaction.
Rika silently noted something.
Kuro caught sight of it.
"What are you writing now?"
Producing the notebook proudly.
Operation Save The Genius
Status:
Success (partial)
Nobody argued.
Because today Yui seemed herself again.
For the first time in weeks.
As they went back home together.
The pressure didn’t disappear.
The exam didn’t happen yet.
The fear was still lingering.
But.
Now Yui had someone to face it with her.
Study session was over at last.
Books put in the box.
Notes packed.
Rika was going to be punished for bringing a manga about doctors, but was immediately forgiven because everybody was just too tired to fight.
They left the library.
Yui carried no pile of books, like she had been doing these last couple of days.
There was only a small bag hanging on her shoulder.
---
The weather had turned a bit chilly.
Street lights started coming on.
The students went back home, grouping into smaller companies.
Everything seemed calm.
---
Akari stretched, showing exaggerated relief.
"This mission was totally successful today."
---
"It was not."
Yui reacted quickly and sharply.
---
"It totally was!"
---
"I had to answer questions with the whistle blowing in my ears."
---
"Pressure training, of course!"
---
"No, psychological warfare!"
---
"They both mean the same thing, so what’s the point in denying it?"
---
Mina chuckled.
Familiar argument sounded very reassuring indeed.
---
A few days ago, Yui had shut herself in the medical library.
She had thought she could manage everything alone.
And now she was arguing with Akari again.
Much healthier, actually.
---
Suddenly, Rika took her notebook again.
Without any apparent reason.
---
"There’s a new idea for manga," she declared.
---
All girls moaned in unison.
---
"How about this one?"
Kuro asked.
---
Rika opened a page in pride.
---
"Doctor Yui versus the Exam Dragon" – she proclaimed loudly.
---
Nobody knew what to say to this idea.
---
"Do you think the Exam Dragon really has to wear glasses?"
Yui couldn’t resist commenting.
---
"To show its intelligence!"
Rika snapped.
---
"But it’s a dragon."
Yui tried again.
---
"Yes, it’s an educated dragon."
Rika didn’t understand what the problem was.
---
"Now that’s worse." Aoi added.
---
The girl looked at the drawing.
"It is not anatomically correct."
Rika felt insulted.
"But it’s a dragon!"
"Still, it should be correctly portrayed anatomically."
Only Aoi could take such a position regarding dragons’ bodies.
Girls went further.
No one felt uncomfortable anymore.
Everything was easy and smooth.
---
Yui started listening to their discussion more than speaking.
Just watching the girls.
---
Akari was still arguing with Rika.
Mina was trying to stop them.
Aoi silently pointed out inaccuracies in Rika’s comic.
Kuro looked tired.
As always.
---
For a while, Yui listened carefully.
Then she smiled.
Very gently and sweetly.
She hadn’t even noticed that.
---
How much she had missed this.
Noise.
Madness.
Absurd conversations.
---
For some reason she had decided that she needed seclusion.
Needed extra studying.
Needed to isolate herself until succeeding.
---
But sitting at home with textbooks did nothing but make fear grow inside her.
This realization came quite recently.
---
They got to the crossroads.
Everyone started going their ways.
---
"See you tomorrow."
"Sleep."
"Don’t stay up all night!"
Mina’s words resounded in her mind now.
---
"If you feel like panicking, give us a call."
Akari said, emphasizing it with gestures.
"You’ll make it worse," Yui stated flatly.
"Might be."
"Definitely."
Kuro corrected.
---
"Unnecessarily rude."
"No, accurate."
The others chuckled.
---
At last, only two people were left.
Wandering in the same direction.
Silence.
Not uncomfortable, not annoying.
Just silence.
---
After a minute or so, Kuro started speaking.
"You look better."
Yui looked at him curiously.
"Am I?"
---
"A bit."
She looked at her surroundings and continued walking.
"Just a little is enough."
---
Surprisingly enough, she felt a bit better after saying it.
Several weeks ago she’d want an absolute guarantee she’d succeed.
Perfect confidence.
Now?
She was happy to get just a little hope.
---
They came to another intersection.
Kuro stopped abruptly.
"This is where we part."
Yui nodded.
Both stood silent for several moments.
Finally, Kuro said something rather simple.
"You’ll be alright."
Not "You’ll surely pass".
Not "You are a genius".
Not "Don’t be afraid".
Just "You’ll be alright".
These words seemed much more believable.
She smiled sincerely at last.
"Yes."
For the first time in several days, she almost believed in his words.
Walking alone to her apartment, she still felt afraid of the exam she was going to have.
But now she was sure she was not the only one thinking about it anymore.
And that was enough for now.
