Matsubara Girls’ High School is, in my opinion, a school that really looks after its students and considers their well-being.
For example, take today’s morning pool session policy. Normally, students are expected to spend a full hour in the pool, but taking into account the various circumstances that come with being a teenage girl, the school is considerate enough to minimize exposure for those who are truly uncomfortable.
That same attentiveness is also reflected in the summer and winter remedial lessons.
These are helpful lectures offered to students whose first or second term grades weren't satisfactory, to make sure they don’t fall behind in future terms. While some students might find them more of a nuisance than a help, the simple truth is: just don’t get a failing grade in the first place.
Now, if your combined midterm and final score is below 40 points, you may not earn credit for the course, which is what’s commonly referred to as a “failing grade.” However, at Matsubara Girls’ High School, a “failing grade” usually refers to scoring below 40 points on a single test.
Even so, there is a way to avoid attending these remedial lectures. If you score 40 points or higher on the subject-specific tests held in the first week of summer or winter break, you’re exempt from the remedials.
In short, the school doesn’t just support those who are seriously at risk of repeating the year—it also includes those on the verge, in order to prevent that outcome. Truly, they go the extra mile.
And so, we’ve decided to stake the fate of both the volleyball and basketball clubs on the results of these subject-specific tests. Everyone in both clubs will take tests for every subject. The scope of the tests is the same as that of the recent final exams.
The rules are simple.
All five members of the volleyball club and three members of the basketball club will take all subjects. The team with the higher average score wins. The losing team must join the winning team’s club until January next year, and suspend their current club’s activities. Separately, anyone who scores below 40 in any subject will have to prioritize remedial classes over club activities during summer break.
Both team captains—Asuka and Maejima-san—strongly objected to this, but since they were both already on the list for remedial classes, their protests were rejected by not only Uesugi-sensei, the basketball club advisor, but also Saeki-sensei, the volleyball club advisor.
With the decision made that we’d face off in a very student-like contest of academic scores, we returned to the clubroom to hold a strategy meeting. Honestly, Asuka’s not just unhelpful—she’s a liability. Summer break, or rather the remedial tests, are less than a week away. This is no time to be playing volleyball.
Now then...
“According to The Art of War by Sun Tzu: ‘If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.’ If we understand our opponents and have a firm grasp on ourselves, we can win any fight. So, do you guys know how good those three from the basketball club are at studying?”
By the way, the three basketball club members are:
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Maejima Mirai-san → Class 1-4
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Nabekawa Kaori-san → Class 1-4
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Shirasagi Mana-san → Class 1-1
So, if it’s Reiko from 1-1 or Yuki from 1-4, they might have some intel.
“Shirasagi’s probably good at all subjects. At the very least, she got 96 in Basic Biology.”
“Yeah, Hirahara-sensei always announces top scores…”
Hirahara-sensei believes students who work hard on tests should be praised. That’s fine, but—
“The top student in this class is Tachibana Yuuri with 98 points. She’s also first in the grade. Second is her sister Tachibana with 92, and third is Seta with 88. Everyone, a round of applause!”
—That kind of test score announcement style is a bit much.
“Maejima-san isn’t that great. At least in Basic Biology and World History B, she’s at the remedial level. From what I’ve seen in class, she probably struggles with English too.”
So Maejima’s weak in memorization subjects. I hate to say it, but that’s actually a good thing for us right now.
“I haven’t talked to Nabekawa-san, so I don’t know.”
…Yuki isn’t a gloomy person, but she’s not the type to start conversations, so it can’t be helped.
Let’s just assume Nabekawa-san is average—not great, not terrible.
“Now for us—how’s everyone doing? By the way, Asuka’s in pretty bad shape, so I think our test strategy will have to revolve around covering for her.”
“Yuu-chan, saying ‘pretty bad’ is too much—”
“I’m sorry. I’m probably not much help either. I barely avoided failing on the final exam.”
Reiko throws in the towel early. Hey, don’t give up already. What are your actual scores?
“Japanese: 72, World History B: 77, Math I: 55, Math A: 49. Basic Biology was the worst with 44. English Communication and English Expression were both 80.”
“Reiko’s weak in science subjects, huh. Math might be tough, but Basic Biology is mostly memorization—we can strengthen that.”
“Asuka failed both math subjects, so we need to work on those first. Even if we beat the basketball club, it doesn’t matter if Asuka has to miss club for remedials.”
“S-sorry. My Japanese score was also pretty bad… It was 41 on the final.”
Seriously? How’d you even get into Matsubara Girls’ High?
“Hina, Yuuri—how about you two?”
“Ugh… well, I’m doing better than Reiko and Asuka, so don’t worry.”
Hina looks oddly uncomfortable. Heh. I get how you feel, but don’t be shy, Hina-kun.
“Hina-nee’s amazing! She scored over 90 in every subject!”
“…Yuu-chan, was that meant to be a jab? I only beat you in one subject out of the seven—we had one win, four losses, and two ties. I did win the midterm, though.”
Ha! The losing little sister’s chirping again. For the record, I was genuinely crushed after the midterm.
“Asuka, what about their actual scores?”
“You heard it. Hina scored over 90 in everything. And Yuu-chan actually beat Hina in total points. She even got a perfect 100 in Math A.”
“Now I’m curious—what subjects did Yuuri lose in?”
“I’m not good at Japanese…”
“Well, Yuuri’s a returnee student, so it can’t be helped.”
I’m sorry. I may look like this, but I was born and raised in Japan, through and through.
“Even so, Yuuri still got 82 in Japanese—twice Asuka’s score. And her lowest score outside of that was 92 in World History B. My big sister (onee-chan) pride is in tatters.”
And my big brother (onii-chan) pride was in tatters after the midterm, so now we’re even.
“We’ll just have to rely on those two and ride their coattails.”
“It’s kind of embarrassing to say, but I think Hina-nee and I can carry the average, so if everyone else builds on that, we can win.”
“Exactly. I’m sure Uesugi-sensei challenged us like this because he doesn’t know what we’re capable of.”
Well, no one expects club-obsessed students to also have good grades. Sorry, but when it comes to academic tests, we’re hard to beat.
“…You two are too optimistic. You haven’t asked about Yuki’s scores.”
Asuka, clearly knowing something, speaks with a serene, enlightened expression.
“She can’t be that bad, right?”
“If she’s somewhere between Reiko and Asuka…”
“I’m sorry.”
Yuki pulls out a stack of papers from her school bag. And on it—
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Japanese: 41
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World History B: 38
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Math I: 30
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Math A: 29
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Basic Biology: 39
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English Comm: 44
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English Expression: 26
My eyes widen. Five out of seven subjects are failing grades. The other two barely cleared the bar.
Her Math and English Expression scores are less than a third of mine or Hina’s. I tried to convince myself it was someone else’s paper, but the name written was clearly “Arimura Yukiko.”
“Today’s math remedial… Yuki was with me…”
Asuka stares off into the distance. Don’t give up, man. It took me ten years, but I can swim 25 meters now!
…Well, there’s only one option left.
It’s time for a study group!
＝＝＝＝＝
There’s not much time until the test. Thankfully, we’ve got the weekend in between, so we can make a comeback. After that, I dragged a reluctant Asuka and Yuki to the library (which has heating and air conditioning year-round and is super comfy), and we kicked off a study session.
Practice for volleyball? Who cares about that right now!
Basically, if you want to do well on school tests, there’s a clear process to follow:
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Understand things like formulas, equations, English vocabulary, and grammar.
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Once you understand them, try solving actual problems.
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While checking your answers, keep solving problems until you can apply the knowledge flexibly.
A common mistake is trying to jump straight to step 2 without mastering step 1. If you do that, it doesn’t stick at all, and you don’t actually learn anything. Asuka, Reiko, and Yuki all struggle with step 1 in their weak subjects. But once they get step 1 down—
“What the... That’s all there is to it?”
“Yep, exactly! That’s perfect, Reiko. See? It’s not so hard.”
“No, this is thanks to how well you teach, Yuuri. If only the teachers explained it like this.”
“Well, that’s probably not possible. I can teach you one-on-one and tailor it to you, but the teachers are dealing with over thirty students at once.”
Reiko has finally gotten the hang of factoring. In the end, it all comes down to how many patterns you can memorize and how well you can apply them.
Biology is tough if you try to memorize it as a bunch of isolated facts. But if you treat it like a story—how things came to be, the history, the logic—it’s surprisingly easier to remember. Reiko might actually manage.
“Yuu-chan, I can’t take this anymore!!”
“…Some things just don’t suit people. This is clearly not my thing.”
The failing crew is already giving up.
“Don’t give up! Who do you think I organized this study session for in the first place?”
“Well, yeah, but still…”
“…Hina and Yuuri always get good scores on tests. You must have some kind of trick, right?”
“There’s no such thing. Haven’t you heard the phrase ‘There’s no royal road to learning’?”
“I’m not a scholar, so nope~ never heard of it.”
“Humans have always advanced culture and technology in pursuit of ease. King Ptolemy’s opinion is completely valid.”
Wait, you do know that quote!?
“Like Yuki said earlier—how come you two are so good at this stuff?”
““Because we studied.”” Hina and I answered in perfect unison.
That’s really all there is to it.
Sure, people differ in how quickly they learn. Some can memorize ten English words in 10 minutes, some take 30, and some need an hour. But no one learns without doing anything.
Besides, all of us at Matsujo passed the entrance exams, so our academic abilities are roughly on par. The only difference now is how much effort we put in.
Hina and I get good scores largely because of our home environment.
Our siblings are spaced three years apart—Ryou-nee, Mika-nee, then me, and finally Hina.
Ryou-nee was the academic type, Mika-nee was the athletic type, and Hina and I were just average at everything.
Whether it was lucky or not, since kindergarten, Hina and I were always compared to our older sisters.
And the sad truth is, people only remember the outstanding ones.
“You’re Ryouka-chan’s little brother and you can’t even study?”
“You’re Mika-chan’s little sister and you’re so slow?”
The adults around us always compared us to Ryou-nee’s academic abilities and Mika-nee’s athletic skills. No one ever compared our athleticism to Ryou-nee or our grades to Mika-nee.
Just to be clear so I’m not misunderstood: I don’t know how Hina feels, but I genuinely respect Ryou-nee and Mika-nee.
They’ve achieved things I could never hope to reach. Especially Ryou-nee—I’ll never be able to hold my head high in front of her.
Compared to them, I had it easier. I was a boy, so people were more lenient in their comparisons. The one who really had it tough was Hina.
Same gender. So when it came to academics, she was compared to Ryou-nee. In athletics, to Mika-nee. But Hina was serious and hardworking, and that turned into a strong aversion to losing.
Growing up in that kind of environment, we both probably accepted we couldn’t beat Ryou-nee in academics. We’ve never once beaten her in over ten years of life. But between equals—Hina and I—neither of us wanted to lose.
Plus, I had my pride as an older brother. And Hina had her pride as the older sister, at least as far as the world saw it.
We knew our academic levels were neck and neck. Same class. Same lessons. No excuses.
So yeah, we were constantly at each other’s throats during test season. Since we lived in the same house, we could see exactly how long the other studied. Eventually, we were even comparing how long we ate, bathed, and slept.
“Ugh, I haven’t studied at all.” Lines like that don’t fly between us.
If I studied for an hour, Hina studied for an hour too.
If Hina usually spent an hour in the bath and cut it to thirty minutes, I did the same.
We monitored each other’s every move to an obsessive degree.
And we got so obsessive that even during our “ladies’ days”—Hina’s came during the prep period, mine during the test period—we still bathed together. (Of course, we didn’t get in the tub on those days.)
As an aside, before this test period, I considered cutting my hair short. Long hair takes time to dry and brush, which means losing study time to Hina.
But Hina said: “I’ll brush it for you, so don’t cut it.”
And since then, she’s been brushing my hair carefully every morning and night. So I didn’t cut it.
We even slept together.
“We need at least six hours of sleep for our health,” we promised each other that. But to make sure neither of us pulled an all-nighter secretly, we held hands and slept together in Hina’s bed. That way, if one of us woke up in the middle of the night, the other would know.
…Wait a sec. Isn’t this bad? Like, really bad for me as a big brother? Why the heck am I sleeping in the same bed every night with my sister—who’s now a high school girl!? What if something happens!?
N-no, no, that was a special case during test week. It couldn’t be helped.
“Come on, Yuu-chan. I’m turning off the lights. We’ve got morning practice tomorrow, so let’s go to bed.”
…That was last night. Wait, I slept in Hina’s bed again yesterday?
“Hina-nee, good morning.”
“Morning, Yuu-chan.”
“Don’t hug me first thing in the morning. It’s hot.”
“Oh come on, a morning hug is fine~”
“…You’re starting to act like Ryou-nee.”
“So you want me to give you a kiss on the cheek like Ryou-nee too?”
“I said don’t copy that part! And stop clinging to me already!”
“Geez, Yuu-chan, you’re so picky. Here, sit in that chair. I’ll brush your hair.”
…That was this morning. I don’t remember moving from her room after waking up. Wait… have I been sleeping in Hina’s bed ever since the test!?
Nope. I’m done thinking about this. It’s not good for my mental health.
“Anyway! The reason we’ve got good grades is because we studied every day so we wouldn’t lose to each other. It’s just like volleyball. You don’t suddenly get good by practicing a little before a match. You have to work at it steadily every day.”
“What!? You two study every day?”
“Since the midterms in May, we’ve been doing about an hour a day. Ah, not counting Sundays and days right before the test.”
In the end, slow and steady effort is the real key to victory.
＝＝＝＝＝
Question: Fill in the □ to complete the four-character idiom.
This is one of those classic Japanese test questions. If you don’t know the vocabulary, you’re screwed. And then there’s always that one desperate kid who sees □肉□食 (□niku□shoku) and answers “grilled meat set meal,” earning nothing but pity laughs.
Question: Fill in the □ to complete the four-character idiom.
一□□中
Reiko’s answer: 一発的中 (Ippatsu tekichuu – "bullseye on the first try")
Correct. She’s always been good at Japanese, so maybe this one was too easy?
“No, it’s thanks to you, Yuuri. You explained that ippatsu tekichuu comes from hitting the mark on the first try. That helped me remember it. Otherwise, I probably would’ve used the wrong ‘teki’—like the one for ‘appropriate’ (適) instead of the one for ‘target’ (的).”
She says that, but I’m pretty sure Reiko will be just fine from here on.
Asuka’s answer: 一口最中 (Hitokuchi monaka – “bite-sized monaka [sweet wafer snack]”)
…Kinda cute, honestly. I am starting to get hungry though.
“Why monaka?! Where the heck did that idea come from!?”
“Well, it’s already four o’clock. Aren’t you hungry?”
That’s not the point!!
Yuki’s answer: 一家心中 (Ikka shinjū – “family suicide”)
Okay, that turned into a crime drama. Feels like the kind of thing you see in the first ten minutes of a suspense show—where it looks like a family suicide, but actually turns out to be an arson case…
“Why does this feel like some comedy sketch!?”
I yelled. Yeah, this might be hopeless.
As I sat there in despair, Hina leaned over with a sparkling smile.
“Yuu-chan! Just give up already and come practice basketball with us!”
Honestly… that offer’s getting harder and harder to resist.
“Haa-ha-ha-ha! How pathetic, volleyball club!”
Just as Hina and I were suffering through Asuka and Yuki’s rapid-fire quiz barrage, Maejima-san burst into the library with a loud laugh, flinging the door open.
“Disgraceful! Going this far just for the tests—”
“You’re noisy, so go home.”
Hina shot her a sharp glare as she drove Maejima-san out, and then firmly shut the library door behind her.
Looks like Hina’s under quite a bit of stress too.
A few minutes later…
“Let me go! Let go! Kaori, Mana, let me go!”
Maejima-san came back, being held firmly under both arms by Nabekawa-san and Shirasagi-san.
“Sorry. Mind if we study here too?”
“…Well, as long as you stay quiet.”
“Our bad. Come on, Mirai, face reality. You want to lose your shot at playing basketball?”
“Uuuugh. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go…”
Looks like they’ve decided to study here too. Seeing your rivals hitting the books makes it impossible to slack off!
“Miraiii…” “Asukaaa…”
The pathetic voices of both team captains echoed through the library.
＝＝＝
What followed was a long and grueling battle. The first weekend of summer break wasn’t used for volleyball practice—instead, the entire volleyball club gathered at the Tachibana household, which was relatively spacious for an average family and not too far from the station, for an intense overnight study session.
Thanks to that effort...
“Volleyball club average across seven subjects: about 77 points. Basketball club average: about 74 points. Therefore, the volleyball club wins. Great job, everyone! Every single one of you scored at least 60 in all subjects! No remedial classes during summer break!”
We even gained three new members for the team.
“……”
Maejima-san was reduced to a pile of white ash—probably because she lost the bet. I truly want to believe it wasn’t because the studying was too much for her.
Asuka and Yuki were also white as ghosts. I see, they must be that happy about the new members.
=======================
Bonus: How Grades Are Calculated at Matsubara Girls’ High School (Though It’s a Pretty Standard System)
At Matsubara Girls’ High, grades for each term (first, second, and third) are given on a 10-point scale.
Annual evaluations (for first, second, and third years) are on a 5-point scale.
If a student receives even one subject with a grade of 1 in the annual evaluation, they will not be allowed to advance to the next year or graduate—they must repeat the year.
Term grades are calculated by adding the scores of the midterm and final exams, dividing by 20, and then rounding according to the traditional rule of rounding down at 5 and up at 6.
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Example 1: Midterm score: 65, Final exam: 75 → (65 + 75) / 20 = 7 → Term grade is 7
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Example 2: Midterm: 50, Final: 60 → (50 + 60) / 20 = 5.5 → Rounded to 5
The third term grade is calculated by dividing the final exam score by 10 and applying the same rounding rule.
Attendance, behavior in class, and assignment submission are also factored into the evaluations.
Asuka had disastrous scores for both the midterm and final in Math I, but she submitted all her assignments properly and behaved well in class. Thanks to that, the extremely lenient Sakakibara-sensei added 30 points to her score.
(This extra credit for assignments isn’t favoritism—it’s equally applied to all students. This is why, in the story, Sakakibara-sensei is referred to by students as the “Archangel Sakakiel.” Whether this is good or bad is a separate issue.)
Annual evaluations are calculated by adding all three term grades, dividing by 6, and rounding with the same rule.
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Example 1: Term grades: 6 (1st), 7 (2nd), 9 (3rd) → (6 + 7 + 9) / 6 ≈ 3.67 → Rounded to 4
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Example 2: 5, 4, 5 → (5 + 4 + 5) / 6 ≈ 2.33 → Rounded to 2
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Example 3: 4, 4, 2 → (4 + 4 + 2) / 6 ≈ 1.67 → Rounded to 2
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Example 4: 3, 3, 3 → (3 + 3 + 3) / 6 = 1.5 → Rounded to 1 → Annual grade is 1, so the student must repeat the year.
As shown in Examples 3 and 4, you can narrowly avoid repeating the year if your total term grades add up to at least 10.
To go a step further, if you maintain a grade of 4 or above each term, you won’t be at risk. To get a term grade of 4 or more, you just need to score at least 40 points on both midterms and finals.
That’s why anyone who scores under 40 is required to attend remedial classes.
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