Daily classes were tough enough, but with the addition of Yomi Igarashi in his life's dictionary, Inchou must balance all of his commitments; academic, personal, and also... Yomi Igarashi. Despite all of the jeers and pitiful looks, he still kept his sweet smile on his face as he carried on doing the tasks for himself... and for Yomi too.

"That Yomi girl sure is bossy"

"Poor Inchou-san. The poor sweet thing"

"Yomi, a pretty face but a rotten attitude"

"Inchou is being too soft. No wonder Yomi gets to push him around at times"

Inchou did hear all of those nasty jeers and tokens of pity, but he just blocked all of them so none can go through his head. However, nobody knew that it was hard for him to keep his cool. He wanted to lash out at those people who were saying bad things towards himself and Yomi as well. But, he knew better for not doing so. He wouldn't dare to let out his anger because he wasn't that kind of person to begin with. Besides, he also worried if Yomi ever finds out that she was torturing him all along. She will feel guilty from her actions and this will make their unstable friendship turns sour as she began to distance herself away from him. He didn't want her to stay away from him.

(")(^o^)(")

It's Jinno-sensei's class. As everyone quickly scrambled to their seats and took out their textbooks, Yomi looked around and was surprised at everyone's look of fear, despite that Jinno-sensei was still on his way towards their class. She tugged at Inchou's sleeve.

"What's with everybody?" she whispered. "What's with the sudden obedient robots' mode?"

"They're always like this when it's Jinno-sensei's class. Nobody dares to defy against him," Inchou replied hastily while searching for his books.

"But, he isn't here yet. What's with the hush and rush anyway?"

"Because he will go beserk if he could hear our noisy class from the corridors. Oh dear," Inchou gasped as he peered into his bag. "I forgot my pencil case. I think I'll ask Mikan-chan for a pencil or a pen. Excuse me, Yomi." As he was getting up from his desk, Yomi quickly yanked his arm and pulled him back to his desk. Ignoring Inchou's puzzled look, she opened up her pencil case and handed him a blue pen with silver swirls on it.

"Don't act like I'm invisible," she muttered icily. "Why do you want to ask her if I'm already here next to you? I have a pen too, you know?" She stared at Inchou who was dumbfounded by her sudden actions. He just stared at her pen in her hand.

"Go on, you can take the pen. It won't bite." She giggled. Inchou slowly took her pen. It felt cool in his palm. "You can keep it, if you like. I have lots of pens like these. But, do take care of it from now on."

Inchou, still dumbstruck by Yomi's actions and words, didn't know what to say as words stuck in his throat. In the end, he thanked her. Then, Jinno-sensei entered the class, wearing his signature frown in his face as always. By this time, the whole class was already in silence and have their books on their desks. Jinno-sensei himself dropped his books onto the teacher's desk and faced the class.

"I heard that there's a new student here in your class. Her name is Yomi Igarashi. Where is she?"

Yomi raised her hand. "I'm Yomi Igarashi, sir." Jinno-sensei looked at her and nodded.

"Ah, Yomi," he said while narrowing his eyes at her star-rank. "A Three-star, eh? Only certain students managed to get that rank. Those students are considered special and geniuses. Do tell me, Yomi Igarashi," he pointed at her face. "Are you considered as a special genius or... just a three-star wannabe?"

Class 1B fell into a deadly silence as all eyes on Yomi and Jinno-sensei. As for Yomi, Jinno-sensei, Inchou, and Natsume, different thoughts crossed into their minds.

Yomi: Crap! What's up with him? Strict much? Dude, provoking your students is not cool... very not cool... Keep calm, Yomi.

Jinno-sensei: A Three-star eh? Young lady, you've got to prove it to own it. No point having a cheap three-star rank though.

Inchou: Oh, dear. Poor Yomi. She's getting bashed by Jinno-sensei. I felt useless and helpless. But, what should I do?

Natsume: Crap! Jinno's provoking her. That's BAD. She'll flip out if he pushed her too far.

The wind began to blow hard as the drama continued. Yomi was alarmed when she caught the glimpse of tree branches from the outside. They began to scratch the windows as the wind blew hard. She tried to calm herself down by taking in even breaths, slowly but steadily. Suddenly, Jinno-sensei pulled his hand back and returned to his desk. He picked up a textbook and flipped through it until he stopped at a certain page. Picking up a piece of chalk, he began to write a long quadratic expression on the blackboard. The rest of the class, including Yomi and Inchou, gaped at the blackboard as that was the most complicated quadratic expression they had ever seen. After approximately 3 minutes, he put his hand down and faced the students. 

"Now," he clapped his hands. "I'm sure that our Miss Yomi here is a genius." He added sarcastically. " If she isn't, then what's the use of having a Three-star rank? Well, Yomi, I want you to solve this quadratic expression. There's no time limit so you can take your own sweet time then."

Yomi took a deep breath as she stood up and walked up to the blackboard. She shuddered at the sight of the quadratic expression. Long and compilcated, it was a nightmare for students...who were having math-phobia.

"I hated maths. Jinno's trying to get under my skin" She noticed Jinno-sensei's smug expression. "He wanted to play with me, eh?" She picked up the chalk. "Well, I'll show him." She muttered under her breath.

After exactly 1 minute and thirty seconds, Yomi finally finished her task. However, she was not allowed to go back to her desk. Jinno-sensei searched through his textbook for the correct answer. At first he could not believe his eyes, so he searched again. After five times of endless searches and recounts, he called Inchou and Hotaru Imai.

"I want both of you to calculate the answer to this quadratic expression. Calculate HER answer as well." After a few seconds of calculations and silence, both Hotaru and Inchou stood up.

"Jinno-sensei," Hotaru said. "My calculations show the same answer as Yomi's"

Then, Inchou spoke up. "Yes, sir. It's true. My answer is also the same as hers."

They both showed their answers alongside with their calculations to Jinno-sensei. Even Jinno-sensei himself compared their work with the answers on the blackboard and the textbook as well. After a few minutes of discussions, both Hotaru and Inchou took their seats. Jinno-sensei, now defeated, stunned and amazed, finally allowed Yomi to sit down.

"Ah, Miss Yomi." He beamed embarrasingly. "You have proven your worth. No wonder you got the Three-star rank. You are indeed a genius." Yomi smiled, nodded and said nothing. He picked up his textbook and chalk again.

"Now, class. Let's continue with today's lesson."

(")(^_^)(")

Later that night, Yomi's room was crowded with her friends; Mikan, Sumire, Hotaru, Ruka, Natsume and Inchou. They sat together in a circle for their study group. Their books sat in a pile in the middle of the circle.

"You totally showed Jinno-sensei today, Yomi-chan," said Sumire, looking up from her Math homework. "I thought that you hated Math."

Yomi put her pen down. "Well, I do hate Math but it doesn't mean that I'm stupid. But Jinno's trying to make me flip. Not going to happen."

(")(0_0)(")