8th bullet – After the examination

8th bullet – After the examination

The class was whimpering and stretching as they handed in their first written paper. None of them were quite happy with themselves. Reiko was upset as no job had come after THREE WEEKS! Wondering what on earth her father was thinking, she bumps into Saya.
“oh hihi taicho!”(taicho = captain)
Instead of her saying a normal greeting, reiko simply ignored saya. Saya was hurt by this and before reiko left the room, she heard natsume tell saya, “reiko’s just like that. Don’t worry about it”
And decided to ignore natsume the next time he greeted her. But this decision was not able to be carried out as natsume suddenly appeared behind her, placed his hand on her shoulder and said, “don’t you agree?”
What could reiko say other than “yes”? while she rolls her eyes of course.
Well, soon enough though, the exams did come to an end. Results also followed but there has been no job for 6 weeks already. Reiko was coming to an end with her patience and so she goes to her father directly. After forcing her way through the guards and reception, she dislodged the door from its hinges before slamming her father’s table and breaking the light bulb in the table lamp.
“WHAT IS GOING ON?”
“go for your club trip. Then you’ll know”
“SO IT’LL HAPPEN DURING THE TRIP?”
“no. just go for your trip. You’ll find out soon enough.”
“A MONTH AND TWO WEEKS. IT’S THE LONGEST IN HISTORY!”
“nay the longest is 2 years darling”
“WHO CARES ABOUT THAT NOW?! YOU ARE ALWAYS LIKE THIS. SCHEMING THE FUTURE, READING WHAT HAPPENS WEEKS LATER, WHAT KIND OF LIFE DO YOU HAVE WHEN YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENS EVERY SECOND?!”
“well for one, I expected you to come at week 3 of no job but you came at 6?”
“FINE. YOU HAD BETTER BE RIGHT”
Although in reiko’s head, she already knew that her father would be right.
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Finally at the next club meet, all the club members were VERY chatty on an ABNORMAL volume. Natsume didn’t know what was happening but when reiko came in and spoke into the mic, he knew.
“EVERYONE HAND OVER YOUR SCORE SHEET.”
Once that was done, she showed the WHOLE CLUB EVERYONE’S MARKS!!
Natsume was a little shocked at this but then again decided that he had been shocked by reiko too many times already. So he kept his mouth closed.
On each person’s score sheet, reiko added a grade for their shooting skills. Most of the club members got a lesser than pass mark but surprisingly, they were happy with it as they had gotten better than the last time x= When it came to natsume’s paper, the whole club saw that his grades were around the B and C level but all expected a STAR for his skill. But reiko wrote DX instead. The club wondered what DX meant while natsume forgot to keep his mouth shut. Reiko finally got to her own and had all the A grades where the whole club was mesmerized by. But reiko wrote DX on her own score sheet as well, which made natsume’s mouth a little bigger and the whole club quite blurry.
‘what on earth is that woman thinking?’ thought natsume quite out loud so that saya heard. Saya was a little bit shocked that natsume could be a little rude as well and although at first she didn’t think it was a good thing, she realised no one could be perfect and so she was even happier with natsume, and herself for catching a flaw of his.
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The moment reiko came down to join the club, natsume cornered her and whispered, “WHAT THE H### WAS THAT?”
Instead of replying him, she shouted to all the club members, “do you guys know what DX means?”
Natsume was almost going to cover her mouth when she quickly added, “DEFINITELY EXCELLENT”
And the whole club building was filled with laughter. Natsume almost lost his cool but somehow he managed to calm down though that gave time for reiko to make her escape.
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When club meet was going to end, reiko told the members over the mic again,
“OUR TRIP WILL BE DIRECTLY AFTER SCHOOL DISMISSAL ON FRIDAY AND WE WILL STAY AT MOUNT SAYA FOR 10 DAYS. ANY OBJECTIONS OR CLASHES WITH OTHER EVENTS, PLEASE LET ME KNOW BY TOMORROW!”
Some guys whooped while some girls screamed and others were either worrying or smiling or laughing or ahh you get the point. It was messy.
Just when reiko was leaving the club building to lock up, natsume put his hand on her shoulder again and said softly, “you know DX.”
“I was hoping you’d never ask me” reiko quietly whispers back.
Then she shakes her head and says louder, “definitely excellent.”
“How much do you know?”
“nothing that I can tell you.”
“does that mean you know as much as me? Or you aren’t obliged to tell me?”
Then kumo butts in and tells natsume, “some matters should remain secret natsume sama. Let my lady off for today. You have 10 days to beg or pry out information about DX from my lady during the trip.”
“KUMO!!”
“that’s true. Thanks kumo. Bye!”
And kumo pulls the reluctant reiko into the car.
Once again alone, natsume returns to his room to pack and try not to cry.
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