Though there had been a major incident during the midterm exams, everything eventually settled down without spiraling into bigger problems.

It helped that the entire mess was caused by just one student—and more importantly, that no one died.

Had even a single fatality occurred, the academy wouldn't have been able to cover it up so neatly.

After the incident, Clarisse was taken away somewhere.

Naturally, the students she had attacked—most of whom never understood what was actually happening—started spreading absurd rumors.

But aside from that, nothing else seemed to happen.

For a while, it looked like the midterm period would end quietly without any more surprises.

…until Lisa came looking for me.

"…What? Failed?"

"Well, not yet," she said, her voice shrinking. "But if I don't do well on the makeup exam…"

I stared at her, unable to hide my disbelief.

Lisa stood there awkwardly scratching her head, looking like a kid who'd been caught stealing snacks.

Now that I thought about it…

I had never once seen her study.

I just assumed she was reviewing everything on her own time.

I never imagined she hadn't studied at all.

She should've at least prepared enough to avoid failing outright.

…Though, honestly, I wasn't in any position to judge her. I'd used some questionable methods myself.

"Didn't you study?" I asked.

"I did!" Lisa protested—far too confidently at first, then deflating a little. "Well… kind of. But how do I explain this…? I couldn't really understand anything properly."

Of course.

Lisa had gone into hibernation a hundred years ago.

Her knowledge of "common sense" was frozen in the past.

Expecting her to take modern written exams without any issue was asking too much.

A hundred years ago, even the foundation of modern magical theory didn't exist yet.

Naturally, most of what the Academy taught now was completely foreign to Lisa.

"…What about your demon eyes?" I whispered softly to her, keeping my voice low so no one nearby could hear.

Lisa fidgeted. "Well… that professor is, you know…"

Her vague answer was all I needed.

She must've scraped by the other exams with tricks and intuition, but Lumine's exam was a different story.

Of course, Lisa couldn't have known Lumine was actually a dragon when the exam started.

But after witnessing her casually teleport students away as if it were nothing… even Lisa would realize this was definitely not someone she should try using her demon eyes on.

Honestly, it was a wise decision. Trying to mess with a dragon's perception would've been suicide.

Still… the result was that she failed Lumine's exam.

And with the Academy's strict rule that even one failed subject immediately triggers a warning, Lisa was now on the brink of expulsion.

"So how can I help you?" I asked quietly.

Lisa's dream had always been to attend the Academy. Knowing that, I naturally wanted to help if there was any way I could.

"Help me study!"

Her eyes sparkled with hope as she grabbed my sleeve—almost like a puppy begging for treats.

However…

"Um… I can't do that."

"…Why?"

Her face froze as if I'd just betrayed her.

I shook my head immediately.

It wasn't because I didn't want to help.

It was because—

Well, this was Lisa.

And tutoring her came with complications.

But also there are other reasons as well.

Now that the midterm written exam results were out, our class had exploded with a ridiculous rumor:

Louis—of all people—was secretly amazing at studying.

I had no idea who started it, but the rumor spread like wildfire.

And thanks to that, Lisa had come to me asking for help with her makeup exam.

But there was one crucial detail she completely misunderstood.

I didn't actually study either…

The only reason I got high scores was because I'd used… less-than-honest methods.

Nothing heroic. Nothing impressive. Just quiet, effective trickery.

So the truth was, my actual academic skills weren't all that impressive.

If I really tutored Lisa, the results would probably be mediocre at best.

Sure, I could rely on the Sage's Bookmark to instantly absorb the exam material again, but that wasn't an option this time.

Unlike the regular exams, the makeup tests had supervisors watching from just a few steps away.

If Lisa suddenly wrote perfect answers without showing the proper steps, it would be suspicious as hell.

There was no way to cheat safely under those conditions.

So that left us with exactly one path forward:

Honest, old-fashioned studying.

The most straightforward—and ironically the hardest—method.

I sighed.

"Let's ask Elena for help."

Elena had placed near the top of the exam rankings, so I figured she'd be the perfect person to help Lisa.

But the moment we brought it up…

"I'm sorry, Lisa. I don't think I can help you."

"Eh…?"

Lisa's expression collapsed instantly. Her shoulders drooped, and even her ears—if she had any—would've fallen flat.

"Are you… very busy?" I asked.

"Yes," Elena sighed. "Because of the incident during the practical exam. The student council called me in to help with all the work piling up."

Right.

The student council had been quiet ever since Clarisse's case, but of course something else had to happen the moment things looked peaceful. Now that another accident had occurred, they were drowning in responsibilities again.

They had to contact the parents of the injured students, handle the damage reports, and oversee the cleanup of the partially destroyed exam site. Naturally, they were short on manpower.

"Ah… I see…" Lisa murmured, looking even more pitiful.

I felt a twinge of guilt, but Elena wasn't wrong—she really was busy.

To be honest, the student council had requested my help too, since I'm the vice president.

But I'd been skillfully, shamelessly ignoring every single summons.

Not that they could complain.

After all, I played the biggest part in capturing Clarisse.

If I said I was still recovering from the aftereffects of that fight, they couldn't really argue with me.

I cleared my throat. "Well… it can't be helped. Elena has her hands full."

Elena bowed her head apologetically toward Lisa. "I really am sorry. If things calm down soon, I'll try to make time."

"It's okay…" Lisa forced a smile, but it was the kind of smile that said it's absolutely not okay.

I sighed internally.

Now what?

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