"That's just not fair!"

"And she's only a first year . Some people just get everything for free . "

"At least she's not up there . "

"Well, she's a bimbo after all . "

Kyoko grimaced but said nothing as the indignant conversation to her right continued . To a degree she could understand the two juniors .

'But it wasn't for free, was it? You kept swimming every week after all . ' And with those long legs Kuri-chan must have had an easier time eating up the distance . In the end she made the top ten and second best among the freshmen during the marathon .

Sporting a happier grin on her lips Kyoko looked up at the wall . Unsurprisingly Kuri-chan's name wasn't anywhere to be seen, and neither was her own . More out of loyalty than anything else she looked for Yukio and Urufu, but as she knew their names were absent as well . Ryu squeezed in at number 45 and Noriko regained her third place .

They'd all go visit Ryu after school . He lay sick at home with a fever he caught after he collapsed little over halfway into the marathon earlier this week .

'You moron!' Kyoko thought and glared at Noriko . 'What were you thinking, forcing Ryu to keep up with Urufu?'

'I was worried' the midget idiot mumbled in an attempt to defend herself a day earlier . 'You'd better be worried . Did it ever occur to you how much time Urufu spends training?'

Because in the end Urufu won his bet with Kuri-chan, when he proved the difference between cynical calculation and youthful ambition . For nine kilometres and seven hundred metres he had clung to the backside of a soph.o.m.ore track and field distance runner, close enough to pull his jersey had he wanted . The remaining three hundred metres turned into a display of applied humiliation . Urufu crossed the finis.h.i.+ng line before the second year even reached the school grounds .

Still, the talk among the girls made Kyoko seethe with anger . Kuri-chan wasn't allowed her upset while Urufu turned into an instant hero .

The bimbo in question came up behind her and leaned her head over Kyoko's shoulder . "I don't mind," Kuri-chan said . "Let them talk . "

The conversation turned into a whisper, and both juniors edged away from them . Kyoko didn't know if they felt ashamed or if they just wanted to get away from Kuri-chan's presence .

"You?" Kyoko wondered and looked up at the wall .

Kuri-chan followed her eyes and smiled . "Two make-up exams . Just wait for the last trimester . I'll get a pa.s.sing grade all over at my first try . "

"Which two?"

"Math and j.a.panese . Won't be a problem . You?"

"Hundred and five," Kyoko said . Her sessions with Yukio had paid off . "Yukio made number hundred and twenty, so I beat him again . "

They stood looking at each other, Kyoko silently asking the question that Kuri-chan waited for .

"One make-up exam," Kuri-chan finally said . "English . "

"English?" It made absolutely no sense . Urufu taught English to the rest of the club . "

Kuri-chan smirked before answering . "He says his English teacher is an idiot . I say Ulf is an idiot for keeping up that private war of his . "

"What happened?"

"Ulf thought it was a good idea to point out five errors on the exam paper, in writing . He got slammed for it and called to the teachers' room . "

'Yeah, he's a moron all-right . ' "And?"

"If he says there were five errors then there were five errors . He's the one with a master's degree, not the teacher . "

'He's got a master's degree?' It was all too easy to forget that both Urufu and Kuri-chan had left their high school years behind them a long time ago . Kyoko hadn't thought about any of them pursuing an academic career in their previous life . 'But he's still a moron . You just don't talk back to the teachers . '

"We come from a very different world," Kuri-chan said as if she had read Kyoko's mind . "From my experience there's nothing wrong with pointing out a teacher mistake . Sure, Ulf's taking it way too far, but still . "

'And you admire him all the more for it . At least be honest with yourself . ' Kyoko could only shake her head . Urufu and Kuri-chan quarrelled from time to time, but much more often they looked at each other with what was best described as adoration . In a way they were each other's fanatical one-person fan-club .

'And what does that make Yukio and me?' The question caught her by sudden surprise but also with realisation . 'We're not the same . Kuri-chan and Urufu are used to being the centre of attraction, or at least Kuri-chan is . ' Given a closer thought Kyoko decided it was probably true for Urufu as well, even though in a different way .

"You're silent," Kuri-chan observed .

"I just found something out," Kyoko said . "About the two of you . " There was no reason to be anything but open with Kuri-chan . Their friends.h.i.+p might have changed since summer, but both tried their best to be honest .

"Winter break next I guess," Kuri-chan said and looked past the shoe-lockers and across the school-yard .

Now that was a sudden change of topic . Kyoko tugged at her friend's sleeve and pulled her towards the stairwell . Halfway there the sounds of excited, sullen and happy students watching the wall had faded behind them .

"What are you doing for Christmas?" Kyoko asked as they started up the stairs .

"Huh?"

"Well, unless you're stuck with complementary lessons," Kyoko said and managed to squeeze in a rather blunt warning that her friend had better be serious about her make-up exams .

Kuri-chan just laughed and climbed another flight . "I'll have a batch of those, but not because of the make-ups . I'm taking middle school level lessons in j.a.panese .

Kyoko knew about the cram school her friend tried to keep a secret, so she didn't say anything . "Apart from that . I guess you're not joining the party," she added and grinned .

"For the singles? Don't think so . I've got Ulf . "

There was something forlorn in the voice that made Kyoko look closer at her . 'Keep fighting . We'll help you . '