Chapter 22: Cramming Chaos!

Yuna's POV

Erika finally snapped.

"Enough!" she yelled, snatching the drumsticks right out of Leo's hands. He yelped like she'd just taken his soul with them.

"We are studying!"

The room went dead silent. Ethan powered down his keyboard like he was shutting down a crime scene. Kai, mid-strum, sighed and set his guitar aside. Noah, who had somehow contributed nothing to the chaos, looked vaguely offended, like this wasn't entirely his fault.

Milo didn't react at all. Probably because he was still fast asleep.

Erika took a deep breath, glaring at all of us.

"Okay. New plan. No music. No distractions. We are actually going to learn something before we all collectively fail."

Lena, still lounging on the couch, didn't even look up from her phone. "Sounds exhausting."

"You're one of the managers," Erika snapped. "You're supposed to care."

"I manage expectations, not effort."

Erika looked like she was about to throw something. Instead, she grabbed a textbook and flipped it open with the kind of determination people have right before they lose their minds.

She scanned the page before jabbing her finger at a paragraph. "Alright. Someone explain this."

Silence.

Leo scratched his head. "Uh. That's the part about, um… taxes?"

Noah squinted at the text. "No, it's about revolutions."

Ethan, pretending he knew what was happening, nodded. "Yeah, something about people being mad.

Kai, leaning back in his chair, let out a small sigh.

Erika's eye twitched. "I am surrounded by fools."

I sighed, barely glancing at the page. "It's about how economic instability led to public unrest, which then escalated into revolutionary movements."

The room went silent again.

Everyone turned to look at me.

"…What?" Leo asked slowly.

I blinked. "What?"

Erika narrowed her eyes. "How do you know that?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. I just do."

Erika raised an eyebrow. "You don't even pay attention in class."

"Yeah," I agreed. "No clue how that happened."

Erika looked genuinely betrayed. "I have spent weeks trying to make you guys study, and you're telling me you just absorb knowledge without trying?"

Leo pointed at her. "I'd be mad too."

Noah nodded. "Yeah, it's kinda unfair."

Meanwhile, Kai, who had been quiet, just casually flipped to another page. "Well, Yuna's right. The economic instability forced people into poverty, which made them desperate enough to revolt."

His voice was calm, like this was the most obvious thing in the world. "The government's failure to act made it worse."

Erika froze. "Wait. You knew that?"

Kai gave her a blank stare. "Yeah?"

Everyone turned to him now.

"Since when?" Noah asked.

Kai just shrugged, looking mildly annoyed by all the attention.

Meanwhile, Erika was still staring at me.

"Okay, but why do you know this?"

I sighed. "Look, we sit next to each other in class. You take notes, and I see them. Maybe I just… absorb it?"

Erika looked like she was seriously reconsidering our entire friendship.

Noah tapped his pen against the table. "Alright, so Yuna, explain it again, just… slower."

Leo nodded. "Yeah. But make it sound interesting."

I groaned. "That sounds like effort."

Erika dragged a chair over and made me sit down. "Too bad. You're teaching now."

And somehow… they actually listened. Even Kai, who clearly already knew all of this, glanced at me every now and then, like he was seeing if I'd mess up.

Erika just sat there, shaking her head in disbelief. "I can't believe this is happening."

Somehow, against all odds, we were actually studying.

Or, well. Trying to.

"This isn't enough," Erika muttered, flipping through her book like it had personally offended her.

"We need more references."

Leo groaned. "You're saying we need more books? I can barely survive with this one."

He shook his textbook for dramatic effect.

"I second that," Noah said, leaning back in his chair.

"Aren't we learning enough already? Yuna explained, like, one thing, and I feel at least 5% smarter."

Ethan nodded. "Yeah. We should quit while we're ahead."

Erika shot them both a glare that could burn a hole through concrete.

Lena, still stretched out on the couch, waved a lazy hand. "Library's open for another hour, if you really wanna go."

Erika stood up immediately. "We're going."

Leo groaned again. "Nooo, that's so far."

"It's literally a ten-minute walk."

"Exactly," Leo said, like that somehow proved his point.

"Too bad." Erika grabbed her bag and looked around at us expectantly. "Let's go."

Ethan stretched. "I mean, I guess the library isn't that bad."

"Yeah, I'm in," Noah said.

"Might as well pretend I care about my grades."

Milo, who had finally woken up, just blinked at us sleepily. "Library?"

"Yeah," Kai said, standing up.

Leo flopped onto the table. "Do we have to?"

"Yes," Erika said.

Lena waved them off. "Have fun with that."

"You're not coming?"

"Do I look like I want to go?"

Erika didn't even argue. Just grabbed her things and motioned for the rest of us to move.

Leo sighed dramatically but got up anyway.

"Fine, but if I collapse from exhaustion, it's on you."

"It's ten minutes," Erika snapped.

"Exactly."

She pinched the bridge of her nose. "I'm leaving you behind."

"Wait, no, I'm coming—"

And with that, we headed to the library.

As we walked, I found myself next to Kai. He wasn't saying much—just walking with his hands in his pockets, his guitar case slung over his shoulder.

At some point, I glanced up and caught him looking at me.

It wasn't much—just a quick glance, barely noticeable. But for some reason, it felt… different.

Like he was checking if I was paying attention.

I frowned. "What?"

Kai just looked away, expression unreadable. "Nothing."

Before I could question it, Erika clapped her hands. "Alright, once we get there, we grab what we need, and we focus. No distractions."

Leo nudged Noah. "Ten bucks says we all get distracted anyway."

"Not taking that bet," Noah muttered.

Ethan grinned. "Alright, let's go pretend to be good students."

And with that, we stepped into the library.

Well. I mean…..

The library mission was doomed from the start.

First, we barely made it past the entrance without causing a scene. Leo tripped over absolutely nothing, took down a whole stack of books with him, and then tried to play it off like he meant to do it.

Erika looked five seconds away from throwing him out herself.

Then, there was the issue of actually finding books.

Erika went straight to the reference section like a responsible person. The rest of us, however… not so much.

Noah got distracted by a random poetry book and started dramatically reciting lines under his breath. Ethan found a book about conspiracy theories and immediately tried to convince Milo that pigeons weren't real. Leo disappeared for a full ten minutes, only to come back with a manga and a proud look on his face.

"This isn't even a study book," Erika hissed, snatching it from him.

Leo gasped. "How dare you."

Meanwhile, Kai and I were actually trying to find something useful.

Kind of.

"Do we even know what we're looking for?" I asked, flipping through a random textbook.

Kai, skimming through a physics book, just shrugged.

"Something that makes sense."

"Vague, but okay."

I grabbed another book and handed it to him.

"This one looks important."

Kai glanced at it. "That's a cookbook."

"...Right. I knew that." I put it back like it had personally betrayed me.

We eventually regrouped with Erika, who was on the verge of snapping.

"Okay, listen up," she said, holding a stack of books.

"We have everything we need. Now, we sit down, and we actually study—"

"OH MY GOD, WHY IS THIS FORMULA SO STUPID?!"

Every single head in the library turned to look at Leo, who was dramatically clutching his head like he had just discovered some deep, painful betrayal.

Erika closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and whispered, "I hate all of you."

The librarian, who had probably been praying we would behave, finally gave up. She walked over, pointed at the door, and said

"Out."

Leo looked genuinely offended. "But I was just expressing my emotions—"

"OUT."

And that was how we got kicked out of the library.

The street was quiet, except for the occasional chirping of crickets and the distant hum of motorbikes passing through town.

The air smelled faintly of warm earth and the lingering scent of someone's late-night barbecue down the street.

The rest of the group had gone home, but Kai and I stayed behind. Not because we were super dedicated to studying or anything, but because neither of us really felt like going home just yet.

At some point, Kai asked, "Do you actually care if you pass or not?"

I shrugged. "I mean, not failing would be nice."

He gave a small huff of laughter. "That's not an answer."

I leaned back, staring at the sky. "I don't hate school or anything, but studying sucks. I'd rather just… let things happen."

Kai nodded like he got it, then flipped lazily through his notes. His eyes scanned the page, but I could tell he wasn't actually reading anything.

It was late. And the idea of trying to process formulas and dates in the middle of the night, outside of a library that had already kicked us out, sounded like the worst idea ever. Then, I had a thought.

"Wanna just study at my house?" I asked.

Kai glanced at me, surprised.

"Your house?"

"Well, Aunt Rosa's house." I corrected myself.

"She'd probably be happy to see you, anyway. She always asks if you've been eating enough whenever your name comes up."

Kai looked away, but not before I caught the way his expression softened. Aunt Rosa had always liked him. 

"…Yeah, okay," he said, closing his notebook.

"Might as well."

We walked through the quiet streets, the warm glow of streetlights guiding the way. The houses in the neighborhood were mostly dark, but a few still had lights on—families gathered in their living rooms, the faint sounds of television spilling into the night.

By the time we reached the house, the familiar scent of home-cooked food lingered in the air, even though it was way past dinnertime.

I knocked on the door, and almost immediately, I heard the shuffling of slippers before Aunt Rosa opened it.

She gasped the moment she saw Kai. "Ay, Kai!, you're so thin! Are you even eating?"

Kai barely had time to react before she pulled him into a tight hug. Over his shoulder, he gave me a look that clearly said, Help me.

I just smirked.

"Told you she missed you."

Aunt Rosa finally let go, holding Kai at arm's length so she could inspect him.

"You need to eat more. Come inside, I'll heat up some food."

"Auntie, we're just here to study," I tried to say, but she was already in the kitchen, muttering about how kids these days didn't take care of themselves.

Kai sighed but didn't look too upset. If anything, there was a hint of fondness in his expression as he set his things down at the dining table.

A few minutes later, Aunt Rosa returned with a plate piled high with food and set it in front of him.

"Eat first. Studying can wait."

Kai gave me a look. I shrugged. "You heard her."

He shook his head but picked up the fork.

So, instead of immediately jumping into studying, we sat at the dining table, the soft hum of the electric fan filling the silence as Kai ate. The house felt warm and familiar, and for once, the idea of studying didn't seem so bad.

To be continued.