Work Text:
The exams were passed out, Utahime taking a seat at her desk. “You may all flip over your tests and begin,” she announced, sharp eyes watching over her students to ensure no one was trying to peek for any answers from their fellow students.
Kamo’s eyes were straight on his paper, and there was not much stress on his expression as he thought through the first answer. Kamo enjoyed studying, and as heir to the Kamo clan, there were high expectations for his grades. He wasn’t a perfect student, but he was close when it came to academics. Every night, he put aside time to study for his exams and always did any required schoolwork, Kamo was sure he would earn one of the top marks for this exam.
Then came Mechamaru. He wouldn’t say he enjoyed studying, but with how his body was there wasn’t much for him to do during downtime outside of napping. Of course, he’d end up reading over various subjects, and when it came time for school he then turned his attention to academics and it sure did him well. It would be easy for Mechamaru to cheat on his exams and always have a perfect score, either using a smaller bot to look for the answers or having access to a book by him while his puppet did the work, but Kokichi took a certain pride doing this legitimately. And well, Miwa always took time to compliment him whenever he did well, so there was also that.
Speaking of, Miwa was definitely the most stressed out of the Kyoto students. She was a hard worker, trained hard, and studied hard to do well so she could go out in the field, get real missions, and start making money. But Miwa was by no means a perfect student. She truly did her best, but not everything stuck and Miwa tended to overthink and doubt herself, causing her to lose more points than she should. She wouldn’t fail, that had never happened, but it still stung whenever she scored lower than all of her classmates.
Mai didn’t particularly care about her studies or her grades. But she knew if she did score low then she’d never hear the end of it from her clan. While she didn’t like being a sorcery, training with guns gave her sharp eyes. Sharp eyes that could easily peek over at Kamo or Mechamaru and scribble down what either of them had put. It wasn’t necessarily cheating, she was just double-checking her answers before putting an answer down.
Momo also had fairly good eyes being she had to fight from the sky half the time and be able to spot curses and her comrades down below. Still, during exams, she always sat next to Mai so when she was done Momo could quickly copy down what Mai had too. They were smart though, Momo always made sure to throw in some wrong answers so they’d never be caught. It worked for them, studying was boring, and shopping together was a better use of their limited free time. And the better Momo did the more money her father would send her, money she happily split with her co-conspirator.
And then there was Todo…
Todo always sat at the back because he had a tendency to mumble to himself during exams. He claimed it helped him, but was a distraction for others, this was the best way to ensure everyone was happy. Normally such an exception would not be made but…
~~~
In Todo’s mind, he was seated in a different high school, a more normal and modern one compared to Jujutsu Tech. In front of him was none other than Takada-chan, wearing a schoolgirl's uniform (a modern one, not the one given at his school) with a pair of glasses on her face, her expression soured.
“You should remember this Todo-kun!” She said, pointing to the board. In chalk the question ‘What year did Oda Nobunaga die?’ was scrawled onto it, the same as the first question of Todo’s exam. “Come on, we went over this recently!”
Todo thought it over, “1534?”
“Wrong!” Takada said, making an incorrect buzzing noise. “That’s when he was born!”
“Ah sorry Takada-chan,” Todo apologized, scratching the back of his head. “But maybe it’s ok if I don’t remember?” He offered, Takada-chan had said before dumb men were perfect.
“Not after all the hard work I put into you!” She argued back, crossing her arms. “What were you doing when you were studying for this exam, Todo-kun?”
“Watching you of course!’ Todo said.
“And do you remember what I was doing when reviewing the history of the Oda?”
“Yes, it was your Christmas special, you were playing a drinking game with another idol group and winning unti-” It was then Todo froze. “It’s 1582!” he announced, standing up in his seat.
“Bingo!” Takada said, giving him a thumbs up. “Now onto the next question,” she then turned around, erasing it and beginning to write out the next question on the exam.
~~~
This moment in Todo’s head occurred in less than a second, quickly scribbling down the right answer before going to the next, and the next, and the next, each time able to remember what Takada special or video he was watching and thus the exact answer. Todo was the first one done with the test, giving it to Utahime with a proud smile before leaving the classroom to watch more Takada-chan as a reward for a definite 100%.
~~~
“I always find it odd we get such similar scores, Mai,” Kamo commented.
Mai shrugged, “are you trying to imply something?”
“It’s just odd I never see you nor Momo study,” Kamo said.
“Well, Momo and I like to go out on our own. Maybe we do our studying then. Are you watching us all the time?” Mai countered, Kamo’s frown only deepening. Yet he didn’t say anything else, his attention just going back up to the posted scores.
They ended up as they usually did, Kamo in second, followed by Mai, then Mechamaru, then Momo, and lastly Miwa.
“Wow, Mechamaru you did great!” Miwa said, giving her fellow second-year a pat on his shoulder. “I wish I could get so close to 100 like you!”
“It’s nothing really,” Mechamaru said, but in his tub, Kokichi couldn’t help but smile.
“Maybe we could study together sometime?” Miwa asked, and before Mechamaru could respond Momo pointed up to the top score.
“You’re probably better off asking that guy,” Momo said.
At the very top was Todo Aoi, a perfect 100 next to his name. In sync the Kyoto student turned to see him, standing proud.
“How do you always score perfectly, Todo?” Kamo asked, this having been a pattern since they had been 1st years together.
Todo grinned, “It’s all thanks to Takada-chan,” and then walked away without further elaboration.