Kenji’s eyes darted to Question 3. The answer was simply: “後悔している” (I regret).

He copied the next five answers without thinking. Then he stopped. His pencil hovered over Question 7: “電車に傘を忘れてしまった。____。” The answer sheet said: “困っています” (I’m in trouble). But Kenji looked out his window. It wasn’t raining. He pictured the umbrella—cheap, broken at the hinge. He wouldn’t be troubled at all. He’d be relieved.

Kenji sighed and rubbed his eyes. The kanji on page 48 of Minna No Nihongo 2 were starting to blur into a single, angry grey smear. He’d been staring at Renshuu B, Section 5, for forty-five minutes. Question 3 was a monster: “若い頃、もっと勉強すればよかったと____。”

It wasn’t the textbook answer. But for the first time that night, he smiled. The PDF had the correct grammar. But only he knew the correct him .

He deleted the PDF from his downloads. He picked up a fresh pencil.