He knew the grammar point— ~eba yokatta (should have done). But the blank demanded the right verb form, the right context, the right feeling . He wrote “思います” (I think), erased it, wrote “後悔します” (I regret), erased that too. His pencil snapped.

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.

“That’s it,” he muttered. He opened a new tab and typed: Minna No Nihongo 2 Renshuu B Answers Pdf .

“That’s it?” he whispered. He’d been circling around it the whole time.

The second link promised a “Complete Teacher’s Edition.” He clicked again. This time, a clean PDF loaded. There it was: .

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 .

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____。”

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