Chapter 23: 23

Chapter 23: I worked very hard.

Translated by Dawn

 

Chapter 23: I worked very hard.

With a powerful helper, I started studying for the final exam.

Raimon-san was a quintessential student council president. And I should say that she was an honor student who had always maintained the top position in her grade since she entered the school. She was able to teach me in a very easy-to-understand and detailed manner when I asked her questions about things I would get stuck on if I studied alone. Thanks to her, I was making good progress, although I was disappointed that I could not spend much time with Raimon-san because of her work as the student body president.

I studied with Natsuki at home. Natsuki was one of the top students in the class, so he was very smart, but more than that, he had a good way of doing things. His pacing of solving problems and efficient study methods were different from Raimon-san’s, which was a plus for me.

“You left the house in a complicated way, right?”

“Ah. Yes, I did. What about it?”

“I’d have liked to have seen it.”

“Stop it.”

“Ah, you’re wrong here.”

“Eh, no way.”

“You miscalculated the equation.”

“…Uwaa, you’re right.”

I scrubbed the equation in my notebook with an eraser and calculated it again.

“How’s this?”

“Perfect. This is right.”

When Raimon-san and Natsuki were not around, I studied with Kazemiya at a family restaurant.

Until recently, I used to do this after my part-time job, but now that we were already in the middle of the test period, I went straight to that table at the restaurant after school to study with Kazemiya until the last minute.

There, I could order something when I wanted to take a break, and I could finish my dinner without leaving the restaurant.

“Kazemiya’s grades are good. Are you good at studying?”

“Normal. Sometimes Shiori teaches me, so that’s a big part of it.”

“The best tutor in our grade?”

“Luxury, isn’t it?”

“But that alone won’t get you into the top ranks. Isn’t that why you’re usually working so hard?”

“Well…I do study a little bit in the mornings before school.”

“That’s amazing, from my point of view. Except now, I would never have spent my mornings studying before.”

“It’s just a habit.”

“Habit?”

“A useless habit when I was trying my best not to lose to my sister. It’s just a habit that continues to this day……but I’m glad I kept it up.”

“May I ask you why?”

“Because I can teach Narumi to study.”

Kazemiya, smiling like a mischievous child in front of me, almost made me admire her face, but now was not the time for admiration.

“Keep saying that. I’ll overtake you this time.”

“Then it’s going to be Narumi’s turn to teach me.”

“Ah, yeah. Look forward to it.”

“Yeah, I’m looking forward to it.”

Strangely enough, my concentration remained uninterrupted by the occasional conversation with Kazemiya in this way.

In addition to the ambient sounds of the store that I always heard, the sound of a mechanical pencil being run over a notebook was pleasant.

“…I think I may be studying harder for this exam than I did for the entrance exam.”

“What a coincidence. Me too. I haven’t studied this hard since I took the junior high school entrance exam.”

“Is it okay to ask about that?”

“It’s fine if it’s Kazemiya.”

“Then tell me about it. I want to know about Narumi, too.”

‘Not such an interesting story, though. My shitty father……my previous father was like an ability supremacist. It’s like, ‘If it’s my son, it’s only natural that he’s excellent’ or ‘A bad son is not my son.’”

Just remembering my shitty father alone frustrated me, no doubt.

But now I could talk about it calmly. I wonder why…….I guess it was because I was with Kazemiya.

“He kind of looks like my mom.”

“I know. I thought the same thing.”

Kazemiya and I laughed together. Peacefully. Like a simple chat.

“That’s why. Naturally, I took the entrance examination for elementary school. I failed that time, but my mother covered for me. I was forgiven. I took the entrance examination for junior high school…….I studied to death. I studied so hard, remembering my mom’s back protecting me. I did a lot of crazy things to make my father like me. I was just so desperate to be a good son. I wanted to do things like help people and show him that I was a good son.”

I would get into things on my own, and get covered in mud and scratches. Looking back, it was black history.

“And, well. I kind of passed the middle school entrance exam, but it didn’t work out.”

“Didn’t you get accepted?”

“Well, I failed the elementary school entrance exam, so he said I had to pass the middle school entrance exam at the top rank. ……At that time, I was told, ‘How much do you have to let me down?’ That’s all. That’s all. That was a boring old story, wasn’t it?”

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“…….I see.”

Kazemiya fell silent for a while, then pulled out a single red pen from her pen case.

“Narumi, give me your hand.”

“Huh? I don’t mind, but……right hand or left hand?”

“Either one. Whichever you want.”

“Then……left hand.”

I held out my hand that was not holding a mechanical pencil, and Kazemiya’s hand gently wrapped around mine.

The soft touch and warmth of the hand made my heart beat rapidly.

As I was worrying that my hand might feel the heat of the pen, the red tip of the pen began to slide across the palm of my left hand.

The red pen drew a swirling pattern and added petals around it.

“You did a great job.”

Blooming in the palm of my left hand was the Hanamaru mark that Kazemiya gave me.

“……..Haa. What are you doing?”

“I thought I’d reward Narumi for your hard work.”

“What is that…I don’t get it.”

…really, Kazemiya and I got along well.

That’s why.

I was just a little kid at the time, and now she had given me the words I wanted.

“………”

This is bad. Not good. I couldn’t look at Kazemiya’s face properly now.

My vision was blurred. Tears were overflowing. Oh, shit. Why? Why do I feel like I want to cry so much?

Kazemiya didn’t say anything for a while as I suddenly started crying.

She just stayed there until I calmed down. She stayed by my side without saying a word.

“…after the final exams, we’ll have summer vacation, right?”

“Right.”

“We’ve been working so hard this semester, right? So as a reward, why don’t we go somewhere and have fun?”

“Together?”

“Of course. I’m inviting you out.”

“Then we should invite Shiori and Inumaki, too.”

“You’re right. I want to thank them…but on other days, let’s just hang out together.”

“…just me and Narumi?”

“You don’t like it?”

“I’d love to.”

I felt some relief when Kazemiya said so.

“Is there anywhere you want to go?”

“Where would you take me?”

“Anywhere you want.”

“Then…I’d like to go to the pool.”

“What else?”

“ A summer festival.”

“That’s a good idea. I’ll look into it.”

“Then I’d like to just wander around the city…….Oh, and theme parks, too. I’m interested in the new attraction that opens in the summer.”

“I’ll write it down in my notebook.”

Tearing out a page from my study notebook, I filled in my list of summer vacation rewards.

“Okay, it’s done.”

“I’m really looking forward to summer vacation.”

“I look forward to it every year.”

“For me, I don’t have much to do.”

“This year is going to be busy for you.”

“I’ve never had such a busy summer vacation.”

As I looked at Kazemiya’s smiling face, I decided in my heart.

If Kazemiya ever needed help in the future, I would—do my best to help Kazemiya.

(I don’t know what I can do, but…I will do anything if I can spend my time laughing with you.)

Days go by with thoughts of the future just a little bit ahead.

And then came the day of the first-semester final exam.

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