Chapter 6: 6

I dropped my gaze on my timetable, stuffing my textbooks and notes into my bag. It became my routine to pack my things for school before heading off to sleep.

“Homework…is done as well.”

According to what Mayuko told me, I’m a diligent person. I’m fairly aware of that, and I see it as a strong point. However, I need to stop being ‘Ms. Goodie’. Because I stay this way, I will never be allowed to date Tsuyoshi-kun. He sees me as some kind of saint. He even said that he wanted to become someone like me, clearly under the impression that I’m flawless.

I want him to think that I’m not perfect. And for that, I came up with my own measures. For starters, I’ll act like I’ve forgotten my homework. That way, he should see that I’m flawed as well.

***

I got to school a bit earlier than usual, using my arms as a pillow while resting on the desk. After being urged by Sako-san, I put my attention to studying again, but it’s not as easy as I was hoping it to be. Since I had a time period where I didn’t study much, I couldn’t focus as much as I did back in middle school. As a result, I was just having a hard time all over yesterday.

When I turned my head, I saw Takumi sleeping the same way on his desk. With nobody to talk to, I just decided to wait for the morning bell to ring. However, right as I closed my eyes, a voice called to me.

“Tsuyoshi-kun, are you sleeping?”

A gentle voice tickled my ears.

“Nope, I’m awake.”

“Sorry to bother you while you’re resting.”

I raised my head and was met with Sako-san’s apologetic expression.

“I forgot to bring my Japanese homework, so I was wondering if you could let me see yours…”

“Ah, Japanese, gotcha.”

I took out my notes and handed them to her.

“Thanks! You’re a huge help!”

“It’s fine.”

“That reminds me, did you manage to solve the final question from our math homework?”

Usually, our math homework is just solving formulas, but the final question is an advanced one. It’s a question provided for students who aren’t satisfied with just the regular questions, but there’s no need to solve them. Up to this point, I always left it untouched, but since I put my heart into studying again, I tried to challenge it. It was a hard battle, but I think I got the right answer.

“I sure did, which is why I’m lacking a bit of sleep now.”

“I see. I was hoping to maybe pay you back for helping me with Japanese, but I guess that’s not necessary.”

“Yeah. But still, thanks. I’ll come to ask you if I need help again.”

“Of course! I can see you’re working hard. You got bags under your eyes already.”

“It’s because you gave me so much motivation.”

“Hehe, I didn’t do anything big.”

It’s because I deeply respect Sako-san for who she is that her words hit so deep. It’s the sole reason I wish to now stand by her side. And for that, I need to beat her in the next exams.

“Did you have much trouble with that question?” I asked in an act of reconnaissance on the enemy.

“It wasn’t easy or anything, but I guess I did fine.”

“As expected of Sako-san…”

My enemy really is formidable.

“Heh, thanks. Anyway, I’ll copy this really quickly.” Sako-san said and walked back to her seat.

Immediately after, Takumi’s bulky back moved.

“Aren’t you close? To think you’d start talking more after you rejected her.”

“Takumi, were you listening in on us?”

“Never said I was sleeping.”

“That is true, but…”

I really didn’t enjoy being teased by Takumi, but I’m just glad things didn’t end up awkward between us.

“Still, Sako forgot something…” Takumi mumbled.

“That’s the second day in a row, right?”

“…Don’t you, you know, feel anything at her being this forgetful?”

“Huh? I mean, I always forget stuff myself.”

“You and Sako aren’t the same. Does Sako really seem like the person to forget something? She’s an honor student.”

“Now that you mention it…?”

“Good.” Takumi grinned. “All right, next time she forgets something, just leave it to me.”

He seemed to be plotting something, which left me anxious.

The next time Sako-san forgot something was two days after this. As Takumi and I were talking before the morning bell, Sako-san came over towards us.

“Tsuyoshi-kun, sorry to ask you this again, but can you show me your history homework?”

“Got i—”

“I’ll show you mine, Sako. His handwriting can be a bit nasty.”

Before I could give a response, Takumi immediately broke between us. Sako-san however waved her hands and politely declined.

“It’s fine, I can read it.”

“Nah, you should borrow mine instead. If you just want to see someone’s homework, then mine should suffice. And mine’s easier to read.”

“Err, um…”

Sako-san seemed troubled and glanced at me. I don’t understand what she’s so bewildered about.

“Look, these are my notes.” Takumi took out his notes with the homework on them.

As he said, everything was clean and easy to read. He even used colors for some parts.

“And? Mine are a lot better, right?”

“That is true…” She nodded, but still hesitated to accept Takumi’s notes.

“I understand how you feel, Sako. If you want to borrow Tsuyoshi’s notes, then I’ll step down. But you need to be honest.”

“Um…well…”

Sako-san was bewildered. She put her index finger on her cheek, with her gaze wandering all over. Why is she hesitating this much? Borrowing from Takumi would be a lot more efficient. Not to mention that she looked towards me for some reason, asking for help. She looked like a puppy discarded in the rain. This expression awakened my protective desires, and I felt bad for her.

“Come on, drop it. Sako-san’s being troubled.”

“Hey now, you’re siding with her…?”

“Because it looks to me like you’re bullying her.”

Takumi shook his head.

“My bad. Let Tsuyoshi show you his homework.”

I handed Sako-san my notes, to which she flashed a beaming smile. The complete opposite of what she had been acting like before.

“Thanks! I’ll quickly copy it!”

Sako-san ran away when Takumi stuffed his notes away with a sigh.

“You still haven’t realized it, Tsuyoshi?”

“What exactly?”

Since I couldn’t forgive Takumi for bullying Sako-san, I responded with an annoyed tone.

“She always borrows your stuff, right? Even just now, she clearly hesitated to take my notes, right? I believe this is just her pretense at having a reason to talk to you.”

“How would you know that? She might just have a lot going on, which is why she keeps forgetting stuff.”

“No, definitely not. She’s doing this on purpose. Or rather, she probably has it but acts like she forgot the homework.”

“No way.”

Takumi’s eyes flashed up.

“I’m definitely right. And I have just the way to prove it.”

The following morning, we secretly observed Sako-san. Arriving at school, she sat down at her own desk, searching through her bag. Following that, she stood up and turned around. It’s a familiar pattern we’ve spotted a lot these past few days. She’s clearly forgotten something again. Takumi whispered towards me.

You are reading story Kanpeki na Sako-san wa Mobu (Boku) Mitai ni Naritai at novel35.com

“She’s coming. Make sure to call out to her first.”

“Y-Yeah.”

Sako-san approached my seat. And then, our eyes met.

“Tsu—”

“Sako-san.”

“Y-Yes?”

“Could you show me your homework?”

“Sure! What subject?”

“Err, Japanese history.”

“History, got it.”

Sako-san headed back to her seat, grabbing her notes.

“I’ve been relying on you a lot lately, so I have to repay you once in a while.”

“We’re both in need from time to time, so let’s just call it quits.”

“You’re so kind, Tsuyoshi-kun.”

“Not at all.”

Finishing this conversation, Sako-san returned to her seat. Huh? So wait, Sako-san didn’t actually forget anything? I thought it’d be the same pattern as lately…And why is Takumi grinning like that?

“Let’s check through her notes.”

Since I lied about having forgotten mine, there was no need for me to copy from hers. However, I was indeed curious about her notes. I nodded and opened up the pages with careful hand movement.

“Woah.”

Met with such a high level of quality, I was staring at it in shock. Her handwriting was beautiful and easy to read, she marked everything important with four colors of pens, and changed the size of her handwriting to emphasize the respective importance. On top of that, she added puns and word games with every date that made it easier to remember. Also, she drew small pictures of the historical figures. So cute.

“This is astonishing.” Takumi was bewildered as much as I was. “After creating notes of such detail, do you really think she’d forget them at home?”

“No way. She’d definitely hand it in no matter if she’d be late.”

“Right? So just admit it, she was looking for an excuse to talk with you.”

Coming this far, I had to accept Takumi’s logic. Sako-san is acting like she’s forgotten her homework so that she could talk to me in class.

“But…that’s such a detour if she just wanted to talk to me, right?”

“Not really. Talking to another student in a different corner of the classroom takes a lot of courage. That’s why the change of seat order is very important.”

“Ahhh, that makes sense.”

In other words, she needed an excuse to talk to me. Thinking about that makes me feel happy, and ticklish inside. However, even if she wants to talk with me, I feel bad for making her do such a detour. I want to talk with her myself, and get along better. That’s why I can’t let her do all the work. I have to be the one to approach her as well. So with her notes in my hand, I stood up.

“Tsuyoshi, what are you doing?”

“Giving back her notes.”

“You got quite the courageous expression though.”

I ignored Takumi’s comment and headed straight for Sako-san’s seat.

“Sako-san, do you have a moment?”

***

“Sako-san, do you have a moment?”

Having my name called by Tsuyoshi-kun, I turned around. In his right hand, he held my notes that I had just given to him.

“Did you finish copying everything?”

“Nope, but you can have it back.”

“Ah, okay.”

I reflexively accepted my sketchbook, but needless to say, I was a bit bewildered.

“There’s something I’d like to talk about, so could you come with me for a second?”

“H-Huh?!”

Met with such a bold invitation, I was baffled. Why just the two of us? What is he going to talk about? I was riddled with nothing but doubts, but his straightforward gaze left me unable to decline.

“O-Okay.” I nodded and got up from my seat.

While passing by Mayuko’s seat, I sent her a desperate gaze asking for help, but she just showed me a thumbs-up. I don’t need that right now, okay?! With the morning bell close, not many people were outside of the classrooms. It was pretty much just the two of us. I wonder what he wants to talk about? I’m a bit nervous now. Tsuyoshi-kun spoke up with a quiet voice that only I could hear.

“You actually didn’t forget your homework, did you?”

Eeep. He perfectly hit me where it hurt, I didn’t know how to respond. Can I still talk my way out of this? And what should I do, then? I wasn’t given time to think about that, as Tsuyoshi-kun continued.

“I finally understand why you kept on forgetting your homework. I’m sorry for being so dense.”

“Wha…”

What did he understand? That I was trying to show off how clumsy and anti-diligent I am? Is that even possible?

“You wanted a reason to talk to me, right? That’s why you acted like you forgot your homework.”

“………What?”

“You had trouble talking to me in class, so you created a reason that made it easier, yeah?”

“…Ah, yes, that’s right.”

That surprised me…But I think I was saved by an unexpected misunderstanding. Well, I did want to talk to him, so I guess he’s not entirely wrong.

“I guess you must be hesitant to talk to me in our classroom, huh?”

“Well, something like that.”

You need the courage to call out to a boy with other people around. But he was under the wrong impression that I needed a reason to talk to him.

“That’s why…why don’t we stop talking while we’re in the classroom?”

I felt all the blood draining from my body. I see, he saw me talking to him as a chore. That…hurts. I feel like I’m going to cry.

“I’m sorry…I won’t talk to you again…”

“I-I didn’t mean it that way. I just phrased things badly. Why don’t we just talk via LINE instead? You don’t have to forget your homework if you want to talk to me.”

“…A-Ah, that’s what you meant!”

I jumped the gun! So embarrassing!

“So…how about it? If we’re texting on LINE, we won’t have to worry about the gazes of the others.”

“Yes! Please! With pleasure!” I nodded several times.

“I’m glad. Then let’s do that.”

“Yep!”

With this, we exchanged our LINE IDs. The chime rang shortly after, and we returned to our seats. And yet, I didn’t feel lonely at all. I just sent him a sticker I liked.

July 10th,

My plan of showing my clumsiness and anti-diligence ended in failure.

But instead, I managed to exchange LINE IDs with Tsuyoshi-kun!

I’m so happy! This is much better!

I need to come up with plans that use LINE from now on.

And with this, I have roughly a month left.

I have to hurry…

[30 Days Left.]

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