But Yuihama ignored Yukino's discomfort and continued holding her tightly.
Hey, wait! I want in too! I don't have much to do besides study either! Why won't you
hold me tightly like that? Well... if she actually did hug me, I'd be pretty troubled too.
Come to think of it, those Normie guys and girls really loved getting close at the drop of a hat. Should I call it natural physical contact, or ask, "Are you American?" Whether it was smacking someone on the head while making a retort or tightly hugging someone when something happened, they were both pretty sensible actions. Their walls of the heart had long since vanished; even if they boarded an EVA, they probably wouldn't be able to activate an AT Field.
Yuihama kept hugging Yukino and stroking her head as she casually said,
"But it's kind of surprising that a shut-in guy would study so hard."
"Not really. Anyone else who wants to go on to college has probably already started preparing. There'll probably be people attending cram school summer intensive courses soon too."
Chiba Municipal Sobu High School was considered a college-prep school, and its advancement rate was fairly high. The more serious students probably began preparing for university entrance exams during the summer of their second year, so now was about the time to consider going to Sasaki Rise University in Tsudanuma, Kawaii Juku Geneki Kan in West Chiba, or Toshin Cram School at Inage Coast.
"Besides, I'm planning to rake in a scholarship at cram school."
"...Scrap?"
"If you want to rake in scrap, you don't need to work that hard. There's already one right here. Aren't you a living piece of industrial waste?"
"My, Yukino, you're unusually merciful today. I thought you'd deny even the fact that I'm alive."
"Putting yourself down to this extent really does make things easier..."
Yukino held her head and wore a pained expression.
"Wait, what exactly is scrap?"
Yuihama actually couldn't keep up with our conversation. Had she never heard of it? Hey, seriously, Yuihama?
"It's called a scholarship. It's prize money given to excellent students."
"Some cram schools have started waiving tuition entirely for students with good grades. So if I get a scholarship and ask my family for cram school tuition, all that money becomes mine!"
The thought made me jump up in excitement. The looks the two girls gave me were probably like the ones my little sister would give me if she caught me breakdancing in my room.
That gave me a clear goal to study hard for; my family would be reassured seeing returns on their investment; and I'd get money too. It was a plan that killed three birds with one stone!
However, the expressions on the two girls' faces were extremely complicated.
"That's outright fraud..."
"Looking at the outcome, he finishes the course, his parents can't say they suffered any losses, and the cram school gains an excellent student, so there's no problem. The fact that no one can find any grounds to call it fraud shows just how cunning he is."
I got lectured again. B-but wasn't this fine? I was only telling a harmless lie. I wasn't hurting anyone.
"The future..."
Yuihama suddenly murmured that, glanced at me, and clutched Yukino's sleeve tighter. Yukino seemed startled by the gesture and looked at her with slight concern.
"What is it?"
"Ah, it's nothing... no, I can't really say it's nothing... I was just thinking that you two are so smart, so after graduation, we might never see each other again... That's all, haha~"
Having said that, she tried to laugh it off again.
"Hmm... if it's Hikigaya-kun, I definitely won't go looking for him."
Yukino said that with a faint smile, but I merely shrugged and said nothing. Seeing that I hadn't talked back this time, she looked at me in surprise. But it was really nothing, Yukino. The truth would probably turn out just as you said.
Still, there were people in this world who chose to enter a new environment without any graduates from their old school, so they studied desperately to get into a fairly prestigious college-prep high school within the prefecture. They intended to discard everything from their past and resolved never to see those old classmates again. As long as such people existed, Yuihama's worries were only natural.
People maintained closeness through belonging to the same organizations, sharing social circles, and communicating constantly. Human relationships gradually took shape through those things.
Therefore, if that connection was severed, anyone could end up alone at any time.
That was why people could only stay in touch through phone calls and text messages—or rather, they had no other way to connect. Was that what people called friendship? It had to be. That was why they entrusted their hearts to their phones and believed the number of contacts in their address books equaled the number of friends they had.
Yuihama tightly held her phone and smiled at Yukino.
"Anyway, we both have phones, so we can stay in touch whenever we want! That won't happen!"
"But please don't send me messages every day just because of that..."
"Huh? D-don't you like it?"
"...I often find it troublesome."
"That's way too blunt!"
...Those two really got along well. But when had they started messaging each other?
Come to think of it, it was hard to imagine Yukino sending messages on her phone.
"Every day... What could you possibly have that much to talk about?"
"Um... like, 'I ate a cream puff today☆'"
"'Oh.'"
"'Can Yukino make cream puffs? Next time, I want to try the other sweets you make!'"
"'All right.'"
"Your replies are so half-hearted, Yukino..."
"The rest is all equally unimportant."
Yukino said unhappily, glancing off to the side. Sadly, I could understand how she felt.
But seriously, what were you even supposed to talk about when making small talk? Sure, the easiest thing was to discuss the weather, but wouldn't "Nice weather today" and "Yeah" end the conversation in two lines? When a phone conversation ran out of topics halfway through, you couldn't just say, "Ah, an angel just flew by, hehehe," and muddle through.
"Phones... actually aren't as useful as you think. They're a very incomplete method of communication."
In some ways, I felt phones made people fall into loneliness faster. When someone called, you could choose not to answer or simply ignore it; when a message arrived, you could leave it unanswered, and it would keep sitting in your inbox. Once human relationships involved choices about what to keep and discard, communication would come and go according to each person's mood.
"Indeed. Whether to answer a call or reply to a message is entirely up to the recipient."
Yukino nodded, agreeing with my casual remark. Regardless of what she was like inside, her appearance was so outstanding that plenty of people had surely asked for her number and email address.
Even I, back when I was still a pure middle school student, had gathered up the courage to ask cute girls for their email addresses. But every time, they turned me down with, "Sorry, my phone's dead right now. I'll send it to you later." I hadn't even told them my own address, so how exactly were they supposed to send it? Even now, I was still foolishly waiting...
"And if it's a message I really dislike, I'll just ignore it after thinking about it for a bit."
"So... the messages I send aren't disliked?"
"...I didn't say I disliked them. I just find them troublesome."
Under Yuihama's eager gaze, Yukino couldn't help furtively looking away, her cheeks faintly flushed. That reaction was pretty cute, but it had nothing to do with me, so whatever.
Yuihama also sighed in relief and threw herself onto Yukino. Yukino turned her face away in displeasure and let herself be hugged. But that had nothing to do with me either, so whatever.
"I see. Still, phones really aren't that all-powerful."
Yuihama clung tightly to Yukino, as though she had deeply felt just how fragile that bond was.
"I-I'll study hard too... It'd be nice if we could get into the same university."
She said it softly, lowering her gaze to the floor.
"Has Yukino already decided which university you'll apply to?"
"I haven't decided yet, but it'll probably be a science program at a national or public university."
"That sounds super impressive! Th-then... sh-shut-in guy? I-I'm only asking casually."
"I'm applying to a humanities program at a private university."
"Then maybe I can give it a try too!"
Yuihama finally smiled again. But what was that supposed to mean?
"Let me tell you this first: don't underestimate humanities programs at private universities. Apologize to every such department in Japan! Besides, our levels are completely different."
"Ugh... I-I'll study hard!"
She let go of Yukino and declared it loudly.
"S-so, starting this week, we'll hold study sessions."
"...What?"
"Club activities stop during the week before exams anyway, so aren't the afternoons free? Oh, right, there's Municipal Education Research Conference again this Tuesday, so club activities are suspended. That should be a good time too."
She completely ignored Yukino's confusion and began making plans on her own. Come to think of it, I'd heard the term "Municipal Education Research Conference" in middle school. It was short for the Chiba City Education Research Association, which all teachers had to attend, so sometimes school ended early or club activities were canceled.
Actually, it wasn't like I didn't understand Yuihama's plan. With Yukino, the top student in the entire grade who was preparing for a national or public university science program, and me, ranked third in Japanese across the grade, here with her, it was like getting a shot of adrenaline before an exam. Besides, since I had an idiot little sister, I was fairly confident about tutoring people. As for why my sister's grades still hadn't improved after receiving my guidance, that was simply because she was too stupid.
If there was still a problem, it was that I didn't want to help with this.
Nothing annoyed me more than having my private time taken away. The post-sports-festival celebration was on my blacklist too. I-it wasn't because I hadn't been invited! Time was an extremely limited resource. Sacrificing mine to keep other people company was incredibly painful.
"Um..."
While I was thinking of how to refuse, the two girls continued discussing things among themselves.
"Then how about Saizeriya at PIENA?"
"I'm fine with anything."
"Um, Yuihama..."
If I didn't make this clear quickly, it would become official! Just as I was about to refuse, Yuihama's next words cut me off.
"This is my first time going out alone with Yukino!"
"Is it?"
So I hadn't been on the guest list to begin with.
"Shut-in guy, what were you about to say?"
"N-nothing... Good luck."
Studying alone was more efficient! I definitely wouldn't lose!
FROM ☆★Yui★☆: 18:21 TITLE No title Thank you! Please provide the text you would like me to translate or revise. Have you finished studying world history? I seriously don't understand any of it at all (＞_＜)! Which parts do you think will be on the test? There's no time left, so I can only guess ...Please tell me☆ FROM Hachiman: 18:29 TITLE Re That won't work. The scope of world history is so broad that you definitely can't guess it. But because the scope is so broad, there won't be any essay questions. Make sure you know the terms that appear in the chronology. The rest is just memorization. FROM ☆★Yui★☆: 18:30 TITLE Re2 Shut-in guy, why are you angry (ˊ˙ω˙ˋ)? FROM Hachiman: 18:30 TITLE Re3 What? I'm not angry. FROM ☆★Yui★☆: 18:31 TITLE Re4 If you don't use any emoticons, you look like you're angry (ˋ˙ω˙ˊ)! FROM Hachiman: 18:32 TITLE Re5 What country's culture is that? Ancient Egyp tians? I'm not using that kind of thing.
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