An Ordinary Last Vacation

"Tch, why did you bring extra people along?"

Kamuro Masumi looked at Airi Sakura and Kikyo Kushida beside Toru Hasegawa and sighed with genuine feeling.

"Kamuro, fancy seeing you again."

Kikyo Kushida waved without a hint of embarrassment, her face beaming with a bright smile.

Kamuro Masumi simply returned the greeting.

"Let's wait for our reinforcements," Toru Hasegawa said, then spotted someone approaching. "Hashimoto, over here."

"Why did you call him?" Kamuro Masumi complained.

Toru Hasegawa glanced at her. "I have to think about my image, too. During vacation, wouldn't it look weird to outsiders if one guy was surrounded by three girls?"

He'd obviously be mistaken for a womanizer. But add one more guy, and it'd be fine.

Masayoshi Hashimoto, you're up!

"You actually care about your image?" Kamuro Masumi quipped.

"Why wouldn't I?" Toru Hasegawa looked at her strangely. "I'd be pretty troubled if people got the wrong idea."

Besides, reputation mattered!

"And what about me?" Masayoshi Hashimoto had just walked over and heard the conversation. His face darkened.

Toru Hasegawa smiled. "You already have the image of a womanizer, so it's fine."

"Why does it feel like I can't argue with that?"

"Because it's true."

The five of them soon hit it off, but they still hadn't gone anywhere.

"Um, Kamuro, is there anywhere you'd like to go?" Toru Hasegawa asked indirectly.

After all, the original plan had been for the two of them to spend time alone together. Now that there were five of them, he couldn't exactly ask her outright in front of everyone.

"Let's just look around. I haven't been to most places anyway." Kamuro Masumi gave a vague answer.

"Sounds good." Toru Hasegawa nodded. His situation wasn't much different from hers. "I heard the school sells summer uniforms. Let's go take a look."

He'd learned this recently. One morning, he'd accidentally torn his clothes by pulling too hard, so he'd had to wear his spare uniform. When he went to buy a new one, he discovered that the school sold summer uniforms, too.

They cost a fair number of points, though. That wasn't a problem for Toru Hasegawa.

Simply put, he had a modest amount of capital at the moment.

"Oh, they sell summer uniforms?" Kikyo Kushida was a little surprised to hear this unexpected news.

To be honest, most first-years had the same problem. Although the classrooms had air-conditioning, not every place did.

With the weather getting warmer as May approached, sweating while walking around was unavoidable.

"Yeah, I only found out by chance."

The five of them went to the uniform shop. Just as Toru Hasegawa had said, it sold summer uniforms, but they cost 10,000 points.

"I'd call this the school's points-recovery program," Toru Hasegawa said after seeing everyone's reactions.

The school required students to wear uniforms, which gave it plenty of room to sell summer ones. The basic uniform was free, but if you wanted to feel a little more comfortable in the heat, you had to pay points.

They'd really thought this through.

"Are you going to buy one?" Toru Hasegawa turned to Kamuro Masumi.

"I don't see any reason not to."

"Fair enough."

In the end, everyone bought two summer uniforms, except Toru Hasegawa.

He'd already bought his.

Getting the uniforms was a bit more complicated for the girls than the boys. They had to be custom-made to fit their measurements, so they'd take a while to arrive.

"All right. Since it's already the end of the month, there's no point keeping certain things under wraps anymore." As Toru Hasegawa spoke, he kept an eye on Kikyo Kushida out of the corner of his eye. "We should see the results at the beginning of next month—the truth about this school."

"Well, most people probably still haven't really grasped it," Masayoshi Hashimoto said casually.

Seeing their reactions, Kamuro Masumi stared at Toru Hasegawa in bewilderment. "Sorry, but I'm one of those people who haven't grasped it."

"We can tell." x2

"Um... what are you talking about?" Kikyo Kushida asked, looking confused.

"Well, basically..." Toru Hasegawa tried to choose his words, then quickly gave up. "Starting next month, we'll be enemies."

"Huh? But aren't we friends?"

"That's the cruel part of this school." Toru Hasegawa smiled. "Figuring out how to balance friendship and competition is a necessary lesson on the road to adulthood."

"You make it sound like you're already an adult." Kamuro Masumi mercilessly teased him.

"If you want me to be your dear old dad, I wouldn't mind."

"Who'd want that?!"

"Haha."

After joking around with Kamuro Masumi, Toru Hasegawa noticed that Airi Sakura hadn't said a word the entire time. He turned the conversation toward Kikyo Kushida. "How's Sakura been doing in class lately?"

"Hmm... There hasn't been much difference, generally speaking. But she does seem a little different from before. I'm not quite sure how, though." Kikyo Kushida thought it over as she spoke, then gave a fairly positive answer.

"Looks like Sakura's been making an effort in her own way. That's great, that's great."

"Do you have some kind of interest in being other people's father?" Kamuro Masumi asked suspiciously.

"No, I absolutely do not have any weird interest like that." Toru Hasegawa firmly denied it. "I just think Sakura can't go on like this. Even a little change would be good. Kushida, how would you rate your grades?"

"Um... They're pretty decent, I guess. Why are you suddenly asking me that?" Kikyo Kushida tilted her head.

Toru Hasegawa turned to Airi Sakura. "And what about you, Sakura? How would you rate your grades? Didn't you have a quiz just yesterday?"

"Ehh... below average."

After all, she didn't seem like the type to focus on studying. For her, those grades weren't too bad.

Toru Hasegawa decided to put it another way. "Would you like Kushida to tutor you? You could do it for my sake, too. Of course, only if you're both willing."

"?"

His odd choice of words immediately caught everyone's attention except Airi Sakura.

Their gazes instantly turned to Airi Sakura.

The girl's blush said it all.

Kamuro Masumi already looked like she wanted to grab Toru Hasegawa by the collar and demand an explanation.

Even Masayoshi Hashimoto wore an incredulous expression. Only Kikyo Kushida showed a slight look of "I knew it."

"If it's what Hasegawa wants..."

"No, no, that's not the way to think about it." Kamuro Masumi quickly interrupted Airi Sakura. "You should study for yourself, no matter what. Remember that."

Toru Hasegawa breathed a sigh of relief. It was great that Kamuro Masumi could say it for him. "I didn't expect you to say something like that. I'm impressed, Kamuro."

"What about you, Kushida?"

"Helping my classmates is something I want to do, so I'd be happy to."

A comforting smile appeared on Kikyo Kushida's face. She'd gotten some pretty good information today. Coming along really had been the right choice.