Eventually, it was just past midnight when I finally finished all the backlog of howork.
It took longer than I thought, but it was still within the expected range.
“You study surprisingly well.”
“Why? Do I not look like it?”
“Yeah.”
“……”
Her sincere response to my joking remark felt sowhat like a hit to the bone.
I coughed awkwardly and said,
“I personally don’t dislike studying. Like exercise, studying is one of the few things where consistent effort yields results.”
Both required talent beyond a certain level, but at least that was what I thought.
It wasn’t like other fields didn’t require talent.
“That’s amazing. I really hated reading books.”
“Really? That’s unexpected. If you were sick, you must have spent a lot of ti in bed. Wouldn’t that naturally lead you to read books?”
“Who reads books in this day and age? Maybe gas or TV, but not books.”
It was a strangely realistic point.
It wasn’t exactly wrong either.
These days, it was said that many people read less than one book a month.
“Anyway, I should go to sleep soon. I don’t want to be late on the first day back at school.”
“So, you’ll see Ryu-chan there, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Then go to sleep quickly.”
Saya said that and patted the bedding spread on the floor.
‘She’s quick only when it suits her.’
I looked at her incredulously and then sighed deeply.
“Okay. You sleep well too.”
So, the last night of sumr vacation ca to a close.
The next day, 4 a.m.
“Unagi donburi!”
To make up for yesterday’s mistake, I woke up sharply at dawn and only felt relieved after checking the ti on my phone.
It wasn’t that my circadian rhythm had been disrupted due to recent laziness in exercise, but rather, I had overslept due to the rebound effect of my body growing back from its reduced size.
While Saya was deep in dreamland, I entered the room, changed into training clothes, and woke her up for jogging.
“Uhh. I want to sleep a little more…”
Her sleep-talking was sowhat cute, but no matter what, I couldn’t change my solidified exercise routine of two years.
“Saya, wake up. We need to go exercise.”
As I kept shaking her shoulder and saying that, Saya got up with a dazed expression.
I wiped the drool from her mouth with a handkerchief and then forcibly got her up.
“Co on, let’s go.”
Then, Saya, still in a drowsy state, followed , nodding off like a child.
“Haaa.”
The early morning air was always refreshing.
Thinking so, I did so stretching in front of the house and then started jogging at a moderate pace.
Jogging at neither too fast nor too slow a pace like this helped reduce the stress on knees and feet.
It wasn’t always better to run hard without thought.
While running along my daily route, Kazu, my gym colleague, would naturally join .
“Brother! Good morning!”
“Yeah. Good morning.”
Kazu, definitely my age, still called “brother.”
He had a more mature face than , so when we were together, people often mistakenly thought we were in so organization. I’d asked him to change how he addressed , but he still pretended not to hear.
He would just say sothing like, “Once a brother, always a brother.”
“It’s the new sester starting today; how’s school for you?”
“For , it’s always the sa. Now that the biker gangs have graduated, I’m studying hard for certifications, planning to get a job right after graduation.”
“What certification?”
“Maybe a motorcycle chanic. I personally enjoy riding them, but I also like working on them.”
“Really? That suits you well.”
“How about you, brother?”
“I’m not sure. I don’t have anything I want to do yet.”
“You’re good at both studies and sports, so couldn’t you just choose whatever you want to do?”
“When you say it like that, it sounds like I’m sothing special.”
“It’s not wrong, is it?”
“Well, that’s true.”
Being troubled because I knew too much—if others heard this, they’d say I was full of it.
Although there was still ti, honestly speaking, I’d beco quite anxious compared to the first sester.
Maybe it was because I’d already experienced failure once.
What was it that I really wanted to do?
“How about bodybuilding? You seem to have a better physique than even the active professionals.”
“Bodybuilder? I do fitness as a hobby, so that’s a bit…”
Even if you love sothing, there was a big difference between doing it as a hobby and as a profession.
Moreover, becoming a bodybuilder ant you couldn’t eat whatever you wanted due to strict body managent.
Bodybuilders weren’t called urban ascetics for nothing.
For a food lover like , that was a fatal flaw.
Chatting away as we ran, we soon arrived at our destination—the public park.
After a light workout there, we returned ho to eat.
After a quick shower to wash off the sweat, and leaving the house, it was already past 7 a.m.
Following my usual route, I reached the subway station and took the train to Minato-ku, where the school was located.
“Ah! Ryu-chan!”
“Ryu-chan?”
Saya, startled by the familiar nickna, looked around in surprise.
I, standing next to her, imdiately corrected her misunderstanding.
“Ryu-chan is . My na, in Japanese style, is Ryusei, so they call Ryu-chan.”
“……”
Then, Saya hit my head with a slightly grumpy expression.
Of course, being a ghost, it didn’t hurt.
“Hello. This is the first ti since Comiket. Have you been well?”
“I’m just a corpse minus the health!”
Rika said that, striking a pose emphasizing her forearm.
Of course, that didn’t suddenly create muscles where there were none.
“It’s been really long since we went to school, right?”
“Indeed.”
Though it was only a month, this year’s sumr vacation felt unusually long.
Rika chattered excitedly about the incidents during Comiket, and I played my usual role of responding accordingly.
It would take about 30 minutes from ho to school.
We arrived at the school after several subway transfers.
“Hey! What’s with that outfit?! Is that skirt a belt? Wear it below the belly!”
At the school gate, our class teacher, Matsuda, was still inspecting the students’ attire, unchanged as ever.
“Hello.”
“Teacher! Hello!”
As we passed and greeted, Teacher Matsuda looked at my untied shoelaces as if to say sothing but then seed to give up and shut his mouth.
Then, he turned his attention to Rika next to .
“Kishimoto, you too, lower your skirt. Aren’t you cold wearing it like that?”
“Eh~ High school girls don’t get cold easily.”
Rika said that, laughing it off naturally.
Unable to scold a smiling face, Teacher Matsuda sighed softly and waved his hand, as if he couldn’t say anything harsh to Rika, who exuded positive energy with her whole being.
“Alright. Go on. I’ll let it slide since it’s the first day of the sester.”
“Yay! Thank you, Teacher!”
Rika and I bowed to the teacher and then stepped beyond the school gate.
Click!
As I entered the classroom, it montarily fell silent.
I’d been in the sa class for half a year now; I wish they’d be more accepting.
This atmosphere…
Children gathered in various places, murmuring among themselves.
I sat down, half-resigned to the situation.
“Hey! Long ti, no see!”
At least Satoru, who sat in front of , greeted warmly.
“It’s been a while, Satoru.”
“What’s wrong? Why do you look so down this morning?”
“Just… sothing happened.”
I mumbled that and then looked towards the window seat.
“Where’s Ryuji?”
“He hasn’t co yet. It seems like he might be late again today.”
As expected of a love cody protagonist, it seed like a rule to be late on the first day of the new sester.
I’m sure his younger sister wakes him up in the morning, so why was he late so often?
With these thoughts, I naturally unpacked my bag.
“Ah! The new release from last week! I want to read it first!”
The hot-off-the-press Jump magazine I bought this morning at the convenience store was snatched up by Rika before I could even read it.
Now, it felt like my Jump magazine had beco a public good.
I almost got annoyed when Satoru casually asked, “Kishimoto, can I read it after you?”
Just like the first sester, the morning commute passed by, and it was finally ti for horoom.
“Alright! Quiet! Quiet! I know everyone’s excited about the new sester, but let’s keep it down a bit!”
As soon as he stood at the front of the class, Matsuda hushed all the students, cleared his throat softly, and looked around the class.
“From this sester on, we have a new transfer student who will join our class.”
Imdiately, a barrage of questions about the transfer student followed.
Matsuda then ntioned the most intriguing information to us—the gender and origin of the student.
“It’s a girl, and she’s from Osaka.”
“Is she pretty?!”
“She is.”
Wooooooowwwww!
The boys’ mood instantly heated up.
On the other hand, the girls looked disappointed.
After all, this was the third female transfer student this year.
Amidst this commotion, Matsuda called to the transfer student outside the classroom.
“Transfer student! Co in now!”
Click!
Imdiately after, a healthy-looking girl with brown skin entered the classroom.
“Hello! My na is Hattori Aya!”
The transfer student from Osaka greeted us cheerfully with a bright smile.
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