← The Studious Boy and the Secret Account Girl

Volume 2

Chapter 14: The Gariben Notebook - Part 1

Chapter 14: The Gariben Notebook – Part 1

‘Please lend me your notebook.’

Matsurika had said so, surely.

It felt somewhat unexpected.

The notebook of Tsutomu—the runaway grade-topper, a regular fixture at the top of national mock exams—was a hit both in and out of the classroom.

The so-called ‘Gariben Notebook’, named after Tsutomu’s nickname, was traded among a great many students.

From those who used it, he sometimes heard things like ‘your run-of-the-mill reference books and teachers’ lectures don’t even compare.’

As the maker of the original notebook, he was more than glad it was so well received.

But—

“A notebook? I’ve heard your grades are good, Tachibana.”

‘Tachibana Matsurika’ was a perfect girl. To say this was common knowledge within the school was no exaggeration.

Beautiful features, a brilliant mind, outstanding athleticism. Beyond that, she was never short of praises.

It was a well-known enough story that it had even reached the ears of Tsutomu, who rarely took interest in his classmates.

…All of it was secondhand, so he didn’t actually know just how high-level her grades were.

“Up until now.”

Matsurika, who’d moistened her throat with strawberry milk, smiled ironically.

The tongue that darted out to graze her lips, freed from the straw, was alluring.

By ‘up until now’, she must have meant that her studies weren’t progressing lately.

“Kariya-kun, don’t you think the classes have gotten harder since second year?”

“…Is that so?”

Tsutomu tilted his head with the straw still in his mouth.

He could understand the gist of what she meant, but it didn’t quite click.

School classes had never changed much, then or now. Besides, he never really listened properly.

“It’s a problem when you answer me with a straight face like that.”

“That’s unreasonable.”

“No no, everyone’s thinking the same thing, you know.”

The girl, who as a school idol counted many acquaintances, puffed out her chest with confidence.

Namely, that her other classmates were worn out by the difficulty of the classes.

For Tsutomu, whose social relations were all but nonexistent, he had no way to verify the truth of it.

He lifted his gaze, which had been staring intently at her chest through his lenses, to her face.

He saw no color of lying in Matsurika’s eyes.

‘Even though you’re students at a no-less-than-advanced school, nobody studies?’—the truth of it, he held back in his throat.

“If Tachibana says so, then I won’t argue. So, it was my notebook then?”

“Yeah.”

“Just ask Amakusa for a notebook. I’ve left that whole matter with him.”

The ‘Gariben Notebook’ had spread beyond the classroom to the entire grade.

But Tsutomu wasn’t handing the notebook directly to them himself.

Lending and returning it to each and every one, or letting them make copies—what a hassle.

The only one he lent the notebook to was his sole friend, Shiro.

He was the ringleader and the point of contact for the ‘Gariben Notebook.’

At the mention of Shiro, whose face was well known among boys and girls alike, Matsurika’s face clouded over at once.

The girl who radiated light like the sun, uncharacteristically hesitant, then spoke, haltingly.

“Amakusa-kun copies the notebook he borrows from Kariya-kun and sells it, right?”

“That’s right.”

When he replied lightly, Matsurika furrowed her neatly shaped brows.

“So, um… Kariya-kun provides the notebook, and Amakusa-kun sells it. And they split the profits—is that it?”

“No. I don’t take any money.”

Asked, he shook his head.

It seemed it was thought to be a joint venture between the two of them, but that wasn’t how it worked.

To begin with, Tsutomu had no intention of making money off his own notebook.

“…You don’t think you’re being used by Amakusa-kun?”

“It’s a two-way street, so.”

“A two-way street?”

He nodded to show her, and wrinkles gathered between Matsurika’s brows.

‘I can’t see it that way at all’—that was written plainly upon her outstanding beauty.

—No reason to hide it, I suppose.

Tsutomu held Matsurika’s secret.

The secret that the popular secret-account girl ‘RIKA’, who posted erotic photos, was really this school’s heroine.

Holding such a bomb-like piece of information one-sidedly might be a psychological burden on Matsurika.

In that case… if he were to reveal a bit of his own situation too, perhaps it would balance out somewhat. That’s what he’d considered.

Making up his mind, he took a sip of cocoa. Moistening his throat, he opened his mouth.

“Rather than petty money that amounts to allowance, I’m getting something better.”

“Something better?”

“Yeah. Information.”

Shiro wasn’t earning money behind the scenes in secret, either.

Initially he’d been offered to split the proceeds, but Tsutomu was the one who’d declined.

‘I don’t want the money. Instead, I want your impressions.’

To Shiro, who’d approached wearing a frivolous smile, Tsutomu had replied that way.

How much had grades risen from using the notebook? Or not risen.

Did it help? Wasn’t there anything lacking?

Was there any wish that they’d ‘do it more like this’?

He’d had Shiro compile such impressions from the students who’d used the ‘Gariben Notebook.’

“The guy made the same face you’re making now, the first time too.”

“Ugh.”

Shiro’s idea—copying the grade-topper’s notebook and selling it off to other students to make a profit—was a rather gray one.

In contrast, in Tsutomu’s head, there’d also been a not-so-great plan to exploit his own ability. But he’d had no connections to put it into action.

‘Amakusa Shiro’ wasn’t particularly a good friend, but… he presumed the man, who’d come to talk to him, had high communication skills.

Shiro seemed unable to fathom Tsutomu’s intent in not demanding money. He supposed that was only natural.

That said, it seemed Shiro had his own calculations, and without prying deeply, he’d given his consent.

And so Shiro became the ringleader of the ‘Gariben Notebook’… and wound up in for a shock.

The notebook sold. It made money. If that were all, a cheer and done, but it wasn’t so simple.

The more he sold to people, the more the tallying of impressions in return became a chore.

Shiro, whose eyes had been clouded by money, had plainly underestimated the messiness of it all.

From before the plan even started, Tsutomu had thought ‘this’ll turn into a real pain’, but he’d deliberately said nothing.

Now, Shiro too seemed to have caught wind of Tsutomu’s ulterior purpose. Even so, he dutifully gathered impressions from the notebook’s buyers and brought them along.

Behind all his dirty methods, he thought of him as a good guy.

“What would you do knowing everyone else’s impressions?”

The eyes staring at him held a suspicious light.

Tsutomu drained his cocoa and let his gaze wander into the air.

Searching a while for how to explain it——

“The notebook is something made by me, only at that moment. Even if it’s fine then, I can’t know whether it’ll be useful at the final goal—the university entrance exam stage.”

“Hm? Sorry, that’s unclear.”

“Right… It’s the question of whether it’ll be useful in the future.”

He made the notebook purely in the state of having just learned.

He’d use the notebook after some time had passed.

Even the grade-topper Tsutomu, time passing, his knowledge would fade.

Whether, when he looked at the notebook in a state of diminished knowledge retention, it would be something that let him deepen his understanding properly, was hard to judge at the stage of making it.

Hence, he’d had those with lower levels of study act as surrogates for ‘his future self’, use the notebook, and collected their impressions.

Then, on the basis of those impressions, he improved the notebook. All of it, for the sake of the future that would come to ‘Kariya Tsutomu.’

“Amakusa sells the notebook and makes profit. The others raise their test scores and are pleased. And I can update my notebook.”

Just as the saying goes, a win-win-win.

There was such a word in the Omi merchants’ creed.

T/N: The Ōmi merchants are merchants from Ōmi and Shiga Prefecture who were active from the Middle Ages to modern times. They were one of Japan’s three major groups of merchants, along with merchants from Ōsaka and Ise. (…) They’re popularly depicted as men in traveling clothes with straw sandals, striped capes, and cone hats, with small bundles on a carrying pole, but they were as likely to be found on board ocean-going ships or hunting bears in Hokkaidō. Source: https://visit-omi.com/people/article/omi-merchants

Throughout nine years of school life, elementary and junior high combined, he’d been aware of the weaknesses in his own notebooks, but had no concrete countermeasure.

He’d hit on the idea of using others, but alone, ill at ease with the ins and outs of human relations, he couldn’t realize it.

The one who’d approached Tsutomu while he was brooding over what to do was Shiro. Shiro, one of the school’s most popular figures, had been a godsend.

“In other words, everyone’s being made your guinea pigs, Kariya-kun.”

“I never said as far as that.”

“Your honest thoughts?”

“Even if they raise their grades temporarily by looking at my notebook, they’ll only struggle in the entrance exam.”

He scoffed with a ‘hmph.’

In the end, study comes down to daily accumulation.

Those who try to scrape by with easy methods each time an exam nears, will end up weeping at the university entrance exam waiting at the end.

Since Tsutomu wasn’t an Omi merchant, what became of others’ futures was no concern of his.

“Isn’t that harsh?”

“If you think so, then just study on your own.”

He tossed the finished iced-cocoa carton into the trash and spat out.

His grinning face, adjusting his glasses, looked, no matter how you put it, like a villain’s.