← The Studious Boy and the Secret Account Girl
Volume 2
Chapter 24: Exams Over, a Celebration for Two - Part 1
Chapter 24: Exams Over, a Celebration for Two – Part 1
Several days passed after Tsutomu began studying with Matsurika, and at last the midterms began.
A big ‘Off Limits’ sign was displayed glaringly in the staff room, and days of suffocating tension were forced upon nearly everyone in the school.
Every time the chime rang, the students sat face-to-face with their test papers, wrangling their heads.
After several more days of deep frowns carved into the brows of most of the school,
“I’m done…! (×6)”
—on the final day, the chime announcing the end of the last exam rang through the school.
The cheers that echoed were a mix of joy and sorrow. Some spoke their happiness straight out, others clutched their heads in grief.
Some students headed off briskly to the clubs that had long been forbidden, others stared blankly into space.
The teachers, who should normally have been scolding these too-released youths, let out wry smiles with ‘well, today’s no help for it.’
Amid such a mosaic of a classroom scene, Tsutomu’s face was unchanged from always.
True, he didn’t pull some side work in the middle of the exam, but he didn’t specially study for it either.
He merely solved the given problems and reviewed a few times. The remaining time, he spent napping to conserve energy.
Even now the exam was over, he paid no mind to the other students, packing his things into his bag and trying to leave the classroom. But…
“Oho, Tsutomu-san. Off to work already?”
“No, that starts next week.”
Addressing his friend ‘Amakusa Shiro’, who made no effort to suppress his gleeful tone after the ordeal of exams, he answered curtly.
Shiro was a fundamentally lighthearted man, but today the lightness had been polished to a sheen.
There was a strange air about him, as though if left alone he’d float off somewhere.
“You’re so earnest.”
“That’s normal, isn’t it?”
This exchange, too, was repeated every time the exams ended.
Both spoke their true feelings, but neither expected them to reach the other.
Tsutomu and Shiro’s relationship was deep enough to respect the difference in their values.
“No no, the exams are finally over. Loosen up a bit—treat yourself to a reward sometimes.”
“?”
Furrowing his brow at Shiro’s words, Tsutomu tilted his head. He hadn’t felt the need to reward himself.
Tsutomu, untroubled by exam prep, from when he’d started his part-time job, had been showing up at the shop just as usual even right before exams.
The store manager, who’d grasped the high-school exam schedule, had forcibly removed him from the shift with ‘focus on your studies before exams.’
He’d felt dissatisfied then, too, and this time as well he’d have liked to return quickly to his daily cycle, but as an employee he couldn’t defy his employer’s word.
Hence, asked if he were free, he was free, and what Shiro would say next upon hearing that was enough to predict.
“Well, if you’re free, great. Then let’s go celebrate—”
“Kariya-kun, can I have a moment?”
From the side opposite Shiro, a clear yet sweet voice struck Tsutomu’s ear.
A voice he’d grown thoroughly familiar with told him, without even turning, who its owner was.
“Sorry Tachibana, Amakusa—”
“Amakusa-kun?”
When he turned, there was—the school idol ‘Tachibana Matsurika’, smiling cheerfully.
Gauging the intent of a smile not directed at him was difficult.
…Somehow, he felt it was a stilted expression, on the made-up side.
“Eh, a, no, I-I’m, uh, nothing at all, really.”
“Amakusa?”
From his friend came an abruptly chaste, strained voice.
As he cast a dubious gaze at the sudden change,
“Tsutomu, rest easy. I won’t do anything unseemly.”
Patting him on the shoulder, the friend turned on his heel and, waving his hand, went off.
He had no time to call out, and Shiro’s back said ‘don’t call to me.’
Casting his gaze at Matsurika, there was the same smile as a moment ago.
“What’s the matter, Kariya-kun?”
“…Nothing. So then, need something from me?”
He remembered that no particular period had been set for teaching Matsurika.
He’d vaguely intended it as until the midterms had finished, but…
This was a good opportunity. He had to confirm that part.
“…”
A shiver ran down his spine. His lips stiffened and stopped moving.
Matsurika’s smile was frightening.
Though her expression hadn’t changed and she wasn’t saying anything strange.
The unpleasant proverb ‘a frog stared down by a snake’ came to mind. Tsutomu was the frog, Matsurika the snake.
…Though he wasn’t so rude as to call her a ‘snake’ to her face.
“What do you mean, the exams are over.”
“Yeah.”
“And what, the exams are over?”
“Back to normal classes.”
“Wrong. A celebration.”
With each word, the pressure from Matsurika mounted.
It seemed he’d chosen the wrong option.
“I’m no good at places like that.”
“‘Places like that’? Weren’t you just talking with Amakusa-kun about a celebration?”
“That is… a place with a lot of people I’m not close to, making noise—I’m no good at places like that.”
“A lot of people?”
Matsurika furrowed her brows.
Matsurika, last year’s beauty-contest winner and the school idol, was eternally surrounded by a fair number of people.
After the recent incident over the ‘Gariben Notebook’, even as she came to study with Tsutomu in the library after school, she remained the classroom’s sun during breaks, as ever.
Such a girl calling out ‘let’s celebrate’ would, as a matter of course, draw the majority of the class.
“Ah, I see.”
When Tsutomu explained his thoughts, Matsurika nodded in understanding.
Matsurika wasn’t obtuse. She understood her position in the classroom precisely.
“Um… this time, I was thinking of not doing that kind of thing.”
“What, that’s a change of mind. What brought this on?”
“What do you mean, what… well, look. I’m always in your care, Kariya-kun, aren’t I?”
“I’m the one who’s always in your care, Tachibana.”
The school idol ‘Tachibana Matsurika’ was also the popular erotic-image-posting secret account ‘RIKA.’
For Tsutomu, who spent his days always busy, the photos she posted were indispensable to refreshing his mind and body.
“We’re not talking about that.”
Matsurika’s voice rang flat.
This… she was quite angry.
Again, he’d chosen the wrong option.
“Sorry.”
“So then, what’ll you do? Go, or not?”
“…Let me ask, but do I have a right to refuse?”
“Please feel free to imagine.”
From the smile of the day, an irresistible gravity.
★
Where Matsurika marched him… rather, guided him, was a karaoke box.
“After all, for a celebration, it’s gotta be this.”
“Is that so?”
“That’s so.”
“Is that so…”
Declared with such confidence, words to reply didn’t come to him at once.
“Kariya-kun, is this your first celebration thing?”
“No, I’ve been with Amakusa a few times. But karaoke’s a first.”
The karaoke box he’d stepped into for the first time was a strange space.
The room wasn’t especially large. But it held more than enough space for two to occupy.
The lighting was dim, and there were several machines he’d never seen.
If he asked, Matsurika would surely tell him, but somehow he hesitated.
“Hm, where do you go with Amakusa-kun?”
At Matsurika’s casual question, he felt an odd sense of wrongness.
Yet he couldn’t put into words just what was strange.
Neither her line nor her tone gave a negative impression.
Only… ‘answer carefully’—a deep part of his brain sounded the alarm.
“Let’s see… a beef bowl shop.”
“Mhm, and other things?”
“A family restaurant.”
“I see.”
“And, a beef bowl shop.”
“Eh, that’s it? We’ve gone around again?”
“That’s about it, yeah.”
“H-heh, huh… I didn’t catch it, but who else besides Amakusa-kun?”
“Just Amakusa.”
Right before Tsutomu’s eyes, answering as asked, Matsurika was shaking.
What expression she wore, gazing slightly downward, Tsutomu, tall as he was, couldn’t see.
Looking back on past experience… approaching such a Matsurika carelessly, he judged, was dangerous.
‘How timid of me’ he was mocking himself, when the school idol suddenly raised her face.
Fixing a fierce gaze on Tsutomu before her, she shouted. Pointing a white finger right at his eye and nose.
“Kariya-kun, you don’t understand celebrations at all! I’m going to drill it into you from here on, so be prepared!”