After she was done with Homeroom, Umi met up with the rest of the group, and together with her, we went to my house (our usual spot for studying).
On the way home, we stopped by the convenience store and filled up our basket with snacks and drinks that we could munch on while studying. It wasnât like my house didnât have any snacks for us to eat, it was just, the snacks there wouldnât be enough for all five of us. Of course, the bill was split between all of us.
ââŠMaki.â
âHm?â
ââŠWhat happened before I joined up with you guys?â
âAh⊠You seeâŠâ
Like I said before, the snacks wouldnât be enough for all five of us. Yes, all five of us.
Originally, only four of us would be joining the study session; Umi, Nitta-san, Nozomu and me. As for Amami-san, she said she wouldnât be joining because she wanted to ask her dad to teach her instead.
âŠOr so she said.
âGrrâŠâ
âJeez, Yuuchin, I get it already! Can you give me some space? I canât walk if youâre this close to me!â
âN-No way. I said that Iâll keep an eye on you, didnât I?â
At the end of Umiâs sight were those two, who had been quarreling like that ever since we left the school ground.
They walked so close to each other that youâd thought they were a pair of close friends. But if you were to see them up close, Amami-san was holding on to Nitta-san's uniform, making sure to restrict her movement.
If you hadnât figured it out already, yeah, Amami-san decided to join the study session.
As for why she changed her decision, naturally it was because of what happened back when we were waiting at the courtyard for Umi. She was trying to make sure that Nitta-san couldnât cling to me again.
âIâll join the study session so that you wonât get in the way of Umi and Maki-kun, Ninacchi!â
Or so she said, completely taking the bait Nitta-san set up for her.
With this, sheâd be breaking her promise with Hayato-san, but it seemed like the latter agreed to teach her after she came back from the study session instead.
âŠAnd since I was the one who invited her to come in the first place, it wasnât like I could just stop her from joining.
ââŠI see, itâs Ninaâs doing huh? Laying her filthy hands on my precious boyfriend⊠Okay Maki, for today's study session, Iâll be especially strict with her. You too, donât go easy on her like you always do, okay?â
âO-OkayâŠâ
Knowing Nitta-san, she probably expected that this would happen, though. Maybe this was her goal all along? She was that desperate to fix her low grades?
But, you know⊠It didnât seem like something sheâd normally doâŠ
âUh, is it really okay to bring those two along? I feel like the study session would turn chaotic if those two were to keep on doing thatâŠâ
âIt should be fine. They know that they shouldnât make a fuss in someone elseâs house, right, Umi?â
âYes. Rather than that, we should think about how to make Nina suffer, so that she wouldnât get her filthy hands on you again, Maki.â
ââŠIâm even more worried now.â
Hearing Umiâs answer as she sent a glare to Nitta-sanâs back, Nozomu let out a sigh.
I felt bad for him since he was the only one who was out of the loop among the five of us. After all, he signed up for the studying, not for the drama between those two.
He never talked about it out loud, but he was also quite worried about his grades.
Now that I was stuck in this situation, I realized that there were a lot of things I had to think about; studies, relationships, career paths. All I could do was to tackle all of them, one at a time.
All for the sake of my cute girlfriend.
* * *
While the atmosphere was different than usual, it wasnât like I could slack off on studying since the exam was coming up soon. While my grades had been increasing steadily, I still couldnât let my guard down.
âAlright, letâs get started. Iâll teach Nina, while you, Maki, go teach Yuu. As for Seki⊠Well, you know what? You should be fine. Just ask either of us if you have any questions.â
âYou really are treating me like an afterthought⊠Well, itâs easier for me that way anyway, so I wonât complain.â
The five of us lined up our books on the dining table and began our studies. Our seats were arranged in such a way that Umi and I, the ones whoâd be teaching the rest of the group, were seated next to each other. Then, Amami-san and Nitta-san were seated across from each other, while Nozomu sat on my right side.
Well, he had way better grades than the other two, so he didnât really need to be taught personally.
âSince you asked for it, Iâll work you to the bone today, Nina, be prepared.â
ââŠUmâŠâ
Hearing that coming from Umiâs mouth, alongside with the pressure that accompanied her smile, Nitta-san could only nod her head stiffly.
While I felt sorry for her, it was true that she brought this to herself, so tough luck on her.
ââŠAlright, we should start too. First, weâll do English.â
âO-Okay⊠U-Um⊠P-Please take care of me, Maki-kun!â
ââŠI wonât be doing the same thing as Umi, donât get so nervousâŠâ
Perhaps she was worried that Iâd be as harsh as the other âteacherâ on the table, she looked so unnaturally nervous. Well, I hope that she could turn into her usual self after we started our studies.
Iâve looked into the scope of the exams that were announced by the school and already solved the important ones before this study session happened.
As we started studying, Amami-san and Nitta-san seemed to be concentrating hard. It wasnât like I disliked the usual casual atmosphere around us, but this kind of serious atmosphere felt nice.
Weâve already at that point in our life, after all, the point where weâd need to stop messing around and start studying properly.
ââŠUh, Maki?â
âYeah? Whatâs wrong, Nozomu? Is there something you want to ask?â
âAh no, it isnât about the study⊠Iâm just wondering, what are you going to do from now on?â
âAre you talking about my career path?â
ââŠYeah.â
While everyone was reading through their books, Nozomu approached me and asked me this question in a low voice.
Weâve talked about this briefly in the past, but it was just a small talk between the two of us. Other than that, somehow we had never had the opportunity to have a deep and serious talk about the matter.
At that moment, I noticed that all four of them were staring at me.
ââŠWhy are you guys looking at me?â
âI mean, youâre practically our groupâs leadoff batter, Rep.â
The other three seemed to agree with Nitta-sanâs words.
I felt like my career path was so obvious and uninteresting though⊠Wait, was that why they made me say it first?
âWell, I donât care about it much as long as I can go to the same university as Umi⊠Of course, I have secondary options too, just in case.â đŁđŠđ„đŻđđ·đŠđ.đđđ
âI see. So you are planning to marry into the Asanagis. Got it.â
âDid you not hear what I just said, Nitta-san?â
Since we were dating, of course weâd have to talk about that someday in the future. But, we wouldnât do it before we graduated from the university and had a nice job.
âŠAnd if it wasnât obvious already, I had no plans on changing my surname to Asanagi.
âNina, you⊠Anyway, for me itâs the same as Maki. My first choice is definitely K-University. Iâll be going there and Iâll look for a job afterwards. My parents agreed with my choice⊠What about you, Yuu?â
âCan you not ask me about that?â
Well, there was still time, so if Amami-san were to work on her studies more, she should be able to go wherever she wanted to. Though, she had to work especially hard for it.
Even at our high school, a place where they prioritize education over everything, not everyone could get into the university after graduation.
âŠBut honestly, as long as Amami-san tried to put her mind into it, I felt like sheâd be able to do it.
âAs for me, I already gave up on that. Itâs easier to look up my grade from the bottom of the list, thereâs no way I could get into a decent university with that kind of grade. Actually, Iâve already given up since last year.â
âThatâs way too early to give up⊠But, Nina, what are you planning to do for your career path then? Youâre going to continue your studies, right?â
âYeah, but obviously famous universities are not an option. Maybe Iâll go to a vocational school or something, that sounds fun. Still, my parents insist that I need to go to a university first before getting a job. That means, I have to increase my grade so that I can go to a private university at least.â
It would be best if she could just do whatever she wanted, but it wasnât like she could completely disregard what her parents wanted either.
Compared to her parents, mine and Umiâs didnât care much about our chosen career paths. But, not everyone's parents were the same, I understood that.
âWell, thatâs it for me. What about you, Yuuchin? I heard that Eri-san can help you out if you want to become an actress or something. Are you going to, though?â
âHuh? Ah⊠Yeah⊠Um, thatâs right, she could help me out if I want to, but you know⊠It isnât like I donât want to go down on that career path. I mean, I do like watching all the idols and actresses on TV, but⊠After seeing my mom, I realized that I canât just go down that path with a half-baked resolveâŠâ
To summarize, all five of us planned to continue our studies somewhere. And everyone would be going their own ways.
Though it wouldnât happen until our graduation, it still felt sad to think that it would happen soon.
âAnyway, that means all of us should study hard! So that we can graduate without any regrets next year!â
ââŠYuu, weâre still in the second year. We wonât be graduating until the year afterâŠâ
ââŠU-UmâŠâ
âAh, her face is getting redder. So cute.â
âJ-Jeez! I-I misspoke, okay?! Ninacchi youâre so mean!â
As Amami-san puffed her reddened cheeks, laughter spread among us.
âŠYes, this was it, the kind of atmosphere that suited us.
Sure, there was some awkwardness still lingering in the air, but that didnât change the nature of our relationship.
I just needed to be patient. So that things would return back to how it was.