Chapter 5
The End of My Ordinary Days
"Hahahahaha! You're too funny, stupid!"
During 2nd period math class, Ike was loudly chatting with Yamauchi. It had been three weeks since the entrance ceremony; in that time, those two, along with Sudou, were given the name "the stupid trio".
"Ne ne, do you want to go sing some karaoke?" "Yea, let's go—"
Nearby, a group of girls were making after school plans.
"Even though people were nervous for a while, it seems like everyone's opened up to each other quickly…"
"Ayanokouji-kun, haven't you also made more friends?"
Horikita asked me while she was writing down notes from the blackboard.
"Eh, somewhat."
Although I was anxious at first, I got to know Sudou from meeting at the convenience store, and Ike and Yamauchi from the incident at the pool. We occasionally eat lunch together too.
Even though I was far from having "close" friends, I was happy to have some friends.
However, human relations are mysterious things, so it isn't clear when they became my friends.
"Yo."
Halfway through the class, Sudou barged through the door of the class with a bang.
Ignoring the fact that it was the middle of class, he plopped down on his seat with a big yawn.
"Hey, Sudou. Ah, do you want to eat lunch later?"
Ike said in a loud voice from across the room.
The teacher continued the lesson without saying anything about Sudou. A piece of chalk would've been sent flying in a normal classroom, but this teacher seems to be completely tolerant of their behavior. At first, the class was much quieter and reserved, but these days everyone is overly relaxed.
Of course, there are a few people like Horikita who diligently study and pay attention.
My pocket vibrated, indicating that I received a text message. It's the group chat. Looks like they decided to go to the dining hall during lunch.
"Hey Horikita. Do you want to eat lunch together?"
"No thank you. You guys are very crude anyway."
"… Can't deny that."
After all, when the boys are alone, all they talk about are girls or dirty jokes. Who's cute, who's dating who, and all that stuff. It's probably bad to add girls to this kind of conversation.
"Wow… he's already done it with her? Amazing."
From their conversation, it sounds like Hirata is dating Karuizawa. Looking at her from afar, it was obvious that she was sending Hirata lovey-dovey gazes.
She's definitely cute, but she has a hard-to-approach air about her that's not indicative of a beginner in love. In other words, she's the "gal" type of girl.
In middle school, she probably went out with an ikemen just like HIrata. It's a big leap, but I'm pretty sure I'm not far off. Oops, I accidentally badmouthed her.
I apologized to her in my head.
"I hate that expression on your face."
Horikita looked at me with a cold gaze. Looks like she saw through me.
What do you have to do in order to become a couple right after the entrance ceremony? I'm still having a hard time making friends.
If I went up to Horikita and said, "Will you go out with me?"—I'd get punched immediately.
Besides, if I were to get a girlfriend, I'd like someone more refined and gentle.
1
Third period, history. Chiyabashira-sensei's class. She walked in as the bell signaling the start of class rang. The student's attitudes didn't change, though.
"Everyone, be quiet— Today's class will be more serious."
"What do you mean~ Sae-chan-sensei~"
She was already given a nickname by the class.
"It's the end of the month. We will have a short test. Pass these to the back."
She handed out papers to the first row. Eventually, the test reached my desk. The test had several questions from each of the 5 major topics.
"Eh~ I didn't hear anything~. I don't wanna take it~"
"Calm down. This test is only for future reference. It will not be reflected on your report card. There's no risk, so be at ease. However, cheating is naturally prohibited."
There was a slightly strange phrase included in her words. Normally, grades are reflected only in the report card. However, Chiyabashira-sensei's words are a bit different. It looks like she's implying that these grades won't be reported on our report card, but will be reported in some other way. Well… maybe I'm worrying too much. Since it won't be included in the report card, there's nothing to be cautious about.
Once the test started, I looked through the questions. 20 questions, 4 per section, and 5 points per question for a total of a 100 points. However, the questions were extraordinarily easily, and so it felt anticlimactic.
The questions on this test are about 2 levels below the entrance exam questions. Everything here is too simple.
I thought that, but about 3 questions on the test were harder than the others. The last math problem probably can't be solved without using complicated formulas.
"No… Why are these problems so hard…"
These are clearly not for first year high school students. The last three questions are of a different nature; it wouldn't be surprising if they were put on by mistake.
Why are they measuring our ability with this test?
Well, I'll just solve these problems the same way I did on the entrance exam.
Chiyabashira-sensei was monitoring the students as she walked around the classroom. I glanced at Horikita, watching her steadily fill in the answers to the questions. Looks like she'll get perfect marks.
I kept looking at the test until the final bell sounded.
2
"Hey, if you tell me honestly, I'll forgive you, ok?"
"What do you mean by 'honestly'?"
After finishing lunch, I was chatting with Sudou and the others in front of the vending machine.
Suddenly, Ike came close.
"… We're friends, right? Buddies that'll stick together for the next 3 years?"
"Uh… yea. That's right, but…"
"Then… you'll tell us when you get a girlfriend, right?"
"Hah? Girlfriend? Well, if that ever happens."
Ike put his arm on my shoulder.
"You're dating Horikita, aren't you? We won't forgive you if you steal a march on us."
"… Ha?"
I noticed that Sudou and Yamauchi were looking at me suspiciously.
"Stupid, we're not dating. Not at all. No, seriously."
"Then what were you guys talking about stealthily during class? It was something we're not allowed to hear about, isn't it. It was about dates, or about dates, or about a promise to go on a date, right!? Aahh, I'm jealous!"
"No, no. Horikita isn't that kind of girl anyway."
"I don't know that. We've never had the chance to talk anyway. If it wasn't for Kushida, we might not even know her name. She has no presence, and doesn't talk at all."
Is that so? Well, I've also never seen her talk to anyone other than me or Kushida.
"Not even knowing her name, that's cruel."
"Then do you know all of your classmate's names?"
… I tried to recall, but I could only remember half of my classmate's names. Point taken.
"Her face is cute though, right? So we were paying attention to her."
They were nodding their heads.
"Her personality is difficult, though. I don't like that kind of girl."
Sudou said after drinking his coffee.
"Yea, her personality is—how should I put it—harsh and snappy? I'd like to date someone who I can hold a good conversation with. Of course, someone cute. Someone like Kushida-chan."
Of course, Ike's favorite is still Kushida.
"Ah~ Date Kushida-chan—then do ecchi things!"
Yamauchi cried out.
"Stupid, you think you can date Kushida-chan? Fantasies are also prohibited!"
"You also dream about dating her, don't you Ike? In my dreams, I'm already sleeping with Kushida-chan!"
"What! She's doing a sexy pose in cosplay in my dreams!"
The two fought over their delusions. Hey, hey. You can fantasize whatever you want as a high school student, but that's just being disrespectful to Kushida.
"Sudou, who are you aiming for? Are there any rumors of cute girls in the basketball club?"
"Huh? Oh, there's no one. There isn't much room for girls in the club anyway."
"Really… ? You better not be hiding that you're dating someone, absolutely not!"
"Yea, yea."
He just nodded his head at his disgusting words. Talking about girlfriends, I remembered Hirata.
"Hey, isn't Hirata dating Karuizawa now?"
"Oh, right. The other day Hondou saw the two of them holding hands."
"Damn, those two really are dating. Walking with shoulders touching."
"So they were, huh. I wonder if they did ecchi things already."
"Of course they did. Ah, I'm so jealous~!"
It feels unbelievable that first year high school students are already being ecchi. But I guess it's true.
… I feel embarrassed for thinking the same way as these guys.
"Hey, you better listen to what I'm about to say—I'm the most experienced in that sort of thing."
Yamauchi sprawled on the ground and started to talk.
"Let's listen from Hirata instead."
"Do you even think Hirata will tell us truthfully when we ask? 'How are her breasts, is she a virgin, or did you like that?'—did you really think he'd answer?"
What kind of experiences did you want to hear about…
I went to the nearby vending machine to buy a drink. Yamauchi called out with a request.
"Get me cocoa—"
"Don't push that onto me. Buy that yourself."
"No, I've almost used up all my points. I have about 2,000 left."
"… How the hell did you use up more than 90,000 points in 3 weeks?"
"That's because I bought what I wanted to. Here, look. Isn't it great?"
Yamauchi took out a handheld gaming device.
"I went to go buy this with Ike. It's a PS Viva, a PS Viva. It's amazing that the school sells these things too." (T/N PS Vita)
"How much are they?"
"About 20k points. With all options included, about 25k."
Hey, don't spend your points that quickly…
"Usually I don't play games, but since we now live in the dorms, I can play with others. Also, you know that guy Miyamoto in our class, right? He's really good at games."
Miyamoto is the slightly chubby boy in our class. I've never talked to him, but he seems like the guy to talk about games and anime all the time.
"You should also buy one and join us. Sudou said he'll be buying one as soon as he gets next month's allowance."
They started to gang up on me. Yamauchi handed me his game console to try it out. It's a lot lighter than I thought it would be. On the monitor, there was a soldier carrying a big katana while stroking a pig. What a weird world…
"Eh, to be honest, I'm not really interested. Is this… a fighting game of sorts?"
"By any chance, have you never heard of Hunter Watch? It's sold 4.8 million copies around the world! Ever since I was young, I've always had really good game sense, so I've been scouted by pros overseas. Well, I've refused those offers though."
I'm not sure whether 4.8 million is something amazing or not. There's about 7 billion people in the world.
In other words, the people who have bought this game account for less than 0.1% of the population.
"Also, why is that dainty girl wearing all that heavy equipment? Is that stuff made of plastic? If it was made of iron, even Sudou would have trouble with it."
"… Ayanokouji, you seem to want a realistic aspect to your games."
"Are you a foreigner? Then, are you ok with automatic life regen? Do you like those Western games where you shoot someone, hide somewhere, and instantly get your stamina back? Those games are even more unrealistic."
I could not understand anything Yamauchi was saying.
"People say that seeing is believing, right? Buy it and play with us. Ok? Ok? When you start playing, we'll farm for materials with you. Collecting honey is hard too, you know? So, you can buy me a cocoa in advance~"
"Good grief…"
I don't really need the honey or whatever, but I just bought the cocoa to appease him.
"This is what friendship is for! Thanks~!"
I didn't wish for this kind of friendship. Throwing the bottle at him, Yamauchi caught it with his belly.
Well then, what should I drink? As I was hesitating, I noticed a button.
"Oh, so this is here too."
There was an option for mineral water, free of charge.
"Anything wrong?"
"Ah, no. Hey, does the cafeteria offer any set meals that are free?"
"Are you talking about the vegetable set? Those are free. Ah, I don't want a school life just eating veggies and drinking water~"
While drinking his cocoa, Yamauchi laughed.
Having used up all his points, he had no choice but to eat vegetables and drink water every day.
However, it's a situation that's easily avoidable if you're careful. If you don't spend all your money like Yamauchi.
"… Hey, there are a quite a few people that eat the free meal."
Since I went to the cafeteria often, I remember seeing a lot of students eating the vegetables.
"It's probably because it's the end of the month."
"If that was the case, it would be fine…"
Feeling slightly anxious, I decided to get milk. I took the bottle from the slot.
"Why can't it become next month any faster, I want my dream-like school life back!"
The three of them shouted in frustration.
3
"Hey, we're hanging out with Kushida-chan and her friends later, you wanna go too?"
During one of the afternoon classes, I was absent-mindedly writing down notes from the blackboard when I received a text.
Oh… Is this what they call a youthful student life? This is my first time being invited somewhere after school by friends. I didn't give any reason to refuse, but I asked who was going.
If there are a lot of people I don't know, I probably wouldn't go. It'd be somewhat awkward.
I quickly got a reply. Of course, Ike, Yamauchi, and Kushida were going. Then, including me, five other people. People I didn't particularly know. If it's that much, then I guess it's fine. I replied, saying I would go, and another reply quickly came back.
"Kushida-chan's mine, so don't get in the way!" – Ike-sama
"No, no, Kushida-chan is my target, so you back off." – Yamauchi
"Haa? You're saying you're also aiming for her? Are you trying to pick a fight with me?" – Ike-sama
I wish they'd got along, but rather they started fighting over Kushida.
I think hanging out after school would be fun, but now it seems like a bother.
When class ended, I left school with Ike and Yamauchi.
Because the campus is so big, I still haven't explored much of the school grounds.
"We're in the same class, but we couldn't go together with Kushida…"
"She had to talk with one of her friends in another class. Kushida-chan's a popular person, after all."
"Perhaps… she's talking to a boy?"
"It's ok, Ike, it was confirmed. She's talking to a girl."
"Good, good."
"Are you guys seriously going for Kushida?"
"Of course. She's honestly my heart's desire."
Yamauchi must have had the same opinion, since he kept nodding his head in agreement.
"Well, you're going for Horikita, right? She's beautiful, I'll give you that."
"No, there's nothing happening there. Seriously."
"Really? During class, didn't you guys glance at each other and casually hold hands? That kind of bittersweet, irritating event?"
As Ike pressed me for answers, I saw Kushida running over.
"Sorry for being late. Thanks for waiting!"
"Oh, we were waiting Kushida-chan! Wait, why is Hirata here!?"
Ike, who was excitedly jumping up and down, suddenly took a step back and exaggeratedly fell down. What a strange guy.
"Oh, he joined us on the way. He asked me if they could come. Is there something wrong?"
Kushida brought along Hirata, (what looks like) his girlfriend, Karuizawa, and two other girls. The two girls were Matsushita and Mori, who always hung out with Karuizawa.
"Hey, is there no method to refuse Hirata and send him back?"
Ike put his arms around my shoulder and whispered into my ear.
"I don't think there's any reason to send him away."
"If that ikemen's there too, our existences will be thin! What are you going to do in the unlucky event that Kushida-chan falls in love with Hirata? If we make the ikemen stay away from her, there's no way the event can happen?"
"No, I wouldn't know… Also, isn't Hirata dating Karuizawa? Don't worry."
"Just because you have a girlfriend doesn't guarantee anything. If you compare a used, dirty, and gaudy girl like Karuizawa with the pretty angel Kushida-chan, anyone would pick Kushida-chan!"
As he kept fervently speaking, his spit got into my ear—feels disgusting. There are some disgusting words coming from his mouth too.
Certainly, Karuizawa looks gaudy, but she's still cute.
"But Ike… you know that there's no guarantee that a cute girl like Kushida-chan is still a virgin, right?"
Yamauchi joined our whisper conversation with an anxious voice.
"Uu, that's… that might be true… n-no, Kushida-chan must be a virgin!"
The boys continued to do as they please as they indulged in their fantasies. I wonder if you could call this discrimination against women. If possible, I'd rather not be involved in this conversation.
"Um, if we're intruding, we can go as a separate group."
Hirata said to Ike and the others in a reserved tone. He noticed our whispering.
"N-no, it's all right! Right, Yamauchi?"
"Y-yea. Let's hang out together. The more the better. Right?"
You two are being annoying! They couldn't do anything, though, because if they tried to kick Hirata and his group out, Kushida may also be disappointed with them.
"Wow, that's a pretty normal answer. Why are you three whispering stealthily by yourselves?"
Karuizawa's words were reasonable, but I was shocked that she grouped me in with them.
"Ok, here it is. I was thinking like this. If we exclude Hirata and Karuizawa, the number of boys and girls are the same. In other words, this looks like a triple date. Ayanokouji, this is your chance too, you know?"
"Yamauchi, you're fine with Matsushita, right? I'm going to talk with Kushida-chan."
"Hey, is that a joke? I'm aiming for her! We're going to get married and give our vows under a big sakura tree! It's fate waiting to happen!"
"Lies! I've thought this for a while, but all you say are lies!"
"Ha? It's all true!"
If you believed everything that Yamauchi Haruki said, he would be a very good gamer, having been scouted internationally by pros, a national-level ping pong player in elementary school, the ace of his baseball team in middle school and unmistakably a potential future pro. What a very high-spec man.
There's been no proof for any of his claims, though.
I didn't know where we were going, so I stayed in the back and followed quietly.
Ike and Yamauchi were too engrossed in their fantasies, while Hirata was surrounded on both sides.
"Let me ask frankly, Hirata. Are you dating Karuizawa?"
In order to see if Hirata was his rival, Ike asked without beating around the bush.
"Eh… Where'd you hear that?"
Hirata looked surprised and confused at the same time.
"Oh, looks like the word got out. We are dating."
Before Hirata could even respond, Karuizawa came and hugged Hirata's arm.
Giving up, Hirata scratched his cheek with his finger in embarrassment, admitting the truth their relationship.
"Seriously? I'm so envious that you get to date a cute girl like Karuizawa!"
Yamauchi said with fake envy in his voice. Lying without being conscious of it is surprisingly hard.
"Kushida-chan, do you have a boyfriend?"
While on that topic, Ike shifted the topic over to Kushida. Clever.
"Me? No, I'm not dating anyone."
Ike and Yamauchi were rejoicing in their minds, and their expressions lifted. Your delight is leaking out…
She might be keeping a secret, but for the most part Kushida was confirmed as single. I'm also a bit glad.
"Oh no, I'm crying…!"
"Don't cry, Yamauchi! Our hope is right in front of our eyes now!"
It's no longer an insurmountable mountain, but rather a really steep road…
Hirata, Karuizawa, Ike, and Yamauchi all walked together, surrounding Kushida. Matushita and Mori weren't with the rest of the group.
They were walking behind them. I walked even further behind, all alone.
"Hey Ike, where are you going?"
A voice called out, asking about the destination. Ike looked back and brusquely replied.
"Since not a lot of time has passed since the entrance ceremony, we're just checking out the facilities."
There's no clear destination. In other words, this awkward feeling will probably continue for a while…
My expectations were broken in an unexpected way.
"Ne ne, Matsushita-san, Mori-san. Do you two have anything you want to see?"
While Ike and Yamauchi were happily talking to each other, Kushida fell back and talked to the two girls.
"Eh? Oh, um, I've always wanted to go to the movie theater at least once."
"Yea. Since school is over, I also want to go."
"Oh, that's right! I've always wanted to go, but didn't yet. Karuizawa-san, how about you guys? Anywhere you want to go?"
Kushida started to organize the three groups. As expected of her. I probably couldn't do the same thing even if I tried. Also, she would occasionally turn around and smile at me. I didn't see that coming.
Even though I tried to ignore her, I felt troubled because she kept looking at me. I tried to convey to her that I wasn't trying to ignore her, but that it was how my personality and way of thinking was. If Kushida couldn't read the atmosphere, and she just liked being in the center of things, she wouldn't be able to receive my message.
However, there are also the type of people that go "What, can't you read the atmosphere?" after you refuse their invitation to sing at a karaoke even though you only went without ever intending to sing.
After all, egotistic people who think that singing is fun = everyone should like singing are stupid. They can't understand that there are people who simply don't like to sing.
While I was lost in my bitter internal monologue, the surroundings got loud and busy.
Somehow, we were next to a clothes shop… we seem to have arrived at a stylish boutique.
Everyone seems to have been here already once or twice, so I also went in without hesitation. I only went outside during the weekdays for school and stayed in my dorm for the weekend, so I never had the need to buy any casual clothes.
There were a lot of students inside, though only a few of them were upperclassmen and the rest were first-years. Maybe it's because it's my first time, but I felt inexperienced and out of place inside.
After checking out a few clothes, the group walked to the nearby cafe.
Hirata was holding Karuizawa's purchases from the store. The clothes were about 30,000 points.
"Are you guys familiar with the school yet?"
"At first I was really confused, but I'm used to it now. This is the school of my dreams, I never want to graduate~"
"Ahaha, it looks like Ike-kun is thoroughly enjoying his school life, huh."
"I wish we would get more points. About 200,000… 300,000 points? After buying clothes and cosmetics, my points run out quickly."
"Wouldn't it be strange for a high school student to get 300,000 points a month for their allowance?"
"If you say it like that, then 100,000 sounds reasonable. I'm a bit scared. If my school life continues like this, I'm worried about how I would live after graduating."
"Are you talking about losing your sense of money? That really does sound scary."
The students all seem to have different opinions about our 100,000 point allowance. Karuizawa and Ike want more points, while Hirata and Kushida are scared of their life after their luxurious school experience ends.
"How about you, Ayanokouji-kun? Do you think 100,000 is too much? Too little?"
Although I was only listening at first, Kushida included me in the conversation by asking a question.
"Hmm… I don't think I really have a good grasp of it yet. I don't really know."
"What kind of answer is that?"
"You know, I can understand what Ayanokouji-kun's saying. This is far from a normal student's school life. It's impossible for me to know without a good point of comparison."
"Well, it's useless to be concerned over it. It's seriously a good thing that I got in. I can buy whatever I want. Even yesterday, I just bought myself some new clothes."
Ike's living a positive life, never looking back even once.
"Oh right, Kushida-chan, Hirata, Ike, and Karuizawa all got in, right? How'd you get in? Aren't you guys pretty stupid?"
"Yamauchi, you don't look smart either."
"Ha? I got 900 points on the APEC before."
"What's APEC?"
"You don't even know what that is? It's a really difficult English test."
"Uh, isn't that TOEIC, not APEC?"
Kushida inserted a small tsukkomi. By the way, APEC is the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation.
"T-they're related things."
I don't think they're related at all…
"Well, this school's goal is to nurture the youth with potential, so they probably don't pick people solely on test scores. Honestly, if they only judged by scores, I wouldn't have applied."
"That, that. The 'youth with potential' part. Those words describe us exactly."
Ike crossed his arms and nodded his head.
Despite being the preeminent school in Japan with a great employment rate, their admissions aren't based only on test scores.
But how on earth does the school see potential in these people?
The question suddenly popped into my head.