I grabbed the drink I bought and returned to the art room.
They seemed to still be drawing. Arina didn't seem to be tired of sitting at all but rather focused on her book. Since she didn't move even slightly, the drawings of Arina were in the exact same position as the actual Arina.
A short time later, they took a break. Arina also got up and took a break.
I handed the cocoa I bought earlier to Arina, who was staring out of the window in a daze.
"Good work. Bought you a drink."
Rolling her eyes, Arina took it with both hands.
"What's wrong?"
"…I feel like someone used to give me the same cocoa once upon a time."
You really do know Aki-senpai, don't you, Arina?
The way she said 'once upon a time' struck me. Didn't Arina see Aki-senpai when she entered high school? I don't mean to unnecessarily intrude on her relationships, but I'm curious. Are they in a fight?
I sipped my tomato juice since I was a health-conscious person, and Arina continued reading while sipping her cocoa.
The break must've been almost over since Shinji approached us.
"Thank you, Arina-san. We'll finish up soon."
"Yes."
She picked up her paperback book again and went to sit in her chair.
I drank my tomato juice and think about it. How did Arina come to avoid getting involved with people and make rude comments? Or was she like that from the start? Even though Aki-senpai only told me a little, junior high Arina seemed to have had a normal school life.
From the way Arina talks, she may not know that Aki-senpai goes to this high school. Aki-senpai herself says she doesn't talk to Arina either. Then the only thing I can think of is that something happened in middle school.
There seems to be a deeper mystery about Arina.
"Stuffing something in your head is going to cost you something, isn't it?"
I muttered in the Rose Garden. I wasn't talking to myself. Of course, there's another schoolgirl here.
"I think it would be zero if you add everything in the world. If someone laughs, someone cries. When someone goes up, someone else goes down. I think it would be canceled out."
Arina was quietly studying next to me.
"You know, studying is definitely going to shorten your life span."
"Shut up. I'm going to stick a mechanical pencil in your ear."
Midterms were coming up.
High school tests are quite important. They're very important for special programs, scholarships, and recommended entrance exams. If you take them for granted, you'll regret it. However, most students don't do it because it's just too much trouble. It's just too much trouble. Whether you do it or not, your future self will either hate or admire the past. It comes down to one of two things.
I'm someone who wants to have the last laugh, so I asked Arina to teach me. Of course, Arina didn't want to teach me anything and quietly studied on her own.
"I'll stop supporting club until after midterms. I've got a lot of studying to do."
"Yeah."
Unfortunately, my and Akakusa-sensei's intentions will hurt Arina's grades, who always maintains a top 10 ranking. I don't want to give her a bad aftertaste. This club is for Arina, in a roundabout way. It's something that doesn't exist on paper.
"Arina."
"…"
"Arina-san."
"…"
"Arina-chan."
"…"
"Ari."
"Shut up, you cancer cell."
"Have you ever taught someone?"
"…Never."
"Help me a bit. I'm doing English right now, and I was wondering if there's any way to learn words more efficiently?"
"I have nothing to teach you."
"No, you do. My sister will be happy."
"So you have a sister…"
"What's the matter? Why are you rubbing your temples?"
"I feel sorry that she has you as a brother…"
I was hurt a little.
"So, tell me. English. I'm not very good at English. Help me, Lady Arina. You're my only ray of hope."
"Read it aloud. You'll remember if you say 'au au'."
"Auuuu."
"I'm opening a window. I'll leave it open. Feel free to jump out at any time."
"All right, all right. I'm sorry."
After that, I studied diligently as well. Arina didn't touch the paperback book either but just ran her pen over it.
Today's after-school session ended with a little cursing and silence.
Tests were coming up, and here and there some people were studying in the classroom during break. I've been busy with workbooks, calculations, and various other things.
My grades generally ranked in the middle, a little higher than average.
I wanted to get high grades, so I had been studying hard at home. I had time, so I found the way to study that suited me, which was the most important part.
"Makoto, what are your grades like?"
"Normal."
"I see. That answer is too normal to say anything about it."
"It's normal! They're not particularly noteworthy or terrible. It's going to be like that again this time."
"Everyone is worried."
"Yeah."
At lunch, after the dinner part with Makoto, I went to the library. I went there expecting Arina to be there, but unusually, she was absent. I looked into Arina's classroom and she wasn't there, and I almost went into the girl's bathroom next but came up with the possibility of the Rose Garden.
I visited the Rose Garden and sure enough, Arina was studying there.
"It's already pushing it seeing your face after school. When are you going to get plastic surgery?"
"You're too harsh right off the bat. Are you studying?"
"Yeah."
I was wrong about one thing.
I thought that people with outstanding grades were geniuses, so they didn't study that much. Arina's always been in the top 10, so I thought she was the same, but I was just being shallow. Someone who doesn't run away from studying and does it is the one who excels.
I hate it, but I have to do it. I subconsciously looked for excuses or made-up reasons why I couldn't study and convinced myself that I can't. I'm like that, and most people are the same. I don't know how to study or how to be more efficient. I've never done it. I won't make any progress while lazing around trying to have fun.
Arina wasn't running away, she's competing for the top.
"I have to do it, right?"
"If you're going to jump, you better hurry up."
"I'm not trying to die. I'll study as well."
"I see."
I sat down with Arina and studied during my lunch break.
Even after school, she was still studying. I followed her example and did some English, which I'm not very good at since it's hard to get into my head. When I was thinking of a better way to study, I remembered something Arina once said to me.
"Does speaking English help you learn?"
"Wow. Why is there a dead frog beside me… really…"
"It's Homosapien. You told me before, I should speak."
"Yes."
"Did I do it right? Are you serious?"
"I'm serious."
"Explain it to me. Why is it good to speak aloud?"
Arina looked very tired.
"Please. Our Lady Arina."
"Huh. I'll only say it once. Then you can study."
"Yes, ma'am."
"The reason Japanese people can't remember English words or understand the grammatical structure is simply because of the way they grasp the meaning of Japanese. English is different."
"Oh."
"The letters that English uses is the alphabet. The letters of the alphabet are used in English to represent words, and they're classified as 'phonetic' letters. And alphabetical letters are classified as 'phonetic' characters."
It was the first time I heard that word.
"The words 'phonetic alphabet' means 'a character that expresses a sound', as the kanji character 'phonetic' means. The characteristic of the phonetic alphabet is that you can pronounce the word just by looking at it. It may seem like an ordinary thing, but it's very convenient. You can pronounce even long words that you've never seen before without any effort."
Arina pointed to my English textbook.
"Even this word can be pronounced without knowing what it means. That's the advantage of phonetic symbols, and that's their best part."
"Oh."
"Then there's Japanese. Japanese is a language that utilizes three types of characters, hiragana and katakana, which are phonetic symbols, and then kanji. The hiragana and katakana are phonetic symbols that, like the letters of the alphabet, don't have a single meaning.
But kanji is different. Kanji characters are called ideographs, which is a character that expresses meaning'. You can understand the meaning of kanji just by looking at it, even if you can't read it. It's a long list of kanji, and even if you don't know how to pronounce it correctly, you can still understand its meaning by looking at it.
I said phonetic symbols earlier, but you couldn't get the meaning of 'hyōnmoji' from the sound alone, could you? There were too many homonyms, so there were too many candidates for the kanji to be applied, and we couldn't find the right one with just one word. That's why we were made to study kanji in elementary school by writing them down. Because the best way to learn kanji is to learn it visually. There isn't much emphasis on the sound."
[T/N: hyōnmoji, translates to the phonetic alphabet. And in case you aren't familiar with these terms, homonyms are words that have the same pronunciation but different meanings, and ideograph/ideogram is a character symbolizing the idea of a thing without indicating the sounds used to say it.]
Arina continued to talk after a short pause.
"I haven't talked about the disadvantage of English. English doesn't have the benefits of kanji. That is, when you see a word for the first time, you can't get the meaning of it. Kanji and English are opposites. Of course, spelling is important, but sounds are far more important in this language. There are not so many homophones in English as there are in Japanese. That means there aren't many different meanings on the same pronunciation. Ba-si-ca-lly."
"Yes."
"When you learn English, you have to link the sounds to the meaning. You don't have to write down much. You have to pronounce a small sentence over and over and put it in your head. You need to understand the meaning of the sentence.
If you come across a word you've seen before, but can't remember its meaning, try to pronounce it in your head. This will help you remember the sentence you've said over and over again that contains the word. Once you've memorized the meaning of the sentence, you can compare the translated sentence with the part of the sentence that corresponds to the English word, and then you can finally remember the meaning of the forgotten word. That's how you should study English, and if you talk to others, your English will improve."
"Now that I think about it, English and Japanese are very different."
"Haaa. People often make fun of Japanese people for not being able to speak English, but there's hardly any other country that requires them to speak a foreign language, so they don't need to. It's more embarrassing to not be able to speak your native language. So there's no need to feel inferior.
I think that not only Japan but also other countries, should love their own language more. There's not much demand for English in Japan, but I think the main reason is the way we teach people. As I said before, in Japan, they only make you write words over and over again instead of making you pronounce them. If you make a small grammatical mistake, you get zero points. One of the reasons they can't speak is because they are grammar-phobic. It's a very effective way to learn kanji, but it's not very efficient for English. If you understand the difference between Japanese and English, anyone can improve his or her English grade. Do you understand?"
I nodded. I was stunned by Arina's explanation. I had never done, heard, or thought about her analysis of the English language. A new concept arose, and it felt fresh.
In other words, Arina is a shrewd one.
"That was very informative. It's been a real eye-opener."
"I see. Study hard."
"Yes ma'am."
I fell into a state of dismay. She was too awesome. I didn't know that there was a high schooler who had the kind of knowledge and thinking that would make me feel so drawn to her. If I had a problem with this kind of speech, I would have laughed and brushed it aside, but for me, it was an 'interesting story' that aroused my curiosity.
I'd like to hear more. I really wanted to, but it would interfere with Arina's studies, so I gave up on it.
One day, I hope I can do the same thing.