Rokujouma no Shinryakusha!? - Volume 17 - Chapter 4

Ending Summer and Neverending Homework

Monday, August 30th

The bomb was dropped on August 30th.

“I-I forgot my homewooork!”

Said bomb was Yurika’s summer homework. Like every other high schooler, she’d been given assignments to complete over summer break—of which there were only two more days. Completing all of her assignments now before school started up again seemed nigh impossible.

“Please help me, Satomi-san! I haven’t done any of my homework!”

“Wait a minute, Yurika, you’ve been studying every day! What have you been doing all this time?!”

“The workbooks and drills you bought for me! It’s because I was studying every day that I forgot I had homework to do!”

“Whaaat?!”

Yurika had indeed overlooked her summer homework in the midst of her everyday studying. Not long ago, she’d decided to get serious about her studies all around. She wanted to go to the same university as Koutarou and Harumi. And with a clear goal in mind, a fire was lit inside her. Since she seemed motivated about school for the first time in her life, Koutarou had been helping to tutor her. He wasn’t the best student himself, but Yurika was so incompetent and far behind that even his help made a huge difference.

After a lot of hard work, Yurika had finally made it to studying material that was just a few grade levels below where she should be. Koutarou’s thought was that she’d never succeed without a good understanding of the basics, so he’d started at the very beginning and had her work her way up from there. Yurika was taking this tutoring very seriously and studied every day. Thanks to that, she was improving in several subjects and was in a much better scholastic position than she’d been the year before.

However, it also proved to be a pitfall. Since she was studying so hard every day, nobody had realized that she hadn’t gotten started on her homework—not even Yurika herself. In working through all the exercises Koutarou had given her, she became convinced she’d done her homework too somewhere along the line. But when she went into her book bag to get ready for a new semester of school, she found all her homework worksheets completely blank.

“Please help me, Satomi-san!”

“I want to help, but... I still haven’t finished mine, either.”

In regards to this failure, Yurika wasn’t completely at fault. She’d been studying like a good student, so it wasn’t like she’d been slacking off. It would be cruel to blame her for a simple miss when she had been studying so ardently. Koutarou would love to help, but he still hadn’t completed his own homework.

“Just start working on it for now. I’ll come help once I’m done with mine.”

“Please do... You’re my only hope right now, Satomi-san.”

And so, all alone, Yurika began the difficult undertaking of completing her summer vacation in just two days.

The time on the clock was two days, and the mountain of homework before her was all untouched. Her only lifeline, Koutarou, had his hands full with his own homework. It was really looking hopeless for Yurika right now. A year ago she probably would have broken out into tears right about now. It would just be easier to get yelled at by the teacher than to finish all of her homework in time. But that wasn’t the kind of student she was now. She worked through the tears in her eyes, solving one math problem after another. She could just copy someone else’s homework, but she wouldn’t learn anything that way. Ever since she’d set her heart on going to the same university as Koutarou and Harumi, she’d stopped slacking off and cheating when it came to things that really mattered.

“Um, if you hit your pocket and split a cookie into two... If you then continue hitting it once every ten seconds, that’s six times in one minute. The problem says ten minutes, so that’s a total of sixty times. Which means... um, the cookies increase by sixty, so... a total of sixty-one? But... That’s a lot of cookies, but it doesn’t seem like it’s enough... Augh, I know I’m getting something wrong, but I don’t know what!”

Yurika was currently puzzling her way through her math homework. She was bad at math as it was, and even worse with word problems. She had no idea what she needed to calculate here. This took the kind of problem-solving skills that people needed in their everyday lives, which Yurika was shockingly lacking.

“Yurika, how about I improve how fast you can think? My indigo magic is good at that kind of thing. I can help.”

Seeing Yurika struggle, Maki offered to lend a helping hand. She was her ally this time. Maki was impressed with Yurika’s recent efforts in her studies, so she didn’t think a little magical assistance would do any harm.

“I can’t do that. I’m a magical girl of Rainbow Heart, so I can’t use magic for my own gain.”

It was an attractive proposition, but Yurika shook her head. The personal use of magic went against Rainbow Heart’s commandments, so Maki’s plan wasn’t an option for her.

“That may be, but everything will be for nothing if you flunk now, right?”

“That’s true, but... people don’t really grow if all they do is work around their problems rather than through them. And I want to graduate on my power alone.”

What sustained Yurika even more than her pride as a magical girl of Rainbow Heart was her promise with Koutarou. She would devote herself to studying and graduate high school with grades good enough to get into university with him and Harumi. She had, for the first time in her life, decided to live like a normal girl. And to that end, she couldn’t cheat. If she did, she wouldn’t learn. Besides, when it came to the really important things in life, cheating wasn’t an option. If she just worked through things the hard way, it eventually wouldn’t be so hard anymore. Yurika was now well aware of that.

“That’s the spirit, Yurika-chan!”

Thinking back to all her karate training as a child, Shizuka was impressed with Yurika’s resolve. Martial arts couldn’t be learned in a day. Taking the hard way was the fastest way to become strong. Rather than focusing on big, powerful, or acrobatic moves, just repeatedly practicing basic moves built a stronger foundation and was more meaningful down the line. The true mark of a master was that they didn’t fear taking the long, hard road. And looking at it that way, Yurika had made the right decision. Shizuka was proud of her.

“That said, let me know when you get stuck, okay? I think giving some hints would be okay.”

“Thank you very much!”

With a refreshed expression, Yurika got back to her homework. Watching all this unfold, Maki was stunned. Yurika was like a completely different person from the girl she’d known a year ago.

“To think this is the same Yurika who only ever used to run away...”

“Everyone grows up. A lot’s happened over the past year, after all. Haven’t you changed too, Aika-san? You’re actually worrying about Yurika-chan right now, you know.”

“I... You might be right.”

Hearing Shizuka say that, Maki slowly nodded. It was strange to her that she was gradually beginning to understand love, but she was certain that it was helping her grow. As proof of that, she smiled at Shizuka.

With Shizuka and Maki’s support and a few hints from time to time, Yurika was smoothly working her way through her homework. However, she had a long way to go. A normal person could only maintain high levels of concentration for an hour or so at a time, but she’d need a lot longer than that to get it all done. After hitting the hour mark, her concentration gradually waned and her mind downshifted to a lower gear. She was now solving problems at half the speed she was when she first started. Yet she pressed on, trying to fend off the desire to cry and run away from her problems. She knew she had to work through this

“I-I can’t... My head isn’t working anymore...” she eventually muttered as she collapsed on the tea table.

Her tank was completely empty after about three hours. She’d had a good run, but she was still only a quarter of the way through her homework. If she gave up here, she’d never get it all done. It would be scoldings galore once the semester started.

Seeing her in this sorry state, Shizuka paused the movie she was watching and tried to encourage the collapsed Yurika.

“Yurika-chan, if you don’t finish your homework, you’ll regret it.”

“I know that, but my brain is totally fried. I tried giving myself a pep talk a couple of times, but I can’t even think straight anymore.”

Yurika knew good and well what lay ahead of her. The longer she did nothing, the tighter the noose got around her neck. But despite her wishes, her frazzled and exhausted brain wasn’t cooperating with her.

“Frankly, it’s just too much work for two days.”

Maki, who had been watching the movie with Shizuka, shrugged. No matter how she looked at it, there was simply more homework than Yurika was capable of dealing with. It was an impossible challenge without magic.

“Yeah! Maki-chan’s right! I’ll fill in as many answers as I can and give up on the rest. I’ll just have to endure the teacher getting angry!”

Having lost all willpower, Yurika latched on to what Maki said and raised the white flag. It wasn’t like Yurika had ignored her homework on purpose, and she’d even made a good faith effort in trying to get it done. She’d tried her best, but it just wasn’t going to happen. She was already thinking about how she should apologize to her teacher.

“What do we do now, Aika-san?”

“It would be easy to just let her give up here...”

“But I do want to her to finish her homework. For her own good.”

“Then should we go call him in?”

“Yeah, that’s all we can do.”

Shizuka and Maki nodded at each other. The situation was already out of their hands, so they decided to call for backup. They knew there was only one person who could motivate Yurika now.

Shizuka and Maki had gone out to call for Koutarou. He was with Clan, borrowing her advice and equipment for his final piece of homework, his report. But upon hearing of Yurika’s situation he paused his own work and returned to room 106.

“Yurika, wake up.”

“Shatomi-shan... I can’t go on... I did my best...”

Yurika showed Koutarou her partially completed homework. Only a quarter of it was done. Considering her intelligence and the time spent, she really had worked hard.

“Are you going to give up here?”

“Yes... I’ll just have to endure the teacher yelling at me...”

The exhausted Yurika had tears of resignation in her eyes. This wasn’t the way she’d wanted things to end, but she’d hit her limit.

“I see. So that means you’re free now, right?”

“Well, yes... but I don’t want to move...”

Drained and defeated, Yurika was leaning over the tea table in a dazed state. She looked sad and tired, the complete opposite of how she’d been at the outset of this endeavor.

“You don’t have to move, just come along with me.”

“What are you doing...?”

“We’re gonna play some professional wrestling. There’s a couple of new moves I wanted to try. You don’t have to do anything though. Just hold still. That should be easy since you’re tired and all.”

“Nooooo!”

The moment Koutarou brought up wrestling, Yurika sat bold upright and adamantly shook her head, her hair fluttering this way and that behind her.

“Why not? You’ve got free time since you’re done with your homework, right?”

“No! I’ve decided to continue with my homework!”

“I see... Sorry to bother you then.”

It looked like Yurika was about to be forcibly be dragged into play wrestling, but Koutarou backed out without any contest. Seeing her chance, Yurika pressed on further.

“That’s right! I have the important job of finishing my homework!”

Wrestling was something that should be done at the start of a long weekend, not just before the start of a new semester.

“All right, then just let me know when you’re tired of doing homework.”

“I won’t get tired!”

“Knowing you, you’ll lose your motivation soon enough.”

“I won’t lose my motivation! I’m going to be busy doing homework all day and tomorrow!”

“But I wanted to try all of these new moves out. We could go all day.”

“I refuse! If you understand, then get out of here already! You’re keeping me from my homework!”

“Okay, okay. But if you get tired of your homework―”

“I said I won’t get tired!”

After firmly rejecting Koutarou’s terrifying offer, Yurika got back to her math homework. She looked like a soldier fighting for her life on the battlefield, and was solving problems as quickly as she had when she first got started.

Even after Koutarou left, Yurika continued furiously working away on her homework. If she tried to cut any corners, Koutarou would come back with a vengeance and make her his practice dummy. And that was exactly what she wanted to avoid. Being a coward, she was sensitive to danger.

“Man, Satomi-kun is amazing...”

Seeing Yurika working on her homework with such zeal, Shizuka let out an astonished sigh. She’d thought motivating her again would be a herculean task, but Koutarou had done it in a matter of seconds and then disappeared just as quickly as he’d come. He handled Yurika with unbelievable ease.

“Satomi-kun knows us better than anyone... If any of us were in Yurika’s position, I’m sure he would be able to motivate us just as easily.”

“Yeah, I bet.”

Shizuka knew Maki was right. She’d experienced his uplifting power firsthand. Koutarou had been the one to cheer her up when she was visiting her parents’ graves and feeling lonely.

“He really treasures us, doesn’t he? It’s like a dream...”

“He sure does... I’m so grateful I was able to meet someone like him.”

All the girls of room 106 had had similar experiences to Shizuka’s. That’s how they knew Koutarou would cheer them up and on if they ever lost heart.

Yurika’s fear of Koutarou’s wrestling moves was strong, and fear motivated her to continue desperately toiling away at her homework. It was her only defense. However, a few hours after restarting on her homework, Yurika was reaching her limits again.

It wasn’t long before a loud thud echoed through the room.

“Kyaaah! Y-Yurika?!”

Maki was in the middle of watching a scary movie with Shizuka, so Yurika collapsing again startled her quite badly and she reflexively let out a rather adorable scream.

“Ooooo...”

Yurika had fallen over on her back and her eyes were spinning. Last time she’d come to a stop because of mental fatigue, but this time it was completely physical. She’d spent every last ounce of her strength, and this was the result.

“Aaaaaah...”

“Aika-san, what should we do?”

“Hmm... Let’s call Satomi-kun again.”

“I’m not sure even he can do anything this time...”

“But I still think he should see how hard Yurika tried.”

“You’re right.”

The two girls nodded at each other and decided to call for aid again. Koutarou was currently aboard Clan’s Hazy Moon, so they headed for the transportation gate on the innermost wall of the room. As they approached, the wall began glowing blue.

“Please take us to Clan-san’s place.”

In response to Maki’s voice, the gate turned from blue to orange. In order to make it easy to use, the gate was color coded. Blue was for Blue Knight, and orange was for Hazy Moon. Additionally, the Higashihongan estate was purple and the Sakuraba household was white.

“I’ve started getting used to this crazy science...”

The transporter was utterly mysterious to Shizuka, but she’d come to accept it as part of her everyday life. Just a little over a year ago, she’d been a perfectly average high school girl. But now she felt like she was living as a character out of some sci-fi novel.

“You have?”

“You mean you haven’t, Aika-san?”

“I’m a magician, you know.”

“Ah, right. I completely forgot.”

“Then please just put it out of your mind altogether.”

“Heehee, sure. You bet.”

Maki and Shizuka both wanted the same thing. They’d try and stay the same no matter what power they held or what craziness befell them. And so, two ordinary high school girls jumped through the gate with smiles on their faces.

Yurika’s eyes were still spinning when Maki and Shizuka brought Koutarou back to room 106. He picked her up and gently laid her down on the tatami mat away from the table with a gentle, calm look in his eyes.

“You did good, Yurika...”

Yurika had pushed herself so far past her mental limit that she’d reached her physical limit. While she still hadn’t finished her homework, her efforts were praiseworthy. She’d literally done everything in her power. She hadn’t reached the goal, but she certainly hadn’t abandoned it. Yurika had valiantly performed her duties.

“What should we do, Satomi-kun?”

Though she was envious of Yurika for getting her head pat by Koutarou, Maki consulted with him about the next steps to take. Determining what should be done with Yurika was an important issue.

“For starters, let’s have her rest a little.”

“At this rate, she’ll get fussed at by the teacher. She’s already at risk of having to repeat a year...”

Shizuka anxiously looked over at Yurika. She was constantly late to school and missing homework assignments. Before the summer vacation, the teacher warned her that if she kept it up, she’d be repeating a year. So not turning in her summer homework could be dangerous.

“After some rest, I’m sure she’ll regain some energy and push on for a little longer.”

“I hope so...”

Shizuka doubted Yurika had any more homework potential left in her. She couldn’t imagine that she had anything left in her at all after exhausting herself like that.

“Don’t worry, Landlord-san. Yurika’s the kind of girl that will pull through when she has too.”

However, Koutarou firmly believed in Yurika, and it showed in his eyes.

Yurika’s eyes opened as the smell of her favorite food tickled her nose. Nothing else would have been able to wake her up.

“I smell ramen!”

Indeed, what had called her back to the world of the living was instant noodles. The aroma of the artificial seasoning stimulated her appetite and blew away her drowsiness. She was wide awake within just a few seconds of smelling it.

“Thank you for the foooood!”

Yurika snatched the instant noodles from the tea table and skillfully separated the disposable chopsticks with just her right hand.

“Wait a minute!”

But Koutarou stopped her before she could dig in. Being so rudely interrupted, she looked up at him with a dissatisfied expression.

“Why are you bullying me?”

All of the instant noodles in the apartment were hers and everyone knew it. Moreover, having her mealtime intruded upon was a grave offense.

“You can eat, but promise me one thing first.”

“Sure, I promise! Thank you for the food!”

Not even bothering to hear what it was, she agreed to the promise and chowed down. She wanted the noodles in front of her just that badly, and she trusted that Koutarou would only be asking her for a promise if it was something important.

“Don’t forget that you promised.”

“Mmhmm.”

“So once you’re done eating, make sure you continue on your homework.”

“...Huh?”

Yurika froze on the spot.

“Th-That’s impossible! I can’t do any more!”

Yurika instantly forgot about her food and frantically shook her head. As she did, the noodles still hanging from her mouth went swinging too, flipping soup everywhere.

“But you promised. And you’ve already started eating.”

“Hrk!”

Yurika was at a loss for words. Thoughtlessly jumping into a promise had backfired. She’d wanted those noodles, but it was sounding now like the price would be getting plunged straight back into hell. Realizing that, Yurika quickly slurped down the rest of her noodles and pleaded with Koutarou.

“I-I can’t go on! I’m not making up excuses; it’s really impossible!”

She wouldn’t be able to finish even if she gave it everything she had. Her mind and body were at their limits. She didn’t have the willpower or stamina left to face her remaining homework. That’s why she was desperately trying to get him to understand. She was sad it had to end this way, but there was nothing she could do about it now.

But then Koutarou reached out with his hands and placed them on Yurika’s cheeks.

“Yurika, look at me.”

Koutarou gently turned Yurika’s face towards his. When he did, she slowly looked up at him.

“Yurika, you really did work hard. You worked until you hit your limits. Well done, Yurika. Well done.”

“Huh...?”

Yurika’s eyes shot wide open. The last thing she’d expected was to be praised right now. But Koutarou ignored her confusion and continued.

“But knowing that, I still have to ask you...”

Pausing there after a short preamble, Koutarou posed his real question.

“Yurika, is it really impossible to go on?”

“Satomi-san...”

The Yurika that Koutarou knew was a wildly careless, sloppy girl. She always tried to slack off and dodge her responsibilities. She was the kind of girl whose future you really had to worry about.

“I know you have it in you to go one step further than you think you can. I know you can do it.”

But on the other hand, he also knew that Yurika would never give up when it really mattered. Like when Sanae started to disappear as a ghost or when she threw herself in the way to save Harumi. There were plenty of examples. And that was the kind of spirit he was expecting her to show right now.

“So, Yurika, why not try a little more? You only have to go as far as you can. And if you really can’t continue, you can stop. How about it?”

“I...”

Koutarou stared directly into Yurika’s eyes. As he did, she felt like he was staring into the depths of her heart. His eyes were telling her that she should be able to do even more.

This is because Satomi-san has high expectations for me, isn’t it...?

Yurika knew of Koutarou’s dark past and his hesitations. But here he was, counting on her to try her best. Looking at the bigger picture, that meant he was pushing for their future together. And the moment she realized that, Yurika made up her mind.

“Okay, I’ll try a little more,” she said with a nod.

He’d taken this step for her, and she couldn’t turn him down. She didn’t mind how irresponsible she was when it came to herself, but she couldn’t let her friends down. In that, Yurika had matured enough that she was genuinely worthy of being called a magical girl.

Shizuka and Maki silently watched over their two friends. They were convinced that not even Koutarou would be able to help Yurika this time, but he betrayed their expectation and successfully got her back to work.

“What a surprise. Satomi-kun really does understand Yurika-chan...”

“That looked more like Yurika was being considerate of Satomi-kun’s feelings to me.”

“I think it’s both. Satomi-kun asked Yurika, and she responded. It’s a two-way street with those two.”

“I’m a little envious, honestly.”

“Yeah, it’s like they’re using Yurika’s homework as a means to get closer.”

Shizuka and Maki both smiled. Koutarou and Yurika’s bond seemed to have deepened. It wasn’t clear if they were serious about Yurika’s homework or if they were just playing around.

“I have an idea, Aika-san.”

“Yes?”

“Let’s try and see if we can get Satomi-kun to do the same for us next time.”

Having come up with a plan, Shizuka grinned as she tossed a sidelong glance Koutarou’s way. He was helping Yurika right now, but he had no idea what he was in for.

“I don’t think we even have to test it... Ah, but, there might be some superficial differences.”

Maki was convinced that Koutarou would do the same for them. She didn’t think it was necessary to test that, so she felt a bit badly about putting him through the extra trouble.

“But those differences are the part you should savor.”

“You can be surprisingly mean sometimes, Kasagi-san.”

“We want to enjoy our youth too, right?”

“...Yes, I agree.”

The two of them continued to cheerfully chat away as they watched Yurika tackle her homework again with Koutarou’s help. Koutarou and Yurika’s bond wasn’t the only one to deepen that day. The same was true for Maki and Shizuka.

On the evening of August 31st, Yurika solved the final problem of her summer homework 36 hours after she’d begun the arduous task.

“I-It’s done... I’m done...”

The pencil in Yurika’s hand dropped to the table and rolled away.

“Good work, Yurika-chan.”

As if waiting for that moment, Shizuka set down a glass of barley tea in front of Yurika. She’d been checking on her from time to time, she roughly knew the progress that Yurika had been making. The same was true for Maki, who was smiling and looking over Yurika’s handiwork.

“There are a lot of mistakes, but you’ve finished everything. I’m impressed you could be so obstinate, Yurika.”

“Th-Thank you very much, Shizuka-san, Maki-chan...”

Yurika took a celebratory swig of her drink with tears of relief streaming down her cheeks. Barley tea had never tasted so good to her.

The trial’s all over now... I better have Satomi-san praise me later!

Yurika felt a grand sense of accomplishment as she sipped on her tea, but then Shizuka dropped a second bomb.

“Now all that’s left is your report. Good job, Yurika-chan. Oh, or do you already have something planned for that?”

“Huh?! What report?!”

She could barely process that word. She’d thought that all of those worksheets were her summer homework, so a new assignment rearing its head out of the blue was an unexpected disaster.

“Wh-What kind of homework is that?!”

“You forgot, huh? Or maybe you were asleep? Either way, during our last integrated studies class, we were told to write a report about the occupational training we had before summer vacation.”

Since the assignment was given just before summer break, it ended up getting rolled into the other summer homework. It was tradition for Kisshouharukaze High School to have occupational training for its second-year students just before summer vacation. It was a variant of a school excursion where students got to go to different workplaces and learn what it was like to be employed there. They were then asked to submit a report on what the experience was like, but because the training had fallen so close to summer vacation this year, the students would be turning their reports in at the start of the new semester.

And what that ultimately meant was that Yurika wasn’t done with her homework. She still had an entire report to go.

“Th-The occupational training...? What did I do again...? Um...”

Yurika desperately tried to recall what she’d been doing a month and a half ago, but she was completely fuzzy. Oblivious to the fact that she’d have to write a report on it later, she’d done whatever work she was asked without a second thought and hadn’t committed any of it to memory. No matter how hard she tried to recall the experience, it was now buried beneath everything that had happened over summer vacation. In other words, it was gone. She’d totally forgotten it.

“I can’t remember at all! Shizuka-san, Maki-chan, help me!”

Without her own brain to rely on, Yurika turned to her friends. She started with imploring Shizuka and Maki, who were right there in the room with her.

“We’d love too, but...”

“We were in a different group than you. We don’t even know what you did.”

“No way!”

But alas, not even Shizuka and Maki could help her.

“Aaahhh, what should I do?!”

Yurika clutched her head in agony. She felt like everything was all over.

“Calm down, Yurika. Start by trying to remember the other people who were in your training group.”

“The other people... That’s right! I was with Satomi-san!”

“So you should ask Satomi-kun what you were doing and write your report based on that.”

“I’m going to go find Satomi-san right away! Maki-chan, where is he now?!”

Koutarou was nowhere to be seen in room 106. But Maki, who was an acknowledged vassal of Koutarou’s, should have a good idea where he might be.

“He should be at Clan-san’s place today as well.”

“Okay!”

Having gotten the information needed from Maki, Yurika made a beeline for Koutarou. Right now, he was her only hope.

After jumping through the gate in the inner room, Yurika was promptly transported aboard the Hazy Moon. She was now running down the halls of the ship, her echoing footsteps making a metallic sound on the strange floor. Unlike cramped room 106, the beautiful white halls of the Hazy Moon seemed to stretch on forever.

“Clan-san’s room is... Ah, that should be it!”

Clan’s room was just up ahead from where Yurika had been gated in. It was easy enough to find, even for an unfamiliar visitor, for it was marked with a wooden placard that read “Princess Clariossa’s Room” and was decorated with stars. It wasn’t at all Clan’s style, betraying that Koutarou and Sanae had made it for her. They had hoped its cheerful design would rub off on her, but sadly it still hadn’t had much effect.

“Clan-san, Clan-san! Please give me Satomi-san!”

Yurika burst into Clan’s room at full speed. Had the door not been automatic, she might have broken right through it.

“That’s unusual. You hardly ever come here, Yu― Kyaaaaah!”

“Clan-san, please give me Satomi-san! Please!”

Clan had known Yurika was on the way the moment she passed through the gate, but the energy and momentum of her entrance took Clan by surprise. She yelped and jumped back some.

“Wh-What’s the matter?!”

“It would take too long to explain, but I can’t finish my homework without Satomi-san! So please give him to me!”

Yurika apprised Clan of the situation as briefly as possible and held out her hands as if she actually expected Clan to physically give her Koutarou.

“I see, so that’s what this is about. I don’t mind. It’s not like I have any business with Veltlion.”

Clan readily agreed. Koutarou had only come to the Hazy Moon to ask her for help, so it wasn’t like she needed him for anything. That’s why she had no objections if he was taken away.

“Thank you very much! Now where is he?!”

“He’s right over there.”

“Satomi-san!”

Yurika ran in the direction Clan pointed her. There was a sofa and a desk across the room, and Yurika could see Koutarou’s neck and shoulders over the back of the sofa. He’d been coming over to Clan’s place to work on his own homework the past couple of days.

“Satomi-san, please help! Please tell me what we did during the occupational training!”

Yurika ran around to the other side of the sofa and immediately began begging.

“Satomi-san! Ah...”

But when she saw Koutarou’s face, she lost all her momentum. She fell silent and despair filled her heart. For when she saw Koutarou, she realized all hope was lost.

“It’s over... my homework... This is just too cruel...”

Koutarou was leaned back on the sofa dead asleep. He hadn’t so much as flinched when Yurika called out to him. And she knew from experience that when he was out cold like this, there was no waking him up. In other words, he couldn’t help her.

“Haaahh... And I tried so hard, too... only to trip at the finish line... This is just...”

Yurika was crushed. She’d had her last lifeline cut just as she was about to make it to safety. She’d worked so hard over the last two days, and learning that it had all been for naught made it feel terrible.

“Oh, so he’s asleep, is he? I thought he was being awfully quiet. But I guess that’s to be expected. He’s been working on that report since yesterday, after all... What’s the matter, Yurika-san?”

“It’s nothing... I was just thinking that Satomi-san looks so peaceful when he sleeps...”

Tiny waterfalls streamed from Yurika’s eyes. Crying was all she could do now.

“I don’t really get it, but... Here, Yurika-san. This is for you.”

“What’s this?”

Clan handed her something. She couldn’t clearly see what it was through her tears, but it felt like some papers.

“Veltlion told me to give that to you... It seems like he knew this would happen.”

“Satomi-san did...?”

Yurika wiped away her tears and looked down at what she was holding. The top page of the stack of papers read, “Occupational training report: insect caretakers at a pet shop. A collaboration between Satomi Koutarou and Nijino Yurika.”

It was the report Koutarou had been working so hard on. He normally would have done his own, but after seeing how hard Yurika was working to get the rest of her homework done, he’d decided to make it a collaborative project. That meant more work for him since he’d have to make up for Yurika’s contribution to the report, which was why it had taken him so long to get it done. That was really why he hadn’t been in room 106 the past couple of days.

“Satomi-san... you really are...”

The tears Yurika wiped away began overflowing once more. A deep sense of relief and gratitude filled her chest. Believing that she’d finish the rest of her homework on her own, he’d done his part to help her by writing a report for them both. Really and truly, he’d had faith in her. The joy she’d felt from completing her homework didn’t hold a candle to the elation she felt when she read that title.

“There’s so much I want to say, but... I’m almost at my limit too... so I’ll just say this one thing...”

Yurika began muttering as she collapsed onto the sofa too. She’d plopped down right next to Koutarou and ended up leaning on him. As she did, she whispered into his ear...

“Satomi-san, just like I promised, I finished my homework...”

And with that, Yurika quietly shut her eyes. She was already well past her limits. Being even more exhausted than Koutarou, she fell asleep mere seconds after closing her eyes.

“I don’t like being treated like some side character after spending two days helping, free of charge, but...” Clan pulled a blanket over the two of them and left the room after turning off most lights. “Heh, out of respect for your hard work, I’ll let you have Veltlion for today, Yurika-san.”

When Clan shut the door behind her, silence fell over the room once more. There was no sound other than the quiet, rhythmical breathing of the snoozing Yurika and Koutarou. Clan had no intention of disturbing them, so they would stay like that for some time. Yurika was oblivious to it since she was dead asleep, but it would make her very, very happy.