Seishun Buta Yarou Series - Volume 8 - Chapter 1.3

3

Monday morning.

Homeroom ended, and Sakuta left class, chasing after the teacher.

“Azusagawa? That’s a new one. What?”

“You wanted me to turn in the survey, right?”

He held out a piece of paper. The teacher took it on reflex and glanced down, and his face froze.

Sakuta had put the name of two Yokohama area universities, one nationally run and one city run. The sheet layout had them as his first and second choice, but he didn’t really have a preference.

But these choices would be a surprise.

“There you have it.”

“We’ll need to have a little chat.”

He was frowning, but he didn’t call him crazy yet. Probably because Sakuta had done well on the mock exam they’d taken in the middle of second term.

That was because Mai had helped him study. If he hadn’t done well, she would’ve been livid, so he’d really given it his all. Humans could do wonders with sufficient motivation.

“I’ll definitely need your advice,” he said politely.

This seemed to surprise his teacher even more, but in a good way.

“All right,” he said, looking proud.

Sakuta paid attention in class that morning, too. Math, physics, English, and math again. Everything but English was part of the elective science curriculum, and the students were 90 percent male. Not exactly a feast for the eyes.

After that dull gray morning ended and lunchtime arrived, Sakuta quickly fled the room, empty-handed.

Students racing to the bakery truck passed him. On the stairs, he passed upperclassmen racing down.

Going against the flow, Sakuta headed for the third floor.

At the very back of a long hall was an empty classroom. He opened the door and stepped in.

Nobody ever came here—except the girl waiting for him.

“Oh, Sakuta,” Mai said, turning around.

She had two desks pushed together by the window, facing each other. There were two lunch box–size bags in her hands.

Mai had called him last night. “I’ll make something, so let’s eat lunch together.”

He wasn’t about to turn a lunch date down.

The window seats had a great view of the ocean. They sat down across from each other, and Mai opened up the lunches she’d made. Well-seasoned chicken nuggets. Rolled eggs with chopped shiso mixed in. Potato salad peppered with crispy bacon. And the rice was sprinkled with sesame, a pickled plum at the center. Each dish had an extra wrinkle to it, and they were all very good. Sakuta made a big show of enjoying it and managed to wheedle Mai into feeding him a single bite.

If they were together, just the act of eating lunch was a source of joy.

“That was great.”

“It was nothing.”

And that made the meal go quick.

“But what brought this on, Mai?” he asked while helping putting the empty lunch boxes away.

“Why is that a question?”

“No ulterior motives?”

His eyes were on the bags she’d carried them in.

“I just felt like cooking for you, Sakuta.”

That was adorable.

Mai put the bags into her backpack and took out several thin B5-size booklets. The top cover had Foreign Languages: English (Writing) on it. There were further instructions below that, but Mai turned the page before he could read them. He thought he’d seen something about an answer sheet, though. This clearly involved test problems. And given the timing, it was likely related to the National Center Test for University Admissions.

“What’s that, Mai?” he asked, pointing at it. His heart sinking.

Mai took out her phone and punched something into it, checking the book as she did.

“Problems for the Center Test.”

His fears had come true.

“From previous years?”

“Nope, this year.”

“This year?”

“Yep, this year.”

She was busy with her phone and not looking at him.

“……”

“……”

“Um, why this year’s Center Test?”

“Because I spent the last two days taking it.”

Even now, she was going back and forth from the booklet to her phone. She finished up English and flipped to a book of math problems.

“So what are you doing, exactly?” he asked, pointing at her phone.

“Self-grading.”

She made that sound obvious, but it sure didn’t make sense to him.

“This makes it easy. You can just punch in your answers, and it’ll calculate your results for you.”

She must have gotten through all subjects, because she showed Sakuta the final score. He wasn’t clear on the detailed breakdown, but out of 900 possible points, she’d earned 830. The smile on her face made it extremely clear that this was a very good number. Less than 10 percent wrong, and that alone was really impressive. She probably had a perfect score on several subjects.

“You took it this year, though?”

“Yes.”

“What happened to taking a year off and enjoying campus life with yours truly?”

“I’m taking the test this year, then a year’s leave of absence.”

“Because?”

“I figured that would make you hit the books like a madman.”

She had her face cupped in both hands and wore a look of absolute delight. The effervescent smile from her sports drink commercials. The one he’d heard a boy from another school deem “too cute for words” on the train to school that morning. And it was all for him. That itself was pure bliss, but Sakuta couldn’t quite stop to savor it.

This was the real reason why she’d summoned him to lunch.

The homemade meal had drawn him in so she could drive the hammer home better.

If they’d taken the tests together and he slipped up and didn’t make the cut, he could have hoped she’d opt to console him—but she’d mercilessly cut off that escape route with a smile.

A bad idea crossed his mind. National university admissions had two stages. She still had that second round ahead of her. If he could make her blow that…

“You’re gonna try and make me fail?”

“I would never…”

She’d read his mind. Sakuta looked out the window, trying to collect himself. He basked in the vastness of the sea for a moment, then turned back to her.

“I was just wondering what reward I’d get for applying myself.”

He’d do what he could. Had always meant to. He had the motivation. But the thought of studying for days on end was still deeply depressing. He needed a light in that darkness.

“Then let’s make it a date,” Mai said, like the idea had just hit her. “I don’t have work today, so we can go after school. They’ve got tulips on Enoshima, I hear.”

She showed him a photo of them on her phone.

He would normally jump on that, but it wasn’t an option today.

“Ohhh,” he said, shifting guiltily.

“What? You don’t wanna?” Mai’s eyes narrowed.

“I have a thing…”

“Work?”

“Basically,” he said evasively.

“Payback for Friday?” There was a gleam in Mai’s eyes that definitely went beyond “disappointed.”

“Absolutely not. I would never hide anything from you, Mai.”

“So you definitely are.”

She fixed him with her most merciless glare but didn’t maintain it long.

“Okay, fine. If you’re brushing me off, it’s definitely about Kaede.”

Mai knew Kaede had been trying to say something on Friday, so it was easy for her to make that leap.

“Basically.”

“Hmm? Well, okay, then.”

She still seemed pretty disgruntled. She was grinding his foot beneath the desk. But she’d taken her slipper off, so it didn’t actually hurt. It was honestly rather pleasant—and that must have shown on his face, because she pressed harder.

“Um, Mai…”

“Yes?” she said, all innocence.

“Never mind.”

He decided to let her stomp away. That was what he got for turning down a date from his adorable girlfriend. Sakuta wanted to be the kind of man who could take a little spite, so this worked out great. A prime opportunity to become a better person.