Seishun Buta Yarou Series - Volume 8 - Chapter 1.4

4

After school, Sakuta was on cleaning duty. Once the class was swept, he headed for the faculty office—a place he usually did his best to avoid.

His teacher had stopped him right after the final homeroom.

“Azusagawa, swing by the office.”

“Does that mean I don’t have to clean?”

“Do that first, but make sure you come see me after.”

He was firm enough that Sakuta knew he couldn’t get away with pretending to forget. Wondering what this was about, he opened the door and bowed to everyone inside.

He looked around the faculty office. It was as big as two classrooms. His homeroom teacher was sitting near the center, and when their eyes met, he got up and came over, carrying several printouts.

“Fill these out and let’s see where you are.”

The top page had Foreign Languages: English (Writing) at the top. He’d seen that before. And there were a bunch of rules for taking the test below it.

Clearly a copy of the Center Test problem books—the same test Mai had been self-grading at lunch.

When Sakuta just stared at them, the teacher pushed them into his hands.

“Five subjects, and your target score is 750 out of 900.”

“That’s fast. I just handed in my survey today.”

“You’re already behind. Everyone else started last summer.”

Sakuta had meant his teacher’s turnaround, but the man smoothly flipped it on him. Arguably a positive spin.

“Huh…”

“You said you wanted advice, right?” The teacher scowled at him. “Get those done.”

“Got it.”

The teachers had a meeting or something, and he was soon called away, allowing Sakuta to make his getaway.

“Thanks,” he said, but no one was listening. He closed the door behind him.

As he walked away, he stuffed the pages in his bag. Free at last.

Between cleaning and the summons, he was a solid half hour behind his usual schedule. The school felt much quieter than it did when he typically left.

Anyone headed home was long since gone. By now, only students with clubs or practice were still around. The halls themselves were empty. He could hear some sports team or other yelling out on the field, but from this distance, it all felt like a lazy afternoon. Sakuta reached the exit without spotting another soul.

He’d figured Mai wouldn’t wait for him.

But he’d sort of hoped she would.

She sometimes hung around like that, just to surprise him.

And that would have been a comfort today.

Sadly, she wasn’t leaning against his shoe locker today.

There was nobody here at all.

He’d been forced to turn down their after-school date, and this was the harsh reality.

“I did see it coming…,” he grumbled.

He opened his shoe locker—and a folded scrap of paper fluttered out.

“Mm?”

Blinking, he scooped it up.

It said Twit in Mai’s handwriting.

She was clearly still holding the date refusal against him. But if she was making the first move, she probably wasn’t that mad. This felt more like a ploy to ensure he indulged her later.

Amused by that, he started grinning.

Then he noticed another note in much smaller letters.

Wipe that grin off your face.

She really knew him well.

And that just made him grin harder.

Moments like these were the absolute best.

Sakuta’s grin lasted all through his shoe change and the walk to the station. He carefully tucked the note into his uniform pocket.

At the station, Sakuta hopped on a train at Shichirigahama and watched the sea roll by on the way to Fujisawa Station.

The clock on the Enoden Fujisawa platform said four thirty.

He went through the gates and through the crowds on the overpass. Past the JR and Odakyu gates and out the north exit.

His way home led down the road past the electronics store, but today he turned the other direction.

Sakuta worked at a family restaurant near the station. The sun was getting pretty low, so the view inside those windows was glowing extra bright.

Outside the shop, he found a familiar face.

A tall boy with a jacket over his server’s uniform. One of Sakuta’s few friends, Yuuma Kunimi. He had a broom in hand and was sweeping the area.

“Kunimi,” he called.

Yuuma looked up and saw him. “Mm, Sakuta? You have a shift today?”

“I thought you had practice.”

Yuuma was on the basketball team. Any time they had an exhibition match in the gym, the place filled up with shrieking girls—he was very popular.

“Got an away game Saturday, so we’re off today.”

“Then you should rest up, man.”

Working a shift undermined the whole point of skipping practice.

“Everyone’s out doing something. Work’s no different.”

He spoke truth with a breezy smile.

“So why you here?”

“Meeting someone.”

“Sakurajima?”

“Nope.”

“Don’t have too many affairs.”

“I ain’t as popular as you, so no danger of that.”

Sakuta peered through the window. The clock said 4:40. He still had twenty minutes to go, and inside he’d just sit there bored, so he figured he might as well keep distracting Yuuma.

“Kunimi.”

“Mm?”

A leaf came fluttering in from somewhere, and Yuuma swept it into the dustpan.

“You got plans for after high school?”

“Where’d that come from?” Yuuma laughed, like the question was totally out of character.

“Isn’t it on all our minds? We’re doing those survey things.”

“Fair enough. But you’re going to college, right? With Sakurajima?”

“Did I tell you that?”

He couldn’t recall doing anything of the sort.

“Futaba told me.”

Yuuma’s source was a mutual friend of theirs. Rio Futaba, a girl in their year. She filled her afternoons with science club experiments and was probably glasses deep in one now. Or kicking back with some instant coffee she’d brewed in a beaker over a Bunsen burner.

“She said, ‘Azusagawa’s really looking forward to it.’”

“Is it just me, or does that sound like an insult more than anything else?”

“I think most people would just call it jealousy. Which I get!”

“But you’ve got a firecracker of your own.”

“Kamisato’s only like that with you. You fight with her again? She was mega-pissed at you on Friday.”

“Don’t worry. I already forgot it.”

“So it was definitely your fault.” Yuuma laughed out loud.

He’d likely heard the whole story. Saki Kamisato had been forced to read aloud after Sakuta drifted off in class, so he hadn’t actively done anything, but the blame did almost certainly lie on his shoulders.

“But that’s cool. College sounds like fun.”

Yuuma put his chin on the broom handle. Eyes on the sky above.

“I don’t wanna study like that, though,” he joked.

“You get to skip all that, Kunimi. You’re a lucky man.”

“Nah, I gotta do a bit.”

“For what?”

“Employment exam.”

“For what?”

“Firefighter.”

“Huh.”

First he’d heard of it, but it made perfect sense somehow. Sakuta could only use his own yardstick here, but it felt like a very Yuuma choice. The kind of job he wanted dedicated men like Yuuma doing.

“Well, if our place ever goes up, I’m counting on you.”

“Fire safety starts at home.”

They were both laughing now.

“You tell Futaba that?”

“It’s what she told me.”

“Her diabolical plan to put you out of work. Revenge for turning her down, huh? Well done, Futaba.”

“If we could end all fires and disasters, I’d happily get another job. Not that I have this one yet.”

Yuuma grinned happily. He totally wasn’t joking at all, one of the things Sakuta liked most about him.

“Well, when you get your first paycheck, we’ll have to celebrate. Get me and Futaba something good.”

“If you’re paying.”

They were still laughing when a voice called his name.

He turned around and saw Miwako Tomobe standing there. Ten minutes early.

“You really do like older women,” Yuuma muttered, but Sakuta pretended not to hear.