That Mood-Wrecking Thing Called Midterms (2)
“Well, yeah. I’ve got a pretty good feeling about this one.”
“Uwaa, you’re seriously pulling the confident act!? Aren’t you supposed to be like, ‘Nah, I’m kinda nervous too,’ and pretend to be modest!? That’s typical pre-exam student behavior, right!?”
“Wouldn’t it come off really smug if I said that and then got a top score?”
Honestly, if I’m about to score a perfect hundred in every subject, pretending to be modest and saying stuff like that would be kind of messed up—as a human being.
“Ahaha, true. That would totally make me want to buy a cursed straw doll on the way home.”
“Hey hey, where the heck would you even buy one of those?”
“Hmm, I dunno. Tokyu Hands maybe?”
“Now that you mention it, I bet Hands would have them. That place really has everything. Wouldn’t be weird if they had straw dolls too.”
I pictured Tokyu Hands’ distinct store layout in my head—shelves crammed full of all sorts of niche items you’d never find in a regular shop, spread out across every floor.
“Even if it’s not online, Hands probably has it. And if Hands doesn’t have it, then you just give up. When in doubt, go to Hands—something like that?”
“So true.”
There are products that even take two weeks to arrive online, yet they’re just casually sitting on the shelves there.
That’s the magic of Hands-quality.
“Ahh, so you really are that confident, huh? I guess that makes sense. You were always super sharp in class. Ugh, I’m so jealous…”
“W-Well, yeah, I guess.”
“But like, you weren’t doing that great back in first semester, right? Did you find some amazing study method or something? Come on, come on, don’t keep it all to yourself—tell me, just between us?”
“Uhh… I wouldn’t say there’s anything special. So yeah, I guess the most important thing is just… motivation?”
(When it comes to studying, it’s totally thanks to that cheat-level skill from the goddess Athena, so being asked about study methods honestly puts me in a bind. I’ve got no real answer, so dodging the question is all I can do.)
“Motivation, huh… Yeah, I guess in the end, it really comes down to your own mindset. Drive, motivation, passion! But alas, I don’t have any burning passion for studying. Sigh…”
Unlike middle school, high schoolers have a fair bit of freedom, a wider range of places to hang out, more allowance—and above all, we’re at that age where we just want to have fun.
And yet, trying to find a high schooler who actually likes studying is probably as tough as finding an Osakan auntie who doesn’t carry candy.
“Sorry. That’s the best answer I’ve got.”
“Huh? Why are you apologizing, Shuhei-kun?”
“N-No real reason…”
There’s no way I could tell her it’s because studying has become stupidly easy thanks to the goddess Athena’s blessing.
“Ahaha, you’re weird, Shuhei-kun. But if you’re feeling that confident, you might even land in the top twenty, right? They’re posting the rankings up to twentieth place this weekend, so if I see your name there, you’d better let me celebrate with you!”
“Hey now, shouldn’t it be me celebrating you, not the other way around?”
“Don’t get cocky, Shuhei! Getting into the top twenty and wanting a celebration on top of that? You wish!”
Hasumin said that with a teasing laugh, pointing at me as she called me by just my name—
(S-So cute…)
It was the first time a girl had ever called me just by my name, and my heart thudded hard in my chest.
And then—
Ever since the school festival, I’d kind of started being aware of Hasumin…
But with this little exchange, I finally realized how I truly felt.
(That’s it… I’ve fallen for Hasumin.)
So that’s what it was.
I had fallen in love with Hasumin—