I was a little scared, so I couldn’t ask, What? What timing? So I decided to change the subject. “Well, I’m not really counting on getting a scholarship anyway, but then there’s, like… Other than that, there’s the issue of the environment. Location, facilities, support system, and everything else…,” I grumbled.
After some deep consideration, Yukinoshita suddenly turned her face toward me. “Are you going to be selecting a different prep school? I thought the one we saw today was good…”
“Ah, no, it’s not like I have any complaints. I just want to look into alternatives for comparison. Well, when it comes to quality of instructors—frankly, you can’t really tell without taking a whole year’s worth of classes, so that means you compare other stuff,” I said.
Yukinoshita cocked her head. “By other stuff, do you mean the size of the independent study rooms, or the amount of reference material?”
“Well, that, too, but… Hmm,” I said.
The size of study rooms and the number of chairs is indeed important. When it’s too crowded and you can’t get a seat even when you came in eager to study, you wind up in a mood for the whole day like Oh, come on! I’m also very grateful to have reference books and past problems to borrow.
But that only matters if you actually have the drive to go to the prep school in the first place. If it’s too far, you won’t feel like going, and it’s also best to avoid places with a lot of temptations, like arcades and such. When you get down to it, entrance exam studying hangs on your ability to eliminate various excuses not to do it.
So you should choose a location that makes it easy to manage your motivation. If you think about it that way, the items you should prioritize decide themselves.
“…Number one is having a restaurant with good food nearby,” I said.
As the ancient peoples have said, you cannot do battle while hungry.
Good food leads to motivation. Conversely, if the food is lacking in spirit, your motivation will be, too.
Mmm-hmm, that’s right… I had convinced myself.
But Yukinoshita sighed deeply. “I’m sure the prep school won’t expect to be chosen on reasons like that…”
“Hey, it’s an important element in motivation management. For summer courses, you have two or three classes in one day, and then you’re holing yourself up in a study cubicle on top of that, so you’ll be there all day, right? Of course you’ll be eating nearby. Food isn’t just about simple replenishment of nutrients; it also means refreshment. So there’s nothing better than to choose a school with a good restaurant in the area.”
I firmly held back what I actually wanted to say, which was But delivery is the real deliverance! If I said anything stupid, she’d get exasperated with me.
So I thought. Oh, that Yukinoshita. She’s already annoyed with me!
“The irritating thing is how incredibly convincing that completely hollow argument sounds…” She touched her fingers to her temple as if she had a headache, cheeks spasming in disgust. But suddenly, her cheeks relaxed, and she sighed gently in either exasperation or resignation. “…But it’s true. I think I’ve never considered that.”
“Right?”
Well, if you’re choosing based on food, your problem gets to be that you’re limited to what’s near a good ramen place… And if I can be greedy here, too, it’s even better if there’s a sauna nearby as well. But maybe that really is asking for too much. You won’t even know anymore if you’re going there to study or to get sorted out.
As I was turning my thoughts to such wishes that would never be, Yukinoshita nodded. “Mm. Well then, which prep school will we be looking at next?”
“Huh? You’re coming?” I asked without thinking.
Yukinoshita cocked her head with a blank look. “Are you not?”
“Uh, I am, but…” I do plan to go see other prep schools… But you don’t need to, do you? Right? Didn’t you like the place we went to today? I thought, and I’m sure this came across loud and clear in the way I trailed off and in the way my eyebrows came together dubiously.
When Yukinoshita realized, she let out an ah and covered her mouth. That hand gradually rose up to hide her cheek. Then she slid her gaze away. “I thought we would be going to the same school,” she murmured hesitantly, her cheeks flushing beet-red.
But I couldn’t bring myself to fire any comebacks at her. I was aware my own cheeks were on fire. “Oh, I don’t mind if we’re together, though… With these things, you’ve really got to consider taste and what suits you and what doesn’t and stuff, not like I know,” I mumbled.
While I got more and more flustered, Yukinoshita nod-nodded. That must have helped her pull herself together. She adjusted her seat, petting and arranging her skirt hem while she was at it, finger-combed the hair that came down over her shoulders, and corrected her posture.
Eventually, she began, “It’s not as if I’m not considering it at all…” She sucked in a little breath, then began speaking more rapidly. “I feel your opinion of heavily weighting environment in order to maintain motivation is incredibly reasonable. Therefore, I believe I will also choose to weight environment heavily in my evaluation.”
“O-oh, yes, indubitably…” Why is she speaking weirdly formally…? It made me give a weird answer, too.
“So then if I’m to consider the environment…” Up until then, Yukinoshita had been speaking as if this was all very well reasoned, but she stumbled.
When I asked with just my gaze, What’s wrong? She gave a little shake of her head and muttered, “Umm…” like she wasn’t sure how to put it, and she kept fussing with her bangs as she continued talking. “If I’m to consider the environment, um, I think I could work harder if we’re together…” With a shy, bashful eh-heh-heh sort of smile, she combed her hair over and over.
Her usual reserve was gone; that smile was so incredibly innocent. I had no idea how to respond.
Is she for real…? Give me a break, seriously… I’m gonna turn into jelly with my head in my hands… Are you okay? Are your mental faculties alive? Yes, we are! Phew. Looks like they were.
So this means I’ve got no choice but to go to the same prep school as her, don’t I? Wait, no. I can’t do this. But I can’t think of any reason to refuse. The only concern I have here is that I really don’t think I’ll be able to concentrate on studying at all; either way, I’ll obviously be spending my time wondering what she’s doing, so… Yeah, you could say it makes no difference where I am. In fact, I could avoid worrying unnecessarily, which means it would actually be constructive. Okay, excuse complete.