The looming pressure of exams made every moment we could spend studying precious, so we ended up ordering out for lunch. I was a little disappointed to miss a chance to eat Ayase’s (purportedly) delicious and Kotou’s (verifiably) scrumptious cooking, but that being said, it was entirely better to altogether avoid getting Renge the Cheftastrophe involved. So with all things considered, I was completely fine with things turning out that way.
By the way, for the sake of Renge’s dignity I feel like I should note that she’s supposedly legitimately good at brewing tea. She also handled the actual ordering out part, and as the eldest person present, she even covered the bill in an impressive show of generosity. Her cheftastrophic nature wasn’t supernaturally potent enough to corrupt food made by other people on her behalf, thankfully, and the hors d’oeuvres that showed up at the Ayase household were actually really tasty.
With that brief and pleasant interlude out of the way, our study party resumed in all its dull, never-ending glory. When all was said and done, pretty much everyone present was diligent in their own special sort of way. You’d expect someone to drop out of study mode in favor of playing cards or a video game, but nope, everyone just kept working with the utmost efficiency. Even Yuuta was quietly focused on her workbook. I don’t even know what to say about that one.
There were, of course, two exceptions.
“Kunugicchi, I’m booored!”
“I know, right?”
That one innocent little moment of grumbling between Kotou and me resulted in Kiryu and Renge (who were otherwise unoccupied) deciding to tutor the both of us one-on-one. It seemed like overkill, honestly—we were just studying for finals; it wasn’t that big of a deal—but thanks to their focused attention, I ended up being able to really focus and not get sidetracked by any intrusive thoughts. Probably a good thing overall, honestly.
“It’s getting kinda late. Think we should call it here for today?” suggested Kaito, finally.
“Woohoo! I’ve been waiting for someone to say that!” I exclaimed, immediately sprawling out on the floor. The world outside was already stained red by the vivid glow of sunset. I’m pretty positive that was the longest extended study session I’d been subjected to over the course of my entire life.
Kotou and Kazuki, both of whose stamina levels when it came to all that stuff were just as low as mine, collapsed right along with me. “Man, I just did a lifetime’s worth of studying in a single day!” moaned Kotou, while Kazuki was already pretending to snore. We really had hit the books from the early morning all the way to sunset. The atmosphere of academic rigor had been even thicker than it was during a typical school day.
“You need to review at home as well, okay?” cautioned Kiryu. “Cramming everything in today was all well and good, but it’s important to make sure that you actually remember it all a week from now.”
“Okaaay! Thanks so much, Kyou-chan!” cried Kotou. I was grateful too—Kiryu might’ve been an intense and unrelenting teacher, but saying stuff like that made it clear that she really cared about us. She looked like an incredibly nice person, all of a sudden. I guess she had to be a nice person to sacrifice that much of her personal time to tutor us, really.
I turned to Renge. “Thanks for today, Miss President.”
“You’re quite welcome, Kunugi-kun. It was no trouble at all, really—you had a solid foundation and picked up on everything I taught you quite quickly.” Considering the fact that she was the one who’d tutored me up to a high-school level in the first place, that line came across as a bit self-congratulatory.
“You’ve really got it together, huh, Miss President? You barely did any of your own studying at all today,” commented Kazuki.
“I wouldn’t say that at all. It’s important for me to have a solid understanding of the first- and second-year material, so this made for a very productive opportunity to review,” replied Renge with a smile I couldn’t see as particularly sincere. I didn’t think she was lying, per se, but it was pretty obvious that she was giving that fact more weight than it actually bore. “Not to mention that this is a rare opportunity to interact with my underclassmen.”
“You’re making yourself sound like a real model senpai, huh?” I jabbed.
“Oh, no need to be bashful,” she countered. “It’s perfectly acceptable to admit how much you idolize me.” She beamed, and I sighed. I knew that no matter what I said in response to that, it wouldn’t register as meaningful in her mind. She was in her student-council-president mode, after all, so I’d be commenting on her persona rather than on Renge herself.
An exchange between Kunugi Kou, second-year student at Oumei High, and Myourenji Renge, president of the student council, could never get our real feelings across. It’d inevitably turn out to be an act, and a more or less meaningless one. There wasn’t much of a need to go through that whole process at the moment, so I didn’t feel like forcing a conversation.
Renge, however, had other ideas. “Come on, Kunugi-kun, don’t you have anything to say to the kind, devoted senpai who spent her whole day helping you?” I had no clue why she wasn’t letting the conversation peter off—she was actually dragging me back into it, even. She was an absolute enigma, and I’d never get a decent handle on her personality.
“What’s going on with—”
“Hey, Renge-san, Kou!” I was about to ask if something had happened to her, but Kaito picked the perfect moment to come over and chat us up. “Oh, sorry, am I interrupting something?”
“No, not at all. What is it?” replied Renge.
“We were just talking about what we’re gonna do next, and Tsumugi said that we should all have dinner together. Do you wanna go?”
“Hmm, I suppose—”
“Sorry, but I’ll have to pass,” I interjected, cutting off Renge. In spite of the fact that Kaito went out of his way to invite me, I turned him down pretty bluntly, shoved my papers into my bag, and stood up.
“Busy with something?”
“Heading home to sleep. Human brains process and organize information best when they’re unconscious, y’know? Gotta get some shut-eye to make sure everything I crammed in there today sticks!”
“But really, you’re just lazy and wanna take a nap, right?”
“That too.” I had to admit it. Kaito knew me way too well.
I was still curious about what Renge’s deal was, but I could spend all day guessing and still never actually figure her out. Some famous philosopher apparently once said, “Man is only a reed, the weakest in nature, but he is a thinking reed.” I have no clue what he meant by that, but if I had to read a single piece of nuance into it, it’d be something along the lines of, “Man, people sure do think a lot, don’t they?”
Just thinking and thinking away at something doesn’t necessarily gain you anything, though. Thinking tires you out, and sometimes all it takes to find the right answer is to not think about it for a while. You know how sometimes you’ll search for something for ages, only to finally find it the instant you give up and stop looking? It’s just like that.
“Kou?” I’d been so focused on overthinking my excuse for not overthinking stuff that I’d fallen silent, much to Kaito’s confusion. What an incredibly pointless thing to be preoccupied by.
“Ah, sorry, spaced out for a sec. Guess I really am sleepy.” I turned to face the others. “Nice work today, everyone, and thanks again! Sorry I can’t come along—have fun without me!”
A few of them seemed surprised that I was heading home already, but I knew that if I gave them the chance to question me, I might be there all evening, so I hustled out of the Ayase household before they had the chance.
❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤
I strolled home, indulging in one of those listless moods that lets you really appreciate the beauty of a nice sunset. I had the sudden urge to take a picture—it felt like one of those perfect opportunities to get a great shot to post online and earn some internet points with. Of course, I didn’t actually bother.
“Huh?”
I happened to put my hand in my pocket and realized that something was conspicuously missing: my phone. We’d all exchanged contact information at one point during the study party, and I figured I must’ve set it down and forgotten about it back then.
“Well, whatever,” I muttered. Not having my phone wasn’t a big deal. All I was planning on doing was going home to sleep, and Kaito would probably bring it to school with him on Monday. But no sooner had I thought that than somebody shouted behind me.
“Kou-saaan!”
“Wha?” I turned around to find the last person I would’ve guessed running in my direction. Her brown hair bounced gently with each step, and the brilliant light of the setting sun made it glimmer with an almost whitish hue.