Chapter 6: Falling from First Place is still MayhemAfter the weekend, it’s now Monday morning.
Today is the day the top hundred candidates get their name posted on the board.
Of course I care about the result, but I have to take care of Hime first.
I thought after all the swordfight, I can get closer to Hime.
But, her last “I wanted to be punish by the world” makes me think twice.
Maybe Hime did all this to make someone angry.
If that’s so, she would wear her chuunibyou clothes today to school.
Although last week the disciplinary committee president showed her mercifulness, there’s a limit to everything. If what ponytail-senpai said is true, they will surely punish the “Jien-otsu” members severly if she did it again.
I left home earlier than usual with Chiwa, and waited for Hime in front of the gate.
“Eh? Isn’t this Ai? What happened?”
Taking the place of the usual ponytail-senpai and megane-senpai, Fuyuumi stood in front of the gate alone.
“Is Fuyuumi waiting for Hime too?”
“N, Not really? It’s just that today’s “Greeting Campaign” is my duty! Morning!”
Fuyuumi blushed, and greeted the other students loudly. Hmm…what a dishonest girl.
While we were standing by Fuyuumi waiting for Hime, we found another dishonest girl. Waiting in the bushes that I hid in yesterday, I caught a glimpse of the silver hair.
“Hey, Masuzu.”
The hair slightly jumped.
“Don’t wait there, come here, let’s wait for Hime together.”
“I’m not Masuzu, I’m Summer River Suzuma, a Vietnamese with j.a.panese bloodline.”[1]
What is with this incomplete tone and weird name?
“Aaahhhh!?”
“Ehhhhhh!?”
Chiwa and Fuyuumi suddenly yelled.
“In ‘Pachi Lemon’s’ Popucute test, the “Postcard Maker[2]” who always answer with really weird answers, is it Natsukawa?”
“Summer River is ‘Natsukawa[3]’ huh? I see, that’s really a blindspot…..”
Although I don’t really understand what happened, but the both of them looked as if they received a large impact.
Just at this moment, I saw a bright black-haired girl amongst the students walking into school. A beautiful white skin that can be recognized from afar—the small-framed girl was Hime.
Today there were no bandages.
There also was no cape.
And there was no new weapon to replace the fishing rod.
“Hime-chan!”
Earlier than anybody else, Fuyuumi ran to Hime.
She held the dazed Hime’s hands tightly.
“You finally understood, Hime! I was worried you might become a delinquent!”
“I can’t see those clothes anymore—that’s quite a shame.”
Chiwa smiled while joking.
I observed the three, and felt relieved. That’s great, the worst case scenario of Hime getting expelled is avoidable.
“Looks like my strategy worked.”
The Masuzu known as Summer River who was hiding in the bushes stood up, looking the same as usual, but I knew her face is slightly less tensed and she also seemed relieved.
I walked to Hime.
“Morning, Hime.”
“…Good, morning…”
Hime shifted her eyes and mumbled.
Ughhhh, she’s still not back to normal yet?
“Hey, Hime, you are coming to the club room today, right?”
“We still need to decide on the performance for the school festival soon, don"t we?”
Even though Chiwa voiced out, Hime’s expression was still unmoved.
“It’s not nice if you pushed her like this, Hime-chan can come if she wants to.”
Fuyuumi smiled at Hime, and Hime smiled back.
“Thank you, master, thank you.”
“With our relationship this is nothing.”
What a touching teacher-student relationship.
If that’s the case, we won’t force her to come.
If Hime can get spirited and come to club activities, we will wait for her, no matter how long it takes.
♦
After putting down my bag in the cla.s.sroom, I walked to the board in front of cla.s.s 5 to look at the results.
Although I have confidence, I’m still nervous, especially since this time I paid a lot to attend summer prep cla.s.s. The feeling of wanting to know the results is making me nervous.
Since Hime’s problem is temporarily resolved, I have to do my own things properly too.
“Ei-kun, are you going to look at the results?”
Chiwa called me after coming out from the restroom between cla.s.s 3 and cla.s.s 4.
“Are you going to take a look too?”
“I only wanted to go back to my own cla.s.s. Speaking of that, my name won’t be up there, will it?”
Chiwa said it as if she didn"t really care much while we walked together.
“That’s not for me to say, maybe you got all the multiple choice questions correct?”
“I would rather use my luck at Pachi Lemon’s lucky draw instead of here. The winner gets a super cute Popucute Tote bag!”
Chiwa talked as if exams and magazines’ lucky draws are the same thing. On another note, her results are always at the border of failing.
“This time Ei-kun should be first place too, since you were so hardworking during the break.”
“I don’t know, maybe there are more people who worked harder.”
Although I said that, I didn’t doubt that I can get first place. Even in the tests during prep cla.s.s, my results don’t really differ from the students from famous private schools.
“Hmm, how should I put it? Should I say it’s the pride of government funded schools’ students? I want to show them that.”
“Whoosh—whoosh—! How cool!”
Chiwa clapped for me, stop that, how embarra.s.sing.
Just like this, we reached the corridor of cla.s.s 5.
Chiwa, who was looking at the results with me, shouted.
“Ei, Ei-kun!”
“What?”
“Pachi Lemon, I should’ve joined the lucky draw!”
I looked at the direction she pointed at, at the hundredth place there was the name “Harusaki Chiwa”. This is supposedly a hundred better than usual, quite a good result.
“You did quite well! You’ll surely improve through the second semester!”
“Hehehe, I don’t know how, maybe my hidden power is released.”
Chihuahua-san put on a fearless face, it’s as if her inner chuunibyou awakened.
However, these kind of things do happen a lot in tests. For starters, the question style is different from the mid semester exams and finals, and the questions majorly being multiple choice questions may also be a factor.
But, this has nothing to do with “Realpowered[4]”, does it……?
Affected by Chiwa, my Chuunibyou strikes again, and I looked at the notice board again.
--Then, I saw an unbelievable sight.
“Eh? Second place?”
I’m second.
Second. Number two.[5]
No matter how many times I looked, the name Kidou Eita is not at the top, but at the second place.
“This, this exam is really weird! Seeing I was placed at hundred, I already felt there was something wrong with it. Don’t mind it! Anyways, second place is already great!”
Although Chiwa said some comforting words, I don’t feel comforted at all.
What I want is the national university medical department’s recoomendation, and this is only given to a student with good results and behavior. Of course it wasn’t stated “only one person may get the recommendation”, but you can see it just by looking at the “Graduates’ Further Studies[6]” which we received after entering the school: in the past ten years, there had never been a year where two or more people got the recommendation.
That’s why second place will not work.
If it’s not first place, it doesn’t mean anything to me.
At the first place is the name of a girl, “Mogami Yura”.
She is in my cla.s.s, twintails, does not attract attention and feels simple. Her conversation with me is only to the extent of greeting each other, but when Chiwa comes over, I see them talking quite a few times.
“Chiwa, you’re quite familiar with this Mogami right? What kind of person is she?”
“Remember me telling you about the doctor who operated on me last year?”
I nodded, it’s that useless doctor. Although people know him as the best doctor in town, but he’s the useless doctor who told Chiwa to “give up on kendo”.
“She’s the daughter of that doctor. While I was in the hospital I spoke to her a few times and got acquainted. We also hung out occasionally.
Chiwa’s sight shifted to my back, and waved to someone.
I turned back and saw Mogami Yura standing there. She twirled one of her twintails around her finger, stared at the notice board stating that she got first place with a bored expression.
She saw Chiwa and walked over.
“Morning, Chihuahua. This is the first time we met since the second semester started right?”
“Yeah, morning—Yura, what were you doing during the break?”
“Nothing much, just s.p.a.cing out a lot.”
I can’t help but let out an “ughhh” sound.
To the second place me who was tortured by Masuzu and Fuyuumi’s loss of control, and still have to study as hard as possible, these words of the first place pierced through me like a knife.
“Morning Kidou-kun, so you’re here too, I never noticed you.”
“I’m sorry for not having much presence!”
“Don’t misunderstand, I don’t mean it that way.”
This girl speaks in a cold manner, it’s a different way of expressionless compared to Hime.
“Hey, Mogami, what position were you last semester’s finals?”
“Forty maybe. Ahh, maybe also fifty, I can’t remember.
“You improved quite a lot, did you study hard during the break?”
“My mom registered prep cla.s.s for me herself. But I was mostly s.p.a.cing out, and I wasn’t really listening.”
“……and this is your study time?”
“Yes, because I hate studying.”
Can she get first place suddenly like this?
So is the result just luck?
Or, is this known by people as “gifted”?
“Yura’s mother is also a doctor right?”
“A mother who only nags me to study every day. Because I come from a family of doctors, so she also wants me to become a doctor.”
I can’t ignore these words as if I hadn’t heard them.
“Then, your aim is also the recommendation from the medical department?”
“It’s my parents’.”
After Mogami finished her sentence calmly, she stared at me.
“’Also’ means, Kidou-kun also wants to enter the medical branch?”
“……no, I, erm……”
I got myself into trouble. It’s not like I want to keep it a secret, but I don’t like people asking.
“Ahhh—that’s right Yura! It’s been quite some time since we went to karaoke, do you want to go this Sunday? Karaoke!”
Maybe she sensed my uneasiness, Chiwa forced her way into the conversation.
“……that’s nice, karaoke.”
Mogami’s eyes shined, she probably likes karaoke a lot.
“Let’s invite Mei-chan and Aocchi too! Let’s talk over there, okay?”
After Chiwa took Mogami away, I stood in front of the notice board without moving for a long time.
No matter what, I looked at the list again and again. Even when the other students said “you’re blocking others” or “move”, I never moved an inch.
d.a.m.n…….
The impact I received is just too huge.
High school life is quite long, I can’t remain at first place forever, right? This is just the second semester of my first year, they would"nt decide the slot for the recommendation with just one exam.
I know this very well, I understand this, but I still feel beaten…..
“Aaahhhhhhhh d.a.m.nnnnnn, G.o.ddammitttttt!”
To make up my mind, I stepped pa.s.sionately and shouted. Although the other students looked at me, surprised, I couldn’t care less. After last week’ s incident at the school gate, my feeling of shame is already numb.
I walked while making my footsteps loud and fast across the corridor, and vowed.
From now on, I need to work harder.
Mid semester exam, wait and see! Mogami Yura!
♦
As the bell signaling the end of school rang, Masuzu talked to me.
“Hey, after club activity today—“
“You want to say ‘let me monyomonyo’.”
“Can I go over to your place and monyomonyo……huh?”
Masuzu’s eyes widened in surprise. Fuh! Finally got you once! However, this is only because Masuzu’s behavior recently is too easy to see through.
“I’m sorry, I won’t be attending club activities for now.”
“What happened?”
Masuzu obviously stared at me l.u.s.tfully, are you that thirsty?
“My results dropped. The result was announced today, I became second place.”
“You, second place?”
Masuzu who was longing for monyomonyo widened her eyes in surprise.
“I need to get back first place on the next exam, so let’s stop monyomonyo for a while.”
“…..Is that so.”
I thought Masuzu would retort me, but she didn’t.
“If that’s the case, then I can’t bother you.”
“Oh, ohhh, do you understand me?”
She is too obedient to be Masuzu, which makes me wonder if there’s anything going on.
And I even prepared myself mentally, for she would probably say “Which is more important, studying or me?” and use the notebook as a shield to force me into following her.
“This is, well, to you, study is—“
Masuzu wanted to say something, but instantly stopped herself.
“What, what happened?”
“Nothing. I just feel that Akishino-san is still not back to normal, if you become weird I won’t be able to take it.”
“……I’m sorry.”
I don’t know her original intent, but I’ll accept her goodwill for now.
“If you decide on the performance, do tell me, I’ll help out as much as possible.”
“Okay, I’m counting on you.”
Masuzu walked out of the cla.s.sroom.
Her back feels kind of lonely—it’s probably just psychological effect.
♦
That night, Chiwa came over to make dinner.
Today’s dish is curry. It’s a cla.s.sic dish, together with potato meat stew and I thought it was nice. Well, to make curry taste bad is hard.
Thanks to her I can focus on studying. I memorized English vocabulary while eating curry with eating the mixed pickles[7] and reading through my book.
“Ei-kun, don’t study while you’re eating, let’s chat—?”
“Oh, no problem. This spiciness. .h.i.ts the spot.”
Chiwa suddenly went silent when she heard this.
I looked at her to see what’s wrong, and Chiwa’s face was serious.
“Erm, Ei-kun.”
“Hmm?”
“If the reason you work so hard is for me……”
Chiwa suddenly stuttered and stopped talking. What’s weird is, her behavior is just like Masuzu"s right now.
“No, it’s nothing.”
“Is that so……”
I feel like I actually know what she wants to say.
But, I can’t exactly say it out.
I think Chiwa is also unable to do this.
What she wants to say is probably…...my promise with her that night.
Fuyuumi Ai - Lv 55
Special Skill:
Mental Perseverance[8]Helping Hand[9]Energy+ BonusEnergy Limit BreakAbilities
Shooting 185 Skill 200 Evasion 180
Brawling 185 Defence 200 Accuracy 50
Trump Card Bonus
“Love” SP usage becomes 10.
Spirit Command
Love 90 Courage 20 Ambush 30
Mathematics 10 Tranquility 30 Heal 50
Translator notes and referencesJump up↑ She said this in a slightly weird tone.Jump up↑ The original word is ハガキ职人, which means someone who often send postcards to answer questions from the studio or magazines.Jump up↑ Natsukawa is made up of the characters 夏川, which means “Summer” and “River” respectively.Jump up↑ Original word真の実力者, with Realpowered written by the side. It kind of have the same meaning so yeah there you go.Jump up↑ There was three “second” here, but due to English having limited translations I decided to skip one. It was originally “二番。セカンド。ナンバーツー” which all translates to second.Jump up↑ Sorry for the terrible English I just don’t know how to properly translate this. This is a booklet where the results of the past graduates of the school are written. Result as in how they furthered their studies. Recommendation, scholarship, etc.Jump up↑ I don’t know what exactly it’s known as, due to my raw missing the latter half of the word, but it’s pickled mixed vegetables. Seven vegetables, according to my source, and preserved with soy sauce, sugar, and mirin, which is kind of like sake.Jump up↑ Honestly I have no idea what the author is trying to say here. Probably stronger defence against mental attacks? This is not important anyways.Jump up↑ Yes I just ripped this off Pokemon. I don’t know what to put here either. It’s an attack to help a comrade, or something along those lines.