Part 1

It was a bit chilly that night. I stood in my kitchen, cooking with the large quantity of leftover ingredients from yesterday’s shopping spree. Of course, this time I was using recipes and videos as references for what I was doing.

I was making the dish that I had made for Amasawa before, wanting to try it for myself.

The name of the dish, tom yum goong, was a combination of three different Thai words, meaning ‘boiled’, ‘mixed’, and ‘shrimp’ respectively.

“It’s got a unique taste, but it isn’t bad.”

The way its spicy yet sour flavor spread through my mouth and its distinct aroma pierced my nose made it seem like it’d be an addictive dish for certain types of people.

After cleaning up, I turned on the ventilation fan above my stove, looking to let out the smell that had filled the room. I eventually noticed my phone vibrating on my bed, the sound drowned out by the noise of the fan. I thought about just calling back later, but it never stopped ringing, so I picked up.

[You took like, forever to pick up.]

This was the first time Kei had been the one to contact me in a few days now. The last time was back when the special exam had just begun.

The first thing out of her mouth was a complaint.

[You’re the one who told me to call around this time. Get a grip, would ya?]

“My bad. So, did you find out about that thing I asked you to look into this morning?”

[I’m only calling cuz I did my research properly, so don’t you think you aren’t, like, being grateful enough?]

“I’m very grateful. So…?”

[It doesn’t seem like you’re grateful at all… Well, whatever. According to the store person, only one of ‘em has been sold since April. They told me that they like, pretty much never sell that model compared to the other similar ones they’ve got, and that they’re lucky to sell even one or two of ‘em a year. But the thing is, apparently one of the new students tried buying one too.]

There was no need to tell me about the identity of the person who bought one recently. I was far more interested in the new student who tried to buy one.

“Tried buying one, huh…? So they didn’t buy one, then?”

There was no physical way this new first-year student wouldn’t have been able to buy it unless they had done something absurd like spending all of their points immediately after they first came to the school.

And, given this year’s batch of new students, I didn’t think they’d do something that foolish.

[I tried asking the clerk about that too, just in case. Apparently, just as the first-year was about to pay for it at the register, somebody else showed up and stopped them from going through with the sale. Anywho, the clerk told me the student who tried to buy one looked…]

As Kei described the student’s appearance, I began to sort out the situation in my head.

It was a little… no, considerably different from what I had in mind at first.

I never would’ve expected that ‘that person’ would be involved in all of this.

“Did the clerk say anything about the person who stopped the first-year from buying it?”

[Nope, they didn’t know much about that. They just said they were pretty sure it was a girl.]

Students have to present their student ID card to make purchases, so while the clerk knew the name of the person who tried to buy the item, they didn’t know anything about the person who stopped the sale.

[Is my information useful?]

“Yeah. It might be much more useful than I thought it’d be.”

[Hehe, I’m like, super talented, after all. Make sure you thank me properly, kay? But like, why’d you have me look into something like this? I seriously don’t get it at all.]

“Me neither.”

[Wha?]

I had hoped that having her ask around would help explain the mysterious behavior, but this development was far beyond anything I had imagined.

In fact, because it was so far off from what I had imagined, it made me wonder if any of this was even relevant at all.

“Come to think of it, I heard that you’ve already found a partner for the special exam.”

[Ah, yep. Shimazaki-san from Class 1-B, was it? Feels like I’ve been saved thanks to Kushida-san.]

Now that our main business had been dealt with, I changed the topic ever so slightly.

“I don’t think you’ve got a bad partner, but Kei, have you been studying properly?”

[Well, uh, how do I put it…? Like, I was thinkin’ it’d be fine if I like, just put it off ‘til later, you know?]

I knew it. I hadn’t heard anything about her attending one of the study sessions yet.

“This exam isn’t something you can get through all on your own. Your rating is a D+. If you aren’t careful with your grades, you might end up suffering later.”

[I know I know, I just can’t get myself interested, and like… even if I went to a study group, it’s not like you’d be there or anything.]

“So what, you’d study diligently as long as I’m around?”

[…Uh, yeah? I’d work hard in front of my boyfriend.]

I wasn’t sure if that was true or not, but since she said so, the solution was obvious.

“Then let’s see… How about you come over to my room at around 6:00 tomorrow?”

Considering that we’d be meeting with Nanase after school tomorrow, that seemed like a fair enough time to schedule things.

[I can come hang out at your place!?]

“You’ll be here to study, not to hang out.”

[Eh?]

Don’t ‘eh’ me.

“I’ll help you study. That should at least get you motivated, right?”

To start out, I’d evaluate the full extent of her abilities.

And if it turns out that she needs to participate in additional study sessions, then I’d urge her to do so.

[You’re worried cuz you’d be real sad if your girlfriend were to get expelled, huh~?]

She suddenly asked, noteworthy traces of excitement in her voice, almost as if she thought she had the upper hand now. I was tempted to tease her a little bit in response, but I figured that she’d feel more motivated to study if I just went along with her and agreed.

“Well, naturally? If the girlfriend which I had only just started dating got herself expelled, it’d be no laughing matter.”

[I-I see~ That’s true isn’t it! Well then, I guess I have no other choice. I actually had all sorts of things planned for tomorrow, but I’ll make a special appearance, just for you.]

While it wasn’t very straightforward, it was a small price to pay to get her to push forward with her studies.

[What should I bring with me?]

“I have everything you’d need in my room already. Just don’t be late and that should be fine.”

[Okay~!]

“Well then, I’ll be hanging up now.”

[Wha!? Hold up! Wait! We’ve, like, only talked about the special exam and studying so far, though!]

Apparently, she wanted to chat about something completely unrelated to any of that.

“I guess you’re right about that.”

[Hrmph, you seriously…]

While we didn’t talk about anything related to the exam or studying after that, she continued to chew me out nonetheless.