Once More

“Takamiya.”

“What is it this time, Hiiragi..?”

It was morning, before the first bell sounded. I stood in front of the entrance to our classroom waiting for Kisaki. I wanted to get this first part over with.

“Can we try again? The tutoring, I mean.”

“No. I don’t know what you’re planning, but it’s clear you aren’t asking me this with the purpose of improving your grades in mind. Is Kitazawa still trying to push this?”

“I’m not going to deny that she pushed me a bit, but I realized I don’t want the bitterness between us to go on longer. If you give me another chance, I won’t let it play out like yesterday did. I fully intend on cooperating with you and putting my all into this. I will admit, it's clear I do need to improve my grades to keep my life in order- regardless of any other motives."

"I can sense some real intent behind your words, I suppose. I have no issue with you if you can actually put thought into remedying your performance and demeanor... I'll give you a second chance, provided you properly pay attention in class today."

"...That works for me."

Our conversation went better than I expected. I was a bit mixed about being forced to pay attention the entire day, since I wanted to finish up a light novel I was almost done with. I guess progress doesn’t come without sacrifice.

...My notebooks were mostly filled with sketches of anime girls and swords, rather than actual notes. I figured I could always sketch and act like I was paying attention, but for once, I think I wanted to show good faith and honestly do my work. Regardless, I flipped to a clean page of my notebook and worked through my morning classes diligently.

The day went by slowly, as I still didn’t exactly find the lessons engaging. It didn’t help that I had a pretty sleepless night either, all said. Having a reason at least kept my systems running during the morning. I kept my end goal in mind and buckled down all the same. Lunch period came by, and I was still conscious somehow- as I left the classroom to go to my usual spot, Kisaki called to me.

“I’m surprised how well you kept your end of the deal. Good work, Hiiragi.”

She wasted no time making her feelings clear and then resuming her usual routine. I smiled to myself and bought some snacks for myself which were already gone by the time I made it outside. Saitou and Rinne were sitting outside on a set of stairs where all of us usually spend our breaks. Mayu was absent, I noticed. I presume she was talking to Kisaki, considering our discussion yesterday. I’m sure the exhaustion was plainly visible on my face to the other two. I wanted to pass out, but Saitou spoke to me before I did.

“Yuuto, what’s the deal with you and Takamiya lately?”

I guess Saitou was watching me from the classroom in the morning. He closed the notebook he was skimming over and looked at me with a curious gaze.

“I was just asking her to tutor me.”

“Finally. Never thought you had it in you to ask her, when I was convinced you two hated each other.”

“Oh, I do hate her. I think.”

“Okay then. As long as you get your priorities straight, I have nothing to really say other than good job.”

“You are so stiff.”

“...What do you want me to say?”

Rinne eventually started to chime in as our conversation went,

“I’m happy to see you in good spirits, Yuuto.”

“What?”

“Well, you know... We haven’t exactly spoken for the last week, I thought that- you know, maybe you were hung up over what happened.”

“Yeah, it’s not that serious. It’s not something worth worrying about now.”

Well, I was certainly conflicted about it until yesterday, actually. But after all that transpired the day prior, I guess it stopped really being something on the forefront of my mind. Guess I can thank Mayu for one thing in the end.

“Yuuto. What exactly happened between you two?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

Me and Rinne responded in perfect tandem. It was pretty evident she wanted to put that exchange behind her, as did I. Saitou just shrugged in the face of our stern dismissal. Noticing my chance, I took a well-deserved nap to prepare myself for the rest of the day

~

I felt reinvigorated after Saitou woke me up from my nap. I kept up the grind through the afternoon classes, which also let out in due time. The final bell tolled. Kisaki let me know she needed to fetch some materials and check in with the student council quickly, so I was left to sit tight for a few minutes. I decided I might as well grab an energy drink so I can make it through this hour or so of hard study...

We weren’t too far into the afternoon, the sky was still a clean June blue and the hallways were lit with the summer light. I weaved my way through the hall filled with students shuffling to go home or to their after-school activities. I reached the end of the hallway and started looking over the drink selection in the vending machine located in the corner. I swiftly picked out a drink and started to make my way back to the classroom.

Kisaki was already waiting, sitting on my desk with her legs crossed. The sunlight filtering through the windows shone down on her in such a picturesque way that I had to stop and take a breath. Once she noticed me, I called out to her. She gave me her classic stern expression, which was expected, but I could sense a hint of content in it.

“Hey. I just went to get a drink before we started, hope you weren’t waiting long.”

“It wasn’t more than a minute, so it’s not a problem.”

“Alright then. Anyway, I think we can at least start off the same way we did last session- I’ll stop you if I get confused, and if you could slow down and guide me more thoroughly then, I think we can make it work,”

“As long as you offer solutions, I can work with you.”

“Let’s get down to business, then.”