Chapter 7:

Big Brain Moves

I Planted a Girlfriend


So much has happened that Minato nearly forgot about one of the most important events in a high school student’s life.

Examinations.

It has been over a month since school had started in spring, and Sakura was just about to get used to her new life in Tokyo. Not just as a resident of this world, but also as a regular high school student. Apart from her unusually incredible athletic prowess that she had no qualms displaying during physical education classes, she could almost pass off as a normal girl.

Almost.

“Minato!”

Sakura wails as she grabs the back of his chair and shakes it violently, almost causing the poor guy a spell of dizziness. Turning around and prying her hands off, he glares at her.

“What is it?” He asks, a slight tinge of annoyance in his voice.

“What do I do now?!”

At first, Minato has no idea what she is talking about, but then he notices the sheets of paper spread across her desk. That’s right. Didn’t the teacher just return our midterm tests?

Minato has never been the brightest student in class, but he isn’t the dumbest either. His scores normally range between above average and average, though he has subjects in which he excelled in. Math and national studies, for example. He isn’t very fond of science, but he had forced himself to study botany earlier that year just to help his grandmother.

Nonetheless, he is pleased with his test scores. Unfortunately, Sakura seems very unsatisfied. A peek at her test papers reveals why.

“I didn’t even know you could get points deducted for this...” Minato can’t help but laugh upon seeing that the first mistake Sakura made was misspelling her own name. Apparently “Rightful heir of the Fleurel” isn’t the answer that the teacher was looking for.

“What are you laughing about, you idiot!”

Sakura almost hits him, but stops right before her hand meets his face, realizing that her strength might accidentally send him flying out of the window. Recalling how the last time she used that amount of force, she had to conjure a bunch of vines to grab and reel him back in. By now, the class was used to their antics, but Mrs. Tachibana wasn’t having it.

“Fair reminder that this is a school.” she had reprimanded the two sternly at the time. “If you wish to learn, please pay attention. Otherwise, I implore you both to take the couple's quarrel outside.”

The both of them had been as red as the tomatoes that Sakura occasionally grows in the shop, especially when they bore the brunt of the amused stares from their classmates.

“What do I do?! I can’t answer any of these questions!”

Sulking, Sakura slaps the top of her desk, almost sending her test papers flying. Minato scans through them and immediately understands the issue. She scored the lowest for math and national studies, probably the two subjects that she didn’t learn back in her home world.

Even if she was somehow good at history and literature, her knowledge is that of another world, another time period at that. Prior to the last couple of months, she has not read a single Japanese book before. Unless you count the manga that she found under Minato's bed. Though she was aware that they were illustrated for entertainment purposes only, that didn’t stop her from believing that some of the events really happened. So it’s only natural that she has no idea what has actually occurred throughout the history of Japan, or that she has never heard of writers such as Natsume Soseki or Dazai Osamu.

She literally lacks over a decade of Japanese school education.

Surprisingly enough, Sakura excels when it comes to science. Minato raises an eyebrow as he glances at her science quiz, which she scored fairly high in. It must have something to do with her affinity with plants. He isn’t shocked to see that she had answered all the botany questions perfectly, particularly the questions about photosynthesis, transpiration and habitats.

“At this rate, I’ll have to take summer classes…”

Sakura slumps over the desk before she glares at Minato, who is struggling not to laugh.

“And what exactly do you find so funny? Shouldn’t you be helping me?” She puffs her cheeks out at him.

“And what do you expect me to do actually?”

“You know I really hate doing this, but I need you to help me study! The midterms are next week! If I don’t find a way to pass them, then I will have to attend remedial classes! Or worse, I might even get expelled and seen as a no good delinquent!”

“You wouldn’t get expelled for something petty like failing an exam. You’d have to do something way worse than that. And to be fair, It’s not like you haven’t already done way worse, so I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

“You can’t actually be serious right now! It’s not fine! The thought of me failing is absolutely absurd! I am the princess of all Fleurel!” She states, crossing her arms in a way that mimics one of the characters from her favorite manga.

“It is my duty to lead by example! What kind of example am I setting by flunking my exams? I order you to help me!”

Minato has no idea how to help, or how she can be so full of herself even in her time of need, but he nods anyway, upon noticing that their bickering has drawn attention from the class. Kenta, especially, is staring intently at the both of them. Though his thick shades blocked Minato from being able to see his full expression. Just the cold glare is enough to make Minato shiver. Shin, on the other hand, is keeping his distance. Having probably learned his lesson from the previous encounter.

Neither offers any assistance, however, so Minato is left on his own. He glances at Sayori for help, but his oh so reliable childhood friend is missing. He has no idea where she could have gone to. Sayori is generally considered a model student, so having her help would be tremendous, but after Ryonosuke ghosted her right at the start of the spring semester, she has become…distant.

Minato worries that she might have suffered a trauma when she was attacked by Nectar, but she shrugs it off with a laugh. If anything, she is more bothered by her missing boyfriend, who refuses to pick up any of her calls or reply to any of her messages, than the fact that she was almost killed by a gigantic moving plant.

Priorities.

Minato rolls his eyes, realizing that he has no choice but to leave Sayori for now. She probably needs her own personal space. Bothering her about Ryonosuke will only backfire.

So he is left with taking matters into his own hands.

After school, the two of them head to his room, and he sets the space up. Grimacing at how messy his room is, he begins putting away several of his favorite figurines to create some space. There is Sayaka, the short-haired tomboyish magical girl from one of his favorite anime, and he picked up the caped swordswoman and placed it on a shelf. Next to her is Claire, the blond half-demon who wielded a claymore. He idly notes that there are a few similarities in physical appearances between the figurines he collects.

Then he stacks up his haphazardly discarded mangas and shoves them to the side. With a sigh, he sets up a small table and begins dumping his textbooks and worksheets onto its surface.

“Sit,” he orders, pointing opposite him. Sakura glances around, conjures several vines to drag a cushion out of the messy battlefield that is her host’s room, and places it down. Dusting it as best as she can, she grimaces and reluctantly sits on it before waiting patiently for Minato to stop rummaging through his bag.

“Okay…first things first. We should review the subjects you are weakest at.” Minato takes out her math paper. He frowns as he flips through it and pauses at one question. “You….can count, right?”

“How rude! Of course I can!”

“Multiplication table?”

“I…I have it memorized!”

“So how did you get this wrong?” He pushes the paper toward her and gestures impatiently. Sakura blanches when she realizes what he is talking about. She had made a simple calculation mistake. “Eight times twelve is ninety-six. You don’t even need a calculator for this. Thanks to miscalculating during this step, you ended up having the wrong answer. Actually…your workings aren’t even correct.”

“W…well…! I was just careless!”

“Right. Then don’t be careless.” Minato thumbs the paper and looks over the rest before he winces. “We probably should start with algebra.”

“I don’t understand. Why do you mix numbers with alphabets?”

“Because they are good substitutes for unknown values, and make certain calculations easier.”

“Why do we even need to learn all this? It’s not like we’ll be using this in the future, right? Back in the castle, we have accountants who handle all the work…”

“You remember our store, don’t you?” Minato interrupts, trying to hide a trace of annoyance. “When customers buy plants from us, we have to calculate how much change we owe them, don’t we? And sometimes we have to use multiplication when calculating the price of products being bought in bulk. So what makes you think we will not be using this in the future? And accountants? Do you think a store like ours can afford to hire accountants?”

He bites himself off before he can say something he regrets. He has never once thought of Sakura as a burden, but it is true that their expenses have increased ever since she has begun cohabitating with them. He has to buy an additional portion of food to accommodate her, not to mention the utilities bills that increase when more people are sharing the house.

Sure, Sakura has paid back more than her fair share by helping out around the store, but there was a reason why Granny Haru hadn't hired any helpers before she appeared.

“I understand.”

The princess is trying to wrap her head around the new revelation, realizing that Minato is correct. She is no longer living in a castle, tended upon by retinues of servants or having any officials to rely on. Her father has provided her with an intensive education, most likely to prepare her for governing the kingdom in future, but when she was younger, she simply didn’t want to sit still and learn.

Sakura has always preferred physical activities…going out on nightly hunts, practicing swordsmanship with the knights and sparring against opponents bigger and stronger than her. She focuses on magic and on battle, disregarding theory and literature. The only exception is botany, which she required a keen knowledge of in order to master her magic.

In the end, all that education was for naught. I was never to govern our kingdom, but sent off to marry someone in order to cement a political alliance. She thinks bitterly. Then she shudders when she remembers him.

The faceless entity. The cold laughter. The chilling chains.

“Sakura? Are you all right?”

Minato’s voice breaks her out of her stupor, and she nods. He sighs, relieved.

“Perhaps we should take a break.”

“No, it is quite alright. How about this?” She pushes the test paper for national studies toward him, determined to keep going. She will not falter here. She has learned a lot about her own country, culture and history, and she is confident that she will be able to do the same. After all, there is no way Japan could have a longer and deeper history than her own majestic kingdom.

Minato winces and groans when he sees the countless blanks. This is going to be a challenge. He is aware of the gaps in Sakura’s knowledge, which are intricately tied to the fact that she literally is not from this world. Bringing up a textbook, he opened it to the front page.

“For this, we will have to start from scratch.”

“That’s fine. Bring it on.”

About two hours later, Sakura regrets her confidence. She lies on the table, clutching her head and groaning softly. Her eyes are nearly spinning from the amount of information she has just heard, though most of it has gone through one ear, only to exit out of the other.

She has retained nothing of value, other than that Japan has too many wars and people. Who was the prime minister during the…Hey era? Hay era? No, it is the Heian era. Fuji somebody.

And that was all she can remember. Funnily enough, for someone who has the name Sakura Chiba, she finds all of the historical people’s names foreign. She doesn’t understand why. Is it because they belong to different worlds?

“Let’s take a break,” Minato says, concerned. He has seen the amount of effort that Sakura puts in, and he realizes that the difficulty stems not from her slacking off. “It’s not productive to force yourself like this.”

Sakura grits her teeth. “Productive or not, I have no choice. I will not fail my exams. I’m not asking to ace them, but my pride won’t allow anything less than passing them.”

“Exams aren’t the most important things in life.”

“No, but they’re a means to an end.”

That catches Minato’s attention. “What end? And is it worth trying so hard?”

“Yes.” Sakura’s shoulders slump and she hangs her head. “D…don’t laugh, but I’m just worried, okay?”

“What are you worried about?”

“Losing my place.” Sakura lifts her chin and stares at Minato. “I don’t want to be the only one falling behind in class. I don’t want to be the only one taking summer lessons while everyone else is enjoying their vacation. I don’t want to be in school during summer while you run the store alone. And…”

She swallows and looks away.

“I’m afraid I’ll lose my place in school. Back in the palace, anyone who proves incompetent is fired immediately. I don’t want to be expelled. I like everyone here. I have made friends. I want to be together with our classmates like Seiya, Kenta and Shin…and with you. I can’t bear the thought of being torn apart from you. I lost my family once…I lost my home, and everyone in it. The villagers too…”

“Villagers?” Minato repeats, confused. Sakura gasps and shakes her head.

“No…nothing. In any event, I don’t want to be left behind while everyone goes on ahead. I will be with you all during summer!”

Minato studies her for a moment before he finally nods, his expression determined. He holds up a mock test paper and offers it to her.

“I understand.” He grins. “From here on out, we’re getting serious. We’ll make sure you ace the midterms!”

Sakura stares at him for a moment, feeling warmth flood her chest when she sees his resolve. She moves a hand over where her pounding heart is, wondering what this emotion is.

She isn’t sure what she is feeling right now, but she is delighted that Minato is trying so hard to help her. And it gives her a feeling of assurance that she has never felt for a long time.

Eh?

Blinking, Sakura shakes her head. For a moment, she believes that she saw a familiar knight’s silhouette overlap with that of Minato. Clearing her vision, she studies him again, but the illusion is gone.

Nah…it couldn’t be, right?

John Lee H. Wu
icon-reaction-1
Vforest
icon-reaction-1
Koyomi
icon-reaction-3
Xiellion
icon-reaction-4
Dracors
icon-reaction-4
Parademero
icon-reaction-1
Rabat
icon-reaction-1
WALKER
icon-reaction-4