Hitomura's Surprise

Hitomura shuffles through the same bag he pulled the anime out of. “Let’s see… here it is.” He removed a game and handed it to Shiori.

Yuta peeked at the game to see what it was. The title was Magic Harbor, and the cover showed four very attractive men standing in different poses behind the heroine. He sighed. “An otome game…”

“I’m not big on games…” Shiori was about to hand it back to Hitomura, but he put out a hand.

“Just try it, I’m sure you’ll love it. It’s a visual novel, so the biggest difference between it and a manga is that you can choose where the story goes.”

His description made Shiori think of it in a new light. She stared at the cover. “Okay… I’ll give it a try.”

“Let me know what you think. My little sister is totally obsessed with that game.”

Yuta raised a brow. “You have a little sister?”

“She’s in her second year of middle school.” Tears started streaming down his cheeks. “She’s the best little sister I could have asked for!”

“Enough with this sis-con talk.” Kurosawa approached from behind Yuta, carrying a couple bags stuffed full of clothing. “Did everyone find something they liked?”

“It’s not like that, Kurosawa!”

Shiori showed her the book she had bought with Yuta.

Kotori happily swayed on her feet. “I saw some cool stuff, but I didn’t have any money.”

Hitomura turns to her. “Why didn’t you say something? I could have paid for you.” He leaned away from the group and mumbled to himself. “And I could have raised your affinity…”

“Could you not try to hit on my cousin?” Yuta stared at him, unimpressed.

“Whatever could you be referring to, dear Yuta?” Hitomura shrugged. “I’m only trying to be nice.”

“Uh huh…”

“Anyway, who wants to see what I got?” He set his bags down and crouched down next to them, shuffling through them. He took one item out at a time to present to the group. “Can you guess how much it all cost?”

Shiori tried to think of how much each item cost and added them up. To Yuta, it looked like she was about to explode.

Yuta decided to spare Shiori’s brain. “How much?”

“58,380 yen!”

Kurosawa jabbed him in the side with her foot. “You shouldn’t waste so much money all at once.”

“But there was so much stuff I wanted! I had to cut back so I didn’t spend everything I had.”

“This was cutting back!?”

“What about you, Kurosawa? That’s a lot of clothes you have.” Hitomura stood up and dusted himself off. “How much did that all cost?”

Her face turned red with embarrassment and her head turned away from everyone. “42,520 yen…”

“Looks like we’re fellow shopaholics.” He elbowed her teasingly.

“I don’t want to be a fellow anything with you.” She shoved him away.

Yuta grew impatient of standing around. “Since we’ve all finished shopping, is it time to go somewhere quiet and study?”

Kurosawa exchanged glances with Hitomura. “Oh yeah, I forgot we promised to do that.”

Shiori stared at the ground. “There’s a library nearby we could go to…”

…

The following week, Yuta went to school early to study. Ever since Kotori infiltrated the group, he hasn’t had much time to prepare for the exams.

He sat at his desk, waiting for the bell to ring. Other students talked about careless topics as usual. Mr. Sawajima walked in and stood in front of his podium.

The bell sounded, signaling the teacher to begin. “Good morning, class. Today we are having a mock exam. I hope you’re all ready. This will tell me how close, or how far, we are from getting a beach trip.”

The majority of the class gasped and murmured to one another. Mr. Sawajima started handing out tests to the students. “This is something the other homeroom teachers and I decided to do. It would show us where our classes are and what we need to work on. You’re not the only ones hoping to go on the beach trip, you know.”

After the teacher told everyone to begin, Yuta looked over the questions. The test was a breeze as usual, and he was the first one to finish.

The bell for first period sounded, and Mr. Sawajima collected the tests. “Results will be posted tomorrow. Make sure to check your score.”

Every minute Yuta had to spare during school was spent studying. The mock exam wasn’t difficult, but he had lost a lot of precious study time the past couple weeks.

As soon as school was over, he hurried home to do more studying. Thankfully, he didn’t have to help with the restaurant. His sister spent more time helping out than he did, since she had already graduated.

The next day, Yuta walked to school with Kotori. In front of his classroom, students crowded around a board and whispered among themselves.

He joined the crowd and looked at the results of the mock exam. His heart dropped like a stone in his chest when he saw that his name was written next to the second-place marker. He had missed one point on the exam.

Yuta checked the name above his. His mouth gaped as he read Hitomura’s name. A hand on his shoulder interrupted him from his swirling thoughts.

“Yuta, what happened? You always get a hundred percent.”

He turned his head to see Hitomura standing next to him. “You guys have been taking away my study time. What about you? How on earth did you get everything right?”

Hitomura smirked and ran a hand through his hair. “The power of waifus.”

“I’m being serious, Hitomura. How did an otaku like you get that good of a score?”

“Remember when I said School Spirit II was coming out the day we went shopping together?”

“Yes, what about it?”

He pushed his glasses up. “I got every ending already.”

“And… how does that relate?”

“Simple. The waifus all teach you about a certain subject when you spend time with them.”

“Seriously? Is it a dating sim for studying or something?”

“The learning part is skippable. I never skip a second with my waifus, though.”

Yuta rolled his eyes and returned his attention to the board, looking for Shiori’s name.