Gimai Seikatsu

After eating breakfast, I immediately left my home and pedaled my bike down Omotesando street. Even though it was not even 9 am, a lot of people were out and about, and enough people were walking down the street for their shoulders to touch. Yeah, walking down Omotesando street on a weekend like this is just torture. I know that this thought in itself makes me sound like a typical loner, but I couldn’t help feeling that way as I pedaled my way down the street.

I felt no presence of summer within the wind blowing against me. The scent of the scorching asphalt didn’t even reach my nose, and the sizzling sensation on my skin was weak and barely existent. Sure enough, fall was coming soon. I parked my bike at the bike rack in the parking lot and looked up at the building that contained my preparatory school. It’s been roughly a month since I started going only on Saturdays. My grades had clearly improved after the extra summer classes, as demonstrated on my tests and exams, so I told my parents I wanted to officially attend the prep school and convinced them to let me do so.

Of course, I wasn’t lying. However, the biggest reason was just that I wanted to be anywhere but home, all so that I could get over these feelings I have for Ayase-san. The student fees consumed a decent amount of my part-time job money, but that was a necessary evil. I wasn’t just trying to escape reality. Another result of my decision was that my grades had gone up even further, and my options in terms of possible universities grew wider in range. I had even been told that directly during the parent-teacher meeting the other day.

Immediately after entering the building, I stopped for a moment. Usually I would head over to classes right about now, but I had a change of heart. I looked at the map that displayed the preparatory school layout and made my way to a different location than my usual classroom.

‘Self-study Room.’

I read the plate hanging above the door. I never even realized that they had a room like this here. I opened the door quietly. I saw several desks lined up in a row with a bit of space between them, allowing for unobstructed focus. Well, it’s not like this place was filled with people either. As you could probably expect. A preparatory school is a place you generally visit to attend classes and listen to teachers, and if you want to study on your own you can always do it at the library, or even a cafe. Though I bet there are a lot of students who simply don’t know that this room is even here.

Looking down the row of students, I spotted a familiar face at the very end. It’s Fujunami Summer Sail-san, also known as Kaho-san. Luckily, there was some space open next to her. Since she’s sitting in the row the farthest in the back, there’s nobody else behind her, so I guess that allows for even better focus, huh? In what I assume was a coincidence, Fujinami-san raised her head and spotted me. She then gently nodded and put one finger to her lips, signaling me to be quiet, like she meant to emphasize that no private conversations were allowed in the self-study room. Well, I never had any intention of calling out to her in the first place.

I sat down in the final row and took out my studying tools. Since I (obviously) didn’t have anything to talk to Fujinami-san about, I simply focused on my studies. After a bit of time passed and I made good progress with my studies, I understood how pleasant the atmosphere inside this room was. The A/C was regularly giving us cool air, and thanks to the walls on each side of my table, all I could see was what was on my own desk, allowing me to focus even more.

Similarly, since only other students with the intention of studying were around me, I could feel myself feeling a lot more motivated than usual. This is much better than a library room or cafe with people constantly moving in and out. Thanks to my increased focus, the next time I spaced out, it was already lunchtime. My stomach quietly grumbled. The number of people in the room had decreased as well. They probably went to eat lunch. I cleaned up my desk and stood up, thinking that I might as well buy something to eat from the convenience store myself.