71. After The Hard Work
“Sajou-kun, thank you for today.”
“No no, you too, were plenty cute yourself today, Inatomi-senpai.”
“Ehehe, stop. Don’t tease me like that~”
“You. Dead meat if you dare to hit on Yuyu.”
“If you want to fight me, then you have to get through Sis first.”
“Guh…..Coward!”
Am I…?
While being hated by Mita-senpai, I packed up my things. With this, I had met my goal for today… Or so supposedly, but Shinomiya-senpai, as someone in an important position, had after work, and couldn’t leave just yet. Waiting for her, I was wasting some time by talking with the other Senpais. And now found that it should be a good time to leave.
…I guess I’ll just go home.
“……Eh?”
You kidding me?
I thought that Mita-senpai and the others were done, but color me surprised. Greatly. The third-years of the disciplinary committee instead opened up documents, and continued their work. I was assaulted by a feeling of awe at the workaholic ethic.
“Ah, umm, you still going at it?”
“Of course. Summing up the visitors and summarizing the survey. After handing them in, we’re done.”
Uhh, disciplinary committee is after all, nope……
Mita-senpai must have seen my reaction, because she poked her finger directly at my collarbone. It hurt, but anyway, I felt bad leaving just like that.
Well, looking at the content, shouldn’t be that hard…? There’s also a PC, so even I, can help… I guess?
“……If you have an open PC, I can help.”
“E-Ehh…? It’s fine~, you don’t have to go that far.”
“Do you have a template from last year? I can at least fill out the visitor files.”
“If he’s that adamant on it, let’s have him help, Yuyu.”
“Y-Yeah…”
They did have some laptops left to use… This must be ‘that’. Only a limited number of people can use it. Never thought the part-time I secretly did when I was in middle school would come to pay me back this way.
“Are these the documents?”
“Ah, Yeah, but… are you really sure about this?”
“That’d make it faster for everyone, right?”
“Y-Yes, but, umm…”
With a laptop in hand, I sat down next to a second-year Senpai who was looking over the documents. Opening it, I could see similar files that have about the same structure on the desktop, so I followed that example as I started typing on the keyboard keys.
This sure feels nostalgic… It’s been ages since I touched a PC for this kind of work.
“Huh…… Eh, they came from 13 schools? Did we have that many around here?”
“We’re a high-level school after all. At the cram school I attended in middle school, I was told that this is like the second or third rank school in terms of deviation ranking, as for why not first, well….. Ehehe.” [TN: Deviation rank, something like a percentile rank]
When I let out a surprised voice because of the numbers I was looking at, the second-year Senpai gave me an energetic response.
Oh my, she really is friendly. A person like her, is fine. Really, like, this innocent feeling I’m getting from her is just so cute.
While exchanging a few friendly words, I progressed with my work. I was having a bit of trouble with all the sheer numbers, but it was easy peasy compared to my part-time work back then. Creating a table, making it into graphs just like the template, pasting them onto the other sheet.
If I didn’t work back then, I wouldn’t even know about all of these amazing features… Maybe that hell back then wasn’t so bad after all. I want to praise myself, for not ditching it.
Around an hour and a half passed. With occasional conversations to motivate me, I finished the work. Now, it was time to let the other confirm the final file. ‘Okay, it’s okay.’, so they said enthusiastically, only to collapse on their desks afterward. The feeling of getting the job done in time must have been rushing to them.
“Finally over… I want to eat something sweet…”
“Ichinose-kuunn……”
“Wah, eh, um, Yuri-chan…?”
I could hear human desires leaking out without control.
That sure is poison to the eyes of a loner like me, you know… Could you stop inflicting even more damage to the people around you? Makes me want to escape with a stolen bike.
“……In the end, Shinomiya-senpai never came back.”
“She must have it even more rough. She’s probably in a discussion with our principal and several teachers from different schools.”
“She won’t go bald from that, right.”
“Most definitely, won’t.”
Hearing that, I really feel blessed by having my work finished with just typing stuff.
Talking with the all-so-importants must be hell… Need to make this a reference for my future job.
“Any other work to do…?”
“Nothing. We finished our daily work as well. All that’s left is for us to disband. Maybe Rin-san will come here soon?”
“Then, I’ve to give her some energy gel as a reward.”
“Are you still holding on to that…? It’s gotta be all warm and gross now, definitely don’t.”
Well, I was forced to look at something that made me lose all appetite. And I definitely won’t be eating this until I let it freeze in a fridge for a while. Guess, I’ll just be taking it home~
Behind Mita-senpai, whom I was talking to right now, Inatomi-senpai was lounging over the desk. She only raised her head a bit, and let out an ‘Uuh〜’ in a very… right, in a very cute way with a crumpled face.
“……”
“You just thought ‘I want to put her on my lap’, right?”
“!! N-Not at all? W-What are you saying Senpai, there’s no way I’d be thinking something like that……!”
“You’re panicking too much.”
H-How did she know… I wasn’t planning on doing it, so what’s the big deal! Don’t look at me with such a judgemental gaze! Ah, Aaaahh…!? And now, she put Inatomi-senpai on her own lap! Damn it! What a blessing for the eyes!
“Hey, you see, I think I was looking down on you, Sajou.”
“Eh?”
I was agonizing over this wonderful sight, when Mita-senpai’s sudden comment took me by surprise.
Eh? What’s going on today? Did God just suddenly feel like granting me some pleasant memories to bring to the afterlife? Anyway, I bet, she’s going to say something embarrassing after this, right?
“Well, I thought that Rin-san was just prioritizing you on a whim and because you’re Kaede-san’s younger brother, so I was jealous of you as a fellow junior, so to speak. But, I turned out to be wrong.”
“Uhu…I-Is that so?”
“Yup. How do I say it… you’re pretty fun. Like, I just want to talk to you when you’re around? Also, looking at your hard work today, so different from what I thought. It made sense now.”
“I-is that sooo? You too…when you were giving out orders in the end, you were really cool.”
“Fufu, is that really praise a girl would be happy to hear?”
“Ah, well… you see, umm……”
Excuse me, but I can’t focus on our conversation if you suddenly rest your chest on Inatomi-senpai’s shoulders, so can’t you stop it already?
◆
In the end, I wasn’t able to meet Shinomiya-senpai again, so everybody but the vice-president went home. Since Mita-senpai and the others had business with the other girls from the disciplinary committee, they swiftly left. As for me, I took my time, and leisurely made my way home with my bag in hand. Normally, I would feel a bit melancholic and cold, but today… was just full of stimulation. A strong stimulation. The sweltering hallways had me feel at ease even. It made me feel like normality returned.
On my way to the shoe lockers, I walked past the culture festival execution committee’s meeting room, which was right next to the room I had been working in until now. The door was just open wide enough for me to take a peek inside.
In the midst of the silence, there were still people working. Not expecting such a serious working mentality, I was looking at them in admiration. Of course, my gaze naturally wandered towards two familiar faces.
“……”
Sitting next to each other, they were exchanging eye contact as they progressed with their work. And sometimes, they exchanged words in a low voice, getting along just fine as they continued their work.
──Phew… that’s crazy.
Rather than putting my jealous heart into any expression, just like when seeing a sight worthy of being a cover picture of some magazine, I was just merely admiring the sight. The emotion sinking deep into my chest, which was as if gouging my heart out… or rather, what pained me the most was the fact that I could immediately understand what kind of emotion it was. Though, I could somehow suppress it with self-control, letting it melt away in the summer heat.
See, you can do it if you want to. Keep it up, me.
“……Such luxury.”
Looking at my recent behavior, a voice leaked out of my mouth. Despite it normally being pretty hard to meet people from school during summer holidays, I had actually achieved that, making me feel quite fulfilled.
Not to mention that I got to meet so many nice Senpais, I even met a kind university Onee-san who would spoil me. I’m such a lucky happy man. But that’s why it’s not good to prioritize my own greed, hoping to get more beyond this. And, watching any more than this will just be poison for the eyes.
Thus, my ‘Today’ ended, and I would act like I didn’t see anything from this moment, or so I decided. That way, I might actually be able to have a comfortable dream.
◆
Assaulted by Kōnibyō, I couldn’t help but self-loathing, plus the raw exhaustion from today’s hard labor, and now I lost the strength to actually go home. Instead, I sat on a bench in the courtyard. The southern breeze sure was hot, but the parts I wiped dry with body wipes felt cool thanks to the wind. [TN : Kōnibyō, “高二病” (high-second syndrome) is the next step of Chūnibyō, more detail at the end]
I might just fall asleep like this… No no no, I can’t, I can’t.
When I looked at my surroundings, the middle school students were gleefully walking around, talking to each other while checking out the various clubs.
Seen alone is just embarrassing, better go home now.
“Aah〜, my ass is sweaty── Huh?”
I pushed up my body to rub my drenched butt, which had my excitement and motivation drop in an instant. And of the moments I would let down my guard, for some reason, it had to be now. Just when I looked up, I was greeted by an odd scenery.
There was a single beauty storming out of the entrance of the school building. Her slightly wavy reddish-brown hair swayed in the wind, and while running, she observed her surroundings.
She was alone. Normally, I would be dashing towards her while waving my hands just to get a few words. And yet, I found myself thinking ‘I don’t want to meet her’, and my mind urged me to hide myself, which miserably failed as I just stood there, frozen.
Naturally, with her looking around, it didn’t take long for her to find me.
“Eh───?”
Eh, hold on, she’s coming over here. And with such a serious face. Oh my, how cool… I might fall for her. Oh right, already did.
Surely I must have shown a stupid expression, as she stopped a bit further away from me and spoke up with a baffled tone.
“───What are you doing?”
“…..S-stretching my hips?”
In my first summer in high school, when I was in the middle of my adolescence, I blurted out embarrassing words in a panic that made me sound like an old geezer.
TN : Kōnibyō, is said to be the next step after Chūnibyō. But, here’s the thing, many patterns of Kōnibyō depending how the Chūnibyō evolves. Sometimes even without having Chūnibyō in the past. Anyway, The most common one is, constant hating those having Chūnibyō, in a Chūnibyō way.
There’s another step after that, which is Dainibyō (college-second syndrome).
There’s another step before Chūnibyō, which is Shōnibyō (elementary-second syndrome), though it’s also known as Shōyonbyō (elementary-fourth syndrome).
So basically,
All have the same common thing, which is false reality projected in real reality. Usually by imitating those they thought as superior and cool to others. But sometimes could be in a negative way. In the end, having the mind of “I’m different” and you don’t understand it.
As for the reason why suddenly mention that even though Sajou is still first-year, you can say that he’s trying to draw a parallel with those who got Kōnibyō. That is, trying to deny how he was before, but still, in the way he was before, which is projecting false reality into real reality. And, he knew it, that’s why, he self-loathing himself, resulting in him feeling so exhausted. (This is my opinion)
TN: Join my discord channel if you want.
