Chapter 153: 2nd Semester Begins

Chapter 153: 2nd Semester Begins

Eventually, it was just past midnight when I finally finished all the backlog of homework.

It took longer than I thought, but it was still within the expected range.

“You study surprisingly well.”

“Why? Do I not look like it?”

“Yeah.”

“......”

Her sincere response to my joking remark felt somewhat like a hit to the bone.

I coughed awkwardly and said,

“I personally don’t dislike studying. Like exercise, studying is one of the few things where consistent effort yields results.”

Both required talent beyond a certain level, but at least that was what I thought.

It wasn’t like other fields didn’t require talent.

“That’s amazing. I really hated reading books.”

“Really? That’s unexpected. If you were sick, you must have spent a lot of time in bed. Wouldn’t that naturally lead you to read books?”

“Who reads books in this day and age? Maybe games or TV, but not books.”

It was a strangely realistic point.

It wasn’t exactly wrong either.

These days, it was said that many people read less than one book a month.

“Anyway, I should go to sleep soon. I don’t want to be late on the first day back at school.”

“So, you’ll see Ryu-chan there, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Then go to sleep quickly.”

Saya said that and patted the bedding spread on the floor.

‘She’s quick only when it suits her.’

I looked at her incredulously and then sighed deeply.

“Okay. You sleep well too.”

So, the last night of summer vacation came to a close.

The next day, 4 a.m.

“Unagi donburi!”

To make up for yesterday’s mistake, I woke up sharply at dawn and only felt relieved after checking the time on my phone.

It wasn’t that my circadian rhythm had been disrupted due to recent laziness in exercise, but rather, I had overslept due to the rebound effect of my body growing back from its reduced size.

While Saya was deep in dreamland, I entered the room, changed into training clothes, and woke her up for jogging.

“Uhh. I want to sleep a little more...”

Her sleep-talking was somewhat cute, but no matter what, I couldn’t change my solidified exercise routine of two years.

“Saya, wake up. We need to go exercise.”

As I kept shaking her shoulder and saying that, Saya got up with a dazed expression.

I wiped the drool from her mouth with a handkerchief and then forcibly got her up.

“Come on, let’s go.”

Then, Saya, still in a drowsy state, followed me, nodding off like a child.

“Haaa.”

The early morning air was always refreshing.

Thinking so, I did some stretching in front of the house and then started jogging at a moderate pace.

Jogging at neither too fast nor too slow a pace like this helped reduce the stress on knees and feet.

It wasn’t always better to run hard without thought.

While running along my daily route, Kazu, my gym colleague, would naturally join me.

“Brother! Good morning!”

“Yeah. Good morning.”

Kazu, definitely my age, still called me “brother.”

He had a more mature face than me, so when we were together, people often mistakenly thought we were in some organization. I’d asked him to change how he addressed me, but he still pretended not to hear.

He would just say something like, “Once a brother, always a brother.”

Then, he turned his attention to Rika next to me.

“Kishimoto, you too, lower your skirt. Aren’t you cold wearing it like that?”

“Eh~ High school girls don’t get cold easily.”

Rika said that, laughing it off naturally.

Unable to scold a smiling face, Teacher Matsuda sighed softly and waved his hand, as if he couldn’t say anything harsh to Rika, who exuded positive energy with her whole being.

“Alright. Go on. I’ll let it slide since it’s the first day of the semester.”

“Yay! Thank you, Teacher!”

Rika and I bowed to the teacher and then stepped beyond the school gate.

Click!

As I entered the classroom, it momentarily fell silent.

I’d been in the same class for half a year now; I wish they’d be more accepting.

This atmosphere...

Children gathered in various places, murmuring among themselves.

I sat down, half-resigned to the situation.

“Hey! Long time, no see!”

At least Satoru, who sat in front of me, greeted me warmly.

“It’s been a while, Satoru.”

“What’s wrong? Why do you look so down this morning?”

“Just... something happened.”

I mumbled that and then looked towards the window seat.

“Where’s Ryuji?”

“He hasn’t come yet. It seems like he might be late again today.”

As expected of a love comedy protagonist, it seemed like a rule to be late on the first day of the new semester.

I’m sure his younger sister wakes him up in the morning, so why was he late so often?

With these thoughts, I naturally unpacked my bag.

“Ah! The new release from last week! I want to read it first!”

The hot-off-the-press Jump magazine I bought this morning at the convenience store was snatched up by Rika before I could even read it.

Now, it felt like my Jump magazine had become a public good.

I almost got annoyed when Satoru casually asked, “Kishimoto, can I read it after you?”

Just like the first semester, the morning commute passed by, and it was finally time for homeroom.

“Alright! Quiet! Quiet! I know everyone’s excited about the new semester, but let’s keep it down a bit!”

As soon as he stood at the front of the class, Matsuda hushed all the students, cleared his throat softly, and looked around the class.

“From this semester on, we have a new transfer student who will join our class.”

Immediately, a barrage of questions about the transfer student followed.

Matsuda then mentioned the most intriguing information to us—the gender and origin of the student.

“It’s a girl, and she’s from Osaka.”

“Is she pretty?!”

“She is.”

Wooooooowwwww!

The boys’ mood instantly heated up.

On the other hand, the girls looked disappointed.

After all, this was the third female transfer student this year.

Amidst this commotion, Matsuda called to the transfer student outside the classroom.

“Transfer student! Come in now!”

Click!

Immediately after, a healthy-looking girl with brown skin entered the classroom.

“Hello! My name is Hattori Ayame!”

The transfer student from Osaka greeted us cheerfully with a bright smile.