Chapter 56 - Graduation, and the Entrance Exams
(1)
"Good morning."
I can hear three voices.
The one coming upstairs is probably Airi.
"Huh? Toya, this is rare."
That's right; today, I actually woke up, got dressed, and ate breakfast.
"Maya-san, Toya-kun isn't here—wait, what!?"
Airi looked at me in surprise as well.
"Morning, Airi."
"Ugh... morning."
She seemed somewhat dissatisfied.
"Huh? What's wrong, Airi?"
Kanna must have noticed Airi's demeanor, as she asked her.
"I couldn't do our usual skinship..."
That's not something you should say in front of your parents.
"Sorry, Airi-chan. Today is the graduation ceremony, so I woke him up and told him he should at least wake up properly for the last time."
Mother exposes me.
After that, the four of us talked while I ate, got ready, and left the house.
"I see. So this is the last time, huh. Going to school together like this."
When Makoto looked back at my house and said that, Kanna kicked him.
"Don't say such pathetic things! You can just come over to play again!"
She says that, but Makoto is busy with club activities even on holidays, isn't he?
"Kanna, are you okay?"
Airi asked worriedly.
"What are you worried about? We can meet whenever we want. We're from the same hometown."
Kanna laughed as she said it, but she probably still couldn't shake her anxiety. It's written all over your face...
"It'll be fine. We can send messages and call each other."
"I guess so."
Makoto and Kanna laughed and agreed.
I wonder if those two will be okay?
The graduation ceremony.
A ritual where you are handed a diploma and leave the place of learning while being seen off by teachers.
It's just that, and yet...
Why are tears falling?
Ah, I didn't cry.
Makoto wasn't crying either.
Though, it seemed like the confessions from the girls at the end were intense and quite a handful.
Kanna was hugging Airi and crying.
Unlike girls, boys seem to give up more easily.
Or rather, did the atmosphere between those two not allow for it?
There were no boys who called out to Kanna and Airi.
What was surprising was Mickey's popularity.
About half of the girls in the class surrounded Mickey.
"Hahaha, if anyone wants to be held, just say so. I'll give you a hug."
He said that and actually hugged them.
Well, is that just the atmosphere of the occasion?
However, he didn't stop there.
He was diligently asking the girls for their phone numbers.
According to rumors, he's making a group chat full of girls...
While I stood there blankly away from the crowd, a female student I didn't know spoke to me.
"Katagiri-senpai!"
Looking at her badge, she seemed to be a second-year.
The girl said she wanted to hand me a letter.
"I'm Sakura Sakurako, a second-year. I was the manager for the Soccer Club. I watched the finals of the city tournament. It was only one play, but you were cool. You're going to the same Ida High as Tada-senpai, right?"
Stab!
"Sorry, I didn't take the exam for Ida High."
"Eh? Where are you going?"
"I'm thinking of trying for Hofu."
"You'll play soccer at Hofu, right! I'll aim for Hofu too."
"Sorry, I'm not playing soccer...!?"
Feeling a hideous gaze that could almost be called bloodlust, I looked back to see two people who were incredibly angry.
"Why aren't you playing when you're that good!?"
Sakura-san continued talking, oblivious to them.
"Yeah, because it's exhausting."
"You're not playing for a reason like that! What a waste!"
"Yeah... I'll take the sentiment."
Judging that giving it back would be cruel, I put it in my pocket.
"Who might this person be? Toya-kun?"
Airi grabbed my arm.
"Ah, no. She said she was the manager of the Soccer Club..."
"Hmm. Then she's someone irrelevant to a Toya-kun who doesn't play soccer."
Airi, you're scary. That's not your usual character, right?
"...Who is that person?"
The fact that there was someone in our middle school who didn't know Airi is a threat.
"I am Tosaka Airi, Toya-kun's 'girlfriend'!"
Am I the only one who feels a thorn in those words?
"!? ...Excuse me!"
With that, Sakura-san ran away.
...She was crying.
I'm sorry.
"I told you to stop being kind to everyone, didn't I? Toya."
I was interrogated by Kanna.
"I-I wasn't being kind."
"For someone who wasn't, you looked like you didn't mind it at all, didn't you, Toya-kun?"
I was being ganged up on by the two of them.
"Toya. Let's get going."
Nice one, Makoto!
"Right, you two, let's go too!"
"Wait, Toya!"
"Geez..."
And so, we left the school gates, seen off by the second-years.
It seemed middle school life had ended... but the trials still remained.
(2)
The day of the prefectural entrance exams.
"Good morning, Toya-kun... wait, you're asleep!"
Actually, I'm awake. I've already changed into my uniform.
Sensing something, Airi hesitated to come straight to the bed.
"Is it the same pattern as before? So easily... well, whatever."
Thinking something, Airi dove into the bed and hugged me.
Hiding my agitation, I hugged her back.
"You're quite relaxed before an exam, Toya-kun. Will you be okay today?"
"This might be the last time. That's why I want to say everything."
"What do you mean, 'everything'?"
"..."
Sorry, that was just second place on my personal ranking of lines I've always wanted to say.
Poke
Airi gave me a light flick.
"Don't say unlucky things like 'this might be the last time' before an exam! Besides, whether you fail and repeat a year or we get married, I'm coming every single morning!"
She is just so precious.
My rationality flew away with a force that could blow away every English vocabulary word I've ever memorized.
"Airi!!"
I hugged Airi.
But Airi pushed me away.
"Not now. After the exams are over. If we pass, we'll continue, okay?"
Saying that, Airi got up and held out her hand.
I grabbed that hand and got up too.
Kanna was waiting downstairs.
The exam venue.
The air is tense.
Everyone is looking at vocabulary books or opening reference books.
Amidst that, Kanna and I are yawning. Airi is reading a novel.
"It's too late to start shaking now."
Kanna doesn't seem nervous at all.
"Well, I think it's not a bad thing to struggle until the end."
"If Toya wants to struggle too, be my guest?"
"No, I'll pass. You said it's better to be as usual."
"Right?"
The warning bell rings.
Everyone enters their respective classrooms.
The exam time is 50 minutes for each of the five subjects.
English has a listening test. Japanese has an essay.
It all finishes in one day.
Both English and Japanese are finished in the morning.
Now then, the tedious parts are over.
There's a delicious ramen shop near here♪
Grab!
Someone grabbed my arm.
I can pretty much guess who it is.
"Let go, Airi. Do I not even have the right to eat lunch?"
To my plea, what was presented was a wrapped box?
"I thought you'd do something like this, so I made one for Toya-kun too."
The bento for me looks like it's glowing.
But, but... today, I wanted to eat the ramen over there.
"I've already completed the investigation and could imagine Toya-kun going to the ramen shop~"
Airi looks triumphant.
She made a bento for me.
There is no more delicious situation than this.
...If only it weren't for the ramen.
"I'm jealous, Toya. Let me see."
Kanna opens the lid of my bento box without any hesitation.
Normally, wouldn't you panic?
When it comes to a girl's bento at a time like this, you'd think you'd be flustered because there might be minced chicken, pink fish flakes, or kinshi tamago shaped like a heart, right?
But Airi doesn't do things like that.
She doesn't make cute character bentos.
A very ordinary bento.
Though she does make octopus-shaped sausages.
But it's a bento that asserts her "girl power" as much as possible.
That power is exerted in every corner.
"Here you go."
Airi pours tea from a bottle.
We are blatantly appealing to the fact that we are a couple.
The surrounding gazes are painful.
I wonder if Kanna would have done this if she were with Makoto?
Such a Kanna was listening to music while eating bread.
The afternoon session begins.
Only two subjects.
Yeah, I think I solved everything without any problems... I think.
On the way back, the three of us check the difficult parts with each other.
Judging by Kanna's joy, she seems to be fine.
The problem is me.
If I failed this, then it's repeating a year...
The wind feels cold somehow.
The day of the results announcement.
It starts at 9:30.
I arrived 10 minutes early.
When the time comes, the results are posted.
I check my number and look at the list...
Huh...?
It's not here...?
My mind panics.
Airi and Kanna hug each other in joy.
I sink alone.
It's over...
Will there be a one-year gap between me and Airi?
I wonder if she'll wait for me until then.
"...We did it!"
Eh?
"Toya-kun! You passed!!"
Airi is raising her voice in joy.
Eh? But my number isn't there?
"Look closer, you idiot!! Your number is there!!"
Kanna is also shouting.
I look closely once more.
...It's there!
"I did iteeeeee!!"
I shouted with all my might.
"Toya-kun, you did it! Now we can go to the same high school!"
I hug Airi, who is crying with joy!
"Yeah, we'll be together forever!"
"Yeah!"
We hug each other without caring about the eyes around us.
"Don't forget my existence!"
Saying that, Kanna hits me.
"Yeah, the three of us are together!"
On the way back, we stop by the middle school to get our acceptance notices.
"Congratulations!"
Mickey says that, spreading his arms wide, but Kanna ignores him and leaves the staff room.
Airi was waiting in the hallway.
"I look forward to the next three years."
"Yeah, looking forward to it."
Airi and Kanna still seem unable to calm their excitement.
I take a breath.
Ah, I have to let Mother and the others know.
I call home on my smartphone and tell them that all three of us passed.
Both parents seem relieved.
Looking back, Airi seemed to be telling her parents too.
Kanna also seemed to be calling Makoto.
Both of them look happy.
They're still crying.
We'll keep going as the three of us.
I don't know what will happen after high school graduation.
For now, we can be together for another three years.
Let's just be honestly happy for now.
"Airi!"
"Yes?"
I hug Airi.
"W-Wait, Toya-kun! ...This is school."
"You remember... the promise before the exam."
"Eh?"
Airi looks blank.
"That the continuation would be after the results announcement..."
"Eh? ..."
Did she forget?
However, she must have remembered, as Airi's face suddenly turns red.
"It doesn't have to be right now!"
"What what? What promise?"
Kanna, having finished her call with Makoto, joins the conversation.
"Wow~ it's a secret from Kanna!!"
"What is it, there's nothing to hide at this point!"
True.
"U-Um, you know. Eri-chan said since we're having a party tonight, why not invite Kanna and Makoto-kun too...?"
That means I've already been counted in the head count.
"You dodged the question."
"T-That's not true! Right? It's okay, right? Toya-kun."
"It's fine."
"I'll pass, I promised Makoto. That the two of us would have a party."
"I see... and so, Toya-kun."
"Yeah."
I part with Kanna in front of Airi's house.
"Well, I guess the next time will be the entrance ceremony?"
"Yeah, have fun with Makoto-kun!"
"Airi, you do your best too... or in this case, Toya?"
Saying that, Kanna grins.
That night, a party was held at the Tosaka residence.
"No, when I heard you weren't taking the private school exams, I had a chill."
"Right~ our daughter is quite a handful~"
"My son has caused you trouble."
"No no~ it's because our daughter likes doing it~"
"...Umu."
Leaving the adults behind, who were getting excited on their own with alcohol, I eat as much as I can before Airi prompts me to go to her room.
My father noticed that.
"I won't allow it in the first year of high school!"
"You'll be careful, right~ Go ahead and take a bath first~"
"Be careful, Toya."
"U-Umu... I don't mind if you go in together."
"Papa-san~ Airi would still be embarrassed by that~"
"I-I see..."
It's just the ramblings of a drunk.
When I try to ignore it and go up to the room, Airi pulls my sleeve.
"What's wrong?"
"I-I'm okay! If it's with Toya-kun... Toya-kun really worked hard."
"I-I'm okay too!"
Saying that, we enter the room.
As soon as we enter, Airi hugs me from behind.
"Hey? Promise me?"
"What?"
"Make today the last time you belittle yourself because of my appearance or grades. We're at the same starting line, you know? Let's walk together from here on."
She was still worrying about that.
"I understand."
"Yeah, good. Then I'll go take a bath. ...If you're going to hide something, please do it now."
Hearing that, my heart jumped.
I forgot to bring them when I came back to the room.
Surely, there's no way without rubber.
I'm already disheartened.
I'll just accept it.
I'll give up for tonight.
There are plenty of chances.
I remembered the words Airi just said.
Let's walk together from here on.
I wanted to say it.
That we'll be together forever...
I feel like I can say it now while I'm exhilarated.
After a while, Airi returns.
"Toya-kun, come in."
"Airi. Sorry, I forgot them."
"Eh? ...Ah."
I hug Airi.
"It's impossible tonight... but you said you'd match my pace, right?"
"Yeah..."
"You said let's walk together, right?"
"That's right."
"I want you to walk with me forever."
That's not a line for a middle schooler.
"...Yeah. I'm waiting."
Airi was crying.
"Sorry for always making you cry."
"...I promise too. I believe those words, I won't forget. But if you feel like being broken, tell me again."
"I will."
"Then, go take your bath."
"Okay."
"Toya-kun!"
Airi suddenly stops me.
"I'm like this, but please continue to take care of me."
"Yeah, well, I'm going."
Saying that, I jump out of the room.
Honor student and inferior student.
I had decided that on my own.
But honor students have worries too.
There are times they feel crushed.
I just have to support her.
I just have to support her firmly without wavering.
Encouraging each other.
Because someday, the time will come when the two of us can laugh together.