Gentle time

Maybe I've been so weary from all the heavy situations I've been in all my life.

During math class, I gazed absentmindedly at the blackboard, but the content never entered my mind. I'm not very smart to begin with, and lately I've been so worried that it's no wonder I'm not putting any effort into my studies.

School life without Shiho is very grim and serious.

If I kept on pondering about her, my mood was going to get darker.

So I think about her.

I was looking back on that tender time in my memory, retrieving memories of that precious girl...

A girl named Shiho Shimotsuki was just cute and quite a clunker.

She is especially bad at studying, so when there was a quiz or something, it was routine for us to have a study session the day before.

It was the same on that day.

It had been about a week since the festival had ended.

We were told that we would have a math quiz the next day, so we decided to have a study session at my house.

"Ugh~! I don't want to study, Kotaro-kun. Why are they using English letters like "x" and "y" for math? It's a fraud. If it's math, why don't you just use numbers?"

Well, there was no way that Shiho, who hated studying, would do her best.

As usual, she was in a huff and threw away her pencil prematurely.

“I understand how you feel, but you can't complain all the time, can you?"

"Don't call me justified. It's a hassle. ... Uh, Rocazil, was it? It's called locazil harassment!"

“…You mean ... logical harassment?"

I also think you shouldn't force yourself to use difficult words. There was a little bit of silliness that I couldn't hide.

"Hah ... Kotaro-kun, can I sit on your lap? Hey, hey, can we flirt? It's okay, Azusa is upstairs in her room, but I'm sure she won't come down out of concern for you."

“I heard Azusa is not good with Shiho, so I don't think she'll come down... Well, yeah. I'm sure if we flirt, we'd get a failing grade. Probably, I can't concentrate on anything because I'm so worried about Shiho."

"Oh, my. Are you so shy to touch me? You are such a cute boy... Is skin-to-skin contact too stimulating? If so, it's only kindness to go easy on me."

I smiled and chatted with her.

Even during study sessions, we always found ourselves chatting like this.

This day was no different, and we kept looking at each other while opening our math textbooks.

"What about you, Shiho? You seem to hate studying, so what are you going to pursue?"

Shiho doesn't study at all, to say the least.

She was a strange girl who seemed to have no sense of crisis and was rather proud of her poor grades.

"Isn't it cuter to be a glorified fool than to be a half-achiever?"

I was surprised when she said this mysterious logic.

What kind of future blueprint does Shiho have in mind?

When I asked her, she answered instantly and without hesitation.

"Yeah, it's already decided ♪ Ufufu... I'm not going to study because I'm going to be a wife in the future, and I'm going to be taken care of by the person I love."

Shiho's beautiful eyes were pointed straight at me.

You don't have to tell me whose bride you want to be, do you?

I felt like I was being told that, and my face got hot.

Shiho is really a sly girl.

Why is she so adorable?

She always makes me laugh.

Just having Shiho next to me warmed my heart.

Even the Shiho of my memories cheered me up so much.

(The situation is not so good, but...)

One week. If I can endure for just one week, I can get back to my normal life again.

So, I will not be defeated by opportunism or the god of romantic comedies.

(... Okay.)

It's as if a flame that had been extinguished is rekindled.

I raised my head, remembering that sensation.

But I must not forget.

The flame of a candle burns most vigorously when it is on the verge of dying out.

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