Short Story
Mid-July. After school on a day with final exams just a few days away.
Himeji and I headed to the special building where the student council room was located as soon as homeroom ended.
The reason being—there were less than five days between the end of final exams and the start of the grand summer event, 《SFIA》.
As such, while it was uncertain whether I could avoid failing grades at the moment, I wanted to at least grasp the event’s outline…
And so, we had made an appointment with Enomoto, the student council president of Eimei.
“He told us to come to the student council room, but… is he really working at a time like this?”
“I’m not sure. In the reply to the message you sent yesterday, Goshujin-sama, I believe there was something about ‘using it for personal matters,’ if I recall correctly…”
“Personal matters…?”
Himeji, walking beside me, said in her cool voice, but I tilted my head, not quite grasping it.
While we were at it, we arrived at the student council room, and I slid the door open without bothering to knock—
Only to be greeted by a familiar scene unfolding inside.
“Ugh… ugh, ugh! Shinji, I totally don’t get this! I give up!”
“How many times are you going to throw in the towel, Nanase? I’m busy studying myself, you know.”
“All you’re doing is lining up textbooks for every subject and flipping through them one by one! My struggle is way more intense! And, like, I’m your childhood friend in trouble here, so isn’t it okay to help me out!?”
“No, it’s not… But, if you end up with failing grades and get barred from 《SFIA》, it’ll be me who’s embarrassed. So, I suppose I could teach you.”
“For real!? Awesome! Then come here, over here. This problem is…”
“Hmm… You seem to have memorized the formulas, but your approach to solving them is sloppy.
For this type of question, don’t just jump into setting up equations. Start by drawing auxiliary lines or vectors on the diagram, like this…”
“Fum, fum, fum, fum.”
“…Hey, Nanase. One… no, four things.”
“Fum?”
“You’re too close. Your arm’s touching me. Your hair’s brushing against me. I can feel your breath.”
“Haa!? W-Wait… what are you getting all conscious about, stupid Shinji! That’s creepy!”
Asamiya, who had been leaning forward, engrossed in Enomoto’s explanation, turned bright red the moment he pointed it out and hurriedly stood up from her seat.
Swinging her vibrant golden hair, she pointed sharply at Enomoto, about to throw more complaints his way—
When she finally noticed the door was open. Turning toward us, her lips trembled slightly.
“Ugh… nya…”
“Um… my apologies, Asamiya-senpai. We didn’t mean to interrupt, so please, carry on with your flirting—”
“I-I’m not flirting!!”
Asamiya, her ears—partially hidden by her blonde hair—turning completely red, shot back a denial at Himeji’s words.
Beside her, Enomoto, arms crossed with a sour expression, let out a heavy “Haa…” sigh…
But even I could tell that it was just a way to hide his embarrassment.
