The Plan

“Well, putting aside whether my life’s going smoothly or not, just don’t lose your drive, okay?”

“Oh, so you’re just gonna gloss over that part?”

I don’t think my life is bad. But this guy says otherwise.

I figured this would just go in circles, so I decided not to dig any deeper.

“…So, what should I do?”

Hayashi seemed to pull herself together and asked me.

She clearly had a lot on her mind, but it looked like she was willing to go along with my suggestion.

For now, that willingness was enough.

“Right. Let’s start by making a plan.”

“A plan?”

“Yeah. A plan to make sure you can pass the bookkeeping exam in February on your first try. We’ll map out the steps to get there.”

“…What kind of plan?”

“Well, specifically, something like scoring this many points by this month, and that many by the next. Making sure you’re steadily building toward a passing score.”

“Wouldn’t it be more efficient to just study nonstop instead of making a plan?”

“That might work sometimes, but that’s not what I’m aiming for.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s October now. Your bookkeeping exam is in February. That’s four months of study time. You’re super motivated right now, but do you really think you can keep that same energy for four whole months?”

“…Well…”

I didn’t say it out loud, but back in high school, Hayashi never seemed all that motivated about studying.

If anything, it felt like she was being forced into it against her will.

I seriously doubt she can keep that up for four months straight.

Judging by her silence, she probably agrees.

“It’s not a bad thing. The most important thing is to take a hard look at where you’re at and figure out how to keep your motivation up.”

“…Yeah.”

“That’s why I’m suggesting we make a plan. Aiming to pass the bookkeeping exam in four months is tough, but breaking it down into smaller goals—like clearing this point this month, that point next month—will help keep your motivation going.”

“That… makes sense…”

“Plus, having a detailed plan makes it easier to track your progress. That’s something I learned firsthand from being on the cultural festival committee.”

“Oh, I get it.”

She remembered the disaster from our first-year cultural festival committee.

If she recalls that, bringing it up should make this conversation go smoother.

“If you can tell your progress is lagging, you can adjust by increasing your daily study time or whatever. If you only notice right before the exam, it’s too late.”

“…Hey?”

“Yeah?”

“What if… I mean, I hate to ask when you’re helping me out, but… what if the plan we make ends up being too soft?”

So Hayashi’s worry right now is that if the plan we come up with is too lenient, she might end up failing the bookkeeping exam.

“No problem.”

“You’ve got a way to recover?”

“Yup. You just try harder for the next bookkeeping exam.”

“…Huh?”

Hayashi looked like a deer caught in headlights.

“Th-that doesn’t exactly achieve the goal!”

“No, you’re wrong.”

“…How so?”

“Your goal is to ultimately pass the bookkeeping exam. Sure, you should avoid obvious mistakes, but if you do your absolute best and still fail, that’s just how it goes. If you don’t make it this time, you can pass the next one.”

“…But that’s still failing.”

“Failing isn’t inherently bad.”

Hayashi fell silent.

“If you give it your all and still fail, you’ll figure out what went wrong.”

I smiled.

“Find out what went wrong, fix it, and use it for next time. That’s what life’s all about, right?”

I’m no different.

I messed up big time during my first year on the cultural festival committee, so I made adjustments and nailed it when I was on the committee again in my third year.

“But I don’t want to fail…”

“Failing doesn’t mean you’re gonna die or anything.”

Seeing Hayashi’s serious expression, I smiled.

“I got torn to shreds after screwing up the cultural festival in my first year, but here I am, living peacefully. Failing doesn’t kill you.”

Even as I said it, I kinda got where Hayashi was coming from.

Especially lately, seeing how easily Hayashi gets down about things, I don’t think it’s strange that she’d hesitate in the face of potential failure.

Excessive negative thinking.

That’s another big enemy of maintaining motivation, I thought.

For now, I’d managed to lay out a path forward for Hayashi.

But if I don’t address her anxiety here and now, it’s probably going to mess with her ability to stay motivated.

…Still, with Hayashi’s current negative mindset, no matter how perfect a plan we make, she’ll probably get anxious again in no time.

In other words, to ease Hayashi’s anxiety, it’s not about planning out her future together right now.

It’s about dangling a new carrot in front of her to keep her motivation up.

“Alright, how about this?”

I snapped my fingers.

“If you manage to hit the scores we plan for, I’ll treat you to a convenience store dessert.”

My brilliant strategy: bait her with food.

I’m a genius. I mean, don’t girls usually love sweets?

“Uh, I don’t really need that.”

“W-what…?”

“I’m not really into sweets…”

…Oh, really?

Faced with this new revelation, I fell silent.

Forget reading this novel today—let’s all cheer for Bauer!

Don’t say that, you idiot author.

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