Ch.250Epilogue. Hello (11)

As the end of the year approached, we became increasingly busy.

I now understand why Kaoru and Izumi seemed so busy last year.

No matter how much time you spend studying, you can never completely finish it. Just when I thought I had memorized something perfectly, I’d forget something else.

Meanwhile, I tried to continue my literary club activities at a minimum level, making sure not to miss the truly important ones, which made things even busier.

Though I wasn’t the club president, I couldn’t just sit back while my juniors prepared for the cultural festival.

I came early in the morning to help with the literary café, and we all worked hard in our maid outfits.

I’m glad all the juniors seemed to be enjoying themselves.

It seems our literary café on the top floor of the old building has gained popularity through word of mouth since we opened it last year, and this year we had even more customers.

Thinking that some prospective first-years who might enter Hanakawa High School next year could be visiting, I tried to work harder and appear more cheerful.

The literary anthology we published this time was even more polished than last year’s. Now it might not seem too out of place in a corner of a bookstore… well, it would still look a bit odd, but it might pass as something produced by a somewhat amateur publishing company.

Even Kaoru and Izumi, who visited as college students, were impressed.

Now I understand why they declined when I told them to go have fun.

Thinking that this would be our last year, every minute felt precious. Knowing these moments would never return made me even more anxious.

In some ways, even more than the university entrance exams.

Of course, objectively speaking, the university exams carried much more weight, but that’s just how I personally felt.

Only our third time, yet it’s the last.

Although we still had a few months until graduation, just thinking about it made my heart ache.

“…”

Yuka, Koko, and I went up to the school rooftop and looked down for a moment.

It felt a bit strange for three people in maid outfits to be looking down from the rooftop…

“It’s been a while,” Yuka said.

That’s true.

Come to think of it, I hardly came up here this year.

There was no reason to. I didn’t need to eat alone anymore.

Actually, even back then, if I had clung to Mako, Harumi, and Yuu, eating together wouldn’t have been that difficult.

All three of them were so kind they sometimes seemed too pure, and all three already knew that my family situation wasn’t very good.

But somehow I didn’t want to do that.

Yet I had enough pride that I didn’t want to eat alone in front of others, and eating in places like the bathroom was absolutely out of the question.

Finding the rooftop door open was truly fortunate.

And then there was Yuka, who followed me up here and ate those tasteless coffee buns.

“Thinking back, you were really persistent.”

“Huh?”

“Woo?”

Yuka and Koko both turned their heads at my mumbling.

“No, I mean you always followed me up here whenever I came to eat.”

“Ah.”

Yuka’s face reddened slightly at my words.

“W-well, wasn’t it nice to have someone to eat with? Right?”

Back then, Yuka didn’t have friends either.

Because she kept transferring schools due to her father’s work, her friendships were constantly forming and breaking. Naturally, it was even more so for Yuka who had just transferred here.

Perhaps Yuka following me was her own effort.

Even though she didn’t know how long she would stay, maybe she wanted to create proper memories during her time at school.

In the original story, Yuka was quite popular in her class. She probably would have gradually adapted to school even without me.

“…Yeah, it was nice.”

When I readily agreed, Yuka looked at me with a slightly surprised, blank expression.

“Woah?”

Only Koko, who didn’t understand what we were talking about, tilted her head in confusion.

As we were both patting Koko’s head, the rooftop door opened.

“So you really were here.”

Kagami said with an incredulous smile.

“I sent you an email earlier.”

“Yes, that’s why I came up here.”

Kagami approached, rustling the plastic bag in her hand.

Then she looked down from the rooftop—

“Well, the view is…”

“Not that great, right?”

Kagami couldn’t bring herself to answer my question.

Of course not. We’re in the middle of Minato Ward. There’s even a taller building standing proudly right next to our school.

Well, I didn’t come up here for the view anyway.

Still, there was something nice about the sense of openness. It felt like being outside the school without actually leaving.

Though I suppose you don’t need a rooftop for that feeling.

“What’s that in your hand?”

“I bought some things downstairs. Want a crepe? The cream got a bit smeared because I put them in the bag.”

Kagami had bought exactly four, including one for herself.

This was the most luxurious bread I’d ever eaten up here.

If you can call an extremely thin hotcake “bread,” that is.

“…”

The four of us—me, Yuka, Koko, and Kagami—stood in a row looking down at the school grounds.

People were bustling about energetically. The cheerful voices blended together, somehow transmitting that atmosphere even to this place that felt strangely separated from everything else.

This really is the last time.

Everything we’ve done this year would be our last at this school.

Three years.

When we first started, three years seemed so long, but now that we’ve spent them here, they’ve passed too quickly.

Every day was enjoyable. The only regret was that not all those joyful moments remained completely in my memory.

“…Shall we go take pictures?”

“Sounds good.”

Aware that this was our last year, Kagami smiled and said,

“Oh, I heard the photography club next door is taking pictures again this year. Should we get one taken there too?”

“Sure.”

I nodded with a smile at Kagami’s suggestion.

Then I turned to Koko and Yuka and said,

“Shall we go?”

“Yeah.”

“Woah!”

They both nodded with smiles.

We descended the stairs one by one, not rushing.

After all, even if we don’t try to catch up, time always pushes us from behind.

Step by step, savoring the bittersweet feelings.

Leaving crackling footprints on our memories, we slowly walked toward the last event of our high school years.

*

Fortunately, the Christmas party was scheduled to happen.

Thanks to everyone becoming friends—the two second-years and four first-years—the atmosphere was such that exchanging Christmas gifts wouldn’t be awkward.

However, we didn’t borrow Yuu’s house where the first and second parties were held. That’s understandable, right?

Instead, they got permission from the parents of Tsugumi, a second-year friend, to hold the party there.

“I’ll send you pictures!” Shii said with a bright smile.

She showed the confidence befitting someone who would be the club president next year.

Me, Koko, Kagami.

And of course, my friends studied hard even during the break. The exams were approaching, and it was a critical time when we couldn’t afford not to study hard.

Although some universities don’t require Center Test scores if they’re not public or national universities, I planned to take the test regardless of the outcome. After all, both Yuka and I were aiming for universities that required those scores.

I think my studying went quite well.

In my first year, I couldn’t focus 100% on studying for various reasons, but from my second year, partly influenced by Izumi and Kaoru’s studious atmosphere and partly because the younger students felt some pressure from having seniors, I started studying quite diligently.

Though not as hard as in my third year, I think I studied quite well for a second-year student. I was able to pull my grades up considerably.

I think it also helped that I was surrounded by excellent students.

With Kagami being smarter than me too, I could now get help from her whenever there was something I didn’t understand or got wrong.

Really, everyone around me somehow transcended the realm of normal humans.

But I consider that lucky too.

After Christmas passed and school reopened, the classroom atmosphere was different from before.

Everyone looked somewhat tense and anxious despite appearing relaxed.

When I was younger, I thought the concept of a “study atmosphere” was nonsense, but by this point, I couldn’t help but believe it existed.

Well… at this stage, it’s difficult to absorb anything more even if you try to learn something new. My head was already so full of knowledge that just maintaining it without overflow was challenging enough.

In the end, I completely gave up on trying to cram in anything more and instead focused on not letting what I already knew slip away.

“Everything will be fine. We’ll all get to go where we want to go,” Mako told me, though it seemed like she was also saying it to herself. Yuka said something similar, and seeing other classmates say similar things, it seemed everyone was feeling the same way.

And so, we struggled through what was probably the most tense period of our lives.

The time I wished wouldn’t pass flowed steadily regardless of my wishes,

And finally, inevitably, the fateful day approached—