Chapter 62 - Summer Assignment (1/2)

“How is it going?”

“Umm… well, so so I guess…”

“I see! Do your best!”

“… Yeah, thanks…”

While giving a half-hearted reply, I worked on the problems given for our summer assignment.

“Coffee? Or would you rather have tea?”

“For now, I’m okay. Thanks.”

This situation originated yesterday. I told her that I was going to the library to work on my assignment since my house was hot. Hearing that, Hiiragi-chan offered for me to go to her place to work on it.

However, does she not need to go to work…?

“Ah. Seiji-kun, just now you were probably thinking something like, Haruka-san seems so free. Despite how it looks, I’m not free.”

With a super smug expression, Hiiragi-chan brought out her laptop from her work bag and opened it across from me.

“Seiji-kun, it’s Sunday, you know?”

“Aaah… I see.”

While giving another unenthusiastic answer, I continued to solve my classical literature problems.

“Your reactions just now were all kind of weak… It makes me quite sad!”

“Be quiet.”

“Okay…”

Pachi pachi, she started hitting on the keys, before jumping into explanation about the work she had as a teacher.

“Bringing out personal information from school isn’t allowed, but if it’s grading, making problems, or preparing materials and such, then doing it at home is fine.”

“…”

“I-I was ignored… that’s quite saddening…”

The problems consisted of 5 different subjects. Math, classical literature, English, and biology. There’s nothing super troublesome like in elementary school where there were things like self-guided research, drawing pictures, or book reports. However, there was quite a large amount to work on.

There was a high amount of deviation between scores at our school. As such, just after the holiday there would be a talk about future career paths and there would also be a test on academic ability. At this point, I was thinking that there really weren’t that many great things to return to in the second year of high school.

Since she was continuing to stare really hard at me, I unconsciously stopped my hand.

“Is something wrong?”

“No. I was just thinking that the serious look in your eyes was kind of cool.”

“R-really…?”

“That’s right.”

Speaking of which, there were quite a few times where I also felt the same way about her. For instance, during world history class, as I’m watching her hard at work from my seat.

“By the way, Seiji-kun, are you good with laptops?”

“I wouldn’t say I’m an expert at it, but I would say that I’m at an acceptable level.”

Hiiragi-chan spun her laptop around to face me.

“It’s about Excel though… I want to do this part of it a little better…”

Listening to her explanations, it seems that in preparing her materials, she wanted to input data in a certain way.

“Aah. If it’s that…”

I returned the laptop to facing Hiiragi-chan and sit down next to her. Then, I begin pointing at the screen in order to give instructions.

“Ah. It’s done! Seiji-kun, you’re amazing!!”

“No, I’m not amazing at all. Excel is the one that’s amazing.”

“Now you’re just being humble.”

Hiiragi-chan started to teasingly poke my cheek.

“Stop it.”

After showing my dislike, she became depressed.

“Ah… sorry.”

Ah. This is bad. I might have said that kind of harshly… No, but, I was originally intending to go to the library to work on my assignment today… I came here today because I thought that HIiragi-chan was going to be at school working. It slipped my mind that she could be working at home. I did forget it was Sunday though.

Hiiragi-chan started grab at me, like she was a dog that wanted to be paid attention to. If this was in class, I would be really angry.

“…”

“…”

This is awkward…

In truth, I was going to invite her to hang out at night after finishing up a certain amount of my assignment. No, but, Hiiragi-chan is bothering me too much during my studying. She’s also talking to much. For just a bit… I should have her repent. Just a tiny bit.

Every time I take glances at her, the depressed Hiiragi-chan seems to wither even further.

“…”

“…”

This is awkward…

However, I think it’s wrong for me to apologize here… Eh, am I just being stubborn? No, that’s not true. Definitely not. It’s not that I don’t want to apologize.

I take a glance at her once again, causing my mouth to turn into a frown.

…

Still, my way of saying things might be somewhat problematic. Dammit. What’s with this? I can’t concentrate on my questions at all!

“… I’ll be in the bedroom…. If something happens, just call out to me.”

With a level of energy lower than ever seen before, Hiiragi-chan grabbed her laptop and disappeared into the bedroom.

Ugugugugu… This feeling of guilt…! At a time like this, the only person that I can really confide in is Natsumi-chan. However, I don’t really know how to contact her…

[For a situation like this, is it the acquaintance that’s in the wrong?]

Explaining the situation from the start, I sent a text as if I was just an acquaintance to the person involved.