*****

After homeroom in the classroom, I moved to a separate room. I was going to take my exams. Since it would be a waste of time otherwise, I had arranged to take them all at once.

Unbelievably, the exam venue was the faculty room. Setting up a proctor just for me alone wouldn't have been rational, so the location made total sense. They prepared a desk and chair for me in a corner of the faculty room where I sat for the tests. There were no particularly difficult questions, and I finished testing for all subjects by third period. This was possible because I was permitted to move on to the next subject as soon as I finished answering, without having to wait out the remaining time. I was grateful for the teachers' consideration. As long as these test results were good, I could continue attending this academy as a scholarship student. However, I would no longer be facing financial hardship in the future, so there was no need for me to remain a scholarship student. If I relinquished my scholarship status, someone else in financial need could attend this academy. It might even open up one more scholarship spot for next year.

Thinking about such things, I left the faculty room and made my way to the classroom. I would make it in time for fourth period, so I intended to attend class.

Entering the classroom after so long, I felt something was different from before. Mossad's Tanaka-san used to say that whenever you sense something out of place, you must pay meticulous attention and investigate thoroughly. However, nothing dangerous should happen inside a classroom. Mossad's Tanaka-san was still missing. Where on earth had he gone?

Without even needing to ponder it, I quickly realized the reason. Unlike before, internal students, external students, and scholarship students were no longer putting up walls against one another.

Of course, the friend groups themselves didn't seem to have changed, yet everyone was acknowledging and accepting each other.

It was just like the Venn diagram Katsuragi-sama had drawn for me before. The three circles—internal students, external students, and scholarship students—were overlapping.

Previously, the three circles had been completely separate; it had been an Euler diagram.

「Rei-chan!」

「Kujouin-san!」

Sara-chan and Kimoto-san noticed me and came over.

「Welcome back to school!」

「Thank you, Kimoto-san. I was truly happy that you came to visit me while I was in the hospital. And Umaibo is divine!」

「You really love Umaibo, don't you, Rei-chan? As for me, I prefer Moroccan yogurt and plum jam.」

As Sara-chan said that, Inoue-kun, the external student who had taught me the history of the Yoshinoya copypasta, spoke up hesitantly to Sara-chan.

「Hongo-sama, that plum jam is actually no longer being manufactured. I just secretly swiped some from my dad's stash.」

「Wh-What...?! What did you say? You mean I can never eat it again?」

「Yeah. The old man who made the plum jam retired, and he declared he wouldn't pass on his recipe to anyone.」

「Plum jam... so this is what they mean by 'once-in-a-lifetime encounter.' Inoue-kun, please apologize to your father on my behalf. However, I am deeply grateful to you for introducing me to plum jam.」

Inoue-kun appeared to have his soul stolen by Sara-chan's cute smile. (Fufu, she really is so cute, my best friend!)

「Let's save going to Yoshinoya for after Rei-chan's leg is healed. But summer vacation is about to start. Everyone has plans like trips and such, right? It will be difficult to coordinate a day for all of us here to gather.」

「Sara-chan, it's perfectly fine if we don't go right away. After summer vacation ends will be just fine!」

After that, classical Japanese class began. We were studying the *Man'yoshu*.

『Even the tiny pebbles in the Chikuma River of Shinano, if stepped upon by you, I would gather as precious jewels.』

(It struck me right through the heart!) It was a waka poem I had never felt anything special about before. How much more one can understand once they've known love! Yes, if Comrade Yoshio stepped on a mere pebble, it would be a jewel to me! Ah, Comrade Yoshio never leaves my mind for even a moment, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. I want to become the knife he keeps constantly by his side. (Eek! I'm so embarrassed for thinking such silly things. Ah, so this is what people mean when they say someone's mind is a field of flowers!)

When class ended, we headed to the cafeteria. Although Sara-chan also made use of the salon's café, she sometimes went to the cafeteria along with Kimoto-san, the other external students, and the internal students. Since we were quite a large group, our seats were often split up, but apparently that was fine with her. Sara-chan said it served as an opportunity to become close with people she hadn't talked with much before.

Today, we were lucky enough to find empty seats, so everyone could sit at the same table together. I decided to eat a beef bowl. I asked Inoue-kun and Ueda-kun, who had been to beef bowl restaurants before, to order beef bowls along with me. The reason was to learn the proper etiquette for eating beef bowls. Inoue-kun and Ueda-kun readily agreed. What kind people!

Everyone took their seats at the table. By the way, I was told Sou-kun had left school early. Sara-chan nonchalantly said it was no problem, but was that really true? When I asked if I could visit him, she replied that I should just leave him alone for now. I was worried.

Currently, everyone was talking about their plans for summer vacation. The energetic Kimoto-san spoke to Sara-chan.

「Are you going anywhere, Hongo-sama? I'm pretty much just going to my great-grandparents' house in the countryside. It's out in the boonies, with a vault toilet and a Goemon bath. My grandparents who live nearby take care of them, but since my grandparents are getting old too, I'm taking care of them during summer vacation instead of taking a part-time job.」

(What! A Goemon bath!) It was a bath I had wanted to try taking at least once. I had even learned how to enter one from books. They said the water felt gentle and warmed your body to the core. It was likely resistant to cooling down due to the lingering heat after burning firewood and the convection of the water.

「Oh, how wonderful! A Goemon bath is so romantic! Surely you aren't heating it over an open flame using firewood, are you? That would be quite a heavy burden on elderly people. Are they using a burner designed for Goemon baths?」

「Huh? I don't know! Wow, Kujouin-san, you're really biting into this topic!」

「Forgive me, I simply love baths. While I admire Goemon baths, I also admire drum-can baths. Since I plan to move to the countryside again soon, I am considering building a drum-can bath myself!」

「What's a drum-can bath?」

「It is a bath where you fill a drum can with water and heat the bottom by burning firewood. It is used outdoors. Until now, I had a strict grandmother, so despite being dirt poor, I had no freedom. But now I am free, so I intend to do plenty of things I love. Besides, I plan to move in the middle of summer vacation!」

When I said that, for some reason, a quiet fell over the room.

「Um, Kujouin-san, I think that's really dangerous. Even someone like me gets groper encounters, you know? I think it's crazy dangerous for you to take a bath naked outside, Kujouin-san.」

「Ah, that will be perfectly fine! I shall install security cameras, and I will erect a partition screen so no one can see. I plan to build that myself too. Ufufu, I am so looking forward to it!」

「No, Kujouin-san, what about surveillance from above? There's a risk of being secretly filmed by drones.」

Inoue-kun of the Yoshinoya copypasta raised a valid point. I hadn't thought as far as drones. How careless of me.

「That is certainly true. I had better look into jamming measures. Furthermore, I shall make sure never to enter it while alone. Thank you for your advice.」

I watched Inoue-kun and Ueda-kun eating their beef bowls. The hurdle was too high for me; it was impossible. My ingrained etiquette manners prevented me. When I muttered something to that effect, they told me there was no need to imitate them. They said any way of eating was fine, and enjoying the food was what mattered most.

「I shall go to Yoshinoya without feeling overwhelmed! Although I am a beginner, I shall eat however I like!」

An exciting summer vacation—the very first in my life—was about to begin.

*****

More slice of life, less drama.

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