Every Morning the Most Popular Girl at School Sits Next to Me on the Train

It was 7:52 in the morning, and today, I headed to school earlier than usual.

Since our high school usually has a lot of homework over summer break, there are no extracurricular activities during this time. If that’s the case, then why am I heading to school?

That’s because our school, Touyama High School, has orientation for prospective students today. I will be going to help with that orientation. For orientation, we will be talking to middle school students about our experience in high school, and doing some light, recreational activities with them.

… To be honest, I don’t want to go. I felt a little bit of resentment in the fact that my valuable holidays are being used for this. Just before summer break, our class held rock-paper-scissors tournament to determine the one boy and one girl that would be helping out with orientation. I ended up losing six games in a row. I vaguely felt that ever since I was a child, I’ve always been bad at playing rock-paper-scissors in order to determine things like this.

Well, there’s nothing I can do about it now. Today, I need to do my job properly and talk to middle school students about my experience. Someone’s life might change because of the things that I tell them, so I need to make sure I do things properly.

Making my resolution, I entered the train. Since it was summer break, there were many seats still empty like usual. I randomly picked a seat and sat down.

Then…

“Good morning, Setsu-kun. I’ll be sitting next you, then.”

“Yeah, good morning.”

As usual, Mamiko sat down next to me. That’s right, the other person in charge of helping out at orientation is Mamiko. After seeing me lose in rock-paper-scissors, Mamiko was desperate to become the other person. That Mamiko was now looking at me with a face full of smiles.

“Eh, what is it?”

“Nothing~ I was just thinking that it’s been a while since we sat next to each other like this.”

That’s true, since summer break started, the amount of times we could meet became fewer.

“Now that you mention it, that’s true.”

“Muu~, are you not happy Yoshiki-kun? I know I for one am very very happy.”

“Of course I am. We haven’t been able to see each other that much after all.”

“Really? Ehehehe~ I’m also really happy~”

It’s been a while since I have seen her, and I can already feel my image of Mamiko collapsing. Before, she would have never said something like “Ehehehe~”. But, such a cute girl saying something cute like this really does make me happy. I really have to treasure this.

“Me too, I’m really happy as well.”

After saying that, I bring Mamiko closer to me. The distance between us became zero.

“Eh, Yoshiki…kun…?”

Mamiko became flustered as I have never done this before. Still, I don’t say anything, and I keep embracing Mamiko. What are we doing so early in the morning? You might think that way, but Mamiko is at least this important to me. Well, I guess there isn’t really a need to do this inside the train.

“Yoshiki-kun… I like… you…”

Then, Mamiko also put her arms around and faced towards me with a face that was as if she was about to melt. It might be because it was hot during the summer, but her burning face looked somewhat erotic. Since I couldn’t look straight at Mamiko, I diverted my eyes.

“I also really like you.”

I said that in a quiet voice.

 

After getting to school, Mamiko and I entered the special classroom. The special classroom is used not for classes, but for the student council and class representatives to use for meetings. It was pretty big, the size of two ordinary classrooms.

Within there were three people sitting at a long table. Currently, the only people there were a female teacher with a short-bob wearing glasses, Wada-sensei, and two other people from the student council, Mamiko, and me.

“Setsu-kun and… Kii-san, correct?”

Then, the student council boy with a crew cut called out to us.

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“I’m Yoshimura, a third year. We’ll be relying on you guys today.”

Yoshimura-sempai gave a polite bow and introduced himself. After that, he handed us a set of printouts.

“Then, getting straight to the point, we’ll start explaining what will be happening today. Please take a look at the printout.”

“Ah, yes.”

“We will start with a light explanation of the school, and then, it will be open to questions. After that, Wada-sensei will give a mock class, and we will end with a tour of the school.”

“I see. Then, what should we be doing?”

“You will be answering their questions, and telling them about the things you like about the school. Ah, you guys will also be the ones giving the tour.”

Yoshimura-sempai explained all of this to us with a smile.

… Isn’t there a lot of work to do?

Also, rather than an explanation now, I wish we could’ve been told in advance. Now, there’s not really much time to think about it. I wanted to complain, but since the other person was my sempai, I held back.

“By the way, is there no one else? If I remember correctly, there were supposed to be two people from each class.”

“Ah~ They are going to be in other classrooms. Our high school seems pretty popular, so there are a lot of people participating in this orientation. Ah, we don’t have much time left, so we should start preparing.”

As Yoshimura-sempai said that, we began to organize the printouts and the desk to prepare for the event.

 

It was now noon.

The orientation finally ended. How should I put it, I could feel myself being pushed around by the energy of middle school students? When they asked questions, we were asked stuff like, “Do you have a girlfriend?”, or other questions that were completely unrelated. When that happened, Mamiko reacted really weirdly.

I feel more tired than I usually do from work. However, as long as I overcome this, there’s nothing else except summer break. All I have to do is work, my summer homework, and laze about while writing stories. While I was thinking about the rest of break, Yoshimura-sempai called out to me.

“Thanks for your hard work.”

“Thank you for your hard work.”

“Today was pretty difficult, right?”

“It was. Were middle schoolers always like that?”

“It’s always like this. I did this last year as well and it was also very tiring.”

“I see…”

“However, there might be more people who choose to come here because of you, so thank you for helping out today.”

“Nono, it’s nothing…”

“Then, it’s fine for you to leave for the day. Thanks for your hard work.”

After saying that, Yoshimura-sempai left the classroom with the papers and other stuff used for the orientation. He’s probably going to the student council room. Then, he probably has some work to do. How much does that person work, is he a corporate slave?

Since it seems that we can now head home, let’s do that. Ah, I forgot that I was going to eat lunch with Mamiko. She did say that in the train after all. In order to search for Mamiko, I look around inside the classroom. However, there was no sign of Mamiko, only Wada-sensei was inside. Where did she go…?

“Setsu, do you have a moment?”

Then, Wada-sensei called me from the entrance. Eh, did I do something?

I was somewhat confused, as I’m pretty sure I’ve been a normal student and there’s no reason for a teacher to call me. Moreover, Wada-sensei had sharp eyes, and she was famous at school for being scary.

The person herself probably doesn’t intend to glare at anyone, but when she looks at people from the side it really feels like she’s glaring at you. There may be a lot of girls who think this is fine, but to a guy, it was just scary.

“W-what is it?”

“Are you free this Sunday?”

“I am…”

“Then, come with me on Sunday.”

““Eh.””

When I heard that, I made a bewildered voice while another person did the same behind me. I had a bad premonition as the hairs on my skin stood up. I was afraid to look at where the voice came from, but when I did, Mamiko was there. I close my eyes, and I try repeating the conversation that I had with my teacher in my mind. Ah, she definitely made a misunderstanding. [1] I only took a moment to think that.

“What is this, Yoshiki-kun?”

Mamiko’s angry voice reached me.

TL Note:

This is a pretty common misunderstanding I believe in most Japanese stories and whatnot, but Wada-sensei said, “日曜私に付き合え”, which can be interpreted as “Come with/accompany me for the day” or “Please go out with me”. Of course, Mamiko most likely interpreted it in the dating sense.