Kenkyo, Kenjitsu o Motto ni Ikite Orimasu

Even though it was his fault that Wakaba-chan was being bullied, Kaburagi was sitting in the Salon, happily sipping away at tea.

Apparently he talked to Wakaba-chan again. Dumbass.

I was enjoying matcha rolls on my favourite sofa when Enjou came along.

“Kisshouin-san, thanks for humouring Yukino during the School Festival.”

“It was my pleasure.”

I hadn’t been to the Petite Pivoine since the School Festival ended. I wonder if he was doing well.

The two of us chatted about Yukino and the School Festival for a while.

“Recently Yukino has been obsessed with trying to do latte art too.”

“Goodness, Yukino-kun is?”

“I’m the one who has to drink his creations though. Every day my own little brother makes me drink a coffee he drew a heart on. Still not quite sure how I feel about that,” Enjou smiled helplessly.

I, on the other hand, was busy imagining little Yukino-kun, trying his very best to make latte art. It was so cute that it was all I could do to avoid squirming.

Speaking of latte art though, wasn’t Enjou going to draw Yuiko-san some~? Maybe now would be a good time to ask about her.

“Speaking of which, Katsuragi-kun from our middle school section came to visit. With a girl in tow, as well.”

“Well…”

Enjou made a show of trying to remember, before breaking into an amused smile.

“Yuiko and I have become quite the rumour, haven’t we.”

“That does seems to be the case.”

“Are you interested too, Kisshouin-san?”

“Why, not at all.”

It was kind of irritating to be treated like some gossiper. Well, I actually was interested though.

“I’ve told quite a few girls already, but Yuiko is a relative.”

“I see.”

I’d heard this tidbit as well. ‘But for relatives they were awfully…’ That was basically my thoughts on it.

“It looks like they’re still saying that Yuiko’s my girlfriend though.”

“That seems to be the case, yes. I have heard the rumours myself.”

“Yuiko isn’t my girlfriend.”

Eh-, really? But Katsuragi Boy claimed that she was your lover, you know?

“Oh? Was that unexpected?”

“Well, yes. Katsuragi-kun told me as much, so…” I sneakily tattled on him.

“Aaah. Well, he’s always kind of adored her, so…”

Enjou gave another helpless smile.

‘Adored’. Mmhm, that seems about right.

“She’s not my girlfriend though.”

“Aah.”

“She’s my fianceé.”

“Aah!?”

Fianceé!? Enjou’s!?

My eyes shot open and my whole body radiated shock when Enjou suddenly burst into laughter.

“‘Aah’? Just now you made an incredible expression, Kisshouin-san. Don’t tell me you believed me?”

“Haah?”

Was that a joke!? Which was it!? Stop making fun of me, you twisted guy!

“To be accurate, she’s a “candidate” for my engagement.”

“Candidate?”

“Yep. Since we were basically the same age, there’s always been talk about that. Since there was nothing official, she’s a candidate.”

“I see…”

Fianceé…

*

*

*

“Hmmm…”

For some reason I was in a bit of a funk when I got home. It felt like I was being left behind, somehow.

Even though we were all still high schoolers, some of the people in my grade were already thinking about engagements. It had me shaken. Since I’d known Enjou since primary, my feelings were a little complicated.

To me, marriage was something I’d always thought of as some far-off future.

“The future, huh…”

I rolled atop my bed for a while.

If I was being honest with myself, I never really thought about my future seriously. I spent most of my days focusing on the present.

As long as Otousama and Oniisama kept working hard at the company, our family wasn’t going to collapse either. I’d be able to do whatever I wanted without worrying about earning money for the family.

But that was the problem. I didn’t have anything I wanted to do. How could anybody have no dreams like this!

Still, maybe it was because of how I grew up, but I really wanted a real job. Not even in my dreams would I ever think about becoming an idol or something.

Being a civil servant would be ideal, but I’m not sure if it would be okay for the Kisshouin family’s only daughter to become one…

Maybe it would be a good idea to start looking into good jobs.

The future…

Tsk. Thanks to Enjou my mind was filled with serious thoughts now.

*

*

When I arrived at school the next morning I saw Kaburagi speaking to Wakaba-chan at the entrance. Pay attention to the eyes around you, Kaburagi!

When Wakaba-chan noticed me, she gave a little hop and tapped her shoes together. Kaburagi noticed and asked her,

“Huh. Takamichi, are you studying tap dancing?”

Thank goodness he was an idiot as usual.

*

*

When the weekend came around I visited the library. Since I’d been so busy with Bea-tan, it was the first time in a while. Maybe Naru-kun would be here~ Oh, there he was!

With a reference book for job requirements in hand, I picked a seat next to Naru-kun that was luckily free.

Since Naru-kun was busy with his exercise book, he didn’t notice my passionate gaze at all. Aah, wasn’t there anything with his name on it?

Since I couldn’t exactly turn my head and start staring at him, I pretended to read my book while leering to the side. If only I had a second face for times like this!

Maybe I could pretend to drop my pen. It worked in shoujo manga.

Wait, what was I even doing. I wasn’t going to deny that Naru-kun was part of it, but my motivation for today was also supposed to be thinking about my future.

What kind of qualifications would be good for my future? Tax consulting, accounting, law… All of them looked too hard for me.
I mean, I loved looking at my bankbook, but I sucked at maths, and I wasn’t prepared to be responsible for somebody’s life either.

What else then. Yeah, I think a civil servant with lots of fringe benefits would be best.

Suddenly, I noticed Naru-kun taking some printouts out of a clear plastic folder. Wasn’t this my chance to finally get his personal information!?

With my very best efforts at sneaking a glance, I found the name of a national high school at the top of what looked to be a practice test.

Wasn’t this the name of Aoi-chan’s high school!? It had to be fate this time, right!?

I immediately pulled out my phone to contact her when a message from Aira-sama arrived.

‘Masaya’s found a new love!?’