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1
"So, please, I beg you all! Give him a chance!" bowed Naurko deeply in front of the teachers including the one in charge of her own class, 3/1 of Midorigaoka High School.
As the chain of events beginning in summer had passed and she restarted going to school after a short break, Jinta, who had skipped the whole semester since the entrance, had returned with her as well. Thanks to the experience from summer to autumn, the tightly shut hearts of the five childhood friends had started to beat again and their bonds had been restored. Jinta and Naruko, attending to the same place, had started to work hard at their lessons as usual high school students do.
However, unlike Naruko who had missed only a couple of weeks, Jinta had had to face a steep uphill as the consequence of staying away from school for several months. Even if he was a distinguished student who was supposed to be in a prestigious school by now, it required some vitality to catch up from an almost half year delay of study. And first of all, being far from the number of days of regular attendance he seemed to have little chance to make it to second grade.
As Naruko had become aware of that, she had tried to convince the teachers to let him move up. Right after they had come back to school, she had been accusing herself of being selfish and all of the effort had been for attending the same class in the next year too so she had left the decision to Jinta without putting pressure on him. But as the end of the school year drew near, she had gradually become anxious about that after he had made it to come back to the classes at last, it could have ruined him to fail and become a repeater as much as it had done when he had been rejected by Oudai University Senior High School, putting him in a depressed status again from where he might not be able to recover from. She became terrified by that idea.
"Menma, please help! Give me just a little fragment of your power that supported Jintan!" prayed she, putting her palms together before she had entered the teachers' office. Her hair was still dyed chestnut brown but unlike before, she often had it simply down, taking off the star-shaped showy clips so that she could give the neat impression and even the stubborn old-fashioned teachers would not criticize her.
"Naruko, you look even cuter with your hair down!"
She had been told so by her female friends on the very first time she had shown that hairstyle at school. Before that, she had worn that hairstyle outside only when she had met Jinta, but as she had looked in the mirror in those cases, even if she had still not become aware of her outstanding beauty, she earned some little confidence in her femininity and some slight hope that Jinta may notice it as well. Also, she had started to have her hair down so that she would seem more serious in the teachers' eyes too.
In fact they instinctively found the beautiful young girl bowing so deep that her hair was hanging down into her face quite admirable and lovely. She was desperately explaining how excellent Jinta had been at both study and sports as a child or how many testimonials and trophies he had at home. Also that he could do better than anyone whenever he were motivated, that how many part time jobs he had dealt with simultaneously before coming back to school. She pointed out and how well he had done at the term-end exam of the second trimester compared to the midterm exam which had been held right after his return, humbling herself for him in front of the entire faculty.
"Um..., yes, we see your point Miss Anjou", sighed the principal, "but I'm afraid there's no way to help Yadomi as long as he doesn't come forward by himself. Sad as it is...".
He was gentle for being impressed by Naruko's so determined attitude and the feelings behind it. But the fact that it was meaningless at the issue of Jinta's promotion to try to convince the faculty on his behalf was indisputable. She could raise no objection against it. But even then, she was desperately thinking to carry out her intention.
"Jin...Yadomi is..., he's awfully clumsy at communicating..., he's afraid of hurting people with his awkwardness..., and also, he feels too ashamed to show his face after that long absence...".
Naruko hastily spoke everything that popped out of her had. The staffs, since it was a part of the job to understand each student's feelings, were just watching her speechlessly. Finally a small female teacher in her fifties raised her voice:
"Miss Anjou, could you tell us why you are so keen on Mr. Yadomi's promotion?"
The reason seemed obvious for all without asking, but some of them were curious how deep its roots could have been. Naruko herself had all of the anxiety of the matter bothered her for days recalled in a moment in her mind. She was helplessly in love with Jinta. That fact could not be changed. But the unrequited wish that she wanted to be as close to him as possible was also bound up with her feelings when she had been jealous of Meiko and she had resistance to acting only for that selfish desire. However, she finally realized that even if she had accepted everything about her own wish, there were some other reasons as well, after being troubled over it with serious but rather lovely expressions at home, or at the fast-food restaurant she was often visiting.
In front of a lot of staffs watching over her, Naruko bowed again, clenched her fists of her supple hands and talked quietly:
"This guy...he has just seemed to recover from long years of sorrow. First, his mother passed away after struggling with a fatal disease, and then, his great and understanding friend... who was more than a friend to him, died in an accident which finally made him completely closed his heart. But recently, thanks to a touching event, he could move on again. If he is brought down now, I'm afraid that he could never get back on his feet anymore".
Naruko felt like her heart had gotten through an ordeal in a few moments. She honestly embraced and described Meiko as "more than a friend" for Jinta, and at her last few words she naturally shed tears. The faculty looked each other without a single sound. Even if they wanted to discuss out loud, they couldn't find the accurate expressions for that. As Naruko was standing at attention, holding her face up, the homeroom teacher of class 1/3 looked into her eyes and said with calm but clear voice:
"Okay, let's try. If you can convince Yadomi to come here by himself, we'll consider how we could let him move up".
2
"So you've done at last!"
A few days later, after the classes, Jinta, as he had listened to Naruko's persuasion and visited the teachers' office, gathering up all his courage, finally came out of the school's front gate with the blunt expression he tended to wear in the crowd, as Naruko was waiting there for long, long time - actually it had been only an hour and a half but seemed like eternity for her. She felt squeezing pressure from head to toe. After school, she had refused her friends' offer of going out and stayed, getting stressed more and more as time had passed, but at the same time with the hope that they couldn't have turned him back if it had lasted so long.
"And, how did it play out?"
As an answer, Jinta showed her a huge, thick envelope. It reminded Naruko of the scene when she had taken the summer homework to Jinta, but his envelope was much thicker than that.
"Apparently if I do this whole crap and then pass the makeup, they'll let me move up".
"What!? ...But that's great, isn't it!?"
"Which part would be 'great'!?"
"Hey, what do you mean!?"
"There's no way on God's green earth I can finish all of these!" cried out Jinta, waving the envelope like he wanted to just throw it away, which raised a little anxiety in Naruko's heart again.
"Don't... no need for worry! I can... h...help you, in that...".
"Huh!? But how do you mean to help...?" got Jinta a bit of excitement over the words of the red-faced Naruko but she flied out:
"What!? Do you think I'm too stupid for that!? I'll have you know I'm studying hard!"
"I... didn't mean that..." replied Jinta confusedly. Naruko came to her senses from a blush:
"Anyway, when both of us have some part that we don't understand, that's another reason to study together! Moreover, I can help you with the trainings you've missed".
"Wait, do we really need to do that part too?"
"Of course we do! It shows them you're motivated!"
"Yeah, you're right, but then, how do I pull that off with my part-time".
"You're not working part-time for a while! Also, why don't you quit those tough construction works once and for all and narrow it down to the game store? The boss there surely understands this situation and takes you back when it's all done!"
"Do you think so? That buff dude's either crazy about me or hates me so much that he wants me dead on the job. He booked me up to ears".
"Don't be silly! He's got two daughters and knows that school's should be put before part-time job. He said it himself".
"Oh, yeah, I've heard of the daughters. He said both are into magical girl anime and want to be like 'love fighters' or something when they grow up...".
"Take my advice and never mock girls' dreams! He said they're getting on well at school. And first of all..."
3
"So... why are we doing this at your home?"
"Just shut up and come!" Pulled Naruko Jinta's hand as she had taken him to her house. Ignoring her mother welcoming Jinta, she rushed upstairs and set him down by the low table.
"What the hell do you want...?"
"From now on, you're gonna study here with me!"
"Huh!? Don't bother, I can do it by myself at home...".
"No!!" shouted Naruko, leaning over the table.
"You'll never get around to it in the comfort of your home! Don't tell me you forgot how long you've been shutting yourself away 'til the end of summer!"
She sat back and put her eyeglasses on.
"And, don't you think it's more efficient if we do it together? Brace yourself, Jintan, now that I became your teacher, I'm gonna be a Spartan with you!"
"You!? As a teacher!?" laughed Jinta first as he thought of Naruko's poor results at school but he became tongue-tied. He looked at the girl with thick-framed eyeglasses he had made fun of as a child. As he looked at her wearing those with her hair down, she appeared attractive indeed. In fact, for those big eyes - though not as big as Meiko's - she needed glasses of that size, and even if she didn't match the perfect image of a "teacher", her sincere attitude showed her rather loveable and beautiful.
"Well... thanks, Anaru!" said Jinta quietly with turning his face a little red. Naruko was startled by that and picked her hair.
"It's... just... nothing...! But would you stop calling me 'Anaru'?".
"Oh, right, thanks for helping, Anaru-sensei!"
"Hey, that's not the point!" pouted Naruko, but finally both burst out laughing at the same time.
"Anyway, why don't you look through those papers you got. I'll try to collect what your test will cover".
"Um... yeah...".
Jinta opened the envelope which weight at least a kilo and spread the pile of papers all over the table.
"Hey, are you mental!?" made Naruko a long arm immediately at the negligent attitude.
"Don't you think you should separate them by type!?"
"Oh, yes ma'am..." teased Jinta the still punctual girl, though he knew that she was right in this case, and looked at the first printed text:
"Practicing the new kanji...".
"You can do it right now, can't you?"
"I know, but does this all make any sense? Nowadays, everyone's typing on their PCs and even the old hag of literature told she's struggling with handwriting... hey, what's so funny!?"
"These disciplines have always been a pain in the neck for you, remember?" laughed Naruko with her mouth closed which irritated Jinta just a little bit.
"Tsk, fine, I'll get around to it! But for now, let's put the Japanese stuff here... and this is... an English vocabulary list. Speaking of that, Poppo's travelled around the world, so he's gotta be fluent in English".
"Huh? Yeah, I thought the same when I was harboring in the secret base and asked him for some lesson, but he said he was getting through with so-called 'body language'" opened Naruko her arms exaggeratedly. Unlike the giant Tetsudo, she looked sweet in that pose. It somehow reminded Jinta of Meiko's innocent friskiness and made him flustered.
"Um... how much of Japanese history is covered in the test?"
"Oh, wait... from page 5 to 102".
"Seriously!? That's something you can call 'overwork'!"
"You can't complain after skipping the whole first half of the school year!"
"Can't deny, but you know, that teacher is just keep asking 'right?' after every sentence during the class, and nothing remains in your mind other than that".
"That's... true, hah, hah" laughed Naruko now out loud at the cheerful subject after regretting that she had pointed out Jinta's absences again.
"Wait, is it that funny?"
"Ha-ha, you know, there was a class clown who actually counted how many times he says 'right?' in a note and showed everyone!" kept she laughing while she was constantly being aware of Jinta's facial expressions to cheer him up.
"...And the results were: he was asking 'right?' 750 times per class".
"Holy crap! ...Wait! once class takes fifty minutes. If we count a second for each 'right?', then..."
Jinta once got caught up in his thoughts and cried out:
"...It means, he's saying it in every fourth second! So only by filling the test blanks with 'right?' will add 25 percent to my results!"
"...Um..., yes! you're right, Jintan! At least you won't have trouble with the math test!"
They laughed together again. However, the more Naruko was looking at the textbooks, the more serious expressions were appearing on her face. She had volunteered for the tutor's role, but the assignment proved to be a much harder nut than she could crack. It was enough for learning by herself, and for teaching it to someone else she realized being ill-informed. She frowned upon the colorful cover of a textbook titled "Chemistry, I".
"How did I even think I could teach these..." sighed she in her mind.
"Huh, guess I'm done!" sighed now Jinta out loud, after he had finished arranging the printed papers, "...Hey, what's your beef, Anaru?"
Finally, being called by that embarrassing nickname, Naruko came to her senses with a little displeased look. It was obvious that she had been a hard time with the studies as well.
"Hey, don't strain yourself too much!"
"Huh!? ...I'm not... 'straining' at all!" pouted she again and broke eye contact but it was written on her face that she had been hit the mark. Jinta didn't want to mess with her anymore and got back to the previous topic.
"You said you were studying even at the secret base when you were ditching school, right?"
"Huh? Um...just a bit...".
"Guess that's why you've always been so reliable".
"What!? Hey wait, how did you...".
..."Anaru, I love how you're so reliable"... . On that day, Meiko's spirit had sent those words to her in that last letter. None of the 'Super Peace Busters' had ever shown or told about the contents of those messages each other, but Naruko somehow had just received the same words from Jinta. She unconsciously glanced at Meiko's picture by the window.
"What's up?" followed Jinta her sight. He wasn't exactly sure what she was thinking, but could guess the most part of it. Naruko looked at him again:
"It's just nothing. Thank you, Jintan!"
4
On the next day, since Jinta had been insisting on studying alone, Naruko had left him and was standing in front of a gate with a nameplate saying "Tsurumi". After the 'Super Peace Busters' had reunited, she had often had conversations with Chiriko on the phone as a female friend she could become cordial with, but she had not visited her home since childhood.
"Come in" welcomed Chiriko with an honest smile she had seldom shown in the past, though she was still wondering Naruko's visit which she had heard about nothing other than that she needed her help for something, as Naruko had told her on the phone she had called right after finishing the study with Jinta.
Chiriko's black hair she had once cut up to her ears were now just a little longer than that time, giving the impression of a gentle, mature woman. In fact - although they were not fully aware of it because of the memories of Meiko's cuteness which had been the most accurate example of an 'angel' or a 'fairy' - the two both were beautiful enough to naturally make heads turn.
"So, what's the deal?" asked Chiriko kindly. Naruko took a pose that would have made the passers-by laugh, bowed and put her palms together:
"Tsuruko, please, teach me the study!"
"The study?"
Using the common sense, it was pretty natural for honor students from a prestigious school to help their friends in study, but Chiriko was still could not figure out why the other was so desperate for it.
"What happened? Don't say you...".
"Huh!? Oh, of course not! How could I 'I' be failing at school!?" denied Naruko the natural reason in a fluster. Chiriko was just about to ask 'then why?' but she could imagine as she looked at the other's expression.
"Oh... I see what's going on...".
"Wait, you see what!?"
Naruko's face turned completely red and she became even more flustered as she had been seen through at the heart but Chiriko didn't want to tease her, so she showed herself serious again:
"Okay, just come in".
The two went upstairs Chiriko's room. Naruko took out a lot of textbooks from her heavy bag and the study began at once. As Chiriko looked through the texts, she explained it in a way that was easy to understand and underlined the important parts.
"Geez, Tsuruko, you really ARE the best!"
Chiriko felt something warm in her heart at Naruko's words. Thinking about how she had disparaged Naruko for 'changing based on who's around' and made fool of her fashion, but the true reason was because Naruko had always been a true unspoiled maiden in the heart even during she had been fancying up on the surface, while Chiriko herself had 'fancied up' inside, hiding her true feelings from everyone, and she had envied Naruko which had led to those sarcastic remarks. But now, she felt overwhelmed by happiness hearing honest praising from the girl she had envied once.
"Tsuruko, are you okay?"
"Sorry, just nothing. Let's go on...".
Naruko could perceive the warm feelings of Chiriko, even if she didn't know the exact meaning. Both were sure about that they could become best friends again, just like they had been as children.
5
"Okay, today's not gonna be the same wishy-washy nap time!" claimed Naruko on the next day she had Jinta again at her home. She put on her glasses and appeared to be pumped up to coach him.
"The difference of views between Jewish and Islamic faiths on Abraham's heritage..." read Jinta the world history textbook, "Isaac, the ancestor of Jews, and Ishmael, the ancestor of Arabs were both Abraham's sons, but... phew, how do they expect us, modern Japanese, who're not really familiar with even our Shinto or Buddhism, to remember all of these!?"
"...You have a point" replied Naruko with the same suffering face.
"Oh, wait!" hit she upon a good idea, "Isn't it the same story as in that RPG!? You know, that womanizer silver-headed priest and his half brother, the Templar leader! It's basically the same story! Their father couldn't expect a heir from his wife so asked a servant girl, but later he had another son from his wife...".
"Um... yeah, as you mention...!"
"And also, there's another character named similar to 'Ishmael'!"
"...Uh, yeah, I guess there was...".
Listening to Naruko who was finding examples from video games that could make it easy to remember even as just mnemonics, Jinta felt a little confused first but then he gradually realized how she was trying to do her best with learning methods they would feel familiar, and laughed warmly:
"Sure, you're right! That makes it much easier to remember".
"And, what you feel like never get seared in your brain, you repeat it out loud!"
"Is it THAT different?"
"Of course it is! People remember the most what they see at large, but when you see just a text, it's not visual... I mean, it's not like when you actually see something, it's even less than when you hear about it... um... how can I say... reading means to see what others tell about it, so you need to hear it yourself to remember!"
Naruko had heard it from Chiriko on the other day which seemed to be clear for her so she tried to recall it in her own words, although it still happened to be difficult to explain and she had to gasp like an apprentice teacher who was standing in front of the lectern for the first time. Jinta was just staring at her with a smile. He knew that she had always been desperate and diligent. When he had started striving to work enthusiastically all of the sudden in the last summer, he had actually been asked by Naruko how he could work non-stop like that, but it could have been asked vice versa. And she was doing all of this for HIM. Jinta felt his chest tightening as he was looking at her efforts. He was in her room, in the room of a girl who was different from the angel-like Meiko yet was definitely fascinating him with her own charms of a flesh-and-blood woman, and he could feel her tender heart in his. He didn't exactly know what it was, but seemed happy.
In fact, he had often been in a young girl's room for the last few days. Unlike a boy's room, it carried with sweet scent, there were posters of what girls' trends on the wall and stuffed animals or dolls around as well, but besides that cuteness, there was also a crowding sense of tension tickling the needs of the body from a kind of pheromone that was certainly capturing the place. Even if they were supposed to be tidied up based on her methodical habits, her underwear had to be in those drawers, as well as her showy dresses in the closet she had worn in the last summer - in fact he still remembered how much it had stimulated him seeing those hanging on the clothesline at the secret base. Jinta became overly excited as he thought about those. Comparing to the fragile beauty of Meiko, Naruko's feminine aura with abundant vitality was stirring up around his heart and stomach with an exquisite pleasantness.
"Jintan?"
It was obvious for Naruko too that he had been daydreaming.
"Hey, no blowing off, will you get it together!?" scolded Naruko with sharp eyes but it was only good for making Jinta feel "Wow, you're so hot!". Even if he didn't want to or was too shy to admit it, but he actually was rather thankful to the fact that she was concerned about him, and he tried to concentrate on study so that he wouldn't betray that kindness of her, and took the textbook again. He didn't notice that Naruko, as she was staring at him, turned her face more and more red.
6
"...Then, let's move to the copies from health education".
After long days of diligent discipline, when they had conquered together most of the subjects, Jinta was surprised at Naruko telling so.
"What... the... h...health!?"
"Huh!? Oh, no! Don't get it twisted! ...I mean, what did you think it's about!?"
As a boy and a girl in the first grade of high school, both became afraid of that the other might have thought of something sexual, hearing that term. If fact, unlike the physical part, health education classes were given in front of all students, boys and girls at the same time, and for Naruko, who had still little immunity to those topics, they had had her perplexed not once. Especially, the time when the middle aged female teacher had stated that "Male's semen emitted as a result of masturbation is jet with an extremely powerful energy, as strong as it can reach the ceiling" with a straight face. As she was recalling that scene now, alone with Jinta, it agitated her even more so she took out the papers of the lessons.
"Here they are!"
"Okay, so these are the ones you were talking about...".
The numberless papers Jinta was looking at included the on-site trainings of experiencing elderly and disabled people's life.
"I definitely don't need these!"
"But why!?"
"First, these experiences have nothing to do with the real feelings of those people. Secondly, even if I fail this class, I can make up for it during the empty class in the third grade!".
"No you can't!" shouted Naruko with an angry face which was also emphasizing its beautiful features.
"If you don't show your efforts here, what if they think you've no motivation and decide not to let you move up!?"
"Um... are you serious?" sighed Jinta at Naruko's obviously overenthusiastic attitude, but she had a valid point in that.
"So, what do you want me to do!?"
"Undergo these, one by one. The blind man, the wheelchair, and so on. I take pictures, you stick them on you papers so you can get a high score".
"Wait, pictures!?"
"You got it! Don't think I was hanging around while you were sweating, I tried to think out how you can pull those off, and even got some tools for it!"
"Why are YOU sweating for this...?"
The textbooks and printed papers Naruko had shown him so far had been full of underlined parts and advices definitely not written by her, and he had recognized Chiriko's handwriting, which had already made it clear for him that Naruko had become desperate for learning those as well, but he still couldn't have thought that she was so earnest about helping with those on-site trainings. He gave a gentle smile:
"Well, if you insist, why don't we start?"
"Go on now! ...Oh, wait... first, we'll need these..." stood she firm and took out some fitness equipment people should wear by wrapping around their wrists and ankles.
"Hey, where did you get those!?"
"From the boss at the game store. He comes like 'I role in them, so help yourself!'".
As Jinta thought of that Naruko had probably brought those weights home from that sturdy boss alone which was definitely not a job for a young girl, and felt delighted again.
"You really ARE diligent, did you know?"
That almost throwaway comment made Naruko blush once more.
"Um... not at all..., It's just... if I let you be a redshirt, Menma's gonna turn in her grave!"
"I see...".
7
After that, Jinta became busy in walking up and down the stairs with weights on his legs and a heavy bag on his shoulders, in groping blindfolded using the antenna of a broken radio as stick while Naruko kept taking pictures and shouting 'no peeking!' dozens of times, and completed each health education exercise one by one.
"Huh, it's actually tougher than I thought..." sighed he now, as he tried to climb upstairs with a crutch , having his one leg bound up.
"Sure it is" nodded Naruko, "I was scared to death at school even though there were others around" said she and while she succeeded in snapping another picture, she was carefully getting prepared for holding Jinta in case he would fall.
"Um... Jintan?"
"Yeah?"
"Oh... forget it!"
She narrowed her eyes, knitted her brow and gave a pained expression.
"Am I mental? How could I ask something like that!?" though she.
"Ana... oh, sh*t!"
Jinta, as he had become curious about Naruko's attitude, slipped with the crutch.
"Jintan!!"
Fortunately, Naruko held his back and shoulder immediately before he could have slumped.
"Oops, my bad!" apologized Jinta out loud while Naruko thought for a moment like "Huh, I guess we're even for that barbecue night", referring to the moment when Jinta had saved her from falling down the hill. But she said instead quietly:
"No, it's MY bad that I'm forcing this crap on you...".
As she was looking at the back of Jinta who seemed much taller since he stood one step higher, she wanted to bury her face into it. That made her remember the scene as she had tried to hold him back at the game store. It had made her cry from the bottom of her heart, as Jinta had shaken her off and left. But this time, she pushed him instead, as he seemed to be balanced again, and reached the top of the stairs together.
"You know... what I wanted to say...".
Naruko took a deep breath for encouraging herself to finish what she had started, and came out:
"If... just picture it... if Menma... if she'd survived that accident, but couldn't walk anymore and would have to use crutches or wheelchair like this... . I mean, just 'what if', but in that case, would you have taken care of her for life?"
"Wait, what's that all of a sudden!?"
What had come to Naruko's mind earlier was that if she could build enough confidence to take care of Jinta if by any chance he were to end up disabled just like he was imitating in this section of discipline. And of course, she wanted to know how he was thinking about it, but that was much more than something she could ask at this point.
"Um... sorry for bringing up Menma...".
She was sure about that if Meiko had survived as a handicapped, Jinta would definitely have nursed her for the rest of their lives. That was Jinta, that was the boy Naruko had loved from the bottom of her heart. Thus she could neither imagine a negative answer to her question nor she wanted to hear something like that.
"Well... anyway, why don't we just get it together and do the rest of this?"
Naruko smiled with only a little squint that helped concealing her sorrow and pulled Jinta into her room.
"The only task left in this health education is about 'recovery position'" read Jinta his last paper.
Recovery position - method in first-aid to put the body in a posture which ensures more safety for a patient who is unconscious or in a hazy state. The task on the paper explained the procedure's each movement by pictures.
"Yeah, I remember this! They had us do this as a practical test!"
"Seriously!?"
It meant, Jinta had the chance to encounter that test as well. He put the paper on the low table and tried to reproduce the poses by his own.
"You think you can take this?"
"Tsk..." clicked Jinta with his tongue "Not without a practice partner...".
He was right, Naruko had tried it in practice for several times before the test, but it was hardly seared in the person's brain only by theory. As Naruko realized it, her face turned redder and redder, until finally she laid on the floor with a stern look.
"I... I'll be your practice partner, so go on!"
"W... What the heck!?" blushed Jinta too with a surprise at the girl lying on the floor in front of him obviously deranged, short of breath. He had no doubt about that they would supply a partner of the same sex at the test.
"Yes... just straighten my arm like that" whispered Naruko from the excitement. Jinta felt that touching her slender shoulder and arm was steadily speeding up his pulse. As he crossed one of her arms in front of her body, he could clearly see even through the sweater she was wearing in this cold season how her large breasts were shaking. Jinta felt bewildered and tried to read her face but she was sweating on the forehead as much as him.
"Are you... um... alright?" asked he.
"O... of course I am!" cried she out with an expression telling the quite opposite, "next comes my leg!"
"Your leg!? ...I mean, yeah, of course, your leg!"
He glanced at her rarely beautiful legs sticking out of the skirt. He grabbed one from the sock, moved it carefully to not touch her shining skin reflecting the light from the fluorescent lamp above.
"Not that! My other leg comes first!"
"Right, right, sorry!"
"Get on with it!"
Naruko was touched up by the one she loved the most, but she still couldn't deal with it. "...Um... and, finally... f...fix the posture!" conducted she with that strained status she still couldn't ease.
"Um... yeah, sure" panted Jinta, putting his hand on her waist. He felt his heart pounding stronger again at its hourglass figure. He had been watching her since the last summer and could not have missed her rather feminine body shape but would could have thought that he was going to touch it like this.
As Jinta was pondering over those, it happened.
"Naruko, have these with Jinta for snack...".
As Jinta looked up, he saw Naruko's mother holding a plate with some dessert on it. Jinta let the girl's body go immediately and quickly moved back cross-legged.
"Um... it's not like that, ma'am!" cried he out with a face he had made at the secret base back then, when he had seen Naruko in underwear and his nosebleed accidentally started, "This is a task of the health education class, we were practicing recovery position..."
"Mom!! How many times have I told you to knock before you come in!?" shouted Naruko while Jinta was slurring his words to explain the absolutely misleading situation. The mother stayed calm, cool and collected, and smiled as usual:
"Yeah, yeah, good luck!"
"Huh... she scared me to death!" sighed Naruko deeply, and Jinta too, after the girl's mother had left the room.
"Sorry, Mom always shows up out of the blue like that" tried she make a happy face in an awkward mental state again.
"I guess it's enough for today" pointed Jinta at the papers.
"S...sure!"
The incident with her mother had shocked Naruko so much that she lost her willing to study for that day as well.
"But we ARE going to fix that tomorrow!"
"Yeah, of course!"
Naruko was afraid that Jinta might not want to come anymore because of her mother, but Jinta wanted to prove the opposite with that quick answer.
"Thanks, Anaru!"
"You're... most welcome!" answered she formally with a blushing face.
"Idiot!" added she in her mind, "Mom, you're such an idiot!"
8
Even though it was hit by the cold wind of March, the entrance of Midorigaoka High School was shining in the sunlight. By now, Jinta had turned in all the reports and had also finished the makeup exams, and came out with a face seemed tired but also had the signs of satisfaction. Naruko was waiting for her at the schoolyard.
"You made it!"
"Yeah, somehow I passed on every subjects and made it to the second grade".
"Way to go, Jintan!"
Naruko wanted to do a high-five with him just as the time they had completed the 'Nokemon' game, misunderstanding it as Meiko's wish. Jinta noticed it and slapped her palm.
"Thanks a lot!" said he, "I could've never be able to bring myself to do something like this without you...".
"That was...nothing. Anytime you want it again, I'll be there!" replied she picking her hair she was still having simply down. She had casually told him her will to study with him again to which she was not expecting any answer, but Jinta did do it:
"Yeah, appreciate it! I hope I can rely on you!" said he and left Naruko red faced with her beautiful eyes wide open back at the entrance. She was standing there for some more seconds, looked up the sky and followed him.
"Thank you, Menma! Thanks for giving me a power to hold Jintan's back!"
Fin.
~Afterword~
Thank you for spending time reading!
I wrote the original in 2014 when I was wondering if Jintan could make it to the second grade after ditching school so long. With other fans we assumed that Anaru helped him with studying for the supplementary lesson and the make-up exam, that studying together deepened their relationship, and I imagined how.
Anaru was really pretty with those glasses in the movie and it had some teacher-vibes, also her VA played an honor student at the time in Pretty Cure, from where "the two daughters of the game store boss" comes from too (the VA of the boss played the father of the main protagonist in that series twice).
The study contents are from my personal experience in high school lol. I WAS ditching school for some times and once it really endangered my promotion but I fell in love with someone and the feeling absolutely motivated me... . I did those on-site trainings I missed at school on my own, taking pictures of it, just as I described, and got high grades for those. The part I've changed from my Japanese version was when I used puns for learning which naturally wouldn't work in English, so I switched them with the story of Abraham's sons from the Old Testament, comparing it with the back story of Angelo and Marcello from Dragon Quest 8 which must be inspired by that part of the Bible.
The teachers talking about are also from my high school classes. The teacher kept asking "right" was also called "Shoichi" with the kanji of "正一" and since they usually count by the strokes of the kanji "正" (like when you write "IIII" and cross it for the fifth) it was extra funny to count (needless to say the "class clown" who counted it was ME). That "semen reaches the ceiling" part from health education was also literally said by the teacher in front of all the boys and girls.
About the recovery position, it was actually not at school but when I had to do it for my driver's license in Hungary, but touching the body and having a parent accidentally coming in is a part which is essential for a love story XD.
What I also wanted to express in this one after watching both the anime and the movie was like how Anaru became having her hair down for the most or how she developed her friendship with Tsuruko to be the best female friends who can discuss anything on the phone.
Thank you again for reading this, it would make me really happy if you could check my other works too, appreciate any comment either here, on Pixiv (ID: 3148213) or on Twitter (@KKristof100).
KKristof100, June, 2023