Source
https://kakuyomu.jp/works/16818093083511177921/episodes/16818093083725343253
It was the end of May, the trees in the school grounds were gradually turning green and the temperature was getting to the point where I felt a little hot. The wind was blowing in through the open window, and I was fighting against my heavy eyelids with what little energy I had left.
‘That’s why you get this point and that point.”
If I wasn’t in class, I could fall asleep without fighting.
Maybe it’s because I moved around too much at my part-time job yesterday.
I don’t get tired of dealing with children.
As I think about this, my resistance fades away.
……
“Well, let’s look here, Tahara.”
“Y-Yes!”
The teacher’s voice that awakened such a weakened heart was the voice of the teacher hitting me.
“……”
I replied with vigour, but I didn’t even know what she was asking me, so I couldn’t answer and fell silent.
The class’s’ eyes were also on me, and when I opened my mouth to tell her that I couldn’t understand, I couldn’t stand the silence, which felt like an eternity.
“Tahara-kun, Tahara-kun.”
I heard a small voice from the right side of the room and turned my head to see Matsumura-san pointing to an equation in his notebook.
“y=3x+4.”
“Correct.”
The teacher confirmed that my answer was correct and went back to class.
When I confirmed it, I said ‘thank you’ in a small voice to Matsumura-san, who smiled and gave me a thumbs-up.
I don’t want you to casually do that kind of thing to a shady guy like me.
I’ll think you like me or something.
When I looked at Matsumura-san again while thinking about that, she already had her eyes and ears on the teacher’s story.
“Alright.”
I followed the example of Matsumura-san like that and decided to listen to the lesson carefully as I was awakened
“This concludes the lesson. There is a test coming up, so review well.”
I couldn’t follow it at all.
Although I was energised when I listened to the class, I could not get the content into my head at all.
In such despair, I was approached again from the right.
“Tahara-kun, that was close, wasn’t it?”
“Ah, yes. Thanks for telling me the answer.”
“But the teacher probably noticed that you were sleeping and guessed it~. The teacher said she could see everything from there.”
Matsumura-san points towards the teaching platform and says so.
“That’s right. But I wouldn’t have known the answer if I was asleep or awake, so I don’t care either way.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I listened to the class seriously after I guessed it, but it was just gibberish.”
“The test is coming up soon, and I know it’s going to be hard this time, but are you okay with that?”
When I was asked that question, I looked back on the tests I had taken so far, and all I remember was that I rushed the day before, memorized the answers to the question set, and managed to barely get through the test.
“Well, I’ll manage to do my best. That’s how I’ve managed in the past.”
When I was about to leave my seat to go to the toilet because I felt like all eyes were on us by now and I thought I had reached the end of my story, she said.
“Well, do you want me to show you how it’s done?”
“Eh?”
Hearing such a line, I stopped moving involuntarily.
▼ Matsumura Hina Perspectives▼
“So that’s why you get this point and this point.”
During maths class, I suddenly looked at the reflection on the left edge of my field of vision and saw that Tahara-kun, sitting next to me, had fallen asleep as if he were rowing a boat with his left hand on his cheekbones.
As I watched him for a moment, wondering if he was tired, a slightly stronger wind blew in through the open window, and it swept his hair, which was up to his eyes.
“……!”
My eyes widened at the moment he was exposed, though only for a moment.
His face was one I had seen somewhere before.
It was a face that looked exactly like Nakahara-kun, whom I happened to be friends with recently.
“Well then – Tahara.”
“Y-yes!”
While I was thinking like that, the teacher guessed Tahara-kun.
Perhaps she had noticed that he was sleeping.
“……”
Tahara-kun, who has been guessed, just looks a little irritated with his eyes swimming a little in spite of the guess.
I called out to him in a whisper.
“Tahara-kun, Tahara-kun.”
When he looks at me, I point to the answer in my notebook.
He also notices what it is and reads it out.
“y=3x+4”
“Correct.”
The teacher confirms that the answer I gave him is correct and goes back to teaching.
“Thank you.”
Tahara-kun’s small voice of appreciation made me smile awkwardly for some reason and I gave him a thumbs-up.
For some reason, the smile he showed at that moment seemed for a moment to overlap with Nakahara-kun’s.
I couldn’t concentrate on the class after that, I just pretended to listen and my head was full of Tahara-kun.
“This is the end of the class. There is a test coming up, so please review well.”
I didn’t get into it at all.
Perhaps it was because I was writing on the board with strange thoughts in my mind, but in my notebook, among the various mathematical formulas, I wrote the equation ‘Nakahara-kun = Tahara-kun?’ was written on the board in a big way.
When I came back to myself after the class, I decided that I would rather ask him than feel like this, so I hurriedly closed my notebook and tried talking to Tahara-kun again.
“Tahara-kun, that was close, wasn’t it?”
“Ah, yes. Thanks for telling me the answer.”
“But the teacher probably noticed that you were sleeping and guessed it~. she can see everything from there.”
I can’t.
I burst into conversation, but I don’t know what to ask.
Tahara-kun is Nakahara-kun? I wonder if it’s okay to ask him so straightforwardly.
“Right. But I wouldn’t have known the answer whether I was asleep or awake, so I don’t care either way.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I’ve been listening to the lesson seriously, but it’s all gibberish.”
“The test is coming up, and it’s a tough one, but are you okay with that?”
There’s a possibility that they’re brothers, or maybe he just lied because he didn’t want me to know he was Tahara.
While thinking like that, I couldn’t even ask him a core question, and the unimportant conversation went on and on.
“Well, I’ll manage somehow. That’s how I’ve managed in the past.”
Tahara-kun tried to get up to end the conversation with such a reply.
I wonder how it is going.
Is Tahara-kun Nakahara-kun?
If Tahara-kun is Nakahara-kun……
I want to know.
I’ve never wanted to know so much about other people before.
“Well, shall I teach you?”
“Eh?”
Out of such impatience, I had made such a proposal to him.
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