I Know That After School, The Saint More Than Just Noble - Ch. 1: The Beginning Of Summer
Summer nights are often hot and humid.
Still, there were days when it was somewhat cooler than it would be in early summer.
Late May, midterm exams were approaching. It was such cool weather that night.
Yamato was busy studying in his room when he stopped to check his phone. A new message had arrived, and it was from Sayla.
“I’m in the area. Can you come out for a minute?”
“What!?”
It was no wonder that Yamato was shouting out in a bewildered voice.
It was now past 10:30 pm. It was quite late for high school students to be out and about.
But — or rather, that was why Yamato hurriedly began to prepare to go out.
He couldn’t go out in his loungewear, no matter how “close” she was to him, so he changed into a plain T-shirt and denim shorts, then grabbed his wallet and bike keys and headed out.
When Yamato got on his bike, he replied, “Where are you?” on his phone.
Then, Sayla immediately replied, “The park near Yamato’s house.” Yamato was surprised to find out that she was really in the area and started pedaling his bicycle as fast as he could.
After a few minutes, he arrived at a nearby park and found Sayla sitting on a bench.
As Yamato got off his bike and approached, Sayla noticed and waved.
“Good evening.”
Sayla, who greeted him with a stick of ice cream in her hand, was wearing a summer uniform. It was a mismatch with the night scene illuminated by streetlights.
Yamato took a moment to catch his breath and then sat down next to her, who was dressed coolly.
“So, what’s going on at this hour? Don’t tell me you’re not going to go out in uniform.”
“Well, here.”
Then, Sayla held out a CD. It was an anime song CD that she had offered to lend to Yamato.
“Um, did you come all the way here to lend me this…?”
“Yes.”
“Couldn’t you just give it to me at school tomorrow?”
“I wanted Yamato to hear it right away.”
Sayla looked straight at him and said without any embarrassment or hesitation.
Yamato looked away from her and then took the CD.
“This time, well, thanks. But next time, I’d like you to be more mindful of the time, or better yet, call me… and I’ll ride my bike to get it from you.”
“Okay, all right. Then, I’d better get going.”
Sayla replied nonchalantly, then put the rest of the ice cream in her mouth and stood up.
As she started to walk away, Yamato pulled his bike alongside her to follow her back.
“Well, I’ll walk you halfway.”
“You sure? But Yamato’s going to be home late?”
“I’m fine, I have a bicycle. I’m more worried about Shirase being alone at this late hour.”
“Fufu, thanks.”
When Sayla suddenly smiled at him, Yamato’s chest pulsed loudly.
As if to cover up his feelings, Yamato decided to talk about something else.
“Speaking of which, the midterm is less than a week away. I’ve been soaking up all the studying until just now.”
“Ah, now that you brought it up.”
In the moonlight, Sayla suddenly peered into his face.
“W-What?”
“I thought your expression didn’t look so good.”
“I haven’t been getting enough sleep lately.”
“You’re working hard.”
“Ordinary people can’t get good grades if they don’t put in the effort.”
As a self-proclaimed ordinary person, Yamato has no intention of aiming too high, but at the very least, he aimed to be recommended to a university that he would not be ashamed to tell others about. In order to achieve this, he needed to study hard every day and also push himself hard just before the deadline.
Sayla, who by all accounts was not an ordinary person, nodded admiringly and looked up at the night sky, reaching out her hand.
“I think it’s great that you can make an effort. I’m not really motivated to study or anything.”
“But I remember, Shirase had good grades, right?”
“Yeah. I think I got an average of 90 on the last test.”
Sayla replied plainly. …Yamato instinctively held his temple area.
“You’ve just made an amazing boast…”
“You’re the one who asked, Yamato.”
“No, I know, but…”
Yamato was regretting bringing up the topic of the test when Sayla clapped her hands as if she had a flash of inspiration.
“That’s right, I can try to tutor you.”
As Yamato froze at the unexpected suggestion, Sayla continued.
“My grades… are good.”
Without any hint of bragging, Sayla said so plainly. It was amazing that such a statement did not make her seem sarcastic.
However, Yamato still wanted to reply with a bit of sarcasm.
“I don’t think getting good grades is the same thing as being a good tutor.”
“Ah, yeah. But it’s worth a try, isn’t it?”
Nothing made Yamato feel more miserable than when he made a sarcastic remark and the other person accepted it with open arms.
After such an experience, Yamato bowed his head while reflecting on the situation.
“…If that’s the case, I’ll be in your care.”
“I’ll take care of you. It looks kind of fun.”
Yamato wondered if he would be able to study properly with Sayla. Looking at the happy Sayla, he felt a little uneasy, but as she said, it would be worth a try.
“If we were to have a study session, it would be after school. Where should it be?”
“How about a diner? Or the school library?”
“Okay, let’s go to a diner.”
Yamato answered immediately. There would be other students in the library after school, and he could see that strange rumors would start up again, so he rejected that idea.
“So tomorrow, we’ll go to a diner after school.”
“Yeah, thank you.”
While they were talking, they came close to Sayla’s house.
Sayla stopped in her tracks and turned around to face Yamato.
“Here’s fine. It’s just right there.”
“Ah, I see.”
“Thank you for seeing me home. I was so happy to see Yamato at this time.”
Sayla smiled at him.
There were street lights everywhere, so they could clearly see each other’s expressions. Yamato felt embarrassed when Sayla thanked him face to face in such a situation.
“…I’ve told you many times before, don’t go out too late at night alone. It’s dangerous.”
Maybe that was why he responded in a lecturing tone.
Even so, Sayla nodded her head with a smile on her face.
“Okay, bye-bye. Good night.”
“Yeah, good night.”
Sayla gave a small wave and then left with a skip.
The sight of her back in her school uniform skipping along the street at night made him feel uneasy and worried.
When Yamato returned home, he immediately listened to the CD Sayla had given him.
The tempo of the song was pleasant and Yamato naturally felt uplifted as he began to work on his studies again.
(I think I understand now why Shirase wanted me to listen to this song.)
Even though it was during the mid-term period, he might have been overly focused on studying.
Tomorrow, the study session with Sayla would begin. Therefore, Yamato reminded himself to be a little more relaxed.
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Yukino
Ty so much for this chapter and I can’t wait for the chapter to finish.🤧
I really liked this novel so much cuz i feel being released to all my problem while reading this novel and i feel also i was reading to my first novel i liked so much before