Kenkyo, Kenjitsu o Motto ni Ikite Orimasu

This is my Christmas present to you, and Id be really glad if you gifted me back with a review on novelupdates! Incidentally, Reika graduates from primary school reallllly soon. Were almost there, guys! Remember that j.a.panese kids graduate in spring!

As autumn deepened, we began choosing photos for our graduation alb.u.m. Im not a member of the graduation committee, but I decided to cooperate as proactively with them as possible. I think it should be alright, but on the off chance that somebody entered a picture of my shame during the Deer a.s.sault Incident, itd become the shame of my life. At the moment there arent any weird photos of me, but you can never be too careful.

The photos in the alb.u.m are being chosen from those taken by Suirans exclusive cameraman as well as photos that the students want in them. Well, its something I knew would happen, but the photos are kinda biased towards certain students, huhh~ The ones contributed by the students were almost all Kaburagi and Enjou photos, and mostly ones with the contributors in it. Stuff theyd want to remember I guess. If we accepted all of these, it would end up as a Kaburagi-Enjou alb.u.m, so we rejected most of them. There are lots of photos of the more salient students, and the more docile and plain students are getting overlooked, so theyre checking the photos carefully. If after we graduated and some kid said Im&h.e.l.lip; not in a single photo&h.e.l.lip; or something, theyd really feel hurt after all. Their happy parents would be sad too. And were carefully comparing the photos and student roster.

It really helps that youre a.s.sisting us, Reika-sama.

The one who said that with a smile was Honda Miharu-chan from my cla.s.s. Were in different groups, but shes a serious and diligent girl, and was the vice rep from last year.

Besides the cla.s.s and group photos, it takes a lot of work to check the student-contributed photos, after all.

Yeah. I almost missed one.

The docile kids dont submit their own photos, and sometimes there isnt even a single photo of them. In those cases, members of the alb.u.m committee go take photos of school lunch or the like. And if possible, take photos where the kid isnt by himself, but instead having fun with their friends. The teacher in charge of the alb.u.m is checking it together with us, so it should be fine though. While Im at it, Im trying my best to select the cuter ones. Im helping out, so just this much bias is okay, right?

This is a photo of the Pet.i.te Pivoine isnt it.

The photo being held out to me was from the other day, when our cameraman came to the salon. Each year the Pivoine has its own special group photo. We are technically the face of the school, after all. In the centre of the photo was Emperor on the couch with Enjou next to him, with the other members surrounding them. On each side of the photo was a red peony, the namesake of the group. But the problem was that I was sitting next to Emperor. Even though there were heaps of other girls who wanted that spot, why me? But everybody else was like, Please, go ahead Reika-sama and recommended it to me without listening, so I couldnt refuse. If I made it too obvious I didnt want to, Emperor would probably get upset after all. At the very least, next to Enjou then&h.e.l.lip; I thought, but Enjou refused me with his smile. &h.e.l.lip;So mean. Thanks to that, I got warned a bunch of times by the cameraman for having a stiff smile, and the guy next to me started clicking his tongue, and I had a horrible time of it. This photo had that kind of backstory.

So this is the Pivoines salon. How wonderful. Its like a dream&h.e.l.lip;

So said the alb.u.m committee members as they looked at the photo in a daze. Mn, its a needlessly luxurious room, isnt it. The bearing of a ruler peonies just make it even more luxurious. Because even in this Suiran Academy that feels all rich already, the Pivoine is just in a different cla.s.s. After all, the normal students arent allowed in. Even though the truth is that all we do is drink tea, eat sweets, and laze around. Mn? Could that just be me?

More importantly, let us hurry and decide on the photos.

Because they seemed to be forgetting why we were here, I called out to them and we started working again. Oh! Its a picture of Akizawa-kun in the baton relay. I wonder if f.u.kioka-san has this. If I tell her about it, shed probably tell me to bring it to her. Naturally, the photo of Kaburagi in the cavalry battle is definitely going in. Rather, if we didnt, wed definitely meet some ma.s.sive booing. In this years cavalry battle, Kaburagis unit was unchallenged again. Apparently they practised in secret. Even though he always acts so cool and uncaring, he actually hates losing. After showing unrivalled strength two years in a row, Emperor began a legend. Upfftpfft.

It was hard picking from the huge number of photos, but there were photos with unexpected sides of kids that I didnt often talk to, so it was pretty interesting too. The photos go back as far as Year 1, so there are some kids who look completely different now too. Six years for children changes them a shocking amount, doesnt it. Since Year 1, Ive always been a fake Rococo. I seriously want an image change already&h.e.l.lip;

*imouto*

*imouto*

For a while now, my eyes have been meeting with Cla.s.s Pres a lot. He keeps looking my way, and when I return the gaze, he immediately averts his eyes. I tried asking if he needed anything a few times, but he would always turn red and avoid a proper answer. Even at lunch just now, our eyes met. I wonder whats up.

Reika-sama, is something the matter?

Honda-san from the photo committee called out to me.

No, it is nothing.

I gave a smile as I replied. Well, maybe its just my imagination.

&h.e.l.lip;I never expected the day to come that Id be able to talk to you like this, Reika-sama, so Im kind of happy.

Honda-san said that with a shy smile. Wah, so cute! Honda-san is a diligent-type that youd expect to be a cla.s.s rep, so shes kind of different from the types in my group. Because of that we havent spoken much outside of pa.s.sing on messages. But this girl gives off the same cuteness as Aoi-chan. Shes definitely a good girl, Im sure. I wanna be friends.

I am also glad that we became friends, Miharu-san.

Because of my success during the school trip, Ive taken a liking to this high-pressure salesman style of getting friends. Its better to speak first for things like this. Although in secret your heart kinda thumps as you wonder what youre gunna do if they say Huh? I never thought we were friends. So pushy..

Eh-, friends!? Ah-m, Im happy too.

Uhuhu, another friend GET.

*imouto*

With graduation approaching, as is customary, signature books began to pop up. Speaking of which, I had one too didnt I, a signature book. How nostalgic. Back when I was lazy in my old life, at first I was happy to sign things, but along the way I started to get annoyed, and stopped caring what I wrote. And also, you dont do it often, so its surprisingly hard to write a short message, isnt it? You only get as many variations as New Years cards, and there really isnt much to say. You try and write stylish and mature things, different from everybody else, and so it ends up as more dark history. Thats why signature books are actually really dangerous. I was the same in the beginning. Each time I remember the stuff I wrote, it makes me want to bang my head on a desk. Its just that embarra.s.sing. Even weird poems and stuff&h.e.l.lip; Aahh-! If only I had psychic powers and could burn those books right now!

Anyway, some people came around asking for me to sign their books too. Even though pretty much everybody here at Suiran just moves onto the middle school section, why bother with these signature books? Or so I thought, but then I considered that it would be sadder if n.o.body asked for mine, so bothersome as it was, I accepted with a smile. I just used a beautiful seal and signed in coloured pen to get out of actually writing anything.

Reika-sama, could I have you write something in my signature book?

Honda Miharu-chan came asking as well. Were friends so of course I accepted, and I had her sign in mine too. Incidentally, my signature book was prepared by Okaasama, and was apparently made by some royal purveyor of stationery in Europe. Just a cheap one with cute pictures would be enough, you know&h.e.l.lip;

Apparently a long queue formed to get the signatures of the famous two. The girls in my cla.s.s were really pumped to get them too. Ever since Kaburagi got told off by Yurie-sama, hes gotten a little more cooperative in the past, and although he had an annoyed look on his face, he did sign them properly. Just his name though. Seriously, just a signature. Apparently some kids even said stuff like Please address it to _____!. Are they movie stars or something? Some of the girls showed me their books, but it was seriously just Kaburagi Masaya in the middle of the page. Incidentally, he did write their names. As youd expect, his penmanship was fantastic. As for Enjous, besides their names he also wrote congratulations on your graduation on each one. Well, theyre both pretty bad. To a person like me whos struggling to come up with original messages, I kind of envy their boldness.

*imouto*

*imouto*

Anyway, while thinking about all these things, after school I was walking down a hallway by myself as I was heading to the salon. That was when a nervous looking Cla.s.s Rep called out to me.