Chapter 4: Lessons

My brother said “leave everything to me”, so I trusted him and left, but I wondered if this was really, truly okay. Today, my mom, my brother and I went out together for my lessons. It looked like we were going to visit in person to observe and do some kind of interview.

All the lessons I’d be attending had already been decided as I was still waking up. I had no idea what I was going to learn or where I’d be learning it. I had told my brother what I wanted to do, so I shouldn’t be learning something completely unrelated, but…

As I thought that, the car stopped. The structure was a normal small building with a signboard saying “Individual Tutoring Cram School, Raihoukai” in big letters. It looked like this was a cram school.

“I go here as well, so I think it’s perfect for Sakuya.”

“Is that so?”

It looked like my brother went here too. That explains why mom was persuaded to let me go to a cram school. Mom was trying to raise me to be a lady. Well, I really was the young miss of a large conglomerate, but…

My mom seemed to prioritise training me in ladylike things rather than studying. And her tastes leaned towards Japanese-style things like flower arrangement, tea ceremony, traditional dance, and koto… anyway, those were the kind of things she wanted me to learn. Her second choice, if she had to pick, would be a musical instrument like piano, violin, or flute. All those things were a ‘no thank you’ from my point of view, so I rejected all of them.

Apparently, my older brother went to this cram school too, so he probably convinced her with something like “In this era, even girls need to be able to have a minimum level of studying ability”. You might be thinking that since I already knew that, couldn’t I say the exact same thing to convince my mom? Unfortunately, that’d lead to the opposite result.

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Yu xsx alyzzu vawpvle xu casvbla. Rq bl pyke kv, xu xsx oswze nsdpkela kv y zkvvzl. Jwv xu xsx bye ycpszwvlzu ds qykvb kd xl. Fs, lhld kq R olal vs pyu vbl lmynv pyxl vbkdtp, kv’e yzz qyzz sd elyq lyap. Fbl eked’v vawpv xl qasx vbl pvyav, ps, ds xyvvla bso xydu tsse yatwxldvp R xyel, pbl’e vbkdj sq vbspl yatwxldvp vblxplzhlp yp kdnsaalnv.

Gduoyu, kv zssjle zkjl vblu’e yzalyeu elnkele R oyp tskdt blal pkdnl R’e nsxl kdpkel okvb xu xsx yde casvbla. Mbkp nayx pnbssz pllxle vs yvvaynv xsal jkep obs oldv vs rakhyvl pnbsszp sa olal ykxkdt qsa ldvaydnl lmyxp, ayvbla vbyd jkep obs oldv vs dsaxyz saekdyau pnbsszp. Gzps, kv’p y zyatl nayx pnbssz vbyv bydezlp yzz vurlp sq ldvaydnl lmyxp qasx ral-lzlxldvyau vs wdkhlapkvu.

Ebld ol blyele vsoyaep vbl alnlrvksd elpj, kv qlzv yzxspv zkjl y nsdnklatl. …bwb? Mbkp oyp y nayx pnbssz, aktbv? Rv qlzv zkjl vbl qasdv elpj sq psxl lmrldpkhl bsvlz, vbswtb…

Qwkele cu vbl alnlrvksdkpv, ol oldv kdpkel yde R oyp tallvle okvb vbl yka sq rskdvzlpp zwmwau. Rv oyp y olljeyu xsadkdt, ps dsv xydu rlsrzl olal vblal. Ohld vbswtb kv oyp y olljeyu xsadkdt, xu casvbla yde R olal vstlvbla ps bl xwpv’hl clld ycpldv qasx pnbssz. Rv zssjle zkjl bl oyp ycpldv ps bl nswze ynnsxrydu xl. Rq R vakle vs pjkr pnbssz kd xu rypv zkql, xu ryaldvp oswze qwakswpzu pyu “Qs vs pnbssz!”, cwv kv pllxle vbl Iwfsw bswplbsze oypd’v zkjl vbyv.

Yu xsx yde casvbla olal vyzjkdt y zsv vs psxlsdl obs nswze cl y zlnvwala sa vbl rakdnkryz – R eked’v jdso obknb – cwv obs zssjle zkjl yd lxrzsull blal. Mblu vyzjle vs xl y zkvvzl, cwv R oyp vbld zle vs ydsvbla assx yzsdl. Grryaldvzu, vblu olal tskdt vs es psxlvbkdt zkjl yd yckzkvu vlpv. Mblu olal tskdt vs nblnj xu zlhlz ps vblu nswze elnkel vbl nsdvldvp sq xu zlppsdp.

“Bx… nswze usw rzlypl tkhl xl yd yckzkvu vlpv yv vbl xkeezl pnbssz zlhlz?”

“Twb?”

R ypjle vbl zyeu obs oyp ralryakdt xu yckzkvu vlpv vbyv. Mblal oyp ds rskdv kd eskdt ydu zsola lzlxldvyau vlpvp. R’e ralvvu xwnb tayewyvle qasx wdkhlapkvu, ps ds xyvvla bso usw rwv kv, R eked’v dlle vs alhklo obyv R’e yzalyeu zlyadle kd zsola lzlxldvyau.

On the other hand, I didn’t have enough confidence to suddenly jump to the high school level. I had entered a decent high school and passed the entrance exam to a decent university, but I doubted that was on the same level as Touka Academy Highschool. So, if possible, I’d need to review around the middle school level so I could be at a higher level than my previous self. At the very least, I wouldn’t be reviewing upper elementary, and definitely not lower elementary.

“Hmm… have you been studying at home with a private tutor? How much have you covered?”

“Well, if you’re asking how much…”

Even if she’d asked me that, it wasn’t something I could verbally explain. No… if I had learned from a private tutor, I might’ve been able to say I was up to calculus. But I couldn’t explain, since I didn’t learn from a curriculum with a private tutor.

The lady looked suspicious at my lack of an answer. If it went on like this, I’d have to do something, but I didn’t know what… Should I say something like “Just shut up and give me a test for middle schoolers!”?

“Haha… you may have been taught by a private tutor, but would you like to review together one more time?”

Looked like she thought I was arrogantly overstretching… Not good… No matter how much I reviewed, starting again from lower elementary was definitely a waste of time. I’d probably forgotten some things, but in that case, I could probably just listen a little to the classes and remember them. Starting from the beginning again in earnest, even in cram school, was too painful.

“Uh…… aah! That! Please give me that text! I will answer that!”

I glimpsed the shelf the lady was getting my ability test from, which had ‘first-year middle school’ written on it. Anyway, if I could somehow show her that I could answer a middle school level ability test, her attitude might change.

“This? Hmm… Alright. If you insist, then just a little. But if you can’t answer it, try this one, okay?”

It felt like she was pacifying a dumb kid who was overreaching, huh… It wouldn’t even be funny if I couldn’t answer the first-year middle schooler test given to me. Obviously, I thought that I could solve a middle school level test, but my heart was still beating unreasonably fast. If I’d insisted so much but couldn’t even answer it, I’d be way too embarrassed to attend this cram school.

“I understand.”

I readied myself and nodded, and she gave me one first-year middle school test. Then, if I showed that I could answer this test… Thinking that, I opened the test paper.

“Is…… is this!?”

　　～～～～～～～

“Then, I will be seeing you from next month onwards.”

“Yes! Please leave it to me!”

Mom exchanged greetings with someone who looked like the principal and got inside the car. I’d be going to this cram school, Raihoukai, starting next month.

“*sigh*….•

“What’s wrong, Sakuya? Did the ability test not go well?”

My brother started talking to me, who had let out a huge sigh.

“Uh….. well….”

“Today’s ability test was just to decide what content would be in your lessons and to measure your present ability, so don’t worry about the results.”

“I see…”

I could barely half-heartedly reply to my brother’s comforting words …. Something horrible had happened…. The fact that it came to this was….

“The teacher said you did absolutely marvellous, correct?”

“Mother…”

It looked like mom wasn’t informed either… It looked like the lady who’d been in charge of the ability test was also the person in charge of me. Raihoukai was a cram school, but it felt like being taught by a private tutor. There are chairs arranged in a circle for students like a private room, and the lecturers would be constantly there to teach them. 

Of course, even if they say ‘constantly there’, that doesn’t mean they’ll be always watching you when you’re solving a problem or taking the occasional test. It was the sort of thing where they were almost always there, ready to help teach you something if you didn’t understand. I guess you could say that it wasn’t like having a private teacher at home, but instead having a joint private tutor in a place where there are other students.

I really messed up on the ability test with that lady… I was able to solve the first-year text really easily, but after answering only a few questions, the lady went and got me higher and higher grade level texts. I solved them every time they were given to me, so I was recommended to take the university entrance exam curriculum.

Wrong! That wasn’t it! I wanted to study at a level that’d meet Touka Academy Highschool’s!

If I took the university entrance exam now, I’d probably be at a lower rank than a normal highschool student taking the exams, but there would be universities I could get accepted to. But I didn’t want to take the university entrance exams, I just wanted to study Touka Academy Highschool lessons!

I somehow managed to beg the lady in charge of deciding my lectures to give me the first-year highschool curriculum, but that was also a little different from my plans… If possible, I wanted to relax and start reviewing from about the middle school level.

That lady said that she’d make me become the youngest university student in all of history! all heated up, but please forgive me… I was an elementary student; I didn’t want to skip grades to university.

No… that was one method, right? If I didn’t go to Touka Academy, I wouldn’t be able to meet the protagonists and the love interests. Thus, I wouldn’t be condemned as a villainess and wouldn’t go to ruin… probably. But I could hardly say that with certainty.

If I tried to hugely deviate from the game’s plot, there was a possibility that I’d be tossed into a route as a compulsory backlash, like what happened when Mrs. Konoe started proposing weird things. Evading red flags would be easier if I stuck with the established route in “Love Flowers”, instead of trying to avoid a bad route but then getting onto a route I knew nothing about.

More than anything, I wanted to be friends with the girls in “Love Flowers”! The followers who support Lady Sakuya! The other rivals of the protagonist! Also, the protagonist and her friends who supported her! I wanted to meet everyone! I had made it to “Love Flowers” anyway, so I wanted to meet the noble ladies and the protagonist in person! So I absolutely had to go to Touka Academy!

“The next one is here.”

As I was thinking that, we had arrived at our next destination.

“Uhm… a fitness club?”

I had been brought to a membership-based, super high-end fitness club. No… This wasn’t it… This was a place where rich madams worked hard day and night to cover their plump bodies… not. It was a place where they came to blab on and on with other madams. It was fundamentally different from the kind of place I wanted to go to.

“Mother is a member of this club, so rest assured.”

I wasn’t assured at all… I hated the cheerful grin on my older brother’s face.

Maybe my brother had really thought I’d feel reassured. There was definitely a lot of equipment and a pool here. There were also coaches who could manage you. But this… well… this was completely different from what I wanted!

“You’ll have to make a compromise here first. You can do the training you want here too, Sakuya.”

“B-brother!?”

This older brother… knew what I was thinking!? And it looked like he also knew my objective. Still, he made me go here so that it’d be easier to convince mom. If I could get the training I wanted here, then I could agree to a compromise. Amazing, Yoshizane! He was more capable than I thought an elementary schooler could be!

With my mom and brother leading the way, we entered the super high-end fitness club “Grande”. There definitely were a lot of aimless barrel-shaped madams, but the facilities were quite good. Well, whether they were put to good use was a different question…

I was introduced to a trainer, and after discussing with them, I found that they could train me in a way that’d meet my hopes. As expected of my can-do brother. This was a great choice. It was really smart to convince my mom, then pick a place she could easily access.

After leaving “Grande”, we went to a large Japanese-style building last. The atmosphere was so different from what I’d just seen, like, “What the heck is this place?” different.

“Brother… this is?”

“You’ll know when you get in.”

Ignoring my worries again, my mom and brother quickly entered. I followed the two of them, confused. Once I had entered, I had entered a large dojo-like space. What was this? I had absolutely no idea what I’d learn here.

But the other thing I wanted to learn was combat sports, so this was definitely some sort of dojo. It was Japanese-style, so maybe jiu-jitsu? Or aikido? I didn’t see any weapons, so it couldn’t be naginata or kendo, which both used handheld weapons. The teacher was also wearing a hakama, so I thought it couldn’t be judo.

“Is the new pupil this boy?”

The old man sitting in seiza inside the room said that. He thought that my brother was joining… Well, he’d probably think that a boy would enter combat sports. At a glance, he wouldn’t think that I, a lady, would enter.

“No, this girl.”

Mom aggressively pushed me forward. The teacher sharply glanced at me and opened his mouth.

“Oh? This young lady? You had known about this “Hundred Earth” ancient dance!?”

“Huh!? Dance!?”

It wasn’t combat sports!? Cram school and swimming were both OK, but who knew my brother would betray me here?!