After I Started Living Alone, My Place Turned Into a Hangout Spot for Beautiful Girls

Chapter 24: Chieri Sato (Part 1)

I could not concentrate on studying at home.

Without anyone watching me, I could not resist the temptation of my smartphone, so I decided to stay at school after classes ended to prepare for the exams.

And so, I stayed in the classroom and began studying, but…

The faces of the kids who stayed at school to study were somehow intimidating.

They were all the top students in the grade who remained in the classroom.

I felt incredibly out of place being here.

While I thought that, I buckled down and studied just as diligently.

And before I knew it, it was already 7:20 p.m.

The school gate closed at 7:30 p.m., so it was about the right time to start getting ready to go home.

Perhaps because of that, the classroom, which had been quiet until just now, started to get a bit noisy.

“This exam covers way too much material, right?”

“Yeah, it does. Oh, here is your eraser back.”

“You can keep it. I am a worrywart, so I have three erasers in my pencil case.”

“Really?”

As I overheard some trivial chitchat from someone, I was getting ready to leave when a big sigh came from behind me.

“Sigh…”

It was such a loud sigh that I turned around.

The one who had sighed was Sato from my class.

Our eyes met for a moment, so I called out to her.

“That was quite a big sigh. Is something wrong?”

Sato, with her neat short haircut and glasses giving her a prim appearance, gave me a wry smile and explained why she had sighed.

“I just feel depressed thinking that when I get home, someone will interrupt my studying again today.”

“Interrupt you?”

“I have a little brother, and as soon as I start studying, he comes to bother me for attention.”

“That sounds tough.”

“Nowadays, cafes and family restaurants get mad if you study there, and there are no coworking spaces around here, which is really the worst.”

She wanted to study, but there was no quiet place to do it.

I felt kind of sorry for her as I asked her.

“You are always at the top of the class, Sato. Are you aiming for the top this time too?”

“Yes, I am aiming for a designated school recommendation.”

“Our school does have some pretty good designated school recommendations.”

“I actually enrolled in this high school for that very reason.”

“Oh, we had better get out before they lock up.”

“Yeah.”

The time for complete dismissal was approaching.

Even though we were in the middle of talking, we picked up our bags and left the school.

And it seemed that Sato and I were taking the same route home.

Perhaps because walking in silence side by side felt awkward, Sato, who was on the same route home, spoke to me.

“Still, that is something, huh? It is rare to see you staying at school to study, Teruaki.”

“I have a situation where I have to try hard now. But at home, I end up fiddling with my smartphone and cannot concentrate.”

“Oh, really?”

We were exchanging some utterly innocuous conversation when suddenly Sato asked me.

“By the way, I happened to see Mizutani visiting your house, Teruaki. What exactly is your relationship?”

…Well, I was not hiding it, so of course someone would see.

It seemed that Sato had solidly witnessed Mizutani coming over to my house.

While I broke out in a cold sweat, I gave her a vague answer for Mizutani’s sake as well.

“She just comes over to hang out. We are actually pretty good friends, surprisingly.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yeah, well. Honestly, we are not dating or anything like that, you know?”

“You do not have to get so flustered. I just asked out of curiosity. I am not planning to do anything with it, so relax.”

“That is good, then… But hey, you sure noticed Mizutani coming into my house a lot.”

“Of course. After all, my house is right next door to yours, Teruaki.”

Huh? Sato lives in the neighborhood?

I could not stop being surprised by the unexpected fact.

“For real…?”

“Yes, absolutely for real. As proof, our routes home overlap.”

“By the way, around where? Oh, you do not have to say if you do not want to.”

“Near the fourth park. By the way, it has only been four years since it was built, so I am proud that it is still really nice.”

“…It is super close.”

It turned out that Sato’s house and mine were quite close.

I was truly shocked to have a classmate living in the neighborhood.

As I thought that, Sato suddenly remembered something and said to me.

“Oh, by the way, the other day, Sakuya was also going into your house, Teruaki.”

“…You saw that too? Should I explain?”

“No, I kind of get it, so it is fine. That is it, right? You say you are total strangers with Sakuya at school, but you are actually relatives or something like that.”

It was so spot-on that it was scary.

Well, hiding it strangely would just lead to weird speculation anyway.

“Yeah, exactly. We are actually just regular relatives. I do not want people making a fuss, so we pretend to be strangers at school.”

“I figured as much.”

“By the way, this is the first time we have talked like this, huh, Teruaki.”

“Yeah, people in the same class do not talk much if there is no occasion.”

“True.”

Hmm, just chatting about obvious things as if they were profound was not really livening up the conversation.

I did not necessarily need to liven it up, but since I was talking with someone I rarely spoke to…

Alright, maybe I would try saying a joke to stir things up a bit.

“If your little brother interrupts your studying when you get home, want to come study at my house?”

In my prediction, she would chuckle and say, “I will have to pass on that one,” and turn me down.