My Beautiful Childhood Friend Is Working in a Maid Cafe For Some Reason - Chapter 41

After finishing our fried rice, we decided to move on to studying for the remaining subject, Japanese.

“Kanji is all about memorization. Write them down repeatedly until you remember them.”

Yukina wasn’t interested in having another strange conversation, so she started explaining how to study Japanese. And, as expected, it was all about memorization again. There’s so much to memorize that I feel like I’m going to end up stupid.

“But there are a lot of reading comprehension questions in Japanese, right? The ones that ask about how the protagonist feels at a certain point. How do I get through those?”

Honestly, I think those “how does the protagonist feel” questions are unfair. I do try to think and answer them, but for some reason, my answers are always marked wrong.

In the end, it’s not about how I think, but about how close my answer is to the teacher’s ideal answer. Is it even worth answering those questions? Probably not.

“You need to empathize.”

“Empathize…?”

“Yes. If there’s a girl in love, you need to put yourself in her shoes and feel what she feels.”

“A girl in love…? But I’m a guy, I can’t become a girl.”

What I’m saying is perfectly logical. Yet, Yukina immediately criticized me.

“That’s exactly what’s wrong. Listen, you need to wholeheartedly put yourself in that character’s place. I’m not saying you should become a girl. Yusuke, you need to experience love within the story.”

“Even if you say that…”

I’ve never been in love. Well, to be precise, I have experienced the concept of love because I used to like Yukina.

But that was when we were kids. Back then, I didn’t really understand what it meant to truly like someone. I just liked Yukina because we were always together, like family. That’s why I made that embarrassing promise to marry her because I wanted to be with her forever, like family.

But as I grew older, I realized that it wasn’t the same as romantic love.

The proof is that I didn’t feel lonely or sad when Yukina and I grew distant.

“You need to understand the feeling of loving someone wholeheartedly. Even the smallest things about them make you feel warm inside, and you want to be with them forever…”

Yukina said this in a nostalgic tone. As expected, she’s currently in love.

“Do you have feelings like that, Yusuke?”

I don’t know. I’ve never liked someone that much.

So, I gave a vague answer.

“But that only applies to stories centered around romance, right? What about stories that focus on family? Isn’t it impossible then?”

“That’s when you need to imagine. You put yourself in that position and think about what the other person is going through.”

“That’s a difficult concept…”

As I muttered that, Yukina sighed and turned to face me, her eyes meeting mine. The scent she carried made my heart race.

“W-What…?”

“I’ll let you practice with me. Try to guess what I’m thinking right now.”

Yukina said this while staring straight at me.

I tried to stare back, but I quickly reached my limit.

It’s too intense…!

Even if I don’t have feelings for Yukina, having a cute girl like her so close makes my heart pound.

“Um, maybe… you’re hungry and wondering if it’s time for a snack?”

I answered while averting my eyes.

“Wrong. And do you really see me as someone who’s always hungry?”

Honestly, she kind of is… But I tried to think of a different answer.

Yukina’s behavior today is strange. I thought she’d get angry at me for calling her a glutton, but she didn’t. Instead, she kept looking at me with a gentle expression.

That made me feel even more uneasy.

“Oh, I got it.”

I abruptly stood up and went to the refrigerator. I pulled out a bottle of cola and offered it to Yukina.

“You wanted some cola, right? Sorry I didn’t notice earlier.”

“Huh?”

“You’ve been holding back, haven’t you?”

Yukina hasn’t had any cola today. She probably wanted some but didn’t ask because she didn’t want to be disappointed like last time when there wasn’t any. That’s why she seemed down.

“I couldn’t get any last time, so I made sure to buy some yesterday. You don’t have to hold back anymore.”

I was glad I had stopped by the convenience store on the way home yesterday to buy cola for Yukina.

So, this is what she meant by being considerate.

“What do you think? Will this help me score higher?”

“You…”

“You…?”

“You’re such an idiot!”

“Huh!?”

Was I wrong!? Didn’t she want cola!?

“You’re really stupid and insensitive! Insensitive, insensitive, insensitive, insensitive!”

Yukina turned bright red and angrily grabbed the cola, then started drinking it.

She’s actually drinking it…

“So, how many points do I get?”

“Five points!”

Five points…

It seems my consideration is only worth five points. That stings a bit…

“Just give up. You’ll never understand how I feel, Yusuke!”

Well, of course not. It’s not like we share feelings or thoughts.

But if I say that, she’ll probably get upset again, so I’ll keep quiet.

“We’re done with Japanese. Get out your math textbook.”

“Yes!”

I obediently took out my math textbook.

“What don’t you understand?”

It seems the gentle Yukina has completely disappeared, and now she’s in a bad mood.

“I don’t understand most of it…”

Math is my worst subject. I don’t know how to solve the problems, so I can’t solve any of them.

“Math is also about memorization. You need to memorize how to solve the equations.”

Again with the memorization… In the end, it’s all about memorization…

“Once you understand how to solve them, practice repeatedly. You don’t have to do practice worksheets at first. They’re pointless if you don’t understand the concepts. So, focus on memorizing the equations. Got it!?”

From there, I memorized the equations one by one. Whenever I didn’t understand something, Yukina helped me, and I managed to grasp the concepts.

By the time we were done, it was evening. Since it wouldn’t be efficient to study any further, we called it a day.

“Thanks for today. I really appreciate it.”

I thanked Yukina as I walked her to the door.

“Get ready for tomorrow. We’ll be going through everything quickly!”

“Huh?”

“What is it?”

“I thought you’d be done teaching me since we went through all the subjects. Are you sure it’s okay for you to help me again tomorrow?”

“Of course.”

“But what about your own study time?”

“I’m fine. I understand most of it just by listening to the teacher in class.”

As expected, smart people say things like that. I felt a bit jealous and smiled wryly.

“Alright, I’ll be counting on you tomorrow, too.”

“But don’t forget our deal about ramen after the last day of exams!”

“I remember. Even an idiot like me can remember something like that.”

After all, I really didn’t want to do it until yesterday.

“Good. See you tomorrow!”

“Yeah.”

Yukina left, and I closed the door behind her.

Until yesterday, I really didn’t want to pay Yukina for her help. But since she’s giving me her time today and tomorrow, I guess it’s only fair to give something in return.

“…Maybe I should study a bit more later. So I won’t trouble Yukina too much.”