Kono Monogatari O Kimi Ni Sasagu - Volume 1 Chapter 1.5

“Yes, I read your book report, Senpai.”
Yuto noticed that the ‘Rika’ Kotoha held was covered with sticky notes.

(tln : its called Rika, you guys can search it on google with this 学校 読書感想文 集 or Japanese student book report anthology. Basically its collection of book reports compiled and distributed in school.)

“You read all the book reports from all the students?”

“Yes.”

“If each person wrote five pages, that’s about five thousand pages. That’s more than ten novels.”

“It took me a week to read two years’ worth.”

“That’s absurd. If you have that much time, you should study.”

“It’s studying to become an editor. If I want to be a professional, I need to be able to handle that much reading easily.”

“It’s not about the quantity. It’s boring to read other people’s book reports. Even if you read them, it—”

“That’s true. Some are written half-heartedly, some don’t even get the grammar right. Some just summarize the plot, some repeat the same thing over and over. Even among the better ones, few have a proper structure.”

“Then why—”

“I was looking for a golden egg. Even in those book reports, sometimes there are ones that shine brightly. I was looking for such people, to become their editor, and create a novel together.”

“…And that was me?”

Yuto asked hesitantly, and Kotoha giggled.

“No. Are you serious, Senpai?”

“W-why are you laughing? Given the context, that’s a normal assumption.”

Feeling embarrassed, Yuto defended himself.

But Kotoha shook her head and held ‘Rika’ close with both hands.

“What I found wasn’t a golden egg. As I said before, it was extraordinary. It stood out. No, comparing it to others would be unfair.

A treasure chest filled with gold and jewels.

What I found was your writing, Senpai.” (TLN : IMAGINE RIZZED BY THIS PHRASE. ASDFFGJHL godammit.)

Kotoha spoke dreamily.

Yuto found himself entranced by her, then snapped out of it and spoke.

“You’re exaggerating. It’s just a five-page book report.”

“Exactly because it’s just five pages! In those five pages, Senpai created a whole story. I couldn’t believe it. A book report, you know? In your first year, you did a secondary creation using the characters, making it a suspense story. But you also included your introspection. In the second year, it was a dialogue form where you debated with the protagonist, using rhetoric to make the conversation interesting. I’ve never encountered such compelling book reports before. It’s an incredible talent—”

“That’s enough.”

Yuto’s voice came out colder and lower than expected.

Kotoha flinched and fell silent, and Yuto averted his gaze out of discomfort.

“…Sorry, but I have no such talent.”

It’s absurd, he thought.

I have no talent. That was made clear three years ago.

And yet, for a moment, I foolishly took this mysterious junior’s words seriously—felt happy about it.

“What? B-but…”

“No matter what you say, I won’t write any novels.”

He spoke as if to shake off his lingering regrets.

“Wait, please.”

“Sorry. But since I listened, this is the end.”

Yuto turned his back on Kotoha, got on his bike, and pedaled.

He intended to leave her behind—but,

There was a grinding sound from behind, and he couldn’t move forward.

Yuto lost his balance and hastily put his foot down on the asphalt.

In an instant, he saw Kotoha also losing her balance. She tried to catch herself by stepping back, but the angle was all wrong, and she couldn’t support herself at all. She rolled down the grassy embankment like an acorn, tumbling into the rice field—

A splash of muddy water erupted.

***

“Excuse me for a moment.”

“Hey.”

It was during lunch break, hours after Kotoha had fallen into the rice field that morning.

Yuto was eating a sandwich he bought from the school store in the classroom when she suddenly appeared and sat in front of him. She then started to unwrap her bento box on his desk.

“Isn’t it okay to have lunch together?”

“I like eating alone. Besides, a first-year shouldn’t come into the third-years’ classroom.”

“Don’t sweat the small stuff. Besides,” Kotoha’s voice grew a bit louder, “because you pushed me so forcefully this morning, I got all covered in mud. Don’t you feel a bit guilty? I even had to change my underwear—”

“Be quiet. I’m sorry.”

The stares from everyone around were not just slight, but very intense. She must be doing this on purpose.

Kotoha smiled in satisfaction and resumed opening her bento.

After Kotoha fell into the rice field this morning, Yuto had pulled her out of the muddy water. It was fortunate that she didn’t get hurt since she fell into soft mud. After that, he had seated her on the back of his bike and taken her to the school infirmary, and now here they were.

The uniform she was wearing was probably borrowed from the infirmary. By the way, her school bag was left on the road and was unharmed. Otherwise, her textbooks and the bento she was eating now would have shared her fate.

“So, what do you want?”

“I just wanted to chat while having lunch. I thought I was a bit too pushy this morning.”

“You’re still plenty pushy now.”

“Hmm. Are you sure you want to say that, Senpai?”

Kotoha glanced around.