He returned to the art room with the purchased drink in his hand.
It seemed that the drawing was still going on. Alina did not seem to be tired of sitting at all, but was rather concentrating on her typing. She did not move a bit, so that the art club members were drawing her in exactly the same position as she was in real life.

After a while, there was a break. Alina also got up from her seat to take a break.
She was staring out the window in a daze, and I handed her the cocoa I had bought earlier.

'Thanks for your hard work. Here's something for you.

Rolling her eyes, Alina accepted it with both hands.

'What, what's wrong?
'...... I feel like once upon a time, someone used to give me cocoa just like this one.'

I guess Aki-senpai and Alina really know each other.
The word "once upon a time" caught my attention. I wonder if Alina hasn't met Aki since she entered high school. And she forgot to say 'I think she was there'! I don't want to intrude into Alina's relationship unnecessarily, but I am curious. Are you guys fighting?
I sipped my tomato juice, being health-conscious, and Alina continued reading while sipping her cocoa.

Shinji was approaching us, so I guessed his break was almost over.

'Thank you, Alina-san. I'll finish next time.
'Yes.'

He picked up his paperback again and went to sit in his former chair.
I sip my tomato juice and think. How did Alina come to avoid human contact and to speak in such an abhorrent way? Or is it just the way she is? Even from Aki's story, it seems that Arina had a normal school life in junior high school.
From the way Alina talks, she may not know that Aki is in her high school. Aki himself has not spoken to Arina. This can only mean that something happened at the junior high school.
It seems that there is a deeper mystery in Alina.






'When you stuff something in your head, something is sacrificed, isn't it?

I muttered in the rose garden. I'm not talking to myself. There's another girl in there.

'I think the whole world adds up to zero. When someone laughs, someone cries. When someone goes up, someone goes down. I think it's prime minus zero.

I ask Alina, who is quietly studying next to me.

'Hey. Hey... studying definitely shortens your life span, doesn't it?
'Shut up. I'll stick a mechanical pencil in your ear.

Midterms are coming up.
High school tests are quite important. They are very important for special student programs, scholarship programs, entrance examinations with recommendations, and so on. If you do not take them properly, you will definitely regret it. However, most of the students do not do it even if they understand it in their head. It is simply because it is too much trouble. Whether you do it or not is one of two things: your future self will either hate the past or admire it. It comes down to one of two things.
I'm the kind of person who likes to smile in the end, so I asked Alina to teach me. But Alina was too quiet and did it alone, so I had no intention of teaching her.

The support for club activities has been suspended until the mid-term exam is over. I'm going to be in trouble if I don't study.
''So.''

It would be unfortunate if my intentions and Mr. Akakusa's intentions hurt Alina's grades, which are always in the top 10. I don't want to create a bad atmosphere after the test is over. This club is for Alina, after all. It is a ghostly club that does not exist on paper.

Alina
'......'
'Alina-san'.
'......'
'Alina-chan'.
'......'
'Ally-'
'Shut up, you cancer cells of the earth.
'Have you ever taught a class?'
'...... no'.
'Try teaching me something. I'm doing English right now, is there any efficient way to remember words?'
'I don't have anything to teach you.
'No, I've got something. My sister will be happy.
'You have a sister. ......'
'What's the matter, why do you press your temples?
'I feel sorry for you that this is your brother. ......'

I was a little hurt because he really pitied me. It'll be closed soon, though.

'So, tell me. English. English isn't really my thing. Help me, Alina. Light of hope.
'Read it aloud. You'll learn it if you ooh and aah.'
'Au-au-au-au-au-au.'
I'll leave the window open. You can jump out anytime you want.'
'Okay, okay. I'm sorry.

After that, I studied hard. Alina, too, kept her hands off the paperback and kept her pen busy.
Today's after-school session ended with a little cursing and silence.



With the test approaching, some of the students began to cut their recess time to study in the classroom. They are busy with their own vocabulary books, calculations, and other various studies.
My grades are usually in the upper middle of the range, a little higher than the average.
I have been studying hard at home with the power of going home because I want to get high grades. Since I had time, all I had to do was to learn how to study in a way that suited me, but that was the crucial part that was not so subtle.



'Makoto, how is your academic ability?
'Normal'.
'I see. The answer is too normal to say anything.
'It's really normal! It's not particularly outstanding or terrible. It's going to be like that again.
'I guess everyone is having trouble.'
''Yes, that's right.''

At lunchtime, after dinner with Makoto, I went to the library. I went there expecting to find Alina there, but she was unusually absent. I looked in Alina's class, but she was not there. I almost went to the girls' restroom next, but then I thought of the possibility of going to the Rose Garden.
I went to the rose garden and sure enough, Alina was studying there.

Your face is enough for me only after school. When are you going to get plastic surgery?
'You've been too harsh as soon as we met. Are you studying?
''So.''

I was wrong about one thing.
I thought a guy with outstanding grades was a genius and didn't do much studying. Since Alina is always in the top 10, I assumed that she was an example of the same thing, but I was just being shallow. The best people are the ones who don't run away and do what they have to do.
I hate it, but I have to do it. They subconsciously look for excuses or make up reasons why they can't do it to convince themselves. I'm like that and most people are like that. They don't know how to study or how to improve their efficiency. Because they have never done it. As long as the laziness of trying to do things the easy way is still smoldering, you will never make any progress.
She's not running away, she's competing.

We have to do it.
'If you're going to jump, do it quickly.'
'I ain't gonna die. I'll study too.'
''So.''

I studied during my lunch break alongside Alina.


After school, she was still studying. I follow her lead and study English, which is my weak point, but I can't seem to get it into my head. As I was thinking of a better way to study, I remembered something that Alina had said to me once.

She said, "English will improve if you keep speaking it?
'Wow. Why is there a dead toad next to me ...... really sucks ......'
'Homo sapiens. You said it before, all you have to do is talk.
'Right.'
'Oh, did you just say that? Or do you mean it?
I'm serious.
'Explain it to me. Why is it good to say it out loud?

Alina looked very tired and worn out.

'Please. Alina, the holy mother of us all.
'Yes. I'm only going to say it once. Then study.
'Roger that.'
'The reason why Japanese people can't remember English words or understand the grammatical structure of English is simply because the way they understand the meaning of Japanese and English is completely different.
'Hou'.
English uses alphabetic characters. These alphabetic letters are arranged to represent words. And the letters of the alphabet are classified as 'phonetic' letters.

It was the first time I heard the word.

As the Chinese character means 'letters that represent sounds'. The characteristic feature of the phonetic alphabet is that you can pronounce a word just by looking at it. This may sound ordinary, but it is very useful. Even long words that are new to me can be pronounced even if only vaguely.

Alina pointed to my English textbook,

I can pronounce this word even if I don't know what it means. That is the advantage of phonetic alphabet. Can I go on?
'Oh.'
Next is Japanese. Japanese is a language that utilizes three types of characters: hiragana, katakana (phonetic alphabets), and kanji (Chinese characters). Hiragana and katakana, like the alphabet, are phonetic characters that do not have a single meaning.
Kanji, however, is different. Kanji characters are called ideographs, which means "characters that express meaning". Characteristically, you can understand the meaning just by looking at it, even if you can't read it. It is a long list of kanji characters, and even if you don't know the correct pronunciation, it is a convenient character that can convey the meaning just by looking at it.
I said "phonetic characters" earlier, but you couldn't get the meaning of "hy onji" just from the sound, could you? Since there are too many homonyms, there are too many possible kanji to apply to a single word to find the right one. That's why, when we were in elementary school, we were forced to learn kanji by writing them down. Because it is best to memorize Kanji visually. Sound is not so important.

Alina continued after a short pause.

'You didn't tell me about the disadvantages of English. English does not have the advantages of kanji. That is, if you see a word for the first time, you can't grasp the meaning, that kind of thing. Kanji and English are the opposite. Of course spelling is important, but sounds are far more important in this language. Another feature is that there are not as many homophones as in Japanese. It means that one pronunciation does not have several different meanings. Tsumari'.
'Yes'.
'When you learn English, you should link the sound with the meaning. You don't have to write much. Just pronounce a small sentence over and over again to get it into your head. Make sure you understand the meaning of the sentence.
If you come across a word in a long passage that you have seen but cannot remember the meaning, try to pronounce it in your head. Then you will remember the sentence that contains the word that you have uttered many times. If you know the meaning of the sentence by heart, you can reverse the translation to find out which part of the translated sentence corresponds to which English word, and then you can finally remember the meaning of the word you have forgotten. That's how you should study English, and if you talk to each other, your English will improve.


'It's true, if you ask me, English and Japanese are totally different.'
'So. People often make fun of the fact that Japanese people don't speak English, but there are only a few countries where it is necessary to speak a foreign language, so they should leave it alone. It is more embarrassing not to be able to live in one's native language. So there is no need to feel inferior.
I think not only Japan but other countries should love their mother tongue more. There is not much demand for English speakers in Japan, but the most important thing is the way of education. As I said before, in Japan, they make students write words over and over again instead of pronouncing them. Even the slightest grammatical mistake is zero point. Grammatophobia is one of the reasons why they cannot speak English. It's an effective way to learn Kanji, but it's not so efficient for English. If you understand the difference between Japanese and English, you can improve your English grade. Do you understand?

I nodded breathlessly. Alina's explanation stunned me. I had never heard her analysis of the English language before, nor had I thought about it. It was a new concept, a new feeling.
In short, Alina is awesome.

It was very informative. It was mind-expanding.
'So. Study.
'Yes.'

I was in a state of shock. It was too much. I had no idea that there was a high school student around me who possessed knowledge and thoughts that would make people in high school gasp in disbelief. If I told this kind of story to a non-schooler, he would laugh and let it slide, but to me, it was an "interesting story" that aroused my curiosity.
I want to hear more. I wanted to ask her more, but I knew that it would interfere with Alina's studies.
I hope I can do it someday.