One day in mid-January, after the New Year had passed.
For Yuzuru and Arisa—no, for all second-year high school students—
It was an extremely important day.
“How was it, Yuzuru…?”
Arisa asked, looking slightly anxious.
Yuzuru gave a wry smile.
“…Not as good as I’d hoped.”
“I-I see…”
At his answer, Arisa looked relieved.
“…Can I take a look?”
She asked hesitantly.
There was no reason to hide it—and Yuzuru also wanted to check hers—so he nodded.
“Sure. But let me see yours too.”
“Of course.”
They exchanged the papers in their hands—
The common test questions they had just finished solving.
Yuzuru checked Arisa’s answers and the questions she got wrong.
There were some differences depending on their strong and weak subjects—
But overall, their total scores were quite close.
“Wow… Yuzuru, your English is perfect.”
“And you did really well in world history. …I had more trouble with it than I expected.”
“I’ve been reviewing regularly. …Personally, I’m worried about time management in maths and Japanese. I couldn’t finish everything this time… If this were the real exam…”
Arisa shivered slightly.
They were still second-years.
The test they had just taken was from this year’s newly released exam—
A way to gauge their current level with one year left until the real thing.
Both were confident in their academics and performed well on mock exams—
But still, the result felt underwhelming.
“For time management, I guess it’s just practice… Maybe taking more mock exams would help?”
“We might need to rethink how we solve them too—like the order. There must be some tricks… Maybe we should go to prep school?”
“Spring courses might be worth it…”
With less than a year until the real exam,
It was time to get serious.
“By the way, do you have a specific university in mind?”
Yuzuru asked casually.
He had a general idea from her mock exam forms—
But had never asked her directly.
“Not really.”
“Yeah, figured.”
There wasn’t much consistency in the schools she listed—
Except for one thing.
“I want to aim as high as I can. And I’m planning to target national universities. …It’s harder to increase subjects later, but easy to reduce them.”
Private universities generally require fewer subjects—
Though that doesn’t necessarily make them easier.
Still, it’s easier to scale down than to scale up.
“Yuzuru, you’re the same, right?”
“Pretty much.”
He didn’t have a specific dream school either—
Just the desire to aim high.
“What about your major?”
“Major? …Law or economics, maybe.”
“Huh… that’s a bit unexpected.”
“Is it?”
Yuzuru tilted his head.
For a humanities student, those were standard choices.
“Well… I thought maybe business, considering your family.”
“Ah… I see.”
Given he’d likely inherit the family business,
Business school would seem like the obvious choice.
“I’ll learn that from my dad.”
His father had always told him to go wherever he liked.
Even the university’s prestige didn’t seem to matter much—
As long as he got a degree.
“Oh, but I’ve been told to study abroad. I’ll probably attend a university overseas for a year or two.”
“I see… Should I do that too?”
“Well, it’s probably good experience. …But you don’t have to force it.”
Yuzuru didn’t mind going himself—
But the thought of Arisa going made him a little uneasy.
Arisa shook her head.
“I’m a little nervous… but I think I want to try.”
“Then let’s go together.”
“That sounds nice. I’d feel safer with you.”
She smiled.
Then Yuzuru asked:
“What about you? Any major in mind?”
“Not really… but I’d like to study something useful for the future.”
“Like what, specifically?”
“That’s the problem… What do you think would be good?”
“…Hmm.”
Yuzuru hesitated.
It wasn’t his place to decide her future.
But if she wasn’t aiming for a specific career—
Then maybe she wanted something broadly useful.
“Law might be practical.”
“Law… So having legal knowledge is important?”
“…Better than not having it, I guess.”
Though in reality, basic legal awareness comes naturally in life.
It wasn’t strictly necessary.
“Honestly, certifications or English test scores might be more useful.”
“Certifications… like what?”
“That depends on the job…”
Arisa looked puzzled.
“…What kind of job or qualifications would help you, Yuzuru?”
“Eh!?”
Yuzuru blinked in surprise.
Arisa pouted slightly.
“Is that strange? I just thought… as your future wife, I’d like to study something that could support you.”
“It’s not strange. …I’m really happy to hear that.”
“…Just the feeling?”
“…I don’t really know what would help either.”
He couldn’t responsibly decide her path—
Or say what kind of person he wanted her to become.
“It’s university. We should both study what we like.”
“Hmm… That’s harder than it sounds…”
“Isn’t there anything you like? Something you want to be involved in?”
In response, Arisa looped her arm through his.
Then, shyly, she whispered—
“Not something… someone. I like you, Yuzuru.”
“That’s nice to hear… but there’s no field of study about me.”
He smiled and pulled her closer.
“Then… why don’t we aim for the same university? Same campus, same life.”
He whispered into her ear.
Arisa trembled slightly.
“That’s a wonderful idea. …Let’s do that.”
“Then we’d better study hard.”
“Yes.”
Their lips met.
