Chapter 934 Motori

The next morning.

After breakfast, just as Aimi Izumi was about to leave the house, Akina Izumi suddenly called out to her.

"Aimi, it's a little cold outside today. Remember to wrap your scarf around your neck before you go out."

"Okay~" Aimi Izumi nodded obediently, went upstairs to her bedroom to get her scarf, and only then left the house.

When Aimi left, Kotomi was still sleeping in her warm bed.

Since she had a mathematics mock exam that morning, Aimi planned to arrive at school early and do a little last-minute revision.

Although she'd already reviewed everything she could, there were still several months before the high school entrance exams. If she took advantage of that time to study a little harder, she should be able to improve her grades somewhat.

"Heh-heh! As long as I put a little more effort into math, I'll definitely get into Sobu High School!" Aimi Izumi declared confidently. It was precisely because she was confident in her grades that she'd listed Sobu High School as her second-choice school.

As for her first choice, Sengetsu Girls' Academy, she'd only written it down because it looked impressive and would give her something to brag about.

Aimi Izumi had a fairly realistic understanding of her academic abilities. With every high school raising its admission requirements next year, she believed that getting into Sobu High School would be perfectly achievable if she worked hard. But getting into Sengetsu Girls' Academy... That was probably something that could only happen in her dreams~

Even under this year's admission requirements, Aimi Izumi didn't think her grades would be good enough to get into Sengetsu Girls' Academy.

And following next year's high school entrance exams, Sengetsu Girls' Academy would also be raising its admission requirements.

Sengetsu Girls' Academy had excellent educational resources and a wonderful campus environment. It was practically a perfect, prestigious private girls' school!

But since Kotomi didn't attend Sengetsu Girls' Academy, Aimi had absolutely no interest in it.

Aimi's criteria for choosing a school were extremely simple. Wherever Kotomi went, she would follow.

It wasn't an exaggeration to say that if Kotomi suddenly decided to transfer from Sobu High School to Sengetsu Girls' Academy, Aimi would immediately start pulling all-nighters, studying under her desk lamp until dawn and frantically reviewing everything she'd learned during her three years of middle school, all for the sake of getting into Sengetsu Girls' Academy.

As long as I get into Sobu High School, all of Megumi Kato's current advantages will disappear in an instant! And I'll gain an enormous advantage myself! The ultimate victor will definitely be me, Aimi Izumi! Heh-heh-heh! You're nothing but Megumi Kato. How dare you dream of stealing Kotomi away from me? Go ahead and enjoy your arrogance for a little longer. When the time comes, I'll make you understand that you're nothing more than an insignificant insect!

Aimi's heart brimmed with confidence as she laughed wickedly to herself.

However, before she could finish laughing, she passed an intersection and instinctively shrank her neck, pulling her scarf higher as she said with a shiver:

"The temperature really has dropped... Why is it so cold this morning?"

At the same time, Aimi quickened her pace, hoping to reach school sooner.

"Waah... Waaah..."

Just as Aimi was preparing to jog the rest of the way to school, she suddenly heard a little girl crying.

"Huh?"

Hearing a little girl crying so early in the morning caught Aimi's attention, so she looked in the direction of the sound.

She discovered a little girl wearing a kindergarten uniform and a small yellow hat, crouching by the roadside and crying.

There were no classmates or adults beside the little girl. Although it was perfectly normal for children to start waiting for the kindergarten bus on their own once they began attending kindergarten, the little girl was currently crouching there alone and crying. The bus hadn't arrived yet either, so naturally Aimi was a little worried.

"Hey, sweetheart, are you okay?" Aimi Izumi walked over and asked with concern.

Only then did the little girl with twin ponytails raise her head. Her adorable little face was covered in tearstains as she choked out pitifully:

"Ugh... My scarf is gone."

Aimi also noticed that the little girl wasn't wearing a scarf. Although children sometimes wore shorts and short skirts even in winter, they were still children, after all. Without a scarf, they would naturally feel cold.

And once they felt cold, they couldn't help wanting to cry.

Especially since the weather was unusually cold today...

"I see..."

Aimi first reached out and wiped the tears from the little girl's cheeks. Then she took off her own purple scarf and wrapped it around the girl's neck, speaking gently as she did so.

"Then I'll give you my scarf."

"Won't you be cold, big sister?" The little girl with twin ponytails was very grateful that Aimi had given her a scarf, but she was also worried about causing trouble for this kind older girl.

"It's fine. I'm a grown-up, and grown-ups aren't afraid of the cold!" Aimi Izumi replied with a smile.

Although she was only in her third year of middle school herself...

Surely she could call herself a grown-up when talking to a kindergartener, right?

Whoosh!

Just then, the kindergarten bus arrived.

"Big sister, thank you! My name's Motori. What's your name?" the little girl with twin ponytails asked gratefully.

"My name's Aimi," Aimi Izumi replied cheerfully.

"Thank you, Aimi! Bye-bye, big sister!!"

Now wearing the purple scarf, Motori bowed to Aimi Izumi. After boarding the kindergarten bus, she even made her way to the window and waved goodbye.

"Goodbye."

Aimi Izumi waved back, smiling as she watched the little girl's kindergarten bus drive away.

After the bus left, Aimi was just about to continue walking toward school when another gust of cold wind suddenly blew past.

It was an icy wind.

"Achoo!"

Aimi couldn't help sneezing. She then wrapped her arms around herself and hunched her shoulders. The cold air against her exposed neck was so uncomfortable that even her voice began trembling.

"Uwaaah!! It really is freezing! There's still plenty of time, so I'll take a little detour to the convenience store and buy a disposable hand warmer and a steamed pork bun."

She quickened her pace and hurried to the convenience store.

Only to discover that they had neither hand warmers nor steamed pork buns.

"I'm terribly sorry. The steamed pork buns haven't arrived yet, and we've just sold out of hand warmers. Apparently, the track and field club from a nearby school has been training around here recently. Since it's so cold in the mornings, students wearing athletic uniforms often come in to buy hand warmers. We've been selling out of them very quickly lately."

The young cashier apologized, looking rather embarrassed.

"O-Okay."

Aimi sighed helplessly. With no other choice, she bought a piping-hot red bean bun, kept it inside the convenience store's paper bag to warm her hands, and jogged toward school.

By the time she reached the entrance of Chiba City Private Middle School, Aimi had assumed that running all the way there would have warmed her up at least a little. Unfortunately, all she could feel now was exhaustion. She hadn't gotten any warmer at all.

Dragging her somewhat tired body along, Aimi carried her schoolbag into the classroom, sat down at her desk, and began taking small bites of the red bean bun, which was no longer hot.

A little while later, Iroha Isshiki arrived in the classroom carrying her schoolbag. She walked over to Aimi, sat down beside her, and greeted her with a soft laugh.

"Good morning, Aimi~"

"Morning."

Aimi nodded and continued taking small bites of her red bean bun. She had only ever bought steamed pork buns from that convenience store before, never red bean buns. She had originally figured that since red bean buns were sweet, even if they weren't particularly delicious, they couldn't possibly taste that bad.

But after taking her first bite, Aimi discovered that the red bean buns sold at that convenience store weren't sweet at all?!

The sweetness was so faint that it was practically nonexistent.

If I'd known this convenience store's red bean buns weren't sweet, I would've bought the custard buns beside them instead! Aimi thought. Although a red bean bun was very cheap, it didn't taste good, so no matter how little it cost, she still felt she'd wasted her money.

"Huh? Aimi, didn't you eat breakfast at home today?" Iroha Isshiki asked curiously after noticing the red bean bun in Aimi's hand.

"Well, it's because..."

Aimi briefly told Iroha Isshiki about how she'd helped a little girl on her way to school.

"Oh, so that's what happened! Aimi, you're such a kindhearted big sister!"

"Hehehe, it wasn't that big a deal," Aimi Izumi replied with a chuckle. "Although I felt freezing cold the entire way here after giving that little girl my scarf, and I couldn't even buy a steamed pork bun or a hand warmer, if I could turn back time and do it all over again, I'd probably still help her."

"People often say that kindhearted people who enjoy helping others are frequently blessed with good fortune. Aimi, maybe you'll experience some amazing luck soon~"

Iroha Isshiki said with a smile. She then handed Aimi her water bottle so she could warm her hands and drink some hot water.

Every day before leaving for school, Iroha Isshiki filled her water bottle with hot water. She could use it to warm her hands when they got cold and drink some whenever she was thirsty.

With the weather getting colder recently, Iroha Isshiki had also developed a greater fondness for drinking hot water.

Aimi accepted Iroha Isshiki's water bottle and held it in her hands. Sure enough, her hands immediately began warming up. At the same time, she said somewhat sheepishly:

"If I really do get some good luck, then I hope it'll help me get really, really good results on my high school entrance exams."

"Who knows? Maybe your wish really will come true~" Iroha Isshiki said encouragingly.

"Mm!"

Aimi nodded vigorously. Although she didn't believe doing good deeds would necessarily bring good luck, if she really did receive some, she hoped it would help her during the high school entrance exams a few months from now.

Aimi was confident in her grades, but only to a certain extent. She worried that Sobu High School might raise its admission requirements so much next year that she wouldn't be able to get in. That was why she hoped any good luck that might come her way would help her achieve excellent results on the entrance exams.

After chatting with Aimi for a while, Iroha Isshiki suddenly asked:

"Oh, right, Aimi. Helping a little girl on your way to school is a good deed, isn't it? How about I tell our homeroom teacher so you can try to get a certificate for helping others before the end of this school year?"

Hearing Iroha Isshiki's suggestion, Aimi Izumi hurriedly shook her head.

"No, no! It was such a tiny little thing that it isn't worth mentioning at all. Besides, we're almost graduating. Getting a certificate now wouldn't be particularly useful."

"Then how about telling Senpai~?" Iroha Isshiki suggested again.

Tell Onee-chan?!

Aimi Izumi's cheeks immediately turned red. She had to admit that Iroha Isshiki's suggestion was rather tempting. Aimi wanted her older sister to know that she'd helped a little girl on her way to school today and done a good deed. She wanted to receive praise and a reward from her sister!

Aimi was tempted.

She had even started imagining what kind of reward she wanted from her older sister.

But then another thought occurred to her. Wouldn't deliberately telling her sister about such a trivial matter make her sister treat her like a child who never grew up?

And if Megumi Kato found out, she might even make fun of her!

Thinking about that, Aimi Izumi hesitated for a moment before shaking her head.

"I-I think I'll pass. It was just a tiny little thing. It's not worth mentioning."

"Oh~ Really?"

Iroha Isshiki looked at Aimi with a smile, feeling somewhat helpless as she thought to herself:

I wonder what Aimi's hesitating about. She practically has "I want Onee-chan to know I did a good deed, and I want her to reward me" written all over her face, yet she's still pretending she doesn't care and turning down the suggestion. Sigh~ There's no helping it. Looks like I'll have to give her a little assistance.

After morning self-study ended, Iroha Isshiki figured Kotomi should already be awake. Taking advantage of a moment when Aimi wasn't paying attention, she picked up her phone, opened LINE, and sent Kotomi a message.

Iroha Isshiki: [Hey, hey, hey, Senpai! Did you know?]

[(·W·)]

[Aimi did a good deed today!]

[Allow me to tell you the whole story~]

...

Meanwhile, elsewhere.

The Kato residence.

After getting out of bed, Megumi Kato went downstairs to have breakfast.

Grilled fish, tofu miso soup, a fried egg, and white rice sprinkled with a little shredded nori.

It was a simple but delicious breakfast.

Unfortunately, while eating breakfast, she still couldn't escape listening to her mother's nagging.

The subject of her mother's lectures practically never changed. It was always something about studying hard and how high school students didn't have time to fool around.

Even good advice became annoying when repeated too many times.

But if she showed any impatience, her mother would get angry.

Megumi Kato sighed helplessly. All she could do was keep her head down and eat her breakfast, hoping to finish it as quickly as possible while continuing to endure her mother's nagging.

Halfway through her lecture, Ikemi Kato suddenly changed the subject.

"Oh, right, Megumi. I need to pick up your little cousin from kindergarten this afternoon, then go shopping for groceries. I'm thinking of having her eat dinner at our place tonight. After all, your uncle and aunt's family just moved to Chiba City, and they have plenty of things to take care of. I figured I'd help look after little Motori whenever I have time."

"Huh? Why did Uncle and Auntie move to Chiba City?"

Megumi Kato was a little surprised. At the same time, she tried to recall what she remembered about her younger cousin, Motori Kato.

After all, it had already been several years since she'd last seen Motori, so her memories were a little hazy.

The most memorable things about Motori Kato were probably that she always wore her hair in twin ponytails, was a very well-behaved child, and cried exceptionally easily.

"Because of a job transfer, of course. Apparently, your uncle needs to work as a team leader at the branch office here in Chiba City for a few years before returning to the company's headquarters in Hokkaido for a promotion.

"Since her parents have moved to Chiba, naturally Motori has to come with them and attend kindergarten here.

"It's a good thing your uncle and aunt didn't buy a house in Hokkaido back then. Otherwise, moving would've been a real hassle."

After speaking, Ikemi Kato picked up a piece of fish with her chopsticks and put it into her mouth.

"I see. Which kindergarten is Motori attending?" Megumi Kato asked casually.

"Hanamaru Kindergarten. They only finished her enrollment paperwork a few days ago. Today should be her first day. Given her age, I think she'll be in one of the younger classes," Ikemi Kato replied.

"Oh, I see."

Megumi Kato nodded. She suddenly remembered something Kotomi had mentioned before. Yui Yuigahama's little sister, Yuka, attended Hanamaru Kindergarten, and she was also in one of the younger classes.

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