And so I ended up in the gymnasium.

Since it’s the exam period there was of course no one else here besides us.

In the gym which felt more spacious than usual the sound of the ball echoed.

Iwabuchi-san had been doing nothing but practicing shots the whole time.

There was only one ball so every time she shot she had to retrieve it herself but even that looked like something she was genuinely enjoying from the bottom of her heart.

I wanted to at least help pick up the ball.

But right now Iwabuchi-san was like a beast starving for the ball. If I tried to pick it up on my own she might bare her fangs and devour me...

"So? Are you feeling better?"

"I’m better~!"

Iwabuchi-san comes over holding the ball like a dog happily running up to its owner.

"Then there’s still time so let’s go back to studying?"

The cheerful expression she had until then suddenly turned pale and the ball slipped from her hands onto the floor.

"I don’t wanna... I don’t wanna study..."

"I-Iwabuchi-san!?"

She staggered toward me and I ended up catching her in my arms.

Her body heat and scent hit me head-on!

I feel like I’m going to forget some of the historical figures and events I memorized today!

But seeing her like this face to face I can tell the 163 cm she claimed was a lie... there’s no way we’re the same height at this chest level.

"Uu~ I’m sorry... even though you came all this way to help me study Hayama-kun I’m this worn out..."

Iwabuchi-san looked dejected.

Of course she wants to seriously avoid failing.

Not being able to do that must be frustrating.

"No it’s okay... but maybe you just can’t focus in the current environment"

"That might be it~. At home in the classroom or the club room those are all places associated with studying so it just feels the same as always"

"Maybe being too used to it is the problem"

Hmm if there’s somewhere else to study, maybe there’s a good place…

* * *

In the end that day finished without me being able to effectively improve Iwabuchi-san’s academic ability.

Iwabuchi-san was a much tougher opponent than I expected.

But I didn’t want to give up.

...I was happy she relied on me and that means she was expecting something from me.

I wanted to repay that by achieving the best possible result for her.