CH 3

“Hello? Are you still studying?”

“Nah, I just finished and was thinking of calling you too, Suzuka”

As of late, I have made a habit of always calling Suzuka before going to sleep.

How this came to be is quite simple. The National Test for university admission is soon.

No matter how many times you receive an A in your prospects for entering your first choice of university, you still need to study for it.

Like every other day, we came back home from school and immediately got to study, not having many chances to be together.

Despite that, we ARE newlyweds.

‘There’d be something wrong with us if we only studied and did nothing more, you know!?’

It was from that objection from Suzuka that it started.

“Yuuki, did something good happen today?”

“Regrettably, no, nothing. As an entrance exam taker, all my days are study, study, study!”

“I’m the sa~me. I hate thi~s. Being an Entrance Exam taker’s such a pain, right?”

“I know… Well, have a good night”

“Yeah, goodnight”

If we had something to talk about, we’d spend our time doing so.

If not, we’d have a short and simple conversation and then end the call.

This series of events that was gradually becoming our everyday routine started without any real reason behind it.

Still, I could feel myself lacking in human contact because of the studies for the entrance exam.

Not being able to talk with people for a long period of time, and finding myself at an impasse as to what to do about it, that’s how these calls before sleeping started.

Unexpectedly, it isn’t a bad thing at all.

Only a little more to go before the exam.

Today too was a day of a full-time study session.

With my level of drowsiness reaching its peak, I begin to think of going to sleep soon, so I called Suzuka.

“She’s not answering…”

I tried calling her again.

No matter how many times I called her, the call won’t connect.

She’s probably talking with someone else.

I decided that, for the first time in a long time, I’ll go to sleep without our night call, and yet…

“Just in case, let’s try calling her one more time”

And so, I once again call Suzuka.

This time, she answered the call like usual.

“Good evening! It’s your lovely wife Suzuka here!”

“Oh, you answered this time. I say, if you’re going to say something like ‘Let’s call each other before sleeping? I’ll get angry if you don’t do it!’, you should at least answer the phone. Is it that? Are you cheating on me?”

It was intended to be taken as a light joke from my side.

However, my choice of words was poor.

“What’s this, what’s this? Are you getting jealous over me speaking with someone else? After all, you’re going on about cheating”

I could tell it from her tone of voice alone.

She was grinning smugly while teasing me.

“Heh? Who’d get jealous over that?”

“Ee~h, despite me not answering your call, weren’t you a little too fast in calling me again?”

“You! That, I simply thought, why not try one last time…?”

“There you go agai~n”

I can’t see myself winning this one.

Due to my using the word ‘cheating’, Suzuka persistently went on and on about ‘You’re jealous, right?’.

—After a long time of trying to get her to calm down, we finally changed the topic to with whom she was talking before me.

“Before talking with Yuuki, I was talking with Miki-chan”

“Ooh, her, huh? And, what were you talking about?”

Miki is a classmate of Suzuka and mine.

She’s one of the friends with whom Suzuka gets along very well.

“She was su~per hyped, telling me, ‘Let’s go on a graduation trip after the exam!’. It’s that, you know? She’s escaping from the cruel reality of the National Exam.”

A graduation trip.

In the present year, 2023, because the Age for being a major had been lowered to 18 years, we can already stay at a hotel without our parents present and without the need to present a letter of consent from them.

As such, all different types of travel agencies are developing and offering multiple graduation plans aimed specifically at those who just graduated from high school.

That together with the price competition makes it possible to get a trip for a very reasonable price.

It’s for this reason that a group of boys, myself included, have been thinking of going on a graduation trip which included staying over some days. Nonetheless, the idea itself had been lacking charm, leading to us not being fully convinced of doing it…

“He~h, then how about you invite some girls to go? Miki-chan said it herself too, ‘It’s fine just us girls, bu~t, it would be even better if some boys came along!’”

“Well, it is a graduation trip, so I guess that’s not a bad idea. Oh! Speaking of trips, leaving aside the graduation trip, my mother is pestering me every single day, ‘When the exam is over, you’ll go on your honeymoon, right? Where are you going? Eeh, where?’”

“Ahahaha, so it’s the same for you too. I was just told the same right now too! Well, I ended up snapping and yelled at her, ‘Anyhow, the graduation trip comes first!’”

“I know, especially since we won’t be getting many chances to see our high school friends after entering university. More the reason why the graduation trip comes first. I mean, we ARE husband and wife at any rate.”

“True enough. Ah! Look at the hour! We should go to sleep already.”

“You’re right. Well, don’t go catching a cold, ok? Goodnight”

“Good night”

I touched the screen of my smartphone and ended the call.

“*yawn* So sleepy…”

While thinking to myself that, contrary to my initial plans, the call ended up lasting a long time, I went to my bed and fell asleep.

Now then, contrary to one’s wishes, time sure flies by.

Before I knew it, the National Exam had already reached its end.

Having finished the application to my university of choice, all that’s left was to wait for the results.

That’s right, at this precise moment, I am waiting for the notification of acceptance or rejection.

Suzuka, who applied to the same university as me, was standing by my side after we decided to take the opportunity to come together and see if we passed.

Also, we were currently in my room.

And, well…

For some reason, the moment Suzuka arrived, my mother decided to go and do some shopping, leaving us alone.

{ED/N: Ya for “Some Reason”}

“Checking my answers afterwards, I seemed to have done well, but seeing how it happens that you sometimes forget to mark the answer, or you mark it in the wrong number, I can’t help but feel nervous about if I passed or not…”

“Same goes for me. I should be able to pass it if it goes according to my self-evaluation…”

In this way, the two of us were seated in front of the computer, waiting anxiously for the list of accepted applicants to be published.

“Yuuki, what will you do if you’re accepted?”

“Since it’s my first choice of university, and the exams are all over now, I’d go and enjoy myself like there’s no tomorrow. How about you?”

“It’s also my first choice of university, and if I pass, I believe all my exams would be finished too~”

We continue to wait whilst being restless.

Soon after, the moment we awaited arrived.

We input our examinee number and the page is displayed.

The first one we looked up is mine.

ACCEPTED

“Yes!!”

I raise my arms in celebration.

I already had a feeling that I’d pass, based on my self-evaluation. Still, happy things make you happy.

“Congratulations!”

“Yeah! Next is your turn, ready?”

Fearfully, Suzuka inputs her examinee number.

She mistyped her number a few times before she got it right, and now she goes on to press the button to show the results.

ACCEPTED

The screen displayed the above.

Suzuka is now a high schooler officially accepted into university on her first try.

“I did it! I did it, Yuuki!”

“Yes, you did! Great job!”

“Ueeehh…! I’m so glad I didn’t fill the wrong number of questiooon!!”

I was worried about it.

Needless to say, Suzuka too was anxious about this. The result of being released from our worries was this.

Suzuka was crying tears of happiness.

In the spur of the moment, Suzuka jumped to hug me, and as I was soothing her, it happened.

There was a phone call from my mother.

I freed myself from Suzuka and, for the time being, answered the phone.

“So, how did it go?”

“Aah, mom, I passed! Of course, Suzuka did so too.”

“Is that so? I’m happy to hear that. I’ll be busy today with errands, so I’ll be back late.”

“Oh, ok?”

“There’s no problem. I’ll be back UNTIL LATE, ok?”

In short, she’s saying ‘You guys can go and get wild’.

There’s no helping the fact that I’m getting this creepy sensation from having my own mother say those kinds of sex-related things.

Rather, I mean, just how should I answer my mother now…? While I was thinking about that, the only answer I managed to squeeze out was this.

“Be careful on the way back?”

“Oh my, worrying about your mother, you’re so kind! But more than me, it’s you, Yuuki, who needs to be careful, you know? Getting carried away and going too far is no good, understand?”

“… Uh, yeah”

I’m more than aware of the fact that my face is twitching.

Please don’t say things like ‘Getting carried away and going too far’ to your own son.

It really gives me a creepy feeling…

“Well then, be nice to Suzuka-chan, ok?”

She hung up after saying that.

“Haa…”

“It seemed as if that was Mrs… I mean, my mother-in-law, so why is it that you look so tired?”

“She said that she’d be coming back late. And was very openly implying it would being ok even if we did those kinds of things”

“I see, I see. Oh! It’s from my mother”

This time, it was Suzuka’s turn to receive a call from her mother.

And, well…

As she continued her conversation on the phone, Suzuka’s face gradually changed into a twitching strained smile.

After saying she was accepted and talking about other things, the call ended and Suzuka spoke to me.

“I was told the same, to not go too far. She even went as far as being more explicit and saying, ‘Make sure you protect yourself, ok? You’re still young, so think carefully before doing it’. Having your parents worry about that kind of thing makes me feel like dying from embarrassment!”

“It can’t be helped. The two of us are husband and wife. It’s natural that they think we’ll be doing, or are doing, those kinds of things”

“Yuuki. This is a rare opportunity, so, want to do it?”

Nonchalantly, a bomb was dropped.

Suzuka.

Her hair is neither too long nor too short.

Her chest is… On the slightly smaller size side.

Having such a line said from a girl like that, from a wife like that…

Speaking honestly, there’s nothing bad about it, but…

“… No, we should stop right there, ok? We would be pushing it too far for a trial as a married couple. If we went so far as having sexual relations, we would be ending the ‘trial’ part of this”

“Hoho~. You don’t want to do pervy stuff?”

“And what about you? Are you trying to tempt me by saying those things?”

“Hmm. I’m not sure. Until a bit back, we were just two people connected by nothing other than being long-time childhood friends, right? I guess it hasn’t really hit me as real that I would be doing that kind of things with Yuuki”

“See, that’s what I mean. Ok, now, more importantly, I sure am hungry. I was so nervous I couldn’t even eat breakfast…”

I was overly worried about the verdict of my being accepted that I skipped breakfast.

It was just when I was thinking of cooking up some make-shift breakfast for myself, seeing as my mother isn’t here.

As if on purpose, Suzuka said,

“Would you like a meal? Would you like a bath? Or, Would. You. Like. Me?”

“A meal. Also, you, so you really are trying to seduce me?”

“What did you expect? After saying that you hadn’t eaten breakfast, there’s no way I could resist the urge to say that, right? Oh! Since my dear husband is requesting a meal, I should go and show him my abilities by preparing him one”

“Yeah, yeah! Please cook some delicious breakfast for me”

“I guess I have no choice the~n”

Suzuka and I.

The two of us headed for the kitchen.