Time with Anne
“El! Over here, over here!”
The small girl standing in front of the café, looking this way and waving her hand, was Anne. Upon spotting Anne, I hurried toward her with quick strides.
“Did you wait long?”
“Nope. I just got here after finishing my work, so let’s go inside quickly!”
As soon as I arrived, Anne grabbed my hand and led me inside the café.
This café we entered was already a familiar place we’d visited many times together.
“Shall we order drinks first? What would you like, Anne?”
“Um… I’ll have a strawberry smoothie!”
While Yuli or Selian tend to order drinks with long, complicated names whenever they come to the café, Anne’s choices were rather simple, like today’s. In this aspect, it seemed Anne’s preferences aligned with mine.
“One strawberry smoothie and one blueberry smoothie, please.”
Immediately after hearing Anne’s reply, I pulled out my wallet and paid for both of our drinks.
“El is treating you?”
“Since I’m the one learning today, consider it tuition.”
“Uh-hee-hee.”
Anne laughed brightly, whether because she was happy to be getting a free drink or amused at the thought of teaching me. Given that she’s a noble, it was indeed an undignified laugh, but it was characteristic of her.
“Our drinks are ready.”
While waiting for a moment exchanging small talk, our two smoothie cups were quickly prepared. Holding our drinks, we looked around the café for an available spot.
It didn’t take long to find one. The café we visited today had a separated layout with partitioned rooms, so we could use it without worrying too much about other people’s stares.
Frankly, we didn’t need to choose a café outside the Academy as a place to study. However, I couldn’t blame myself much for this decision. After all, the last couple of days had ended with us unintentionally falling asleep in the dorm room after starting to study there. To completely avoid that scenario, I opted to head out of the Academy.
Once inside the booth, the slightly thin walls and curtains did an adequate job of reducing the noise. While the sounds weren’t entirely muted, it was still helpful since we had to talk while studying and wouldn’t have to worry about bothering others.
“Alright, should we start?”
“Yeah! Leave it to me! I’ve definitely reviewed thoroughly!”
Anne and I sat across the table from each other.
I pulled out my textbook and notebook for study, while Anne did the same. Notably, Anne’s handwriting seemed more refined than usual, indicating she might have actually reviewed thoroughly as claimed.
“From page 154, right?”
“Yeah!”
With that, we flipped to the relevant page and began today’s tutoring with Anne’s confident demeanor.
*
“Here, look at this. Doesn’t it explain the reason why the Dillis Kingdom fell?”
I pointed my finger at the relevant section of the textbook and explained.
“Oh, right! I completely forgot!”
Anne followed the point of my finger and replied.
“Ugh, I’m sure I memorized this, and it’s definitely written down in my notebook… But I ended up forgetting…”
Anne opened her notebook, searched for the note, and after placing her hands on her head, started reprimanding herself.
“Still, now that El has pointed it out, I’m sure I’ll definitely remember it next time!”
Anne confidently declared, then softly added in a quieter tone.
“Probably…?”
Although I had hoped she’d remember due to the nature of memorization subjects, Anne was, well, Anne. Initially, she managed to explain several points, but soon her story began to unravel, leading me to step in when things became unmanageable.
To be honest, I had anticipated this from the moment Anne offered to tutor me. Even though I had missed a week of lectures, Anne’s grades in written exams wouldn’t qualify her as a teacher. It’s not that Anne is unintelligent; she simply lacks interest and method in studying, which resulted in her consistently scoring low in tests.
“Alright, then, what location expanded their influence by absorbing the fallen Dillis Kingdom?”
I threw another question to Anne, but like before, nothing but groans emerged from her.
“Uuuuuh…”
Anne continued to groan while clutching her head. After a while, she glanced at me and started gauging my reaction. Catching my gaze, Anne softly spoke again.
“Hint?”
She had asked ten questions already, but the number of hints was probably over ten now. This would perhaps make it her 16th hint or so.
Still, it was commendable that she didn’t immediately ask for the answer and instead tried to figure it out on her own with hints.
“One of the kingdoms still existing on the continent.”
With that hint, Anne began reviewing the names of the current kingdoms, attempting to figure it out.
Is she really thinking? Or is she just guessing randomly?
“Silan Kingdom…?”
After a long moment of deliberation, Anne finally voiced a kingdom’s name but looked to me for confirmation, unsure if it was correct.
“Correct.”
“Yay!”
Cheering with her hands in fists, Anne was as undignified as ever. But that’s what made her Anne.
I tried sipping my smoothie through the straw but found the cup empty. Looking down, I realized I had finished it without noticing. Meanwhile, Anne’s drink was still half-full.
It appears that since I had transitioned into the teaching role, I ended up speaking more and finished my drink sooner.
“Do you mind waiting for a moment? I’ll go grab some more drinks. Is there anything you’d like to eat or drink?”
The money for tuition, dorm fees, and Academy meals was tight, but occasionally indulging in such luxuries was well within my budget.
“Huh? No, this is enough.”
Anne sipped her remaining strawberry smoothie, declining my offer. I then returned to the café counter, where, as I contemplated what else to get, a familiar voice called out to me.
“Elsia?”
Hearing my name called, I turned around to see a familiar pair of glasses.
“Class representative?”
Her real name is Lena, but I had grown so accustomed to calling her ‘class representative.’ We were supposed to study together tomorrow, but meeting her here today was a surprise.
“I thought I heard Elsia’s and Anne’s voices. Didn’t know you were really here.”
“Yeah. We’re studying here together…”
“How’s it going?”
“A-ha-ha…”
Unable to lie, I tried to pass it over with a vague laugh.
“Alright, I get the gist of what’s going on. Well, as your class representative, this can’t go unchecked.”
Eventually, I returned to the room with the newly ordered drinks, accompanied by the class representative.
“DillisSilanDillisSilanDillisSilan… Huh?”
Upon reentering, I found Anne diligently memorizing the contents I had taught her while I was out. She turned her head at the sound of the curtain opening and noticed me—and the representative—stepping in.
Anne, who hadn’t expected to see the representative here either, widened her eyes in surprise.
“Representative!”
“Hi.”
The representative greeted Anne with a wave of her hand and carried a spare chair from an empty spot, sitting on the side of the table where she could see both Anne and me.
“I just happened to run into you both out front. I heard Elsia was teaching Anne?”
“How could El be such a loose talker!”
To be fair, all I did was laugh awkwardly to the representative, but even that slight hint must have been enough to let her guess what was going on, thanks to Anne’s usual track record. Therefore, I didn’t consider it entirely my fault.
“Alright, let’s stop chatting and check how far you’ve progressed?”
With that, the class representative flipped through the textbook we had opened and examined our progress.
“We haven’t moved many pages yet.”
Since this was material I hadn’t studied myself yet, in order to teach Anne who had already forgotten it all, I had to advance through the content with her and explain it step by step. This made the process significantly longer than studying on my own or being tutored.
Still, I didn’t blame Anne for this. On the contrary, teaching her like this helped solidify the material in my mind far more effectively. Thus, Anne was indeed helpful in her own way.
“Alright, then let’s get started immediately?”
With sleeves rolled up and full enthusiasm, the representative sat before Anne, who, for some reason, looked a little nervous, an uncommon sight for the usually fearless Anne.
Reflecting on it, Anne occasionally got left behind due to her poor written exam scores, at which times the representative would stick around and help the students who remained after classes.
…What could she have possibly done to make such a fearless Anne tremble before the representative?
