2.3

We arrived at the study group meeting at the café after school. "Sorry to keep you waiting."

Saying this, Horikita naturally joined her classmates.

I was impressed by how much she had improved her socializing skills. "Oh, Kiyotaka is here too!"

Kei, who was looking at her notebook with a difficult expression on her face, noticed me and smiled.

"I'm sorry, I'm just here for a quick visit."

"Eh?"

Kei showed a blatantly dissatisfied expression, but she didn't continue complaining. That was largely due to me telling her yesterday that she should actively attend the study sessions and that I wouldn't help her with her studies. "Oh, sorry, I'm late!"

Not long after we arrived, Sudou showed up at the café with his voice hoarse, tired from running.

"It must be tough to make it here while being a club member." "It's no big deal. I do it all the time."

Sudou's gaze was captivated by Horikita's appearance for a moment, but he soon sat down in an empty seat nearby.

He then placed his bag on his lap and set down a set of study materials. Next, he took out a rectangular case and pulled out a pair of glasses. "What? Sudou-kun wears glasses?"

"Ah, it's been a while. I've been thinking about trying to wear it when I'm studying. Oh well, the prescription strength isn't that high."

In general, people with good eyesight rarely use glasses. However, good eyesight doesn't dictate whether you should or shouldn't wear glasses. Unlike basketball, where you have to look over a wide field of view, studying is a closerange battle. Adjusting your focus when looking at an object can be very eyestraining.

Many students, including Kei, were still shaken to see Sudou in such a studious mode. He probably hadn't attended many big study sessions. "What are you staring at me for?"

"You look pretty different just by wearing glasses. And you've started to study more, haven't you?"

Shinohara poked the side of her boyfriend Ike, who was sitting beside her, with admiration.

"Oh, I'm trying, too!"

"I know that. I know, but there's still a big gap between Sudou-kun and the two of us."

"That's— You know, well, yeah..."

Ike tried to argue with her, but her stinging words made him nod silently. "Oh, sorry, sorry. I'm not really one to speak, am I? But do you have any tips on how to keep at it for a long time? I want to be at a similar level to you, and I'd like to know if you have any tips that might help. It must be hard to balance basketball and studying at the same time, right?" Some of the students nodded their heads in agreement with Shinohara's question.

It was true that to the students with low academic ability, students such as Yousuke, Mii-chan, and Horikita must've seemed like naturally-born geniuses. They may not trust practicing the tips and tricks they've learned from such high-level students.

Since they were smart from the beginning, it seemed that they were capable of overcoming any obstacle.

In comparison, Sudou started out with the lowest academic ability in his class.

It was natural for them to want to know what led to Sudou's development. "Tips…"

Sudou crossed his arms as if somewhat troubled.

Initially, Horikita was the main factor for Sudou's studying habits. By becoming smarter, he wanted to become a man worthy of Horikita. However, Sudou would have difficulty explaining that in this scenario. "Ah, I guess..."

For a while, Sudou remained silent, but he seemed to begin forming words in his head.

He started to speak, though he still felt awkward.

"Strangely enough, I started to enjoy studying. Then, basketball became more interesting… something like that?"

He began telling them why he was able to do both, and that there were other advantages to studying besides that.

"At first, I didn't like studying. It made me sleepy quickly, and I couldn't solve the problems easily. But, the more you learn, the more you realize how useful studying is for school."

"But Ken, studying is useless in the future, isn't it? Depending on your occupation, it's not useful at all."

Ike asked Sudou the question that everyone must've considered at least once.

"I'm going to be a professional basketball player myself, so I thought studying was just a distraction. But what if I don't make it? What job can I do if I can't even study? I could probably only do jobs that would hire anyone, right?" There's no need to name any specific professions, but your options would be more limited than the average person.

"Even if you don't make it as a professional, you'll have more options if you study, right? You can go to a university and study something more specialized. Well, I don't have a concrete plan yet."

You don't have to stick with only one dream.

"Studying is an investment in your future. That's what I think." Even if Sudou's path to becoming a professional basketball player, which he had been pursuing for many years, was closed off, if Sudou finds another big dream to hold on to, he won't fall behind in life.

This was Sudou's short narrative. His mental maturity had clearly advanced thanks to his continuous study.

While those around him may have laughed at those words in the past, they were instead earnestly listening to every word without making fun of him. This was how much weight and truth had been added to his words, and it proved that a new era had begun. Sudou, sitting back down with a determined look on his face, hurriedly opened his notebook.

"That's enough small talk, right? Let's get on with our studies." Sudou, who should've been more tired than anyone else due to participating in the hardest club activities, pushed forward without showing any signs of such fatigue. He wasn't the type of person who was good at making speeches, but that was why his words and attitude were filled with a sense of truth that couldn't be hidden behind meaningless lies. This struck a chord in people's hearts. I'm sure that the students with lower grades, such as Shinohara and Ike, were also strongly moved here.