Mandatory disclaimer: I do not own Oregairu. And to be perfectly honest, the idea for this 'fanfiction' is so heavily sourced from a certain Japanese fanfiction that you might as well call it a translation. Though not a very good one - heck, I don't even know much Japanese. In fact I considered it such a huge disservice to the original author to call it a translation that I decided against asking them for permission to 'translate' it. Several key points will be heavily altered.

Well, whatever.

TL;DR I am a terrible writer and an even worse human being. Heh... almost sounded proud of myself for a moment there.

Who knows, this might actually help me come up with my own ideas in the future.

[~ Iroha POV ~]

"OK, that's enough for today!"

I promptly closed the covers of a reference book while stretching my back.

Just two months after becoming a third-year in April, I, Isshiki Iroha, am at my desk at home preparing for my upcoming examinations.

"Haaa… if only I could return to a year ago."

I was already sick and tired of studying.

Up until recently, I had considered university entrance exams to be an inconsequential event occurring far off into the future.

Under normal circumstances, the preparation wasn't supposed to be this difficult.

Realistically, when setting your target university, you would usually pick one that best suited your academic ability, in such a way that you'd anticipate needing minimal effort to pass their exams.

However, my present circumstances meant that I was aiming for entry to a university at a level far above what I would have normally chosen for myself.

"Yosh! Time to eat the cream puffs I bought on the way back from school!"

Eating sweets after completing my revision each evening, this had become a recent pastime of mine.

...Gaining weight? What's that?

"Nnn! Delicious!"

Actually, even now, as I blissfully placed my left hand to my cheek, I was briefly reviewing my flash cards. Such things had become routine to me.

Finishing off a cream puff, brushing my teeth, going to bed.

And opening one of the photos saved in my mobile.

The photo that I had once taken together with that unsuspecting student.

I drift off to sleep after viewing the photo plenty of times.

"Good night, Senpai…"

When morning arrived I reviewed the English words I had learned yesterday, whilst eating my breakfast.

In the train I read the book on classical grammar.

...

I cannot waste any time.

And take out the reference book from my bag, flipping through it on my way to school.

Two voices greeted me from behind at the front gate.

"Iroha ohayou! … whoa, you're studying today too! Are you properly resting your body?"

"Sou da yo Iroha. Are you sure you're getting enough sleep?"

The names of the two are Hayakawa Haruka and Shinozaki Ayane.

We had been assigned to the same class when I was a freshman.

And by sheer coincidence, we had all been in the same class for three consecutive years.

"Nnn, I think yesterday I had about four hours' worth?"

"Ehh?! That little!? Yesterday I slept for about 11 hours?"

"No, that much is probably unnecessary. ...But as expected, 4 hours is still too little. Aren't you in bad shape?"

"Un, my body's fine. Well, I should be able to pay attention in class…"

I've said it many times before, but it's quite high level, the university I'm aiming for.

...

To think that Senpai was actually that intelligent…

"Our Iroha is aiming for such a prestigious university ne~"

"At that time I was really surprised when Iroha suddenly exclaimed, 'I'm aiming for a national university!'... though I heard that it's a different national university from the one Hayama-senpai went to? Weren't you aiming to get into the same institution as him in the past?"

"Nn, seems like some people had been thinking that" I muttered distractedly, as I sat down at my desk.

Looks like the time for first period had already arrived while we had been talking.

If I do say so myself, the current student me is not someone to be messed with. Seriously paying attention to the classes, time passed quickly and it soon became after-school hours.

"Iroha~ Let's go home together~"

"Ah, un! I'm on my way!"

I packed up and rushed to catch up with Ayane.

It's just the two of us today, it seems like Haruka has cram school.

"Always going home to study, haven't you ever considered attending a cram school or anything?

"Cram school huh...? But there aren't really any cram schools in the neighbourhood so it'd take a lot of time and effort to get to one..."

"Aaah, of course that'd be so. I had the same reasoning, but as an alternative I've been having a home tutor come to my house you know?"

"Tutor?"

"Sou! At first it was just one-on-one at my house, but now it's changed to become more of a group tuition session!"

"Aah, that must be nice."

"Deshou deshou! Ah, also…"

"Wait a sec, what's with this hesitant tone of voice?"

"E, eetou… sono… there's also a discount involved if you recommend their services to an acquaintance. Ahaha."

"So that was your true motive!"

"Nn, no, but I really do recommend it! As expected, self-study isn't as fun!"

Whilst partaking in such chatter, we had already arrived at the station.

Since Ayane and I took different trains, it was here that we went our separate ways.

...

And so, whilst riding the train home, in my hand I held the home tuition pamphlet.

…I got swept along by Ayane's pace.

Though, as she said, it really does get boring always studying by yourself.

"Uun, what should I do about this…

...well for now, how about I just discuss the matter with Kaa-san?"

I muttered to myself.

Chapter notes

Hope you liked it. If you didn't then, well, sorry, I'm really new to this stuff.

I'm always conflicted with regards to how much to localize and how much to preserve in moon-speak. Toriaezu, it'll mostly be the honorifics that I keep. ... well, I say 'always', but honestly this is the first time that I'm attempting to translate a passage (or anything, really) from JP to ENG.

I was originally just going to try write an Iroha-centric fanfiction about misunderstandings between Orimoto Kaori and Hachiman (cue the cliche "I've been wondering this for a while, but what's your relationship with him/her?"), but that became super difficult. So I settled for leeching off someone else's work instead. Hilarious.

Regardless of how critical the reviews (if any) might be, I intend to follow through with all 17 chapters, and possibly continue from there. Unless I have grossly violated some ethical code on this site.

For anyone interested, the original fanfiction is by a user named 煌弥 on a certain website. Apparently I can't post links in this so you'll have to make do with that.