"Is it because of me?" I asked.

I figured that that had to be the reason, after all, we had been streaming for a while, and she hadn't brought up this concern before.

"Huh?" Rapthalia asked.

"I mean- I won't mind it if you get fat," I told her. I didn't want her to skimp out on her portions for my sake. However, I realized too late that I should've worded what I was saying differently. Girls generally didn't like being associated with the word 'fat' in any context whatsoever.

"E-Eh?" Raphtalia asked. She then scratched her cheek - and unlike with Filo or Melty I have no problem admitting that she looked cute. "C-Could it be that you prefer your women on the stouter side?'

"Wha- no, I mean, you don't have to hold out on stuff for my sake," I said to her.

"I didn't mean anything like that either," Raphtalia said. "I just meant- ah, that I really wanted to share it with you."

...

Well, that changed things and put some others into perspective.

"Alright," I said. Why hadn't she just said so?

Ah well, she was at least more forthcoming than the other girls had been with.

"Oh, Naofumi," Raphtalia asked. "I uh- wanted to ask about something-"

She seemed to hesitate with what she was going to say once again, and then she said, "I was- uh, wondering where I'd go after high school ended. How'd you choose what to do?"

"I uh," I began, rubbing the back of my neck. This was a bit of an awkward subject for me, by the mere fact that I was really not the best person to ask this question. "I don't really know what to tell you." I also wasn't sure how to present my case without seeming like a gigantic loser, but here goes nothing. "I uh, didn't give that much thought to it at the time. I ended up taking a gap year after school before I ended up somewhere..."

"Oh? Is it better to wait a year to see how things go out?"

"No..." I said. Once again, I was unsure how to say things. "I uh, didn't think too much about it when I was in high school, which looking back was a mistake. I should've been preparing for college way earlier than I started. Honestly I didn't even think too much about what I was going to do earlier. I hadn't even started preparing for the entrance tests on time and didn't get anywhere."

Raphtalia clearly had the wrong idea if she thought that I had taken a gap year on purpose- because that was far from the case. Granted, the number of students who took drop years had gone up over the past couple of years, but at the same time, if you just wanted to get in anywhere it wasn't hard to get into someplace. "Eventually I just tried my hand at whatever, and ended up in a law school."

"Oh- should I drop by your law school and see how it is?"

"Eh- I really think that someone like you should aim higher," I told her. She looked like a busybody when it came to studying, and I was sure that her grades were better than mine/ "Aren't you trying for a place like Todai? You know, someplace with actual class?"

"Ah- I doubt I'm good enough for that."

"I don't doubt that you could do it," I told her. "Heck, if you're thinking about dropping a year, why not aim for something like that?"

Usually the reason that people took drop years was because they were aiming for something good, which is why they became ronin- masterless samurai, or in this case, just students who had not found a college yet.

However, if all you wanted was just a college to get into, it wasn't hard. With Japan's declining population there were always some private colleges that were usually ready to accept you with open arms.

The issue was that those who took drop years generally did so so that they could get somewhere that was actually good.

It was the rare breed of creature like myself which had taken a drop year and then also joined a no-name private college.

Raphtalia though, even if she didn't end up somewhere good on her first try, I was sure that she would get in on the second one.

"Well, I don't want to go too far from home," Raphtalia said.

"If that's the case, there are still better schools here that aren't too far away," I told her.

"I was kind of wondering..." she began to say, fidgeting with her fingers. "Wouldn't it be nice if... we were at the same school together? College, I mean."

"Rapthalia I..." I began to say. How did I express this without hurting her feelings? "I would like that. It would almost be like a dream come true, but uh... you know that I don't go to a good school right? And I'm going to graduate in 2 years after you join, meaning it would only be a time period of two years. And I don't want to mention this but... say we break up or something else happens, would you really want to end up tying where you're going with me?" Her face fell a little, but I think she got what I was saying. "Are you thinking of going back to study... well, y'know?"

"Know what?" she asked, puzzled.

"I mean, which country you come from?" I asked her. I had never actually caught the name of the country she came from, though I assumed it was somewhere in Europe. "Did you want to go back there to study?"

"Ah!? No, not at all!" she said furiously, as if that idea was completely out of the equation.

"Why? The schools there are that bad? And wouldn't you have some family there?"

"More of... I mean, no... I do have family there... distant family, but I can't go back," Raphtalia said. The way she said it, the option was completely out of the picture.