Big Book of Writing

Graphite Dust (Kintai, DRA)

This is a trade for Kuroyuriis, I hope they enjoy it!

***

As the sun began to rise higher in the sky, Tsurugi walked into the small library with his school bag sloppily slung over his shoulder. In his hands were two cups of coffee, and he looked around the room for a certain person.

At a small table was a brunette girl in her school uniform, and she waved him over. Tsurugi quickly noticed her and walked over to the table, setting one of the cups of coffee in front of her. "Sorry I'm late, Akane," he apologized, sitting across from her.

"It's alright! You didn't keep me waiting long," she assured him. "I'm just surprised that you got me allowed back here in the first place! I needed three different forms of ID..."

Tsurugi sighed as he recalled the hassle of getting his father to agree to letting the maid study with him in the library in the heart of the police station. "Well, we're here now. Anyway, you said you needed me to help you study?"

"Oh, right! Sorry, I got off-track." Akane opened her school bag and pulled out some worksheets and notes. "I've never really had a head for social studies. I've always been too busy to look at politics or economics."

"That's fine, I practically grew up with them," Tsurugi replied. He pulled her notes closer to him so he could check them for errors, and she sipped at her coffee as he got out a pencil and eraser. "Ah, found one already."

"Oh, hehe... That fast?" Akane nervously giggled.

"About the Japanese Stock Market. The proper term for it is the Tokyo Stock Exchange," Tsurugi explained. "You got it mixed up with the Nikkei 225. If you need an easier name for it, it's also called the Nikkei Stock Average or the Nikkei Index. It's a stock market index for the Tokyo Stock Exchange, but it isn't the market itself."

"Oh, so that's it..." the maid realized. She watched as Tsurugi erased her incorrect notes and penciled in his notes in his own neat handwriting. "Is there anything else I got wrong?"

Tsurugi looked over the sheet of notes, finding that there were plenty of errors throughout the page... "I have a better idea. I can help you get through the worksheet, and I'll photocopy my notes for you to study from," he offered.

"S-So, there's a lot of mistakes then," Akane concluded, her face downcast. Hearing the sad tone in her voice, Tsurugi looked over to check on her. For some reason, seeing that expression on her made his heart start to feel constricted. It seemed familiar, though he wasn't sure where he had felt that feeling before.

"That's just an estimate on my part. It might also be easier for you to see my explanation in my own words rather than reading notes taken from the board," he suggested. He wasn't sure if it would cheer her up though, he was never really good at assuring people.

To his surprise though, Akane started smiling again. "I guess that makes sense! I mean, I was able to understand what you said about the stock market, I think?" she replied. Tsurugi nodded with a small smile, feeling the squeezing around his heart start to dissipate. Only a small ache seemed to remain afterwards.

"Alright, let's begin with the first question. 'When was the Government of Japan formed, and which constitution was signed?' Can you do this on your own?" Tsurugi asked.

"I think so! So, um, the government was formed in the 1860s, I think, but the constitution came a couple decades afterwards... Oh, right, it was the...! Um, it started with an 'M'..." Akane trailed off as she struggled to remember.

"The Meiji Constitution in 1889, you're right," Tsurugi agreed, watching as the maid's face lit up in delight. "But this is a trick question, because two constitutions were written in Japan. The first government was formed in 1868, and its constitution gave all power to the emperor as a mix of constitutional and absolute monarchy, but after the second world war, the Constitution of Japan was written in 1947 and made the emperor have a purely constitutional monarchy."

"Oh, so there's two of those! Um, does that mean that two different governments were formed as well?" Akane asked as she quickly wrote the answer down on the worksheet.

"No, it's always been one government with different parties and houses inside it. Although it changes over time, it's always been one thing," he answered.

"Wow, that's really a lot of stuff." She stopped writing and blew off the graphite dust from the worksheet. "How do you know so much?"

"A lot of studying," Tsurugi simply answered. Now that he was reminded of it, he turned to get his notes out of his bag. He was sure there was a photocopier in the library somewhere, he just couldn't remember where.

"Huh?" Akane turned to him. "But we always study together."

"Do you really think our study dates are the only studying I do?"

He had given that answer without thinking, but her reaction was immediate. "You study cheat on me?!" she exclaimed, her expression horrified. She was immediately shushed by the librarian, to whom she muttered a quick apology.

Tsurugi studied her expression for a moment, trying to see if she was just joking around with him. When he realized that she was not, in fact, joking around with him, he dryly replied, "No...I study on my own."

"O-Oh... I guess that makes more sense." Her face had gone red with embarrassment, and she couldn't meet Tsurugi's eyes. "Um, anyways! The second question is about which government parties govern over different prefectures, I think...?"

"Hold on, I'll photocopy my notes for you. You're good at memorizing those." Tsurugi stood up from his chair and spotted a photocopier on the other side of the room.

But before he could walk over, Akane happily replied, "Well, you're just a great tutor, you know!"

A sudden warm feeling in his chest nearly made him stop moving, but he continued walking onward with uneven breath. He wasn't sure what this feeling was either, but he kept quiet so that the maid wouldn't worry about it.

At the very least, the feeling wasn't entirely unwelcome.