Saying that, Yuri bowed her head in thought. Even Liliana went:
"Well, I admit this idea is 10% reasonable..."
Muttering with a bitter expression. I see. Godou was struck with yet another revelation.
Even if their sense of spending was closer to a normal person's, it was still not the same. Hence, they were beginning to waver as a result of Erica's words. Also, one more thing.
They all seemed to be putting forth all their effort, trying to turn this "study meeting" into some kind of extraordinary event.
At the same time, he also discovered something else. These girls, whose lives were often removed from the ordinary, had no intention of wasting precious times of peace on school activities. Struck with a strange sense of relief somehow, Godou decided to play along in this situation.
That said, using a hotel would be a bit too much.
"Wait a minute, there's a shop nearby that's opened by someone I know. Let me try asking him if we could borrow the place. Then we shouldn't have to waste money unnecessarily..."
Godou took out his cellphone.
Even though this alternative plan had its own issues, the tradeoffs were worth it.
In order to resolve the emergency, Godou decided to rely on the power of an acquaintance. Also, he was hoping this could make everybody happy--
Several hours later, the study meeting concluded peacefully without incident.
The place they borrowed was the "shop" opened by an acquaintance and happened to be closed for the day. There, they studied for their exams with Yuri as their center. Consulting one another whenever they encountered things they did not understand, they copied borrowed notes and occasionally engaged in idle chatter and laughter.
Oh well, who knew how many marks their grades improved through these few hours of studying, nevertheless, Erica, Yuri and Liliana, as well as Godou himself, all spent a fulfilling time together.
"So, to return the favor to the owner, let me stay behind to clean up. You girls can go first."
Godou told his companions as he took out the cleaning equipment from the closet.
In actual fact, this was the shop where Godou worked part time, which explained why he was extremely familiar with where everything was located.
Since the shopkeeper-owner had given him a spare key in the past, they were able to enter the shop which was closed today (of course, he obtained consent over the phone first).
"Godou-san, we want to help clean up too..."
"Before we do that, I would like to confirm a few things first. May I?"
Yuri and Liliana suddenly exchanged glances and asked Godou.
"This shop is the place where you work. Also, you are trusted to the level of the shopkeeper handing you a spare key. Is this really fine?"
Godou nodded to confirm Liliana's question.
"Yes. Yanagi-san already said before. The shopkeeper of this place is currently busy."
Godou had heard that a friend of Yanagi-san's was opening a shop offering wine and western cuisine in half a month's time.
It seemed to be an old acquaintance Yanagi-san knew from his days as fellow bartender trainees. In order to assist him in this critical challenge in life, Yanagi-san decided to help prepare the menu.
Which was why Yanagi-san frequently traveled to the place where his friend's shop was set to open.
He often had to stay there overnight and hence neglected his own shop. Realizing this, Yanagi-san had made a spare key and entrusted it to the shop's only male employee.
'Whenever I'm late, could you please do the opening preparations?'
'Sure, no problem. But is it really okay to give a key to a student who only works part time? There's no guarantee I won't do anything bad, right?'
'Hoho. I'm sure Godou-kun won't do those kinds of things, right?'
No matter what, Godou was not going to confess his various crimes against famous tourist attractions and historical sites all over the world.
Faced with the dashing smile displayed by Yanagi-san, Godou felt rather anxious and unsettled.
'Besides, aren't there university kids who work part time as shopkeepers too? I have that experience too. Godou-kun counts as that kind of situation.'
'Umm... I'm still a high school student currently.'
'No problem. Your resume here at our shop has been written "in that way" already.'
Yanagi-san cheerfully revealed his crime of forgery.
'In fact, you are welcome to come and have fun before opening time, and stay for the night after closing. Do as you wish, but I'll rely on you to act as the shopkeeper temporarily for now.'
This was the conversation he had with the shopkeeper of the "Three Backs" bar and restaurant in Ueno.
Even though it was simply chatting, on a day when there were only regular customers present, Yanagi-san left while his shop was in business and went over to his friend's, really leaving Godou in charge as the substitute shopkeeper.
Although Yanagi-san really was a great guy, he did occasionally act ridiculously like that, Godou recalled.
"Indeed, perhaps we do not quite understand the standards of 'normal' with respect to Japanese high school students."
Liliana sighed with a gloomy expression. Next to her, Yuri also surveyed the interior of the shop with a worried look and said:
"Nevertheless, I do not believe working in this kind of shop counts as 'normal.'"
Yuri's gaze turned towards the numerous shelves filled with alcohol opposite to the cash register. These were collected by Yanagi-san over the past decade or two and included many precious and famous wines.
"It sounds a little ungrateful, but choosing this kind of place expressly to hold a study meeting is a bit too..."
"Clearly cannot be described as normal..."
As Yuri pointed things out, Liliana nodded in agreement. Godou began to panic.
"N-No, well. Because none of you seemed eager to go to someone's house. You all wanted to study outside. It's true I did feel slightly apprehensive about this place but under such conditions it shouldn't be a big deal, right?"
"Trying to muddle things through with a description of 'slightly,' how typical of Godou's excuses."
Erica entered the conversation after thoughtful consideration.
"Fundamentally, the fact that such a place was available as a choice is in itself rather unusual. Even though 80% of Godou's everyday life is spent in extraordinary circumstances, the remaining 20% never ceases to amaze others in his disposition towards abnormality. As expected of the god-slaying Devil King."
Hearing these unexpected words, Yuri and Liliana nodded firmly in agreement.
Hence, Godou's banner of "commoners representative, a simple high school student" was marred by the addition of a question mark, and thus the study meeting concluded.
This was a scene that occurred just as December and midwinter was arriving the very next day.