Study Session

As Zayd was thinking, a ding sound from his phone woke him from his reverie.

'What's this?' Zayd thought as he clicked on the notification.

It was a message.

"Hi, is this Zayd-san?" The text said. It was someone familiar with him. However, he did not recognise the number that sent it.

"Yeah. Who is this? How did you get my number?" Zayd replied to the unknown person who messaged him.

"Oh, I'm Hoshiko Minoru." The other party said. The name did not help as Zayd didn't recognise it still.

"...?" Zayd sent back. "Sorry, I still don't know you."

"Oh. Well, I'm our class monitor. Does that ring any bells? I got your number from the group chat everyone in the class joined at the start of the semester." Zayd felt the fogginess- stay where it was.

"You sit at the front, right?"

"Yes! You finally remembered."

"Why are you texting me?"

"Oh yeah! I forgot..."

"Okay, bye."

"Wait, no, I remember!" Minoru said and started typing once more.

"Tomorrow morning most of the students from our class are going to go study at a library. Mid-terms are around the corner, and we still have lots of work to cover. Can you come?"

'She organised a study session. Should I go? But I want to go to the gym tomorrow. I mean, I can still go after, can't I? Yeah, whatever,' Zayd pondered over the matter. His silence after having read the message left Minoru confused.

"Zayd-san? Are you going to come?" Minoru texted again.

"What time do I need to be there? How long am I going to be there? Which library?" Zayd tapped his phone to respond.

"From 10 to 12 O'clock. At the library closest to school. Are you going to come, Zayd-san? Everyone else has said yes. You know it's good for you."

"Why do you even want me to go so much?" Zayd sent back, very confused at the girl's thoughts.

"I don't want the class average to be lower than what it could be after mid-terms. That would happen because you didn't study and catch up on work you missed, while everyone else studied hard."

"I'll go."

"You will?! Great! Thanks for agreeing."

"Okay, bye."

---

Saturday. Arguably one of the best days of the week. There are only seven days in a week, but Saturday was so good for so many reasons.

Firstly, you could sleep late.

Secondly, you could do whatever you want.

Thirdly, you did not have to do anything all day either.

Many more reasons exist.

Zayd woke up. His alarm was blaring in his ears as he turned it off and got out of bed.

It was 8:17. Zayd kept snoozing his alarm, and the alarm kept ringing out constantly. Its cacophony piercing his ears.

'I need to get up now.' Zayd thought to himself as he got up, his muscles feeling kind of achy from the Boxing Lesson.

Hopping in the shower before waiting a while and eating breakfast, Zayd looked at the time once more, and it was 8:44.

Grabbing some clothes out of his wardrobe, he put on blue jeans with a grey T-shirt. As he left, he put on a thin black jacket and some black shoes. Zayd wanted to get there early, so he had prepared his study material in a backpack and gym stuff in a gym bag. He planned to head to the gym straight after they finished in the library.

---

Arriving at the library, he went to an area where lots of tables were. It was upstairs, but it was quieter than the rest of the library. It seemed to be a designated study area.

As he walked towards a table, he received some glances from some of the already sat down people.

He pulled out a pair of headphones and put them on his head as he returned to watching some Boxing fights as he was doing so last night.

Zayd's focus changed, his mind tunnel-visioned on his phone screen.

Video after video of Boxing Fights, Zayd felt even more engrossed in the sport. The sheer number of tactics he observed was mind-numbing. Zayd watched everything in the videos, from the footwork that seemed simple to the complex decision behind every punch. Watching and understanding were two very different things. Zayd attempted to understand and was quite successful in his attempt.

When observing people who are the best, they make things look easy. It goes with all things. The easier someone makes something look, the easier it is for them to do it.

In his immersion, he smiled as he stared at his phone screen.

All of a sudden, he felt a tap on his shoulder. Pausing his video and removing his headphones, Zayd turned to his side.

"Hi there, Zayd-san. Didn't you see me? I walked right in front of you." Zayd looked at who he assumed was Hoshiko Minoru, the girl he texted last night about this trip to the library. The first thing he noticed was her outfit.

She was wearing an outfit similar to Zayd's, a coincidence. She wore jeans of a similar Navy Blue colour with a white T-shirt with a black windbreaker. Her casual style had a youthful aura.

"Yeah, sorry, I didn't notice you. Did you copy my outfit?" Zayd said jokingly.

"No, you copied me," Minoru said in a matter-of-fact tone before laughing softly. "Anyway, it's nearly 10."

"Is it?" Zayd checked the time just for confirmation. Putting his headphones and phone away, Zayd got his study materials out of his backpack. As he did so, Minoru's lips parted as though she wanted to say something.

"Hey, Zayd-san, what are your plans for today? You know, after this." Minoru said.

"I'm going to go buy some Boxing Gloves and then head to the gym for some practice and a workout."

"Oh! Do you do Boxing, Zayd-san? I used to do Karate with my Dad."

At Minoru's words, Zayd's eyes lit up.

"Yeah, I only started Boxing yesterday, but it was so much fun. What about you?"

"I was doing Karate for as long as I can remember. My Dad wanted me to be able to protect myself, so he taught me everything he knew."

"That sounds nice, having your Dad teach you," Zayd said, feeling dejected as he recalled his father. "You sound like you liked it."

"It was fun at first, I think. I was inseparable from my Dad when I was younger. I was spending so much time with him. Later on, he got so strict I couldn't take it. He wanted me to enter all of these competitions all the time, and it started to get in the way of school. So, I stopped about two or three years ago. I still love Karate. I always watch videos about it."

Now that they had a common topic, Zayd and Minoru's conversation flowed smoothly, and before they knew it, more and more of their classmates turned arrived. Soon it was 10, and although they wanted to keep talking, they could not.