WataMote Chapter 44

Chapter 44
Information
Volume Number	Volume 5
Chapter Title	Because I'm Not Popular, I'll Study For My Test
Published	06 July 2013
Previous Chapter	Chapter 43
Next Chapter	Chapter 45

私がモテないのはどう考えてもお前らが悪い!

Watashi ga Motenai no wa dō Kangaetemo Omaera ga Warui!

No Matter How I Look at It, It’s You Guys' Fault I’m Not Popular!

Synopsis

It is time for midterms. Tomoko recalls that the previous year she felt she would do well in them and imagined the admiration of her peers. Instead, she received average grades. She lost her motivation to study, her grades dropped, and she recently overheard her parents discussing sending her to a college preparatory school. To avoid this, Tomoko vows to study harder.

She goes to the coffee shop and congratulates herself for having the ability to sit in a cafe. She listens to a "Yandere Boys CD," as she inwardly thinks she cannot study at home without getting distracted. As she imagines other patrons finding a mere high school "cool" for studying in a cafe, thirty minutes pass without her studying.

As Tomoko contemplates her whole reason for studying, a man sits next to her with a laptop. He starts watching an anime, and noticing Tomoko is looking, he turns up the volume enough for her to listen. In this way, she watched two episodes. At home, she watches the rest of the series on her computer.

The next day, in the cafe, the man again sits next to her and watches two more episodes. Afterwards, Tomoko does not feel like studying and returns home. After one week of this, the man finishes the series as Tomoko watches. He finally closes his laptop, turns to her, and remarks that the series was "fun." He notes that she is always at the cafe, to which Tomoko stammers that she has tests to study for. He states he needs to find another place to relax since his work thinks he slacks off too much in the cafe and wishes her good luck on her tests. The following day, the guy does not come so Tomoko finally decides to study.

Back in school, Tomoko happily receives her average midterm scores of between 68% and 76% which she feels will safe her from preparatory school. On her way home she passes the cafe and muses over how the man never returned. She is, however, grateful for that experience because it encouraged her to finally study. Feeling she can take a break from studying, she starts rewatching the series at home while thinking she should at least moderately live up to people’s expectations. As she rewatches the anime at home alone, she finds it rather boring.

Characters

• Tomoko Kuroki
• Mrs. Kuroki (flashback)
• Mr. Kuroki (flashback)
• Hina Nemoto
• Guy Slacks

Cultural References

• Tomoko thinks of Toshin High School, known for it's eccentric-looking teachers.

Memorial Moments

• Tomoko feels it is an achievement that she can now enter and stay in a cafe.

Quotes

• "You really are a completely hopeless idiot, it seems I have no choice but to use my body to teach you." – Tomoko's "Yandere Boys" CD.
• “I supposed it's better than those guys who just follow the crowd and study without even understanding why they need to study.” – Tomoko

Gallery