Chapter 236

"Here's how you should solve this one... Tetsuya-kun, are you listening?"

Tetsuya, who had been staring blankly at his math workbook, snapped out of his daze at Miyuki's subdued tone.

"Ah, yeah. I was listening."

He seemed to be feeling down after finding out I frequented Miyuki's house. I couldn't understand why he was acting like that when he was the one who had been so indecisive, but since Tetsuya wasn't exactly an ordinary guy, I didn't think I needed to try and figure him out.

"What did I just say?"

"Uh... that it's better to factorize?"

"I never said that."

"O-oh, really...?"

"Why can't you focus? Do you just not want to study?"

"Not at all. Why would I hate studying with you?"

I didn't like the sight of him waving his hands in denial. Resting my chin on my hands with my elbows on the dining table, I slyly stretched a leg out under the tablecloth and slid it between Miyuki's thighs.

Twitch.

At my bold move, Miyuki's shoulders gave a faint jerk, and she furrowed her brow slightly.

"...Then, should we start over...?"

She was speaking to Tetsuya, but her eyes were fixed on me. It was a reprimanding gaze, as if asking what the hell I was doing. Ignoring it, I feigned boredom—as if I found studying tiresome—and gently tapped against Miyuki's sensitive area.

Miyuki's face quickly flushed red. Deciding she couldn't just let this continue, she reached down and pinched the top of my foot hard. Feeling a sharp, stinging pain, I jerked my leg and pressed firmly between her thighs.

"Hic...!"

A rather high-pitched moan slipped from the lips of the girl who had been lowering her long eyelashes and pretending to be perfectly calm.

"Ahem...! Hem..."

She quickly let out a fake cough to smooth over the situation. Flashing an awkward smile at a puzzled Tetsuya, she spoke.

"Are you ready to take notes? I'll teach you the formula."

"Ah, yeah. But are you feeling sick? Did you catch a cold?"

"No? Why...?"

"You were coughing pretty hard."

"I just swallowed wrong."

"Really? You should drink some water."

True to his clueless nature, he had no idea what was happening underneath the table. Miyuki seemed more flustered than I'd expected, so I decided to stop here. Next time, I'd have to corner her in the bathroom during our break.

I pulled my foot out from between her legs and placed it quietly on the floor.

"Phew..."

Miyuki let out a deep sigh as if trying to cool her flushed face. After taking a large gulp of the juice in front of her, she shot me a resentful glare before explaining the formula to the idiotic Tetsuya.

"Wrong. You just had to plug in the formula I just taught you. Do you not remember?"

At Miyuki's strict tone, Tetsuya scratched his head.

"Sorry. I forgot."

"Compared to your usual level, you've gotten a lot of wrong answers today, Tetsuya-kun... Are you not feeling well?"

"D-do you think so...?"

"You look like it."

"I have no excuse."

"It's fine. I can still see you tried your best to solve it. Matsuda-kun got it right. You got confused with the solution halfway through and wasted a lot of time, but I can let it slide."

Surviving Miyuki's bombardment of questions for several hours had been incredibly exhausting. My mind was drained, so it was only natural I receive physical compensation, right? Stretching my stiff body, I asked in a hopeful tone.

"Are we done for today, then?"

"It's a bit of a shame, but... I think that's enough. Good job today, both of you did well."

It was a stretch to say Tetsuya did well... but true to her kind nature, Miyuki praised him too. Watching me crack my stiff neck, Miyuki let out a soft chuckle and continued speaking as she stood up.

"I'm going to the bathroom. I'll peel some fruit when I get back, so rest and have some before you go."

At that, Tetsuya clutched his head and blamed himself.

"Sorry I did so poorly today. I'll review everything when I get home."

"No. If you're not feeling well, it's better to just get some rest. Why don't you two take a walk together or something?"

With that, Miyuki hummed a tune as she headed upstairs to the second floor. Her light steps made it seem like she genuinely enjoyed teaching us. Sighing in exasperation, I left Tetsuya—who looked like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders—behind and headed out to the small garden outside the living room.

As I was stretching while admiring the well-maintained flowerbeds, I heard, "Matsuda, what are you doing out there?"

Tetsuya's annoying voice rang out from behind me.

"Stretching."

"Want me to join you?"

"Suit yourself."

"Okay."

Tetsuya stepped up beside me and began twisting his waist from side to side. After doing so in silence for a moment, he pointed to a shrub in the corner of the garden, which had four or five sparse leaves sprouting above the bluish stipules on its branches.

"Isn't the bush pretty?"

"Pretty? It hasn't even bloomed yet."

"Ah, I guess it might look like that to you. I planted it with Miyuki when we were kids, so it looks pretty to me."

Was he bragging? Trying to show off that he had built up all these memories at Miyuki's house since they were kids? No way. Tetsuya was a pathetic loser, but he couldn't have sunk that low. At least, I wanted to believe that. If he really was bragging, I was starting to get a little scared of him.

"It'll probably look nice when it blooms. I haven't seen it flower in the summer, so is it a spring flower?"

"Yeah. A royal azalea."

Having a conversation about flowers with this guy was putting me in a foul mood. I needed to change the subject.

"How's boxing? Manageable?"

"It's alright. The gym owner seems to think highly of me."

"Really? If the owner says that, doesn't it mean you have a talent for boxing?"

"He wasn't praising my technique; he just said I have good perseverance."

"Stop being so humble. Do they still make beginners just jump rope endlessly these days?"

"No. If they did that nowadays, everyone would quit, so jumping rope is just a warm-up and they teach you the one-two right away. Come to think of it, didn't you used to work out and then quit? I think I heard that from Miyuki..."

I had indeed told Miyuki in the past that I quit exercising. I'd only mentioned it in passing, but she remembered even that? That was my Miyuki for you. I'd have to leave a deep kiss mark on her neck as a stamp of approval later.

However, I didn't appreciate her telling Tetsuya about it. Even though we hadn't been dating at the time, sharing my stories with a piece of trash like Tetsuya was worth a penalty point. Even considering they were childhood friends with no secrets between them, I couldn't just let it slide... I'd have to punish her with a spanking.

"I did."

"What sport was it?"

"I did a bit of everything, so it's hard to pick just one. Don't be so nosy."

"Got it. Sorry."

"But don't you have to buy gloves and boxing shoes separately?"

"Yeah."

"And you bought them all?"

"I did."

"You must be taking this seriously."

"I plan to, for now."

"What are you going to use it for? To hit me?"

"Come on... You don't work out just to hit people."

It sounded like a sarcastic jab at my past as a delinquent, or was I just imagining it? No, Tetsuya was exactly the kind of guy to say that on purpose. But why didn't I feel offended, only amused? Perhaps I had grown so used to his pathetic nature.

Regardless, judging by the way he was talking, he was bound to start acting cocky soon... I wondered if I could bait him into sparring with me when that happened.

"Matsuda-kun! Tetsuya-kun! Come eat some fruit!"

As we were having this completely worthless conversation, Miyuki called out to us loudly. Upon returning to the living room, I saw Kanna sitting at the table with a fork in hand, having arrived at some point.

Taking a seat at the newly tidied dining table, I asked Kanna a question.

"When did you get here?"

"Just now. Why?"

"I feel like I only ever see you when it's time to eat."

"I'm not a pig, you know. Want me to show you my belly fat?"

Just how exactly did she interpret my words to give a response like that? Kanna could be surprisingly eccentric. Still, I did kind of want to see her belly. I imagined it would be soft and smooth, just like Miyuki's.

As Kanna made a sudden move to roll up her t-shirt, a horrified Miyuki quickly stopped her.

"Ah, Kanna...! Stop doing weird things...!"

"Why? I have to prove it so Matsuda-kun stops teasing me."

"Matsuda-kun wasn't teasing you...! Did you hit your head or something?"

Hmm, hmm... The bickering sisters were a pleasant sight. It made me want to take them both to bed. Flashing a satisfied smile as I watched Kanna stubbornly insist and Miyuki desperately try to stop her, I spoke up.

"C-Calm down, you two... Shall we eat the fruit?"

I threw a pitying look at Tetsuya, who was desperately trying to butt into the conversation, and popped a piece of apple into my mouth.

That evening, in front of Renka's house.

"What's that on your neck?"

Renka, who had come out right on time and gotten into the car, asked the question. Stroking my neck, I put on a puzzled expression.

"What do you mean?"

"It's red. Did you get a bug bite?"

"Where?"

"The lower part of your neck. A little to the right."

So she spotted the kiss mark Miyuki had left. She must not know what it was because she'd never seen one before.

"This? You'll find out eventually."

"Eventually?"

Swallowing the words, 'I'll make sure to teach you myself,' I changed the subject.

"What do you want to do today?"

"Weren't you supposed to decide beforehand?"

"I didn't decide on anything. Should we just drive around and stop if we see somewhere fun?"

"Why are you being so spontaneous? Don't you have a plan or something?"

"Do I need a plan to hang out with a slave?"

"Hey!"

"Alright. Don't get mad."

"And stop talking to me so casually...!"

"Sure, sure."

Did my shameless response annoy her? Chewing on her lower lip, she glared at me before turning her head toward the window, as if she had lost all desire to talk further.

As I drove silently in the quiet car, looking for a place to go, Renka eventually broke the silence, seemingly uncomfortable with the heavy atmosphere.

"You're going to enter the next Kendo tournament, right? Have you talked with the Kendo Club members?"

"Kendo tournament?"

"You made it to the finals since you won last time. Don't tell me you forgot that too?"

"I remember. But is there really a need to enter?"

"You were picked as a starting member, so shouldn't you naturally participate in the next tournament?"

"It's hard to feel motivated to join when there's no reward."

At that, Renka let out a sigh laden with sheer disappointment.

"You said you were getting into it last time. Didn't you say you wanted to enter the tournament?"

"Did I? I can't really remember."

"Stop lying."

"Now that I think about it, I guess I do remember. But entering a tournament that goes into the vacation is a bit..."

"Why are you so unmotivated? Why are you even trying to learn Kendo? Is it just a hobby?"

"Among the Total Concentration Breathing techniques..."

"If you're about to say you want to learn Thunder Breathing, you're dead."

"Understood. Then I'll say it's because I want to learn the Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu."

When I mentioned the name of a technique from a classic action manga, Renka scoffed as if she found it ridiculous.

"What are you talking about... The Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu is passed down to only a single successor, so... Ah..."

Renka rambled on before letting out a gasp of dismay. She had tried to show off her knowledge when a familiar topic came up, only to realize the mistake she had just made. Bursting into laughter internally, I asked her in a playful tone as her eyes darted rapidly from side to side.

"Were you going to joke that I couldn't learn it in a normal Kendo Club because it's passed down to a single successor?"

"N-No...?"

It was glaringly obvious. What did she mean, 'no'?

"You were, weren't you?"

"No, I wasn't...?"

"I'm pretty sure you were."

"I said I wasn't...!"

"You seem to have quite a deep understanding of this field. By the way, President, what might the honorable name of your Master be?"

"...I don't really know what you're talking about...?"

Watching her try to gloss over the situation with a flat, monotonous tone like she was reading from a textbook was both hilarious and pitiful. Since Renka's inner otaku seemed to be in full bloom today, I decided we should spend some time at a subculture store.