Chapter 347

"A cylinder with radius r, as shown in the figure... I'm not doing this."

I tossed my pen aside. My head was already spinning from the moment I laid eyes on the problem.

Miyuki grabbed my arm, letting out a cute, whiny sound.

"Why...! Just give it a try. If you think about it carefully, you can probably solve a little bit of it, right? Are you giving up without even trying?"

"Everyone has things they're good at. Instead of wasting time on areas I suck at, it's better to polish what I do best."

"Should we switch to studying English, then? Matsuda-kun, your English grades were good last time."

"That was just a coincidence."

"No, it wasn't. You've always gotten high scores in English since tutoring started."

"Just a series of coincidences, then."

"Are you going to be like this?"

"I don't see why not."

"If you don't want to study, you can just say so."

"I didn't want to disappoint you, that's why."

At my words, Miyuki's strict expression softened into subtle delight.

She stared at me, the corners of her mouth twitching as she held back a smile.

Feeling awkward, I scratched my cheek and tried to change the subject, but she giggled and beat me to the punch.

"I'm not disappointed. I feel like that a lot too, so I actually understand."

"There are times when you don't want to study?"

"Yeah."

"Is the world ending?"

"Oh, whatever...! Anyway, let's take a break for today."

I accepted Miyuki's mercy and pulled a game console out of a shopping bag in the corner.

Miyuki's eyes went wide when she saw it.

"I was wondering what that was. It was a game console?"

She could have easily peeked into the shopping bag whenever I stepped out to use the restroom or water the flowerbed, but I really liked how she respected my privacy by assuming it was personal.

"I bought it so we could play together. I already made an account, so you just have to use it."

"You bought two of them?"

"Yeah. Stop talking nonsense and just take it for now."

"When did I ever talk nonsense?"

"You were just revving up to nag me."

"That's because you make me nag you..."

"Quiet, just lie down here."

I handed the game console to Miyuki and lay down on the mattress.

Reluctantly, she settled down next to me and lifted the console up.

"What do I do here? What do I press?"

"Just touch what you see on the bottom screen."

"Animal Crossing?"

"Yeah."

"I pressed it. Now what?"

"Wait for the game screen to show up."

"Okay. Did Matsuda-kun turn it on too? Your name is Dummy Ken? Why did you make it that? Because you're a dummy?"

Miyuki asked after peeking at my screen.

I forgot to change it. I couldn't bring myself to say that Hiyori was the one who picked it out.

Not yet... Yeah, not just yet.

"You're Smart-ki."

"Did you combine 'smart' with the last syllable of my name?"

"Yeah."

"Your naming sense... really sucks, huh? Dummy Ken is good, though."

Dummy Ken was good?

She must have liked Hiyori's naming skills.

The two of them might actually get along.

No, they had to get along.

"It's on. A video is playing? A raccoon is telling me I have to move to a deserted island."

I thought it would take a while for her to get into it, but hearing her voice, it was obvious she was interested.

She must have been happy just being able to do something together with me.

Relieved, I spent the rest of the night practically staying up with Miyuki, taking our time creating characters and reading through every single line of the story dialogue.

"Miyuki, what's wrong today? Are you sick?"

At the Vice Representative's worried question directed at the lethargic Miyuki, she covered her mouth with her hand, let out a cute yawn, and replied.

"I'm just tired from setting up a tent yesterday, picking fruit... and fishing..."

"A tent...? Fruit and fishing...? Did you go camping in the countryside or something?"

"Do you know Animal Crossing?"

"Ah, you played that? I heard it's popular lately."

"Yeah. Matsuda-kun, could you help me prepare for the next period?"

Miyuki's soft voice accompanied her hand resting on my arm.

Slouched back in my chair, I asked.

"What preparation? Isn't it PE?"

"Yeah. But today's our performance assessment, so they told us to get the traffic cones ready."

"Really? So what do we have to do?"

"We just need to bring them from the Gymnasium's external storage to the field."

"Right now?"

"Yeah. Let's go together."

"Forget it. I can just go do that much by myself."

I firmly pressed down on Miyuki's head as she tried to get up, forcing her to rest, and left the classroom.

While heading toward the Gymnasium like that, I spotted something white bulging out beneath the field's bleachers.

Wondering what it was, I changed direction and headed down the steep bleacher stairs, only to—

"Wh-What the...!? Hey...!"

I was so shocked I almost fainted.

It was because Hiyori was passed out on the bleachers with her eyes rolled back into her head.

For a second, my heart dropped, thinking something terrible had happened to her, but upon closer inspection, she was just sleeping with an eye mask on.

"Dammit... you scared the hell out of me..."

Barely holding back a curse that almost slipped out, I let out a heavy sigh mixed with relief, anger, and sheer disbelief.

That wasn't what was important. The real issue was that her eye mask's design was shockingly unconventional.

Where the hell did she even buy an ahegao eye mask like that?

Did she just pick it without thinking because the iris color was similar?

It was utterly ridiculous. She'd really bought something that looked exactly like her and suited her perfectly.

I thought they were real eyes for a second.

Not only that, but every time Hiyori breathed, her shirt looked like it was going to burst open because of her large breasts, which was another problem.

Her Blanket had completely slipped down and was hanging on her pelvis, leaving her belly button exposed, and her skirt was practically riding up to her waist... What a piece of work.

As a bonus, thanks to her terrible sleeping habits, the Blanket she had seemingly covered herself with was strewn haphazardly across her skirt.

If someone had been standing on the other side, they probably would have seen her panties. Thank god no one else was around.

To make matters worse, one of her arms was wedged tightly into the bleachers, so it was definitely going to fall asleep by the time she woke up.

"This is driving me insane..."

She really thought this was her house, didn't she.

Sprawled out asleep with even a portable pillow prepared... I wasn't sure whether to call her carefree or totally defenseless...

Still, she deserved praise for actually buttoning her shirt all the way up. The ahoge sticking up from the crown of her head was pretty cute, too.

Reaching out toward Hiyori's face, completely devoid of any caution, I flicked her forehead—lightly, but hard enough for her to feel the dull sting.

Flick.

"Ngh...?"

Hiyori let out a sleep-addled groan, slowly lifted her head, and sluggishly pushed her upper body upright.

She looked completely drained of energy, like a zombie.

I poked her shoulder as she groggily looked around in front of me.

"Why are you sprawling out and sleeping here?"

"...Is that you, sunbae-nim...?"

I thought she would be startled, so I was a little disappointed by her lackluster reaction.

"Yeah."

"I can't see... sunbae-nim... my eyes feel weird..."

"Take off your eye mask."

"Ah..."

Hiyori let out a short, dopey exclamation and pulled the eye mask off.

Turning toward me, she tried to rub her drowsy eyes.

I grabbed her wrist, pulled it down, and said, "Your hands are dirty. Go over to that sink, wash your hands, and wash your face. And do something... about your clothes."

"What's wrong with my clothes... Ah...?"

Hiyori's face flushed slightly red as she checked her own condition.

She hurriedly adjusted her clothes and tugged her skirt down.

She clearly realized just how much she was exposing.

So you actually do know how to feel embarrassed.

Then again, she was practically half-naked; it would be weird if she didn't feel at least a little ashamed, no matter how open-minded she was.

"My arm's asleep..."

Hiyori whined weakly while straightening out her skirt.

I clicked my tongue and said, "What is a grown girl doing flashing her belly button and thighs for everyone to see?"

"My sleeping habits are just like this, what do you want me to do...?"

"Right... well... I guess it's not something you can easily fix. But where did you even buy that eye mask?"

"This...? I bought it while shopping with my friends yesterday... Isn't it cute?"

"Did your friends not say anything when you bought it?"

"I bought it by myself after we split up... Why? What's wrong with it?"

"It's not that there's anything wrong with it... never mind. You picked it because it matches your eye color, right?"

"Yeah."

"Do you even know what kind of eye mask that is... Forget it. It looks good on you."

"Thanks. Ah, my Blanket got dirty..."

Hiyori bent over, picked up the Blanket that had tumbled down to the lower tier, and aggressively patted the dust off it.

Shaking my head, I picked up her pillow and dropped it onto her lap.

"Try acting a little more proper."

"No nagging allowed."

"Quiet. Did you have PE?"

"Yeah."

Hiding away to catch some sleep during PE class was just like me.

"You could have at least changed into your gym uniform... It's a miracle you didn't get caught."

"I told you, no nagging."

"Just go wash your hands."

"Okaay... hold this for me."

I was dumbfounded watching her hand me the Blanket and shamble lazily over to the sink.

I knew she was completely unpredictable, but she still had some sense of modesty. I never expected her to be so lacking in vigilance that she'd just sleep out here as if it were her own home.

Life at the Academy must have been much more comfortable than I'd imagined.

After washing her hands and giving her face a quick rinse, Hiyori walked back over to me and made a shameless demand.

"That storage room you told me about has too much dust in it, so it's hard to rest in there. Can you clean it for me, sunbae-nim?"

Oh ho. Who did she think she was, trying to play queen bee?

"No."

"Should we clean it together, then? Since it's a shared space."

"I don't use it."

"Why?"

"Because I know plenty of other places."

"Don't be mean and keep them all to yourself. Tell me where they are, won't you?"

"I'll think about it."

"Ah, tell me...! Tell me! Tell me...!!"

She suddenly started throwing a tantrum, which was extremely baffling.

Stunned for a moment, I realized that at this rate, the first-year PE teacher would probably look this way. To shut Hiyori up, I curled my middle finger back, pressed it against her forehead, and flicked her hard.

Smack!

"Agh! Ah, why did you hit me...! That actually hurts...!"

Hiyori clutched her forehead, furiously rubbing the spot I'd hit as she reeled in pain.

I just snorted at her and said, "Of course it hurts, I hit you to make it hurt. Show a little restraint."

"People hate it when a conservative person is violent on top of it, you know...?"

"I don't care. Let me see."

Hiyori whined softly with a tiny 'Jeez...' and moved her hands away.

The exact center of her forehead was bright red.

Her skin was really delicate. Would she even get a bump?

Then I guess I'll just have to lick it better for her.

"It suits you. I'm leaving."

As I stood up and started to walk away, Hiyori asked bluntly, "Where are you going?"

"To clean up the Gymnasium. And stop sleeping out here."

"I don't want to? I'm gonna sleep here again?"

"Then sleep properly. Don't go flashing your belly button and legs everywhere like you did earlier."

"I got it..."

Seeing her droop her shoulders and pretend to be weak made me feel... absolutely zero sympathy.

A lot of people probably fell for that act and gave her everything they had, didn't they? Well, it wouldn't work on me.

Still, it felt a little disappointing to just leave like this.

Since I already flicked her forehead, I kind of wanted to leave her with a special little souvenir...

With that thought in mind, I looked down at Hiyori's disheveled bedhead and broke into a grin.

I placed my hand on the crown of her head, which was small enough to fit perfectly in my palm, and completely ruffled her hair.

Every time my hand moved, Hiyori's face obediently swayed along with it.

After I was thoroughly satisfied messing with the hair she let me touch without a word of complaint, I looked down proudly at her wild, bird's-nest hair and spoke.

"I'm really leaving now."

Then, suppressing the urge to turn back around, I walked away from Hiyori and headed toward the Gymnasium.

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