A Date for Three?

Sudo glared straight at him. "I asked you to tutor us. Why are you dragging your feet? If you've got a problem with it, come spar with me."

"Ah... no, it's fine."

Eito was at a loss.

If he could, he really didn't want to tutor these three idiots.

It all started when Suzune saw Sudo behaving himself and decided she wanted to tutor the three of them.

Eito hadn't cared at first. Suzune was free to do whatever she wanted; he wouldn't interfere or help.

He was looking forward to seeing her grow.

But the thought of Suzune teaching those guys made him feel annoyed.

Even he had never gotten that kind of treatment. And now these three idiots wanted to get close to Suzune? They were crazy.

So he took the job.

At least he was pretty good at teaching people, and he felt confident about the work.

But the three idiots' level was still beyond anything he'd expected.

"You don't even know trigonometry? What have you been learning?"

"Will knowing this make girls like me?" Ike asked, confused.

"Of course," Eito replied coldly. "Once you learn it, you can show off to elementary schoolers. I heard little girls these days love handsome boys who know trigonometry."

"Really? Then I'll learn it." Ike was practically glowing with excitement.

He'd more or less given up on the girls in this class.

Ever since the girls ignored the self-introduction he'd written at the start of the year, asking for a girlfriend, he'd been down in the dumps.

Now, hearing what Eito said, he couldn't help imagining all sorts of possibilities.

Right. If he couldn't fool high school girls, couldn't he fool elementary school girls instead?

He really was a genius.

After that, Ike became much more enthusiastic.

That made the tutoring go smoothly.

Of course, "smoothly" meant that the three of them went through it in a daze.

At last.

Looking at the three of them, who were about to fall asleep, Eito sighed.

"That's enough for today. We'll continue tomorrow."

"Yeah! We're done!"

Yamauchi jumped up, but Sudo flicked him on the forehead.

"Hey, Sudo! What was that for?"

"Don't be rude to our master."

"Oh." Yamauchi rubbed his forehead with a resentful expression.

Hearing Sudo, Ike looked surprised.

"Master? When did you two become that close?"

Eito explained.

"It's like this: Sudo said he wanted to learn martial arts from me, so he started calling me that."

"Martial arts?" Ike's jaw dropped. "Like Chinese kung fu? You know kung fu?"

"Yeah. I don't."

"Huh?!" Ike's brain short-circuited on the spot.

Eito ignored him, picked up his books, and said goodbye to the others.

"I'm going to eat. Bye."

It was fun messing with idiots.

Chapter 26: A Date for Three?

Loneliness, huh.

Whenever he was bored, Eito would sit there, lost in thought about his life.

Every day, he repeated the same things. Every day, he indulged in meaningless fantasies. Every day...

"Takeda, can you spend some time with me this afternoon?"

Eito came back to himself and realized that class had already ended. Sato's face was right in front of him.

"Uh, well..." He'd heard that question plenty of times before, and instinctively wanted to turn her down.

"Oh, it's not Shinohara and the others this time. It's with Kushida. She said you'd definitely agree," Sato explained.

"...All right." Eito nodded.

He'd been tutoring the three idiots these past few days, and he'd barely even had a chance to talk to Suzune. As for Kikyo, he hadn't spoken to her at all since that day.

And when Kikyo said he'd definitely agree, she was obviously threatening him.

Since Sato would be there too, he decided to go and see what was up. If anything happened, at least he could sort it out sooner.

Just then, Sato pouted.

"You two are really close, huh? I've invited you so many times, and you never agreed. But the moment Kushida asks, you say yes."

Eito sighed.

"Then... next time you invite me on your own, I'll go."

"Eh? What do you mean?" Sato's cheeks flushed a little. She looked at Eito with wide, curious eyes.

"...Forget I said anything."

But Sato seemed not to hear him. She declared firmly:

"Then it's a promise. You're not allowed to back out." With that, she hurried away.

"..."

Could she be into him...?

Just as planned, he arrived outside the karaoke place at four in the afternoon.

Kikyo was already waiting there.

Today, she wore a pink dress. Her ample curves filled out the front, and her lower legs, visible beneath her knees, were fair and smooth.

With her cute face and that outfit, she drew even more attention than usual.

When she saw him, Kikyo waved.

"Over here, Eito."

Eito could only hurry over. He could already feel the murderous glares from the passersby.

"You look really cute today, Kikyo."

"You look handsome today too, Eito," Kikyo said with a smile, as though nothing had ever happened between them.

But Eito couldn't be bothered to trade barbs with her. He asked outright:

"What are you planning?"

"Nothing at all," Kikyo said. "Aren't you happy, Eito? You're going on a date with two beautiful girls at once."

"Yeah, especially since one of them is the cutest girl in class, Miss Kikyo." Seeing her keep up the act, he didn't feel like asking any more.

"Hehe, Eito, you sure know how to talk."

It wasn't long before Sato joined them.

"Then I'll go first." Sato gestured to the two of them, picked up the microphone, and went up to the stage.

The private room was quite large, with a table in the middle.

The lights were off, leaving the room rather dim. Combined with the bright screen, it made him feel a little drowsy.

Watching Sato's lively figure onstage, he drifted into a daze.

Just then, he caught a whiff of fragrance as someone moved closer.

Kikyo sat down very close to him.

As he wondered what she was doing, Kikyo spoke in a soft voice.

"Um, I'm not wearing a bra today."

"..."

"If you don't believe me..." Kikyo took his hand and placed it by the hem of her dress. "You can reach inside and check, Eito."

"Uh..."

His drowsiness vanished in an instant.

She was that well-endowed even without one. Impressive.

No, there was no way he'd do what Kikyo suggested. If he reached inside, it wouldn't stop at just looking.

Besides, Sato was up there. How could he do something like that? He valued their friendship.

Kikyo was clearly trying to set him up.

So he pulled his hand back.

"Don't waste your effort. I'm not falling for it."

"Tch. Are you scared? You're so useless."

The one thing a man couldn't stand was a woman saying he was afraid.

But Eito endured it.

"Yeah, I'm useless."

"...How boring."

Kikyo pouted.

But then she came up with another idea.

She moved even closer, tilted her head, rested it on his shoulder, and closed her eyes.

Pretending to sleep?

Feeling the weight on his shoulder, Eito didn't know what to do.

If he pushed her away now, would he seem rude?

He'd noticed Sato looking over at them. Her singing stopped for a moment, then quickly resumed.

But this time, she sang a little off-key, and kept glancing over at them.

Her acting was so over-the-top that even Eito felt awkward.

But this shouldn't be a problem, right?