Sakura Was Surprisingly Easy to Hypnotize

"Ike, go buy me a cup of coffee."

"Got it!"

During the evening study session, Ju Ji sent Sakura on an errand to test how obedient she was.

"When did Sakura start listening to you so well? Shinomiya, you beast, what exactly did you do?"

"Yeah, this is way too suspicious. If you're bullying a girl, I won't let you get away with it, Shinomiya!"

"What kind of awful person do you two take me for? I'd never do something like that. I just used a little trick."

Faced with Sudo and Ike's questions, Ju Ji—who had hypnotized himself beforehand—could now lie without batting an eye. Calling it a lie wasn't quite accurate, since he hadn't bullied Sakura. He'd done something even worse: he'd threatened her by using her secret against her.

"Shinomiya... I bought the coffee..."

Sakura was a little out of breath, and there was a light sheen of sweat on her forehead. It seemed she'd run all the way there. The matter must have been very important to her.

If Sakura hadn't been so uncooperative, he wouldn't have wanted to use this sort of tactic. He felt at least a little guilty about threatening such a gentle girl.

"Sakura, take a break first. Then we'll get back to studying."

"Okay."

Apparently worried about making Ju Ji angry, Sakura didn't dare say another word.

"Those two definitely have something going on, don't they?"

"Hey, that's betraying Horikita."

"I've told you, Horikita and I aren't in that kind of relationship."

As the saying went, tell a lie often enough, and people would believe it. Even if something wasn't true, the more people said it, the more likely someone was to believe it. Those two idiots, for instance, seemed completely convinced.

"Sakura, you should solve this problem like this... Yes, that's right. Hey, you two, don't use this as an excuse to slack off. Get back to studying. We're short on time. We've only got an hour."

"Don't worry, it's fine. I feel like studying's been going really well lately. I think I'm almost starting to enjoy it. I'm definitely going to pass the midterms this time, so let me relax a little."

"It's strange, though. Why didn't it feel like this before? I guess your explanations are easy to understand, Shinomiya."

It was obvious that the [Taming Lv1] skill was responsible for the two of them being in this state. In truth, Ju Ji's explanations weren't much different from the teacher's. They were even worse in some ways. They only felt this way because their minds had become sharper.

"Don't let your guard down. Don't forget our goal isn't just to pass. We're trying to earn as many points as possible on these midterms so we can get promoted to Class A."

"Shinomiya's great in every way, but he's a little stiff."

"Don't forget he's also bad at talking to strangers."

"Hey, you two, don't start badmouthing me right in front of me."

What Ike and Sudo said stung a little, but the atmosphere felt just like it did among friends. Ju Ji enjoyed talking with them and didn't get angry.

"Is that so? I didn't know Shinomiya was bad at talking to people... I never would've guessed."

"Sakura, did you just say something?"

Sakura spoke so softly that you could barely hear her unless you listened closely. Ju Ji really couldn't imagine what sort of environment had shaped her into someone like that.

Whatever the reason, the only obstacle to the study session had now been dealt with, and they could carry on smoothly. With the Taming skill, as long as nothing unexpected happened, there was no need to worry about the three of them doing poorly.

That meant all the effort Ju Ji had put into tutoring them over the past few days hadn't gone to waste.

"That's enough for today. Ike, Sudo, you can head back first... Sakura, stay behind. You fell behind because of what happened before, so you need to catch up. Study for two hours today."

"Finally, it's over. I'm exhausted. Now I can go to club activities."

"Yeah, even when studying is fun, it gets tiring if you do it for too long."

"Hey, Sudo, if you can still go to club activities, that means you're not tired at all. And Ike, you've only studied for an hour. Don't act like you've been studying all day."

"Nice one."

After spending time with them, Ju Ji felt that Sudo and Ike weren't beyond help after all. They were really just like him—they weren't very good at talking to people. Deep down, they were actually pretty nice. It would be even better if they took their studies a little more seriously.

Maybe she'd gradually gotten used to being around Ju Ji and the others while studying. Sakura wasn't as reserved as she'd been at first. Every now and then, she could manage a word or two, which counted as progress.

After the two of them left, Ju Ji gave Sakura nearly an hour of one-on-one tutoring. Perhaps one-on-one lessons were more efficient, because in just an hour, Sakura caught up with several days' worth of the others' progress. Sure enough, those two were just inefficient.

"Sakura, I'm exhausted. Give me a shoulder massage."

"Um... I don't know if I can..."

"Gravure Idol..."

"Okay."

Perhaps she'd never given anyone a shoulder massage before. Sakura's technique was a little clumsy, but it was comfortable enough. Getting Sakura under his control really had been a wise choice.

"It's about time. We should head back to the dorms."

"We?"

"Yeah."

"Which dorm?"

"Mine..."

When she heard they were going to Ju Ji's dorm, Sakura clearly seemed reluctant, though not strongly so. In the end, she agreed after Ju Ji threatened her.

Well, it had been a bit of a failure. Ju Ji's plan was to make unreasonable demands and get her to refuse of her own accord. By repeating this, he hoped to make the fact that other people knew about her gravure photos feel less important to her.

Ju Ji thought this was the only way to change her timid nature: her fear of talking to people and her lack of initiative. Those things were an obstacle to getting their class promoted to Class A. Perhaps that was why Ayanokoji had eventually abandoned Sakura.

Of course, that was only Ju Ji's own interpretation. Ayanokoji himself was probably the only one who knew what had really happened.

A while later, the two of them arrived at Ju Ji's dorm without a hitch. Fortunately, they didn't run into anyone they knew on the way.

"Sakura, make yourself comfortable. I'll go get us something to drink. What would you like?"

"N-no, I'm fine."

"[Sakura chooses the drink she wants!]"

"Yes, I'd like a glass of orange juice."

Smack!

"Okay, orange juice it is."

Perhaps Sakura's will to resist was too weak. Ju Ji's hypnosis worked on her almost every time. But he wasn't the sort to take advantage of someone, so he only used it for unimportant things or when it was absolutely unavoidable...