Her voice was soft and delicate, carrying a faint, barely perceptible tension and probing note.
Tatsuya Sakuya looked up.
Standing beside his desk was none other than his employer, Karuizawa Kei.
She wore a burgundy school blazer trimmed in gold, a pale blue shirt, and a dark blue bow tied at her collar.
Below that, she had on a white pleated skirt with light blue knee-high socks. Her golden hair was tied into a high ponytail—the standard school uniform look she wore in class.
At that moment, she held the math mock exam paper that had been handed out not long ago.
Tatsuya Sakuya leaned back in his chair and sized up the girl before him.
"Oh? Karuizawa."
"I thought the first thing you'd do after school was discuss the latest gyaru magazines with your friends."
"None of your business."
Karuizawa Kei gave a snort and jabbed the test paper onto Tatsuya Sakuya's desk.
"I just came to test you a little, see if you know how to do these."
In truth, Karuizawa Kei was completely hopeless at studying, especially math. She could even be said to hate it.
She had come to Tatsuya Sakuya entirely with her own agenda in mind.
On one hand, as his employer, she had to show off her privileges in certain ways.
On the other, she was genuinely terrible at math. To her, it was practically an ancient text, and asking Tatsuya Sakuya was the only solution she could think of for now.
On a deeper level, she had not publicly announced their boyfriend-girlfriend relationship, and he had not provided any substantial help.
Yet he had received actual points. That really annoyed her.
"Test me?"
Tatsuya Sakuya seemed to have spotted Karuizawa Kei's intentions. He saw through her without exposing her and casually picked up a sheet of scratch paper from the desk.
"Sure. Which one?"
"This one, this one, this one, and this one..."
Karuizawa Kei leaned closer and pointed out every question she wanted to ask about.
Tatsuya Sakuya was a little surprised. Karuizawa Kei had pointed out almost every question in the math section, and he remarked, "My dear Karuizawa, why not just say you want to test me on all of them?"
Karuizawa Kei gave a cold hum.
"What, you're not even willing to do this much? Then my rental—"
"At your service. I love helping classmates, especially pretty girls."
Tatsuya Sakuya cut her off, with other considerations in mind.
If she mentioned the rental boyfriend thing...
Would the weirdos in class think he was being kept by her?
If that happened, where would he even put his face?
They returned to the first question on the paper.
Question One:
"For this question, we just need to..."
Before Tatsuya Sakuya could finish, he was interrupted.
"Students, due to the school's schedule, we have no choice but to take up some of your time to make up for lost progress."
At some point, the advanced mathematics teacher had already stepped onto the podium and was ready to begin class.
"After all, we're already far behind the other classes."
"Please return to your seats and get ready for class."
"Meet at the cafe after school."
Seeing that class was about to start, Tatsuya Sakuya made an advance appointment with Karuizawa Kei for a time and place.
After school.
Keyaki Mall, Palette Cafe.
"Here, this is for you."
Karuizawa Kei held out an iced Americano to Tatsuya Sakuya.
"Arigato. Then I'll gladly accept."
Tatsuya Sakuya took the iced Americano from Karuizawa Kei and nodded meaningfully as he thought to himself.
To avoid returning to the life of being bullied, Karuizawa Kei had chosen to become a gyaru-type girl.
That gyaru style had quickly made her the leader among some of the girls in class.
But at heart, she was more of a sweet girl.
"Don't get any weird ideas. I only gave it to you because the second cup was half price."
"Hey, don't misunderstand. It's not like I bought it especially for you!"
"At most, consider it payment for teaching me."
Karuizawa Kei noticed he was thinking and began explaining herself.
"Fine, fine. Weren't we supposed to go over the questions? Just so you know, I don't know how to do everything."
Tatsuya Sakuya sounded somewhat helpless.
"Let's start with this one."
Karuizawa Kei pulled out the test paper she had prepared long ago.
Several dozen minutes passed.
"Did you understand?"
Tatsuya Sakuya had gone through most of the math questions on the paper in full, explaining them carefully.
"Probably, maybe, I guess... I didn't understand any of it at all!"
Karuizawa Kei knew she was a math idiot, so she bluntly admitted her ignorance about the subject.
"You didn't understand any of it?"
Was my explanation really that terrible?
Tatsuya Sakuya was clearly a little shocked and even began doubting himself.
A student with good grades was not necessarily good at explaining questions.
As the saying went, every profession had its specialty.
Tatsuya Sakuya could only comfort himself that way. Not dwelling on it was the right thing to do.
"Not exactly. I understood a few questions."
Karuizawa Kei answered with a straight face.
"Then should I explain them again until you understand?"
"Or at least until you grasp the general approach to solving them?"
Tatsuya Sakuya believed that if he did something, he had to see it through and could not give up halfway.
"Nope. My head hurts so much. Math is like astronomy to me."
"I need to rest for a bit. Knowledge just can't enter my brain right now."
Karuizawa Kei, who utterly despised math as a subject, had already forced herself to absorb as much as she possibly could.
"Wake me up in ten minutes."
"Karuizawa, time's up."
Tatsuya Sakuya woke her as Karuizawa Kei had asked him to earlier.
However, Karuizawa Kei did not respond right away. She was clearly sleeping peacefully.
Tatsuya Sakuya did not intend to disturb her rest any further and merely watched her quietly instead.
After a while.
This is so boring.
I need to find something to do.
Tatsuya Sakuya suddenly came up with a good idea. He had never patted a girl on the head before, and he hesitated inwardly.
Pat her head? What if she suddenly wakes up?
Don't pat her head? I'm her rental boyfriend in name. Isn't this a right I should have?
First, he considered which hand to use.
Should I use my left hand or my right?
Then came other thoughts.
Should I pat her head and immediately run away?
No, that would make me look way too guilty.
All right, I'll just do it in one go.
I'll worry about what happens after I pat her head later.
He slowly moved his hand toward Karuizawa Kei's head.
Suddenly, Karuizawa Kei moved.
He immediately pulled his hand back.
That was close. If I'd gone in fast just now...
Something definitely would've happened.
The operation would have failed on the spot.
But Karuizawa Kei had not woken up. It was merely an unconscious movement.
Should I try again?
Before you continue