Chapter 19: The Nakano Sisters Don't Want to Study
Downstairs in the apartment building, in the elevator lobby.
Nakano Yotsuba looked at her sisters, all silent without saying a word. She scratched her head awkwardly.
This… seems kind of wrong.
...
This was the first time Sakurai Saki met all five of the Nakano sisters at once.
Their hair colors weren't much different, and their faces were quite similar—only a few distinctions could be made based on hairstyles and accessories.
For example, Itsuki wore two yellow five-pointed star-shaped hair clips, while Miku wore headphones with a triangle symbol.
"Per… pervert!" Nakano Itsuki, who was holding a meat bun and had eaten half of it, turned her head and froze for a few seconds when she saw Sakurai Saki. Then she immediately pointed her right index finger at him and shouted loudly.
(ง •̀_•́)ง
There were quite a few people living in this apartment building, and right now several people waiting for the elevator began looking at Sakurai with strange eyes.
"A pretty handsome boy, why would he…"
"Must've been caught two-timing or something, huh?"
"Yeah, nowadays young guys just need to have looks and immediately think about building a harem…"
Before this turned into a full-blown gender war, Sakurai hurriedly tried to explain to Nakano Itsuki.
"That was just work, Itsuki-san…" Just as he was about to say more…
"But… but I clearly saw you out with other girls! A few different ones every week!!!" Nakano Itsuki's voice rang loudly through the lobby.
( ｡ •̀ ᴖ •́ ｡)
"Ara~ Sensei-chan's got guts, huh~"
( ͡º ꒳ ͡º)
"Hmph, scumbag, from now on I'm calling you scumbag!"
"Saki-kun… no matter how much you love Sengoku-era-themed games, you can't have a harem in modern times…"
"Eh? Sakurai-san is really that kind of person?"
(°〇°)
Sakurai Saki heard all the comments from the five sisters, and he tried to keep a gentle expression.
(ㅅ´ ˘ `)
Stay calm, Sakurai Saki.
A teacher must not get angry with students.
If the teaching environment is joyful, they'll be willing to study. Spartan-style learning benefits no one.
"Everyone, it's time for class. Let's head upstairs first, and we'll talk about this stuff later, okay?"
Nakano Itsuki crossed her arms in front of her chest, forming an X shape, "Absolutely no way we're letting someone like you into our house!"
Nakano Nino had a face full of contempt, "Scumbag. Ero-Worm. Hentai."
Nakano Miku looked worriedly at Sakurai, "Saki-kun, hurry up and explain already…"
Nakano Ichika smiled sweetly, "Sensei-chan, looks like my little sisters aren't too welcoming toward you~"
╮ (. ❛ ᴗ ❛.) ╭
The ribbon on Nakano Yotsuba's head swayed slightly, "But I welcome you! Because Sakurai-san is so interesting! He's a guy who can change girlfriends several times a week! Super interesting!"
ദ്ദി ˉ͈̀꒳ˉ͈́ )✧
Getting judged like that… there's nothing enjoyable about it. Besides, if he brought up the "rent-a-boyfriend" thing now, it's doubtful any of them would believe it. Plus, with strangers nearby, he should wait until they're upstairs to explain.
Sakurai Saki sighed, "I don't have any intentions toward you girls, don't worry."
"Ara~ Sensei-chan, so you don't like girls?" Nakano Ichika looked at him with worried eyes.
( •̯́ ^ •̯̀)
"Clearly doesn't like girls, but can still change lovers every week." Nakano Nino's pupils dilated, her face expressing the horror of witnessing all of humanity's evil. "This guy isn't just a scumbag—he's not even human anymore."
"Saki-kun~" Nakano Miku looked down sadly.
Nakano Yotsuba energetically patted Sakurai's back, "Sakurai-san likes boys, huh! I know some friends from the sports club, I'll introduce you to a few sometime!"
( • ̀ω•́ )✧
Nakano Itsuki was so shocked she almost dropped her meat bun, her face full of disbelief.
Sakurai noticed the looks from the passersby watching him.
They had shifted from "scumbag stares" to "eyes filled with pity and sympathy."
Sakurai couldn't care less what these sisters thought anymore, and immediately began pushing each one into the elevator. If this kept up, there'd be no way to explain anything.
"Sensei-chan, don't grope me! Kyaaa~"
"Saki-kun..."
"Hentai! Don't touch me!"
"Ha ha! I can walk in on my own!"
"Um… sorry… I didn't know Sakurai-san…"
Sakurai pressed the elevator close button and breathed a sigh of relief.
"I'm completely normal, I just won't be into any of you, because right now I'm a teacher, understand?" He spoke as he pressed the button for the 30th floor.
The floor number gradually increased.
"I've already looked over all of your test scores from last year, and they're not that bad. I'm not exaggerating, at least you all barely passed the 'red line' each time. Even Itsuki exceeded the target by a little bit." Sakurai took the bag from Yotsuba, pulled out a performance statistics sheet, and handed it to them.
After saying this, he glanced at the five sisters and noticed that they looked a bit proud.
After being complimented, Nakano Itsuki gave a slightly silly smile.
(๑˃́ꇴ˂̀๑)
Sakurai was speechless: "I'm not complimenting you, I'm just stating the facts."
"Actually, you know, Scumbag-kun~" Nakano Nino suddenly switched to a sweet tone, "We're the kind of students who are rebellious and don't want a tutor, so you don't need to worry about what we do~"
"Can we change how you address me, Nino-san?"
"Well… Ero-Worm-kun?"
"...Forget it, you can keep calling me like you always do."
Nakano Yotsuba didn't object at all: "Sakurai-san, I'm really dumb, you might teach for an entire semester and my grades still won't improve."
"If that's the case and you still want to try, I won't object."
Compared to the other three, Yotsuba was truly an angel!
Yotsuba in Sukurai eyes: ଘ(੭ˊᵕˋ)੭* ੈ✩‧₊
It's just a shame that this angel had the worst academic performance among the five sisters.
"I like ancient history…" Miku also spoke up.
Does that mean she has no interest in other subjects?
Last year, Sakurai had shared a class with her, so he knew quite a bit about Miku.
That's also why, last week, Nakano Miku didn't refuse to meet him.
As for Nakano Itsuki, she appeared to protect Miku from the "scumbag"—at least that was the misunderstanding. She thought Sakurai was a shady guy who did all sorts of bad things.
"Sensei-chan, just give up. We're really dumb, we've never kept up with our teachers since we were little, and things only got worse in high school." Nakano Ichika, as the eldest of the five sisters, spoke up.
"If… if you can really help us improve our scores, then you can try. As for your personal matters, I don't need to know about them." Nakano Itsuki turned her head away, but she still looked excited.
She still hadn't fully recovered from the feeling of being praised earlier.
◝(ᵔᗜᵔ)◜
This was the first time Nakano Itsuki had been complimented for her academic efforts.
It felt like her efforts were being recognized—really super happy!
"So now we have three people agreeing and two opposing? Is there a rule where the minority submits to the majority?" Sakurai looked at the elevator floor display.
They had reached the 30th floor.
As he spoke, he waited for the five sisters to step out of the elevator, then followed behind them.
"No." Nakano Nino answered coldly.
"To teach me, you'd need a few hundred more years!"
After saying those sharp words to Sakurai, Nino turned to smile brightly and ask her sisters: "What do you want to eat later? Cookies, maybe?"
This two-faced behavior was a bit too much, wasn't it?
Sakurai didn't feel like talking to her anymore, so he turned to Ichika.
"Cookies, huh, that works~ I can eat anything." Ichika said while curiously glancing at Sakurai.
"Sensei-chan, anything else you want to say?"
Sakurai could tell she had no intention of studying, so he didn't bother to say anything more.
If he hadn't been entrusted with this task by Shirogane Miyuki...
He might have just walked away right then and there.
'Indeed, the road ahead is long and tough...'