Yuuki Asuna.
Her long brown hair cascaded down her back, her fitted black school uniform beautifully accentuating her figure. Her sparkling hazel eyes seemed to speak on their own.
"Don't slack off during lessons, Yuu-kun."
"Just Yuu-kun? Why add 'kun' and 'san'?"
"Ichiyou Gakushuku."
After the Service Club activities, Yuu took a taxi to this tutoring center, where the atmosphere was heavy, and everyone seemed ready to stake their lives on their grades. Asuna arrived early, deliberately choosing a seat in the back corner, and when he entered the classroom, she waved enthusiastically, urging him to come closer.
Completely different from her calm, well-mannered appearance yesterday, the intense study environment only softened her voice, but it couldn't suppress the bright smile on her face.
In the seat beside her, Yuu looked at her with amusement. "You said you wanted to study seriously, so why do you look so happy?"
"Do I need to explain?" Asuna slightly raised her brows, lifting her slender index finger and speaking earnestly. "Studying alone is exhausting, but with two people, it's easier. We can discuss problems and motivate each other to move forward—I'm happy because my study efficiency will improve!"
Yuu raised an eyebrow meaningfully. "Really no other reason?"
Propping his head with one hand, he tilted toward her, gazing into her eyes, a faint smile on his lips.
"No other reason!"
Asuna huffed and turned her head, sitting upright to face forward, as if to show she was unshaken. But under his gaze, her fair, swan-like neck slowly flushed red, creeping upward. Her small ears turned a cute pink, and her soft cheeks glowed with an adorable blush.
Soon after, she pulled her brown hair with her left hand to cover the side of her face, while her right hand waved frantically in front of Yuu's eyes, like a shy white fox trying to hide, too embarrassed to speak loudly.
"S-Stop looking, I'll confess!"
The lesson hadn't even started, and Yuu was already showcasing his knack for teasing girls, asking innocently, "Confess what?"
"Ugh…"
Asuna looked slightly annoyed, pursing her lips, wanting to shoot him a cold glare but forced to abandon the idea under his amused, bright, and gentle gaze. Her eyes wavered slightly, her entire face flushing as if she had a fever.
"C-Confess… Studying with you makes me really happy."
Finally, Asuna mumbled the sentence, then suddenly took a deep breath and reached under the table. She tightly grasped his hand, warm like summer despite the autumn season.
"This is what I really wanted to do, and I won't hide it anymore."
Asuna turned to look at him, her cheeks tightening as if summoning courage, her gaze so earnest it felt tangible.
"The consequences of a girl saying something like this… Yuu-kun, you'd better be ready."
Her tone, as if entrusting her entire life to him, was stubbornly and unexpectedly coy.
Yuu was momentarily stunned, then gave a helpless smile.
"Isn't that obvious?"
"Since I said those words, I've been mentally prepared."
Even if he wasn't mentally prepared, once the task was over, the words he spoke now would fade into dust, so what were these so-called consequences?
The two walked a path that seemed close but was actually far apart. He wanted to hold her hand until the end, but he knew he'd let go halfway… The next path, he'd have to hold another girl's hand.
So, Asuna couldn't understand Yuu's feelings at this moment, couldn't grasp that the meaning behind their smiles was entirely different.
Nor could she understand that the promise Yuu made so casually held no weight at all.
"Hmm!"
Still, her heartfelt response felt like it would weigh on his heart.
◆━⊰✧⊱━◆
At the podium, the lesson was like a storm. There was no gentle, in-depth guidance—just relentless presentation of problems and theories, analyzed and conquered in the fastest, most concise way, pouring knowledge like a tidal wave into the students' minds.
In a lesson like this, there was no tolerance for distractions or laziness.
Though Asuna had always been sharp-minded with excellent grades since childhood, she still had to focus all her concentration to keep up with the teacher's pace—meaning she had no time to joke with the person beside her.
Even though that comforting warmth was so close, there wasn't a moment to reach out and touch it… This made her heart feel like it was being scratched by a cat, eagerly anticipating the break after the lesson when they could be alone outside the classroom.
Yes, this was all to keep her grades from dropping!
"…Good, I'm starting to understand everything."
As the murmur escaped, Asuna instinctively glanced sideways, tilting her head in confusion.
"What's that?"
Her pen paused on the worksheet, Yuu leaned back casually in his chair, his lips slowly curving into a smile.
"The lecturer's teaching method, problem-solving style, and tendencies in crafting questions—I've almost mastered them all. It's easier than I thought."
"What do you mean…"
Caught off guard by his confident smile, Asuna froze for a moment. Just as she wanted to ask more, the lecturer's relentless voice rang out clearly again. She thought, Oh no!, and quickly turned back, her eyes darting between the blackboard and the worksheet. She sighed in relief—thankfully, she'd only missed one small point, which she could catch up on later during review.
Before diving back into the lesson's rhythm, Asuna stole a glance at Yuu and noticed that after saying those odd words, he flipped his notebook to a blank page and began writing quickly, seemingly with no intention of chatting with her.
(So, what exactly did he understand…)
Asuna frowned, then refocused her attention, letting the thought slip away.
◆━⊰✧⊱━◆
Time passed quickly, the intense lesson ended, and a ten-minute break began. Many students grabbed their thermoses to refill with hot water, while others slumped over their desks, exhausted, trying to recover a bit of energy during the short break.
Asuna set down her pen and stretched vigorously.
Her firm chest and slender waist, like the graceful curves of an artist's painting, were clearly reflected in Yuu's eyes; her brown hair draped over the side of her beautiful, serene face, her soft, enticing murmurs sparking the imagination.
Not yet fully ripened, like a forbidden fruit still growing—that was the charm of a girl.
"Ugh, so tiring~"
Rubbing her stiff shoulders, Asuna leaned back casually yet elegantly in her chair, then suddenly blinked her soft, bright hazel eyes, looking at him beside her. Her gaze met his admiring one.
Her face flushed slightly, but she didn't hide it at all. Instead, she gave a wide, sincere smile, even looking a little pleased.
"Idiot, are you charmed?"
"Do I look like an idiot?" Yuu didn't panic at being caught, speaking nonchalantly. "I wasn't even charmed when you were fresh out of the bath. This is nothing."
"Pervert!"
Asuna giggled while scolding, her small hand playfully hitting his shoulder as if blaming him, then casually sliding down to grasp his hand, which hadn't been touched during the lesson. As if hiding their little secret, she swung it gently under the table, unable to help but squint her eyes and let out a satisfied sigh.
"Huff~ Recharging energy~"
Soon after, she broke the warm silence.
"Asuna, this is for you."
"Hm?"
Asuna opened her eyes, looking curiously at the notebook held out in front of her. "This… the notes you were writing during the lesson?"
"You could say that." Yuu flipped a few pages back, tapping three handwritten math problems, and said confidently, "There's a summary quiz later, right? The lecturer might use problems like these. I'll explain them briefly now, and getting a perfect score won't be an issue."
"A p-perfect score?" Asuna said, slightly confused. "Yuu-kun, the summary quizzes here don't give any time for review. Even getting a ninety is tough… Wait a second!"
A thought flashed through her mind, and Asuna suddenly looked up from the notebook, her eyes wide with shock.
"When you said 'understand' and 'master' earlier, did you mean this?!"
"Exactly."
His fingers slid along the bridge of his nose, pushing up nonexistent glasses, Yuu said calmly, "I spent a little time earlier and already studied all the upcoming material."
"Now, even if I get distracted during the lesson, it's fine… What he can explain, I can explain. What he can teach, I can teach. You don't need to be so tense anymore."
"Besides, you've got me."
After saying that with near-arrogant confidence, Yuu reached out, his fingers brushing a few strands of her soft brown bangs, smiling elegantly.
"We rarely study together—wouldn't it be a waste if we didn't have some fun?"
"Asuna, I won't let 'studying' become a barrier between us."
Yuu wasn't saying this just to show off in front of Asuna. After all, his Expert-level Studying skill was indeed that impressive.