Studying, surprisingly enough, could be quite captivating.
Especially when the tutor was a beautiful girl like Horikita Suzune.
Not only was she pleasing to the eye, but her teaching method was ruthlessly efficient—never wasting words, always pinpointing misunderstandings with surgical precision.
When explaining the multiple readings of Japanese kanji, Horikita Suzune deliberately used Shimizu Akira's name as an example.
"The kun'yomi reading is 「あかるい」, describing a state of brightness."
"And the on'yomi 「ミョウ」..." She paused slightly.
Shimizu was privately marveling at this linguistic coincidence when her voice unexpectedly softened.
"But when used in a name..."
Horikita Suzune lifted her gaze to meet his, her lips gently forming two syllables: 「あきら」.
In that instant, Shimizu shuddered.
It was just a simple pronunciation lesson, yet hearing his name spoken in that tone gave him the illusion of being specially addressed.
In Japanese social interactions, the way names were used was an art in itself.
Ordinary friends typically only called each other by their surnames. Only those with a certain degree of intimacy would address one another by their given names.
And among opposite-sex peers, the rules became even more nuanced—unless they were childhood friends, if a girl called a boy by his first name, nine times out of ten, it either meant they were dating or at least one party harbored special feelings.
"Focus. I was just teaching you the third way to read it." Horikita Suzune cleared her throat, her voice already back to its usual coolness.
"Did you know the character for 'return' has four different ways of being written?"
"???"
...
"That's enough for today." At exactly 4:30 PM, Horikita abruptly closed her notebook.
Shimizu, still immersed in the grammar point he'd just grasped, looked up in surprise. "We still have time left, don't we?"
The girl didn't answer immediately.
"Counting back..." Her voice was slightly softer than usual, "we've been studying like this for half a month now."
"And today is May 1st." She suddenly lifted her eyes, extending her palm—her skin looked especially pale.
Shimizu thought for a moment, then reached out and touched her cool fingertips, only to jerk his hand back as if shocked. "Again?"
He shook his head helplessly. "I've told you many times, I won't be your partner. You should give up on that naive plan of yours—your chips just aren't enough."
"You've misunderstood!" Horikita Suzune suddenly tightened her grip on his fingers. "Last time, I agreed to tutor you to pay back the 16,000 points. Now that two weeks have passed and it's a new month..." She narrowed her eyes. "You should be the one showing sincerity, shouldn't you?"
"Oh?" Shimizu raised an eyebrow, leisurely pressing his index and middle fingers against her palm. "Is this amount enough?"
Horikita stared at the two fingers, then abruptly grabbed his wrist and forced his thumb down onto her hand as well. "...Add one more."
"My, how greedy." Shimizu widened his eyes exaggeratedly. "300,000 points? You've got some nerve."
"...You've misunderstood again." She yanked her hand back. "30,000, not 300,000. My tutoring isn't that valuable."
Shimizu couldn't help but laugh. "So it's 30,000, huh?"
30,000 points a month—he quickly did the math in his head.
Last month, two weeks had only cost him 16,000. This was practically a discount, saving him 2,000 points.
Horikita Suzune, the shrewd honor student, was unexpectedly bad at negotiating in her own favor.
At first, she'd been sharp-tongued with him, but lately, Shimizu couldn't help but feel her personality had grown... simpler.
With a ding, he transferred 100,000 points directly.
"You—!" Horikita stared at her phone screen. "What is this? Charity?"
Shimizu couldn't resist rubbing his temples. "70,000 of that is hush money. Only you and Chabashira-sensei know I sold information to Class D to get those 1,000,000 points. Consider it insurance—I don't want anyone else finding out."
Truthfully, he trusted Horikita Suzune's character. It was unlikely she'd spill the secret.
But whether for caution's sake or not, proposing this transaction was only natural.
That said, part of the reason was also... her tutoring fees were just too damn cheap.
"...I see. So that's how it is." Horikita visibly relaxed, nodding firmly. "I promise I won't tell a soul."
...
After dinner, Shimizu returned to his dorm.
He had fifty minutes until Kamuro Masumi's visit.
She would be the first girl to formally visit his room—last time's sudden ambush by Karuizawa Kei didn't count.
The room wasn't messy. If anything, it was too barren.
Aside from the school-provided furniture, he owned very few personal items: a laptop on the desk, a water heater beside it.
"It really is too barebones..." Shimizu muttered, stroking his chin as he surveyed the space.
Unable to cook, he didn't even own basic kitchenware.
A few crates of mineral water were stacked in the corner. Next to the neatly hung uniforms in the closet, only two sets of casual clothes dangled limply.
Now that he thought about it, this was almost identical to his single-person apartment from his previous life as a working adult.
Rolling up his sleeves, he began tidying: smoothing out the wrinkled bedsheet, gathering scattered stationery into drawers.
As he stuffed trash into a garbage bag, he pulled out his phone and checked the time—6:40 PM.
"Right, I still need to investigate what exactly Class C's Shiina Hiyori is up to." Shimizu suddenly smacked his forehead, remembering this urgent matter.
Since the other party had already begun investigating last month's "surveillance camera rental" incident under the guise of a "detective," he, as a key figure, had to prevent the truth from surfacing.
Though they had crossed paths in the library last month, it had been nothing more than a chance encounter.
Their total conversation hadn't even exceeded ten sentences, yet that girl had left a deep impression on him.
Shiina Hiyori gave off the aura of a literary heroine stepped straight out of a novel, carrying an air of Yamato Nadeshiko elegance rare in modern Japan.
Gentle and kind, her very nature was evident from the circumstances of their meeting—she had been the one to kindly point out he'd picked the wrong book.
Undoubtedly, she was quite intelligent.
After all, anyone who frequented the library to immerse themselves in reading couldn't be simple-minded.
(Come to think of it, her personality doesn't seem like the type to proactively investigate something like this. It must've been Ryūen's orders, right?)
(I wonder how much she's already uncovered...?)