Kenji spent most of the night creating study plans for Saki, Daiki, and Yume. He started with Saki's, naturally.
Next day, just as Kenji located and started approaching Saki after classes for extra studies, she barely looked at him and said, "We'll come ourselves, bitch." Understanding, he turned around and left while thinking ';-;'.
As Saki's group entered the classroom, they put their phones in the back box themselves and sat in the same seats as before. Kenji was a little confused with them following rules so easily, but unbeknownst to him, Saki's plan to 'let the nerd have no fun' was still ongoing.
'Well, they're following rules. Maybe I should at least compliment them,' Kenji thought.
"Finally, you understand what you're supposed to do," he said, with his usual indifferent face.
"..."
No one from Saki's group replied anything and even tried to maintain their indifferent faces. Kenji, however, saw glimpses of anger on each face—the most on Daiki and the least on Yume.
"Anyways, let's begin," Kenji said as he gathered the personal study plans and gave them to each member of Saki's group.
"...What's this?" Daiki asked after staring at it for a few seconds.
"Your personal study plans. You guys will follow each of your own, I will teach accordingly as well," Kenji replied.
"How will you teach us different things together at the same time?" Daiki asked. Saki and Yume were also interested in the answer, but they tried to show no emotion.
"You need not worry, I will take care of that," Kenji replied in his cold voice.
After that, Kenji started teaching basic parts that were needed for everyone. As those finished, he started teaching them individually, giving practice questions to others while that happened.
In the middle of class, Ayaka opened the door, looked in, said "Good," and left. No one talked about it.
For that day, most of the stuff that Kenji taught was already known to Saki's group, so they were a little angry thinking Kenji was belittling them. However, from Kenji's side, it was revision.
◆◇◆
Day two went differently. Kenji had figured out their approaches from yesterday's assessment tests.
When it was Saki's turn for individual attention, Kenji put a math problem on the board. "If you buy cigarettes for 500 yen per pack, and you smoke X packs per week, what's your monthly expense?"
Saki's head snapped up. "What the hell—"
"Express it as an equation, Tanaka-san," Kenji continued, completely ignoring her outburst.
"That's... useful I guess," Saki muttered before catching herself. "I mean, whatever, asshole."
'She learns better with real examples,' Kenji thought.
Meanwhile, Daiki was struggling with basic fractions. "I don't get this shit," he grumbled.
"Think of it like this, Kimura-san," Kenji said, walking over. "If you have a pizza and eat half, how much is left?"
"Half, duh."
"Right. That's 1/2. If you eat 1/4 more, how much total have you eaten?"
Daiki stared at the paper, actually thinking. "3/4?"
"Correct."
'He needs simple, relatable examples. His language skills aren't bad, but math fundamentals are weak,' Kenji noted mentally.
When he got to Yume, she was doodling in the margins of her worksheet.
"Yamada-san, focus on the grammar exercises."
"I am focused, idiot," she said flatly, not looking up from her drawing.
'She's capable but doesn't care. Need to find what motivates her,' Kenji thought.
◆◇◆
Day three showed Saki's silent strategy was cracking.
She was pretending to sleep during a reading comprehension lesson when Kenji deliberately made an error while reading a passage aloud.
"The protagonist decided to wait patiently for her prince to save her," Kenji read.
Saki's eye twitched.
"This shows the importance of being passive and letting others handle your problems," Kenji continued.
"That's complete bullshit!" Saki suddenly exploded, sitting up straight. "She should've punched the dragon herself instead of sitting around like a fucking idiot!"
"Interesting interpretation, Tanaka-san. Explain using examples from the text."
"I—" Saki realized she'd broken her silent treatment and angrily slumped back down. "Fuck you, I'm not doing this."
'Got her. She's actually good at analysis when she's angry,' Kenji thought with satisfaction.
Meanwhile, Yume was pretending to be uninterested while secretly using her phone to check answers under her desk. Turns out on this day, she had just acted like she was putting her phone in the box.
"Yamada-san," Kenji said quietly, appearing behind her.
"What?" She quickly hid her phone.
"That math app you're using isn't bad for checking work. But solve it yourself first."
"I was just... verifying my answer."
"Sure you were."
'At least she cares enough to cheat. That's something,' Kenji thought as he took her phone and ignored her quiet curse words.
◆◇◆
Day four brought Daiki walking in with a triumphant expression.
"I found the ultimate study method online!" he announced proudly.
"Please don't tell me it involves screaming, Kimura-san," Kenji said flatly.
"How did you—never mind! It's called 'aggressive studying.' You yell at the textbook until you understand it!"
"That's not a real method."
"This YouTuber with 50 subscribers said—"
"Just do the math problems normally."
Ten minutes later: "WHAT IS X?! TELL ME, STUPID EQUATION!"
"Daiki, you're embarrassing us," Yume said tiredly.
"It's not working," Daiki admitted defeat.
"No shit," Saki muttered.
'At least he's trying, even if his methods are... questionable,' Kenji thought.
◆◇◆
Friday's test results showed improvement across the board:
- Saki: 45% → 62%
- Daiki: 38% → 55%
- Yume: 52% → 71%
"This is bullshit," Saki said, glaring at her paper. "You made the questions easier."
"They were the same difficulty as Monday's test, Tanaka-san," Kenji replied calmly.
Awkward silence as they processed that they'd actually improved.
"Whatever," Saki mumbled, but Kenji caught her quickly looking at her score again.
'She's pleased with the progress but won't admit it,' Kenji thought.
◆◇◆
Week two brought new developments.
Saki was working on reading comprehension when she suddenly slammed her pencil down.
"This story is fucking stupid! Why doesn't the girl just leave instead of staying with this toxic asshole?"
"What do you think the author's message is about independence versus dependence, Tanaka-san?" Kenji asked.
"That dependence is for idiots and independence gets shit done?"
"Explain using examples from the text."
"Fine, whatever," Saki grumbled, but she started writing.
Twenty minutes later, she had a full paragraph analysis without realizing it.
'She's actually really good at this when she's angry. Her reading comprehension improves when she can relate to the material,' Kenji observed.
During Daiki's math session, he actually raised his hand.
"I don't understand this part."
Saki stared at him. "Did you just... ask for help? Voluntarily?"
"Shut up! I'm still not talking to him!" Daiki pointed at Kenji. His 'Shut up!' was also pointed at him for some reason, when he didn't even say anything.
"You literally just talked to him."
"That was... educational communication only!"
'Progress,' Kenji thought.
◆◇◆
Yume's breakthrough came during a grammar lesson. She'd been pretending to take notes but was actually writing what looked like story ideas.
"Yamada-san, read your answer for question five."
"I... didn't do it."
"You were writing for ten minutes."
"I was... taking notes."
Kenji walked over and glanced at her notebook filled with detailed character sketches and story fragments.
"Your creative writing shows good instinct for narrative structure," he said quietly so the others couldn't hear.
Yume looked surprised. "You think so?"
"Yes. But proper grammar would make it even better. Want to try rewriting this section with correct sentence structure?"
For the first time, Yume looked genuinely interested.
'Found her motivation. She wants to write,' Kenji thought.
◆◇◆
Mid-week two brought an unexpected visitor.
*CRASH*
Ayaka burst through the door. "SURPRISE INSPECTION!"
Everyone froze.
"Are they being good students, Nakayama-kun?"
"...Yes."
"Excellent! Let me see their progress!" She examined their work papers. "Oh my, look at this improvement! Tanaka-san, your reading analysis shows real insight!"
"Don't talk to me," Saki muttered, looking annoyed at the attention.
"And Kimura-san, your math has improved significantly!"
"It's not like I'm trying or anything," Daiki said defensively.
"Yamada-san, your grammar exercises are nearly perfect!"
"They're just exercises," Yume said flatly.
"Keep up the excellent work, everyone!" Ayaka left as dramatically as she'd entered.
"...What was that about?" Yume asked.
'I think she's making sure I'm doing my job properly,' Kenji thought.
"She's probably checking if you're actually learning," Kenji replied.
◆◇◆
By the end of week two, their dynamic had shifted in subtle ways.
Saki still cursed at Kenji regularly, but her complaints had changed from "this is stupid" to "this is annoying but whatever." She'd started sitting forward during lessons without realizing it and asking "why do I need to know this shit?" instead of just refusing to participate.
"This reading shit is still garbage," she'd mutter while actively working on comprehension exercises.
'She's engaged even when she's complaining,' Kenji noted.
Daiki had stopped trying ridiculous study methods from the internet and actually completed most of his homework. He still protested everything but would grudgingly admit "this isn't the worst thing ever" before quickly adding "but I still hate it."
Yume had started bringing her own notebook and taking actual notes alongside her creative writing. She still procrastinated, but she'd finish assignments during class instead of not doing them at all.
Their test scores at the end of week two reflected the progress:
- Saki: 32% → 54%
- Daiki: 25% → 52%
- Yume: 37% → 61%
"How the hell are we getting better at this?" Daiki asked, genuinely confused.
"Maybe because you idiots are actually trying now," Yume pointed out. For some reason, she didn't include herself.
"I am not trying!"
"You stayed after class yesterday to ask about the homework."
"That was... strategic intelligence gathering!"
'Well, atleast they're starting to function like actual students,' Kenji thought as he collected their papers. 'Though they won't admit it.'
Saki looked at her test score, and despite her best efforts to look annoyed, Kenji caught a flash of satisfaction before she crumpled up the paper.
"This is still bullshit," she declared. "You're probably just a less shitty teacher than the regular ones."
'YAY :DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD' Kenji thought.
As they packed up to leave, Kenji watched Daiki stuff his materials into his bag. The improvement had been steady, but today something seemed off—dark circles under his eyes and a tension in his shoulders that hadn't been there the week before.
'Those signs, I wonder if something's going on in his life,' Kenji thought as Daiki hurried out without his usual complaints.
'Well, everyone has those times.' He continued in his thoughts.
'Anyways, she complimented me!!!! :DDDDDDDDD'