"Ah, it's Tanaka-san."
Hearing such an energetic and clear voice, Tanaka Masao was a bit confused. How did Kawasaki Saki's sister know him?
Could it be that Kawasaki Saki often mentioned him in front of her family? He didn't expect her to like him so much.
Before Tanaka Masao could answer, Kashi, who was sitting in the back seat, spoke first.
"Hey, Kyoka, don't call me Tanaka, call me Kashi."
That's right, Kawasaki Kyouka wasn't calling Tanaka Masao, but Kashi, because Kashi's current name was Kashi Tanaka.
Although her surname had changed, Kashi clearly didn't like people calling her that, so she always told them to just call her Kashi.
Kawasaki Kyouka tilted her head in confusion.
"Is there a difference?"
In her opinion, it was all the same. Calling him Tanaka-san was more polite, while calling him Kashi was more intimate.
"I prefer people to call me that."
"Oh, I see. Good morning, Kashi."
"Mm, good morning."
Hearing the other person change her address, Kashi felt comfortable.
Watching their interaction, Tanaka Masao was a little surprised.
"Do you two know each other?"
"Front and back desks in the same class."
Kashi introduced casually.
"Oh, that's quite a coincidence then, wouldn't you say, Kawasaki?"
Hearing Tanaka Masao's question, Kawasaki Saki nodded.
"It's a big coincidence. Is this your sister?"
"That's right, she's my sister, Kashi."
"Hey, who's your sister? You should be calling me Big Sister."
Kashi was unwilling to admit she was Tanaka Masao's sister. Even when facing Tanaka Kazumi and Tanaka Kenji, she always called them by their full names.
The main reason was that her actual age was much older than her appearance, which is what people often call "looking very young."
Though in her case, it was a bit too young.
Kawasaki Saki just nodded, thinking silently to herself.
"So, this is that type of sibling relationship?"
She didn't think their relationship was bad. Tanaka Masao could bike her, so their relationship must be good.
This kind of bickering was also a way of interacting.
"This is my sister, Kawasaki Kyouka."
Tanaka Masao was always gentle with cute little girls.
Of course, excluding the female imp who was an old hag on the inside.
"It's Kyoka. I'm your sister's friend. You can just call me Big Brother Masao."
"Big Brother Masao."
Kawasaki Kyouka obediently called out, making Tanaka Masao's heart nearly melt. He even wanted to give her his Mark Armor.
Kashi: Hey, Masao, you can't do that! Look at me, I'm not bad either, and I can transform!
Since they met, the four naturally traveled together, with two bicycles riding side-by-side.
The two adults riding bikes chatted, and the two children sitting on the seats also chatted with each other.
"Kawasaki, you..."
"Big Brother Masao, are you calling me?"
"Uh, no..."
Tanaka Masao was a bit awkward. With the same surname, it was easy to get confused when calling out.
"Just call me by my first name."
Kawasaki Saki said, clearly aware that calling by surname at this time was prone to error, so it was better to just use first names.
"Alright, Saki, do you take Kyoka to school every morning?"
Kawasaki Saki nodded.
"That's right, whenever I have time, I'll take her. It's on the way anyway.
What about you? Do you often take Kashi to school? But how come I've never seen you before?"
"Oh, this is my first time taking her. This little lazybones overslept today. If I didn't take her, she might be late."
Hearing Tanaka Masao speak ill of her, Kashi, who was chatting with Kawasaki Kyouka, corrected him.
"I'll emphasize again, I didn't oversleep today. It's because you delayed my time, which led to me not having enough time."
Adult Kashi is never wrong.
However, although what she said was true, to others, it sounded like she was making excuses and was too embarrassed to admit it.
Kawasaki Kyouka said with a surprised expression.
"Eh, so Kashi also oversleeps? I thought the first in grade wouldn't sleep in."
"I didn't sleep in!"
The more Kashi argued, the less anyone believed her.
However, Kawasaki Saki also asked with some curiosity.
"Is Kashi also the first in grade?"
"That's right."
Kawasaki Kyouka introduced excitedly.
"Kashi is amazing! She learns everything she studies right away, nothing is difficult for her. She also has a photographic memory and can memorize an entire book.
Not only that, Kashi's physical education grades are also excellent, her athletic abilities are super developed..."
Kawasaki Kyouka kept talking, as if showing off some treasure.
And hearing the praise, Kashi's nose was almost pointing to the sky. This feeling, she had to say, was simply too wonderful.
She decided that from today onwards, she would acknowledge Kawasaki Kyouka as her subordinate.
Kawasaki Saki listened intently, feeling a bit emotional.
"Are both siblings so smart? Could it be that the Tanaka's genes are very good, and their IQs are all high?"
After dropping the two little ones off at school and watching them walk together, Tanaka Masao and Kawasaki Saki then rode their bikes to school.
"By the way, Saki, you arrive at the classroom right on time every day, is it because you're taking Kyoka?"
Kawasaki Saki nodded.
"Pretty much. But arriving at the classroom right on time isn't being late, is there a problem?"
"There's no problem, but don't you feel a little uncomfortable entering the classroom at that time when it's almost full, and everyone's eyes will be on you as soon as you open the door?"
"I don't feel that way about it, and why should I feel uncomfortable if others look at me?"
"You're right, as long as you don't care."
...
Ten minutes later, Tanaka Masao and Kawasaki Saki arrived at the classroom almost simultaneously, right on time.
The moment they opened the door, almost everyone in the class focused their attention on them.
The students in the classroom saw the two enter together and all showed meaningful looks.
They knew that Tanaka Masao and Kawasaki Saki had a good relationship, but in the classroom, they almost always talked about studies.
So they assumed that the two only had a simple teacher-student relationship.
But now that the two arrived at the classroom at the same time, it was hard to say.
Perhaps they just happened to meet on the way and came together.
But it might not be a coincidence, and with the past two days being the weekend, all sorts of things could have happened.
The gossipers didn't care about the truth of the matter; they preferred to speculate towards conclusions they liked.
"Are they living together, or did they get a room? I really want to know."
Feeling the strange looks from everyone, different from usual, Kawasaki Saki suddenly felt a little uncomfortable all over.
"How come I'm starting to care about other people's gazes!"
She could only brace herself and walk back to her seat, a faint blush appearing on her cheeks.
As for Tanaka Masao next to her, he genuinely didn't care at all. He had experienced these kinds of looks many times, hadn't he?