Chapter 363: Drifting on the Sea of Study Brings Seasickness
Escaping from the clutches of the two girls.
After waiting for the side effects to wear off, Sakurai Saki went to the school library.
"Sakurai-san, you're here!"
In the library's self-study room, Nakano Yotsuba saw Sakurai entering through the door, her voice as bright and lively as ever.
She always seemed cheerful — or so Sakurai thought.
"Umu, I ran into a bit of an unexpected situation just now, so I'm a little late."
Today, Sakurai had arranged a private tutoring session for Nakano Yotsuba after his part-time job, since midterms were coming right after the Golden Week holiday.
Lately, due to intense track and field training, Yotsuba's grades had dropped significantly in last month's test.
She wasn't the type of genius who could coast through — if she didn't work hard, her scores would only keep falling.
Sakurai Saki believed that the gap between people could be made up through effort — the clearest example being Shirogane Miyuki.
"Is everything ready for the dance party?" Sakurai asked.
These past few days, he'd been teaching Shirogane a few basic dance steps, and surprisingly, the guy had decent talent — not as hopeless as expected.
"Umu, everything's ready. What about you, Sakurai-san?" Yotsuba replied, then looked out the transparent glass window of the study room. The classroom buildings outside were veiled by a thin curtain of rain, making the entire campus look shrouded in mist.
She guessed:
"Is it because of the rain?"
"Yeah. Originally, we planned to go prepare rest stops for students along the route today, but unfortunately, the rain forced the student council to postpone the plan."
Even though the rainy season hadn't arrived yet, it had been raining strangely often lately.
Sakurai Saki liked rainy days, while Yotsuba did not — for such an energetic girl, rainy days were downright annoying.
"Alright, let's start today's study session."
"Eh… um." Yotsuba's face showed slight resistance.
Just thinking about spending the next few hours adrift in the sea of studying made her feel dizzy.
"What are we studying today?" Yotsuba asked quietly.
All of the study plans were arranged by Sakurai Saki — as students, the five sisters could only accept whatever he decided.
"What do you want to study first?"
Sakurai Saki took a small stack of papers out of his bag.
Yotsuba: ( ˶°ㅁ°) !!
"EH!?" Yotsuba froze.
Not "what to study," but "what to study first"?
Did that mean they had to study everything today!?
Let's see what subjects there were in the first semester of senior year.
"Since you chose the Science track, we've got Math, English, Modern Literature…"
Yotsuba didn't even bother listening anymore; she slumped face-down onto the desk.
She sighed: "I don't want to study anymore."
"Yotsuba, you're already in your third year of high school. If you don't work hard, how will you get into the university you want?"
She didn't have the ability to be admitted by recommendation, so she'd have to take the national exam.
"Alright." Nakano Yotsuba cherished every private one-on-one tutoring session with Sakurai Saki.
This privilege usually only Ichika and she herself enjoyed, since the two of them often missed classes for personal reasons.
In truth, Yotsuba wasn't particularly interested in something like going to college, but because of the expectations Sakurai Saki always had for her, she didn't want to give up.
As long as someone placed their hopes in her, Yotsuba would always respond — that was one of her strengths.
"Don't space out. We don't have much time left."
Hearing him say that, Yotsuba checked the time on her phone.
But it was clearly still just morning!
...
Two hours later.
Nakano Yotsuba's eyes had lost their light. She was slumped over the desk, motionless like a broken doll. In front of her, Sakurai Saki was marking her work.
Yotsuba: "( – ⌓ – )
"This part's wrong…"
Just as he was about to start explaining, he noticed Yotsuba looking completely withered — her whole body giving off an aura like she was about to die.
"…Fine, take a break for a bit."
It seemed the Spartan-style teaching method didn't really suit someone like Yotsuba.
"Yay~!"
✧｡◝(ᵔᗜᵔ)◜✧*｡
Nakano Yotsuba instantly came back to life.
Sakurai Saki said discontentedly, "Only half an hour. We'll continue afterward. There's still some time before lunch."
"Oh right, Sakurai-san, Nino made a bento for you. She specifically asked me to bring it to you," Yotsuba said with a beaming smile, pretending it was her own gift.
As she spoke, she took a bento box out of her bag and handed it to him.
"..."
Sakurai Saki accepted the bento without saying a word.
After a few seconds of silence, Yotsuba tried to start a new topic. "Sakurai-san, why did you agree to keep tutoring us this semester? Didn't you say before that you'd quit?"
"I wanted to fix some of your bad habits. For example, Yotsuba — lately you've been acting like an unpaid servant every single day, saying yes to everything. It's irritating to watch."
Sakurai Saki said this quite bluntly.
"Sorry…"
"See? You're apologizing again. Yotsuba, your personality is too soft."
"Does that mean Sakurai-san hates me?"
"Not hate, but I can't say I particularly like it either."
Honestly, what frustrated him was how she never stood up for herself.
"I guess that makes sense. Sakurai-san only tutors us because it's his job anyway." Nakano Yotsuba's tone softened a little, tinged with sadness. "All five of us sisters are troublesome and stupid. If there weren't money involved, you probably wouldn't want to teach us."
Sorry to say, but right now there really isn't any money involved. I'm doing this purely out of mood. If one day my mood sours, I might just stop teaching altogether.
Still, Sakurai Saki didn't intend to say that out loud.
Saying it would sound too much like bragging.
"You're not wrong. Five troublesome idiots like you — if it were someone else, they probably would've given up long ago," Sakurai said with a grin.
"No way, I'm sure there's a tutor out there who's gentler than Sakurai-san."
"Umu, there are plenty of people in this world. Who knows — maybe there really is some diligent, kind-hearted boy out there." Sakurai didn't argue.
He was always strict with Yotsuba.
In truth, when teaching the quintuplets, he always adhered to the principle that "studying comes first." Otherwise, their grades wouldn't have improved so fast.
Getting too close wasn't a good thing — he'd already made that mistake with Nino. Last time they'd gone out on a weekend, it had started as a tutoring session but ended up turning into a date.
When he woke up the next morning in bed, Sakurai Saki genuinely wanted to slap himself.
Mainly because he was being paid by Nakano Maruo, and yet he'd used tutoring time to "corrupt" the man's daughter — how disgraceful.
"If a tutor who's gentler than me really appeared, what would you do, Yotsuba?"
Sakurai Saki was genuinely curious about her answer.
"That's impossible."
"It's just a hypothetical. Still, it's not like it's impossible — you're the one who said so yourself."
Nakano Yotsuba stared straight into Sakurai Saki's face and spoke seriously, "I'd still choose you."
"Huh? Why?"
Sakurai Saki had thought for sure Yotsuba would pick the new tutor.
"Because Sakurai-san is serious and responsible. Even though you're a bit harsh… sometimes you're really gentle too…" Yotsuba's voice grew softer as she spoke.
She recalled that time last year in the basketball gym, when Sakurai Saki had pulled her along.
["I need you."]
That line — Yotsuba still remembered it vividly to this day.
"All right, that's enough rest." Sakurai Saki cut off her train of thought.
"Eh? It's only been a few minutes?"
The two of them had talked for less than half an hour.
"Time waits for no one, Yotsuba."
"…Sakurai-san, I hate you!"
"You can hate me, but don't hate studying."
"Hmph."
He was so serious that Yotsuba didn't even know how to argue back.