I Was Hired As A Tutor By A Cute Little Devilish Junior - Chapter 12 First Meeting

I knew I had made a mistake..It was time.
In front of me at the entrance of the school were two girls staring at each other.
In the tense air, they both asked me at the same time.

“Senpai, who is this woman?”
“Riku, who is this girl?”

“Umm…”

I couldn’t help but freeze due to the sheer energy of the girls.

It all started at lunchtime today.
When I was eating Satsuki’s lunch, which I normally do every Wednesday, she had asked me to go home with her.

It was something that she had asked almost every week for the past year or more, so I said yes without really thinking about it.
It was only after Satsuki returned to her classroom that I realized the gravity of the situation.

That was right. I had completely forgotten about Shiina.

I’ve been going home with Shiina every day for the past few days, and heading directly to her house.
Naturally, today was no exception, and as usual, Shiina was waiting for me at the door.
And I took Satsuki there with me.

“What kind of relationship do you have with Murakami-senpai?”
“What kind of relationship do you have with Riku?”

And here we are.

Shiina and Satsuki talking with a smile.
They were smiling. It looks like it, but somehow their voices don’t match.

“Murakami-senpai. Please explain it well.”
“Riku. What is with this girl?”
“What is with that! Calling him by his first name so casually!”
“Fuhumm… Unlike you who just appeared out of nowhere, we’ve known each other for a very long time.”
“Why are you two so quarrelsome when you first meet…”

The two of them stung each other with their bumblebee glances.
No, no, why can’t they communicate more peacefully?
What kind of nerves do high schoolers have?

Sighing inwardly, I tried to calm them down, but Shiina started to argue with me about what Satsuki had just said.

“I also do such and such every day under the same roof with Senpai~”
“H-Hmm. Well, me too? We’ve even shared a bath and bed together.”
“Hey What do you mean, Senpai?”
“That’s right, Riku! Why do you spend every day with this girl?”
“You guys are exaggerating too much. You two need to listen for a little bit.”

They asked me questions in an oddly breathless way, so I glared at them in a slightly dusky voice, and they both quiet down honestly.
It might be easier to start with Satsuki’s explanation for now.

“Shiina. This is my childhood friend, Imai Satsuki. I’ve known her since kindergarten, and the bathing and bedtime stories she told you earlier were from that time. Don’t misunderstand.”
“I-Is that so?”

Shiina awkwardly affirmed.
Did she really think we were doing that kind of thing on an ongoing basis?
I hadn’t done anything like that since elementary school.

Now, the problem is Shiina’s explanation… For now, I’ll get straight to the point.

“This is Shiina Azusa, a first-year student. I’m Shiina’s tutor.”
“Hmm, a first-year…heh? What tutor…that tutor?”
“I don’t know what other kinds of tutors there are, but yes I’m a tutor.”
“…Eh, eh? What do you mean?”

Satsuki has a lot of question marks on her head.
When I was a little worried about how to explain it, Shiina spoke to Satsuki.

“Imai-senpai…are you okay?”
“Ah, yes. I’m fine.”
“Then, Imai-senpai. As Murakami-senpai just said, he is my tutor.”
“Shiina…-chan asked him to do that?”
“Yes. I asked him and he agreed to do it.”
“Riku, did you say yes?”
“Yeah. It was a request from a junior, and well, it was a situation that was hard to refuse…”
“S-Seriously…”

I don’t understand why she looked so sad.
I didn’t know why she was making that face, but I hadn’t seen this kind of face from Satsuki very often, so I was a little worried inside.

“So, Senpai is going to study alone with me at my house now. Let’s go, shall we?”
“Eh, no, wait a minute…”

Shiina grabbed my arm and tried to force me to leave without listening to my voice of restraint.
Then, Satsuki opened her mouth in a whisper.

“…also going.”
“”Eh?””

“I’m going to Shiina-chan’s house too.”
“”…Eh?””

Shiina and I spilled out a distracted reply in perfect harmony.

　＊　＊　＊

“Heh. Shiina-chan’s house is pretty close to the school.”
“T-That’s right.”

On the way to Shiina’s house with the three of us, Satsuki unexpectedly spoke a lot.
I was expecting things to proceed in a somewhat awkward atmosphere.

“Is Shiina-chan bad at studying?”
“N-Not really. I’m pretty good at it.”
“I see.”

Satsuki was talking to Shiina cheerfully, a change from her attitude from the first time they interacted earlier.
Shiina seemed to be more puzzled by the sudden change.

“This is my place. My parents don’t live here with me, so please don’t hesitate to come in.”
“Okay. Then, sorry for intruding.”

Perhaps it wasn’t a factor that bothered her in particular, but Satsuki lightly flushed and went inside.
Shiina and I looked at each other and chuckled as we followed Satsuki inside.

“Wow! Shiina-chan, you’re living alone in this place!”
”Yes. I’ll go prepare some tea, you’re free to look around.”
“No, I’ll help you.”
“No, it’s just tea. I’m fine on my own…”
“It’s okay~”

Satsuki placed her hand on Shiina’s shoulder and headed to the kitchen in a good mood.
I was left alone, and as usual, I spread out my study materials on my desk and waited.

In the kitchen, Shiina and Satsuki were making tea together with a friendliness that was more one-sided than normal.

Shiina looked quite confused, but Satsuki was not the type to be shy from the start.
Yes, it would be a lie to say that she doesn’t act like a cat at all, but that doesn’t mean that Satsuki would never say anything to hurt the other person.

In a way, it was unnatural, but I think she was genuinely trying to talk to Shiina.
I don’t think she has any malicious intent, but from Shiina’s point of view, it was probably nothing but fear. Hahaha…

“Murakami-senpai. I’ve brought you some tea.”
“Ah. Thank you.”

I drank the tea Shiina had brought me.
And after taking a bite of the sweets that were served with it.

“Okay, let’s get started.”
“Yes, Senpai♪”

I asked Shiina as usual, and she sat down right next to me as usual.
Then, leaning against me, she opened her notebook and started studying.

After deciding to do the usual to that extent, I remembered that it isn’t considered normal…

“What is going on? The two of you.”

A dusky voice came from behind me, a complete change from before.
When I turned my head back like a robot, there was my childhood friend with a dark smile on her face.

“Sa-Satsuki. There’s a bit of a story behind this…”
“Hmm? So you have a situation where you have to stick with her when you tutor her?”
“Ugh.”

When it was said again in words, it stuck in my mind quite a bit.
I know I can’t help it, but when she said so, I felt like I was the evil one.

“Please don’t misunderstand, Imai-senpai.”

When I was silent and could not say anything, Shiina opened her mouth.

“I can’t motivate myself to study unless I’m attached to Senpai like this.”
“Yes? Then, do Shiina-chan and Riku study like this all the time?”
“Yes, we do.”

The moment Shiina answered quickly, I thought I heard something crack from Satsuki.
That was not good, that face changed to a serious angry one.

The moment I was about to speak to Satsuki, she spoke to me.

“Hey, Riku.”
“W-What is it?”

Satsuki took a bill from her wallet and handed it to me.

“Would you take the time to go to the convenience store and get me a drink and some melon bread?”
“What’s with all the pestering?”
“Please. I have something I want to talk to Shiina-chan about alone.”

She said to me with the same smile she had earlier.
I felt Shiina’s body shake next to me.

“S-Senpai, you’re not going to leave me behind, are you…?”

Shiina looked up at me with tears forming in her eyes.
I took one look at it, then slowly stood up and turned to face Satsuki. And.

“Satsuki.”
“What? Riku.”
“…The drink, Yotsuya Cider is fine?”
“Yeah, that’s fine.”
“Okay. Then, I’m off.”
“S-Senpai~!”

I turned my back on Shiina, who was screaming in pain, and left the house with a bill in my hand.
Sorry, Shiina. To be honest, it was tiring to deal with Satsuki in that state. I believe in you.

…I’ll buy Shiina a drink next time.
With this in mind, I walked to the nearest convenience store.