I Was Hired As A Tutor By A Cute Little Devilish Junior - Chapter 36 Memory

I dried Satsuki’s hair, while she was in a good mood, and combed her hair.
Her hair was usually tied up in a bun, so it was refreshing to see it straight down.

When I combed her hair, it didn’t get stuck in the slightest, and the comb slipped through without any resistance.
How silky. I was impressed by Satsuki’s hair.

“Okay. We’re done.”
“Ehehe. Thank you, Riku.”
“You’re welcome.”
“It’s been a long time since anyone’s done that for me.”
“I see. Well, I’m glad you enjoyed it.”
“Riku, you’re pretty good. Could I ask you to do it again?”
“Just let me know and I’ll do it.”
“Really? I’ll call you every night then.”
“Well, I guess I’ll start charging you.”
“Boo~ You’re so stingy~”

Satsuki looked at me with a complaining face.
To be honest, I was prepared to do that much for free if Satsuki asked me to.

It has become a habit these days, but every week when Satsuki’s club activities are off, she makes me lunch.
It was not something I was forcing her to do, but it was something she does for me every week as a favor.

The first time was when Satsuki said she wanted to practice cooking.
I was chosen as a taster for her to practice cooking as she was starting to think about becoming independent as a high school student.

In the beginning, there were some inconsistencies in seasoning and some uneven shapes.
However, within a few months, Satsuki’s cooking skills were quickly improving, and now her lunches alone were better than my mom’s.

The fact that she was able to feed me such delicious lunches every week without any trouble was an incredible blessing.
That’s why I’m more than happy to dry Satsuki’s hair.

“Well, what to do now?”
“Riku, are you in some kind of trouble?”
“Ah, no. I’m just wondering what I should do to pass the time until Satsuki’s mom comes home.”

When I used to come to Satsuki’s house to play when I was little, I never felt this kind of trouble at all. I suddenly felt like this now.

When I went to Satsuki’s house from the time before noon and pushed the intercom, Satsuki’s mom always greeted me with a smile.
While her mom was greeting me at the door, Satsuki came from the living room and took me by the hand to her room on the second floor.

Naturally, since it was a girl’s room, there were no toys for boys like in her room, but instead, it was filled with pretty pink things.
From a boy’s point of view, it didn’t seem very interesting, but I remember enjoying it somehow.

I remember feeling somewhat relieved at the position of the husband who was being pushed around by Satsuki, even though the wife had a lot of power.
There were times when I was more enthusiastic about origami and making simple accessories.

I don’t have many memories of my childhood, but I could recall many of the times I was with Satsuki surprisingly vividly.
It was probably a very fulfilling time for me. Thinking about it now, I feel a little envious.

“We had a lot of fun when we were little.”

When I was thinking about the past, Satsuki seemed to be thinking the same thing.

“That’s right. We used to play house every day.”
“Fufu. Riku was so cute back then.”
“You’re saying I’m not cute now.”
“Actually, you’re not. You used to be such a good, honest kid.”
“Thanks to you, I’ve grown into a fine young man.”

I may have mentioned it a little bit before, but it was none other than Satsuki that changed me from being quiet and not wanting to get involved with people.
She has become this way now, but she used to be a dependable older sister.

“I just felt a very rude look on my face.”
“It was probably just your imagination.”
“Is it…? Well, whatever.”

I looked away from Satsuki, who was looking at me suspiciously and tried again to find a way to pass the time.

“Is there anything you want to do, Satsuki? It’s been a while since we’ve been alone like this, so is there anything you want to do?”
“J-Just the two of us… Yes…What I want to do, what I want to do…”

Satsuki crossed her arms carefully and thought about it.
I think there was some kind of intonation difference, but I’m just going to ignore it for now.
After a while, Satsuki looked as if she has thought of something.

“You know, Riku. Didn’t you have a midterm review the other day?”
“Yeah, that’s right. What’s with it?”
“Yes. I scored a little worse than when I was a freshman. Well, if you don’t mind, I was wondering if you could teach me…?”

I see, that was it.
Of course, there was no reason to refuse, but I was concerned that Satsuki’s attitude was a little sluggish.
If she simply wanted study help because of a bad score, she could ask for it with more confidence.

“We…can’t?”
“No, we can. If you’re okay with me, I’ll teach you as much as you want.”
“R-Really? Thank you, Riku!”

I smiled back at Satsuki, who smiled happily from the bottom of her heart.
She has been the one who has been taking care of me for lunch, so she doesn’t need to be so reserved. She was a very polite person in a strange way.

We decided to study in Satsuki’s room because it was inconvenient to use this room with a desk to sit around.
I hadn’t been in Satsuki’s room in a year, or even longer. Even though I’ve been in this room many times before, I feel nervous.

“Sorry to disturb…”
“C-Come in.”

It has been a while since I’ve seen Satsuki, so my movements into the room were a little awkward.
And the scene that I saw was the same color as the scenery I remembered from those days.

“It’s so familiar. The interior is almost the same.”
“Oh, you remember.”
“Of course I remember. Oh, that stuffed bear is still sitting by the window, isn’t it?”

Some of the miscellaneous items such as books and textbooks had increased, but the general furniture and nostalgic interior decorations were still the same.
Things that had been faint in my memory became vivid and came back to me all at once.
I remembered a few small pieces of history that I had forgotten, and my mouth dropped open involuntarily.

I slapped my loose cheeks and regained my focus.

“Well, shall we begin?”
“Yes!”

Satsuki replied cheerfully, took the teaching materials from her desk drawer, and sat down at the now small round desk.
Then, I moved next to her and sat down in a position where I could see Satsuki’s materials.

“R-Riku?”
“What’s up, you got a question for me?”
“I-It’s not that. Umm…It’s nothing.”
“What even is it?”

I turned my head and saw her face questionably red.
I don’t think it was that she was not feeling well, but what’s wrong with her? I was a little concerned.

When we started studying, she seemed to be concentrating reasonably well, so my worries were unfounded, but then another problem arose.

“Satsuki, you got that question wrong.”
“Eh, no way.”
“Yes way. See, you made a mistake there and the one before.”
“Ehhh~…”

Satsuki’s mistakes were more noticeable than I thought, and I could somehow see the reason why she lost points.

She has always been good at physical exercise and has a tendency to prioritize sports over studies.
However, she was a serious person at heart and listened carefully to her lessons, so her thinking about problems was not wrong.
The problem was that she was a bit lacking in the basics.

Because of this, there were a lot of parts where she got to a good place, but made a terrible mistake due to a lack of finalization.

“Satsuki, this question will be wrong if you don’t understand this principle.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah. It’s first-year content, but its application is in this range. So if you don’t understand it well, you’ll make mistakes.”
“I-I see…”

Satsuki listened to me earnestly with a hmmm.
I have not been a tutor for anyone but Shiina in the past few months.
To be honest, it was unknown whether I could teach people other than Shiina well, but I think I can manage it.

“Riku, you’re really good at teaching.”
“Is that so? Thank you.”
“Yeah. Is it because you’re tutoring Shiina-chan?”
“Yeah. I’d say that’s 80% of my training.”
“Hmm, I see…”

Satsuki muttered in a slightly lowered tone of voice.
I continued to tutor her while paying attention to her complicated face, which looked a little dissatisfied and lonely.