I Was Hired As A Tutor By A Cute Little Devilish Junior - Chapter 46 Sleepover

Saturday morning. I got a little more sleep than usual, ate a light breakfast, and started preparing for the day.
By preparing, I meant preparations for Shiina’s tutoring session.

Normally, I don’t do much preparation when I head to Shiina’s house, but today was special.
When I had to take a break from tutoring Shiina the other day because of Kanade, I promised to make it up to her in some way the next time.
So I was preparing for that.

After I finished packing most of my things, I took them back to the living room and after a while, Kanade, who as usual sleeps in on her weekends, woke up.

“Good morning, Kanade.”
“Good morning, Nii-san.”

She said this with her hair and pajamas in disarray, rubbing her eyes and with a lisp in her sleepy voice.
However, she blinked her eyes when she saw the large baggage on the floor next to me.

“Nii-san, that baggage…?”
“Yeah. I’m going to stay over at Shiina’s house today. So I won’t be home for two days, until tomorrow night. Is that going to be okay?”
“…I’ll miss you, but I owe Shiina-san from the other day, so I’ll be patient.”
“I see. Thanks, Kanade.”

I patted Kanade, who looked sad despite coming to terms with the situation, to dissolve her drowsiness.
Then, as usual, she hugged me tightly, and I hugged her back.
Perhaps Kanade was not the only one who was going to be lonely.

　＊　＊　＊

Kanade saw me off as I left the house, and took the train to Shiina’s house.
I pressed the intercom and she greeted me and let me in.

“Ehehe. I’ve been waiting for you, Senpai.”
“I thought I was here on time.”
“That’s not what I meant. I’ve been waiting for a week since then.”
“I’m really sorry about that.”
“You don’t need to apologize. I’m expecting more from you today because of that, okay?”

Shiina smiled, ugh, I don’t know what on earth she was expecting.
But I didn’t come empty-handed either. I had to thank Shiina for Kanade’s part as well.
I handed Shiina a paper bag that I had brought by hand, in addition to my overnight baggage.

“This is…?”
“For now, it’s an apology.”
“May I open it?”
“Yeah, sure.”

This was something I bought at the mall when I went out with Momoka-chan and Kanade last week.
Since there were two girls there, I discussed the contents of the gift with them and decided on it.

“Are these…bath salts and mugs?”
“I bought the bath salts because I thought they were more practical, and Kanade strongly recommended the mugs, which I’m not sure about. I ended up buying it anyway since Kanade insisted.”
“Fufu. It’s so typical of Senpai to choose practical products.”
“Was that a bad idea?”
“Not at all. It’s very fitting coming from Senpai. But…”
“B-But…?”
“These mugs are…for couples.”
“Eh?”

I had not thoroughly checked the contents of the mugs, thinking that since Kanade had chosen it, there was nothing out of the ordinary, but apparently, it was a pair of mugs for couples.
In fact, when I took the mugs out of the box, I found that the mugs had faces on them and two handles that look like arms, and when the mugs were placed side by side, they looked like a couple with their arms around each other, which was a very stylish design.

“Fufu, well, just like me and Senpai, right?”

Shiina hugged my arm, acting out the design on the mugs.
Then, Shiina pulled me to the mirror in the living room.

“I don’t have a smile on my face as big as that mug.”
“That’s Senpai’s fault. Look, Senpai, they’re smiling.”
“Who can even smile like that anyway?”
“Boo.”

I shook off Shiina’s hand and put away the mugs, which Shiina was about to tease me with, behind the top shelf in the highest part of the kitchen.

“I can’t serve it to you if you put it that high.”
“That’s what I’m after.”
“Boo. Senpai is so shy.”
“Yeah sure.”

I was taken for a fool by the unexpected ambush from Kanade.
But this time, I was not being made fun of all the time.

This time, it was a sleepover. I’ve only stayed over at a girl’s house a few times when Satsuki and I were still young.
I was a little nervous, and I expected to be teased by Shiina because of it.

However, the opposite was also true.
During this one night, there should be plenty of opportunities for me to attack her.
This sleepover was also a chance for me to fight back.

“Let’s just start studying. Did you solve the problems I told you about yesterday?”
“…”
“Hey, don’t look away.”

We begin to study, despite some wrangling. I watched Shiina from the side as she earnestly worked on a problem book.
I’ve forgotten the official name of the magazine, so I’ll just call it the “Heart-beating Ranking,” and the No. 6 item on that ranking is 『Unexpectedly looks into your face at close range』
I closed the distance to Shiina in order to do it.

Shiina always closed the distance to me, but it was usually never the other way around.
That was why Shiina glanced at me in surprise.

I deliberately pretend not to notice it and keep my eyes on Shiina’s notebook to see what’s going on.
Shiina tilted her head a little and looked at me curiously, but quickly returned to her studies.

I then lowered my face to right next to the notebook and stared into Shiina’s face, peering from below.
It was quite interesting to see Shiina’s face, which was closer than usual, and to see her expression change from serious to surprised in an instant.

“W-What’s going on?”
“Nothing? I think you have a cute face.”
“Hya, hyah!”

Naturally, I had no particular meaning behind it, so I responded appropriately.
Surprisingly, it seemed to be a clean hit.
Her cheeks were stained red like apples, and her mouth was gaping.

The way Shiina was looking at me was even funnier, and I let out a giggle.
Shiina was quite annoyed by that and puffed up her cheeks like a squirrel.

“S-Senpai…you’re too carried away!”
“Why only me? We’re both carried away at times.”
“I’m a serious student.”
“Can you even hear what you just said?”
“Nope. I can’t.”

Shiina, who was talking back to me with childlike stubbornness, seemed irresistibly cute, and I ended up patting her on the head like I do when I treat Kanade.
However, Shiina seemed to judge that I was teasing her, and she brushed my hand away and stood up on the spot.

“If Senpai wants to do it, I’ll do it too!”
“Are you serious?”
“Yes, please be prepared for that after lunch!”

Yes, she just declared war.

　＊　＊　＊

“Um, Shiina-san. This is…?”
“A lap pillow.”
“No, that’s not what I meant…”
“Lap pillow.”
“…”

In the end, after that, we studied as usual, and as usual, I had Shiina’s homemade lunch.
I had expected that something might have been planted in the rice, but it was fine.

Then, as usual, I sat down on the sofa in front of the TV for an after-meal break, and Shiina suddenly caught me by the head and knocked me down.
I found that my head was on top of Shiina’s thighs.

“W-What’s the meaning behind this?”
“Senpai gave me a lap pillow a little while ago, and this is my way of repaying that favor.”
“I don’t remember wishing for any of this.”
“Of course, it’s mandatory, okay?”
“That’s so self-indulgent on your end…”

I was quite defensive because I was told to be prepared, but in a way, I was a step behind.

“How is it? How do my thighs feel?”
“How is it…is it considered s*xual harassment if I answer?”
“Of course.”
“Hey.”

To be honest, Shiina’s thighs feel very, very nice.
Her body temperature is higher than mine, Her thighs are definitely softer than the pillows at home, and by the way, she smells kind of nice.

What I was doing was completely dangerous, but combined with the immorality of it, it made me feel weird.

“I’m surprised that Senpai’s hair is so smooth.”

Taking advantage of the fact that my head was not moving from Shiina’s lap, Shiina stroked my head as if to repay me for what I just said.
I don’t think my hair is any more pleasant than Kanade’s, but Shiina seemed to like it for some reason.
She just kept stroking my head.

At first, I was embarrassed and wished that this time would end soon, but surprisingly I did not feel bad about Shiina stroking my head.
I felt a strange sense of security as if I was nostalgic somehow. I wondered if this was what Momoka-chan had meant when she said she felt safe when I stroked her head.

As I thought about this, my consciousness gradually faded.
Was it because of the after-meal syndrome or something else? For some reason, I let myself be carried away by the oncoming sleepiness.

And then, my consciousness snapped.