I Was Hired As A Tutor By A Cute Little Devilish Junior - Chapter 51 Prepared
At the door, I stared at the strange man’s face.
It was not that I sensed anything suspicious about him or anything.
It was simply that I felt he looked somewhat familiar…or more correctly, like someone I knew…I froze up in thought for a moment.
“U-Umm. Can I help you?”
As expected, I felt awkward when interacting with the man, but he didn’t say anything. Instead, he was comparing my face with the apartment number and seemed to be pondering something.
While I was wondering what was going on, Shiina, who heard the noise and became suspicious, came to the door.
“Senpai, what’s wrong…Papa!”
“…Eh?”
The word Shiina uttered made me surprised, and at the same time, I realized the true identity of the strange feeling from before.
＊ ＊ ＊
“Umm, let me introduce you. Senpai, this is my father.”
Shiina looked a little uncomfortable as she introduced me to Shiina’s father, who sat in front of me.
Incidentally, Shiina’s father had never spoken a word since entering the house.
He just stared at my face carefully…It might be more appropriate to say that he was scanning me for anything suspicious.
His stares made me feel as uncomfortable as ever, but I knew it was an event I would eventually have to go through when I started tutoring.
I straightened my posture and stared straight back into his eyes.
“It is nice to meet you. My name is Murakami Riku, and I go to the same high school as your daughter.” (EDN: Last Name before First Name)
“Yeah, it’s nice to meet you. As you can see from her introduction, I am Azusa’s father.”
I had been thinking about what I would do if he decided to remain silent, but it seemed my fears were unfounded.
The voice emanating from his well-defined face, similar to Shiina’s, was calm and low but clear.
“I apologize for being rude to you earlier.”
“No, it’s fine. I’m the one who should be sorry for not saying anything.”
I misbehaved at the entrance, but Shiina’s father bowed his head as well. I had been quite prepared for this, but the softness of his response relaxed me a little.
“By the way, Murakami-kun. What is your relationship with Shiina?”
However, the friendly atmosphere quickly returned to a tense one with those words uttered by Shiina’s father.
The question was just what I had expected, but the words were louder and heavier than I had imagined.
I took a deep breath and adjusted my appearance once again.
“I’m your daughter’s tutor.”
“Tutor…?”
Shiina’s father recited the words in a questioning tone, not seeming to get the point.
“Maybe I didn’t ask the right question. Aren’t you Azusa’s boyfriend?”
“No. We’re not in a relationship.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
I quickly doubled-down as he reiterated his question with a slightly sharpened gaze.
Naturally, I could guess what Shiina’s father was thinking.
When he visited his precious daughter’s apartment, he found a boy he didn’t know in the room with her.
And the man was a tutor, not a lover or anything; it was a relationship that he didn’t understand.
I knew I was suspicious and that he wouldn’t understand.
To be honest, I couldn’t explain everything when asked about my relationship with Shiina.
We weren’t typical friends. We weren’t a couple. If you ask me if it is just a teacher-student relationship, then I am left with a feeling that it was not quite true either.
“I’m not one to complain too much about my daughter’s relationships.”
“Yes.”
“Unfortunately, however, I have my doubts about your so-called ‘tutoring’ relationship.”
Shiina’s father spoke in the same calm tone of voice.
“I want to respect my daughter’s feelings and trust you. But as a parent, you know I have feelings I don’t agree with.”
“Yes, I understand.”
“So if you approached my daughter with ulterior motives under the guise of tutoring…”
“Dad! Senpai’s not that kind of a…”
“No, it’s okay, Shiina. This is something I have to answer for.”
I stopped Shiina, who couldn’t bear to hear her father’s words, and spoke up.
I was not an adult, nor did I have children. I had never been in the position of a parent.
However, I could understand Shiina’s father’s feelings as if I could feel them in my hand. Because I have thought the same thing in the past.
Of course, it all started with Shiina’s request for me to start tutoring her.
But I could have refused or even quit during the tutoring session.
But I had never thought about that. And I couldn’t find any reason for it.
When that happened, I once thought that maybe I had evil feelings for Shiina somewhere in my heart.
I had those feelings, and yet I still continued this tutoring. It was true that I could not abandon that possibility.
I looked at Shiina’s face.
Her hair was silky, her eyelashes long and her eyes big, her mouth plump and small.
But maybe that wasn’t all that was filling my head.
The way she smiled happily at trivial things, the way she took her studies seriously, even the way she looked so happy and lively when she made fun of me.
Before I knew it, her very existence had become a part of my life. I have come to a conclusion in my mind about how I feel about her.
So I had to say how I felt.
To Shiina’s father. And of course, to Shiina herself.
“I…no, I definitely did not approach Shiina with ulterior motives. She is my student as a tutor.”
“Really? If that’s really the only relationship you have, don’t you think the distance between you two is strange?”
“I agree. Sorry, I lied a little.”
“Lie?”
“Yes. For me, Shiina was just a student at first. But now, she is an important kouhai…and an irreplaceable and precious person to me.”
I looked Shiina’s father straight in the eye and said this.
Of course, I had never told Shiina anything like this. I was too embarrassed to say so.
But expressing my true feelings was definitely the right thing to say. I am sure of it.
Shiina’s father became silent at my words and stared at me, and Shiina looked at me with a surprised expression on her face.
I felt my cheeks heat up slightly as I revealed my undeniable true feelings in the heat of the moment.
I looked at Shiina’s father, hoping that the silence would end soon.
He still seemed to be thinking about something, but he opened his eyes for a moment, took a breath, and closed his eyes.
“…I know how you feel, Murakami-kun. I don’t understand everything, but I do understand how you feel about my daughter.”
“I see. Thank you.”
“I just came by today to check on my daughter for the first time in a while…I’m relieved to see that she’s doing well.”
Her father smiled gently at Shiina like this. His smile was just like Shiina’s smiling face.
“I’m sorry for bothering. I’m going home now.”
Shiina’s father got up from his chair, raised his hand, and said so.
Shiina had talked about at least having lunch together, but he politely declined, saying he had something to do after this.
“Well then, Azusa, call me if you need.”
“Yeah. Bye, Dad.”
“Murakami-kun, take good care of my daughter.”
“Yes.”
He was a good and serious man, and I could tell he was the parent who raised Shiina. I waved goodbye to Shiina’s father as he left with a cheerful smile on his face.
After that, I went back to my room and took a breather. The situation ended peacefully, but the tension had dissipated and my strength had been drained.
“U-Umm. I’m sorry, Senpai. My father…”
“Shiina shouldn’t be apologizing. Besides, I’ve prepared for this for a long time.”
I returned a strong line like that, but inside I was quite exhausted.
I couldn’t look at Shiina’s face much right now. The reason for this was that line to persuade Shiina’s father, but it still wasn’t something I could say openly in front of Shiina.
I felt awkward and tried to avoid eye contact with Shiina, but she came up to me and sat down right next to me.
Then, she snuggled up to my shoulder.
“…What.”
“I’m in the mood for it.”
“What mood?”
“It’s because of Senpai~.”
“…”
Shiina said this in a sweet voice, and I was unable to say anything because I had an obvious idea of what she was talking about.
Shiina took my left hand and gently placed it on her cheek, taking advantage of my inability to say anything.
The warmth of her cheek made me turn to look into her round eyes, which made me feel even more uneasy.
Shiina kept holding my hand and closed her eyes for a while.
I tried to keep her out of my sight as much as possible, I looked away and bear it, and suddenly the touch on her cheek disappeared.
When I turned around, I found her holding my hand with both of hers and staring at my face.
Then, in an unusually serious tone of voice, she spilled out a few words.
“I have something to tell Senpai.”
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