I Was Hired As A Tutor By A Cute Little Devilish Junior - Chapter 55 Cold

After school one day, I was waiting for Shiina at the student entrance as usual.
The final exam was steadily approaching. Other students were beginning to be aware of the exams, and recently more and more students were going home without participating in club activities.

Shiina and I, of course, did not miss our daily studies. After all, her goal was to be the top student in her grade.
It was a goal where the slightest carelessness could be fatal.

In order to back her up, I have recently been reviewing my work from a year ago.
I’d been working on it for a while, but now I was studying it all over again.
I waited for Shiina, thinking about what I should explain to her in today’s lesson.

But no matter how long I waited, she didn’t show up.
Normally, she would be waiting at the entrance before anyone else. Even if she was on day-duty or on some other business, she was always punctual.
I went to Shiina’s classroom to talk to her classmates, wondering if something was wrong.

They seemed a little surprised to see a senior student who suddenly came to visit, but the students were kind enough to help me out.
And when I asked them about it, they told me that Shiina had not come to school today in the first place.
Apparently, she had called the school in the morning to inform them that she would be absent due to a cold.

After being told this, I checked my cell phone and found a message from Shiina.
It was a message that she would be absent from school and that she would cancel today’s tutoring, and at the end of the message, she sent a stamp of a depressed cat with the line, “Sorry…”

I thanked the student for telling me, sent Shiina a message saying I was on my way and left school immediately.
I deviated from the path I usually take home with Shiina and headed for the nearest pharmacy. As expected, I didn’t know up to her current symptoms, so I bought a sports drink and a few other things that might be nourishing and headed for Shiina’s house at a quick pace.

Even if it was just a cold, she was living alone. I would be too late if something happened unless I hurried now.
In the first place, there might have been signs of it as early as yesterday; I hated myself for not noticing it.

I knew it didn’t make any sense to think like that, but I was still frustrated.
To distract myself from these feelings, I just kept moving my feet.

It didn’t take long before I arrived at Shiina’s apartment. I walked up to her door and rang the intercom.
Maybe she was in bed, or maybe she was in no condition to answer.
My thoughts started to drift in the wrong direction, but the door opened immediately.

“Eh…Senpai, we canceled today…”
“Didn’t you see my message? I’m worried about you, so I’m paying you a visit.”
“I-I see. Thank you.”
“Are you well enough to move, Shiina?”
“Yes, it’s not that bad. Please come in.”

Even as she said this, her complexion looked bad. She walked unsteadily to her room.
The lights were off and the curtains were closed. My worry only increased.

“Ah…I’ll go make tea.”
“What are you saying, Shiina, you need to rest now.”
“But…”
“Don’t say ‘But.’ A sick person’s job is to sleep.”
“I’m not such a baby…”
“I don’t care. Don’t worry about me, just lie down.”
“…Yes.”

When I urged her to do so in a slightly stronger tone, Shiina returned to her bed and covered herself with the futon, though she was a little dejected.
I talked to Shiina while sorting out the things I bought at the pharmacy.

“Do you have a fever?”
“In the morning I had a slight fever. Now…I don’t know.”
“Let’s measure it. Where’s your thermometer?”
“It’s on the desk over there…”

I took the thermometer and approached Shiina, who was lying down on the bed.
Then, I placed my palm on her forehead. It wasn’t surprisingly hot, but it didn’t feel normal.
In addition, Shiina’s eyes were somewhat vacant, and her cheeks were red.

“I’m going to take your temperature. Can you sit up?”
“Yes…”

She was defenseless in her pajamas, and I propped her up. My heart rate went up a little.

“Here’s the thermometer.”
“Thank you very much…”

After receiving the thermometer, she unbuttoned a few buttons of her pajamas and placed it directly into the side of her left arm.
Naturally, more skin was exposed than usual, and I hurriedly turned away.
A few moments later, I heard a beeping sound, and I finally looked back at her and took the thermometer from her.

“It’s 37.6 degrees Celsius…It’s a normal low fever.”
“I’m sorry. I can’t believe I have a cold this time of year with exams coming up…”
“What are you saying? It’s not Shiina’s fault.”
“I…maybe it had been inevitable. Although Senpai has always supported me.”
“Shiina.”

I called out her name and stopped Shiina, who had begun to spew out an uncharacteristic whiny voice.
I gently touched Shiina’s cheek with my hand as she made a dejected face with no sense of control.
Her pupil widened with a surprised expression.

“Shiina, you tried very hard. You probably tried a little too hard and your body took you by surprise. It’s not Shiina’s fault.”
“B-But, I had inconvenienced Senpai…”
“I’ve never been inconvenienced by anything Shiina has done to me. Haven’t you been spoiled all the time? Rather, it’s great. I’ll spoil you as much as I can.”
“Are you sure…?”
“Of course. I would do anything for Shiina.”
“T-Then…”

When Shiina thought about something and was about to speak.
Kyurururu.
A sad voice came from her stomach.

“Eh, ehehe. I-I’m a little hungry.”
“Seems like the tummy bug is more honest. Hold on a minute, I’ll go make you something.”

I laid Shiina down on the bed again and left the room.
I took out a bowl of porridge from among the items I bought at the pharmacy. I had bought it in case of an emergency, and it seems my intuition was correct.

When my sister Kanade got sick and my mom was out, I was the one to nurse her.
The current predicament was not something I was used to…but at least it was not the first time I had to deal with it.
I wasn’t going to make Shiina wait, so I quickly prepared and started to cook.

I didn’t make anything too elaborate. I just did what I was supposed to do normally.
rom the look of the room and the kitchen, she probably hadn’t eaten anything proper since she woke up in the morning.

The most important thing to recover from a cold as quickly as possible was getting energized. To do so, she had to eat first.
I returned to Shiina’s room, brought a chair next to the bed, and sat down.

“Here, it’s simple porridge. Can you eat it?”
“T-Thank you very much…”
“Be careful eating this, it’s hot.”
“U-Um…Senpai.”
“Hmm, what’s wrong?”
“Could you please feed me…?”
“Oh…”

She sat on the bed, tilted her head toward me, and looked up while saying such selfish things.
It was a common situation that I’d seen often in media, and I’ve just assured her that I’ll do anything for her.

However, my heart beated faster when she asked me to do something with such a sweet, covetous look in her eyes.
A man doesn’t go back on his words…and if a kouhai was going to be honest and asked to be pampered, I have to go with it.

“…Understood. Let it cool down, just give me a minute.”
“Ehehe, yes.”

I scooped a small amount of porridge into a spoon and let it cool down under my breath, a little taken aback by Shiina’s cute reply.
Shiina watched the scene, and when I was ready, she turned to me and opened her little mouth.
I brought the porridge to her mouth, my heart beating fast.

“…P-Phew! Ah!”
“How is it? Not too hot?”
“It’s delicious!”

She chewed slowly and then smiled. It was not as cheerful as her usual smile, but I felt that her complexion was somewhat better than before.

“I was surprised to see that Senpai could cook as well.”
“Only the simple recipes. Don’t get your hopes up.”
“That’s okay. I’ll make the complicated ones for us.”
“…Yes, yes.”

I thought deeply about the meaning of those words, then I gave her a slight shrug and ran away.
She let out another laugh and then begged me for porridge again.

In the end, I continued feeding Shiina until she finished the porridge.