I Was Hired As A Tutor By A Cute Little Devilish Junior - Chapter 59 Exams

I woke up. The time on my phone’s screen was exactly 6:00 am.
I woke up earlier than my alarm, but somehow I didn’t feel like going back to sleep, so I got out of bed and finished getting ready for the morning.
Today’s date on the calendar was marked with a red pen with the word “exam” written in large letters below it.

Yes, today was the day of the exam, the first semester final exam. The exam was held for three days: today, tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow.
Originally, when exams were approaching, I would get restless much like anyone else, but this time my mind was super restless.

The reason for this was, of course, the promise Shiina made.

Her goal was to get the highest overall score in her grade on this exam. In one word, it was simple, but definitely not easy.
Our school was not a school with a particularly high deviation score, but it was a school with many serious students who were in the upper-middle to lower-middle range.
If she were to reach the top of the class, she would naturally have to put in a considerable amount of time and effort to reach her goal.

Shiina, who was aiming for this goal, promised to convey her feelings once she achieved it.
She set this goal as a means of making a statement to me and to herself.

What I could do—or rather, what I must do—was to watch her study as usual.
It was strange that I had to help her with a goal that was meant for me. However, if she was going to make an effort in terms of studying, I had an obligation to support her in my position as a tutor.

I had been fulfilling that duty for about two weeks and have done my best in spite of all that has happened.
The rest depends on Shiina’s effort on the day of the exams. And a little luck.

It was no use for me to be worried on my own, but I was concerned about this one thing.
After calming my troubled mind while preparing for school, I opened the front door.

I wasn’t in such a hurry, but I arrive at the school earlier than usual. The number of students was sparse, and I was able to smoothly make my way to the entrance.
As I was about to head straight to my classroom, I spotted a familiar back at the end of the hallway.

“Good morning, Shiina.”
“G-Good morning, Senpai. You are early today, I see…”
“I guess. How are you doing?”
“Yes. Thanks to you, I am feeling alright and well prepared.”

I was relieved to see Shiina beaming with her usual cute and dazzling smile.
I patted her on the head and she smiled back at me with a slightly embarrassed “Ehehe” smile.

“I have to go.”
“Yeah. I can’t do anything for the exam, but I’m rooting for you. Good luck.”
“Those words alone are enough for me. Thank you♪”

With a wink, Shiina walked up the stairs.
I saw her off and headed for my classroom. In the time before morning homeroom, I did one last check.
I couldn’t concentrate with Shiina’s face flashing in my mind, but I had a goal, too, which I hadn’t told her about.

I wanted to be Shiina’s senpai and tutor with confidence. To be next to her.
I got myself fired up once again and faced the notebook again.

The three days of the exams passed by very quickly.
During the exam period, we studied at Shiina’s house after school as we had done before the test.

During this time, I came home earlier than usual, so I could use the time more efficiently and prepare more intensively for the test.
The look on Shiina’s face when I saw her after school gave me the impression that she had done her best. In her own way, she must have been able to give it her all.

Last day of the exams. I was at Shiina’s house as usual.

“Once again, thanks for your hard work on the test.”
“Thanks for your hard work too, Senpai.”

After the two of us exchanged that, I patted her head as usual.
It was not that I just wanted to stroke her head.
It was true that her hair was very smooth and she looked a little shy when being stroked, but her happy cheeks were so cute that it took my breath away, but it was not for such a lewd reason.

Normally, Shiina is a very independent girl who is always left to her own devices, but today she was a little different.
She did not refuse to be stroked by me, but she unexpectedly reached out her hand to my head.

“I will thank you again some other time, and as much as you want. So I will praise you today, too, Senpai.”

She ruffled my hair as she tip-toed a little taller.

“Good, good, you did a great job~!”

Shiina, who stroked me without hesitation, confused me more than I expected.
Of course, I didn’t hate it, but my embarrassment and shyness overflowed, and I couldn’t look at Shiina’s face.

“Fufu, why don’t you look at me?”
“…Because I don’t want to see Shiina’s face.”
“How typical! Why can’t you just be honest and say you’re embarrassed already?”
“I won’t say that, you dummy.”
“Now do you understand how I feel a little better?”
“…I’m sorry I stroked you so casually.”
“You’re so fast at apologizing~”

Shiina acted as if she was trying to soothe a small child. Embarrassment combined with a sense of humiliation made me keep my mouth shut, unable to say anything back.
After a while, Shiina, satisfied after having my hair messed with as she pleased, collapsed onto the sofa.

“How is it? How confident are you?”
“I don’t know…As for me, I think I’ve done my best.”
“As for rankings, there are other people’s problems to deal with.”

If the goal was simply to achieve a perfect score of 100 points, that was something that could be achieved with individual effort.
However, if the goal was to achieve a high ranking, or even the first place in the grade, it was not enough to simply aim for a high score.
Of course, that was all you could do, but the point was that there was a large element of luck involved, as to what other people’s scores were going to be.

“Well, if Shiina feels she’s done her best, the rest will take care of itself.”
“…Yes.”

After a slight pause, she responded. Her eyes were open and up toward the ceiling, but she seemed to be staring into emptiness.
I gently took her left hand, which had dropped on the sofa.

“It’s okay, Shiina.”
“Eh…?”
“Of course, I trust you’ll get the results you’re aiming for. But if it doesn’t go the way you think it will, I’m still here.”
“Senpai…”
“I’m not going anywhere. So don’t give me that look.”

I wrapped my other hand around hers and spoke.
When I returned my once averted gaze to her face, Shiina was there, smiling gently and happily.

A week after the exams were over, the exams were returned one after another.
The school’s system was that all exams were returned first, and then each student was given a report card with the overall results.

Of course, not all tests were returned in a single day, but rather over several days.
The day before yesterday and yesterday, and the rest of exams for Shiina’s grade were probably scheduled to be returned today.

Incidentally, the results of the exams returned the day before yesterday and yesterday were quite good.
The scores on all subjects were definitely higher than last time, and some subjects had perfect scores.

If she had come this far, it was probably safe to say that today’s exam’s score would not be too bad either.
All that remained to be seen was how the results would compare to the scores of the others.

After sixth period, I checked my report card and quickly left the classroom.
I proceeded down the hallway to the student entrance where she was waiting for me. But she was not there.

Normally she waited for me here before anyone else, but today she was not there.
She might have been late because she had something to do. Maybe she was on day duty today.

With a glance at my watch, I looked at the hallway I had walked down.
Students, excited by the feeling of freedom after the exams, were walking by, no matter what grade they received.

I was the only one standing in the entrance hallway.
Time passed and the number of students walking down the hallway became sparse, but she still did not appear.
I checked the notifications on my phone and there were no new messages. I felt a little—no, a lot of buzzing—in my chest.

“U-Umm…”

I checked my watch one more time when I was suddenly approached by two strangers, two female students. Their ribbons showed that they were first-year students.

“Murakami-senpai…right?”
“Ah, yeah. Do you need something from me?”
“No, umm…actually…”

The two female students looked at each other and spoke timidly.
I didn’t want to think about it too much, that future was a little too much for me.

“Shiina-chan is alone in the classroom…”

That was as far as I got, and I was starting to move my body when I heard it.
I thanked the two girls and ran down the hallway.
I ran up the stairs to the classroom where she was.

The first-grade floor was already quiet, with hardly any students left.
I walked down the hallway to rest my tired feet. Maybe I was just trying not to make as much noise as possible.

On the way to the classroom where she was, there was a sound that came into my ears amongst the after-school bustle from the schoolyard.
It was her voice, familiar and yet something I had never heard before.

I opened the classroom door.
In the middle of the classroom, illuminated by the glowing evening sun.

There she was, alone, crying with tears down her cheeks.