Chapter 236: Rising Otaku Power
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 236: Rising Otaku Power
“The best way to solve this is... Tetsuya-kun, are you listening?”
Tetsuya, who had been staring blankly at his math book, snapped to attention at Miyuki's low voice.
“Ah, yeah. I was listening.”
He’s probably down in the dumps because he found out I've been coming over to Miyuki's house a lot.
I have no idea why he's acting like this when he's the one who was so indecisive, but Tetsuya isn't someone who fits into the category of a normal person, so I don't see any need to understand him.
“What did I just say?”
“Uh... that it’s best to use factorization?”
“I never said that.”
“O-Oh...?”
“Why can’t you focus? Don’t you want to study?”
“Of course not. Why would I ever hate studying with you?”
The way he was waving his hands around frantically was pissing me off.
I propped my elbows on the table and rested my chin in my hands, then sneakily extended my leg under the tablecloth and pushed it against the inside of Miyuki's thigh.
She flinched.
At my bold move, Miyuki's shoulders twitched slightly, and she frowned.
“...Shall we start again, then...?”
She was speaking to Tetsuya, but her eyes were fixed on me.
A glare that seemed to scold, What do you think you're doing?
Ignoring it, I put on a bored expression as if I couldn't be bothered with studying and tapped a sensitive spot on Miyuki.
Her face quickly turned crimson.
Deciding she couldn't let this continue, she reached down and pinched the top of my foot, hard.
The stinging pain made me squirm, and my foot pressed firmly between Miyuki's legs.
“Hic...!”
A rather high-pitched moan escaped from her lips, even as she tried to act nonchalant, her long eyelashes lowered.
“Ahem...! Hmph...”
She quickly cleared her throat to smooth things over.
Forcing an awkward smile at Tetsuya, who was looking at her with a puzzled expression, she said.
“Get ready to take notes. I’ll give you the formula.”
“Ah, okay. But are you sick? Did you catch a cold?”
“No? Why...?”
“You were coughing pretty hard.”
“Something just went down the wrong pipe.”
“Really? You should drink some water.”
As expected of a clueless guy, he had no idea what was happening under the table.
Miyuki seems to be in more trouble than I thought, so I’ll stop here for now.
Next time, I should push for a go in the bathroom during break.
I pulled my foot out from between her legs and placed it quietly on the floor.
“Phew...”
Miyuki let out a deep sigh as if to cool her flushed face.
She took a large gulp of the juice in front of her, shot me a resentful glare, and then began to explain the formula to the idiotic Tetsuya.
* * *
“Wrong. You just have to plug in the formula I just gave you. Don’t you remember?”
At Miyuki’s stern voice, Tetsuya scratched his head.
“Sorry. I forgot.”
“You’re getting a lot more wrong today than usual... Are you not feeling well?”
“I-I guess so...?”
“You look like it.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. I can see you tried hard to solve it, at least. Matsuda-kun, you got it right. You got confused in the middle and wasted a lot of time, but I can let this slide.”
Surviving Miyuki's barrage of problems for hours was exhausting.
My mind is fried, so it's only right that my body gets a reward, right?
I stretched my stiff body and asked in a hopeful tone.
“So, are we done for today?”
“It’s a little disappointing, but... I think so. You both worked hard today, good job.”
It's a bit of a stretch to say Tetsuya did well... but just like the kind-hearted Miyuki she is, she praised him anyway.
Miyuki let out a small laugh as she watched me crack my stiff neck, then stood up and continued.
“I'm going to the bathroom. I'll cut up some fruit when I get back, so you two can relax and have some before you go.”
At that, Tetsuya clutched his head and berated himself.
“Sorry I did so poorly today. I’ll review when I get home.”
“No, it’s fine. If you’re not feeling well, it’s better to just get some rest. You two could go for a walk or something.”
With that, Miyuki hummed a little tune and headed upstairs.
Her steps seemed to say she genuinely enjoyed teaching us.
I sighed, fed up, and left Tetsuya—who looked relieved—to head out to the small garden outside the living room.
I was stretching while looking at the well-tended flowerbeds when,
“Matsuda, what are you doing out here?”
Tetsuya’s grating voice came from behind me.
“Stretching.”
“Mind if I join you?”
“Do whatever you want.”
“Okay.”
Tetsuya came up beside me and started bending his waist from side to side.
After a moment of silence, he pointed to a shrub in the corner of the garden, one with four or five sparse leaves growing above the bluish stipules on its branches.
“Isn’t that tree pretty?”
“Pretty? It doesn’t even have any flowers.”
“Ah, I guess it might look that way to you. Miyuki and I planted it together when we were kids, so it looks pretty to me.”
Is he trying to brag? That he’s been making memories at Miyuki’s house since they were kids?
No, that can’t be it. Tetsuya is a loser, but he wouldn’t have fallen that far.
I have to believe that. If he was bragging, I might actually start to get scared of him.
“I guess it would be pretty when it blooms. I didn’t see any flowers in the summer, so maybe it’s a spring blossom?”
“That’s right. It’s a royal azalea.”
Talking about flowers with this guy is seriously killing my mood.
I need to change the subject.
“How’s boxing? Is it going well?”
“It’s so-so. The coach seems to like me, though.”
“Really? If the coach said that, doesn’t that mean you have a talent for it?”
“He wasn’t talking about my technique, just that he liked my grit.”
“Stop being so modest. Do they still make beginners jump rope all day?”
“No. These days, if you do that, all the members quit. So they just have you jump rope as a warm-up and then teach you the one-two right away. Speaking of which, didn’t you used to do a sport and then quit? I think I heard that from Miyuki...”
I did tell Miyuki once that I used to do a sport but stopped.
I only mentioned it in passing, but she remembered even that?
That’s my Miyuki. I’ll have to give her a praise stamp and leave a really dark hickey on her neck.
But her telling Tetsuya about it is a little...
Even if we weren’t dating back then, sharing a story about me with that piece of trash Tetsuya earns her a demerit.
I can’t just let it slide, even considering they’re childhood friends with no secrets... I’ll have to let this one go with a spank on the butt.
“Yeah, I did.”
“What was it?”
“I did a bunch of different things, so it’s hard to pick just one. Don’t pry.”
“Okay. Sorry.”
“But don’t you have to buy your own gloves and boxing shoes?”
“Yeah.”
“And you bought them all?”
“I did.”
“Looks like you’re planning to take it seriously.”
“For now, that’s the plan.”
“What are you going to use it for? To hit me?”
“Hey... you don’t learn a sport just to hit people.”
Is it just me, or does that sound like a dig at my old delinquent self?
No, Tetsuya is exactly the kind of guy who would say something like that with that intention.
But why don’t I feel offended, just amused?
Maybe I’ve just gotten used to how pathetic he is.
Anyway, from the way he’s talking, it sounds like he’s going to get cocky soon...
I wonder if I can bait him into a sparring match then.
“Matsuda-kun! Tetsuya-kun! Come get some fruit!”
While we were having this completely pointless conversation, Miyuki called out to us in a loud voice.
When I went back to the living room, Kana was already sitting there, picking up a fork.
I sat down at the now-tidied table and asked her.
“When did you get here, Kana-san?”
“Just now. Why?”
“I feel like I only ever see you when there’s food around.”
“I’m not a pig, you know. Wanna see my belly?”
How on earth did she interpret what I said to come up with that response?
Kana has a quirky side to her, too.
Still, I wouldn’t mind seeing her belly. I bet it’s as fair and smooth as Miyuki’s.
As Kana made a sudden move to lift her shirt, a horrified Miyuki quickly stopped her.
“Jeez, sis...! Stop doing weird things...!”
“Why? I have to prove it so Matsuda-kun can’t tease me.”
“Matsuda-kun wasn’t teasing you...! Did you hit your head or something?”
Mmm... the bickering sisters are a nice sight.
Makes me want to take them to bed.
As I watched Kana stubbornly argue and Miyuki try to stop her, a pleased smile on my face, I took a bite of an apple while giving Tetsuya a pathetic look. He was trying his best to butt into the conversation.
“C-Calm down, you two... Shall we have some fruit?”
* * *
That evening, in front of Renka’s house.
“What’s that on your neck?”
Renka, who had come out right on time and gotten into the car, asked. I touched my neck with a puzzled look.
“What is it?”
“It’s red. Did a bug bite you?”
“Where?”
“Lower down. A little to the right.”
Ah, she saw the hickey Miyuki left.
She must not know what it is since she's never seen one before.
“This? You’ll find out later.”
“Later?”
I’ll teach you myself, very thoroughly.
I swallowed the words and changed the subject.
“What do you want to do today?”
“Didn’t you already decide?”
“Nope. Should we just drive around and stop if we see somewhere fun?”
“Why are you so spontaneous? Don’t you have a plan?”
“Do I need a plan to hang out with my slave?”
“Hey!”
“Alright, alright. Don’t get mad.”
“And stop talking down to me...!”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Was she annoyed by my nonchalant replies?
She bit her lower lip and glared at me, then turned her head to look out the window, apparently done with the conversation.
As I drove in silence, looking for a place to go, Renka must have found the quiet atmosphere a bit awkward, because she spoke up first.
“You’re going to the next kendo tournament, right? Have you talked to the other club members?”
“Kendo tournament?”
“We made it to the main tournament. Because we won last time. Don’t tell me you forgot that too?”
“I remember. But is there really a need to go?”
“You competed as a selected member, so of course you have to participate in the next tournament, right?”
“There’s no reward, so I don’t really feel like going.”
At that, Renka let out a sigh dripping with exasperation.
“You said you were starting to enjoy it last time. You said you wanted to compete, didn’t you?”
“Did I? I don’t really remember.”
“Don’t lie.”
“Now that I think about it, I think I might remember. But going during vacation is a bit...”
“Why are you so unmotivated? Why are you even trying to learn kendo? Just as a hobby?”
“Among the Total Concentration Breaths...”
“If you’re about to say you’re learning the Breath of Thunder, I’ll kill you.”
“Understood. Then I’ll say it’s because I want to learn the Soaring Heaven Sword Style.”
When I mentioned the name of a technique from a classic action manga, Renka snorted as if to say I was pathetic.
“What are you talking about... The Soaring Heaven Sword Style is only passed down to a single successor, so... ah...”
Renka, who had been chattering away, let out a dismayed gasp.
It seemed a topic she knew came up and she tried to show off, only to realize her mistake.
I burst out laughing internally and asked her in a playful voice as her eyes darted back and forth.
“Were you about to joke that since it’s passed down to a single successor, you can’t learn it at a regular kendo club?”
“N-No...?”
Anyone could tell that was exactly it.
“Yes, you were.”
“No, I wasn’t...?”
“I think you were.”
“I said I wasn’t...?”
“You seem to be quite knowledgeable in this area. By any chance, do you know the name of our club captain’s master?”
“...I have no idea what you’re talking about...?”
The way she tried to smooth things over in a monotone voice, like she was reading from a textbook, was both funny and pathetic.
Renka's weeb power seems to be at its peak today, so I guess we should go spend some time at a store related to subculture.