Chapter 91
Chapter 91
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 91
Chapter Title: Great Wailing: One Shot Chambered
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Well, what can you do? All I could do was give it my best shot and beg.
...
The next day, after school, in the calligraphy club's annex room.
I arrived at the clubroom about thirty minutes before my girlfriends were due.
Drag—
Pushing open the rickety sliding door filled the air with the scent of ink and the cool aroma of inkstones.
In the center of the serene space sat Shizune in seiza position, rice paper spread out before her. She was still deep in her calligraphy, her brush moving steadily. The tip glided smoothly, swish, swish, before coming to a halt, and she lifted her head. Even though I'd interrupted her, she greeted me with a warm smile.
"You've arrived, Lord Yu."
That formal speech of hers was cringeworthy at first, but it had this subtle power to straighten your posture. Maybe that's why the old scholars spoke that way—it made you stand tall and mind your manners without thinking. Even without that, I was here to ask her a favor, so a little humility was in order.
"Lady Fudahara, I... have a favor to ask."
Shizune narrowed her half-closed eyes just a fraction, peering at my face intently.
"A favor?"
I swallowed a sigh and got straight to the point.
"Would you be willing to tutor me in math?"
A hush fell over the room. The brush slipped from her fingers with a clatter. Ink bloomed across the rice paper, leaving a dark stain.
"Pardon? Did I hear that right? You're asking me to teach you math?"
"Yes. I hear you're getting private lessons from an excellent tutor. Could you share that knowledge with me?"
Shizune flushed and shook her head.
"I'm still just a student myself. As you say, I do have a skilled tutor, but I haven't even scaled the wall of basic differentiation yet. What could I possibly teach?"
She couldn't even handle basic differentiation? I thought that was second-year high school material... This was worse than I'd imagined. But it didn't matter—I wasn't really here to learn math from her. I just needed an in.
"Didn't you call me a friend?"
Shizune flinched.
"As the Master said in the Book of Rites, 'The gentleman's friendship is as good as his word.' Surely you know what that means?"
You have no idea how much dusty classical literature I dug through last night to mimic her Fudahara style.
"Urk... A gentleman's bond is one where words become trust... Their friendship is pure and simple..."
And she didn't disappoint. Time to appeal to her emotions this time.
"Final exams are coming up soon... Lady Fudahara, I'm scared of failing too. Everyone else is moving forward, and I'm terrified of falling behind all by myself!"
It was an appeal that would hit home for her.
She desperately wanted to be a calligrapher, but with her family's opposition, she was single-handedly holding together this rundown club on the brink of disbandment.
Fudahara closed her eyes for a moment and murmured softly.
"'
"You don't have to bear that pain alone. Sharing it lightens the load, right? I believe in you, Lady Fudahara. You've managed fine on your own so far. Doing it with me will make it even easier. Or how about this? They say teaching someone else helps you review what you've learned. If you teach me, you'll reinforce it for yourself too."
She stared straight at me. Her flushed face trembled slightly.
"...A friend. 'Gather friends through literature, aid virtue through friends.' I wanted to bond through calligraphy itself. But what we need to tackle now isn't writing—it's numbers. I must say again, I truly have no confidence in teaching math."
I shook my head more firmly.
"Math is just another language in the end. Symbols and sentences explaining the world. I'm serious. Please don't refuse. Otherwise... I'm done for on these finals."
Silence hung between us. Shizune bit her lip, staring me down, then set her brush aside and slowly nodded.
"You're persistent, aren't you? Very well. B-but... isn't your face a bit too close...?"
I'd bowed so deeply that my forehead nearly brushed her ample bosom. A faint hinoki-like scent wafted from her cleavage.
Ah, I could just bury myself right here.
"Thank you. I'll stick with it to the end."
"Ahem, ahem."
Shizune cleared her throat awkwardly, covering her chest and averting her eyes.
"...Then let's begin right away. Are you prepared to wield a pencil instead of a brush?"
"Of course."
Shizune pulled her study textbook from her bag—she must have brought it for her own tutoring session today. I took out my calculus book too.
"Well then... where shall we start?"
Shizune sat neatly beside me, the desk between us. Through her half-lidded eyes, a faint gleam of teacherly resolve flickered.
"Here—this applied differentiation problem trips me up."
I opened my book and pointed. She picked up a ballpoint pen and cleared her throat needlessly.
"Ahem. A function is like the principles of the world itself... Finding the slope of the tangent is differentiation. So—er... um..."
She scribbled earnestly, trying to teach me, but soon the pen tip trembled in midair.
"Uh... here, you... square it like th-this...? Right?"
No, not quite.
"Ah, Lady Fudahara. Don't you need the limit first, before squaring? Set up the structure calmly, then expand step by step."
"Pardon? The limit... Of course... In that case—"
She straightened her posture with effort and wrote on.
"Yes, exactly. And then..."
But she hit another wall midway and paused while flipping pages.
"...Hold on. Did I forget the minus sign here...?"
I nodded, holding back a grin.
"Spot on. Adding the minus there should give the right result."
On the surface, she was the teacher and I the student—but in reality, it was the opposite. I dropped subtle hints, and she marveled at them, jotting them down.
"Oh! So that's it! That's just what I meant to do. Hahaha!"
Shizune clapped in delight. Her math skills were abysmal, but she fully savored the joy of learning.
"Indeed! 'Gain a friend, gain a teacher,' as they say—and it's true! Who knew your words would help me review what I've learned? How wondrous. You truly are a friend from the homeland of Neo-Confucianism!"
This big sis was starting to treat Korea like some lost cradle of ancient wisdom. And what I was teaching her was math, not Neo-Confucianism...
Anyway, the more I watched, the more her unique charm shone through. She seemed so prim and proper on the outside, but these airheaded moments made her endearing. Rustic, maybe? Pure-hearted?
A half-lidded beauty with massive tits and old-school Confucian innocence... It was a legendary combo, like a virgin beach Pokémon.
Just as we were wrapping up one differentiation problem, the clubroom door burst open again.
"Sanghyeon! I'm here!"
"Yu, you said you'd wait—what gives? We go together with your girlfriend!"
"Oh my...? Snuggled right up with Club President Fudahara."
Shizune jolted, suddenly aware of how close we'd gotten, and straightened up, scooting her chair away.
"Ahem! Everyone, quiet down!"
"...Tch."
"Hmph."
"Hehe... See you later, Sanghyeon-kun?"
Of course, Ren's glare was the scariest by far.
"Today's calligraphy club agenda will be 'cultivate the self and order the family.' The foundation of human relations. So, calm your restless hearts and let's grind some ink first."
Shizune sat primly, brush in hand.
Even so, no one treated calligraphy as a joke—they composed themselves, grinding ink and dipping their brushes.
Swish...
Ren nodded, moving her brush calmly, while Saki poured out her boundless energy.
Unlike yesterday's 'endurance test,' Harumi wielded her brush awkwardly. Cute, rounded kanji— I'd never seen a proverb in that font before. Even her writing oozed adorableness.
But as she hurriedly finished the last character and glanced at me, she pulled lip tint from her pocket and started applying it.
Touching up makeup anywhere was girl nature, so nothing odd there. But usually not in front of your boyfriend, right?
The mystery of why Harumi did it right in front of me solved itself quickly.
"Hehe."
Mwah♥
Harumi pressed her still-wet lips firmly into the corner of the rice paper. A vivid lip print, like an official seal.
"Here♥ This is for Sanghyeon. Heehee."
She thrust out her 'masterpiece' proudly, back straight. As I instinctively reached for it, a shout exploded from beside me.
"Wh-what do you think you're doing?!"
Shizune shot to her feet. Her half-lidded eyes flashed with fury. She was seriously pissed.
"Stamping lips on paper bearing the Sage's words... This is blasphemy, the height of irreverence! How dare you in this calligraphy room!"
True to her passion for calligraphy, she saw this as a grave insult. Shizune snatched the paper.
"Eek...! Th-that was for Sanghyeon...! Give it back!"
Harumi's eyes went wide.
"No! This paper is defiled. Confiscated!"
Shizune folded it decisively, her face red. Harumi's momentum crumbled as her painstaking gift—made for me—ended up crumpled.
"...E-eh...?"
She hung her head, lips pressed tight, starting to tremble faintly.
Harumi's tear glands: retreat-advance! Great wailing: one shot chambered!