The Literary High School Girl Is a Mysterious One

"Yaaawn..."

I woke to the pleasant sunlight and birdsong.

After stretching, I checked the clock. It was ten in the morning.

Hardly an early start, but I worked until almost one last night, then got home and went to bed sometime after two, so cut me some slack.

It’s Saturday today.

I don’t have any university classes, and all I have planned is tutoring in the afternoon.

"Yesterday was exhausting, what with everything that happened..."

I was playing basketball with Yuka when it started pouring, so we took shelter for a while. Then, for some reason, Yuka passed out.

It was a struggle getting her to wake up. There wasn’t much to do in the rain, and I didn’t have a towel, so I felt bad about it, but I figured I could let her use my lap as a pillow. Then she woke up and immediately passed out again.

Hmm... Middle school girls these days are complicated. Maybe the lap pillow was a bad idea... I’ll avoid doing that from now on.

"What should I do today...?"

I was hungry, so I opened the fridge.

Oh, there’s still some of the simmered dish Aika-san brought over because she had extra. I’ll have that, and... there’s bacon and eggs, so that’ll do.

Instant miso soup should be fine.

I poured a little olive oil into the frying pan and tossed in the bacon.

Just then, remembering I still hadn’t checked, I opened my phone.

"Huh...?"

Looks like I got a notification.

Mochizuki Seira: 'Thanks for today'

Mochizuki Seira: 'I’ll definitely come again'

Masato: 'Sure! I’ll be waiting!'

Mochizuki Seira: 'By the way, Masato-kun, so that really is your real name. I never would’ve thought such a scrawny-sounding name was your real name, lol.'

Mochizuki Seira: 'Sorry. That was a little rude of me.'

Mochizuki Seira: 'Um, are you mad...? I’m sorry.'

...

No, I just fell asleep.

Yesterday, Seira-san came with her senior, and she kept saying how jealous she was that her senior had exchanged contact info with Yusuke-san, so I exchanged contact info with Seira-san, too.

I sent her that 'Sure! I’ll be waiting!' last night and went to bed.

The next message came thirty minutes later... then another an hour after that, and yet another an hour later.

Huh? No, go to sleep.

I’m not mad at all. That’s the sort of thing I say all the time, isn’t it?

I-I should reply for now.

Masato: 'Sorry! I fell asleep right away!'

Masato: 'I’m not bothered at all! lol. Yeah, my name and my body are both pretty scrawny! lol.'

That should do it.

I’d been seeing her look so down lately, so it was nice that she seemed really happy when I gave her my contact info.

'Huh... Is that okay?'

'I’m happy... I’ll message you when I’m coming to the bar.'

The smile Seira-san gave me when she said that yesterday...

You really do want to see a beautiful woman smile.

...Though I feel like her eyes looked a little scary. Maybe it was just my imagination.

I cracked an egg into the pan.

That finished the bacon and fried egg.

Oh, I should get some water boiling for the instant miso soup.

—Ping.

Hm? A notification?

If it’s Seira-san, she’s quick. She should be taking it easy on a Saturday.

Oh, maybe it’s Koiumi. I think we were still messaging, too.

I opened my phone again.

Mochizuki Seira: 'Good.'

Mochizuki Seira: 'Well then, I’m going to sleep now. Good night.'

...???

Huh? She’s going to sleep now?

Wait, does that mean she’s been awake this whole time?

Why???

Oh, I see. Maybe she went somewhere else after that? Bar-hopped, maybe?

Then she came home in the morning, and...

But, wait, it’s almost ten...

Don’t tell me she was waiting for my reply...? No, right?

...That’s scary, mayo.

The bacon had burned.

"Hello! I’m Katari!"

"Welcome! Shiori should be upstairs already, so go on up!"

"Thank you."

Three p.m.

I tutor Shiori-chan every Saturday.

It hasn’t been very long, but fortunately, Shiori-chan’s grades have been steadily improving, which is a relief.

If her grades hadn’t improved at all, I probably would’ve been fired in no time...

I went up the stairs and stopped in front of Shiori-chan’s room.

I knocked twice. Tap, tap.

"Hello, Shiori-chan. It’s Katari."

"...Come in."

When I opened the door, Shiori-chan was sitting in her chair in her usual graceful posture.

Today she was wearing a long skirt with small floral patterns here and there, along with a fitted white blouse.

It suited her very well, complementing her ladylike air.

"Hello! How’ve you been?"

"Hee-hee. Yes, very well. You seem well yourself, Masato-san."

"Yeah. But yesterday, I got caught in a sudden downpour. It was rough."

I set down my bag and pulled out the study materials.

"It really rained hard yesterday... Were you outside?"

"Yep, yep. I was playing basketball outside. I was completely soaked!"

It really was a pain doing all that laundry afterward!

"Soaked..."

"Hm?"

Shiori-chan rested her chin on her hand, thinking about something.

I wonder what’s up?

"...Could you say that one more time?"

"Huh? Oh, um... I was completely soaked?"

"...Thank you."

Huh? For what?

Shiori-chan can be hard to figure out sometimes... A bit of an oddball, I guess.

About an hour had passed since we started the lesson.

We’d finished the first subject, English, and were taking a break.

"All right. You’re doing great, Shiori-chan! At this rate, you should do well on your midterms, too!"

"Thank you. It’s thanks to you, Masato-san."

While drinking the barley tea Shiori-chan’s mother had brought in, I looked over her test results.

Mm-hmm. Not bad. Her grades have improved a lot since my first visit.

Actually, maybe she was the kind of girl who could do well all along. I really don’t think my lessons are anything special.

I think it’s probably a matter of motivation.

"By the way, Masato-san..."

"Hm?"

Shiori-chan cleared her throat once.

"Recently, a couple has come into being at my school, so to speak."

"O-oh. Why’d you put it like that?"

She’s a high school student, so there’s nothing strange about that. I hear it’s normal for middle schoolers to date these days, too.

"Of course, of course, I don’t have a boyfriend."

"Oh, really? It wouldn’t be surprising if you did, though."

"...What do you mean by that?"

"Huh? I mean, you’re pretty, Shiori-chan."

Isn’t she obviously pretty? Lately, she seems to be putting more effort into her appearance, and her already lovely features make her even more attractive.

"Ngh-heh..."

"Huh?"

"Ahem. No, I’m sorry."

I thought I heard a really weird noise just now... Maybe it was my imagination?

Shiori-chan straightened up and met my gaze.

"If that’s what you say, then surely you have a girlfriend, Masato-san?"

"No, I don’t. Not at all."

"...Really?"

"Huh? Yeah, really."

For some reason, Shiori-chan turned away.

"Yes!!"

"Huh?"

I could’ve sworn I saw her throw a huge fist pump.

What??? Are you really that happy I don’t have a girlfriend???

Like, 'Serves you right!'?

"I’m sorry. I just assumed you had one."

"It’s not that simple."

I do think having a girlfriend would be fun, though.

Right now, I’m more concerned with earning enough money to properly repay Aika-san for everything she’s done for me.

"...Then, what sort of woman do you like, Masato-san?"

"Hmm, let’s see..."

It’s hard to answer when you’re asked out of the blue.

I don’t have any particular standards for looks... Of course, I’d be a little put off if she wasn’t clean or made no effort with her appearance.

Oh, but yeah. I might like someone who’d go to all kinds of places with me and share different hobbies.

"Well, I’d like someone I could talk to easily and do all kinds of things with."

"All kinds of things?!"

"Y-yeah. Why are you raising your voice like that?"

"Does that mean all kinds of things like this and that...?"

??? What are 'this and that' supposed to mean?

...Maybe she means both outdoor and indoor hobbies?

"I don’t really know what you mean, but... yeah, I guess?"

"...! I see...!"

She turned away, her face red.

What on earth was that about?

Did I give the wrong answer or something?

"Calm down. Be cool. I’m a cool woman right now. I mustn’t get carried away. Settle down... Settle down, my inner libido...!!"

...She was muttering something, but I couldn’t really make it out.

Did I say something that upset her?

After a while, Shiori-chan turned back toward me.

She took a slow, deep breath and looked at me with serious eyes.

Huh? Was this really something she needed to be so serious about?

"Masato-san."

"W-what is it?"

"I may not look it, but I’m confident in my stamina in that department."

"...Huh?"

What department are we talking about?