Chapter 2: Algebra of Affection

Yuuto Kanda’s head was still spinning from his first “study session” with the Genius Trio. He thought that maybe today would be calmer—but as soon as he opened the classroom door, he realized he had been very, very wrong.

Akari Shinozuka was already mid-jump on a chair, balancing a stack of textbooks on her head. “Yuuto-kun! Look! I can do algebra while exercising!” she announced with sparkling eyes.

Yuuto froze. “Algebra… while exercising? Akari-san… that’s not how it works!”

She landed with a triumphant thump, nearly knocking him over. “Oh! But my brain works better when I move. Isn’t that… scientifically proven?”

Before he could respond, Mizuki Onodera shyly raised her hand. “Um… Yuuto-kun… I-I think we should start with something simple…” She shuffled her papers nervously. Her long hair fell over her face, and she peeked up with wide eyes, clearly worried about the chaos around her.

Rika Hanabira, arms crossed and glasses slipping down her nose, looked utterly exasperated. “This is absurd. Algebra is already illogical, and now you expect me to perform it under… physical duress?”

Yuuto took a deep breath. “Okay… maybe we can focus on a single problem first.” He scribbled an equation on the board: x² + 3x - 4 = 0.

“Easy,” Akari said confidently. “Let’s solve it… while doing push-ups!” She dropped to the floor without waiting for approval, sending a small cloud of dust into Yuuto’s face.

“Akari! Stop!” Yuuto coughed, waving his hands. “That’s not necessary!”

Meanwhile, Rika ignored the chaos entirely, picking up the textbook. “This equation is trivial. The roots are obviously x = 1 and x = -4, but the process is inefficient. You’re wasting time.”

Mizuki tilted her head, frowning. “Wait… are you supposed to show the work, Rika-chan?”

Rika waved her hand dismissively. “Work is irrelevant if the answer is correct. Logic matters more than steps.”

Yuuto pinched the bridge of his nose. “I— I don’t even know where to begin with you two…”

As if the universe had heard his despair, Akari’s ponytail whipped across his face as she struggled to balance herself mid-push-up. Her elbow jabbed him lightly in the chest. Yuuto yelped and stumbled backward, almost tripping over Mizuki, who shrieked and fell onto the floor with a soft thud.

“Ahh! Yuuto-kun!” Mizuki cried, pressing her hand to his chest, as if he were injured.

“I’m fine! I’m fine!” he stammered, blushing violently. “Really, it’s nothing—please get off me!”

Rika pinched her nose in disbelief. “This is insane. I thought tutoring meant teaching… not surviving physical assaults.”

Akari, oblivious to the tension, grinned. “Yuuto-kun, you’re sweating! You must be working hard—good job!” She patted his shoulder—again. Yuuto’s heart raced.

Mizuki’s eyes widened as she noticed the way his face turned bright red. “Y-Yuuto-kun… your nose…!”

Before anyone could react, a trickle of blood ran down his nose. He groaned, embarrassed, as Mizuki panicked and grabbed his hand.

“Ahh! Nosebleed! I-I need to help you!”

Yuuto swatted her hand away weakly. “No, it’s okay! I’ll… I’ll clean it—”

But Akari misinterpreted his movement and leaned over to “assist,” accidentally pressing herself against him. The sudden contact made Yuuto’s knees weak, and he flailed to maintain his balance.

Rika’s glasses fogged slightly as she exhaled sharply. “Absolutely impossible.”

From the doorway, Sensei Amamiya appeared with a smirk. “My, my… Kanda-kun, you’re in quite the predicament today. Seems tutoring is more dangerous than I anticipated.”

Yuuto groaned. “S-Sensei! I can handle it—I just need them to focus!”

Amamiya leaned against the doorframe, watching with amusement as Akari rolled on the floor trying to do sit-ups while Mizuki fussed over Yuuto’s nose, and Rika muttered insults at the air. “Oh, I’m sure you can survive… for now. But it looks like your heart is working overtime already.”

“W-What?!” Yuuto stammered, his blush deepening.

Akari bounced to her feet and grabbed Yuuto’s arm again. “Come on! Next problem! I want to do jumping jacks while factoring polynomials!”

Yuuto felt like he was trapped in a storm of chaos, ecchi mishaps, and emotional overload. His heart thumped, his nose bled, and his brain short-circuited. And through it all, Mizuki’s worried gaze and Rika’s icy glare made him feel… strangely alive.

“Why did I sign up for this?” he muttered under his breath, just as Akari tripped on her own feet, pulling him down into a pile of limbs, books, and flying pencils.

Amamiya-sensei clapped lightly, still smirking. “Ah… young love, awkward touches, and academic disasters. I see the semester has started perfectly.”

Yuuto groaned again, trying to disentangle himself from the pile. His thoughts drifted: somehow, amidst the chaos, the blushes, the accidental touches, and the nosebleeds… he felt like he was exactly where he belonged.

And that was the first real lesson of tutoring the Genius Trio of Trouble: algebra might be simple, but surviving their “affection” would require a lifetime of study—and heart stamina.