Chapter 13 – “Akari’s Hug Therapy”

Yuuto Kanda’s life had become a strange cycle:

Morning — tutor three girls.

Afternoon — clean up their chaos.

Evening — question every decision he’d ever made.

Today, though, things felt different. It had been three days since the “love letter incident,” and Mizuki still couldn’t look him in the eye without turning the shade of a ripe tomato.

Rika, meanwhile, had doubled her “research distance” from Yuuto—exactly 1.3 meters, to “avoid emotional contamination.”

And then there was Akari , who never needed an excuse for anything.

---

“Yuuto!”

He looked up from his notes to find Akari practically kicking open the clubroom door, her sports bag slung over one shoulder and a blinding grin on her face. “You look tired!”

“I’m fine, actually—”

“Nope!” she declared, cutting him off. “You’ve been overworking. Your face is all droopy, like a failed push-up!”

Rika didn’t look up from her chemistry book. “That’s a simile so poor it should be arrested.”

Akari ignored her, marching right up to Yuuto. “When muscles are sore, what do you do?”

“...rest?”

“Wrong!” she shouted triumphantly. “You stretch! So I’ve decided that when your heart is sore, you need—”

Yuuto blinked. “Please don’t say it.”

“—hug therapy!”

“...You said it.”

Before he could protest, Akari wrapped her arms around him tightly.

It wasn’t a gentle, shy hug. It was the kind that could snap bones if she used 5% more power. Her cheek pressed against his chest as she grinned up at him. “See? Doesn’t that feel better?”

Yuuto’s brain stopped functioning. “A-Akari! This isn’t—! We’re in school!”

“Exactly! Public motivation session!” she said, squeezing harder.

Rika slammed her pen on the table. “Yuzuki, human contact isn’t a substitute for discipline!”

Akari just stuck out her tongue. “Says the girl who tried to measure Yuuto’s heartbeat last week.”

Rika’s ears turned pink. “T-that was for science!”

Yuuto, trapped in the middle, looked like he was silently praying for divine intervention.

Then, of course, Mizuki walked in.

“Ah, good afternoon—” She froze mid-step, staring at the scene: Akari hugging Yuuto, Rika glaring like she might summon lightning, and Yuuto himself looking seconds away from collapsing.

Her notebook slipped from her hand.

“I—I’ll come back later!”

“Mizuki, wait—!” Yuuto tried to call, but Akari didn’t let go.

Rika stood up. “You’re distressing the team dynamic!”

Akari finally released him, pouting. “Fine! But you gotta admit, Kanda looked way more relaxed.”

“I looked like I was being attacked!” Yuuto wheezed, fixing his shirt.

Rika adjusted her glasses sharply. “Physical affection lowers intelligence by ten percent.”

Akari grinned. “Then how come you’re jealous?”

The entire room went quiet.

Rika blinked. “I—what—no—I’m not—!”

Her voice cracked halfway through the sentence. Akari smirked like a cat that found cream. “Oh really? You’re blushing, Professor Logic.”

Yuuto slammed his notebook shut. “Okay! No more experiments, no more hugging, no more teasing! We’re studying!”

Akari shrugged. “Fine, fine. You’re no fun sometimes.”

She plopped down next to him again—way too close again.

---

For the next thirty minutes, chaos turned into comedy.

Akari’s idea of math revision involved squats for every wrong answer (“Mathletics!” she called it). Rika muttered formulas under her breath, pretending she wasn’t keeping an eye on Akari’s proximity to Yuuto. Mizuki, now back from emotional exile, kept glancing nervously at Yuuto’s face before quickly pretending to write.

Every time Yuuto tried to focus, something ridiculous happened—pencils rolling under desks, Akari’s sports bottle leaking on his notebook, or Rika threatening to “sanitize” the air with alcohol spray.

At one point, Yuuto dropped his pen. Akari leaned down to grab it too—bonk.

Their heads collided. Again.

“Ow!” Akari yelped, rubbing her forehead. “See? You do have a hard head!”

“Maybe because it keeps getting hit!” Yuuto groaned.

Rika sighed. “The combined IQ in this room just decreased by half.”

Akari turned to her. “Oh yeah? Maybe you should try hugging him too! Equal therapy for everyone!”

Rika turned scarlet. “I—I would never—!”

“Eh? Then maybe Mizuki wants a turn—?”

Mizuki squeaked so loud it echoed. “N-no thank you!!”

Yuuto buried his face in his hands. “This is not what tutoring is supposed to be…”

---

After club ended, the girls left one by one. Rika muttering something about “idiots,” Mizuki walking silently, and Akari lingering behind.

“Hey,” she said softly.

Yuuto looked up, surprised. “Hm?”

She rubbed her arm awkwardly. “Sorry about earlier. I just… I dunno. When you look all tired, I feel like I should do something. You work so hard for us.”

Yuuto blinked. “Akari…”

Her grin returned, softer this time. “So… maybe I went overboard. But hey, if I helped even a little—”

“You did,” he said honestly. “Though… maybe next time, just offer snacks instead of crushing my ribs.”

Akari laughed, hair swaying in the light. “Deal!”

As she jogged off down the hall, Yuuto smiled faintly. She was reckless, loud, and a little too physical—but her kindness was real.

---

Meanwhile, around the corner, Rika watched quietly, hand pressed to her chest. “Idiotic method,” she muttered, though her heart beat faster for reasons she couldn’t explain.

And from the stairwell above, Mizuki peeked down, clutching her notebook close. “A hug therapy… huh…”

She blushed just thinking about it. “No… I could never…”