Chapter 18 – “Math Wrestling Mayhem”

Yuuto Kanda had survived literature fights, spilled juice disasters, and an internet-breaking love confession.But today… he faced his deadliest challenge yet.
Akari’s math homework.
“Okay,” he said carefully, pointing at the board. “So if angle A is 45°, and the hypotenuse is five centimeters, what’s—”
“Yuuto, I’m bored.”
He blinked. “It’s been five minutes!”
Akari groaned dramatically, flopping across the desk like a dying athlete. “Numbers are evil! Why can’t we just punch math until it behaves?”
Yuuto sighed. “You can’t punch trigonometry.”
She grinned. “Wanna bet?”
Before he could protest, she stood up, flexed, and declared, “Let’s make this fun! Every time I get a formula wrong, you show me physically how it works.”
“Physically?” Yuuto repeated, already regretting being alive.
“Yeah!” she said, bouncing on her heels. “Like—if it’s about angles, we act the angles! If it’s about sine and cosine, we—uh—wrestle for sine supremacy!”
“That’s… not how sine works!”
But Akari was already dragging the desks aside, clearing a “training zone.”
“Welcome to Math Wrestling Club!” she announced triumphantly. “Sponsored by the world’s most patient tutor!”
Yuuto buried his face in his hands. “I’m going to die before exams even start.”

---
Round 1: Trigonometric Takedown
“Okay,” Akari said, crouched like a fighter. “Question one: What’s sin(45°)?”
Yuuto sighed. “√2 over 2.”
“Wrong!” she shouted, lunging at him.
“Wha—hey!”
She wrapped her arms around him clumsily, trying to “pin” him to the floor. Yuuto struggled to keep his balance, flailing as her ponytail smacked him in the face.
“This isn’t how we study!”
“Then answer faster, commander!”
They toppled backward—landing in a tangled heap of limbs, notebooks, and flying erasers.
Akari grinned down at him, hair messy and face flushed. “I win! Knowledge through combat!”
Yuuto blinked, frozen. Their faces were inches apart.
“Uh… c-congratulations?” he managed weakly.
She tilted her head, smiling softly. “See? I told you I learn better like this.”
Heart, stop beating so loudly, Yuuto begged internally.

---
Round 2: Cosine Chaos
“This time, I’ll pin you if I get it right,” Akari said proudly.
“That’s not an incentive for me to help—wait, Akari—!”
She lunged again, shouting, “COSINE SLAM!”
The two rolled across the classroom floor, scattering papers everywhere. Yuuto desperately tried to untangle himself, but Akari’s athletic strength left him no chance.
“You’re enjoying this way too much,” he gasped.
“Because it’s working! I actually remember sine and cosine now!”
“How!?”
“Because every time I move, I feel the triangle!”
“That’s not math, that’s madness!”
She laughed, pinning his wrist. “Same thing!”
Yuuto sighed, staring up at the ceiling. This is how my teaching career ends.

---
Enter the Witnesses.
The door slid open.
Two voices in unison: “What are you two doing!?”
Yuuto looked up—horrified—to see Rika and Mizuki frozen in the doorway, faces red, eyes wide.
Akari still had him pinned on the floor, her knee beside his hip, her hands gripping his arm. From their perspective, it looked like a scene out of a bad romantic comedy.
“Wait—it’s not—!” Yuuto started.
But Akari, grinning innocently, interrupted with the line that would haunt him for eternity:
“He pinned me with trigonometry!”
The room went silent.
Rika’s jaw dropped.Mizuki’s notebook slipped from her hand.Yuuto’s soul left his body.
“Y-Yuuto…” Rika stammered. “Is this… your new teaching method?”
“It’s—It’s NOT WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE!” he shouted, trying to sit up—only to realize Akari was still on top of him.
Mizuki turned crimson, hiding her face. “T-tutoring has become very… physical lately…”
Rika’s eyebrow twitched violently. “Of all the unscientific—”
“Please stop talking!” Yuuto begged.
Akari just laughed, oblivious to the flames of jealousy crackling behind him. “Hey, it’s effective! I finally got a math question right!”
“Then get off me!” Yuuto cried.
Rika muttered something about “degenerate methodologies” while Mizuki silently prayed for divine intervention.
And then, as if destiny demanded it, the classroom door opened again.

---
Sensei Amamiya.
Coffee in hand. Smile like a shark.
She took one look at the chaos—the papers, the tangled limbs, the blushing faces—and exhaled a sigh so amused it sounded like a laugh.
“Well, well,” she said, sipping her coffee. “So this is what ‘applied mathematics’ looks like now.”
“Sensei—it’s not—”
“Oh no, don’t explain,” she interrupted, grinning. “I’m just impressed by your hands-on approach, Kanda-kun.”
Rika sputtered. Mizuki looked ready to faint. Akari proudly gave a thumbs-up. “See? Even Sensei approves!”
Amamiya chuckled. “Approve? I’m considering submitting this to the Journal of Unorthodox Tutoring.”
Yuuto groaned. “Please don’t.”
She leaned in with a teasing glint. “Though I do recommend safety mats for next time. Wouldn’t want anyone getting hurt… emotionally or otherwise.”
Rika covered her face. “I can’t believe I’m hearing this.”Mizuki muttered softly, “Akari-san is so… bold…”
Akari, utterly unbothered, stretched happily. “I think I finally get math now! When I move like a right triangle, it all makes sense!”
Yuuto stared at her, defeated. “I… don’t even know how to respond to that.”
Sensei Amamiya just laughed again. “Well, Kanda-kun, at least your students are engaged. In some very… creative ways.”
As she left, she added with a wink, “Maybe next time, teach biology this way. Might save us all some time.”
Yuuto slammed his head on the desk. “I hate my life.”

---
Later that evening, Akari texted him.
> Akari: “Hey, thanks for the lesson! I actually remember sine and cosine now 😊”Yuuto: “That’s… good, I guess.”Akari: “Next time, let’s try algebra wrestling 💪🔥”


He stared at his phone for a long moment.
Then:
> Yuuto: “NO.”


But as he set his phone down, he couldn’t help smiling faintly. Despite the insanity, Akari’s enthusiasm was infectious.And deep down, he realized something dangerous — somewhere between the laughter, the chaos, and the accidental tackles… her smile had started to make his heart skip.