Lunchtime

It's finally time for lunch! A famished Akio clutches his Mathematics textbook in his right hand, stuffing it into his backpack.

He tells his buddies that he'll see them later, and he dragged his feet out of the classroom.

"I'm so hungry... I should check with Chiharu if her class is over."

He opens up a popular messaging application called "RINE", and spams Chiharu endlessly with stickers of food.

"Yes, yes, see you at the canteen." She replied momentarily, and added a sticker of a litter of kittens eating together.

Akio makes his way to the canteen instantly.

He spots a feminine figure waving to him from across the canteen, and skips like a little child towards her.

"You don't feel embarrassed skipping like a little girl in public?" Chiharu smiles awkwardly, feeling some second-hand embarrassment.

"I only care about what you think of me, Chiharu-chan."

"There you go again, you good-for-nothing Senpai.."

"Anyway, let's go get our food. Chiharu-chan, what do you want to eat?"

"Eh? The usual, I guess."

"Ah, Curry udon, huh. I'll have the same thing as you today, then."

"You don't usually have Curry udon.. is today a special day, Senpai?"

"I'm really hungry today, so I want to enjoy eating the same thing as you. You always look so happy when eating."

"W-what do you mean by that? I just really enjoy eating good food, that's all."

They eventually got their food, and they found a good spot in the canteen to eat together.

Chiharu slurps her noodles loudly, and grins from ear to ear after swallowing it. This is one of the only times where she doesn't mind her manners, and Akio took the chance to poke fun at her.

"Slurping your noodles so loudly, that's so unlady like, Chiharu-Chan~" Akio said in a playful manner and proceeds to slurp his noodles loudly while looking straight into Chiharu's eyes, attempting to imitate what she just did.

She lets out a soft sigh and her cheeks turned rosy.

"You know I can't help myself whenever I'm eating good food." Chiharu says in a hushed tone.

"Hehe. I know that. I'm just making fun of you."

"I-I know that!"

The both of them continued to eat their noodles. Akio's gaze is fixated on Chiharu. He just can't get enough of her face when she's eating. She's irresistibly cute. A photo of her eating her favorite foods would be enough to capture the hearts of all men alive. She notices his staring, and she feels slightly flustered by it. However, she doesn't tell him to stop, because she knows that she's secretly enjoying all the attention he's giving her.

"Senpai, how are your studies coming along?" She broke the brief silence between them by shooting him a question.

"Ahh, it's so relaxing to eat with you, Chiharu-chan.."

"Come on, you're avoiding my question again." She feels the urge to pinch his cheeks, but she holds back and waits for a response.

Akio lets out a huge sigh.

"As you can already guess, I'm not doing so hot. I lack foundation for a lot of my subjects, and learning them now is really taxing on me. I don't understand a lot of things."

Chiharu's eyes brightened up. She isn't the best student in terms of academics in her cohort, but she is by no means shabby in her studies. She's diligent in her work, and she scores fairly well in all her tests, the direct opposite of Akio.

"Would you like me to help you out with your foundation then, Senpai?" The words came out of her mouth naturally. She didn't even think of the fact that she was his junior of one year.

"Huh? But you're an underclassman, Chiharu. You've only learnt year 1 content, and by the time you learn your year 2 content fully, it'll already be too late for me."

"How about we compare our year 1 examination results then, Senpai.."
Their roles reversed in this moment, academics being one of the only things that Chiharu can actually tease Akio about..

"Fine, fine. You win, Chiharu-chan. I'll have to depend on you to help me out with the things that I don't understand. The foundation for many subjects were laid in year 1, so you'll be of great help!!" He accepted her proposal almost immediately. He's actually more happy about getting to spend more time with her than actually getting to improve his studies.

"P-promise me you'll stop teasing me every time!" Her face turned beet red, and the words barely escaped her mouth.

"You'll be teaching, so you'll assume the role of a teacher, huh? Please wear seductive clothes and seduce me as a sexy teacher, okayyyyy?" He just couldn't help himself but to provoke a reaction out of her again, something that he finds very cute.

"You're a pervert, Senpai..." She averted her gaze from his face and spoke softly. Not the reaction he was looking for, but a coy looking Chiharu was enough to satisfy him.

"She's genuine about helping me out.. This girl's just too lovely. I'll have to show her some gratitude." Akio thought as he starts to get flustered himself too.

"Alright, alright.. Chiharu-Chan. I'll accept your help and study seriously, and I'll try to cut down on the teasing, alright?"

"I-it's actually fine if you.. continue to make fun of me," she said in a barely audible tone, as she is aware that she's the only person that Akio teases on such a frequent basis, and she sees that as him actually giving her special attention..

"Huh? What did you say, Chiharu-chan?"

"N-n-n-nothing! Let's work hard together, Okay!? Look at the time, it's almost time to go back to class! W-we still haven't finished our food yet! Let's hurry up and eat, we mustn't be late for class!" A flurry of words came out of her mouth. She was completely flustered at this point.

"Hehehe, You're the cutest girl in existence, Chi ~ ha ~ ru."

"STOP MAKING FUN OF ME!!!"

And so, the two continued to bicker about the authenticity of what Akio said about Chiharu being cute until they eventually had to part ways to attend class.