First Session

After a moment of silence, Yuta bowed. “A pleasure to formally meet you.”

Shiori simply nodded in response and opened the door further. She walked back and sat on her bed. Her mother gestured Yuta in, and he respectfully entered the room. Her bed sat in the corner of the room, and bookshelves lined the walls. Light novels, manga, and historical books filled the shelves, neatly organized by genre and alphabetical order. A coffee table sat in the middle of the room with a few pillows laying on the floor in front of it.

“I’ll leave you two alone for now. Let me know if you need anything,” her mother announced. She turned around and paused. “And Ichikawa?”

“Yes?” He turned toward Shiori’s mother, having just sat down on one of the pillows.

“If you try to do anything to my daughter…” She glanced over her shoulder, her gentle, smiling face twisting to a threatening glare. “I’ll end you.” Her smile returned just before she walked out of sight. “Have fun!”

‘Not like I was going to try anything in the first place…’  Yuta thought to himself. He turned his attention to Shiori, who lay on her bed, reading a book. “Um, Shiori? Since this is our first meeting, I’ll need to test your knowledge. Since you’re a second year, I’ll have you take…” He fumbled around his side. “Huh? Did I seriously forget my bag…?” He put his palm to his forehead, upset by his forgetfulness. “Oh well. I can just create a test here. Do you have any paper around here?”

Shiori flipped the page of her book and pointed to the top of the bookshelf closest to Yuta. He stood on his toes and blindly reached the top of the shelf, grasping for paper. He found a few sheets and placed them on the table. He grabbed a pencil that was on the middle shelf and sat down, swiftly writing a test. The four pages he had grabbed filled up with questions from all subjects included in the exams – math, science, history, and Japanese. The levels of the questions began at ninth grade and climbed to eleventh.

“Here you are,” Yuta handed Shiori the pencil and tests. “Let me know when you’re done.”

Shiori stared at the tests in her hand, then back at Yuta. She placed the papers on her bed and began to work on the questions.

Yuta pulled out his phone and scrolled through the lesson plans he had created for a previous second-year student he had tutored.

A cough had broken Yuta’s concentration from his premade lessons. He looked up to see Shiori handing the tests back. He glanced at the alarm clock that was on the shelf next to him, which read 11:30. The hour and a half he waited felt more like ten minutes to him.

He took the tests from Shiori and reviewed them. His expression grew more and more concerned the more he graded. Once he finished, he looked at Shiori sternly. “Did you actually try to do these properly?”

Shiori nodded emphatically. “Is it really that bad?”

Yuta showed the tests to Shiori, pointing to the scores he had written on the top left corner of each page. “Seventy-three for history. Sixty-eight for Japanese. Thirty-two for science. Five for math. Your overall score would place you in seventh-grade level.”

Her head hung low in shame. “I’m sorry…”

“No need to apologize, it shows me where I need to start. But still… I’m not sure how you made it this far with your level of knowledge.” Yuta saw Shiori cringe and added, “Oh, I-I don’t mean to be rude or anything!”

“No, it’s okay,” Shiori responded. “I used to be smarter, but…”

“But…?”

She shook her head. “It’s nothing.”

“Okay…” Yuta found Shiori stranger the more time he spent with her. “Anyway, I can start forming lesson plans now that I know your level. Before I go, could we exchange numbers so we can schedule meetings? It also helps you be able to reach me in case you have any questions.”

Shiori turned around and picked up the phone behind her. She turned it on and handed it to Yuta. He handed his phone over, and both put in their numbers. They swapped phones again, and Yuta stood.

“Well, I’m off. It was nice to officially get to know you, Ozaki. Let’s meet again Monday after school.” With that, Yuta spun around and took his leave. When he opened the door, he was met by Shiori’s mother.

“It was nice of you to come over on such short notice and stay this long,” she smiled.

“Not at all, thank you for having me.”

“You didn’t do anything to my dear Shiori, did you?” she asked through her smile.

Yuta nearly backed away. “No, not at all. I’m not interested in things like that.”

Her mother put a hand in front of her mouth and laughed. “Oh, so you’d rather do stuff with the boys?”

“That’s not-”

She put her hand down and gestured to the door. “Thank you again for coming.”

“Y-Yes ma’am.” Yuta headed straight for the door and bowed before leaving.

As soon as he returned home, his father waved to him. “Hey Yuta, could you help in the kitchen, please? We’re quite busy today.”

“Of course,” Yuta replied. He joined his father behind the counter and grabbed an apron, tying it around his waist as he made his way to the kitchen. “What needs to be made?”

“We have an order of katsudon and omelet rice.”

“Coming right up!” He grabbed everything he needed for the two meals and began cooking, making sure to keep the two separate. The rich smell of the katsudon made Yuta hungry. ‘I’ll make myself something when all the orders are complete,’  he thought.

…

Monday rolled around, and the students all situated themselves in their seats. Yuta rested his chin on his hand as he read through his calculus book.

“What’s first period again?” He heard a classmate ask.

“I think it’s P.E,” another responded.

The bell soon rang, and everyone left for the locker rooms, except for Yuta, who didn’t notice the bell.

“I know you’d prefer studying, but we have to go to P.E,” Hitomura said from the doorway, bringing Yuta’s attention back to reality.

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t notice the bell.” He closed his book and picked up his bag.

…

In the dressing room, Hitomura hovered behind Yuta as he changed.

“Hitomura, you’re a little close.”

“Sorry Yuta, I can’t help but wonder…” Hitomura pushed up his glasses and chuckled. “Did you go to a girl’s house this weekend?”

“I’m tutoring a girl, so yes. And please, don’t call me Yuta.” He finished changing and put his uniform in his bag.

Hitomura fell dramatically, drawing the attention of everyone in the room. “Yuta, you’re so cold! Whatever happened to being buddies?”

“I don’t remember ever being your buddy,” Yuta sighed. He exited the room and walked down the hallway.

“Don’t leave me behind, Yuta!”

He sighed as Hitomura caught up and walked by his side. He stopped and faced him. “Could you not follow me around so much? I prefer being alone.”

“But-” Hitomura was cut off by a yelp followed by a crash.