Little miss tutor (1)

It was a disaster.

Makoto Onitsuka glared at the paper in his hands but no matter how much of a threatening stare he could give to it, the glowing red mark reading ‘27/100’ did not want to disappear or become a better grade.

“Tomoya, kill me.”

The vice-captain sitting by the desk right next to him who today had a blonde ponytail with pink highlights answered half-jokingly, “Nah, I am too weak to win with you in a fight. Besides it cannot be that bad,” saying that he got up and took the test paper from his friend’s hands.

“Oh… It is that bad,” he sweatdropped and then turned to look at the red-haired teen. “What happened? Didn’t you say that you have no problems understanding maths for once?”

“It was a month ago when I said that,” Onitsuka growled, “and then I started slacking off a bit and before I realized it, I had no idea what the hell was happening during classes.”

The gang leader dropped his head dramatically and started groaning in distress.

He just solved his issues with getting to classes on time and now he was facing another school crisis. Delinquent life was much easier. Punching and kicking didn’t exactly require him to master trigonometry in practice and theory.

“There, there,” Makoto felt his friend’s gentle pats on his back, “It was only a practice test, we still have time to get ready for the official exams. From today we just have to put our delinquency on hold and focus on studying. I will help you out, so don’t worry too much!”

Onitsuka raised his head back to look at Tomoya with gratitude, “You’re the best bro I could ask for.”

“I will remind you about it next time you call me a pain in the ass next time,” the blonde boy chuckled.

“By the way, what your score was?”

“It’s unimportant…”

Suspicious…

“Show me.”

“No.”

The Red Oni didn’t give up so easily so of course he tried to jump on his friend and get the graded paper out of his hands. But in a speed contest, Tomoya had an advantage, so they started to run around the class amusing all of their classmates with their shenanigans.

“Leave me alone Mako-chan!”

“Just show your score, you coward!”

After a few minutes of running around and bickering, Makoto managed to catch Tomoya while he accidentally bumped into one of the girls who just tried to enter the class. Finally the red-haired delinquent was able to learn what was written on his friend’s test.

'47/100'

Are you kidding me?

“Dude… You only had 20 more points…”

“I never said, I did well, okay!?”

Guess both of them were doomed, one a bit less than the other but still doomed.

With little to no hope, both of the boys spent the rest of their classes devastated. It was just impossible to focus on anything else other than the thoughts about how much studying is needed to catch up to the material.

Deflated, Makoto walked in automatic mode to the school gate. He wasn’t even sure if Tomoya has followed him or not, even though they technically promised each other to go study somewhere right after the classes are over.

He thought he had heard Nakano calling out to him at some point, but he wouldn’t be one hundred percent sure if it was true or just his imagination.

He even would have missed Watanabe Mami who as every day waited for him in front of the school gates, the only reason why he didn’t was because she was literally blocking his way.

“Mark this day, Red Oni, as I, Watanabe Mami, shall…” The girl stopped herself from saying anything further noticing how unresponsive the boy was. “Your lack of spirit is quite unnerving,” she added once a short time has passed, “Is something the matter? Did you face an undefeatable enemy and lost?”

“Hey, Mami-chan,” Tomoya cut in with an unusual for him deflated tone, “You know I love how you torment Makoto daily, but today we don’t have time for it.”

Onitsuka on the other hand decided to hand the girl his test results, hoping that she would understand and have some mercy to leave them alone for the day.

“I see,” she examined the paper, “so the enemy was mathematics this whole time. Far from the disaster, I have been expecting something more tragic considering both of your appearances indicated strong grief.”

Far from the disaster!?

Easy for her to say! If he was from a prestigious school like-

That’s right!

Suddenly a light bulb turned on above Makoto’s head. The words of Sakamoto-sensei came back to his head like a flashback ‘...make the best of it’.

So he suddenly put his hands on both of the girl’s shoulders and started shaking her excitedly, “You’re smart!”

“I d-do have a bright mind, that is correct,” Mami responded with a wobbly voice which was caused by the chaotic movement the delinquent put her in.

“Then you can teach us!”

At those words, Tomoya, who was feeling as depressed as his childhood friend also brightened up finding hope in their possible tutor.

“Well, it cannot be helped,” the girl tried speaking up again once Makoto slowed down with his movements, “I shall become your mentor and transfer my numerical knowledge to you!”

“Hell yeah! We are saved!” both of the boys cheered childishly raising their fists in the air.

Mami on the other hand looked very pleased with the outcome of her today’s approach to the Red Oni.

“Well then, my new apprentices, follow me, I know the perfect tavern to deepen your knowledge in peace.”

Makoto looked at Tomoya, checking if both of them agreed to it and were on the same page, and without responding in any way, they decided to blindly follow the small girl.

The gang leader quickly realized, why was the cafe that Mami led them to, her spot of choice. First and foremost, it was a very small and cozy place, with many plants and bookshelves filled to the brim. The owner was a nice older lady, who didn’t even want to take the money from the boys saying that ‘first-time customers never pay’.

But it was the names of beverages and desserts, that had to be Mami’s favorite thing about this place. For example, the red velvet cake was called ‘Dragon Slayer’, or the cafe late was hidden under the name of ‘Enchantment of Mist’.

But it was not important as of now. Makoto had to turn into full focus mode and learn as much as possible from the girl, so once everyone had their orders ready, they sat by the bigger table with chairs around it and took out books ready to start the tutoring session.

The red-haired delinquent had to admit, he was surprised, positively surprised. He knew the girl was smart, but expected her to keep on using overly complicated words, instead, Mami kept her explanations simple. Moreover, she was very patient and never got upset with the boys when they didn’t understand her. Instead, she looked for different ways to describe the formulas to make sure they knew what is going on.

Makoto felt like he was experiencing the real Watanabe Mami for the second time. She was no longer the chuuni-girl filled with delusions, she was a bright Kaisei student instead and an amazing tutor.