17 Chapter 017: Tutor

Sato-San was sitting in the student council room while he waited for his friend Shirai-Kun to show up. He was called down without warning and didn't know why.

'Could it be the rumors surrounding me got a lot worse?! Did they say I killed someone or something?! Oh man….I hope it's nothing serious…'

He began to hear the door to open and turned around to see a girl with blue hair in a pigtail. She froze in place when she locked eyes with Sato-San and began to enter the room while trying to stay as far away as possible.

'Did she say something? She's a first year too, so it can't be worse than what the middle school 3rd years think.'

She sat down in a chair that was next to him but she pulled it as far away as she could while still staying in front of the desk. A few minutes later Shirai-Kun walked in and sat down.

"Higura-San, I'm sorry to ask this of you but please tutor this girl."

"Huh??!! Why do I have to do that?!"

"…Every other tutor and teacher has given up on her…You have high grades in every subject so I thought you could do well."

"But why me specifically? You know how I am!"

Shirai-Kun leaned in, grabbed Sato-San's ear and began to whisper into it.

"She's scared of you, like really bad. I get that you have your whole fake persona but try your best please. She's definitely going to fail at this rate. I'm putting my faith in you."

"Shouldn't she have a say too, you did just say she's terrified of me. Isn't this a little bit of a bad matchup?"

"Not really, I thought you could just use your real persona like you do with me, Hayate-San, Shiratori-San and your family."

"…Well that would be very risky. What if she tells everyone that I've just been faking it?"

"I mean would that really be a bad thing? Why do you still need it?"

"I…I have my reasons to keep it."

"…Okay, it's your life not mine. Just be sure to properly tutor her…And if you give up like the others come and tell me. I just hope it won't come to that, I would really like it if no one failed."

"Fine, I'll just see how this is going to go….Look who's finally starting to act like a student council president, how'd you even get elected."

"I don't know myself…Well, I believe in you. If it comes to it you can just scare her into good grades."

"Yeah right, I doubt I'd do that much…Unless it came down to it."

Shirai-Kun let go of Sato-San's ear and leaned back into his chair.

"Okay then! Natsume Tsugumi."

"Y-Yes?"

"Sato Higura will be your new tutor, he has some of the best grades in this year and even some are the best in the school. I've been holding off of him since you are scared of him but he won't do anything. I swear it as one of his oldest friends."

"…Do…D-Does it have to be him though?

C-Couldn't you do it?"

"In all honesty my grades are average and I'm a horrible teacher. Higura-San here can even prove that. Just look at his expression."

He had a face of dread and regret as he slowly nodded.

"See? I think that expression shows it all!"

"…I-I'm sure he'll be terrible at teaching too! I-I'm sure of it!"

"Actually he made it so one year I didn't fail, he's a really great teacher."

"…Fine…" You could hear the sulking tone in her voice.

"Then it's settled! I'd like you to begin tutoring as of right now. You can use the library or Sato-San's class which is 4-D, or use your own class which is 4-C."

"…Yes…"

"Okay then, you may leave now."

Sato-San and Natsume-San stood up and walked out of the door.

"So, where do you want to study?"

"…T-The library?"

"Okay then. Let's get going."

She continued to keep her distance as they walked towards the library. On his way there he ran into Yoshida-San who was heading to the drama club.

"Oh, Sato-San. I was hoping I'd run into you."

"Why's that?"

She reached into her bag and pulled out an umbrella.

"Your umbrella, it was very helpful during the rain storm. So…Thanks."

"Yeah, don't make me do that again."

He took the umbrella and put it into his bag. When he looked up he saw that her face looked very confused. He leaned in and whispered in her ear.

"The girl thinks that I'm a bastard, she's actually terrified of me. I have to keep up my fake persona right now so…Sorry in advance."

"Huh?"

He pushed her out of the way forcefully and she hit the wall. It was just weak enough where she didn't get hurt but made it seem like it hurt.

"Come on! Ignore her and let's get going!"

He and Natsume-San walked off to head to the library once again. He looked behind him to see that Yoshida-San was giving him a thumbs up and then she walked off.

'Thank you for being a good actress!'

They reached the library and sat down at one of the tables. Natsume-San continued to keep her distance but seemed to be a little closer this time.

'I guess she needs to see my paper too. Hopefully she's not as bad as Sota-San made her out to be.'

"Okay, so go ahead and do this."

He threw a math sheet at her which had questions from about a week ago.

"I want to see how you do on your own first. Get me when your done."

He stood up and walked over the shelves that had books similar to what he had just finished writing. He began to look through while Natsume-San worked on her math sheet. He pulled out a book and saw a familiar face behind it.

"Shiratori-San?"

"H-Hi Sato-San!"

He walked to the other side of the aisle and started to talk with her.

"What are you up to?"

"I was just looking for a new book..."

"I guess I'm kind of multi tasking right now, I'm doing the same thing while also tutoring the girl who's sitting at the table."

"O-Oh, I-I won't interfere with you guys then! I guess we'll talk later!"

"O-Okay! See you later!"

He started to walk over but was cut off by Natsume-San.

"I-I'm done!"

She held out her paper and he took it. He looked over it and instantly let out a face of dread.

"H-How? You got every question wrong…"

"I-I'm sorry I'm just not good at studying!"

He looked up to see that she was once again keeping away from him.

"Haaaa, I guess I'll have to work with what I have."

He went over to the table again and took out a notebook. He wrote "Natsume-San's Guide Book" in large lettering and began to write inside it.

"W-What are you doing?"

"Making up notes. They should help you with these questions. I'll be giving you another sheet and I want you to try and use these notes to help you answer."

"O-Okay…"

"Why am I being made to do this? Haaaa…"

He handed her the notebook and another sheet with new questions that were on the same topic. He decided to start writing a short story on his phone while he waited. After about 10 minutes she handed him the paper. He looked it over, put the paper down and began to write on it.

"You got a total 1 question out of 10 right. That's some improvement. Look here."

He pointed at the things that he wrote and she looked them over as he explained in depth about what to do. He showed how to check if her answers were correct, how to properly use the formula given and gave a step by step process on the questions she got wrong.

"Do you understand now?"

"I-I think so…"

"That's good, try again with this sheet."

He gave her another sheet and she began working continuing to keep her distance from Sato-San. After about 15 minutes she handed the paper in. He once again began to look over the sheet.

"You got 2 out of 15 right…I guess Shirai-Kun wasn't kidding…No wonder so many people gave up on you."

"…"

She began to sulk and slouched down in her chair.

"But I'm sure I can fix that. I'll try my hardest to not give up on you."

"Really?!"

She jolted up now wearing a puppy dog like face.

"It's just because my friend put his faith in me and I don't want to ruin that faith. He's one of my oldest friends."

"Hmmm…"

"What?"

"You don't actually seem as bad as I was making you out to be."

"Huh?"

"I mean you still have a bastard like vibe around you but you don't seem to be as terrible as I heard you were."

"Okay then? Why did you need to tell me this?"

"I don't know. There's just a few things that don't add up to you're image."

"Okay. I don't see why I would care."

'Of course I care! I can't let her find out I've been using a fake persona!'

"Anyway, you need to get better grades so I can be done with this tutoring. I would really like if I don't have to do this anymore."

He grabbed his bag and started heading for the door.

"The tutoring is finished for today, you can go home. Be sure to continue studying."

He left the library and went home after concluding his tutor session with Natsume-San.

'It seems like tutoring her will be a major hassle…'