Mid Semester Exam (6)

　　"Any angle and length formulas can be memorized easily... Eh?"

　　Not long after Shinichi started teaching again, he noticed that Nino had come with four other people.

　　He didn't know if he was wrong, but he always felt that their eyes were shining like those of an extremely terrifying wolf.

　　Instinctively feeling threatened, Shinichi's calves shook like cramps, then he spoke to Nino.

　　"What is it? If that's okay..."

　　Before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by Nino.

　　"Aren't you teaching? Why are you bothered? Concentrate on doing your own thing and leave us alone."

　　"Hah?" Shinichi was confused.

　　He was about to speak, but Nino turned her head away from him, and snapped her fingers.

　　Without her asking, the Nakano family's quintuplets started moving on their own. The stone chairs in the gazebo are relatively small, Furuhashi and Ogata are sitting on one chair, and Shinichi is sitting on the plus twin chair.

　　However...

　　Ichika pressed Miku's shoulder and let her sit on Shinichi's left, while Miku sat on her right and greeted Shinichi with a smile.

　　Itsuki stood behind Shinichi's left, her expression looked a little embarrassed.

　　Yotsuba is standing behind Shinichi's right.

　　Nino was leaning against the pillar of the gazebo.

　　"I'm sorry, we suddenly got interested in studying, don't you mind letting us watch?"

　　Nino with a teasing smile.

　　Eyes revealing a pride and ego that had not been seen in a long time, she stared at Shinichi on the stone chair.

　　"After all, we are also students of Shuchi'in Academy, please consider this~"

　　"Come on, continue your lesson."

Furuhashi and Ogata couldn't react to this state of affairs, but glanced at Shinichi for help.

　　"...Are you serious?"

　　Shinichi and Nino looked at each other.

　　In this sentence, what he wanted to ask wasn't whether she was seriously listening, but whether she was seriously ignoring what he said earlier and coming to make trouble.

　　If so, Shinichi will have to change his mind about Nino—a negative change.

　　Although Nino was stubborn and savage in the past, her attitude towards others was very mature, her progress and setbacks were always well-founded, and she would not give rise to hatred.

　　As long as her own sister was involved, she was even more like an older sister than Ichika, and she had never been petty in business.

　　But by now... She should know that forest school business and teaching business are equally important to her, right?

　　Playing tricks regardless of time and place is nothing more than childish behavior trying to get the attention of adults. Could it be that Nino's mind had degenerated?

　　However, Nino pretended not to understand the deep meaning of those words, and stared back without blinking.

　　"Yeah, is there a fee to audit your class? Let us know if you want to kick us out!"

　　Shinichi looked at Nino, there was no sense of joking or joking at all.

　　Shinichi glanced again at the hand that was gripping his sleeve slightly trembling.

　　Then, he glanced at Miku who was next to him, she lowered her head, her shoulders drooped, and her fingers twisted nervously over her knees.

　　Even so, she did not speak, nor did she get up and leave.

　　For some reason, seeing them like this, Shinichi couldn't get angry at all.

　　...Indeed, he had no idea what they were thinking, and no idea what their goals were.

　　But if it took a lot of guts to make up such nonsense, he couldn't just rebuke and chase them away before he understood the reason.

　　"…Whatever, just look from the side if you want, don't disturb our study room." Shinichi sighed.

　　Nino's expression loosened, and was about to laugh, but was taken aback.

　　It was only then that she realized that even though she had just said so many nice words and acted as if she didn't care about Shinichi's feelings, after all she was just like Miku, she really didn't want him to look at her in disdain.

　　Realizing this fact, Nino turned her head away, and didn't dare to look at Shinichi again.

　　"Sorry, I'll have a meeting another day to teach these people a lesson, but this is a public space, and I can't kick them out."

　　Shinichi turned around and apologized to Furuhashi and Ogata.

　　Ogatha nodded. After all, she didn't hear anything outside the window while she was reading, so it didn't matter to her whether anyone was watching.

Furuhashi smiled kindly at Ichika and Miku.

　　"It's okay, it's a waste of time to change places now, why not come and study together, it's more lively!"

　　Shinichi took out a light blue notebook and pen from his school bag.

　　Putting it into Miku's hand.

　　"...You stayed with me last time. If you can barely understand what I'm teaching you then. I will teach you some more when I have time."

　　He whispered in Miku's ear.

　　The smile on Furuhashi's face froze, veins appeared on her forehead, and she became unhappy.

　　Ogata also frowned, and looked straight at the two people sitting together, her expression was no longer flat, her cheeks were puffed up a little like a cute little animal.

　　Miku tightened her fingers, hugged the notebook tightly to her chest, and nodded vigorously.

　　"...En."

　　Her face flushed red, and she smiled at Shinichi like the warm sun in winter.

Shinichi turned his face back and focused his eyes on the flyer in front of him.

　　"Okay, if it's fine, let's continue studying—"

　　Ding dong...

　　The preparatory bell rang from a distance, reminding them that there were still ten minutes before class started.

"Pufff."

　　Shinichi glared at the laughing Nino, and started packing his things.

　　"Next week, I will be having a sponsorship meeting with a bunch of greasy middle-aged uncles. Originally I was in charge, but now, use your bright JK smile to face them, Nino."

　　Nino's face turned green, and she couldn't smile anymore