Chapter 164 – Study Session (2)

We went straight to my house after our snack run. Before the study session began, we prepared the snacks for break first since we wouldn't have time to do so later.

The study session was planned for two hours, but looking at the amount of snacks we bought, it felt like we were planning to do it for a whole day instead.

There were several plates and bowls filled with huge amounts of potato chips, sweets and other kinds of snacks. Would I even have room for dinner after finishing all these? The girls acted like this amount of snacks was normal.

…Seriously?

"Rep, you're running out of coffee, I'm going to open a new bag, okay? Yuuchin, give me the sugar cube."

"Mm! Put some milk in mine, Ninacchi! What about you, Umi?"

"I'm okay with black. I'm going to use the dishwasher, step aside."

When I peered into the kitchen, I saw the three girls standing side by side. It seemed like they were having a good time.

Nozomu and I were setting up the living room. Since the usual table was too small, we had to pull out the kotatsu from mom's closet.

"…Say, Maki."

As he was watching those three, Nozomu placed a hand on my shoulder.

For some reason, I felt a strong pressure from that hand.

"Asanagi is one thing, but why do the other two look so familiar with your kitchen? Do they come here often or what?"

"I wouldn't say often, but they probably got used to it after visiting a few times… In my defense, it isn't like I can just kick them out, you know?"

Yeah, they didn't come often, but they said that my house was a comfortable place to hang out at.

At Umi's and Amami-san's house, their mothers were there, so they couldn't do something like this while Nitta-san's house was a bit far away from school.

I got permission from mom, but as the number of the girls increased, she started to look at me with a strange expression.

Of course she wouldn't think that I was gathering harem members or something, but still, explaining everything to her felt really awkward.

She said something like, 'Your face is similar to mine, but your womanizing tendencies are the same as your dad's'.

…Sorry about that, mom.

"What do you want to drink, Seki-kun? Coffee? Tea? If you want a cold drink, there's coke here, both the regular one and sugar-free."

"U-Um… I-I think I'll have a black coffee… What about you, Maki?"

"Same."

"Two black coffees, I received your orders~"

Amami-san was running around while wearing mom's apron.

The apron itself was a plain apron with checkered patterns that you could find anywhere, but she looked like a model when wearing it.

"Maki."

"What is it?"

"I'm motivated now."

"That so? Good for you."

"Thank you, harem MC– I mean, my dear friend…"

"Ah yes, people called me that sometimes, huh?"

After ten minutes of preparation, we spread out our textbooks.

Normally, Amami-san and Nitta-san were here to monitor Umi's and my studies, but for today, we would be tutoring Nozomu instead.

Since they would be giving make-up classes based on how well you did in both midterm and final exam, we were trying to help him avoid getting red marks at least.

"Seki."

As we were trying to solve a problem, Nitta-san suddenly called out to Nozomu.

"Just wondering, when will the summer tournament start for you guys?"

"Huh? The matchups weren't even decided yet, so who knows. It'll probably start around July though. Why do you ask? Are you going to cheer us on?"

"Nah, I'll pass. I can't stand being outside for too long in the summer, it's too hot. I'm just asking for a friend, they said they wanted to see you pitching."

"A-Ah, I see…"

"Are you curious?"

"N-Not really! Everyone can come and watch me if they want to!"

So he said, but he was clearly flustered. This guy looked like a normie, but he had absolutely zero experience with girls.

I glanced at him and noticed him stealing glances at Amami-san.

Anyway, it was too early to discuss this, but since Nitta-san brought it up, we could use this opportunity to plan for it when the time came.

"Do you want to go to cheer for him, Umi?"

"Hmm… The date is too close to finals… I want to focus on studying…"

'But if you're going to go, I might as well–', I waited for Umi to say those words so I could drag Amami-san with us, but…

"I'll go! I'll cheer for Nozomu-kun!"

Amami-san said that before any of us could say anything.

She even called him 'Nozomu-kun'.

Our brains short-circuited for a moment, some of us even looked confused, wondering who the hell 'Nozomu-kun' was.

That was how surprised we were over her outburst.

"A-Amami-san, did you just…"

"Hm? Ah, yes, I did. It's been a while since we became friends, right? I thought that it would be nice if I were to call you by your first name! Sorry if that surprised you…"

"N-No, it's fine, I don't mind… I mean, Maki has been calling me by my name since the beginning…"

"Hehehe~ I'm glad to hear that. You can just call me Yuu, by the way~"

"A-Ah, y-yes… I-I'll do that."

"I'll be in your care then, Nozomu-kun~ Anyway, there is still time before break, so let's concentrate on studying!"

"Y-Yes!"

Then Amami-san returned to her own little world with Umi by her side. Meanwhile, the big guy was on cloud nine. He could only respond to me with simple 'ah' or 'uh'.

"Nozomu, look at my hand."

"Ah…"

"Can you count how many fingers I have?"

"A lot…"

"…No good."

For the record, I was showing him a peace sign.

Yeah, he was a goner.

"I'm going to the toilet."

I told him that and left the room before sending Umi a secret message.

[Maehara: Umi, what happened to her?]

[Asanagi: Don't ask me.]

[Asanagi: Nina is surprised too, the friend she was talking about was someone else, not Yuu.]

[Maehara: So, Amami-san got a change of heart or something?]

[Asanagi: Maybe but maybe she just doesn't care much. Still, this means that she wants to get closer to him.]

[Asanagi: Well, let's not assume anything, I'll ask her about it later.]

[Maehara: Got it.]

In any case, we decided on something to do for summer. I wonder what would happen?