The moment Miyahito was about to step into Class B with his left foot, a strange chill made him shiver involuntarily.
Noticing his best friend suddenly stop and stand guard at the classroom door without going in, Tooru followed behind and weirdly placed a hand on his shoulder. "What's wrong with you? Why aren't you going in?"
"No, we can't go in right now." Hiding half his body behind the door, Miyahito looked into the classroom with a vigilant gaze. "If we go in now, we might get ambushed."
"Hah?" Finding this utterly baffling, Tooru gave the neurotic Miyahito a hard slap on the back, making him stumble, before marching into the classroom himself. "Weirdo. Who would ambush you in the classroom for no reason! Seriously... Uwah!!!"
"I got him! Hori!"
"Nice job!"
With his head covered by who-knows-what, Tooru was completely stunned. Hearing Kyoko and Yuki's voices from outside, he instantly realized what was happening.
Secretly sighing, 'How did this guy Miyahito max out his skills in such weird areas?', he shouted in a panic, "Hey, hey! Hori! Yuki! It's Tooru! Not that guy Miyahito!"
"...Eh?" Holding tightly onto a sack they got from who-knows-where, Yuki looked blankly at the struggling Tooru, then turned to look at Kyoko beside her.
Kyoko did the exact same thing.
Just as the two girls looked at each other in confusion.
"Listen." Resting his right hand on the doorframe and covering his face with his left, Miyahito looked at the two girls with utter exhaustion, his tone completely devoid of hope. "My ladies, may I ask what this humble servant has done wrong this time?"
Staring blankly at Miyahito at the door, then at Tooru sticking his head out of the sack, Yuki and Kyoko couldn't help but exchange a glance.
And then...
.....
After school, Class B classroom.
"So, you were just captured and interrogated by Kyoko and Yuki like that?" Resting her chin on her hands propped on the desk, Utaha, sitting sideways in the front seat, looked with a bright smile at her boyfriend, who was furiously writing at his desk, her tone teasing.
"Yeah." Hearing this, Miyahito frowned, complaining bitterly to his smiling girlfriend. "I just don't get it. We're the ones dating."
"Whether it's Hori or Yoshikawa, they act like nagging mothers, asking this and that. Seriously, making it seem like I'm making you unhappy every single day."
"And the most important thing, you know? The way they looked at me just now, it was basically saying, 'Why are you so useless, my boy!' Good heavens, am I that kind of good-for-nothing freeloader?"
Listening to Miyahito's endless complaining, Utaha, whose face was blooming with laughter, covered her stomach with both hands and slumped forward, resting her forehead on the desk.
Seeing his girl laugh like this, although Miyahito muttered resentfully, "It's going too far to laugh like this, Utaha," in reality, he obediently reached out both hands, his palms hovering to support his girlfriend's head. Just in case she laughed too hard and accidentally bumped it.
After laughing for a short while.
"Sorry, I really couldn't hold it in." Wiping the tears of laughter from the corners of her eyes, Utaha looked at her annoyed boyfriend with a lingering, hazy smile.
"Oh, is that so. I see."
Oh my, my young master is actually throwing a tantrum. Wah wah, what an adorable reaction.
A mature, gentle smile curving on her face, leaning across the desk and letting her ample chest rest heavily upon it, Utaha stretched out her arm.
Gently cupping the pouting Miyahito's cheeks, she coaxed him doting-ly.
"There, there, don't be mad, okay?"
"At most, I'll help you with your homework tonight, okay?"
"..."
Originally, Miyahito had made up his mind. Today, he was absolutely going to make the arrogant "Kasumigaoka Utaha" understand that a man's dignity was not to be trifled with!
However, his stubborn resolve and uncompromising stance melted away in less than a second under his girl's gentle, water-like gaze.
"Sigh, I really can't win against you." Shooting a mildly exasperated glance at the acting-cute Utaha, Miyahito raised his hand and gently, using absolutely zero force, pinched the tip of his girlfriend's exquisite nose.
"Let's get one thing straight first: you're not allowed to force me to do science homework tonight."
"Oh?" The moment the words left Miyahito's mouth, Utaha instantly dropped her cute, moe-filled expression, replacing it with the haughty demeanor of a proud queen.
Crossing her arms and crossing her legs, she tilted her chin up slightly. Looking down at her unyielding boyfriend, Utaha parted her cherry lips and spoke.
"No."
"I won't do it!"
"No!"
"No matter what you say, I won't do it!"
"No!"
"..."
"No!"
I haven't even said anything yet!
Watching Miyahito's completely bewildered expression, Utaha let out an exasperated sigh and reached out with both hands again.
However, this time, it wasn't the gentle affection from before. With the heat of her palms pressing against his cheeks, the next second, Utaha suddenly started vigorously squishing her boyfriend's face.
"Eh? E-eh! Utaha?"
Ignoring her boyfriend's bewildered gaze, Utaha squished and stretched Miyahito's cheeks for a good while before gritting her teeth and saying:
"You almost failed your science test again yesterday, didn't you! Huh?!"
"Hoo doo yoo knoh?! (How do you know?!)"
Staring at Utaha in absolute shock, Miyahito was about to continue, but his girlfriend, as if she could read his mind, spoke the exact words he was thinking.
"'I didn't tell anyone, Mr. Miyahito.' Is that what you wanted to say?"
With the word shock written all over his face, Miyahito nodded blankly.
Seeing this, Utaha grew even angrier. She pressed her palms hard against the center of Miyahito's face, squishing his mouth into a "<" shape, and said with a mix of embarrassment and annoyance:
"My dear Mr. Miyahito, you didn't tell anyone."
"But do you know that after the first period ended this morning, Tachibana-sensei called me over? Can you guess why she called me?"
Hearing this, Miyahito subconsciously wanted to reply that he didn't know, but just as the words reached his lips, he suddenly realized.
"Exactly." Seeing the look of sudden realization on her boyfriend's face, Utaha nodded. Then, looking a bit of a headache, she let go and held her forehead.
"Sigh, you could have at least gotten a slightly better score."
"This morning, in front of Tachibana-sensei, I couldn't even lift my head. My boyfriend actually only got a 49 on the math quiz, barely passing."
(The class average for the quiz was 93, yet my boyfriend, the grade's top student, barely scraped by with a passing grade. Note: Toyogasaki's passing grade is half of the average or higher.)
Even though he goes to cram school every weekend, he gets a score like this? And he still wants to skip the extra homework? Dream on!