...
"That was close. I was so nervous just now—it felt like sneaking over as the mistress to see my man, only to run into the legal wife."
[It's not that bad… And what kind of godly metaphor is that?! You're way too good at analogies, it's dangerous!]
"Where's it good?"
Umaru puffed out her cheeks behind Saiki, grabbed his head, lifted it up, and made him look at her.
"Why did Saiki-shishou hang up on me?!"
[Nothing much. It was just accidental. I figured if it was really important you'd call back. Who knew you'd come running over yourself.]
"Really?"
[Really.]
"Liar liar pants on fire~"
[How childish are you? So what do you actually want? It's probably just to play games with me again, right? No way you're seriously here to study. I don't buy it.]
"No way, this time I really am preparing for exams! At school during class I felt like I was doing fine, but then Onii-chan said some scary stuff.
He said the final exams would include extra questions not covered in class, which scared me so much I couldn't sleep at night. Today Onii-chan went to work again, so I had nothing to do and came to ask you to help me review."
[Well, maybe your brother's right. Studying can't hurt.]
"See? Even Saiki-shishou says so. So I had no choice but to come to you."
Sigh!
[Yare yare, what a pain.]
Saiki closed his eyes, feeling like there had been way too much going on lately—even weekends weren't for proper rest anymore.
"Click."
The sound of the door opening came. Shiina Mahiru walked in with a smile: "Sorry, sorry. I left something here earlier. You two…"
Saiki and Umaru were still in position: Saiki sitting on the stool, Umaru gently holding his head up with her hands, leaning down so her hair fell as she looked straight into his eyes.
Hearing the door, Saiki and Umaru looked over and saw Shiina Mahiru.
Umaru's calm little face instantly turned tense again ꒰꒪꒫꒪⌯꒱
As for our protagonist Saiki, what kind of person was he? His expression remained perfectly calm, as if his heart was still water…
(I'm—screwed—)
Shiina Mahiru looked at their position, the smile gradually fading from her face (though it seemed to transfer to someone else's—who knows, not important).
In short, Shiina Mahiru slowly lowered her head, shadows falling over her eyes from her hair, and calmly said: "Saiki-kun, you two are…"
Umaru stood up, moved away from Saiki, slowly approached Shiina Mahiru, reached out nervously, and explained: "No, no! I was just now discussing review stuff with Saiki-shishou, that's all!"
"Hehe."
Shiina Mahiru let out a creepy laugh, stepped forward in her slippers: "Does reviewing require being that close?"
"No! It's just that Saiki-shishou said his eyes felt uncomfortable earlier, so I was checking for him, right Saiki-shishou!"
Saiki also stood up beside them, unsure how to respond, but still agreed,
[Yeah, that's right.]
From Saiki's experience, if he didn't explain at a time like this, she'd probably assume he and Umaru were dating, and then Shiina Mahiru…
would probably stop being so nice to him afterward, keeping more distance. Though Saiki thought that might actually be fine, rumors like that would be bad for Umaru too. He couldn't exactly ask someone to play along with something this weird—it wasn't middle school anymore…
"Is that so? Then…"
Shiina Mahiru quickly stepped forward, went to Saiki's side, closed her eyes, grabbed his sleeve and arm, and pulled him toward her side, creating a step's distance from Umaru—like a cat guarding its food.
Umaru "Eh (((o(ﾟ▽ﾟ)o)))"
Only after seeing the distance between them did Shiina Mahiru relax, open her big watery eyes, stare intently at Saiki, and say,
"So if it's reviewing, then… then I can study together too, right? Saiki-kun."
[Uh…]
[Your grades are already great. You probably don't need to review…]
Hearing Saiki hesitate—actually hesitate toward her—she gripped his hand even tighter, a "kind" smile blooming on her face.
"It—should—be—fine—right?"
Saiki had thought helping Umaru review was already troublesome enough. Adding someone else—especially since Shiina Mahiru's grades were genuinely excellent.
But looking at that "kind" smile from Shiina Mahiru, he had no idea how to refuse. She took such good care of him—if he couldn't even help her review, that would be going too far.
(As neighbors and classmates, helping each other is only natural. Mm, definitely not because of Shiina-san's terrifying yet "kind" smile.)
[Yeah… no problem.]
"Uh ah wait Σ(っ °Д °;)っ"
Umaru reached out from the side, wanting to gesture something but pulled back, then reached out her other hand, and finally spoke up when she saw Shiina Mahiru turn to look at her: "Doma-san, this should be fine, right?"
"Of course it's fine."
Umaru kept a tense smile, hands clasped in front of her, standing straight.
Umaru [What's going on? This is serious. It feels exactly like getting caught by the legal wife while sneaking around as the mistress with someone else's man.]
(So what is with these weird metaphors? Just like a certain someone with a tree name.)
...
The three sat at the table, took out their textbooks, and started reviewing.
[Let's start by trying these problems. If you don't understand, just ask me again!]
"Mm."
"Okay, Saiki-shishou."
Saiki sat on the stool looking at the workbook in front of him. Problems floated in his mind, but he wasn't really focused here.
(This is seriously such a pain. Having to look at textbooks even outside class time is torture. These problems are way too easy. No motivation to keep going. Sigh, I just want to watch TV and eat coffee jelly.)
Shiina Mahiru quietly lifted her head to glance at Saiki and Umaru.
Shiina Mahiru [I don't even know why I suddenly rushed forward so aggressively earlier. Will Saiki-kun find it annoying?
But when I saw Saiki-kun and Doma-san so close, my heart felt squeezed, like I couldn't breathe. It hurt so much. Even though Doma-san is pretty, I'm not bad either.]
Shiina Mahiru shook her head to calm herself.
She patted her own cheeks.
Shiina Mahiru [Study, study. Focus on studying. Neither of them said anything. If they really were dating, why would they be so nervous? Mm, that's right.]
After adjusting her mood, she concentrated on the review materials again.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Umaru quietly lifted her head to observe Saiki and Shiina Mahiru.