My Ex-Girlfriend Who Dumped Me, the Top Student, Is at Risk of Failing and Repeating a Year—but I’m Too Busy Tutoring a Former Shut-in Beauty To Get Back Together With Her - 5

Chapter 5: The Cookies Tasted Sweet and a Little Heavy

ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー

When I entered the room, a soft, sweet fragrance drifted through the air. A slight scent of daily life now mingled within the once-sterile fortress of books.

“Here, Sensei. …Say ahh.”

“No, I can eat by myself.”

“Hmph…”

Kotone Kisaragi puffed out her cheeks as she held out a small plate of cookies in front of me. Not a single one was misshapen. They were perfectly circular cookies, just like the ones sold in stores. I took one in my hand and brought it to my mouth. Along with a crisp texture, the rich flavor of butter spread throughout my mouth.

“…This is delicious. Did you really make these, Kisaragi?”

“Yeah! I looked up the recipe online and re-baked them about three times. …I was worried about what I’d do if they weren’t to your liking, Sensei.”

She lowered her eyebrows and smiled weakly, looking relieved. Three times. She said it casually, but it must have taken a considerable amount of time and effort. Especially since she didn’t even know for sure if I was coming today.

“Did your ex-girlfriend make handmade things like this for you?”

“…No. She was the type to say, ‘It’s faster and tastier to just buy them.’”

“I see. …Then, I win.”

Kisaragi made a small fist pump and bit into a cookie happily. That innocence, combined with the possessiveness seeping through the edges of her words. I felt like a slightly “heavy” spice was mixed into the taste of the sweet cookies. However, to my empty heart, that weight felt comfortable.

＊＊＊

“Alright, now that the sugar replenishment is complete, shall we start the lesson?”

“Yes, Sensei!”

As I switched gears and opened the textbook, her expression tightened with focus. Today’s topic was the application of functions, which she had stumbled on yesterday. As I explained while drawing the mental images I had taught her yesterday, she took notes as if mesmerized. The sound of her mechanical pencil racing across the paper echoed in a pleasant rhythm.

“—Therefore, this value becomes the maximum. Are you okay up to this point?”

“Yeah. …Ah, I see. Because the vertex of the graph moves…”

“Right. Now, try this similar problem. Solve it on your own.”

As I pointed to the workbook, she gripped her pen again with a slightly tense look on her face. Silence fell. While only the sound of the clock’s hands echoed, she fought with the formulas, wrinkling her brow and occasionally using her eraser.

I watched her profile. Her long eyelashes, the straight bridge of her nose, her serious gaze. If she remained silent, she was the very image of a lady raised in a sheltered home, but inside her was a fierce fighting spirit. She was burning with the desire to understand what she didn’t know. I liked people who made an effort. When I saw someone suffering because they couldn’t get results, it made me want to reach out. It was surely because it felt like I was looking at my past self.

“…I did it.”

Ten minutes later. she timidly held out her notebook. In it were a perfect derivation process and the correct numerical answer.

“…That’s correct. It’s perfect, Kisaragi.”

“Really…?”

“Yeah. This is a problem you couldn’t even touch yesterday. Your growth speed is amazing.”

When I praised her honestly, her eyes grew moist, and she stared intently at her own hands.

“I solved it… I solved it by myself…”

“You weren’t alone. It’s because I taught you.”

“Yes. It’s because Sensei cast a magic spell on me…”

She wrapped both of her hands around mine. Her body heat was transmitted directly to me.

“It’s fun…. Studying is so much fun once you understand it. …I wish I had met Sensei much sooner.”

“It’s not too late. You can make up for it as much as you want from now on.”

When I said that, she shook her head.

“No. It’s not just about studying. …The time when Sensei isn’t here has no color, no taste… Even breathing is painful.”

At those words, I caught my breath. Her eyes reflected me darkly and deeply, like a bottomless swamp.

“So, Sensei. …Give me more assignments.”

“Eh?”

“So that even during the nights when Sensei isn’t here, I can think about Sensei the whole time. …Please, bind me with studies.”

It sounded like a distorted, pure confession of love. A girl who used to hate studying was wishing to be bound by it. If the reason for that was nothing but her “connection with me”—then I suppose that was the ultimate reward for a teacher.

“…Understood. Steel yourself. I’m going to give you enough to make sure you won’t get any sleep tonight.”

“Hehe, I wouldn’t have it any other way… Sensei.”

She wore a melting smile and pressed my hand against her cheek.

＊＊＊

On the way home. The veil of night had completely fallen over the sky. In my bag was the empty cookie wrapper.

“…I wonder which one of us is the one being bound.”

I gave a wry smile and looked up at the night sky. My schedule, which had become empty after being dumped by my ex-girlfriend. Now, it was rapidly being filled by the existence of a girl named Kotone Kisaragi.

My daily life, which used to be nothing but a round trip between school and home, was beginning to be vividly colored thanks to her. To be needed by someone. To spend time for someone’s sake. I didn’t know that it could be so fulfilling.

Bzzz~ Bzzz~

The phone in my pocket shook. Looking at the screen, it was a notification from “Kotone.”

『I’m solving the third problem of the assignment Sensei gave me. This ‘x’ looks like Sensei to me.』

…Isn’t that a bit too much? 

To see me in a variable like ‘x’—just what kind of eyes did she have? While nearly bursting into laughter, I replied, 『It’s a tough problem, so put your heart into solving it.』

The “Read” receipt appeared immediately, and a sticker of a cat wearing a headband was sent back with the message, 『I’ll do my best!』 Tomorrow, I would go to that room again. That had become a schedule I looked forward to more than anything else.

However…

While the two of us were immersed in our own world, small ripples were beginning to spread at school. I didn’t yet know that my ex-girlfriend, Rina, who had crashed and burned on the quiz, was feeling the inconvenience caused by my absence and was growing increasingly frustrated.

ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー