The Charm of the Popular Beautiful Succubus in Class Doesn't Work on Me ~ For Some Reason, This Beauty Keeps Trying to Hold My Hand ~ - 43

Chapter 43: I’ll Give You a Reward

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“Could you lend me that reference book for a bit?”

“Sure, use it as much as you want.”

“….Do you even plan on studying…?”

“I’m the type who unleashes unbelievable power when under great pressure.”

A few days after Akanashi’s send-off party, Kisara and I were hitting the books together for our upcoming final exams. Well, to be precise, Kisara was studying diligently while I was… diligently watching her study. At her insistence that she couldn’t concentrate without access to a drink bar, we were at a family restaurant near the school instead of the library. This particular family restaurant was part of a small chain, offering incredibly cheap prices and drink options you wouldn’t find at major chains, making it one of my personal recommendations.

By the way, my top pick is their plum kelp tea.

And so, today as well, the charade of pretending to be a couple was progressing smoothly. One thing I’d come to realize during this whole “pretend relationship” was that Kisara was several levels more serious than I had initially imagined. Despite her audacious attitude toward me, she was the epitome of a model student. In her private life, she was always correcting things like my garbage disposal habits or how I held my chopsticks, and she made sure to head home at a respectable hour. Her grades were excellent, and she was the one who had suggested studying for the exams in the first place.

“By the way, Kisara, you’re not taking any notes?”

“Notes? I don’t take any.”

She stopped her pen mid-sentence and looked up at me with a puzzled expression, as if a question mark had popped up over her head.

“I mean, people usually copy down what’s written on the blackboard into their notebooks, right?”

“Oh, I just write them directly in my textbook.”

She held out her textbook, saying, “Here, take a look,” and I couldn’t help but let out a sound of admiration upon seeing it. Her textbook was packed with red-ink notes detailing everything from what had been written on the blackboard to what the teacher had said, along with meticulously noted pointers and other things to be careful about.

“We-Were you always like this? You’re not breaking out of your original character or anything, are you?”

“Character? What are you talking about? Since the day we met, I’ve always been Kisara-chan, the super-competent class rep and the top student in the grade.”

“Top student in our year? Is that some kind of joke?”

“Michihit-kun, I see you really don’t know anything about me at all, huh? It’s neither a joke nor an exaggeration. It’s a fact. Plain and simple. After all the time we’ve spent talking, my intelligence should’ve been impossible to miss.”

“I guess I’ve been underestimating you a lot until now…”

“The look you’re giving me right now is very offensive. By the way… What about you? What’s your score?”

“Out of 300 students, I’m probably around 200th. I mean, our school is pretty competitive, so getting to the 200th is my limit…”

She sighed deeply, as if pitying me, then shrugged her shoulders in exasperation.

“It can’t be helped. This Kisara-chan will teach you how to study. Those utterly average grades of yours are way too shameful.”

“No, I mean, I’m not ashamed about them. I’m good.”

“But I’m ashamed! Michihito-kun, you’re my boyfriend after all. I would really appreciate it if you could at least try to be a bit more presentable.”

She said while puffing her cheeks a bit and slammed a textbook onto the table.

“I think I have a disease where I might die if I study…”

“Keep saying stuff like that and I will break that overly long nose of yours!”

“Ugh…”

Looking at my expression, Kisara sighed in exasperation again. 

“Good grief… Fine. It can’t be helped.”

Kisara said while raising her index finger elegantly. 

“How about this? If you rank within the top 50 in the next test, I’ll give you a reward.”

“For real?! Now I’m feeling super motivated!”

“But you have to study properly, okay? I’ll give you Spartan-level coaching.”

“By the way, what’s the reward?”

“Let’s see~”

Kisara tilted her head, thinking for a bit before her face lit up as if she had come up with something great. 

“How about I grant you one wish? Of course, it has to be something reasonable.”

“Th-Then… Does that mean…”

I gulped audibly out of reflex. 

“Wh-What are you imagining about? Your eyes are scary…”

Kisara said while crossing her arms over her chest, as though she was sensing danger to her chastity. 

“No, I’m not imagining anything in particular though.”

I said, though I wasn’t entirely lying. 

I mean, after spending every day with a ‘beautiful girl’ like her, of course I’m bound to feel a certain way eventually. I doubt she realizes it, but I can see the outline of her bra through her blouse and those accidental glimpses of her underwear are way too much for me to handle. To be honest, rather than worrying about my test scores, she needs to do something about her lack of self-awareness instead. 

“Your nose is stretching out again.”

“I know, I know. No lewd thoughts. I promise.”

“Are you really sure?” she asked, squinting at me suspiciously. I fumbled for an excuse before reluctantly opening my textbook to follow Kisara’s lead.

“So, uh, how should I start?”

“What are your strong and weak subjects?”

“I’m good at world history but terrible at math, Kisara-sensei.”

“Hmm. Judging from that, it seems you’re good at memorization-based subjects but struggle with logical ones.”

“Now that you mention it, that does sound about right.”

“Alright, while you’re studying with me, we’ll focus on math and English. Then, when you get home, read through the textbooks for Japanese, world history, chemistry, and biology ten times each.”

“Kisara-sensei, your character is doing a full 180 here.”

“Huh? Reading the textbook is the foundation of studying. You have to read it repeatedly to  retain the information properly. Now, open your English textbook. I’ll teach you everything thoroughly.”

Ah, so this is Kisara in study mode. I get that this is probably the right way to go about it, but… for someone like me, who hates studying… This is really tough. Still, since Kisara went out of her way to come up with a reward and is even helping me study… I guess I have no choice. Guess I’ll give it a shot this time…

(Okay, this is the SVOC structure, so… this part connects like this…)

(Mhm, mhm.)

(When reading long English passages, imagine you’re inserting slashes in the middle so you can understand the whole thing easier.)

(Mhm, mhm.)

(And when you encounter unfamiliar words, pay attention to prefixes and suffixes to infer the right meaning.)

(Mhm, mhm.)

After about two hours of one-on-one lessons, the English that had been total gibberish to me suddenly started to make sense. 

Kisara… I think you’re actually a genius…

“Do you think you can aim for the top 50 in the class now?”

“Kisara… Thank you. That was super easy to understand. At this rate, I think I can actually pull it off.”

At that, Kisara gave me a slightly embarrassed smile and tilted her head bashfully. Then,  after a brief pause, her gaze shifts to something behind me.

“Huh? Is that you, Michihito?”

I heard a familiar voice coming from behind me. When I turned around, I saw Seiya Kokubun waving at us excitedly and behind him, stood Akari Akanashi, who was casting her gaze downward for some reason.

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