After class at noon, Hoshimori Shion let out a huge yawn in the classroom.
Iori Shigure, holding her rice ball, moved her chair next to Hoshimori Shion’s desk to eat lunch with her.
Today, Hoshimori Shion’s eyes were shadowed by visible dark circles; she was already leaning forward, eager to rest, looking as if she might start snoring on the hard desk surface at any moment.
“Hoshimori Shion-chan, are you alright? You seem incredibly sleepy,” Iori Shigure said with concern, placing a mint candy into Hoshimori Shion’s palm.
“If you’re too tired, try one of these; they’re quite effective.”
“Thank you, Iori-san…” Hoshimori Shion thanked her listlessly, then resumed resting her head on the desk.
Her bento box wasn’t even properly closed today, but fortunately, it contained no soup or similar liquids, otherwise, it would surely have spilled.
“Is Ayane-chan not coming today?” Iori Shigure asked cautiously.
Hoshimori Shion barely managed a shake of her head, as if even that simple motion was an immense drain on her energy.
“She’s busy preparing review questions for me today… *A-woo*…” Hoshimori Shion explained, punctuating her words with another yawn.
“So she didn’t have time to come.”
Iori Shigure reached out, intending to stroke Hoshimori Shion’s hair.
Hoshimori Shion’s long, snow-white hair shone quite dazzlingly in the summer sunlight.
However, a flutter of hesitation in Iori Shigure’s heart caused her to lower her extended hand.
“Then, Hoshimori Shion-chan, please get some sleep for now,” Iori Shigure said gently.
“I’ll wake you up about twenty minutes before class starts; that should give you enough time to eat.”
Hoshimori Shion wished to nod, but the overwhelming fatigue assailing her from every part of her body was simply unbearable.
Even with the dazzling sunlight, she swiftly succumbed to sleep.
As for why she was so exhausted now, the answer lay in the events of the previous night.
To improve her grades, the self-proclaimed ‘Great Educator,’ Hoshimori Ayane, declared that Hoshimori Shion needed to complete an additional set of practice problems beyond her daily homework, covering Japanese, mathematics, and foreign language.
This decision was likely made by Hoshimori Ayane yesterday evening, after she had been utterly exasperated by Hoshimori Shion’s homework.
Hoshimori Shion tried to argue, suggesting they start tomorrow instead, but Hoshimori Ayane firmly refused, stating that exams were scheduled for the end of the week.
Therefore, no matter what, they had to ’embrace the Buddha’s feet at the last minute’ (TL Note: A Chinese idiom, ‘lÃn shà bà o fó jiÇŽo,’ meaning to make a hasty effort or cram for something at the last moment).
Thus, without further delay, they began immediately that very day.
And so, under Hoshimori Ayane’s supervision, Hoshimori Shion worked on problems until nearly one in the morning, with Hoshimori Ayane diligently guiding her through each one.
Though she still didn’t know how to solve many of them, she eventually forced herself to finish.
“Oh my goodness, this is more tiring than exorcising spirits!” Hoshimori Shion exclaimed, collapsing onto her bed after Hoshimori Ayane had returned to her room to sleep.
Overwhelmed by sleepiness, she then climbed into bed herself.
According to the game mechanics, if Hoshimori Shion went out to exorcise spirits that night and succeeded, she would wake up the next day feeling completely refreshed, regardless of any injuries sustained.
Any wounds from the previous night would, at most, leave only tiny scars, so minuscule that Hoshimori Shion herself wouldn’t even notice them.
However, doing homework was an entirely different matter.
When her alarm rang the next morning, Hoshimori Shion, who usually sprang out of bed, longed to smash it with a pillow.
It was only as she prepared to throw the pillow that she remembered people now used smartphones as alarms, and she certainly didn’t have the money to buy a new one if she broke it.
And so, that morning, as Hoshimori Shion, sporting dark circles under her eyes, arrived in the kitchen to make breakfast, she heard the alarm ringing in Hoshimori Ayane’s room.
This was the first time she had ever heard Hoshimori Ayane’s alarm; otherwise, Hoshimori Shion might genuinely believe Hoshimori Ayane simply ‘refreshed’ at the door each morning, waiting to pounce on her.
She tiptoed into her younger sister’s room, pressed the alarm off for her, and then tiptoed back out to prepare breakfast.
It wasn’t until breakfast was ready that Hoshimori Shion woke her utterly exhausted sister, despite being just as exhausted herself.
About half an hour later, Hoshimori Shion was finally stirred by the somewhat dazzling sunlight, reluctantly opening her eyes to meet Iori Shigure’s satisfied smile and the tissue she offered.
Only then did Hoshimori Shion realize that she had been sleeping with her hand tucked under her head, and the drool had thoroughly soaked her sleeve.
“Wah! I… Ah, thank you anyway, Iori-san!” Hoshimori Shion quickly took the tissue from Iori Shigure’s hand and wiped her mouth.
“You’re welcome… Um, Hoshimori Shion-chan, you haven’t eaten your bento yet…” Iori Shigure pointed to the lunchbox resting on Hoshimori Shion’s desk.
Only then did Hoshimori Shion feel her stomach begin to rumble, and she hastily opened her bento box, eating with a somewhat ravenous urgency.
Iori Shigure rested her chin on her hand, her golden-haired smile in the sunlight seemingly radiating warmth.
Having already finished her own rice ball, Iori Shigure simply watched Hoshimori Shion in silence.
“Um… Iori-san, please don’t stare at me like that; it makes me self-conscious.” Hoshimori Shion, having just devoured a few mouthfuls of rice, looked at Iori Shigure’s eager gaze.
Even though Iori Shigure hadn’t uttered a single word, her intensity still made Hoshimori Shion feel a little shy.
“Eh? Oh, no, not at all! There’s still quite a while until class, so I was just… bored,” Iori Shigure quickly adjusted her demeanor, realizing her expression was off, and sat up a little straighter.
“It’s just, if Hoshimori Shion-chan needs academic tutoring, I could… it’s not like I couldn’t do it…” Iori Shigure stammered, her voice trailing off.
“I mean, Ayane-chan needs to prepare for her own reviews too, right? So if she doesn’t have enough time, I could tutor Hoshimori Shion-chan; that would be fine…”
Iori Shigure’s voice grew fainter and fainter.
Despite her kind-hearted initiative to offer help, she now spoke with absolutely no confidence, her two small index fingers playfully poking at each other.
“Iori-san?” Hoshimori Shion was a little taken aback.
Because, according to her previous impression, Iori Shigure was the type who often slept with her head on her desk during class.
Moreover, because she cared for her grandmother, she frequently had to take leave and had missed many lessons.
If she were to tutor…
“If, if Hoshimori Shion-chan is worried about my teaching ability, I can just sit beside you!” Iori Shigure quickly added, as if she had perceived Hoshimori Shion’s doubt.
Iori Shigure was a good child, a girl as warm as a little sun, trustworthy in many regards.
But when it came to academics… Hoshimori Shion had even heard her soft snores during class that very morning!
Having finished a few more mouthfuls of rice, Hoshimori Shion handed the practice book from Hoshimori Ayane to Iori Shigure, pointing to the problem Hoshimori Ayane had assigned yesterday.
“It’s not that I don’t trust you, Iori-san… but if you can solve this problem…”
“One-half?”
Before Hoshimori Shion could finish her sentence, Iori Shigure had already stated the answer.
Although her demeanor remained soft and gentle, the confidence in her voice when she declared the answer was far greater than when she had tentatively offered to tutor Hoshimori Shion.
Hoshimori Shion, wide-eyed in astonishment, quickly flipped to the answer key in the practice book.
Upon seeing the answer, she gasped sharply.
‘Iori Shigure, could she be a hidden academic genius?’