Hoshimori Shion had been yawning since she awoke that morning.
The previous night, after returning from the Autumn Maple Hot Spring Inn, Shion had been utterly exhausted, yet Ayane had mercilessly subjected her to an intense late-night study session.
With Japanese Language, Math, and English rotating through, Shion felt as though she were being pummeled by all three subjects in turn.
It wasn’t until deep into the night that she finally completed Ayane’s assigned problems and fell into a heavy slumber.
Ayane, however, had long since fallen asleep on Shion’s bed, clutching her textbooks.
Shion hadn’t slept with her sister.
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to, but her bed was small, and Ayane had claimed the middle, leaving Shion with only half her body on the mattress when she tried to lie down.
She simply couldn’t squeeze past her own sister.
‘Fine, I’ll go sleep in Ayane’s room then.’
‘Thank goodness I don’t have to exorcise spirits tonight, or I’d be so sleepy I’d probably get beaten to death by a malevolent spirit.’
Then, this morning, she had promised Kujou Sakuya to go to her house for a study session.
“Big Sister has truly been a busy bee these past few days,” Ayane mumbled, pouting as she was woken for breakfast.
“Always off to other people’s houses for tutoring.”
It was unclear whether this was just morning grumpiness or genuine displeasure.
Sporting dark circles under her eyes, Shion glared at Ayane.
“I don’t think improving my grades needs to happen all at once, like for just one exam.
I could always study for midterms, for example.”
“You can, sure, but then…” Ayane gave her own chest a squeeze.
“Big Sister won’t get to touch these, you know.
Only if Big Sister ranks in the top hundred.”
“Argh, you idiot Ayane!” Shion scratched her head, yet still gathered her belongings, packed a small bento, and headed out the door.
She was leaving even earlier than she usually did for morning classes.
This morning, she was to go to Sakuya’s house for tutoring as promised.
In the afternoon, she would head to the hospital, both to help care for Iori Grandma and to review with Iori Shigure.
Clutching her phone, Shion followed the map Sakuya had provided, arriving at her doorstep.
Sakuya’s house was quite close to the shrine.
It was a modest house, typical of a small-town family, with a low fence enclosing a small yard where a tiny wind chime, identical to one at the shrine, hung swaying.
Above the entrance, the kanji for “Kujou” were displayed.
“Kujou-san, are you home?” Shion called out, knocking on the door.
Soon, she heard footsteps approaching along the wooden veranda, and moments later, Sakuya opened the door.
Sakuya was clad in loose-fitting loungewear: a black shirt and a light grey skirt.
Her socks were uneven, her glasses were absent, and she was munching on a piece of bread smeared with strawberry jam.
“Hoshimori-san, you’re so early! I just woke up,” Sakuya said casually, stretching languidly as she invited Shion inside.
Then, she took the bread from her mouth and bit into it again.
Shion removed her shoes in the genkan (TL Note: The entryway of a Japanese house, typically where shoes are removed), carefully stepping inside.
“Um, Kujou-san’s parents…?”
“They’re out on assignment; they’re usually very busy,” Sakuya replied, casually grabbing a bottle of milk from the fridge, pouring a little into a cup, and then chugging the rest straight from the bottle.
“Um… Kujou-san, drinking very cold milk can upset your stomach,” Shion gently warned.
She glanced around; aside from books, nothing else in the house seemed particularly tidy.
Many items were strewn about in a rather chaotic and haphazard manner.
Even the dishes were piled in the sink, suggesting they were only washed once a day.
Sakuya rubbed her stomach.
“Oh, is that why? No wonder I’ve been getting stomach aches at night these past few days…”
“Kujou-san… your room feels quite…”
“Quite messy, right? I think so too.” Sakuya returned the milk to the fridge.
“Honestly, I’m sorry Hoshimori-san had to see this side of me.
When I’m writing novels or scripts, I unconsciously tend to leave things everywhere.
The scattered items actually give me inspiration.
Maybe that’s one reason my parents aren’t keen on me writing these things.
If it gets too messy to bear, I’ll clean it up.”
“How about… I help you tidy up now?” Shion set down her school bag, and with practiced ease, she went to the sink, turned on the water, squirted in dish soap, and began washing the dishes.
Seeing Shion immediately start helping with the cleaning, Sakuya quickly interjected, “Hoshimori-san, I can clean up after you leave! You should go and study!”
“Oh, I can’t possibly study in such a messy place.
We really ought to tidy it up properly,” Shion replied, her hands not pausing in their work, moving with practiced efficiency.
‘It wasn’t that she actually wanted to do chores; it was just that, for some reason, when faced with studying, housework suddenly seemed incredibly, exceptionally interesting.’
‘Ah, it seemed many things that were normally quite boring became less so when compared to studying.
Doing chores was one of them.’
“Well… alright then.
Hoshimori-san, please hurry!
We have a lot of material to cover today,” Sakuya said, sitting at the table and opening her prepared workbooks and textbooks.
The workbooks were filled with dense, tiny writing, all Sakuya’s meticulously marked exam points, a testament to how much she had prepared for this session.
Shion could sense Sakuya’s earnestness, but upon seeing such a dense sea of text, she wasn’t sure why, but perhaps her trypophobia (TL Note: An aversion to patterns of small holes or bumps) was acting up.
Or perhaps she simply didn’t want to study.
‘Essentially, she was still a lazy dog.’
Shion washed the dishes very quickly, even though she didn’t actually want to be that fast.
In less than five minutes, all the dishes had been washed several times over.
After all, Sakuya lived alone and didn’t use many dishes.
“Then, um… how about I help Kujou-san clean the other corners of the house too?” Shion continued to suggest.
“Hoshimori-san! You just don’t want to study, do you?!” Sakuya, having seen through Shion’s intentions, immediately stood up, seized Shion’s shoulders, and pushed her towards the study desk as if escorting a prisoner.
“K-Kujou-san! Seriously! Don’t see right through me so quickly!” Shion wailed.
“I studied all day yesterday! Can’t I just rest for a bit?!”
“Absolutely not!
If Hoshimori-san’s Japanese Language grade ends up dragging behind, then it’ll be my fault, won’t it?!” Sakuya pushed Shion with force, her soft, small chest pressing against Shion’s back as she firmly settled her into the seat.
“Even if I do badly in Japanese Language, I won’t blame Kujou-san!” Shion declared, flopping onto the desk and waving her hands, rubbing against Sakuya’s chest as if playfully coaxing her.
“Kujou-san, just let me off the hook this once!”
Blushing, Sakuya gave Shion a slight push, though it was entirely without force, merely a gesture.
“Hoshimori-san, flirting won’t… won’t work, you know, though you can flirt a bit more if you like.
But, but we still have to study! I won’t let you off that easily!”