Shijo Maki had been a teaching assistant for the Nakano quintuplets for over a week now.
From an initially ambitious attitude to her current calm and composed deanor, no one knew what she had gone through, but there was now a trace of weariness on Maki's face.
Especially since now only four out of the five sisters were attending class.
"Where's idiot number one?" Shijo Maki gave the quintuplets nicknas from idiot number one to idiot number five.
Idiot number one was the one who showed up the least.
Idiot number four was the dumbest.
Number five was a hopeless stale fish.
Number three had communication issues.
Number two was still sowhat normal, except she was always glued to the big idiot.
As for Sakurai, she called him the big idiot.
"Part-ti job," Sakurai replied.
At that mont, the Nakano sisters were working on their howork. Since the two of them were free, they were sitting to the side; usually, they would begin tutoring after the howork was done.
"Big idiot, why are you self-studying even while working?" Shijo Maki didn't want to stay in fourth place anymore.
She wanted to drag Sakurai down in rank.
"I made a bet with Shinomiya-san. This is a necessary effort," Sakurai answered.
"Besides, Maki, are you planning to give up on love? Aren't you studying just like I am now?"
Shijo Maki lifted her head slightly and said proudly, "How could love be more important than studying?"
'...' You weren't saying that a week ago.
Moreover, just a few days ago, she even changed the na of the LINE group chat from [Shijo Maki's Love Support Committee] to [Shijo Maki's Study Support Committee].
"What's wrong with you?" Sakurai asked with concern.
"I..." Shijo Maki revealed the sorrowful expression characteristic of a 'Losing Heroine,' "I want to give up."
Her twin ponytails drooped down, and her entire being exuded the aura of a defeated puppy.
"Fair enough. Don't ruin Tanuma's life anymore," Sakurai said. "His family has a tradition of getting married and having kids at seventeen."
"What do you an by that!?" Shijo Maki was displeased.
"With your personality, I bet even after a few months of dating, you still wouldn't be able to hold hands. It'd probably take a whole year before you'd dare to do it, while he'd already be married with kids by his third year of high school." Seeing that she seed unconvinced, Sakurai added, "Don't glare at . Co on, try it."
As he spoke, he placed his hand on the table.
Shijo Maki naturally placed her hand on his, even holding it.
"See, simple right? This lady can totally do sothing like this!" Maki said smugly.
"That's because we're just normal friends, so you can do it."
"…?"
"Now try imagining as soone more intimate, like a boyfriend." Sakurai Saki said gently, "Maki-chan…"
Shijo Maki imdiately got goosebumps.
She pretended to gag: "Stop it, you're disgusting."
"Your words are unintentionally hurtful to others, you know." Sakurai let go of her hand.
"But still, why is it that you can talk normally with friends, even with boys, but not with him?"
"Because when it's soone you care about, you start overthinking things unconsciously. And when you're nervous, you can't say what you really want to say, so you use harsh words to cover up your embarrassnt—doesn't that make perfect sense?" Maki analyzed herself with pinpoint accuracy.
Then she once again wore the pitiful expression of a defeated puppy, her entire being shrouded in black-and-white tones: "I clearly understand all that, yet I still can't do it…"
Sakurai, head down and writing, asked curiously, "Then why did you suddenly want to give up?"
"I thought maybe I could start from friendship. Not view him as soone I like." Shijo Maki explained while resting her chin on her left hand and writing with her right. "As long as I see him as just a regular friend, even just a classmate, then I can talk to him normally."
The pen in Sakurai's hand stopped: "Then you might as well switch to another guy and start with friendship from there."
"…What are you implying?" Maki stared intently at Sakurai. "Big idiot, don't tell you like ? That's seriously disgusting."
"If you liked , you wouldn't be able to talk to normally anymore, so let's just drop it." Sakurai had absolutely no interest in tsundere types.
Besides, she was only tsundere to the one she liked—what the hell was up with that?
Being cute to outsiders, but cold to your boyfriend—how does that make any sense?
"This ti, I'm definitely going to win the midterms!" Maki suddenly changed the subject.
She wore a smug expression that begged to be punched: "I'm going to beat you so badly, I'll make you cry!"
Sakurai kept writing while replying half-heartedly: "Sure, whether I cry or not doesn't matter—as long as you don't cry, we're good."
"My goal this ti is first place, or at the very least, I'm aiming to compete for second."
"You're seriously overconfident, you big idiot." Shijo Maki said flatly.
She didn't think Sakurai Saki could beat Shinomiya Kaguya.
"Ring~"
"Excuse , I need to step out for a bit." Sakurai Saki glanced at his phone—he had an incoming call.
It was from the father of the Nakano sisters.
He stepped out of the self-study room.
"Good afternoon, Nakano-san."
"Sakurai-kun, are you teaching right now?" Nakano Maruo's voice was cold.
But in reality, he cared deeply about his daughters' lives and studies—sothing Sakurai knew very well.
"They're still doing their howork. We'll begin soon. May I ask if there's sothing important you wanted to discuss?" Sakurai Saki looked around—since exams were coming up, the library was filled with students doing research.
Hoping Lady Luck would show up last minute might not be effective, but it was still better than doing nothing at all.
As long as the exam prep was done right, and all question types were practiced thoroughly, the scores wouldn't be too bad.
"The midterm exams are coming up, aren't they?" Nakano Maruo got straight to the point.
Of course, he knew the exact date, but he didn't want to reveal that he was overly concerned about his daughters.
He was an extrely tsundere dad.
"Yes, next week. Do you have any requests, sir?" Sakurai Saki asked.
"Requests? Not exactly. It's just that this ti…" Nakano Maruo paused for a few seconds. "I hope you can make sure all of them at least pass."
He wasn't asking his daughters to excel, but at the very least, they shouldn't be held back. Even though he could take care of them for a long ti, they would eventually have to beco independent—he couldn't let them rely on him forever.
Sakurai Saki: "I'll do my best."
"I heard you invited the young lady from the Shijo family to assist them?" Nakano Maruo continued.
…How did he know that?
"Itsuki told ," Maruo added.
"Shijo-san is a very good student—in so subjects, she's even better than ." In truth, Sakurai had only invited her because he wanted to slack off a bit.
And she, on the other hand, had been looking for soone to confide in—fate had brought them together.
I skip work, you cover for —we both get a better future.
Nakano Maruo fell silent.
The young lady of the Shijo family—her influence was no less than Shinomiya Kaguya's.
While they didn't hold much power dostically, the Shijo family was extrely influential overseas.
Surely his five daughters wouldn't get into conflict with her, right?
"Nakano-san, is there anything else? If not, I'd like to return and resu teaching."
Maruo didn't reply—he just grunted and hung up.
Sakurai Saki put his phone back in his pocket.
When he returned to the study room, he found Shijo Maki pointing at Yotsuba and shouting—
"How could you get such a simple multiplication problem wrong?! You idiot!"
Nakano Yotsuba's academic performance was truly less than ideal.
"And you too, you big idiot! What took you so long just to answer one phone call?!"
Sakurai Saki had just stepped through the door when he got hit by her verbal barrage.
Since she was working for him for free, Sakurai Saki didn't talk back. Besides, he also felt that whenever he stood in front of Yotsuba, it was hard not to lecture her a bit.
Two pitiful people crossing paths—best not to hurt each other.
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