Although we'd agreed to et at a café, Yoshimi hadn't called out to try the new desserts.
Her real purpose was exactly what both Airi and Natsu had ntioned before: the upcoming St. Trinity exams.
"I asked you out to study! Not to eat!"
Her face flushed bright red as she glared at the cupcakes I'd ordered in advance.
Taking a deep breath, she explained, "I'm not confident about this exam, so I wanted to review my mistakes from past assignnts while doing a bit of revision. But when I study alone, my mind keeps wandering, and I can't focus properly.
"The parts I get right are fine, but for the ones I get wrong, even rereading them takes effort to understand. So I thought… if soone could explain the mistakes to , it'd be much more efficient."
At that, Yoshimi blushed again. "A-after all, you're a teacher, right? This kind of thing is your job, isn't it?"
By normal standards of a teacher–student relationship, she wasn't wrong. But this was Kivotos.
Considering the kind of "education" relationships that tend to happen here, I'd half expected my teaching thod to involve a taphorical whip instead.
To be honest, I wasn't all that confident about teaching. Sure, I still rembered the basics from my own schooling, but I had no clue about the content of St. Trinity's exams.
"I'll say this in advance, I might not be much help, but I'll do my best."
"Y-you don't have to sound so serious! Geez… just take a look first!"
Yoshimi pulled a notebook from her bag and handed it to . I flipped through a few pages and felt a quiet sense of relief.
Just so high school entry-level or even middle school-level math. Nothing I couldn't handle. But being able to solve it and being able to teach it were two different things. I wasn't sure if I could pinpoint the exact issues and help her really understand.
I looked up to speak to her, only to find her gaze wandering toward the beautifully decorated cupcakes, lips unconsciously parting as she swallowed.
Amused, I cleared my throat to get her attention.
"By the way, if this was supposed to be a study session, why pick a café famous for its desserts?"
Her tone stiffened. "I-it's still a café! Lots of people study here too!"
But under my knowing gaze, her thoughts quickly veered off in another direction.
"…Or maybe… am I disturbing your work, Sensei? I heard you're always busy. Even when we're chatting, you suddenly disappear sotis."
Well, that was usually because other girls were ssaging . And while it was technically true that I was busy, "building rapport with students" was part of the job.
Seeing her uneasy expression, I shook my head. "Don't worry, I've got plenty of free ti today."
"…Thank you. Asking you for help really was the right choice. Even if you say weird things sotis, you're still a teacher after all…"
The usually tsundere Yoshimi spoke those words with such honesty that I couldn't help but tease her a little.
"Actually, I was just about to ask if you wanted so cake."
"Ah, so that's what you ant—"
Her smile froze mid-motion. Color flooded her cheeks as she snapped, teeth clenched.
"Stop teasing already! I can't take it anymore! Why do you always have to be like this?! I told you I didn't co here to eat! How can you say things like that without thinking how I feel?! Just because you think I'll forgive you easily doesn't an you can keep doing this!"
I hadn't expected her reaction to be so fierce. I quickly raised my hands. "Wait, wait, I'm sorry! I shouldn't have teased you. Calm down..."
"Calm down? With WHAT exactly?!"
"Everyone's staring…"
"I don't care if they're staring!"
While she was still fuming, a large shadow lood over our table. A slightly exasperated voice followed.
"This is a public place. If you're going to argue, please... wait, Sensei? And Yoshimi?"
The mont that familiar voice spoke, Yoshimi froze as if doused with cold water.
"H-Hasumi-senpai…?"
I awkwardly raised a hand in greeting at the tall girl with raven-black hair and large black wings, dressed rather daringly for soone from Trinity.
"Good afternoon, Hasumi. Here to try the new desserts?"
It was Hanekawa Hasumi, the vice president of the Justice Realization Committee.
"Yes. Today's my day off."
She nodded, then frowned slightly. "And you two are…? Yoshimi, as a maiden from Trinity, shouting in public isn't very elegant."
"…I'm sorry…"
Caught acting childish in front of an upperclassman, Yoshimi looked ready to bury her face in her chest.
I hurried to smooth things over. "Sorry, Hasumi. I went too far with a joke. We'll keep it quiet from now on."
"Since Sensei says so… You're reviewing for exams, right? What a diligent student. Keep it up, and if you need help, I'm right over there in the corner."
No wonder I hadn't noticed her earlier, despite how striking she was.
After Hasumi left, I glanced toward the corner, an entire table covered in desserts.
Well… if anyone deserved to be in the After-School Sweets Club, it was her.
Sitting back down, I turned to Yoshimi, who had cald down. "Alright, please accept my apology for real this ti. Let's focus on your review, shall we?"
"…Yeah, I guess so. You ca here today to help study, after all."
She still sounded a little down, but at least she wasn't angry anymore.
We spent so ti going over her mistakes, bit by bit, until Hasumi having finished her mountain of sweets at a shocking speed ca by to check on us. Seeing that everything was fine, she soon took her leave.
As I turned back to continue tutoring, I noticed Yoshimi seed distracted.
"What's wrong?"
"…Sensei, I'm still so immature, aren't I?"
Her tone was low. "I want to be like Hasumi-senpai—composed, elegant, graceful. But I can't control my emotions at all. Just now, I even lost my temper at the teacher who was helping ."
I actually found it kind of cute, like a little animal puffing up its fur.
Of course, I wisely kept that thought to myself and listened quietly as she continued.
"You probably think I'm annoying too, right? I an, I'm the one being helped, and yet I got mad over a harmless joke. You must hate childish girls like ."
"That's not true at all. Small Yoshimi is adorable."
She sighed. "That's exactly the kind of thing I don't want to hear. Please try to understand a girl's heart a little, Sensei. I'm getting irritated again."
"But you managed to control your feelings just now. That ans you're already closer to being an adult."
"…Really?"
"Of course. But compared to adults, you're still missing one important thing."
I pushed the tray of sweets toward her. "When you want dessert, you should eat dessert. Co on, eat up. You need enough sugar to study properly!"
Yoshimi looked from to the cupcake, pouted softly, then picked one up. The mont she took a bite, her eyes sparkled with joy.
"Mmm… it's so good…"
That expression was simply too precious.
Then, noticing my amused smile, she blushed and warned , "Next ti, I won't forgive you so easily!"
"Yes, yes. Now, let's keep studying."
She gave a small "hmph," but smiled as she returned to her notes. With the sweets as motivation, her progress was even better than I expected.
—About an hour later—
"Whew, done!" Yoshimi put down her pen, flipping through her notebook with satisfaction. "See? I can do it if I try!"
"Good work."
She tilted her head. "Good work? What are you talking about? You're the one who worked harder, Sensei."
Then she laughed softly. "Thanks to you, I understand almost everything now. If it were just , I never would've studied this efficiently."
I shook my head. "I might've helped a little, but the main reason you did well is because you took it seriously."
And I ant it. Her attitude was the real key.
"Hmph, so Sensei can give normal complints after all."
…This student really has the wrong idea about .
She continued teasingly, "Since you can say stuff like that, why don't you do it more often instead of always teasing ?"
I narrowed my eyes with a grin. "Then what would you like to say?"
At that, her face turned bright red.
"T-that! That's exactly what I an! I didn't an that! Argh, enough already!"
She shut her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them again, her embarrassnt had faded.
"…Fine. I'll let you off today. But next ti…"
Her smile was bright and full of warmth. "Next ti, make sure you help again, okay, Sensei?"
After saying goodbye to Yoshimi, I walked down the road toward the station, feeling like sothing was missing.
Then my phone buzzed.
When I looked at the screen, I smiled to myself.
Well, I guess that completes the day.
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