Chapter 26: 5.5
For a little over an hour, the two of us studied together in my room as I casually gave Kei advice.
All in all, I got the impression that she had a good head on her shoulders, but the fact that she hadn't been diligent with her studies up until now had held her back from reaching her full potential. Though, I had no intention of pointing that out to her.
If she had simply made a habit out of neglecting her studies ever since early childhood, then I would probably say something to her. However, in her case, she hadn't been able to receive a normal, proper education due to the bullying she faced back in her middle school days.
She hadn't properly learned some of the fundamentals that came with a middle school education, so she was having a hard time with her lessons in high school.
Taking all of that into consideration, I'd say she was doing surprisingly well.
Gently guiding her, allowing her to pursue the answers on her own was probably the correct way to go about tutoring her.
If she could get to the point where she starts to feel like studying isn't painful anymore, she would probably grow and mature a lot, just like Sudō.
"Hey..."
"What's wrong?"
Kei suddenly began staring at the floor in front of her.
And then, after what seemed like several seconds, she reached out and picked up something.
I wondered if it was just a piece of trash or some dust or something, but...
"The heck is this?"
As she spoke, she held out her arm in front of me, showing me what she had found between her index finger and her thumb.
It was a single, long strand of red hair.
"That's a hair, right?"
When I said what I thought it was, Kei's expression instantly twisted in anger.
"A red hair! A freaking long hair at that! No matter how you look at it, this is a girl's hair!"
She was right. Given the length, it was physically impossible for it to be my own hair.
And, of course, the hair type was also completely different. It's owner immediately came to mind. I had no doubt that it had belonged to Amasawa Ichika, who had come over to have a meal just the other day.
"Who did you have over!?"
She asked, probably because nobody came to mind with this type of hair out of all of our classmates.
"Is this that one thing? Jealousy...?"
"Is that a bad thing!? I'm your girlfriend Kiyotaka! I have the right to stick my nose in all sorts of stuff!"
This was my first time hearing of such a right. Either way, I should take this as a lesson.
After inviting a girl over to my room, I would make sure to clean it thoroughly from now on.
I took this knowledge to heart, and yet the disaster continued. As I was deliberating over how I should go about explaining things to Kei, the sound of the doorbell unexpectedly echoed throughout the room. After which, a video feed of the dorm's lobby was displayed on the monitor near the entryway.
Not only was I, the room's owner, curious about who it was, but Kei was as well. The two of us went over to take a look at the screen.
Thereupon, we saw none other than Amasawa, waving her hand at the camera with a wide grin on her face.
The first to react was not me, but Kei, the red strand of hair still clutched tightly in her hand.
"A girl I've never seen before with red hair..."
She looked like she was trying to solve the riddle on some children's mystery TV show.
Kei reached out and pressed the call button before I could get the chance to do so myself.
"Who is it!?"
Kei spoke through the speaker, her voice filled with undisguised anger, to which Amasawa naturally jumped back in surprise.
"Huh? Room 401... This is Ayanokōji-senpai's room... right?"
I forcefully pulled Kei's arm away and took over.
"Sorry, it's me. What do you want?"
Although this was an unannounced visitor, there was no way I could let Kei handle it like this. Amasawa aside, given the high-traffic of the lobby, it would be a problem if somebody overheard that Kei and I were together.
"Ah, do you have company? Should I come back later? I'd like to come up and talk with you a bit, but..."
I looked at Kei. Although she was glaring at me, she gestured to have Amasawa come instead of ordering me to send her away.
Apparently, she wanted to make sure that the hair was Amasawa's.
"No, it's fine. Come on up."
I pressed the auto-lock release button and moments later, Amasawa went inside the elevator.
"Are you sure you're fine with this? Letting another student find out that you're here?"
"...Whatever."
It seemed as though Kei was so incredibly mad that she had lost sight of herself.
Kei was the one who said that she wanted to keep our boyfriend-girlfriend relationship a secret from those around us right now.
If we ran into somebody in this situation, it's possible that rumors about it might start to spread.
"Well, it's too late now, right? We've got no choice but to try and trick her somehow."
At any rate, Amasawa had already heard Kei's voice, so driving Kei out before she got here wouldn't accomplish very much.
Rather, we had to consider the possibility that doing so might make Amasawa even more suspicious.
Roughly a minute later, Amasawa reached the fourth floor and rang the doorbell to my room.
"I'll let her in, so just sit here and wait for now."
"I... I get it."
I went to the front door and greeted Amasawa.
"Sorry for the sudden visit~ Ayanokōji-senpai."
She studied my expression for a moment before sending a calculating look at the shoes in the entryway.
How do I put it... Is this what was referred to as 'a woman's intuition'?
"Girlfriend?"
She threw out a straightforward question with a wide grin on her face.
"What can I do for you?"
"How perverse~ Well, to tell you the truth, I think I might've left something in your room last time I was here."
"What is it?"
"My favorite hair tie. I can't find it anywhere..."
So, after realizing that it had gone missing, she had come here to try and look for it?
"Well, come on in."
I couldn't just make her stand and wait in the hallway, so I decided to let her come inside
Instead of making petty excuses about the hair Kei had found, it would probably be faster to have Amasawa explain it herself.
"Pardon the intru~sion."
Amasawa walked straight in, completely unconcerned about the presence of my other visitor. It seemed that she had only just gotten back from school, as she still had her school bag in hand.
And then, she met face-to-face with Kei, who was waiting further inside.
"Oh, hello~ I'm Amasawa Ichika~"
"Hello."
Kei looked obviously unhappy, but she seemed to be doing her best to endure it in her own way.
"You're a senpai, right? I'd lo~ve to hear your name."
"...Karuizawa Kei."
"Karuizawa-senpai, is it~? Ah, seems like you guys have been studying together, huh? Are you his girlfriend by any chance? Ayanokōji-senpai dodged the question a lil bit ago, but I'd still love to know."
Amasawa's ability to ask what she wanted without the slightest hesitation was a true talent in and of itself.
"That's got nothin' to do with you. What about it anyway? What's your relationship with Kiyotaka?"
Although she undoubtedly noticed that something was up given the way Kei called me by my given name, Amasawa took a look around the room.
"Hold on and I'll answer that question in a moment. Hmm, I don't see it at a glance... I'm sure that I took it off back when I was here last time though. Well... maybe it got swept under something somewhere."
At that, Amasawa knelt down and began taking a look under my bed, completely disregarding the scowl on Kei's face. As she did, the hem of her skirt went up, naturally drawing focus to the size of her rear.
"Ah... Senpai. This might be a bit too naughty for me to handle."
Still kneeling next to the bed, Amasawa turned her head and looked at me. She spoke with a voice that seemed to emphasize that she was doing this on purpose.
Kei suddenly looked back toward me, glaring.
"I'll look for it."
Trading places with Amasawa, I started off by checking to see if the hair tie had ended up underneath my bed somehow.
"Hey, can you like, not just ignore what I said!? Answer my question!"
"Hmm, Ayanokōji-senpai is my... How should I put it... My exclusive, personal chef?"
"Huh? What the hell?"
Having heard a response she couldn't make sense of, Kei turned to me again, the look in her eyes even harsher than before.
"She's Sudō's partner. We met because of something trivial and I ended up cooking a single meal for her."
"Sorry, but I don't understand what you're getting at. Why were you cooking for Sudō-kun's partner?"
Given that I had only given her a summary of what had happened, her confusion was certainly understandable.
I proceeded to re-explain it in further detail as I continued to search for the hair tie under the bed.
Shortly after I finished explaining it for a second time, Amasawa spoke up again.
"Could I go check in the kitchen, just in case? I might've taken it off when I was washing the dishes. Ah, Senpai, please just continue searching inside the room. Perhaps it's under the dresser?"
"Alright."
I didn't find anything under the bed, so I began searching the area around the dresser instead.
Unsatisfied with my second explanation, Kei came and crouched beside me, whispering to me in a low, hushed voice.
"Hang on... You said there might or might not be a hair tie here... What's that supposed to mean!?"
"I told you. I invited Amasawa over and cooked her a meal. That's it."
"I-is that really all?"
"Of course it is."
"...Really really?"
It didn't seem like I could get her to believe me with a verbal explanation alone.
"I'm gonna go check with that girl and see if you're telling the truth."
With that, Kei tried to stand up, but I forcefully grabbed her arm and stopped her.
And then, I quickly brought my index finger to her lips, subtly instructing her to keep quiet.
Quick on the uptake when it matters most, Kei kept herself from making a fuss.
"You search around here with me as well."
"I-I understand."
Even though she didn't understand my intentions, she managed to recognize that it was important and began to help me with the search.
"Ah! Ayanokōji-senpai, I found it~!"
Amasawa's voice rang out from inside the kitchen.
Together, Kei and I looked toward the kitchen, only to see Amasawa presenting us the hair tie in the palm of her hand.
"Looks like it fell into the gap between the counter and the fridge."
Amasawa grinned happily as she put it into her pocket.
"It feels like I'm interrupting something, so I'll be on my way."
"Sorry for all the commotion."
"No it's fine. I shouldn't have forgotten it in the first place. Well, sorry to have bothered the two of you~"
Amasawa immediately went to pick up her bag and put on her shoes in the entryway.
"But now that I think of it, Senpai isn't one to be underestimated either~ I didn't expect you to have such a cute girlfriend."
After saying that, Amasawa put her finger up against her cheek, making a show of thinking about something.
"Speaking of which, you know what? It's prolly not a good idea for it to just be the two of us next time you cook for me, huh?"
"Obviously!"
"In that case─ Let's have Karuizawa-senpai eat together with us the next time~ Anywho, sayonara~!"
Amasawa came and went just like a storm passing through.
"Seems like you've met an awfully cute kouhai, huh Kiyotaka?"
"You probably aren't going to listen to me no matter what I say, are you?"
The studious mood between us had already disappeared, but I still had to keep explaining the truth to her until she was satisfied.