How We Met Again

Chapter 13: The Calm Before The Storm

As I walked out of the classroom about three minutes later, I was still reeling from the fact that Nino had finally opened up about her problems -- and that the tutor had managed to induce such a strong effect on her. I pulled out my phone, and sent an e-mail to Yotsuba.

<Nino is on her way home. She's probably going to chew out Second Place-san. Please try and defuse it and just get them separated. You can't afford to lose studying time.>

A few minutes later, as I was changing my footwear, I felt my phone buzz in response, and I looked at the e-mail to see that Yotsuba had just sent me a small stylized image of a smiley face saluting. I frowned at it.

Is this that thing Raiha called an... emoji?

Then my phone buzzed again.

<I don't have time to really talk right now because of the session, I went to the washroom to use my phone just for a minute -- but why were you and Nino together??>

<Ran into her on my way home from studying. She was pretty upset.>

<Hmmm. Veeeeeeeery suspicious. You sure it wasn't a secret lover's getaway?>

<She hates my guts, remember? Also, yuck, romance.>

<Hatred is just the other side of love, Uesugi-saaaaan!>

<I can't use these 'emoji' things on my phone, but imagine I'm rolling my eyes at you.>

<Shock!>

I laughed, and put my phone away. Glancing back into the classroom, I shook my head.

I guess screaming at me helped more than I thought it would...?

At that thought, I frowned.

I don't particularly want to become her punching bag, though, so let's not make a habit of that. I don't actually like being screamed at.

I readjusted my bag on my shoulder, and left the room. The walk down to the footlockers was a bit of a blur -- I was lost in a world inside my head, ruminating on my encounter with Nino. When I finally reached the lockers, I saw a flash of red hair leaving the building, and then the room was empty. I slowly changed to go home, my mind still lost in thought.

When I got back to my family apartment, I enjoyed a lovely dinner that my sister had made, and then got to work. My dad was working a night shift at the warehouse, and so it was just the two of us. I pulled out an old binder that I had, and removed all of the pages. I then painstakingly put together packages of material for Yotsuba to study. It was a lot of work both physically and mentally, but after about four hours of diligent effort, I eventually had a semblance of a guidebook for Yotsuba to work through.

"This should last her at least until I can make another," I muttered to myself, my hand mildly cramping.

Raiha popped down opposite me, a popsicle in her mouth.

"Whatcha doing, Onii-chan?"

"I told you that I'm helping Yotsuba study this week and next, right? I'm making some study material for her."

"Ooh, taking your tutoring duties seriously, huh?"

I scowled at her. "Please don't call it that. I'm not a tutor, nor do I want to be. I'm only doing this in my spare time, and I'm not letting it interfere with my own studies."

"Oh, ok. I won't then."

Raiha sat in silence as I continued to work, and then suddenly squealed as some of her popsicle fell out of her mouth on her overalls. She stood up in a hurry and rushed over to the sink, dropping the broken bit in so as to let it melt down the drain, and then rubbed water on her clothes to spot-clean the mild popsicle stain. I continued to work, ignoring the commotion, and she eventually came back to the table, a sad look on her face as she held her deteriorated treat.