Tsukishima Kei's POV
I absolutely hated this. I wanted to back out as soon as I agreed, but I knew they'd keep pestering me until I agree again.
This, however, really wanted me to take back my agreement on helping them. As I read Hinata's answer, I wanted to crumple it, burn it, and walk away from the locker room.
Question six: Please insert the correct word or phrase that goes in the parentheses to correctly complete the idiom. This idiom expresses that even ruthless people can show compassion or even cry at times.
Even ogres can be moved to (an iron club)
"Ow, my eyes!" Yamaguchi said.
"Hey, how could you do that to the ogre?" Kageyama said.
"You're thinking of another idiom," I said as I held the paper in my hands. "Did you not read the explanation?"
"Oh, shut up," Hinata said.
"You probably saw the word ogre, didn't read the entire question, and just wrote the first thing that came to mind."
Hinata gritted his teeth as I kept talking.
"You really are a simpleton," I said.
"Yeah. You need to calm down. You're too careless," King said with his arms crossed.
"Why do you guys have to keep going?!" Hinata shouted.
I slammed my hand on the paper and faced the other first-year who was failing as well.
"You're one to talk, Kageyama. Honestly, you're probably worse off than Hinata," I said. I crossed my arms and continued to talk. "You need to memorize English vocab words on your own."
"Japanese people can't understand English!"
"Then give up on going to Tokyo."
"Kageyama," Daichi-san said.
The captain started doing the hand signs that we were using during games. King kept saying what the signs meant without fail, making the rest of us deadpan with how quick he is with volleyball yet slow with English.
"How long did it take you to memorize those?" Daichi-san asked with a smile.
"I think less than a day?"
"Which is exactly why I'm not going to let you say you can't memorize those words," said our captain.
"I-I'm not gonna lose to Kageyama!" Hinata shouted before sitting back down.
"Hinata, you were probably thinking of oni ni kanabo— which means let an ogre get an iron club earlier— while answering," [Surname] said with a soft voice as she took the paper I read from earlier. She sat closer to the shrimp as she started to point out things while talking to him.
When she had heard of the situation with the two, [Surname] offered to help as well. She, of course, would only enter the locker room once everyone is fully dressed.
"Alright, I want you to listen closely, okay?"
"Y-Yes!" Hinata said.
"First," she said, looking at him right at his eyes. "You shouldn't go over a question and just look at something familiar. The tests may be time constraint but not following instructions or not fully understanding a question is far more dangerous than not answering everything, okay?"
"Y-Yes!"
"Alright. Look at this part." [Surname] pointed at the part of the paper that had the meaning for the idiom that was being required to complete. "It says that the idiom expresses that even ruthless people can show compassion or even cry at times. The answer is actually already in the question."
"It is?!"
"Yes, it is. The word cry is the biggest clue in the question which is also the answer in itself."
"But, the word cry doesn't fit the sentence," Hinata said.
"You're finally using your brain," I commented.
"Hey!" he said as he glared at me.
"Hinata! Focus on the question first!" [Surname] said, raising her voice.
"Y-Yes ma'am!"
"You're right that it doesn't fit the sentence since the word cry is a verb and you need a noun. So, you use a word that is connected to the verb. When you cry, what is being released?"
"Tears! Even ogres can be moved to tears!"
"Correct!" [Surname] said as she clapped. "So, let's discuss how both of you can get in information better."
"What do you mean, [Surname]?" Kageyama asked.
"I think flashcards would work well for both of you! It also really helps in memorizing certain things. It might also help if you can find someone who can ask you about what is written in the flashcards. If you can, you can ask each other about it."
"Oh." Both Hinata and Kageyama looked at [Surname] with adoration. "Thank you, [Surname]!"
"If you prefer to answer handouts instead, you can ask me. I'll be preparing some for myself as well and I can get some copies for both of you to answer," she said.
"Thank you again!"
"It's really better if both of you know what method of learning you're more leaning towards so you can study better."
"Okay!"
[Surname] smiled at the two who kept on thanking her— with Hinata saying most of the thank you.
"[Surname]-chan looks like she'll be a great teacher if she wanted to," Yamaguchi said.
Honestly, I admired the patience she had towards the two. I was already close to giving up myself since I didn't have both the drive and patience to extend my help towards them.
I guess that was another thing to add to why she's admirable. While she is constantly annoying and doesn't think twice when she does something, she is also the most willing to extend a hand and help as long as she had the chance to.
"Oh?" [Surname] said as she grabbed her phone that was on the floor. Someone was calling her and from the contact name, it looked like it was her mom.
"Who is it, [Surname]?" Hinata asked.
"It's my parents. They're probably outside," she said as she answered the call. "Mom? Are you outside? Alright, I'm going. I'll just grab my things. Be there in five minutes."
[Surname] stood up as soon as she finished the call.
"Are you going home?" Suga-san asked.
"Um. Yeah," she said as she grabbed her bag. "Goodbye! Stay safe while walking home!"
"Goodbye [Surname]!"
I watched as she ran out of the room, leaving me to tutor the two all alone.