CH 54

Last chapter in a few hours, I have to go somewhere for a while.

The back of the school building where we were meeting was dark, as if the school building was blocking the setting sun and announcing the end of the day ahead of time.

I found a girl standing alone in the middle of the dark. The girl had been waiting for a long time, and she was sitting in the gym with her face buried between her knees, not caring that her uniform skirt was dirty.

I leisurely call out to her.

“Hey!”

“You’re late!”

“No, Alice is too early…….”

“No, I’m not!”

Alice started packing her bag before the end of the class, and when the bell rang to announce the end of the class, she ran out of the classroom.

“Well, I was the one who came after you, so I’m sorry.”

“There will not be a next time!”

“So, what do you want me to teach you?”

“The two most devastating subjects are history and math, so I only need those two! I can handle the other subjects.”

Alice replied with a small hateful smile on her face. I was a little annoyed by Alice’s smug face, but I kept my tone extremely calm.

“I’m glad to see you’re doing so well, besides, there’s only a small amount of history and math this time, so we should be able to finish today or tomorrow at the latest.”

“What? Really? Isn’t it a little too early?”

“No, actually, the scope of this time is limited to the pattern of problems in mathematics, and in history, once you learn the sequence of the subject, you can deal with any problem that comes your way.”

“Yeah…..”

It’s funny…….Normally, if you don’t have to study, you should be happy, but Alice has a somewhat disgruntled expression on her face.

“What’s wrong?”

“Well, I’m not so sure about the other subjects either, so I was hoping you could help me.”

“What? I thought you said you were confident.”

“It’s all in my head! I’m actually not good at anything! I was just trying to look good!”

“Why do you have to be so pessimistic? I mean, it’s not like you’re bad at everything. I’ve seen you answer a lot of questions in class!”

“I’m not lying! I can’t do it at all! So teach me everything!”

“I don’t want to! It’ll take a lot of time to teach you everything!”

Alice insisted that I teach her all the subjects, and I flatly refused. However, upon hearing this, Alice’s face lit up even more brightly and she opened her mouth.

“Why won’t you teach me? I’m begging you!”

“I don’t want to! There’s nothing in it for me!”

“Come on! I’m famous for being a beautiful princess and you can teach me how to study! You should be honored!”

Alice blushed and said haughtily. If you’re going to be embarrassed, don’t call yourself a beautiful princess, besides, your attitude makes it hard for me to react. For me, teaching Alice how to study is more of a punishment than a reward.

“If that’s my reward, do I have to teach you to study?”

“What? Why? You don’t have to say that much!”

Alice comes up to me with tears in her eyes and grabs me by the collar and shakes me back and forth.

“All right, all right!”

She’s shaking me harder. No, I don’t feel good. If I don’t stop Alice from moving, I’m going to throw up!

“I’m sorry! I’ll teach you everything, but you have to stop!”

“Really?”

Alice looks up at me and stares straight at me with her eyes lolling. I’ve seen this before in a commercial for a consumer loan. You can’t tell it’s a lie when you’re staring that straight in the eyes…….

“Oh…….”

“Yes!”

Alice is happy, making a small gut-punch as opposed to me who is disappointed. How did this happen? No, it’s no use dwelling on the fact that it’s come to this, let’s get it over with.

“Well then, I’d like to teach you a quick lesson.”

“What’s with the sudden enthusiasm?”

“Where are we going to study?”

“In the library, of course!”

I felt nervous at Alice’s words, it’s not good to be seen teaching the princess! I have to find a place where we can’t be seen.

“……Alice. You said you didn’t want people to see that you couldn’t study, right?”

“What? I did say that, didn’t I?”

“Is it okay to work in a library where people can see you studying?”

“Ugh. But it’s nothing to worry about, is it?”

“No, let’s say that Alice manages to get an okay score in her weakest subjects, math and history, with my constant guidance.”

“Uh-huh.”

Alice nodded and gestured.

“But what would people think if you got only a mediocre score while being tutored by the top student on the entrance exam?”

“I see! They might think that I’m stupid if I can only get that kind of score after so much guidance!”

“So, no public places, okay?”

“Yes!”

I was relieved to see Alice nodding with an innocent expression on her face, and I knew I had successfully rounded her up.

“So where do we do it?”

“Let’s see…….”

I called out to Alice, who seemed to be frozen in thought.

“If you can’t think of anything, can I make the decision for you?”

“I just had too many ideas, but if Chris says so, I guess I have no choice! I’ll let you choose!”

“Thanks for…….”

“What’s with your eyes……?”

Alice scowled at my cold stare, as if I was accusing her of lying. There was a short pause of silence, and then I opened my mouth.

“I’m suggesting that we disguise ourselves, rent a room at an inn, and study there.”

“Oh, an inn?”

Suddenly, Alice’s face turned red.

“Yeah.”

“I asked you to teach me how to study, but I didn’t ask you to teach me all that stuff!”

What the hell is she talking about?

“What are you talking about?”

“It’s not that I’m not interested, and I’d rather be with Chris, but you know what? I’m a princess, after all. I want to keep my body pure until I get married.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I thought you were talking about sex!”

“You said it yourself! And I have no intention of doing anything like that!”

“What? Chris likes men?”

“No, no, no! I like girls!”

“But my former butler told me that that’s what it means for a man and a woman to go to an inn…….”

“Not everyone is like that!”

Instead of telling me weird stuff, just let me teach you math and history!