The President Only Wants to Live in Peace

Chapter 12 Sister

"High school is hell..."

Asagi sighed heavily after he slumped down on the sofa. He just returned home from school. It had been days since the student council visited his home. After that day, he had been studying like an addict to improve his science skill under the tutelage of his own friend, Asakura. That day, before the student council left his home, he asked if Inaba could teach him science, but his request was heard by Asakura and Yoshino who were also there. Inaba told him that he was not too bad at science, but Asakura was better than him. At the end of the day, the student council treasurer agreed to tutor him in her free time. When they had no plans after school, they would sit down at the library to study. Even on Sunday, Asagi was not spared from this tutoring session. Asakura was indeed smart, but the way she taught him was really merciless. Every time he complained about this to her, she would quibble that it was for his own good. She told him that he only had himself to blame for failing so much in science. She even commented that it was a miracle he could pass the first year. Not that she made that comment baselessly. Even Asagi had to admit that with his current skill, it was impossible to graduate from the first year, but still, she did not have to say it so bluntly! Did she not care about his self-confidence? Shouldn't she have cheered him up instead?

"Onii-chan is late again." A familiar voice beside him snapped Asagi from his own thoughts. He glanced at the little girl who stared unhappily at him.

"Well, I'm busy," he replied.

"But you're always coming home late these days! You haven't played with Akari lately," the girl complained. "Even on Sunday, you won't stay at home. Akari has to play alone," she added dejectedly.

"You can still play with Kaa-san."

"But Akari wants to play with Onii-chan!" she suddenly jumped onto his lap and sat there with a demanding look, seemingly not wanting to move away any time soon. Looking at the little girl before him, Asagi could only sigh again. He had never thought that having a little sister could be this troublesome. He did have a little sister in the real world, but since their age was not far apart, there was no need for him to babysit her. On top of that, there were many children around their age in their neighborhood, so both he and his sister never felt alone during their childhood. They always had playmates.

Asagi and his real-world sister were lucky to have been blessed with such an environment during their childhood, but his current sister did not have the same privilege. She did have friends at school, but when at home, she only had her family. There were not many children in their neighborhood either and for some reason, even those who lived around here were not as sociable as the ones in Asagi's childhood neighborhood.

Akari only had her family at home, but even her family was busy with their own activity, leaving her only by herself in the end. Due to his job as a journalist, her father was busy with work even during holidays. It was rare for him to be able to arrive home before dinner. Her mother was a housewife, but even a housewife had her own busyness. For instance, she still had the duty to keep the house clean, go shopping for daily necessities, and cook for her husband and children. She could not play with Akari for a long time. Not to mention she was also an adult, so it was possible Akari did not enjoy playing with her as much as when she played with her friends at school. The only one who was closest to her age was her brother, but even her brother was so busy these days. He did not even have the time to play with her on Sunday. When Asagi thought about all that, he felt guilty towards his current sister. He was so used to living by himself that he failed to pay attention to his family.

It isn't as if I enjoy this kind of life, he thought while wondering how he could neglect his sister so much. He did not like studying almost every single time, especially when the teacher was as strict as Asakura, but when he thought about it again, he still did it willingly not only because he was painfully aware of how bad he was at science, but also because being studious allowed him to avoid Sera. It was thanks to his tutoring session the female detective could not get ahold of him easily. Every time she wanted to talk privately with him, Asagi would always have a reason to avoid her either by an excuse of club activity, student council, or a simple study session with Asakura. And what was even better was the fact that he did not even need to reject her because she always came at the wrong time and thus had never been able to meet him so far.