赤面-Sekimen-Blush

Blush - Story 4 - Part 1

Story 4 - Part 1

Youta's POV

The bell rings which means that the teacher can't keep torturing us with his hard and difficult lessons. It's finally time for lunch. Nori come and joins me. Today my lunch consist of chicken cooked in sauce, served with rice. It's a Tori bento, the bento I usually eat and make myself. It can't be helped; I love chicken.

Nori's bento is a simple bento named Noriben. The irony is that it fits his name and is one of his favorite lunches; cooked rice covered by nori dripped in soy sauce. I've known him for a long time and I'm sure his mother made it. Nori leans forward with a sparkling smile on his face.

"Youta? How did you do on the test we had last week?" He asks with a confident voice as if he already knows he did better than me.

"D." His smile widens.

"Your way to honest, not even trying to hide it. I got an A!" Nori has never been good at studying and I believe this is the first time he surpass me. Not only did he surpass me, he crushed me with his A.

Nori leans forward, looks around and place one hand on his left cheek, like he doesn't want anybody to listen to our conversation.

"Want to know how I managed it?" I nod.

I sit at a bench in a park close to the school. The guy Nori told me about will arrive in about ten minutes if he comes on time. I must admit I'm kind of curious about this person. Nori described him as a cold hearted genius. A genius that made him understand math.

It's cold outside. The wind blows and forces leaf at the ground to move. It also makes my hair irritating, it's too long.

During the summer it's not possible to see this park from above, but the naked trees now makes everything visible.

I press my school bag against my chest to keep my body warm, but these school uniforms are too thin to retain it.

"Hi. You must be Youta?" A dark, but comfortable male voice asks. My gaze meets a pair of grey eyes. His hair has this dark brown color, much darker than the trunks around us. It doesn't interfere with his face like mine does. It's short, scruffy and a bit curly. I get the feeling it's nice to touch.

"Hi, yes. Then I guess you must be Hiroshi?" He nods. Hiroshi's face expression is scary and very serious. It gives me second thoughts about this.

"Here." He hands me a book. "My number is in there. If it helps you, you pay me." With these words he leaves. I stand still and stare at him as he walks away. Is that it? Out of inquisitiveness, I quickly look through the book. It is filled with math. I put it in my bag and walk home.

At night I study the book. Hiroshi explains everything so simple even a child would understand it. He is indeed a genius. With this book I believe I can pass math with an A as a result this year, which is a huge improvement. Tomorrow we will have our every week test; this will be more than useful. I wonder if Hiroshi has such books for other general subjects.

A week later we receive our results and I can't do anything but gape at my test result. The D I usually get, and are accustomed to, aren't there. For some seconds I think the teacher has made a mistake or handed out another person's paper. When I'm about to raise my hand I see my name on top of the page and realize its mine. An A. What is this feeling? Relief? No; I'm proud, proud as a peacock.

Hiroshi's POV

My mobile phone has quivered the whole day, even when I was at work. I work as a part timer at a grocery store close to my home, only when I'm not studying or helping other students. I check my messages. Apparently there is sale somewhere, and five customers have been trying to reach me. I sit down at the couch and read them.