This was a commission done for a user on Patreon. It's a four part story based on my work "Tutoring the Spoiled". I won't put this summery on the next three chapters since they're of the same story. It's vanilla so no specific warnings.
***
"Ugh, I can't believe we got homework." Teru whined as she planted her face to the table. "We're past Christmas, and she assigned us more work?!"
The group had found themselves stuck at school, during the harsh Winter month, with more work than anyone else. That was kind of what happens when ones grades are far from the standards set by the school. Still though, even Kouji thought this was a bit overkill.
"The faster we finish, the less time we'll spend here." He tried to keep things in a merry mood. It was going to be needed if they wanted to survive the rest of this year.
"There are mere days until we're out of this year." Himawari spoke up. "I hardly believe it should be spent stuck with all of you." There was that classic complaining that he was used to. But as of late, he realized just how much her harsh words were simply a cover.
"Oh, but I think it is a lot of fun to spend the holidays with you all." Anastasia had her more positive viewpoint. It was even more understandable to him, seeing that she had to spend this special time away from her family.
"It is." Yuma quietly agreed.
"Ugh, just because the headmistress is unhappy, doesn't mean we gotta suffer." Waa was on the opposite side of the spectrum. "Just because she's single doesn't mean we can't go out and enjoy our youth."
"What are you talking about." Kouji was confident that the reason was due to their pedestrian grades. Which by the way, it was. Though Waa had other belief on the reasons.
"Come on, she was your mom's best friend, right?" She began. "And yet your mom's the one that found love and she's the one that swamped in work."
"Well, I don't know if I'd say my mom had the better life." Kouji took a bit of offense to the comparison.
"Sorry if this might sound disrespectful, but I'm just saying that your mom had someone." Waa continued. "What's the headmistress got? Her students?" After taking a second to think about it, he understood the point.
"But she is a nice lady." Anastasia missed it though. "And I think that her life is good."
"Yeah, is there anything wrong with just being our headmistress?" Himwari asked.
"Let's all be real here." Waa took command of the conversation. "She's essentially has a nephew that's in high school, meanwhile she doesn't even have a guy in her life." Not to mention, that she's in her mid-thirties at this point. Her prime is really reaching its end, and what is there to show for it? "She's a Christmas cake." The girl finally finished her rant.
"...A Christmas cake?" While it really was the time to make a fitting reference, Kouji had no clue as to what that actually meant.
She explained it in detail for him. The idea behind it is that Christmas cakes lose a lot of value right after the holiday it was made for. Waa said it was kind of similar for dating, once you go past 25, your chances get kind of slim.
"I se… Maybe we should move on then." He got nervous. She didn't know why, if only she turned around.
"Move on? I've still got a lot to say about her. For starters, I know she dated your uncle, but I bet she's still a virgin."
"Um, maybe you should shut up right now." Himawari spoke quietly through her gritted teeth.
"When did you guys decided to get offended on her behalf." Waa looked at everyone in confusion.
"Perhaps when this so-called Christmas cake walked in." The girl immediately froze up the moment she heard that voice. Isako had heard the whole thing.
"Ahh…" Kouji covered his face in a mix of embarrassment and disappointment. This was going to get them all in trouble, wasn't it?
"Lucky for all of you, I��m in a pretty good mood." As it turned out, no. "I wanted to drop by and tell you all about the good work you've gone." Her praise was nice to hear, but it didn't help any of them feel better about the whole being stuck at school ordeal.
"Does that mean you'll let us go early?" Himawari hoped that would be the case, but what they got next was much better than that.
"Actually, because you've done so well. I wanted to invite you to my cousin's hot springs." Everyone got excited at that prospect, except for Kouji. Not because he was concerned about the money, because his uncle could help him cover it. But because was that really fair if they were the ones to get it. They're still the trouble students in comparison of the rest of the school.
"Is it really okay?" He asked, not wanting the headmistress to show favoritism.
"Of course it is." She smiled and gave him a pat on the back. "I've already asked the parents. Besides, don't you think we should do something special before the end of the year?" With that, he reluctantly agreed to the little trip.
***
"Come on." On the train to Isako's cousin's business, the woman tried to keep his spirits high. "You shouldn't be all grumpy on the way there." He had kept to himself, staring out of the window. Meanwhile, the other girls, sans Yuma, could hardly contain their excitement. To all of them, this was going to be a lot of fun.
"It kind of sucks that my uncle isn't here." He said. A bit concerned that Isako was the only adult on this trip.
"Honestly I think he's glad that you're out of the house. That means he can enjoy certain things more… Privately." Kouji could've lived without her implication there, but she had a point. However, with all these girls, things were never going to go as planned. He didn't even feel safe with the more mature woman of the group, she wasn't exempt from the fear of things not going his way.
Their trip took a couple of hours, that was how far this hot spring was. Technically speaking, there was plenty even in the town that they lived in. However, given who owned the place, Kouji was certain that this was going to be luxurious. Unfortunately, when they got there… Not really.
Not to say that it looked horrendous or anything. Just that there was little in the way of fancy amenities that most of the people on this trip was used to. Funny enough, it was because of its homely nature, that Kouji's mood perked up a bit. He was quite a fan of the aesthetic.
"Thought that your cousin owned the joint." Teru looked at her headmistress with some disdain over feeling a bit tricked over this.
"She does." Isako answered, following up with what she was sure was on everyone's minds. "Not everyone in my family looks to be fancy." As they were chatting, a person exited the building and made their way towards them. It was a woman, and judging by her startling resemblance to the headmistress, it was obvious who she was.
"Isako! You finally made it." The woman said, as the two exchanged hugs. "As always, you gotta be fashionably late."
"Well, when you've got a group of young ladies, and young man, to take care of. Time just gets away from you." Their headmistress joked, but to the chagrin of everyone else. "anyway, we should get ourselves checked in before it gets too late."
Everyone entered the building. Despite the supposed lack of features a high-end one might've offered. There were a lot of people here. The locale was really popular with tourists, foreigners, and locals alike. It was getting a bit overwhelming for Kouji, who was not used to so many people in one place.
"I'll be the one to handle getting our rooms." Himawari took command, even though there was an adult in their group. Where said adult was also related to the owner of this establishment. Kouji just had to wonder what was up with that girl wanting to lead everything. Doesn't she know that plenty of other people would love to take that spot sometimes?
"Go ahead." Teru told her. Okay, maybe he's the one person that'd like to take the lead sometime.
So she was the one to take care of those duties. Meanwhile, everyone else was just chatting among themselves, keeping away from strangers to prevent any problems from occurring. Too bad for Kouji, that one of these people wasn't exactly a stranger.
"So are there any hot springs in Russia?" He was talking with Anastasia when it was about to happen.
"Oh yes, we even have some with big geysers." She blew her mouth, and made a motion with her arms to show how it would look. "I think that if you are ever in Russia, I would like to take you."
"Hmm, that doesn't sound like a-" He was about to state his interest in the offer. However, the boy was cut of from his sentence. Why? Because a roughly 110 pound gal practically tackled him in a tight embrace. He fell to the ground, with the girl lying atop him. "Hey! Watch where your…"
"It really is you Kouji!" When he turned around to scold the person, he was struck speechless at who it was. It was a girl known as Hasua Fukamachi. "I can't believe we'd run into each other here."
"I think it's more accurate to say that you ran into me." He sarcastically quipped. The rest of the girls, sans Himawari who wasn't with them, looked on in horror. Here was this beautiful girl, laying on top of Kouji, and they knew each other? When did that happen?
Hasua got up from him, allowing the boy to get back on his feet. Kouji streched out his back, that really wasn't a fun trip he just had. Of course things wouldn't go his way, but this time, it's on him.
"Uh, who are you?" Waa was more than visibly confused at the sight. Usually, if Kouji got tackled-hugged, it was because of Anastasia.
"Everyone, this is Hasua Fukamachi." Kouji was the one to make introductions. He also said everyone's names, including the one that wasn't present.
"Hiya everyone." She made a cheerful greeting, one that wasn't returned in kind. "I'm Kouji's only friend from junior high."
"Really?" Teru eyes at them both, for too many reasons to list. "His only friend?"
"Well I wouldn't say friend." Kouji had a very lukewarm response to her proclamation. Similar to his relationship with Moku, it was more she wouldn't leave him alone, and he never tried to stop her. "And besides, what about Yuriko?" He brought up his only actual friend from back then.
"The red-haired girl?" She put her finger under her chin to recollect that memory. "Oh yeah… Okay, so I'm one of his only two friends." Hasua finalized her statement, holding her hand out in a peace sign.
"You were in the same school?" Waa looked at her with some more suspicion. Her upbeat attitude didn't make it sound like she would've went to the school that he went to. According to him, it was filled with troublemakers, but this girl didn't look like she'd hurt a fly.
"Well, she is a Gyaru." He answered, as if that actually made any sense. It was just something that he grew used to being the reason when he was with her.
"Uh, what?" However, not being from the country, Anastasia had no idea as to what he meant.
"It's a... fashion lifestyle." Surprisingly, it was Yuma that explained it to her. It was pretty easy to tell her what the look was all about. Seeing as Hasua looked the part. She had her brunette hair dyed blonde towards the tips. There were also her oversized earrings, along with more than enough fashion accessories for an entire classroom, if it wasn't Winter, she would've definitely been wearing some crop top and hot pants. Instead, she had on a fashionable blouse, with a skirt. Long puffy socks were her only means to protecting her legs from the cold.
And last, but certainly not least, her suntanned, dark skin. Well, it usually was suntanned, but with the lack of proper sunlight and warmth, she was settling with tanning booths.
"Okay, well what are you doing here?" He asked, partially annoyed that he would get stuck with this type of luck. Maybe he shouldn't be that surprised to hear that she was here with friends. Or at least, she was planning to be here with friends, if their train wasn't delayed.
"...So I'm stuck here alone" She pouted to play up how sad it was.
"That's too bad." Waa said in a monotone voice. "Well, go ahead and enjoy your alone time." They tried to push her out of the group, but she didn't budge. Not because she sensed that she wasn't wanted, but because she wanted to keep talking to Kouji.
"So, I see you've made plenty of friends." She was aware of the large amount of girls he was with.
"Yeah, it's kind of a long story." He really didn't want to mention anything related to his arrangement. That would sound absurd to pretty much anyone not in the loop.
"Okay, I've got our rooms." Himawari returned, and regretted being the one to set things up, when she saw the girl with them. "Who are you?" Again, introductions had to be made. The more she heard about the girl, the more miffed she got at Kouji. And he could tell.
"So, what rooms did you get us?" He asked, trying to change the subject.
"Yeah, what rooms do we have?" Teru was the one that had the most suspicion to her, wondering if she decided to pull a fast one over them. Fortunately for the girls, not maybe not Kouji, she paired people up in a reasonable manner.
It was Himawari with Yuma, Teru with Anastasia, and Waa was the lone girl stuck with Isako. Meanwhile, Kouji had a tiny room for himself.
"Of course you'd put me with the headmistress." Waa peered over to her principle, who was still chatting it up with her cousin. "Especially after what happened earlier."
"Look, I wanted to room with Yuma, and this place really doesn't need both you and Teru messing things up in the same room." Of course, the lazy girl could tell that this was slightly personal. An obvious alternative was to have Teru with the headmistress instead.
"Huh, so I've got a room to myself." Kouji looked over the card with his room number, along with a picture of the place. It was a more cozy room, with only a single bed that could fit two people very tightly. That was different compared to the rooms that the girls had, which were two twins instead, along with more space.
"Seems kind of unfair to give him the smallest room." Hasua made no secret to her disdain, since even she was able to get a bigger room than him.
"First off, no one asked you." Himawari took offense to being questioned on her leadership. "And secondly, he prefers that."
"It's true." He backed her up on that statement. Though, the only reason he felt that was because it was the cheapest option.
"Well, if you get a little lonely in your room." She turned her full attention to him. "You're always welcomed in my room." With that statement, she handed him a small piece of paper with her room number in it.
"Okay…" He said, as she left the group with a cheerful farewell. When he looked at the small paper in his hand, there was only one question in his mind. When did she get the chance to write this?
That should not have been his only question. That much was clear, when he turned his attention back to the girls. Every single one of them were all glaring a death stare right at him.
"What?" While he might've ascertained the reason for their quiet rage, Kouji was sure they were being a bit over reactive about this girl.