"Rei."
Hearing his name called, Ishigami looked up and saw Onodera. Still, he was as calm as ever, but strangely enough, Tsubame felt a little panicked. However, she soon calmed down and greeted Onodera in a friendly way as usual. "Rei-chan."
Regardless, Tsubame couldn't help but glance at Ishigami and Onodera, feeling slightly surprised that they called each other by their first names. Still, she just taught Ishigami, and she didn't think she had done anything wrong. Even if they did, it didn't matter since she knew neither of them dated each other.
If someone was wrong, it would be Onodera, who thought her relationship with Ishigami was special.
"What are you two doing?"
When she asked, she approached them, trying to appear as calm as possible. Yet, inwardly, she felt uncomfortable watching how close Ishigami and Tsubame were.
She knew Ishigami would be studying in the library, so when she finished her club, she came directly to visit him, wishing to study together. At the same time, she thought of teaching him since she knew that his grade wasn't that good, yet when she arrived, she didn't expect Tsubame to be there.
"She is teaching me."
"Yup." Tsubame nodded and said happily, "Yuu-kun is smart! He can understand my teaching easily!"
"Don't act like a mother who is happy that her son is smart."
"Geez, don't get embarrassed, okay?"
"...as I have said before, don't get all too touchy, okay?"
Ishigami was so helpless when Tsubame tried to touch him again and quickly stopped her.
Let's say that he touched her; what would happen?
Oh, right, this young woman was a pervert, so she enjoyed being touched by a young man like him.
As the two started to talk to each other, Onodera could feel that she couldn't enter the world of the two, and at the same time, she felt like... he slowly disappeared from her. While she knew that Tsubame only taught Ishigami, she couldn't help but feel regret for introducing Tsubame to Ishigami.
Still, Ishigami was as gentle as ever, so he had never ignored Onodera. "Rei, I have Tsubame-senpai, who is ranked 7th in the entire grade, to teach me now. Be careful. On the next exam, I will overtake you."
"...do you have to mention my rank now?" Tsubame was speechless.
"I think that your achievement will make it easier for Rei to understand how dangerous I am going to be in the next exam."
"...that's my achievement, okay? If you want to brag, use yours later." Tsubame sighed, then looked at Onodera with a smile. "Rei-chan, do you want me to teach you? Let's stop this guy from getting ahead of himself."
"That's a good idea." Ishigami nodded and said solemnly, "In the shonen manga, the existence of a rival is necessary to make the protagonist become stronger, so let's study together Rei."
"Rei-chan, come on! Follow us to study and use your power to beat this protagonist wannabe!"
"Hey, hey. Tsubame-sensei, you can't be unfair and teach Rei all the time."
"It's fine, right~? I have taught you before~! Now, it is Rei-chan's turn~!"
Watching their comedic exchange, Onodera smiled and joined their study. "Okay, okay. I will join, but Ishigami, let me show you the difference between the top 50th and the second from the last position, okay?"
"...Rei, don't bully me, okay?"
As Ishigami was speechless, Tsubame laughed; Onodera couldn't help but think that they could become a sweet couple. With Tsubame, she could imagine that Ishigami would be happy, and for her, who wished to help him, she knew that she should help Ishigami, yet... she wondered why... she didn't like it.
'I hate it.'
Onodera didn't like how Tsubame would be so close to Ishigami. She knew that this thought of hers was selfish, especially when she knew that she had mocked him and even joined others in saying many horrible things to him. Frankly, she knew that she wasn't fit to be with him or even think to gain his affection.
Yes, she knew her feelings well toward him, but as expected, as a girl, she was too shy to acknowledge it, and she also wasn't sure whether Ishigami liked her, yet every time they talked, they had fun together, and the time they spent together... while it might be short, he had become someone important for her, so when she thought... he would do all of the things they experienced to other girls... she just didn't like the idea and she wanted him for herself.
However—
Watching how focused Ishigami was when studying and how Tsubame answered all of his questions seriously, Onodera closed her lips and also joined the study... yet, as expected, she couldn't focus.
Regardless, watching the quiet Onodera, Kobachi nodded, feeling relief inwardly.
'As long as it isn't Onodera, everything is fine...'
---
As they studied, the time felt moving so fast, and soon after, it was time for the library to close. Naturally, they left the library after they had cleaned up their books and greeted Kobachi, who was working on the library committee. However, they didn't go home together since Tsubame had something to do.
"I have to go back early! My older brother is about to get married, so I am going to meet my sister-in-law! Let's study together tomorrow again, okay?"
While everything started because she wanted to repay him, Tsubame enjoyed her time with him and couldn't wait until tomorrow to come so she could be with him... no, to teach him!
"Thank you, Senpai." 2x
"Um~! See you tomorrow~!"
Like a gale, Tsubame left, prepared to meet her sister-in-law, leaving Ishigami and Onodera alone.
"Let's go back, Rei."
"Um."
While Onodera felt like her chest was being constricted by something, she could see he was calm and appeared gentle as usual.
Was she the only one who felt this feeling?
Did his heart race when they were alone?
Or did he like Tsubame more?
Onodera didn't like it, but if it was for his happiness, she thought that it was the best since she knew well that Tsubame was a good woman and she should support him, but—
"H-How did you have Tsubame-senpai to teach you, Yuu?"
"Hmm... to be honest, I am not sure, but she suddenly came to me and told me that she would teach me when she saw me studying in the library."
"Oh? So, you two happened to meet each other in the library before?"
"That should be the case."
"...I didn't expect her to be the type who would go to the library."
"Me too, but now, it is understandable since she is ranked 7th in the entire grade."
"...you are... right."
Ishigami decided to keep quiet about the fact that Tsubame had been following him and waiting for him to be alone.
"...she is beautiful, isn't she?"
"Yeah."
Onodera tried to smile as she asked, "Isn't she gentle?"
"...she is too close to my liking, though."
"Did you fall for her?"
Onodera thought that Ishigami would give her a similar instantaneous answer, which made her eyes wet, but unexpectedly, he turned, looked at her, held her hand, and asked her softly, "What's wrong?"
"...don't."
"Don't?"
"Please... don't be gentle like this for me... I-I don't deserve it..."
The more gentle he was, the more she was unable to hold her feelings. At this moment, she was afraid that all the feelings that she had suppressed would overflow, and she would say something that she shouldn't say to him.
"I don't think so."
Ishigami shook his head since if Onodera didn't deserve his kindness, then who would be?
"You were the first person who approached me. Even if everyone tried to avoid me, you didn't care about them and tried to help me. More importantly, you apologized and admitted your mistakes. If that wasn't enough of a reason for me to be kind to you, then what is enough?"
In the beginning, Ishigami wanted to take revenge on this horrible girl who mocked him; he knew that she tried to be better, especially when she had treated him with many things and, more importantly, wished to help him change.
Their beginning might not be good, but as she was sincere, he would be lying if he wasn't moved by her words.
"Let's go back."
As Ishigami let go of her hand, thinking of getting a snack or two before going to the gym, his hand was grasped. Naturally, he was familiar with this hand, as he had held this hand several times.
"Rei?"
"Yuu..."
Watching his confusion, Onodera blurted out her feelings, "I like you, Yuu. Be my boyfriend."
'Ah, I said it...'
---
There is no need to wait until 100 chapters, okay?