Chapter 9: Oh, Wait... Are You Planning To Take Riona And Me Somewhere And Do Something Naughty To Us?

I began working through the practice test Riona had prepared.

Apparently, Reona was going to study alongside me and have Riona tutor her as well, so she was sitting beside me solving the same questions.

After spending an hour completing the entire test, Reona and I handed our papers over to Riona.

“Ryoya-kun, how do you think you did?”

“I knew this was coming, but I was absolutely terrible. What about you, Reona?”

“I wasn’t very good at anything other than English.”

Judging by the way she spoke, Reona didn’t seem to be particularly good at studying, unlike Riona. Still, there was no doubt that her grades were much better than mine.

A little while later, Riona finished grading our tests and handed them back.

“Ugh… I knew this would happen, but seeing the actual results is still pretty awful…”

Looking at my score, I found that more than seventy percent of my answers were incorrect. To put it bluntly, I’d been completely crushed.

Just as I’d expected, my results in mathematics and physics were especially terrible. My accuracy in both subjects had fallen below ten percent.

“I didn’t do as well as I thought I would, either.”

“…Come on, you’re nowhere near as bad as I am.”

Looking at Reona’s answer sheet, I saw that she’d gotten nearly eighty percent of the questions correct.

I’d assumed her results would be much worse, but with a score like that, she was actually pretty good at studying.

“By the way, what rank did you get on the last midterm exam, Reona?”

“Let’s see… I think I was around thirtieth.”

“Come on! You’re not bad at studying at all!”

“I’m only bad compared to Riona.”

“Everyone would look bad if they were compared to the person ranked first in the entire grade.”

Considering that there were around three hundred students in our year, ranking thirtieth meant she was still among the top students.

I’d felt a little deceived, but when I considered things from Riona’s perspective, I could understand why Reona thought she wasn’t particularly good at studying. So, for the time being, I accepted her explanation.

“It looks like you’re struggling with science and math, Ryoya, so let’s focus on those subjects today.”

“Got it. Go easy on me, please.”

“I’m fine with that, too.”

After hearing Reona and me agree, Riona took the mathematics and physics textbooks out of her bag and began explaining the problems.

She explained everything incredibly carefully, making the material surprisingly easy to understand.

◇

“It’s getting pretty late, so I think we should call it a day.”

“It’s already this late?”

“Time really flew by while we were concentrating, didn’t it?”

It was only after hearing Riona say that that Reona and I finally realized how much time had passed.

We must have been that absorbed in studying.

“It’s already starting to get dark outside, so I’ll walk you two home.”

“That’s surprisingly considerate of you, Ryoya. I didn’t think you were the type to do something like that.”

“Oh, wait… Are you planning to take Riona and me somewhere and do something naughty to us?”

“Hey! Don’t just turn me into some kind of sexual predator!”

I immediately shot back at Reona, who was grinning mischievously.

Needless to say, there was no way a coward like me could ever bring himself to make a move on a girl.

While we continued exchanging remarks, we left my room and headed toward the entrance. Just then, Mio, who was wearing an apron, called out to us.

“If you two don’t mind, would you like to stay for dinner with us, Reona-senpai and Riona-senpai?”

“Huh? Are you sure?”

“Of course! I made quite a lot of food anyway.”

“Then we’d be happy to take you up on that offer.”

The four of us headed into the dining room, where the delicious aroma of curry was already filling the air.

Incidentally, since both of our parents worked, Mio was responsible for all the cooking in our household, while I took care of the other household chores.

That was also one of the reasons neither Mio nor I belonged to any school clubs.

“Curry rice tonight, huh?”

“Yep! I was originally planning to make cream stew, but we didn’t have any stew roux, so I ended up making curry instead.”

“That smells delicious!”

“I can’t wait.”

After that, Mio and I worked together to prepare the curry rice and a side salad.

Reona and Riona offered to help, too, but since they were our guests, we told them to sit down and relax.

“Mom still isn’t home?”

“Nope. She’ll probably be back before long, so let’s just eat first.”

“When Ryoya-kun’s mom gets home, we’ll have to say hello!”

“I didn’t get to talk with Ryoya’s mom very much last time, so I want to have a proper conversation with her this time.”

Come to think of it, the two of them had mentioned that they’d learned which hospital I was staying at from my family.

They’d probably spoken with Mom back then.

Once we’d finished serving the food and taken our seats, the four of us began eating our curry rice.

“So, you were alone in a room with my brother, Reona-senpai and Riona-senpai. Did he try anything weird?”

“Unfortunately, Ryoya-kun didn’t make a single move on us.”

“He didn’t even lay a finger on us.”

“Well, Big Brother has always been a coward.”

“…I genuinely don’t understand even one percent of why I’m being criticized here.”

If anything, I thought I deserved praise for managing to keep my hands to myself while sitting in a room with two beautiful girls.

The four of us continued chatting and having a lively time. Before long, we heard the sound of someone coming through the entrance.

Mom must have just gotten home from work.

“I’m home. Oh? Aren’t you two…?”

“I’m Tsurugi Reona, and this is Riona. Ryoya-kun saved our lives, and we wanted to thank you for everything back then.”

“We came today to properly thank Ryoya for what he did for us.”

“Oh my, so that’s what this is about!”

Reona and Riona began chatting with Mom.

After talking with her for a while, it seemed they’d completely won her over.

As expected of the two girls who reigned at the very top of the school hierarchy, they were both incredibly good at winning people over.

As a loner, I felt like I could stand to learn a thing or two from them.

“I’d be delighted if either Reona-chan or Riona-chan became Ryoya’s wife.”

“Mom, unfortunately, I don’t think that’s going to happen. There’s no way someone like Big Brother could ever be a match for Reona-senpai or Riona-senpai.”

“Hey, don’t force me to face reality like that. It’s seriously depressing.”

“But it’s the truth.”

In the end, after about an hour of lively conversation, Reona and Riona finally decided it was time to head home.

Of course, there was no way I could let the two of them walk home alone at night, so I accompanied them.

“Today was fun, wasn’t it?”

“A lot happened in just one day, and I’m exhausted, but… I guess it was fun.”

“We’re having another study session tomorrow, so you and Big Sis had better be ready, Ryoya.”

“Yeah, got it.”

“Okay! Let’s do our best again tomorrow.”

And so, my first day back after being discharged from the hospital, one that had been packed with all sorts of events from morning until night, finally came to a peaceful end.