The Heroines Want to Confess.

Chapter 130: Shijo Maki Is Easy to Coax

In the library.

"T-Tutor!? You want this lady to tutor someone else, and even be a teaching assistant?" Shijo Maki had zero interest in tutoring others.

She already spent plenty of time on her own studies—how could she waste that time teaching someone else?

"Shijo-san, have you ever heard of the Feynman Technique?" Sakurai Saki began his Bullshit-no-Jutsu.

It had taken great effort to seize this weak point of the fourth-ranked student in the entire year—how could he let it go so easily?

Of course Shijo Maki had heard of it, but she could tell from his expression that this guy had malicious intentions!

"Explaining something you've learned to others—if you can do it fluently, then it means you've truly mastered it. That's the Feynman Technique." Sakurai Saki spoke with a look of concern. "If you only study by yourself, it's easy to think you understand it, but in reality, you need practice to verify that understanding."

"In the past, Curse Chef once said: 'Among three people walking, there must be a teacher for me.'"

Sakurai Saki was about to continue his logical persuasion, but she didn't seem interested in listening.

Shijo Maki smiled and said, "Sakurai-san, I can pay you!"

"I don't need money." Sakurai Saki shook his head.

Besides, accepting money like that went against his principles.

Sakurai Saki only accepted compensation that he could take with a clear conscience.

"One million yen. Consider it a reward for becoming a member of this lady's love alliance." Shijo Maki showed a confident expression.

This was her allowance savings that she had been accumulating for quite a while. This time, she was putting in both principal and interest!

Even as the daughter of the Shijo family, the allowance given to children wasn't excessive—after all, they didn't have many chances to spend money anyway.

A day at school she have 25,000 yen…

This one million yen was worth 40 days.

With three lessons a week, it would take thirteen weeks to save that amount—roughly two months…

Sakurai Saki thought for a few seconds. In the end, he still shook his head: "Actually, you could pull my students into your alliance too. Since they're girls, they might understand you better, and come up with more reasonable advice."

Implied message: not enough money.

But Shijo Maki didn't catch it.

Her eyes sparkled: "Girls?"

"Umu, I'm sure you've heard—there are five Nakano sisters. They're quite famous at school."

"...Them?" Shijo Maki scoffed: "They really are pure-blooded idiots~"

After saying that, she gave a confident smile——

"But since this lady is a genius! Tutoring them is no problem. So? Where are they?"

Just as she finished speaking, Sakurai Saki saw several people entering the library in a line.

"Right behind you."

"Guh~" Shijo Maki let out a strange noise. She turned around and saw the five Nakano sisters.

Sakurai Saki gave a nod to all five of them.

Then he checked the favorability level of each one.

Nakano Ichika: [Favorability level: 77?]

Normal level.

Nakano Miku: [Favorability level: 79?]

Decent enough.

Nakano Yotsuba: [Favorability level: 72?]

Just as expected.

Nakano Itsuki: [Favorability level: 71?]

A bit lower by comparison—Sakurai Saki guessed it was because he had accidentally entered her room last time.

But the last one… made Sakurai Saki a little doubtful.

Nakano Nino: [Favorability level: 86↑↑???]

To maintain this level, and even when he had made no move to get close to her…

Honestly, Sakurai Saki was at a loss for words.

The Stockholm Effect and Suspension Bridge Effect were working to their absolute limits on this girl. Moreover, Sakurai Saki felt that no matter how much he scolded her, she probably wouldn't push back. Her favorability might even go up?

But luckily, among the five sisters, the one who liked him was only Nino. And she wasn't the clingy type—at the very least, Nino understood clearly that he had no interest in her.

As for this whole "secretly in love" thing?

Sakurai Saki didn't care in the slightest. Plenty of girls liked him—there were probably over ten at school.

Secret crushes could stay secret. Just look at Shijo-san—wasn't she also secretly in love? With a precedent like that, Nino's ending was pretty easy to predict.

"This is the teaching assistant I invited—our classmate with a very high rank—Shijo Maki-san," Sakurai Saki introduced.

The five sisters clapped in welcome.

They had at least heard of her; the name rang a bell.

"This lady will be your teaching assistant this time!" Shijo Maki patted her chest as she introduced herself. "Just leave it to me!"

Maki: ( ◡̀_◡́)ᕤ

"Assistant-chan? Can we call you that?" Ichika asked in her usual friendly tone.

"…A nickname? Umu, sure, I'll consider that a special privilege just for you," Shijo Maki replied cheerfully.

Nakano Ichika thought to herself: This girl is easy to manipulate.

"Thank you for your help, Shijo-san," Itsuki said seriously, giving a polite bow.

"Shijo-sensei! I'm Yotsuba!" Yotsuba raised her hand to introduce herself.

Sensei… Shijo Maki felt herself floating a little inside.

That title? She kinda liked it!

Maki: ദ്ദി ˉ͈̀꒳ˉ͈́ )✧

"Hello, I'm Nakano Miku," Miku greeted coolly.

Shijo Maki simply nodded in response.

"Shijo-san, I'm Nakano Nino from class 2-C, nice to meet you! Oh, by the way, do you want to exchange Line contacts? That way we can share notes more easily," Nino said with a sociable smile.

"Hmph, this lady can reluctantly allow that," Shijo Maki replied while pulling out her phone to add her.

After they became Line friends, she turned to Sakurai Saki, tilted her head, and held out her phone: "Your turn!"

Sakurai Saki was halfway through enjoying the show when she called out to him. He blinked. "What is it?"

"Give me…" Shijo Maki said bashfully, "Give me your Line ID!"

And so, Sakurai Saki added her—and while he was at it, added the other four sisters as well.

He even created a group chat.

...

On the way to the study room—

Nino glanced at the name of the group chat:

[Shijo Maki's Love Support Committee]

Nino walked up beside Sakurai Saki, lightly tugged on his sleeve. Sakurai Saki looked down.

She leaned close and whispered in his ear: "What's with this group name?"

"In short, I invited a genius to help tutor you guys, and you don't even have to pay her. All you need to do is help her with her love troubles. Pretty good deal, right?"

"You just sold us out, didn't you?" Nino widened her eyes.

"Sold what?" Sakurai Saki looked confused.

"Don't girls your age love chatting about romance? Think of it as entertainment gossip."

Nakano Nino thought for a few seconds. It… wasn't a bad deal.

Besides, now she was in the same group chat as Sakurai Saki — something she'd never even dared to dream of.

Getting his Line today was already a huge step forward!

...

They all arrived at the self-study room together.

It was May, nearly summer. The days were long, the nights short. Right now it was 4:30 p.m., and the sunlight was still quite intense.

After sitting down, Sakurai Saki pulled out his materials.

"Alright, give me your scores from last month's test. I need them to plan the next lessons."

At the moment, the only score he knew was Miku's—he had already asked her via Line.

The rest, he hadn't bothered asking yet.

Hearing that, Shijo Maki's expression turned serious. She was very similar to Shinomiya Kaguya—in that once she set a goal, she wouldn't back down. The same applied to work: if she was going to do something, she would do it well.

As soon as Sakurai Saki finished speaking, each of the five sisters reacted differently.

Miku and Nino looked relaxed.

The other three… not so much.

A few minutes later.

After hearing all the scores…

Shijo Maki stood up, expressionless: "Sorry, Sakurai-san. Pick a different condition."

"If you ask me, you should find someone more qualified!"

She truly wasn't trying to be modest—she was the fourth-ranked student in the whole school, and now she was supposed to tutor these five idiots?

In short: with grades like that, she couldn't teach them.

Sakurai Saki's face remained calm: "Shijo-san, is that all the courage you've got? If love is already too much for you, are you really going to back down from studying too—the thing you take the most pride in?"

"Then let's lower the bar. Let's say… everyone passes the midterm. That's simple enough, right?"

Then he saw the look of righteous fury on Shijo Maki's face.

'Got it', Sakurai Saki thought. She's just like Shinomiya Kaguya—can't stand being provoked.

"Hah? You think this lady is scared? You must be joking!" Shijo Maki plopped down, thumped her hand on her chest, and declared confidently: "There's no such thing as 'giving up' in the Shijo family dictionary. This lady will make sure all of them pass!"

She didn't dare say something like getting them into the top of Shuchiin—Shijo Maki wasn't that delusional.

"I'm so touched! Shijo-san, I didn't expect you to be so willing to tutor them." Sakurai Saki dabbed at the corner of his eye with a crocodile tear.

"Hmph! You'd better treat this lady with proper gratitude!" she huffed.

At that moment, all five sisters simultaneously shared the same thought——

Shijo-san has officially become Sakurai-san's toy.

Poor thing…