"Don't leave after school."
Before the last class began, Mori Shinra approached Hikigaya.
"?" Hikigaya's face was full of confusion.
"The teachers have to attend a municipal research meeting today, so school is letting out early and club activities are canceled. I was thinking we could find a place after school for me to properly tutor you in math," Shinra said. He would not let go of any opportunity to 'reform' Hikigaya.
This was a long-term and stable source of Wish Points. Now that he had an additional ability, his originally ample Spirit was becoming a bit strained.
After all, the Photographic Memory ability was not a passive skill but an active one, requiring Spirit to use. Even with his high Spirit of 12 points, without using Emotion Perception, he could at most only use it for two to three hours a day.
Additionally, although Spirit recovers slowly, if it is over-consumed, one feels extremely unwell, similar to pulling several all-nighters. Your head feels dizzy and bloated, as if you could drop dead at any moment.
Therefore, Shinra generally would not use up all his Spirit at once, but would use it in batches with rest time in between. And this time, of course, could not be wasted; it would be used to tutor Hikigaya in math.
Although his bet with Yukinoshita did not involve Hikigaya and Yuigahama, as the students they were respectively teaching, the extent of their academic improvement could also reflect their teaching abilities. It could be considered an unspoken competition between him and Yukinoshita.
"I guess that's fine. Should we notify Yukinoshita and the others?"
Hikigaya had no objections. As a well-behaved high school boy, he was already planning to go to a family restaurant to study after school. As for why he didn't ask Shinra, it was probably his loneliness acting up.
Hearing this, Shinra immediately showed a moved expression, as if his 'child had grown up'.
"If you want to, there's no problem calling them. By the way, the fact that you even thought of asking others is quite gratifying."
"Hey, why are you making such a gross face?"
A look of disgust appeared on Hikigaya's face. He could roughly understand why Shinra was saying this. In fact, he could also feel the change in himself. If it were the old him, he would definitely not have thought of Yuigahama and the others, and he wouldn't even have gone to study with Shinra. He would have just found a random family restaurant to enjoy his solitude.
Hikigaya couldn't say whether this change was good or bad, but emotionally speaking, he didn't dislike it.
After class, Mori Shinra and Hikigaya found a family restaurant they liked and took a seat in a relatively secluded corner.
"Let's start with the problems first. Leave the ones you don't know blank, and I'll explain them all to you later... Hikigaya?" Shinra said to him while taking out the reference books he needed for the day.
Then, he noticed that the other party wasn't listening to him, but was instead staring straight at the cash register.
Shinra followed his line of sight and saw an extremely cute girl in a sailor uniform.
So this is the type Hikigaya is into? But she doesn't look like she's of age. Is this really okay?
"Hey, stop staring. She doesn't look like she's of age yet!"
Shinra prepared to educate Hikigaya on Japanese law. After all, he didn't want his source of Wish Points to end up eating katsudon in an interrogation room.
"That's my little sister..."
Ah? So that's how it is? Haha, how awkward.
Shinra blinked, not expecting that such a cute girl would actually be this guy's sister. By the way, isn't the difference in your appearances a bit too big? Other than your hair color, I can't see any similarities at all.
Anyway, Shinra found it hard to associate the dead-fish-eyed person before him... wait. Shinra suddenly narrowed his eyes, then used his finger to block his own view, perfectly covering Hikigaya's eyes.
Hiss... Now he finally understood why they say the eyes are the windows to the soul. In Hikigaya's case, it was more than just the windows to his soul; he looked like a completely different person.
"Have you ever considered buying a pair of sunglasses?"
"Huh?"
Hikigaya didn't understand why he was suddenly saying this. He was about to say something else, but then he noticed a boy in a stand-up collar uniform standing next to his sister.
"Sorry, I'll be right back."
There was no time to comprehend what Shinra was trying to say. Hikigaya had to immediately go and find out the name, age, address, and family background of that brat next to Komachi, and then implement isolation and sterilization procedures.
Just like that, Shinra watched as Hikigaya stormed towards the cash register. Not long after, he returned with the beautiful girl from before, and following beside her was a small, timid-looking boy.
"This is my little sister, Hikigaya Komachi. This is Mori Shinra," Hikigaya said, introducing them in a perfunctory, business-like manner.
However, it seemed he had forgotten something. Or was it intentional?
Was he trying to use the silent treatment to make the little boy beside them take a hint and leave?
Regardless, Shinra directly activated his Emotion Perception.
Please, he really wanted to know what Hikigaya was feeling right now!
Of course, Shinra didn't forget to stand up and greet his sister.
"Hello, I'm your brother's friend, Mori Shinra. It's a pleasure to meet you."
"The pleasure is all mine. I never expected my brother to actually have a friend. In fact, it must be so hard on you to be friends with my brother. Please take good care of my idiot brother from now on!"
As she spoke, Hikigaya Komachi even gave Shinra a formal half-bow. This display made her brother, Hikigaya Hachiman, feel a bit awkward.
Seriously, is being friends with me something to be ashamed of?
By the way, so I'm already considered a 'friend' in Mori Shinra's mind? Back in the club, I thought this guy was treating me like a digital pet.
"Please, have a seat, Hikigaya."
"Hm?" x2
The brother and sister responded at the same time, then exchanged a glance. It was Komachi who took the initiative to say, "Just call me Komachi."
Hikigaya Hachiman was not pleased. He said possessively, "You should call me Hachiman."
Mori Shinra completely ignored him and said with a smile to Komachi, "Then please have a seat, Komachi. And this person next to you is..."
"Ah, I'm Kawasaki Taishi. Hello, senpai. It's a pleasure to meet you!" Kawasaki Taishi said, hurriedly introducing himself when he saw Shinra look his way.
"Hello, Kawasaki. You can just call me Mori Shinra. Or Senpai is fine too. Your uniform is from the middle school division, right?"
"Tch." Protective-gaya let out a disgruntled 'tch'. It was hard to tell if it was aimed at Mori Shinra, Kawasaki Taishi, or both.
In any case, today's Hikigaya Hachiman was unusually aggressive.