Sakura Kiss (Wizard School Romance)

[] [Koshimoto] Furuta lends a helping hand.

The "Great Summer of Hell," as the Hiyari students have taken to calling it, ends with the restoration of the climate spells and a great general fanfare. Students parade through the hallways, hair tossing in the sorcerous breeze, singing and dancing and chanting their joy. Even some of the teachers join in the revelry, to the disapproving looks of their more respectable peers.

Though normally you're all about a party, today you are unfortunately stuck at your desk doing homework. Yuhara has taken pains to ensure that she doesn't overload you with extra sports festival work, but by its very existence it eats into your free time, and you're dealing with something of a backlog. You mark off the final problem on your physics sheet, squint at the numbers suspiciously, and then decide it's good enough before turning to your "basic mechanical spellcraft" book.

"Can I have that?" A voice asks from three or four inches behind you.

"Shit!" You shout, scrambling up and out of your chair in a sudden panic. You could've sworn that you were the only person in the room, but when you turn you see none other than Arashi Tatsuko, a look of mild concern on her face. She has undone her necktie and the top several buttons of her blouse, though whether to better enjoy the cool air or out of general disdain for the uniform you can't be sure. "How long were you standing there?"

"Long enough to see you finished the physics sheet," she says. "Can I have it?"

You've seen very little of Tatsuko since you first discovered her secret hideaway all those weeks ago. The vast majority of those sightings have been in class, which she attends consistently if not enthusiastically. You would guess, given how often you hear music floating aimlessly down the hallways, that she spends most of her time in that very hideaway, playing at her piano. You can't say you haven't wanted to return – but she told you not to, and if there's one thing you pride yourself on, it's being too socially in demand to insist on going where you're not wanted.

But now, it seems, you are wanted. At least in some capacity. And suddenly Tatsuko is no longer the girl who simply has no interest in you. Suddenly, she's a challenge.

You cross your arms. "I thought you didn't want to see any more of me."

"I never said that," Tatsuko says. "Just that I didn't want you stopping by."

"Ah," you say, nodding sagely. "So this relationship is purely on your terms."

"Aren't all the best relationships?" Tatsuko asks.

You laugh. "But now you want something from me. So in that spirit, shouldn't I take the opportunity to dictate terms?"

Tatsuko looks you up and down. "Don't be disgusting."

It takes you a moment to process what she means. "I'm not...that isn't what I meant."

"Then what do you mean, exactly?"

"How did I let you talk me into this?" Tatsuko asks. The two of you have returned to her secret attic, which hasn't changed at all since the last time you were there. You've fished a desk and two chairs out from the miscellaneous junk heaped in piles around the room and are currently bent over it, doing your best to teach Tatsuko physics.

"Give a man a fish," you say, leaning back in your chair, "and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."

"But I need to eat to live," Tatsuko says. "I won't keel over and die if I never learn how to convert speed to velocity."

"And thank god for that," you say, "or else we'd both be in a lot of trouble."

"That's the other thing," Tatsuko says. "I'm starting to get the impression that you're not very good at this."

"Physics isn't my best subject," you admit. The first few problems had gone smoothly enough, but once you had started walking Tatsuko through the more complicated stuff, you had noticed some flaws in your own calculations. Now the two of you have the textbook opened between you and are struggling to get the numbers to all line up. "But I have to learn it or they won't let me graduate. And that goes for you too."

Tatsuko taps her fingers against the table in an impatient rhythm. "I could just keep stealing Hatsu-san's worksheets," she says.

"Yeah, but you actually have to get the answers right if you want to graduate." You pause. "Actually, I don't know if Arashi-san is any good at physics."

"He's better than you," Tatsuko says.

You shrug. "Well, then you should learn because...it...makes you a more well-rounded person?"

"And where's the value in that?" You glance up at her, but Tatsuko only has eyes for the piano situated in the middle of the room. Her tapping has transitioned into something gentler, more intentional, pale fingers dancing across the table's surface to a music only she can hear. "I know what I want," she says, quietly. Almost absently. "And I know what I have to do to get it. Anything else is just…a waste of time."

Hiyari marks the end of summer with the annual SPORTS FESTIVAL.