Chapter 24

It was only now that she took a good look at the boy. His eyes were a rare golden hue, and with his golden short hair, they lent him an indescribable air of authority.

Though his face still carried traces of youth, anyone who saw him wouldn't dare underestimate him or treat him like just a kid.

Naoki Kirigaya leaned back lazily in the chair, but even in that relaxed posture, he didn't come off as rude. If it were anyone else sitting like that, Kyoko would've labeled them impolite in a heartbeat.

"Well, here's to a good partnership," Naoki said, extending his hand.

Kyoko gave his hand a light shake, then glanced at Asuna Yuuki with a cold huff. "You don't need to go to tutoring classes anymore. Study with Teacher Naoki instead. I'm off to work."

Asuna blinked, nodding with a feigned look of grievance. Kyoko grabbed her bag and left.

Soon, the sound of the security door clicking shut echoed from outside.

Asuna's demeanor flipped instantly. She looked at Naoki with admiration. "You're amazing! You actually pulled it off!"

Naoki rolled his eyes, ignoring her. So he was just air during their planning, huh? Now she decides to praise him?

Seeing her flattery fall flat, Asuna got straight to the point. "So, what are we learning?"

Naoki cut her off. "Not 'we'—you. I'll find you a practice test online first."

He quickly handed her his phone. The questions weren't hard, but they covered a broad range, testing a lot of basic grammar.

Asuna's face scrunched up as she grabbed a pen and reluctantly started scribbling answers at the table.

Meanwhile, Naoki, bored, began looking around.

With nothing better to do, he turned his attention to Asuna.

She was cute. Even at twelve, she already had about seventy percent of the charm she'd later embody as the Asuna of the future.

The girl now lacked some maturity but had an extra dose of innocence.

Her long hair cascaded down to her waist, her delicate features framed by bright, clear brown eyes that sparkled like a spring.

When she worked on the test, she'd unconsciously purse her cherry-blossom lips. She had little habits—like twirling strands of hair near her ear with her fingers.

Girls her age could never sit still for long.

Even Asuna was no exception.

Finally free from tutoring classes, she finished half the test before she couldn't hold back anymore. "This isn't going to be all we do from now on, right?"

By "this," she meant endless test papers. If that was the case, she'd rather stick with tutoring classes—at least there she could see other people. This was just swapping the location to her house.

Naoki grinned. "Of course not. I'll only give you three tests a week. The rest of the time, I'll take you to study."

He emphasized "study" with a deliberate weight.

Asuna looked at him, puzzled. She sensed he was hinting at something, but she couldn't figure out what.

What Naoki had in mind was introducing her to the Steam platform for "learning."

What could be more useful than Steam?

His computer's memory was too small for Red Dead Redemption, and he'd been itching to play it. With that in mind, he asked, "Do you have a computer at home?"

Asuna nodded. "My brother has one. Why? What are you up to?"

"Finding you some study materials," Naoki said with a sly smirk.

Asuna frowned, growing more suspicious of his intentions. Something felt off, but she couldn't pin it down, so she let it go.

After a moment, she said, "Tomorrow, then. When my brother's back tonight, I'll ask him. He won't say no."

Naoki nodded in approval.

Then silence fell. One worked on the test, the other watched.

Being stared at by those eyes made Asuna self-conscious.

She shot Naoki a glare and set her pen down. "Don't you have anything better to do? Why do you keep staring at me?"

"Because you're pretty, Asuna!" Naoki said with a bright grin.

"Ah!" Asuna froze, her face flushing red. She slammed the table, grabbed her test, and stammered, "I-I'll finish this in my room!" Then she bolted.

Naoki called after her, "Don't look up the answers online. This is just a baseline!"

Asuna stumbled, glaring back at him with wide, furious eyes.

All she saw was that calm, handsome face. Recalling his words, she ducked her head and hurried off faster.

A good-looking guy throwing a direct compliment at a girl had the same effect as a beautiful girl doing it to a guy.

Back in her room, she slammed the door shut, trying to calm her racing heart.

"He's just joking, he's just joking," she muttered to herself two or three times until the blush faded.

She let out a heavy breath and glanced at the test—only one or two questions left.

Finishing it was secondary. Her real focus was figuring out how to deal with Naoki going forward.

Per her mom's words, if this kept up, Naoki's tutoring could last a long time.

She'd see how it went. Something told her he'd say more weird stuff.

She quickly finished the last two questions, reviewed her answers, and pushed the door open.

In the living room, Naoki was idly scanning the room, looking bored.

As Asuna approached, she caught him muttering under his breath, "Man, I really want to play some games."

A string of question marks floated through her mind. She slapped the test down in front of him, her expression sour. "How can you be so distracted when you're someone's tutor?"

Naoki took the paper without a word and started reviewing it.

"Asuna Yuuki, hand me a pen."

He began marking her mistakes.

Asuna's English foundation was solid. She'd been in tutoring for a while, and with consistent schoolwork, plus her natural talent, the test was near-perfect—save for a few errors on obscure grammar Naoki had thrown in.

"Not bad. I'd give it a 95," Naoki said with a nod.

He handed the graded test back. Asuna frowned. "Only 95?" She took it and studied it closely.

The rest of the time was spent teaching her grammar tricks and vocabulary shortcuts.

Language mastery took steady, cumulative effort. Naoki might've breezed through several languages, but for most, it was a slow grind of building vocabulary step by step.