Chapter Text
Tsukasa Shishio could be the strongest primate schooler, but he needed to hit that A+ on the extra exam for the recursing classes or else he would need to go through 11th grade again.
Maths and science weren’t so difficult for the young man. But it certainly was difficult to learn when you had to miss so many classes because the matches that paid your sisters treatment were the same day.
He was in need of a tutor.
It would be one last combat for the season before christmas. So, he needed to train while being asked about vectors and strength of force.
Despite his gentle nature, he came as sharply intimidating. Thats why he hadn’t bothered to ask his classmates.
He was beginning to come to terms with repeating the course, when a hand drawn pamphlet on the school’s notice board changed it all.
Senkuu’s tutoring
-Math, History, Physics and Chemistry classes.
Personal classes with flexible schedules.
Price, 400 yen the hour
And then a phone number with a cartoony person with spiky hair (honestly a bit ugly, even if Tsukasa thought it was cute).
He immediately swiped his phone out and sent a message.
“Hello, I saw your pamphlet on the school’s board and Im wondering if you are available this weekend for a bit tutoring” he nervously tapped the button.
It was a quick answer.
“Hey, sure. I have all weekend free, what do you need help on?”
Tsukasa blushed as he wrote his reply
“I might need to go through all the 9th grade material”
This time it took a bit longer.
“...Sounds like an spartan crash course is in order then”
Tsukasa was walking out the train station, following the directions marked on google maps.
The tutor was someone named Ishigami Senkuu. Apparently the school’s top in ranking and one of the most eccentric.
He had never seen him and his badly taken profile pic wouldn’t help to put a face on the name. He turned left to a tall apartment building and began climbing the stairs to the fourth floor wondering what kind of guy he was. Ishigami had told him to just bring whatever he had on his notebooks and they would see how to approach it later.
He stopped cold in front of the door with the Ishigami plate written on it. Making sure the number was the same, he ringed on the door.
A shuffle came from inside and a boy with red eyes and a lab coat emerged from behind the metal door.
“You’re Tsukasa right?” He could only nod. He had expected... he didn’t know, but not Senkuu’s black stained coat and lit up hair.
He blinked twice before suffocating the small flame on the boy’s hair with his fingers. The boy flinched, but shook it off quickly.
“I am, but are you ok?”
“Oh, just a bit of an experiment going not exactly as planned” he said inviting the taller boy inside. “Did you bring your notes?”
After just a second of reconsidering how much he wanted to go to 12th grade, Tsukasa stepped inside. “What kind of experiment?” He asked casually.
Ishigami stared at him before indicating where to put his backpack as he took out books himself and a paper sheet.
“I left the eggs proteins to over coagulate with a temperature of over 400 Celcius for more less an hour” Tsukasa stayed still as a rock as the young man went through his notes.
“Oh,yes, it certainly smells like burnt bread” Ishigami raised his eyes to him “You’re not very good at baking, Ishigami-kun?” He said an smile coming to his face.
“And you’re not that bad at chemistry” Ishigami made a smug smile as he put down the notebook on his hands. Tsukasa’s eyes opened wide in amusement.
“Was that a test just now?”
“Nope” Ishigami laughed “here’s the real test” he handed him a two paged computer printed exam. The letters were so small, Tsukasa had to squint to read them. It was divided on subjects, such as math and biology, and it wouldn’t give space to guess. As all were open questions. It was hard to process it was made by a high school student “Can you solve it in an hour?”
Tsukasa gulped but he only had a month and a half before the exams and even less for the fight.
“Of course”
—-
He solved the test in 40 minutes, but stayed silent. He wanted to ground himself after the brain draining task. After a few seconds he found himself lost in the sounds of the Ishigami residence. The person cleaning the mess on the kitchen seemed unbothered by his presence. Tsukasa stared at him for a second. He saw the tablet on the kitchen table displaying a YouTube tutorial to bake a birthday cake. By the number of eggs, milk cartons and the quantity of bowls on the sinker, the boy had been trying really hard.
Tsukasa wondered who would he be doing all that for.
“Oh?” Ishigami suddenly went looking back at him. Half- Unexpectedly meeting Tsukasa’s eyes “are you done already?” He said walking back to the table. He took the paper from Tsukasa’s hands and went through it without batting an eye.
“Well, great news for you. You seem to not have much trouble on maths, history and chemistry, but are a bit lacking on physics and biology though”
“Is that so? Thats, yes. Nice to hear” he sighed relieved.
“Don’t chant victory yet. This test was designed to be solved in less than half an hour” Tsukasa went pale upon the statement. He had pulled himself to the limit to solve it in 40 minutes... The time limit was a part of the test? Tsukasa blinked impressed “So we’re gonna train that mind of yours to make it work faster before the finals”
“How so?”
The boy’s face grew a sinister grin as he pulled out a white board and started scribbling around a diagram with the same silly drawings from the pamphlet.
It was an itinerary for the week carefully thought out to match subjects with similar topics. He could certainly learn all the material that way, but he had an small problem.
“Im starting to wonder how you come up with things so quickly, but more importantly. I have to go train in every physics and biology lessons on your diagram”
“That’s no problem. I have already thought that out. Now let’s focus on Venn diagrams shall we?” He said settling down to open his book.
"How?" he wanted to say, but all that came out was “...alright. Alright. Although, your cake is not gonna bake if you don’t put the heat” Ishigami tilted his head sligtly before looking back at the oven. The not turned on oven. He made an exasperated sigh as he walked to turn it on with the cake inside.
Senkuu was going to walk back when he found Shishio right besides him. Making him jump as he mumbled a sorry and took out the cake to replace it with a thermometer.
“Im sorry, but, wouldn’t it be better to preheat it first?”
“I-yes you’re right” he managed to say, embarrassed to admit he had simply forgotten to do so. They walked back together to the table and after 10 minutes of extremely easy to understand lecture of Senkuu, Tsukasa signaled him to open the oven.
Senkuu grabbed the cake and Tsukasa had to bite his tongue to not tell him the dough wasn’t exactly well mixed.
“Would it be intrusive to ask why are you baking a cake?” The taller boy asked, settling down on the table.
“Ah? No need to be so polite, man. It’s just for my father. But as you can see Im quite the disaster on the kitchen” this pulled an smile on the boy’s face. “Ah, be careful with the negatives. Try changing the symbol” he tapped Tsukasa’s paper with his pen.
“I can help you practice. I’m not a chef or anything, but I have made a few decorated cakes for my sister’s birthday” the words came out soft. Even if they tasted bitter.
“That would be helpful” he said ignoring the frown on the other’s face. Ishigami kept explaining and correcting Tsukasa as he went through the problems.
Finally, the alarm for the oven went off when Tsukasa’s brain felt like exploding. The other called for a recess as both went to check on it.
Senkuu’s eyes gleamed when the cake seemed to not be burnt.
“It smells good!” Tsukasa went.
“Let’s find out if it tastes good as well” Senkuu went cutting two pieces for each. Thanking him he eyed the fluffy cake on his hands.
They took a bite and almost immediately gagged. Senkuu grabbed a bottle of water close by as Tsukasa opened the water tap and straight up drank from it.
“Didn’t you taste it before putting it in there, Ishigami-kun?” Tsukasa said holding himself on the counter.
“I just followed the instructions” he sticked his tongue out as his face went paler “I knew that salt quantity was weird”
Tsukasa couldn’t keep down the laugh emerging from deep on his chest. Which made Senkuu blush a bit.
“You can perfectly explain entropy calculus and vectors, but baking seems to be not your thing at all” he teased.
“Well, nothing that can’t be beaten after lots of practice”
“Yes, but you will need more than that” Shishio put aside the uneatable cake and started taking eggs, milk and flour “Here let me teach you. As thanks for today’s lessons” he smiled.
Senkuu wanted to remark it was his house and he was going pretty calmly about using people’s stuff. But he was actually exasperated about not making it right. So he allowed the boy to show him. Listening carefully to every tip and instruction, Tsukasa taught him how to bake a simple vanilla cake. At least, he remembered to turn on the oven this time.
A ring took them back from their conversation about the best places to find discounts on diary products.
They took a glare at the fluffy cake and after sharing a look they took a bite.
Tsukasa wouldn’t dare say it but the boy’s face when tasting his cake pulled an emotion stronger than just pride.
—-
Not much longer than that, Tsukasa was walking to the gym with his backpack smelling like cake.
Ishigami had given him almost all of it, as he had been eating cake the whole week and was two slices away of puking with the sole smell.
“You can also give some to your sister” he had said.
Tsukasa didn’t feel as having to explain how that wasn’t possible, and simply thanked him for the gesture.
However, he indulged in the fantasy of coming back to the small apartment he lived on, holding the cake high for his sister to see. Indulged on the fantasy of hearing her voice again. Eating together.
The fantasy was the motive today’s training was going stronger than usual.
“Someday” he marked the words on his head as he pulled his leg back for a kick to the head of his opponent “Just wait at bit longer Mirai” he shot his leg and battered the man unconscious.