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"Metori Saiko, you've failed almost every class you're taking?!"
Saiko's grades were the worst in his class. In fact, he wasn't at all bothered by grades because he didn't think about entering a college or getting a job. He could just pay for them after all, and not have to lift a single finger in the end. It was all part of being born rich and famous, his father would give him all his money once he died, so what was the point of working in the first place? Life is way easier when you don't stress over such unnecessary things. So he casually responded with "Yes father, but it doesn't matter. We're already rich!"
"You grades were so low they had to create a new grading system. You've been averaging at an X for the last month!" His father yelled. "You won't be relying on my money forever Saiko, all these years I've been trying to teach you" His words just flew over Saiko's head, they were completely useless at this point. He sat staring up at the roof while his feet laid on the dinner table. His father kept yelling at him from the other side of the table, while his face was progressively turning red. However one sentence was all it took for Saiko to truly care.
"As of now, your name will be removed from my will. If you want anything, you will have to work for it yourself." He sat up immediately, with his eyes widened. "I'm sorry, could you repeat that? I thought you said you were removing my name from the will." He tried to laugh it off as a silly joke by his father. All he did was look down and sigh, clearly unimpressed by his son. "I'll be hiring a tutor for you, but this is the last thing you will expect from me. No more allowance, so don't spend all of your money in one go."
And just like that, Saiko's dad had stood up to leave the room. As he was shutting the door, he looked back one more time at his son. "Such a disappointment..." He muttered. The harsh slam of the door made Saiko's skin shiver. The thoght of having nothing to rely on was truly frightening. If he doesn't have any money, his entire life would be built upon a lie. He'll be forced to live a life on the streets, he won't buy the clothes he likes, or any fancy foods.
His mind was truly scattered. But then a brilliant thought had popped up. 'The only reason father had started to think this was because my grades had been dropping, so as long as I bring my grades up, he'll give me my money back! uh. I mean his money.' He only hoped his tutor was any good, or someone who would be willing to lie to his father about the progress he would be making. His motivation would be his money being stolen away from him.
And about a week later, a short plump girl stared nervously at the gates of Saiko's house. She was never familiar with such wealth, being from a poor family and relying on her many many jobs to survive. She checked the address on her phone several times just to make sure she didn't get the wrong house by mistake. But no, it was the right one. She couldn't even believe how high the pay could be, and she could even buy those fancy branded cereal if she was getting enough money from them.
With a shaky hand, she pressed on the doorbell and an elegant sound came from it. 'These people have fancy doorbells! They'll think I'm a beggar because of my clothes!" She was a beggar, but she'd never say. Her hand-me-down cardigan and sweatpants would say everything they need to know about her. The golden gates slid open and showed a huge and gorgeous mansion, with pillars and a fountain in front of it.
As she walked to the front of the door, she kept staring and glancing at everything in her path. The gardening was immaculate, the mansion stood tall and elegant, and the fountain dripped beautifully from a statue's mouth. Mera tried as hard as possible not to fawn over everything immediately but it was tough journey. Once she arrived at the door, she was greeted by an old woman wearing a maid's uniform.
"You're late. The young master has been waiting for 5 minutes, you should have at least shown some decency." She scoffed. Of course Mera felt intimidated by her, she probably had more money than she did. "Uhm, you're right ma'am. I apologize. I should be tutoring a 10th grader here, can you please show me the way?" She whimpered. The old maid crossed her arms and nodded in pride. "Right this way."
After taking several hallways, a few stairs up and twelve corners, Mera arrived at the door to the study room. Once she knocked on the door, an arrogant voice called out to her. "You may enter." But as she opened the door, the smell of incense filled her lungs. While coughing crazily, she tried to speak up with a weak voice. "Hi- cough- I'm Mera, your-cough- tutor" "Ugh, can't you breathe properly? I'll put out the incense if it bothers you so much." The smug voice replied.
His voice sounded familiar to another person. Almost too familiar. It sounded like the same guy who tried to get with Kokomi Teruhashi and sent all her friends away. But that can't be right, that guy could probably just buy his grades at this point. "Ahem, aren't you going to sit down now?" He asked. "Oh right, my bad!" So as Mera set down her books on the table, she took a glance at the boy she was tutoring, and it was none other than Saiko Metori.
"Hey, you're in my class! Saiko, right?" She spoke up. He gave her a sour look, but then it slowly softened. "Uhm, I believe it is. Why aren't we starting already?" He argued. Mera couldn't believe she was teaching the same guy who said school is a waste of our time. "Hey I have a question, why did you decided to get tutored in the middle of the school year? We need to review everything from the beginning again now!" Her tone had sounded a lot more cheery from before now.
"That's not important. Let's get on with it, since we clearly have a lot to do-" "Oh come on, we can spare a few minutes. With my teaching style, you'll learn faster than anyone else!" Her curiosity got the best of her, while being unaware that she was making him uncomfortable. "Just tell me, I won't tell anyone. I pinky promise." She raised her pinky finger as if she was going to do an arm wrestle with it, and stared at him like she was going to murder his family. He thought for at least 5 seconds, stroked his chin, and replied with "Alright then, but I'm not grabbing your pinky finger."
For three minutes, he had discussed the situation with his father and the will, and why he wasn't as concerned as he was now. "Oh I see, you always figured you'd have stability even when you grow up, but now that it's not an option, you've become vulnerable to certain ideas." Saiko's silence was a clear answer for her. "There's no need to be afraid. I didn't grow up with that stability you had, and I take up a bunch of jobs to take care of my family, but even so, I'm still here and at least I earn the money I make. This might be a good way for you to learn this."
For once, Saiko actually listened to what she had to say, and he didn't have a comeback for it. "Oh geez, I just realized how rude I sound! Forget what I said, let's start with maths first-" "Wait, I understand what you mean, and .. thank you for helping me understand this lesson, even though it's going to be difficult to learn these new habits." He didn't shout, or sound arrogant, or even try to undermine her. He was polite and even thanked her (that's a huge step for him >w<) "Alright then, let's begin!"
Months passed by with Mera as Saiko's tutor, and he showed great progress. In this time, he caught up to everything that he wasn't focused on, and got ahead of the class. The last test he took, he got a B-. And of course it was all thanks to Mera. During their study sessions, Saiko's maid would place a fruit platter for them to snack on while studying, and Mera would devour it each time. By the time that they finished the curriculum that was already taught to them, they would finish class and hed to his house to review and work on homework.
During classes, they were noticeably closer and better friends than they were before. They would eat together, and Saiko would even bring extra food in his lunch box that he hid from his maid just to give to Mera. It would be an understatement to say that they were close friends though, as Saiko had definitely caught feelings for her, but was in denial. He didn't want to admit that he had feelings for a peasant like her.
I mean her nice wavy caramel hair was just mediocre to him but that's nothing compared to her average gorgeous gleaming brown eyes. His maid always refers to her as his girlfriend but he always steps in and shouts and gets flustered saying "SHE'S NOT MY GIRLFRIEND. HOW WOULD YOU ACT IF I SAID YOU WERE DATING THE CHAUFFEUR?" The maid and the chauffeur have been married for 40 years with 2 kids over 30. Not the best comparison.
One day, Mera dropped 2 textbooks worth of studying material on the table and cheered loudly. "We just finished the second book! We're ahead of the class!" She started dancing and cheering happily knowing that we were ahead of everyone else in the class. Saiko just clapped along with her while laughing at her. "We should celebrate this, let's go to the convenience store!" Her eyes lit up happily at the thought of dining in the convenience store. Saiko just stared at her, glad that she's enjoying herself and offered "If you want, we can go to a sushi place, or somewhere that sells steak."
"Oh, but there's this sale at the convenience store on bananas, so I wanna get some before I go home!" She started jumping up and down in happiness and hunger. 'Wow, she'll really settle for the bare minimum. At least I know that she won't be interested in my money.' He thought. "Whatever makes you happy Chisato." He had never used her first name before, so it really was quite a shock for her to hear it from him.
And so, the walk to the convenience store was a pleasant one. The wind blew through their hair and left goosebumps on Mera's arm. 'I should've brought a jacket, I didn't expect it to be this chilly.' She pondered. What could've caused this sudden change in the weather. Just then, she felt a sudden weight on her shoulders that warmed her up a bit. It was his fur jacket from a fancy store that cost more than Mera's organs.
"You're cold. Keep it with you, I've got plenty at home." He didn't even look at her when speaking. She found this kind of behavior almost sweet of him, she didn't even mention she was cold and he gave her his jacket. What a gentleman! As they continued to walk, they bumped shoulders every now and then, but in Saiko's mind, it left a kind of romantic tension between them. If touching shoulders was enough, he decided to make a move and braise their hands together.
'Hm, she must think I'm incredibly endearing right now. I must be hotter than Kento Yamazaki to her. I just can't imagine the thoughts she's having where she's undressing me, haha.' He could've never prepared his mind for the next step, which was actually holding hands. Thankfully, Mera was prepared, and she did take that step. She held his hand and intertwined their fingers as she pulled him across the road. Saiko's face burned up greatly, but he didn't want to let the moment pass, so he said nothing (but he thought everything).
Once they crossed the street, Mera gasped. "Oh I didn't even pay attention to what I just did! Sorry, I'm so used to holding my siblings hands while I cross the street with them!" Before she let go of him, Saiko held her hand slightly tighter while looking down to hide his face. To Mera's confusion, she looked up to see him noticeably flustered and heated up. Still though, he didn't say a word to her, but she could tell what he was thinking. "Come on, the store's not far! Also, do you know that your hands are really cold?"
He didn't think his hands were cold, but hers were nice and warm. Like she was holding a cup of hot chocolate before holding his hands. Was this real? Why was he feeling these things? There's no denying these feelings, but he doesn't want them to be true. Let this be a dream. A dream that tells me that he feels nothing for her. But who are we kidding? He gave her his jacket, he imagines her taking off his clothes, and he gets flustered enough to feel weird holding her hand.
Once they arrived at the store, Mera dashed to the fruits and vegetables aisle to get a good pick on bananas. Saiko started thinking, what do girls like? And then started questioning what Mera likes, so he went over to the snacks aisle and found a store worker. "Hi sir, how can I help you-" "I need this entire shelf in bags please I'd like to buy them." The store clerk looked at him in shock, almost as if he was about to pass out. "S-Sir? I'm afraid you can't do that. If you get a trolley, I can help you decide what you want!"
"Hmph, as it seems, you're useless! I'll just have to call my millionaire father to buy this store and fire you!" He threatened. So the store clerk filled several trollies with bags worth of snacks and candies. He then went over to the dairy section, the meat section, the low quality sushi section, the dessert section, and the multicultural section to grab plenty of food for Mera and her family. He had many workers follow him around with the shopping carts so they wouldn't be scattered.
As Mera was filling up a bag with apples, she heard another familiar voice. "Is that Mera?" As she turned to face the noise, she saw Saiki carrying a basket full of at least 20 coffee jellies. Once she waved at him, he looked confused. "You said you have a job this afternoon, that's why you couldn't go to karaoke with everyone else." And that's when it hit her. She went out with Saiko during their study session while canceling on other people for said plans.
"Oh yeah, about that... uhm.." "Hey Chisato, which brand of chips do you like most? Ah forget it, I'll just get them all." Saiko yelled from the other aisle. Mera immediately started freaking out, thinking that Saiki would get the wrong impression. 'Oh no, what do I do? Saiki wasn't supposed to be here!' She worried. Just then, Kaidou came over behind Saiki. He took a double take because he thought that Mera was working. "Hey Mera, since when did you work at the grocery store?!"
And again from the other aisle, Saiko yelled out "Mera, I'm gonna get you a Dr. Pepper, do you want anything else?" And of course Kaidou put the pieces together slowly. "Wait, Mera did you ditch our plans for someone else and then say you had to work?!?" In a desperate attempt to save herself, she started to blurt out anything she could. "Huh? No of course not! You've got it all wrong!"
"Wait, Who's jacket is that? Is that your boyfriend Mera?" Kaidou interrogated. But before she could even explain herself, Saiko popped up beside her. "Hey, why aren't you answering me? I've been calling you a bunch of times." Once he saw Saiki and Kaidou, his soft personality changed back to being stiff and timid again. "What are you two doing here?" Kaidou's floor dropped to the ground once he saw Saiko beside her.
"Wait... WHAT! Mera, you're dating. HIM?! OF ALL PEOPLE? Saiki, can you believe this?" Kaidou shouted and blubbered. "Good grief. How did this happen?" Saiki questioned Saiko's face went back to blushing and being flustered, so he tried his best to explain the situation. "Wait no! She's tutoring me so we went to grab something to eat during our session, that's all!" "Yea, this isn't a date!"
In Saiki's mind, he is under the impression that they have a secret relationship because of Saiko's feelings for her, so there wasn't much to defend. Once they left the convenience store, Saiko and Mera were silent for most of the time once they left, but Mera finally broke the silence. "Wow, I can't believe they thought we were dating back there! It kind of shocked me." But then Saiko stopped in his tracks. What was this all for then? Why did he choose to stay around her for, if she doesn't feel the same way? This has never been a doubt that she might not like him, but he wants to be in the same path as her.
"Saiko? What's wrong?" She wondered. No more denying, and no more questions. "Mera. I don't want to be doing all of this for nothing. If we're heading somewhere, I want to know, and I don't want to be following a pointless dream so just tell me. Are you interested in me?" Mera's eyes widened in shock. All for nothing? There's not much to take into account here, and there's not much to get confused.
From the start, Mera thought he would never like someone like her. And to be honest, she only liked him for his money at first. Once they got along and she started coming over daily there wasn't a time where she didn't want to be around him. She's adapted to a few of his habits, his lifestyle, she loves his maid and communicates with his chauffeur. He also treats her like royalty. He put his jacket over her, and he bought the entire grocery store for her! She couldn't hold much of it back any more.
"I... I do like you a lot, but I don't want us to change that much. I still want to be friends." The silence stayed for a few seconds. It lingered through the air, not even a knife could cut through it. Saiko couldn't keep this up anymore, he held her hands and he kissed her. He felt butterflies in his stomach and weak in his knees, he heard fireworks go off in his mind. Mera couldn't get her head straight while she closed her eyes let go of the bag of apples in her hand. Nothing could ruin this moment between them...
"Saiki... THEY JUST KISSED!"
"Let it go Kaidou"