A/N: Not mine.
"One-on-one tutoring with the drool-worthy Irie-kun?" Satomi gasped. "Please tell me you're not dumb enough to throw that offer in his face."
"I may be in Class F but even I can see the advantages," Kotoko retorted.
"If it were me, I'd be staring at him too much to learn anything," Jinko moaned.
"Well," she pulled out the textbook for their next class, "I'm going to pay attention and not get sidetracked. I'm looking forward to not taking extra lessons in the summer."
"I don't suppose he'd accept a second student," Satomi hinted wistfully.
"This offer was part of an apology, so the answer is probably 'no'," Kotoko told her gently. "And I really don't know him well enough to ask for a favor. Maybe I can try to teach you what he teaches me?"
"Jinko and I will certainly take you up on that." Satomi hugged the surprised other girl. "We're with you; no summer school for us!"
"Wait!" The pugnacious JInko held up a hand. "What do you mean, an apology?"
"Um," Kotoko dropped her eyes, "Yuuki-kun, Irie-kun's little brother, sort of called me 'dumb'."
"Point me in his direction," she growled. "That bratty twerp deserves a beat-down!"
"Hold off, Rocky," Satomi placed a hand on her arm to calm her. "What made him say that?" After Kotoko's explanation, she tapped her lips with a finger. "I can see a little kid making a deduction like that."
"But, still–!" Jinko wasn't ready to give up. "He insulted our Kotoko–and all the rest of us, too!"
"No, no," Kotoko waved her hands frantically. "He was very nice to me this morning and even got down in dogeza." She giggled, "It was so funny! Irie-kun just rolled his eyes and hauled him up and told him to use his words."
"And, did he?"
"Yes, Jinko, he apologized, and even let me have first serving from the breakfast dishes. He is now acting like a gentleman."
"Well, if you say so…"
"So, Kotoko," Satomi gave her a sly grin, "any chance that Irie-kun's best friend might help out on the 'tutoring'?"
"I don't think so," she replied. "Actually, now that I'm going to have extra time to practice talking to a certified genius, maybe if I ever get a chance with him again, I can give him a polite reply."
"Good instincts, girl." She patted her on the shoulder. "Goodness knows that setting your heart on Irie-kun would be aiming way too high, but his friend might be available–if you can manage to string enough words together to make a sentence!"
It should not be supposed that the supplemental lessons provided by Naoki went smoothly. Truth be told, he animaverted at great length on 'lazy-ass teachers who didn't make certain that students were grounded in the fundamentals before promoting them'. Yuuki, who liked to hang around and do his own homework nearby, took notes of various colorful metaphors spouted by his brother. Kotoko hid her smiles by ducking her head until Naoki caught on; later she used some of the new vocabulary to describe the martinet which was Irie Naoki when it came to assignments.
"Well, that's a load of horse poo-poo," she commented as she read over one of Yuuki's assignments.
Naoki tweaked the paper out of her hands. "That's primary school stuff, Kotoko. Eyes on your own work."
"No, but listen to this: 'If Hitomi has 23 cats and I have 2 cats, and then Hitomi gives me 5 cats, how many more cats does Hitomi have than I?'"
"It's fairly simple. Look, Yuuki has already solved that one–"
"Hitomi should not have nearly that many cats. Can you imagine how much she spends on cat food? The dry stuff is expensive enough but have you priced those fancy little cans? There's got to be a law against it. That's like–like–cat hoarding! And she shouldn't be giving me any of hers! I bet they have all sorts of parasites living in a crowded apartment."
"What if Hitomi has a big house in the country and needs the cats to take care of mice in the barn?" Yuuki asked in all seriousness.
Kotoko's mouth opened and shut for several seconds. "Well, in that case," she spoke hesitantly, "I suppose it would be okay. But I'm not taking any more cats!"
"No, Kotoko," Naoki soothed her while stifling laughter, "And no one will be foolish enough to try and make you. Now, moving on–"
"'If there are 40 cookies all together and Shigeru takes 10 and Daichi takes 5 how many are left?' It depends if the cookies are those stale ones at the convenience store or yummy ones like your mom makes. Because if Obasama made them, there wouldn't be any left."
"Ah–"
"And don't even get me started on that marbles question. Those things are devilishly hard to keep track of, always rolling on the floor under the furniture…"
"Kotoko," Yuuki spoke up with a twinkle in his eye, "are you telling us that you've lost your marbles?"
"Why, you!" She grabbed his head and ground knuckles into his scalp vigorously. "No respect for your sempais, that's what you have! Or is it, don't have?"
"Darn!" Satomi rubbed out an incorrect math proof. "This is harder than I thought. Do you understand it, Kotoko?"
"Yes," her friend replied with an anxious expression. "And I'm so sorry that I'm bad at telling you how to do it. I'm pretty sure I used the same words as Irie-kun did with me."
"That's probably the problem." She pointed her pencil at her. "Somehow you can understand the resident genius and us poor idiots," she shoved Jinko's elbow off the café table, almost causing her to spill her milk tea, "can't."
"Oi!" Jinko protested.
"But I am nothing if not stubborn." Satomi bent over the paper–now much thinner from repeated applications of eraser–and began writing once more. After Kotoko finally nodded at her results, she smiled and asked, "So, besides getting great academic help, how is the rest of the family?"
"Well, Yuuki-kun is almost like a little brother to me. Still bratty at times," she glanced at Jinko, "but he grows on you."
"Huh," Jinko grunted, "if you like little brothers, I have about three I'll be happy to give you."
"You know you love them," she chided before tapping her chin. "I bet Yuuki-kun is going to be as much of a handsome genius as his brother one day."
"So you finally admit that Irie-kun is good-looking?" Satomi leaned over. "What about Watanabe-kun?"
"Ah," she sighed, "he has only been over to the house once since we've moved in, and that only to meet Irie-kun for them to go shopping." Her brow wrinkled. "It was funny, I think they were talking about sheep, but both of them live in the city."
"Sheep, Kotoko?" Her voice was skeptical. "Are you sure?"
"Yes, and I think they had some already, which is even weirder. Something about needing more rams…"
"Woah, Kotoko!" Jinko snorted tea out her nose. "Even I know that's computer stuff. The nerdy guys at the music store are always talking about it. It's chips or sticks or something like that."
"Well, why don't they make up a new word for it? There's no need to reuse old words and confuse people like that."
"Tweet!" Satomi let out an usually loud whistle. "Time out! Now you're just going down rabbit trails. Kotoko," she held up a hand, "it's just a saying; there's no wildlife involved. So, Irie-kun is a great teacher and Yuuki-kun is a cheeky little brother, but what about his parents? Are they nice? Do they treat you well?"
"Have you been listening to Kin-chan's latest ramblings about me being used for household chores? Because I only have to do the basics, like keep my room straight and put my laundry in the hamper. Which is what the boys have to do as well. Obasama–that's what I call Mrs. Irie–does everything else. Cooking, cleaning, laundry."
"Yes, we've seen that she's a great cook, having watched you scarf down the lunches she makes for you. Since you already have one Irie teaching you, maybe she'll add some lessons for the kitchen?"
"No way! You've tasted my attempts before. Otosan was never able to get me to boil water without burning, and we had a little problem when Obasama didn't believe that. I think I've convinced her that I might destroy the house if I'm let loose with the stove again. And now she's going on about other things…"
"Do tell!" The girls' eyes were wide as they leaned towards her.
"No," she waved her hands, "it's nothing special. Maybe she just wanted a little female solidarity, seeing that she has been living with only men."
(Mathematics word problems courtesy of wolframalphadotcom)