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Back to Basics

Nagatoro and Senpai sat side by side on the art room's green couch after finishing their lunch.

She handed him her handcuffs. "You better hang on to these while I'm gone."

"Why?"

"I can't take them with me—obviously—since I'll be a few hundred miles away from anyone I'd willingly model for, and I can't leave them at home because there's a chance someone might find them."

He squeezed the silver bracelets. "Are they that tough to hide?"

"No, but you never know. Suppose my mom decides to go full bore on house cleaning while I'm away, and she finds them? I'd rather not take that chance."

"You'll only be gone for four days, right?"

"If you include travel time."

In celebration of Japan's National Sports Day on Monday, a famous martial arts club in Osaka sponsored a tournament over the long weekend. The organizers invited the Gamou Fighting Gym, the enterprise run by Gamo-chan's family, to take part. Gamo's family, in turn, invited Nagatoro to join them for the competition.

"I feel bad for Yoshi," Nagatoro said. "Her parents are going too, but she has to stay home."

"Why?"

"She failed the midterm exam. Badly. Yoshi is a sweet girl, but she doesn't have a whole lot going on upstairs when it comes to schoolwork."

"At least she still has Sakura to hang out with."

"Nope. Sakura's going to an eSports tournament in Sapporo. Vapor gaming is paying her to sit at a table, look hot, and sign autographs at their booth. Can you imagine?"

"I thought you said she dropped out of the top twenty DLC's."

"She's hovering around eighty last I checked, but gamer guys will flock to see her because she possesses a very useful attribute."

A killer rack? he didn't say.

"Wrong… pervert." She elbowed his ribs. "She's a real live girl. They're paying her 100,000 Yen per day."

"Must be nice."

"Give me a break, Senpai. You're getting 100,000 Yen per commission."

With a wry smile, he replied, "Yeah, but I have to split that with you."

She balled her hand into a fist. "Wanna get socked in the chin again?"

Senpai pulled his phone out of his pocket, tapped the screen, and held it before Nagatoro's eyes. As she stared blankly into the hypnotic swirl, he chanted, "You will be nice to Senpai. You will not punch him in the face."

Glassy-eyed, she repeated, "I will not punch Senpai in the face." She snatched the phone out of his hand. "I might kick him in the balls, though."

"That Toshi guy isn't going to follow you down to Osaka, is he?"

"Of course not. I set him straight. He's off searching for his own honey." She gazed at the swirl. "You've got to admit, this app he made is pretty cute. I can't believe you seriously think he hypnotized me."

"You unbuttoned your blouse."

"You were stalking me, dummy. Did you think I didn't see you?"

"Was it that obvious?"

"Sunglasses… inside?"

He groaned.

She kissed him on the cheek. "Even though it's a joke app, I actually felt a small tug to obey him. But you can't hypnotize a person into doing something they don't want to do."

"It's an over-used ero-manga trope," Senpai said. "A guy gets an app that lets him control beautiful women. It's been done a million times."

She handed him his phone and hopped to her feet. "Tell you what. When I get back, I'll let you hypnotize me into doing anything you want. But now, I've got a bus to catch."

"See you Tuesday?"

"If the bus doesn't break down." She winked and jogged out the door.

Senpai sat alone on the green sofa and looked across the room at his easel. The easel stood opposite a table. The table supported a bowl. The bowl contained an apple, an orange, and a banana.

Back to the basics, I suppose.

He pocketed the cuffs and sighed.

###

Unlike Nagatoro, Senpai didn't have a pass to leave after lunch. Instead, he sat in math class and thought about what he was going to do after school. How would he spend his long weekend? Doing standard, boring stuff didn't cut it anymore.

Nagatoro, his official girlfriend, had become such a big part of his existence, he forgot what life was like B.N.—before Nagatoro.

Maybe a break would do them good, but he doubted it.

The day passed slowly. When classes finally ended, he returned to the art club room and stood behind his easel with a freshly sharpened pencil in hand. He sketched the outline of the apple, the orange resting beside it, and the banana.

"Nuts."

He put down his pencil and strolled to the window. The baseball team wasn't practicing like they normally did. They no doubt got invited to a tournament too. Everyone had something planned for the extended sports-themed weekend.

But him.

The sound of the door sliding open startled him. Is Nagatoro back? Did her bus break down?

A cute blonde-haired girl with pigtails stepped into the room. A gym bag resembling Nagatoro's dangled from her hand.

"Hi, Sense." Yoshi offered a timid wave.

Author's Notes: I'm writing this on the day before Thanksgiving (2021), the USA's favorite long weekend, so this chapter feels current to me. So far, I've told this story mostly from Nagatoro's point of view, but she'll be out of town for a while so we'll get Senpai's POV for a few chapters. I don't know how often I'll post since I'm working on other projects, but I'll do my best. Have a great holiday everyone! — SK