Chapter 514

"We have a problem."

Miyuki spoke from across the table, sitting right next to Hiyori.

I adjusted the kotatsu blanket she had bought the other day and opened a worn-out book filled with handwritten notes. "What kind of problem?" I asked.

"Our pace is too different..."

It was true. Hiyori wasn't completely brain-dead, but she was definitely an airhead. There was no way she could keep up with our progress.

Miyuki could have bluntly pointed out the skill gap between us, but she'd chosen her words carefully.

Good for her.

"Just tell me what we're covering, and I'll study on my own."

"So I'm supposed to tutor Asahina?"

"Exactly."

"Well... alright."

Did Miyuki's reluctant agreement scrape at her pride?

Hiyori, who had been sitting quietly, gave a twitch of her long eyelashes.

"You don't have to teach me if you don't want to."

At that, Miyuki slowly turned to Hiyori, flicked her gaze toward me for a moment, and put on a benevolent smile.

"No, it's fine. I'll do my best, so just try to keep up."

"I bet you'll just get frustrated."

"As long as you aren't pretending to be bad on purpose, it's fine. Should we look at math first?"

"Do you have a first-year workbook?"

"I have one I bought a while ago. But..."

"But what?"

"Didn't you say you didn't know anything at all? Then, um... I think it might be better to aim a little lower..."

"A little lower? How much lower?"

"Um... middle school?"

"I can at least do middle school math...!"

Hiyori snapped, her pride clearly wounded.

Watching her react like that made me wonder if studying together had been a mistake.

After all, academics were the one area where Miyuki could completely look down on Hiyori.

I wondered if I hadn't thought this through, but I trusted Miyuki.

Seeing how she had softly suggested starting at a middle school level rather than bluntly declaring it, my worries were probably unfounded.

"Really? Let's just give it a try, then."

"...Okay."

Her voice, haughty just a moment ago, plummeted in confidence.

Surely she wasn't worse than a first-year middle schooler, right?

The study session that followed went exactly as expected.

Miyuki earnestly explained the concepts, and Hiyori listened intently...

When Miyuki asked if she understood, Hiyori confidently claimed she did. But the moment she had to solve a problem with a similar formula, steam started puffing out of her ears...

"Why is this taking so long? If you understood the formula, you should be able to solve this quickly."

"I'm slow at understanding formulas, so please bear with me."

"Huh...? What do you mean you're slow at understanding them?"

"You're being loud, so I can't concentrate."

"R-Right... Just try solving it. Tell me right away if there's anything you don't understand."

"Alright."

Having grasped Hiyori's state, Miyuki clearly had no intention of teasing her about her academics.

That was also exactly what I'd expected. Exploiting a weakness and rubbing salt in the wound was one of the things Miyuki hated most, so the thought likely hadn't even crossed her mind.

Relieved, I quietly slipped my foot over Miyuki's leg while she watched Hiyori work on the problem.

"..."

Miyuki lifted her head slightly and moved her lips in my direction.

'What are you doing?'

That was what she mouthed.

I intentionally ignored her silent protest, sliding my foot forward to touch between her thighs.

Tap.

The soft fabric of her panties rested gently against my big toe.

Feeling my foot nestled completely between her legs, Miyuki gave a sudden jolt.

Sitting right beside her, Hiyori naturally noticed this strange reaction and furrowed her brow.

"What is it?"

"N-Nothing... I was just going to ask if you were done yet."

"I'm halfway through. But man, this is hard."

"Yeah...? What part is hard?"

"It's not so hard that I need to ask for help. But..."

Hiyori trailed off, her gaze starting to drop downward.

I seized the opportunity, stretching out my other leg to brush the inside of her thigh.

"Eek...!"

Unlike Miyuki, Hiyori let out a very obvious squeal.

I wasn't sure whether to call it fortunate or not, but Miyuki was so focused on my foot that she completely missed Hiyori's gasp.

This kind of secret teasing was exactly why I had brought out the kotatsu in the middle of summer.

I had blasted the air conditioner so high that neither of them would even think of throwing off the blanket.

So far, at this early stage, it seemed to be working perfectly.

"But what...? Are you... stuck anywhere?"

A ticklish, warming sensation.

Miyuki forced the question out while taking the sensation with her whole body. Hiyori, now in a similar predicament, cleared her throat and shook her head.

"No..."

"That's good... Keep going, then..."

"Yeah... But sunbae-nim, why are you..."

"Huh...?"

"No, it's nothing..."

Did they even realize they were breathing so heavily?

I could even feel Miyuki's panties growing slightly damp beneath my toe.

What a pair of perverts. This might make things a little easier.

Hiyori glared at me, mouthing something just like Miyuki had.

Her lip movements were much smaller than Miyuki's, making it impossible to read, but judging by her fierce glare, she was telling me to stop.

I casually ignored her demand and shoved my foot deeper between her legs, mirroring what I was doing to Miyuki.

"Ah...! Jeez...!"

Hiyori accidentally let out a loud cry and hurriedly clamped a hand over her mouth.

This time, Miyuki noticed Hiyori's strange reaction and asked in a slightly breathless voice.

"W-What is it...? What's wrong...?"

"Nothing... I just... bit my tongue..."

"Did you...?"

Miyuki's gaze dropped downward, just like Hiyori's had earlier.

It seemed she had finally noticed what was going on under the kotatsu.

Realizing I was touching both her and Hiyori's sensitive areas, Miyuki opened her mouth to snap at me.

Press...

I pushed my big toe hard against her lower mound, and she immediately hunched forward and clamped her mouth shut.

She wasn't even trying to hide it anymore.

It seemed the pleasure she had been holding back was right on the verge of bursting out.

It was hilarious watching Miyuki's hand tremble around her pen, and Hiyori sitting there turning beet-red, completely forgetting to fix her disheveled hair.

Unable to leave their legs still against the growing tickle below, they ended up bumping into each other and sharing an awkward glance.

Even though they both knew they were being touched, neither put up a real fight.

I wasn't sure if they had just given up, or if the rising waves of pleasure left them with no energy to protest.

Whatever the reason, the fact that they weren't getting jealous was a massive step forward.

Clatter.

"Dropped my pen."

I had intentionally tossed the pen onto the floor. Throwing out that theatrical line, I pulled my legs back as the two of them shot me bewildered glares.

I then slowly leaned my upper body under the kotatsu and lifted the blanket slightly.

"W-What are you doing...!"

"What are you doing...?!"

The two of them gasped at my obvious intentions.

Proving once again how alike they were, both girls instantly squeezed their legs shut to hide the crotches that had just been touched, pulling the kotatsu blanket over themselves. It was adorable.

"Just picking up my pen."

"There's no way it rolled all the way in there...!"

"It rolled."

"Liar..."

"Let me check again."

"W-What do you mean, check...! That makes no sense—"

"Quiet."

"..."

My deadpan command snapped Miyuki's mouth shut, and I brazenly threw the kotatsu blanket open.

Taking advantage of their sudden panic, I grabbed one leg from each of them and yanked them toward me.

"W-Wait... what are you doing...!"

Their bodies tipped backward as they were dragged under the kotatsu, looking almost as if they were being swallowed alive.

Thinking how cute they looked flailing their arms to grab onto anything, I draped their legs over mine and pulled the blanket back over us.

"Stay put."

"What are you doing right now...?!"

"I'm going to give you a massage."

"Out of nowhere...?"

"I just felt like it."

"Seriously... at least try to come up with a valid excuse... You're not even trying to hide your intentions..."

Hiyori nodded furiously in agreement.

I looked at the two girls, who only had their faces half-poking out of the kotatsu.

"You look alike."

"What...?"

"You two."

"W-What kind of nonsense is that...?!"

"Got a problem with it?"

"It's not that I have a problem with it... It just doesn't make any sense..."

"You look alike to me."

"We do not...? Ah...!"

She flinched as I slid my fingers between her toes.

Miyuki shot a quick glance at Hiyori, then surrendered, dropping her head to the floor without finishing her sentence.

"Eep...!"

When I started kneading and tickling Hiyori's toes, she completely gave up too, lying flat on her back and squirming her legs around. Honestly, both of their reactions surprised me.

I had expected them to put up a fight. After all, they were exposing their most embarrassing sides to each other.

They were definitely showing signs of discomfort, but this was an incredibly promising reaction.

Of course, pushing any further right now would probably get me rejected.

To lower that resistance, I needed to get them used to this situation.

I'd treat it like socializing a pair of puppies.

I would slowly break down their walls through repetition, pushing the limits little by little to see exactly how far I could go.