WILDFLOWER [Ryunosuke Tanaka x OC]

Chapter 16 - The Reveal

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"Break time?"

"You literally just asked me two minutes ago, Ryu. What has changed between then and now that makes you think it's break time?"

"I... did two more minutes of math homework? Duh?"

Both of them had been hunched over Kano's textbook for a few hours now, chugging through the math homework problem-by-problem and taking periodic breaks to talk. Now, exasperated, Kano leaned back in her chair at the kitchen table, pursing her lips and frowning at her tutee. He was particularly antsy that night, fidgeting and glancing around the downstairs between problem sets. Maybe it was the excess of cookies he hadn't stopped inhaling since he arrived... or his regular chaotic nature.

More than anything, Kano found him impossibly distracting. She couldn't get much done either, but she hadn't wanted to admit it; she doubled back multiple times to check her work and found uncharacteristic errors in her answers. Usually, Kano had laser focus, totally able to drown out her surroundings unless there was an emergency or an imminent bathroom break or a brother-fight to break up... But with Ryu at her house, all of her typical drive was gone.

Feigning innocence beside her, Ryu begged Kano for a break with clasped, reverential hands and a pouty lip and the biggest, widest puppy-dog eyes he could muster. "Please, Kano? Pretty please with extra sprinkles and that butterscotch syrup you like on top?"

She was falling for it, too...

"Fine," Kano sighed, throwing her hands up in resignation. "We can take a ten minute break."

...She fell for it.

"YES!" Ryu crowed, pumping his fists. "Thank the gods. My brain was damn-near ready to explode."

Yawning, Kano plopped her face into her hands, bone-deep tired. "What did you want to do so badly that you needed to interrupt our tutoring time?"

"Well, I..." Ryu trailed off, and when Kano peeked up at him from between the bars of her fingers, she found him flushed in the cheeks, rubbing the back of his head in that way he did when he was nervous. "I... was kinda hoping to see your room."

Rather than getting flustered—as he'd assumed she would, as most other girls would—Kano shot him a deadpan look. "Really? That's what you're so concerned about? The mystery of my messy-ass bedroom?"

Ryu's cheeks grew even hotter, and he knew it. He sheepishly looked away, a little embarrassed that she'd found out his secret motives. "Uh huh."

"Sure, let's go."

He whipped his head up so hard that he nearly gave himself whiplash. "Wh-what? Say it again, sweetcheeks."

Kano stood and sighed, extending a hand to Ryu. "I said 'sure, let's go'. It's getting late anyway. If you aren't home soon, Saeko will start getting the wrong impression."

Heart in his throat, Ryu swallowed and nodded, slapping his hand into Kano's. She hoisted him to his feet easily before heading toward the stairs without another word... their hands still connected. "What impression would that be, princess?" he teased breathlessly, trying to memorize every step up, every new inch of the upstairs.

Laughing, Kano looked back at him, something bright in her eyes. "Oh please, like you need me to say it. We both know what she'd think. Saeko's not-so-subtly joked about shipping us since I first started tutoring you, moron."

A twist of annoyance squiggled in his stomach. "Of course she has," he muttered to himself. Frickin' Saeko was gonna get a mega-noogie when he got home. Was she purposely trying to ruin his carefully crafted plans of wooing Kano?