The Baseball Team's Tutor

Chapter 8

Kaoru stared at the paper in her hands with unnerving stillness. A single letter grade written in the top right in red - 'B' - never before had she gotten anything less than an 'A.'

Her mind was reeling, how could this happen? Where did she go wrong? Sure the last few weeks had been exhausting, between school and helping the baseball team, she hadn't been sleeping much.

But was that enough to tank her GPA? Realistically no, not even close, but Kaoru's mind was too far gone. Swirling with thoughts of failing out of high school, being kicked out of the family, and eventually living in the mountains alone, jobless.

The final bell rang signaling the end of the school day, Kaoru sat unmoving, her hands still clutching the returned test, crumpling the paper slightly.

"Kaoru? Are you even listening?" she heard Kuramochi say, looking up, she saw the color drain from his face as his mouth moved but no sound came out. Kaoru moved her hand to cover her eyes, she hadn't even realized she was crying.

"I'm sorry! I have to go!" Kaoru said as she stood up quickly, the chair screeching across the floor. Grabbing her bag, she ran out of the classroom before anyone could say anything.

Kuramochi was still in shock when Miyuki spoke up, "What was that about?" Kuramochi could only shake his head, he had never seen a girl cry in person, much less his friend.

Noticing the crumpled paper on the desk, he grabbed it, immediately noticing the little red letter at the top corner. "Probably this," he said dismissively.

Kuramochi wasn't bad at school, but he didn't really try either. And he would never understand Kaoru's obsession with academic excellence. She always said it was because of sexism in sports.

"Women get less opportunities to play sports in college unless they're academically gifted! Coaches never ask about your GPA because you're a boy," she had said.

Miyuki looked at the paper in his hand, which was an uncharacteristically low grade for Kaoru, though it was certainly still a good grade. Scanning the paper, he looked for the problem she had missed.

Eyes widening in surprise, she had done the work correctly, but the answer was wrong. Looking at the problem below that was also marked incorrect, Miyuki realized Kaoru had simply written the right answers in the wrong spots.

"Shame on Eita-sensei for grading this harshly," Miyuki muttered. It was a Wednesday so he would see her at tutoring later, folding the paper into his pocket, he made a mental note to talk with her.

After learning that he had a crush on the blonde haired girl, Miyuki found it easier to be around her. The two talked with each other more freely now, he wasn't sure if it was his imagination, but he thought she might be developing feelings for him too.

"Heya, have you two seen Kao-chan?" called out a voice from the doorway. Looking up, the two boys saw Chiyo standing there, wearing a sports jacket from a different school over her uniform.

"She just ran out of here, is that Kaoru's brother's school?" asked Kuramochi, it had never crossed his mind to ask more about her brother. He knew he was ranked in the top 5 of spikers in the nation, but he didn't care much about other sports.

Chiyo played with the ends of the sleeves with a faux bashfulness, "yes, we met last weekend on a date!" she squealed. Hands on both cheeks she tried to calm her blush, "and it's a big game for him today so Kaoru and I are going!"

Miyuki looked confused at Kuramochi's nodding in understanding. Was he missing something? "We have tutoring tonight, how is she going to be in two places?" he asked hesitantly.