Chapter 27. ~Rewards for Her Efforts~ (5/7)

When I woke up the following morning after I’d given my girlfriend her massage. I was greeted by a sight I hadn’t anticipated.

The sight of a blanket that shouldn’t belong here covering me on the couch, but that wasn’t the actual problem. The true problem was the weight on me that didn’t correspond to the weight of the blanket. There was an indescribably soft sensation pressed up against my chest that allowed me to comprehend the situation rather quickly.

I slowly lifted the cover up and discovered a head of long red hair fanning out over my chest.

My shirt had ridden up my body and I could feel warm steady breaths directly against my skin.

There were two hands, palms faced down, on my chest with a cheek I was all too familiar with pressed up against me between them.

Since there was no escaping this situation I accepted this was reality and there wasn’t much I could do about it.

I raised my arm beneath the sheet and placed my hand on the sleeping beauty’s cheek.

There was an immediate reaction. Her eyes slowly opened up until about halfway, a bit glazed over.

She tilted her head up and stared at me for a second before she said, “Morning.”

“Uh… Rosa… do you realize what sort of situation we’re in right now?”

“Mmm, yeah. I know.”

“If you know, shouldn’t you be reacting a bit differently?”

“Differently? What for? You already have my full trust in both body and mind.” She had a misted-over look in her eyes as she stared at me.

“I’m sorry, I’m having a hard time understanding.”

“Just as you promised yesterday, you didn’t do a single bad thing to me. You had opportunity after opportunity to do so but didn’t. If I don’t fully trust you after everything last night, I really don’t know who I would ever be able to fully entrust my everything to.”

“Don’t you think this is a bit too much though?”

“When I woke up in the middle of the night and you weren’t beside me, my body just instinctively went to seek you out on its own. I just wanted to be near you and feel your warmth, I didn’t even need to think about it. I couldn’t even be bothered to get dressed.”

Her body slid against mine under the sheet as she closed the distance to my face. Her lips soft and supple came into contact with my own. Her eyes were half-closed but her infatuation was quite apparent within them.

When she drew back she slumped back onto my body. She then rested her lips on my right shoulder and let her cheek snuggle up close to my neck.

“You know we’ve got to get to school. You’ve got your first midterm to retake today.”

“Yeah, I know. I won’t let all the effort you put in to help me study go to waste.”

Even for me, I was struggling to battle back the desire to push her down right now. She’d come onto me far too strong.

With that being the case I decided to throw things into her court and see what she wanted to do. However… I naturally wouldn’t give it to her so easily. I’d definitely make her work for it.

“Rosa, for today’s study session, after your midterm, your reward is that you’ll be able to do whatever you want to me.” For her the way she was right now, I felt like that was the sort of reward that would motivate her the most.

“Oh? Are you sure about that? What if I ask for something unreasonable?”

“To prevent that, it can’t be anything that goes beyond the rewards I’ve given you.”

“Hmm… I see.”

“BUT, I’ll also give you one more reward opportunity. If you can get 100% on every midterm you retake before any penalties for it being a retake midterm, I will fulfill a request of yours… within reason, of course, but this one can be something on a level beyond the rewards I’ve previously offered you and I will also do it regardless of the time or place.”

“Are you sure you want to give me that sort of reward?”

“Are you saying I shouldn’t place any trust in you when you’ve placed your trust both body and mind in me?”

“I might make you do something you don’t want to do though.”

“Like?” I sought clarification.

“Something… sexual?”

“I did say within reason. If it doesn’t go too far… I can consent.” I didn’t say I would or I wouldn’t for certain, just that I’d consider it depending on how far it is that she intends to take things.

“I assume you mean going home is a no-go, but anything before going home is okay. Is this assumption of mine correct?” She sought clarification in a rather convoluted roundabout way.

“If it’s not going home, then sure, I can fulfill it.”

“Alright.” An expectant smile formed on her face when she confirmed my response.

“Are you only offering these rewards because you think I won’t be able to succeed?”

“That’s for me to know and you to find out, isn’t it?”

“If you get the rug pulled out from under you, don’t cry to me~”

“Please do pull it out, I’d like to be the first to see this nonexistent rug as I don’t stand on rugs.”

She seemed a bit confused by my words, but I didn’t bother to explain.

After that, she twisted about under the sheet and wrapped her body up in it. She stood up and returned to her room where she got dressed for school.

We attended school as usual without any problems. She successfully retook her midterm and secured her first 100%. Though Mr. Oz dropped it down to 90% as a penalty for having been put into a position where she had to retake it in the first place.

After school, we went on with our usual routines. We met up at her place after my shift and we studied for the midterm the following day. When finished it was test time as usual.

The test I made for her wasn’t actually hard at all compared to the things we covered during the study session. It was quite easy to get a good score on it. Was I letting her win though?

Well… looking at the frustration on her face right now told a completely different story. I observed her as she struggled and was tripped up on the very first question.

Was she choking on the test?

No, she wasn’t. She couldn’t possibly be blamed for this at all.

The one to blame here was none other than the sole person who prepared her test.

Eventually, she let out a small sigh then moved on with the test and completed the rest of the questions with ease. She returned back to the original question and try and try as she may, she couldn’t solve it.

Why couldn’t she solve it?

She herself knew the answer to that.

It was something rather ruthless I’d done. Something that was meant to crush her spirit.

She could solve it partially, but not the entire way. It was something that required knowledge outside the scope of what I’d taught her. Though, it was still not impossible to solve even if that was the case. One could make a sequence of guesses and that messy guesswork could lead them to the final solution. I was ruthless but I would at the very least leave a path open, albeit a narrow one.

Sadly, it appeared she’d run out of ideas on how to tackle the problem I’d presented to her. Still, I couldn’t help admiring her for her efforts. She’d tried and tried again despite her failure. She also made the correct choice by skipping it, completing the rest of the test, and then coming back to tackle it again.

She’d never been forced into that sort of situation until now, and when taking a test, knowing the strength of the opponent is key. You should naturally start with the weakest, easiest problem to solve and work your way up in difficulty rather than getting hung up dedicated to solving the hardest one that may very well be the first to show up on the test.

I’d wanted to teach her this sort of lesson for the future. I just hope she figures it out.

“I can’t solve it. You’re unfair. I worked so hard and you did something cheap like this?”

“You say it’s cheap, but haven’t you just had it too easy up to this point?”

“What do you mean?”

“You haven’t learned what it is to truly struggle or any valuable test-taking strategies up until now such as how to properly manage your time. Take this defeat to heart and learn from it. The things you did during this test are very valuable lessons.”

“Hmph! You sound like an old man.”

“Anyway, this is how you solve it. The remaining half of the problem is not something that you can typically solve with the knowledge you currently have. Though that may be the case, there is the option of guesswork where you can luckily stumble upon the answer, but the odds of getting that lucky are pretty low. This isn’t something you really need to know right now, but this is how you complete the last half.” I wrote out the remainder of the solution to arrive at the final answer.

When she saw it she sighed and complained, “So that’s what it was. I almost had it.”

“Too bad, but almost isn’t good enough for full marks. You do still get half marks on the question for answering it halfway. Just remember, even if you can’t solve a question all the way, as long as you show your work and the steps you took, you can still get something for all that effort.”

“Yeah, yeah. What about the reward you offered though?”

“Well, naturally you didn’t get full marks so that’s a no, right?”

Her shoulders slumped down dejectedly on the table while looking up at me with a cute pout.

“You’re just bullying me all the time, it’s not fair.”

“If you want to bully me back you’ll just need to try again, won’t you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Just get full marks on the next test, duh. Did I ever say just because you failed once you can’t try again?”

She sat up with rejuvenated hope and asked, “Then tomorrow if I get full marks I can still have the same reward?”

“Yeah, so try your hardest.”

“Mmm. Mmm. Yeah, I’ll definitely win next time.”