All the Heroines are my Ex-girlfriends

Chapter 93: "Megumi Likes It This Way?" "Mm"

"Huh, who would bother competing with such a little brat..."

Sainokami Ika didn't even get to finish her sentence before Yukima Azuma's cold glare silenced her completely.

He pulled Hinatsuru Ai in front of him, placed both hands on her shoulders, and introduced her:

"This is Hinatsuru Ai, my disciple. If you want to play against me, you'll have to beat Ai first."

"Sainokami Ika, you're always going on about talent and genius. But Ai is someone whose talent surpasses yours."

"Playing against Ai shouldn't leave you dissatisfied, right?"

Hearing this, Sainokami Ika's gaze shifted to Hinatsuru Ai.

This kid… has talent greater than mine?

At least seventy percent of Sainokami Ika didn't believe that statement.

The remaining thirty percent was only because the words came from Yukima Azuma, so she reluctantly listened.

"Go ahead, tame her."

Yukima Azuma patted Hinatsuru Ai's shoulder, entrusting her with this significant task.

Hinatsuru Ai nodded firmly, then stepped toward the shogi board.

Sora Ginko approached Yukima Azuma, her face clearly worried.

"That brat... is she going to be okay?"

"Don't worry, senpai." Yukima Azuma reassured her gently.

"As for what Sainokami said earlier, don't let it bother you."

"At the end of the day, she hasn't reached the level where talent becomes crucial to advancing further."

"She's just an arrogant person riding on a bit of talent. The next time you face her, you'll most likely win."

Yukima Azuma's words were entirely true.

Talent only fully reveals itself when one reaches a certain height.

Before reaching the critical level of Lv7, talent is almost unnecessary.

With diligent learning and practice, skills improve significantly.

Sainokami Ika's shogi skills were definitely not at Lv7.

If they were, she'd already be a true professional player.

Always going on about talent.

She's just untrained.

A single game against a Meijin would humble her.

One game would be enough to shatter Sainokami Ika's so-called talent.

Hearing Yukima Azuma's comforting words, Sora Ginko's heart instantly felt lighter.

"I'll go take a look. You carry on with your work."

After saying this, Sora Ginko walked over to the shogi board to act as referee.

Yukima Azuma casually shut the door to the room.

Then, he turned to the remaining three girls.

"All right, while they play shogi, we've got our own tasks. It's time to start studying."

Kasumigaoka Utaha immediately excused herself.

She planned to go back and sleep.

Last night, she'd stayed up late writing, so she went to bed very late.

If not for the noisy commotion in the house this morning, she wouldn't have woken up at all.

...

Yukima Azuma led the other two girls to the study corner on the second floor.

Eriri needed to review math and English.

Kato Megumi, on the other hand, focused on history and literature.

Sitting at the study desks in the corner, Yukima Azuma grabbed a test prep book from a nearby shelf.

It was a collection of exams he had organized with Kirisu Mafuyu earlier—practically the gold standard for test prep.

"Eriri, start with math. Megumi, work on literature. Once you're done, I'll explain any mistakes."

"English and history are more about memorization, so I'll supervise you two this afternoon."

Yukima Azuma had planned out the entire day.

Thus, the two girls quietly began working on their assignments.

....

Time passed slowly.

Eriri was the first to put down her pen.

It wasn't because she finished faster than Kato Megumi.

She just gave up earlier.

When people are pushed to their limits, they can accomplish almost anything.

But math problems are a different story.

With math, if you can't solve it, you simply can't solve it.

Eriri's test paper was left with large sections blank.

Yukima Azuma helplessly picked up the test paper.

First, he looked over the questions Eriri had answered.

Sigh... utterly unbearable.

"Eriri, let me see your scratch paper... As I suspected, the problem lies in your calculations."

"Remember, multiplication and division come first, followed by addition and subtraction. Even with more complex problems, don't forget the most basic rules."

Yukima Azuma meticulously pointed out Eriri's mistakes.

He also re-taught her how to properly use scratch paper.

This scatterbrain had written all over her scratch paper in a chaotic mess.

There were calculations she could have gotten right.

But because her scratch paper was too cluttered, she misread numbers from earlier steps, leading to errors in later calculations, ultimately ruining the entire problem.

After correcting all her mistakes, Yukima Azuma began explaining the blank questions Eriri had left unanswered.

Once he had gone through most of the problems, Yukima Azuma closed the test paper.

"All right, Eriri, you can take a ten-minute break. Afterward, we'll move on to the next test."

Hearing this, Eriri asked in surprise:

"What about these questions? Don't I need to learn them?"

She pointed to the final fill-in-the-blank question and the last long-form problem.

"No need. These two questions don't significantly impact your overall score."

"But studying them would drain more energy than the entire test combined."

"Knowing when to skip is the smart choice."

After hearing this, Eriri naturally didn't insist.

All she wanted was to pass the exam, not aim for the top of the school rankings or anything like that.

She got up from her seat and ran downstairs.

The test had drained her; she wanted to play on her phone and eat some snacks.

Yukima Azuma's fridge was always stocked with delicious treats.

...

Once Eriri left, Kato Megumi handed in her literature test.

Yukima Azuma scanned through it from start to finish.

The results were much better than Eriri's.

With her current level, Kato Megumi would probably scrape a passing grade in her exams.

But to be safe, it was better to study a bit more.

"This blank space—didn't you have any ideas?"

Yukima Azuma pointed to a question left unanswered.

"Mm, I didn't quite understand it. Since it's just a practice test, I didn't want to guess randomly."

Kato Megumi nodded.

Yukima Azuma took the question and rewrote it on scratch paper in a simpler form.

"I can [blank] Megumi will have a happy future. Our life together will be [blank] secure."

Filling in the blanks, Yukima Azuma provided an explanation.

On the scratch paper, he wrote down two potential answers.

"'Guarantee' and 'protect.'"

"In Japanese literature, this word means to commit or guarantee, while this one means to protect."

(Note: I don't speak Japanese.)

Yukima Azuma explained.

Kato Megumi nodded.

"So it should be: 'I can guarantee Megumi will have a happy future. Our life together will be protected.' Is that correct?"

"That's right. Next question."

Yukima Azuma pointed to the following problem.

But while explaining, Yukima Azuma suddenly felt something — Kato Megumi's leg lightly brushing against his calf.

Azuma blinked in surprise.

Then, he smiled gently and said:

"Megumi, you need to focus when studying."

Kato Megumi nodded.

"Mm."

Her response sounded like a soft, delicate murmur.

What's more, the sensation on his leg didn't go away.

As he continued explaining, Kato Megumi quietly murmured:

"Azuma-san... I'm finding it hard to focus."

Yukima Azuma couldn't help but feel exasperated.

Pulling stunts like this under the table and still expecting to concentrate? That's rich.

"Megumi, do you enjoy this kind of thing?"

"Mm."

"But you really need to focus on your studies right now."

"Even if you say that, the person making it hard for me to focus is Azuma-san."

"Huh? Are you blaming me now?"

"No, I'm not!"

Kato Megumi poked Yukima Azuma's side with her finger.

Azuma started to feel that something wasn't quite right.

Her words and actions didn't match up.

So both of them looked down under the table.

What they saw was... Shiratamaru.

The white cat was under the table, rubbing its head against Yukima Azuma's leg while its tail softly brushed against Kato Megumi's.

Yukima Azuma picked Shiratamaru up and gave it a light pat on its rear.

"Nyan!" Shiratamaru nyaned, then leapt away to a corner.

The two refocused their attention on the test.

But the atmosphere had turned a bit awkward.

As Yukima Azuma continued explaining, he couldn't help but think back to their earlier exchange.

How should he put it... It was a little embarrassing.

But when he had asked if Megumi enjoyed it, she had replied with "Mm."

So… she liked it?

Liked what, exactly?

While pondering this, Yukima Azuma shifted his leg slightly toward Kato Megumi.

But just as he moved a little, he felt something soft again.

"Shiratamaru!"

Both of them called out at the same time.

"Nyan?"

Shiratamaru peeked out from behind a bookshelf nearby.

Seeing that Shiratamaru wasn't under the table this time, the two looked at each other in silence.

Shiratamaru, noticing that no one was paying attention to it, tilted its head in confusion.

Then, it trotted down the stairs and out of sight.

Eriri rushed upstairs holding a plate of pastries, spoon in hand, and immediately took a bite.

"Umm, this cake is delicious... Huh? How are you two doing? Weren't you supposed to be studying?"

She noticed the strange atmosphere between the two of them.

A question mark appeared over her head as she continued to eat her cake without missing a beat.

...

The morning study session quickly passed.

Eriri was still a bit worried about her math, but she was likely to pass the test.

She planned to reinforce it tomorrow.

Before the actual exam, she would review the practice work, and it should be fine.

As for Kato Megumi's literature, there were no issues at all.

She made fast progress.

Yukima Azuma let both of them review their mistakes.

He then headed downstairs.

He ran into Sora Ginko coming out of a room.

Yukima Azuma walked up to her, looking into the room.

Sainokami Ika was lying on the tatami, her shirt disheveled, looking like she had been playing around too much.

Yukima Azuma couldn't help but feel a little helpless.

That pervert, still hasn't given up on the habit of stripping while playing shogi.

On the other side of the board, Hinatsuru Ai had tears all over her face, clearly having cried.

However, her expression now was one of determination and joy.

Just by looking at their faces, it was easy to guess what had happened on the chessboard.

Hinatsuru Ai was the best at reading the endgame.

Sainokami Ika must have pressured her tightly in the first half of the game.

But, after learning from Yukima Azuma,

Despite still being a girl who cried easily, Hinatsuru Ai's ability to handle pressure had become incredibly strong.

With her resistance, the game had gone on long enough for the endgame to come into play.

In the end, Hinatsuru Ai, using her excellent endgame skills, had turned the tide.

It must have been something like that.

"Shishou! Ai won!"

Hinatsuru Ai saw Yukima Azuma arrive and immediately jumped up, running over to him.

Yukima Azuma reached out and ruffled her hair.

"Great job. After a while, I'll take you to participate in some practice matches and official tournaments. My disciple is about to become famous."

Upon hearing Yukima Azuma's praise,

Hinatsuru Ai's eyes lit up, and her Ahoge on top of her head swayed happily.

"Don't spoil her too much, or she'll become overconfident and foolish like that idiot lying over there."

Sora Ginko grumbled disapprovingly.

"Ai won't be like that!"

Hinatsuru Ai retorted loudly.

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