Humming a tune to herself, Ranko scratched at the paper on the table in front of her with a stubby pink pencil bearing an advertisement for a brand of vodka. She’d just finished oiling down the wood paneling of the bar counter. It hadn’t been done in a while, and she was taking an even greater pride in the place than she had before. It had long been her place of employment, and even her home, but now she thought of the little hole in the wall bar as her own private concert venue.
The front door swung open with a sudden bang, and Yui stumbled in, lugging two huge canvas tote bags. “What the…!” Ranko jumped, her chair falling backward and dumping her onto the floor. One of the bar stools behind her fell over onto her head, eliciting a yelp and a low groan.
Yui giggled, setting her bags down on the closest table. “You alright over there, miss graceful?”
“I’ll live. What the heck are you doing here so early?” Ranko stood, dusting off the gray T-shirt and red skirt she wore with a sigh.
“I am here for you,” Yui said, smiling broadly.
Ranko sighed. “Yeah, but why? Who put rocket fuel in your coffee? Last I checked, you don’t start breathing until 11:30.”
Yui picked up the first of her canvas bags, dumping its contents onto the table. She then did the same with the other bag. Out poured several thick books, composition notebooks and pencils. “School’s in session, kiddo.”
The redhead laughed, picking up a trigonometry book. “And you’re going to teach me all this? You sure?”
Yui nodded sternly. “Hey, I happened to be number three in my graduating class, thank you very much, missy.”
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“Okay, headmistress. If you say so,” Ranko said with a giggle.
“Besides, I told you I was going to, didn’t I?” Yui waved a ruler at her with a smirk, the price tag still dangling from one of the holes through it. “Keep being a smartass, and I’ll make you put on that skimpy school uniform you’ve got upstairs.”
Ranko raised her hands in surrender, laughing it off. She really shouldn’t have kept that stupid thing from Takao’s house of horrors, but a part of her had secretly hoped Akane might like it. She hated the thing, but she’d have tried just about anything that might get that girl to touch her that way. “Alright, alright, damn! You win! Sheesh! So, how do we do this? What’s the plan, teach?”
Yui stacked up the books so that the spines all faced the same direction. “I figure, we pick a subject, work on it until you feel comfortable, and move on to the next one. What looks interesting?”
“Chocolate cake and a nap. But I’m guessing you mean the books.” Ranko scanned the spines as Yui laughed. “Let’s see here. Trigonometry. Algebra. Japanese modern history…” She looked up with a quizzical expression. “101 Refreshing Cocktails for Summer?”
Yui blushed. “Shit, that one’s mine.”
Ranko giggled. “Shame, that one I might have understood.” She picked up the last book on the stack. “This one, I think.”
Her new instructor craned her neck to read the title of the volume in Ranko’s hand. “Conversational English, huh?”
“Yeah,” Ranko said, blushing. “I think I’d like to know more of what the songs I sing actually say, ya know?”
Yui smiled. “Seems like as good a reason as any. Alright, you. Go get reading, and I’ll quiz you on the first chapter in an hour or so.”
Ranko returned to the table she’d been sitting at, and after a few moments, her instructor came by and peeked over her shoulder. She was progressing through the chapter at a fairly decent pace. A loose-leaf sheet of lined paper poked out from under the book, on which only a single word was visible at the top, in English: RISE.
“What’s that?”
Ranko turned. “What’s what?”
Yui pointed down at the sheet of paper. “Rise?”
The redhead blushed, tucking the paper quickly under her book. “It’s nothing.”
Yui chuckled. “Alright, little sister. Keep your secrets.”