Ohara was right behind him. I was tempted to wave her off, hoping she would take Jun back where he came from. This was supposed to be my day off. But she didn't. Instead, she beckoned me over with an open hand.

The entire room was focused on my every move.

“Nakatomi-san will join the math club. Please make him welcome,” she said to the entire room. Then she spoke quietly to the two of us. “Here you can help each other. I depend on you to be mutually beneficial.” And then she left.

I looked at Jun and muttered, “What is she talking about?”

He laughed softly. “You think I signed up for this? I was all for martial arts, but Ohara decided more math was in order. I guess this is supposed to be a fantastic opportunity for us to better ourselves with respect to our deficiencies.”

“Math?” I raised my eyebrow at him.

Jun shrugged. “Not my best subject.”

“Well, this is a fantastic placement for you then.” I tried not to roll my eyes. Ohara’s arrival seemed to signal to the group that it was time to do some actual math-related activities. Hirota even straightened out his uniform.

Jun sat in the desk beside mine with his characteristic slouch. At least we had some space between us here. And I could finally set the sudoku aside. I grabbed one of the easier looking problem sets and Jun provided me with a rough translation. Then he started on his own work—past due homework for math class.

Once I had worked my way through my own problem, I turned to Jun. I wondered how bad his deficiency was. “Let’s see the fruits of your labors.” I took a glance at his paper. There were numbers, but they made no sense. “Seriously? Are you even trying?”

Jun shrugged.

“This is trash. What does Ohara think will happen here, exactly? That I’m some kind of miracle worker? I’m good at math, not good at teaching people who can’t handle basic arithmetic.”

“Hell if I know what she’s thinking.” Jun crumpled up his paper and tossed it into the recycling bin. “Doesn’t matter. They’ll pass me anyway. Easier than telling my father that they can’t figure out how to teach me. It’s happened every year.”

I frowned. “That’s crap.”

“Doesn’t bother me.”

I was really pissed now, because for some stupid reason, the challenge of getting Jun to pass math was competing with my dislike of him as a human being. I wondered if my tutoring would have any impact on my academic standing. I was willing to bet that was the case. Which made the whole situation even more irritating.

Of course the fact remained I had no idea how to teach math to someone who made obvious errors in basic arithmetic. Whose answers seemed randomly chosen. Yelling at him that he was stupid and making fun of him (Jun’s brilliant strategy) was probably not going to be the most effective. Although it was sorely tempting.

I was off the hook at least for a little while, because club time came to an end and I could finally head home. Where I could contemplate the best way of dealing with this new and unpleasant wrinkle.

My deficiency at least made sense. His was a puzzle. And I hated any puzzle I couldn’t solve.

*

When my dad came home I was deeply immersed in one of the apps on my phone that promised to make me fluent in Japanese. So far it hadn’t worked, but I was willing to try anything that would mean less time with Nakatomi.

“You’re home early,” I said.

He nodded. “The boss was out sick today, so we got a reprieve.”

“Some people have all the luck.”

“Still want to dispose of your Japanese tutor?” my dad asked.

“Not polite to read my mind.”

He shrugged. “Well, when you spend all your spare time on language learning apps—hey I wasn’t spying, I only happened to notice—there’s gotta be a reason. Or maybe you have someone in your sights?”

I made gagging noises. “No. Just. No.”

My dad held out his hands in surrender. “I didn’t mean your hideous tutor. That’s a given. But there could be some other guy. Someone from your class, or maybe from math club?”

I raised an eyebrow. “I’m not sure that Japan has discovered homosexuals yet. At least not at the high school level. And those rich kids? Not enough combined brain power between the lot of them to be of interest. Even if any of them were remotely gay. Which I’m reasonably certain they are not.”

“So I shouldn’t be preparing to meet my son-in-law at this point?”

“Yeah, um… no.” My dad had yet to meet any of my “boyfriends.” After the Anders fiasco I hadn’t seen anyone more than a few times. Romance wasn’t really my thing.

“Honestly, you have a better chance of meeting a daughter-in-law at this point.”

My dad laughed quite loudly at that. “I see.”

Over dinner it occurred to me to ask my dad for advice on how to work with Jun. He was currently working as a teacher, after all, even if it was only temporary. “Any pointers for students who are dumb as rocks?”

“You’re teaching now?” My dad looked confused.

“Not by choice. Apparently, Nakatomi sucks at math and I’m supposed to fix that.”

My dad templed his fingers. “Well first of all, try not to think of your student as an imbecile.”

I shook my head. “Well, that’s off the table. What else have you got?”

He frowned thoughtfully. “How bad are we talking here?”

“Honestly? Dreadful. But I’m not sure exactly how bad.”

My dad rubbed his chin. “I’d start with an aptitude test. Find out what he knows, what he needs to know, play to his strengths. He must have some.”

“You’d think so… and yet I’m fairly certain that you’re wrong.”

I found a bunch of placement tests on the web. We didn’t have a printer, which sucked. I actually stooped to copying one of the tests with pencil and paper. It was fifty questions long and I had a cramp in my hand by the time I was done, but if it got me a reprieve from Nakatomi Junichi, it was time well spent.

I spent the rest of the evening trying out different language apps. I was still hard at work when my dad was ready to turn in for the evening.

“Wow. You really don’t like the kid.”

“You have no idea.”