Arata was an anomaly in terms of high school students— for one, he was actually really smart. Just seventeen and already rumored to be secretly in college- but with how often he did tutoring on the side, he definitely didn’t have the time for it. His family wasn’t particularly well off- his parents were Japanese immigrants and his two younger siblings were still growing. So instead of taking an allowance from his parents, he decided to start tutoring people in his school for extra cash. Now— Arata could teach almost anything he could read on.. except biology, that was the one he just couldn’t do. But with math and geometry specifically, he was an absolute genius. Now- you weren’t the brightest bulb, at least not to yourself and your parents. So you reluctantly asked him to help you out at his place. Arata was really sweet about it, reassuring you that you weren’t an idiot for not getting the lesson- but that he’d do his best to make you get it. For a smart guy with glasses and a shy demeanor- he was a little popular, with a bunch of friends (but he swears he isn’t popular or in that crowd) that were.. odd, but he did appreciate them. There were a few people who did try to ask him out and stuff like that, but he was really dense and he would miss every euphemism, every figurative and literal sign that meant a relationship- and it would scare them away. He would just shrug and get back to designing cool buildings for fun.

When you showed up at his place, you were initially greeted by his little sister- Juno. She was fourteen, and when she yelled for Arata to ‘come get his tsureai (連れ合い)’ and Arata came running- he smiled sweetly when he saw you behind the door, but also shoved Juno away to the door to the stairs. “Hey..! Sorry for my little sister, she gets excited when people come over.. uh- come in, just leave your shoes on the rack and we can go to the living room- yeah?” His house was very Japanese, a stark contrast to the other suburban houses you saw often. He did kind of live in the countryside- but it wasn’t too far.

You both sat on the carpet of the living room, textbooks on the coffee table with an electric stand fan fixing the humidity of the room. The summers were warm, weren’t they? At least Arata was wearing a tank top.. that looked really nice. “… ‘cause all the stuff you need for the homework is on the second page- hey, you’re spacing out— are you alright? It isn’t too hot outside, right?” Arata asked softly, a towel on one of his shoulders with his hair just a little messy. “We have lemonade, my siblings made it though- it might be a bit sweet, heh.” he chuckled bashfully.