Gate Guardian - Song of the Frozen Soul 96 YOU GUYS SHOULD CHECK OUT THIS SOCIAL EXPERIMEN

The peacefulness of having no pending deaths makes feel safe and sound. It's like I'm free again, unable to worry about anything that may happen to all of us.

I was already on my school desk twenty minutes before our morning classes would start. I got so extremely punctual because I just withdrew my first salary as a member of Aether Crusade from the ATM inside our school.

I have so much money right now, and Amy said that there will be the second, third, and fourth batch of our incoming salaries. With this compensation, I'd better off not finishing senior high and continue being a Gate Guardian.

No. I shouldn't think like that. I still have a dream of finishing college. Besides, this money's worthless. It may trigger my inner greed to the extreme and I might turn into a Cursed Guardian again. I can't afford to transform into a tentacled creature and attempt to murder my friends.

I turned around and saw my pervert classmates Andrew and Nichols. They are watching some movie on a phone, and they are both wearing headsets via Bluetooth. I can tell that they're both watching a porno again.

I just thought of a terrible experiment.

"Hey, Nichols." I waved at my classmate. Nichols ignored me and continued to invest in his boner. But then I made a critical hit by uttering these words: "You want ten thousand bucks?"

"What?" Nichols tilted his head.

"Would you kiss Andrew's lips for ten thousand bucks?" I made a devilish grin.

"Hell no! I would never-"

I immediately reached bundles of cash from my pocket and slapped it to his face. The impact should have hurt his nose, but Nichols didn't care. His eyes are now filled with the dollar sign.

And then… He glared at his best friend with desperation. Andrew noticed him, and now he's nervously laughing as he mutters under his voice: "You can't be serious!"

But Nichols is serious. He's now crawling towards Andrew and squeezed his face, forbidding him to flee. And now the peaceful school morning was polluted by Andrew's dying screams.

"W-Wait, bro! Don't fall into money's temptations! W-Wait! Whaaaaa!!!"

Smooch.

Amy is right. Money is a powerful temptation. Greed is terrifying.

<>

The bell rang from the tenth floor of the campus, signaling the end of the day. Our last period, which is Macho Steel's world history class, has finally dismissed. As the students went out of the room, I noticed that Macho Steel summoned Tiara's attention. I happen to eavesdrop on their conversation.

"You need to study well for the incoming finals. You shouldn't let your part-time job and extracurricular activities ruin your studies." Then Macho Steel gave out her quiz paper. 53/100, it's pretty bad. The passing score is 80.

"I-I-I'm sorry Mr. Kent!" Tiara politely bowed. "I-I'll give my best in the upcoming exams!"

Macho Steel apparently found out that I was able to see and hear everything. I'm just hiding behind Tiara's back, actually. "Why wouldn't you help her, Mister Eisenhower?"

"M-Me?" I pointed my own face. "Why are you always assigning me to stick with her? What am I, Tiara's babysitter?"

"Well, you got a high score of 96/100. You're the second best student in this subject. You better help your girlfriend here."

"G-G-G-Girlfriend!?" Tiara gasped as her face reddened. "M-M-Mr. Kent! W-W-W-We're not l-l-lovers!"

"It's your job to teach students, and it's rude to pass that responsibility to others." I coldly said to Macho Steel.

"I'll give you one of my gaming PCs after finals."

"Really? I'll do my best to teach Tiara!" I shift to a smiley face as I pumped my fist.

I made a glance at my idiotic friend, who has her eyes sparkling like stars. She has this bright smile that can only be seen if you give a kid a sweet candy.

"T-Thank you for helping me, Rikkun~"

<>

Now let's skip to my tutoring services. Before we ever start, I let Tiara babble some nonsense.

"Rikkun! I'll do my best, so you do your best too!" Tiara is getting pumped up like an excited pup wagging her tail. "Don't discuss things so fast! Let's just pretend that you see me like an idiot!"

"I'm not pretending." I said with a sigh. I scanned the notes and then started to discuss. "Without further ado, let's begin... So in 1933 the Holocaust-"

Tiara immediately raised her hand. "Y-You already lost me."

She has no future at all!

I went out of the room crying and begging for help to the smartest person in the house.

"Amy, please help me!" I cried to my childhood friend.

I can't imagine myself being a private tutor. The last time I became a teacher, I got smacked, strangled, and joggled. I really don't have the talent for teaching stuff. And Amy is the only one who can help me. She's used to teaching idiots.

"I don't have the luxury to help you in this trifling matter. I still have to do some documents to be submitted to the Black Cross."

"At least let me borrow your history notes..." I forced a smile.

"Hmph!" Amy turned away. She's on bitchy tsundere mode. Maybe she's angry thinking that I took the offer just to spend more private time with Tiara. Girls tend to overreact to a man's choices.

"I'm not doing this for Tiara. Macho Steel said that he'll give me a PC unit if Tiara gets high grades in the finals…"

"So that's how it is." Amy sighed. "How about this? I'll give you my notes, and you owe me a d...date. I-I mean, a friendly date!"

It took me a while to process that. Me and Amy, dating? That's one of my childhood dreams that has been dissolved a long time ago.

But dating my childhood friend and first love… I think it's worth a try. It's not like Tiara will get jealous or anything.

"F-Fine…"

Amy grabbed her bag and presented me her question-and-answer reviewer notebook. "Here. You better hold your end of the bargain!"

"Of course." I said as I patted her head. Now she's getting flustered and lovestruck, and steam may sprout from her ears at any moment.

I'll do anything for the PC Master Race.

<>

After getting the notes, I finally went to the living room where Tiara is sitting on the sofa like a princess, eating chocolate pocky sticks. I'm quite hungry, and I can already taste the chocolate on my tongue just by seeing her eat. I got a weird craving right now.

"Can I have one?" I tried to reach the box of biscuit sticks in her right hand, but then she moved it away from me!

"Nope~" Tiara said with curled eyebrows. This witch is too selfish when it comes to food!

"Just one bite! Please~" I tried to reach it for the second time, but she moved the box again! I tried catching the box over and over but I can't swipe it away from her hands!

"I won't let you eat my favorite snack!" Tiara said with a smug on her face. She just enjoys teasing me like a hungry kid! And to make me feel worse, she drew another chocolate stick and stuck it on her mouth, and gave me a teehee face!

"Y-You selfish gluttonous witch!"

All of a sudden, I pressed my face towards her, which made her astounded. Her cheeks become rosy strawberry as we held an eye-to-eye contact. While she was stunned, I took the opportunity to bite a half of the chocolate biscuit stick that was stuck in her mouth.

"Mmmmmph!!!" Tiara's eyes widened in shock. Now she's getting a lovestruck syndrome!

She's already wide open, so I snatched the box of chocolate sticks from her hand. Then I sat on the sofa on the opposite side as I watch her jaws hang as she breathes like an asthmatic.

"Does your lips feel good?" I said with a smirk.

"R-R-Rikkun!!!" Tiara exclaimed. She bowed to hide her blush. And because of that, she completely forgot everything about her favorite snack.

I'm getting the hang of teasing the girls. It's quite amusing and adorable. Seeing those girls' faces turn to red is priceless.

"Let's move on." I made a sigh as I presented the reviewer that Amy gave me. "Read and answer the questions at the back of each chapter."

Tiara deeply inhaled and exhaled to put herself back into reality. She looked at me with a determined face and then glared with the full willpower to the reviewer. Then she pumped her fists!

"R-Right!... With determination, I… refuse to study!"

"Good- Wait, what?"

Then she grabbed another box of choco biscuit sticks in her pocket and proceeded to chow.

"You should study for your finals!" I exclaimed as I try to swipe that snack away from her hands, but she evaded it.

"I already know my shortcomings, Rikkun." She said as she gave me her flunking test papers.

Everything is abnormal in this exam paper. She got 53/100, but all her answers on the first page are correct. Perfect, to be precise. She got all 53 questions right. But when I turned to the second page, it was blank. It's so clean.

"I forgot that the quiz was a two-pager… Ahahahaha~" Tiara scratched her head.

I don't even know if she's classified as a genius or an idiot. But moreover...

Great. Now I owe that runt a date for nothing.

Chapter end