Liar, Liar - Volume 5 - Chapter 3.1

Chapter 3

The Ruthlessly Tactical Double Date

After watching Mano go off to try her luck with Fujishiro, I looked over the details of the next quest with Saionji. That night, I was looking at my DearScript orders one more time.

On the screen was Nanase Asamiya herself—playing with her bright blond hair to ward off the nerves, occasionally stealing a glance at the camera. She was a Six Star from Class 3-A of Eimei in her third year of high school. She had done some modeling work in the past, which was obvious from the amount of work she’d put into perfecting her look. She was also a great athlete, with incredible perception skills and genius-level coordination…which is to say, she seemed surprisingly physical.

Her message went like this:

“Um…so, yeah, I’m Nanase Asamiya, the client. Thanks for taking me.

“But let me get one thing straight first—people treat this as some kind of love advice thing, but my situation is a bit different. I mean, I’m not in love with Shinji at all… In fact, I totally hate him. I’d rather be alone any day of the week than have him as my boyfriend.

“But putting that aside for a second…everyone has someone like that in their life, right? A member of the opposite sex they’re with all the time but who never sees them like ‘that’…as a woman. That’s kind of…you know, I think the general opinion would be that it’s weird, right? I don’t care how Shinji feels at all—like, I’m completely not interested—but if the way he acts means I’m not attractive at all…well, that’d kind of suck.

“I mean, Shinji’s, like, incredibly popular with girls. They’ve kind of dwindled lately, but he’s had a ton of would-be girlfriends ask him to go out with them. I guess he turns them down every time…but maybe he’ll take the next offer he sees, you know? What if someone way cuter than me asks him out on a date? Or maybe they’ll be smart and well-mannered like him, not some girl who keeps arguing with him day in, day out? I’ve started to think about that lately, and…you know, it’s gotten me down, in kind of a weird way.

“So…since I got a reply from Meetia and all, I thought I might as well ask for a little help.

“Here’s what I want, basically. I’d like you to show me and Shinji exactly what a ‘normal date’ is like, you know? Or more like, act one out for us…and, you know, once he sees that, even someone as oblivious as Shinji ought to start thinking about me a little more, don’t you think? There’d be more of, like, a good mood between us…

“B-but it’s not like I want us to be like that or anything! No way! Though I’m not doing this just to have a laugh at his expense, either. So…please help!”

“…I see.”

I’d watched the message a number of times by now, but it was still such a huge shock that all I could do was sit there scowling with my arms crossed. In the video, Asamiya definitely seemed to be talking about the same thing I’d been asked to do for the second quest—it wasn’t some unrelated thing at all. But still…

“She wants to see a sample date, huh…?”

I couldn’t help but say the words out loud. No matter how many times I read the details of the quest, it was nothing at all like what I’d anticipated.

The first quest in the Unique Star competition had been built around Rainbow Pâtisserie—a kind of pseudo-Game—so I figured we’d have some other Game to tackle in the second quest, too. But now that it was revealed, it was a date, of all things? Saionji had also been stunned into silence, and I could understand why.

“This is a little unexpected, though,” said Himeji, her silver hair swaying gently as she placed a teacup in front of me.

“If I may,” she whispered, still in her maid outfit. She sat next to me, her clear blue eyes looking into mine. “Ms. Asamiya has been wholly unable to hide her attachment to Mr. Enomoto for as long as I’ve known them…but I do think, at least, that she’s been trying to keep it a secret. It’s certainly a surprise to see her so honest with her feelings.”

“Yeah…or, really, I think she’s still meaning to hide them. She denied it multiple times in the video.”

“Oh? …Oh. You’re right, yes.”

Himeji’s eyes widened for a moment, but then she nodded. The evidence was clear.

But anyway, back to the matter at hand—the second quest of the Unique Star competition revolved around helping Nanase Asamiya with her love life. For me, the victory conditions were, “Go on a date with a member of the opposite sex to serve as a ‘dating guide’ for the client.” Do that, and I win the quest; fail, and Saionji wins it all.

“However,” said a questioning Himeji as her silver hair fell around her shoulders, “showing her a sample date is a rather abstract way to describe the victory conditions, don’t you think? For example, Master, you and I live alone, so you might be able to stretch the meaning of that enough to call it a ‘home date,’ right?”

“A… A home date…?”

“Stop acting so embarrassed, Master. If a man asks a woman to put on a maid outfit during a home date, that takes on a certain warped meaning… Regardless, what I’m trying to say is that the gamemaster has a lot of leeway in determining whether you beat this quest or not. Having such ambiguous rules shouldn’t normally be allowed.”

The term home date had a sort of sweet echo to it that almost made my brain shut down, but Himeji remained expressionless, her finger in the air as she spoke. And she had a good point. I had no idea how you were supposed to judge how “successful” a date was.

But the solution to that was actually all written up in the DearScript rules.

“Well, it looks like I’m being provided with a checklist of things to do this time. It’s a list of six things Asamiya described as her ‘ideal date,’ and if I can check them all off, the date’s a success. But I only get one shot at this date—and it’s next Sunday, June 5.”

“I see… So you don’t have total freedom in this date. If you’re given some guidance, I suppose it’s more like a Game than I first thought.”

“Yeah. So here’s the list.”

I tapped the device on the table to open up the DearScript app again. Scrolling down to the bottom of the second quest page, I saw a list of six items required for a successful date. They were:

General — Hold hands.

Movie Theater — Spontaneously look into each other’s eyes during a romantic scene.

Café — One partner has the other say “ahh,” then feeds them the strawberry from a parfait.

Shopping — The girl tries on something at a store, and the man compliments her.

Amusement Park — Watch the parade sitting shoulder to shoulder.

Ferris Wheel — Secretly embrace inside the car.

““…””

The text on the screen blew us away, so much so that all Himeji and I could do was exchange a silent glance. I mean…yeah, I suppose these are pretty standard things to see at some point in a date. Taken individually, there was nothing strange or out of place with any of them. But having them listed in order like a business proposal created this completely unnecessary pressure that pretty much floored me.

“So this is Ms. Asamiya’s idea of an ideal date…? Maybe this is rude of me, but it’s surprisingly idyllic and cute. Like a young girl’s idea of what a date is.”

“That’s a good way of putting it.”

There was something pure and innocent to it. One might even call it naive.

But a Ferris wheel…? I better brace myself for that one.

I shook my head, feeling an aversion to something that didn’t have anything at all to do with dating… For what I suppose are extremely common reasons, out of all the standard theme park attractions, the Ferris wheel was my least favorite. But if it was explicitly listed as part of the quest, then there was no avoiding it.

“Well, ignoring the details for the moment…I’m gonna need to tick every one of these boxes to win the second quest of the Unique Star competition. And just like before, I’ve been given an order that I need to complete.”

I looked down at my device again. My eyes settled on a passage right beneath the quest description and victory conditions.

Order: In addition to Hiroto Shinohara, Nanase Asamiya must also complete an identical checklist. This checklist is independent of Hiroto Shinohara’s; checking a box on one list will not fill it on the other. Her dating partner will be Shinji Enomoto, who must not be made aware of these orders or the quest surrounding them.

“…She has a checklist, too?” Himeji said half-unconsciously, her clear eyes looking at the screen. She brooded over this for a while but eventually looked up, her silver hair rustling a bit as she quietly looked back at me.

“So…the way this works is Ms. Asamiya will be on a date with Mr. Enomoto at the same time as you, Master? And she needs to complete all the items on this checklist as well…? And we’re not allowed to get any help from Mr. Enomoto at all?”

“…Seems so, yeah.”

“That’s…a tall order.”

Himeji shook her head, her voice soft. But that sort of reaction was only to be expected; despite being childhood friends for over ten years, Shinji Enomoto and Nanase Asamiya constantly went at it like cats and dogs. They were both totally compatible and totally in-compatible with each other, capable of working in perfect sync, then arguing for the next three hours straight over nothing. Asamiya was too self-conscious to accept how she really felt about Enomoto—everybody knew that by now. The real problem was Enomoto. Someone as obstinate and oblivious as him probably really didn’t know Asamiya liked him that way. Maybe if we explicitly spelled out everything for him, he wouldn’t mind cooperating with us—he’d probably see it as his duty as student council president. But we were blocked from doing that, even.

“…I suppose the double-date approach would be the most natural way of going about this,” Himeji said, looking me in the eye as she raised her head. “If you’re both tackling the same checklist, it’d be most efficient to do it together. That, and depending on how things work out, the Company could force some of those conditions to happen, if need be. We have to complete both lists, so there’s no reason to split up.”

“Yeah… Those two pretty much have to be there, or it wouldn’t really be a sample date at all. A double date’s the most realistic option. If Asamiya or Enomoto are busy that day, we’re pretty much sunk…but I doubt that’ll be a problem, huh?”

“Likely not, no. Given how smoothly this whole competition with Rina has gone so far, it makes sense to assume that things are being arranged behind our backs. Of course, Mr. Enomoto is known to be so perceptive that he’s called the ‘All-Seeing,’ so we’ll need to be very careful he doesn’t find out about the quest when we invite him… Looking at it this way, the order to keep him in the dark seems quite a bit tougher than the victory conditions. At least it should be very easy to check all the boxes on your list.”

“Oh…? You think?”

“Yes, Master. Unlike Ms. Asamiya, you’re not bound by any rule to keep your date in the dark about the quest, so you can just reveal all this to someone you trust, and the rest will work itself out. Rina will almost certainly try to interfere with you, but if your partner for the date knows the checklist as well, it won’t be that hard to cover all the bases. If you choose someone close to you, Master, then everything should go smoothly.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. Someone close to me, huh…? Oh?”

Just as I’d begun to ponder over who to take, my device began rhythmically vibrating on the table, as if it had been waiting for that very moment. It was an incoming call—or, actually, an incoming video chat. The caller displayed in the window was Noa Akizuki.

“…Is she psychic or something?”

“Maybe.”

Himeji was pouting a little (or so it seemed to me), and I gave her a tight smile as I decided to answer Akizuki’s call. Closing the DearScript app, I projected a fairly large screen and tapped Accept Connection. As soon as I did, a familiar girl’s face filled the screen.

This was Noa Akizuki, a third-year Six Star in the Eimei School nicknamed the Little Devil. She looked small and innocent, and her chestnut-brown, fluffy twin ponytails made her look younger than her years, but her chest had a certain volume that was the exact opposite of all that. The ways she showed off her charms, got close to people, and attracted their attention were all first-class. She was sly that way, knowing full well just how cute she was.

“Eh-heh-heh!  ”

Now she was waving both hands at me, a sweet smile on her face.

“Hello, Hiroto! Long time no see!   Have you been okay, not seeing me for so long?”

“Didn’t we talk yesterday afternoon at school?”

“Right, it’s been a whole day! I called you because I thought you might be feeling lonely by now!   You don’t mind chatting with me a little, do you?”

“Chatting, huh…?”

I suppose I could interpret this as her having no real business apart from killing some time with me. It wasn’t particularly rare for Akizuki to call me like this, but right now her sense of timing was almost miraculous.

Noa Akizuki… A Six Star at Eimei who’ll definitely agree to this if I explain everything. She’s dealt with Saionji before, too. Yep—she’s perfect.

I put my right hand to my mouth as I thought it over, then decided to bring it up right then and there.

“Hey, Akizuki?”

“Yeaaah, Hiroto?”

“Listen, um…if I asked you to pretend to go on a date with me, would that make you angry?”

“Huuuh? What? I’d never get angry at you, Hiroto!   Not over something like a date…and…huh? A…a date…?! Huuuh?!!!”

She had been her usual cute and cunning self at first, but after a little while looking confused, it seemed like Akizuki had finally realized what I was asking for, and she let out a wild shriek. Akizuki put her face closer to the screen, leaning in on her chair.

“Wh-wh-wh-what do you mean, Hiroto?! What do you mean, a date?!!”

“I mean exactly that. Not a real one, though. We’d just be pretending… I’m actually in the middle of a Game with the Empress from Ohga, and as part of that, I’m looking for someone to act as my girlfriend.”

“You want me…to be your girlfriend…?”

Akizuki’s eyes seemed enchanted by the idea, as a light shade of red suffused her cheeks. She stared into space for a moment, murmuring the words. Then she brought both hands to her cheeks, squirming in her seat.

“Eh-heh-heh! Just imagining it makes me feel like I’m floating…  ”

“Floating…? Should I take that as a yes?”

“Of course!   I’ll pretend to be your girlfriend or do anything else you want me to do! …Um…”

Suddenly, I noticed that Akizuki was starting to act a bit weird. I glowered a bit at my device, putting my face closer to it. On the other side, I saw that Akizuki had shed her usual sly demeanor. Now she really was squealing with awkward embarrassment. Her face was dark red as she looked back at me.

“…I, I, I don’t know if I can do this, actually!”

Her eyes were shut tight as she forced the words out.

“I’m sorry, Hiroto! Imagining being your girlfriend and us holding hands and hugging and kissing and stuff… It just makes me so happy I feel like I’ll stop breathing! I mean, you’re really, really special to me, so if I start to picture this as a date, I’ll probably freeze up so bad I won’t be able to speak at all… Eh-heh-heh! I guess I can dish it out, but I can’t take it, huh?  ”

“Aww…”

“So, yeah, sorry! This date talk might be coming a little too soon for me. But I really do wanna help you, Hiroto, so if there’s anything else I can do, don’t be too shy to ask!”

She put her hands together in apology. Even her bowing her head a little like this was so cunningly cute of her. “I’ll ask you out on a real date sometime, okay?  ” she said, giving a devilish little wink before ending the call.

“…So much for that,” I muttered as I turned off the projected screen. With how much she usually flirts with me, I was sure she’d be up for this, but I guess even pretending to be my girlfriend was asking for too much.

“Which, yeah, I get it if she finds it a little embarrassing…but if Akizuki won’t do it…”

“…”

“…Um, Himeji?”

I had been considering who to ask next, my right hand at the corner of my lips, when I realized that Himeji had been rather silent. I raised my head and cautiously turned toward her. Himeji was wearing her usual blank expression, although her lips were pouting a bit. Those clear blue eyes seemed to be driving into me like daggers.

Then…

“…You’re so mean, Master.”

She turned her body, maid uniform and all, toward me.

“I will admit that Ms. Akizuki is a very cute girl, and that she’d be quite suitable for a date-related quest. But don’t you think you’re forgetting something? What need is there to reach out to any other girl when you have an obedient maid who does anything you ask her for right here?”

“…! B-but, that’s…”

“Am I not good enough?”

Himeji leaned up off her seat toward me. A bit of fire lurked beneath the forlornness in her tone.

I’d known from the start, too, of course. Akizuki just happened to call me at exactly the perfect time, but of course I saw Shirayuki Himeji as my first candidate for this pseudo-date. She was my maid, roommate, and classmate, the leader of the Company, and all-around an incredibly admirable young woman. I knew she’d never turn me down…but something unconscious within me was dodging the idea. Why? …Well, because it’d be so awkward, of course. Asking the constantly pushy Akizuki out on a date was one thing, but Himeji? It took a completely different mindset for something like that.

“Because I think I am the most suitable candidate for the job.”

Even as I sat there frozen, her clear eyes looked right into me as she continued speaking.

“I know every aspect of your situation, Master, from start to finish. I am always on your side, no matter what. Performing a date with you would be child’s play.”

“Y-yeah, but…I mean, we’re gonna have to hug and hold hands and stuff…”

“That won’t be a problem, either, Master. I don’t mind you touching me at all, and since it’s the device deciding whether we’ve completed an item or not, as long as we can trick it into checking the box for us, we’ll be fine. For example, we could do it like this…”

“Huh?! Wh-whoa, wait…!”

My voice clearly indicated that I was about to lose my mind, but Himeji ignored it, lightly pacing toward me. Before I knew it, her white-gloved hands were around me—they weren’t directly touching, but it really did look like she was hugging me. Maybe it’d be good enough to trick our devices’ programming, but unfortunately, it led to a mountain of other problems. Her perfectly formed face, pretty enough to make me gasp for air, was now right next to me, and her light breath directly caressed my eardrums. I could even see the nape of her neck now, as pale as a sheet—

“…Um, excuse me, Master,” she said, then immediately squirmed around a bit, her face bright red. “This might be…a little too much, actually.”

A few days had passed since the details of the second quest had been divulged to us. Our double date—sorry, our pseudo–double date—was coming up next Sunday, and preparations were now well underway.

One big part of this operation was to get Enomoto to agree to it, so the first person we reached out to was Asamiya. I explained everything to her—DearScript, the Unique Star competition with Saionji, and the fact that I’d accepted her request—and I also added Akizuki to the group. After our video call, she had been curious about how things were going, and Asamiya was fine with it, too (“Noa-chi is no problem.”), so I got in contact with her and told her everything.

Having Akizuki along for the ride did offer us one useful advantage. Really, her presence allowed us to establish this double date as an actual get-together, so Enomoto wouldn’t find it unnatural and suspect something was up. If we arranged some kind of wacky outing with me, him, Himeji, and Asamiya out of nowhere, he might guess our plans just from that…but add Akizuki to the mix, and now it was just the team from the May Interschool Competition having a fun little reunion. Much more natural. (Akizuki was actually going to cancel last-minute and support Asamiya undercover instead.)

Speaking of support, our discussions with the Company were mostly complete as well. Their job this time would mostly involve enemy recon—i.e., keeping an eye on Saionji’s moves. Her job was to ensure our date failed, so she was bound to try messing it up from the get-go. How we overcame this would be key to beating the second quest.

This is starting to feel completely unlike prepping for a date…

I sighed, reflecting on how bizarre a situation this was…but regardless, the date came all too quickly for us.

Come Sunday, June 5, I was standing by myself at the bus roundabout by the station near the Eimei School’s main entrance.

“Maybe I got here too early,” I said softly to myself. I had told everyone to meet here at nine AM, but the time now was only 8:40. I was sure Saionji would be up just as early (and monitoring me from some hiding place, no doubt), but even so, I couldn’t deny that I might have been a little too eager.

Himeji, my date for today, would be arriving a little late. By the time I went down to the living room this morning, she had already been in her maid outfit cooking breakfast for me. But just before I left, she’d told me, “You go ahead, Master” and “I wouldn’t want to ruin the surprise, so I’ll show up after I change.” Now my expectations were so high, I was starting to worry about my heart rate.

Just then…

“Hellooo!   Can you hear me okay, Hiroto?”

Kagaya was usually the voice I heard from my earpiece, but now I had a different, much sweeter one echoing in my ear. It belonged to Noa Akizuki, and while she would mainly be offering support to Asamiya, she could also switch channels to communicate with me.

I tapped my earpiece. “Yeah, I can hear you… You’re here pretty early, aren’t you?”

“Eh-heh-heh! Well, yeah!   I’m a ‘romance producer’ today, and that’s a really, really important job! I was so excited for it I couldn’t sleep at all… And guess. What. Else!”

“What?”

“This also give me the chance to have your ear all to myself.   …Ready? Hfffff!  ”

“…! Stop that, Akizuki, or I’m cutting you off.”

“Awww, just a little bit more! Just a little bit, okay? I’ve been researching a lot about binaural cues and ASMR and stuff, so I wanted to see how you’d react to it…  ”

“That’s what you’re devoting your energy to?”

“Eh-heh-heh! Sorry, sorry. I’ll keep the sexy breathing to a minimum, okay?  ”

I listened silently to her half-joking whispers, sighing softly so she wouldn’t hear me. Having that eternally sly, cunning voice broadcast straight into my ear made it sound twice as sexy. My blood was pumping even without her doing all that heavy breathing.

Better keep her muted unless I need her, I thought as I checked my watch…or tried to, when:

“Sorry to make you wait, Master.”

Hearing that clear, familiar voice made me reflexively turn her way. It was the same sort of thing she said to me every single day, so I wasn’t really prepared for what I was about to see. That might have been a fatal mistake.

“…!”

In an instant, it felt like all the sound had been sucked away from the world. I was transfixed by the girl standing before me, and everything else in sight began to distort like a blurry photo. This floating, breezy, completely unreal sensation made my legs feel unsteady.

“…? Um, Master?”

It was Himeji. But not the same Himeji I knew. We lived with each other every day, so if I got this much of a shock just from seeing her face, I would have lost my sanity long ago. No, the problem was her outfit. She had on a pure white dress that went down to her knees, paired with a light blue cardigan. A casual handbag hung down in front of her body, making her look even more like a girl from a proper upper-class family. So this was what she normally wears?

“Oh… Oh, ohhh…”

The shock was intense enough to make me forget how to speak. It was just way too cute, no matter how you sliced it. I mean, her normal maid outfit, her Eimei uniform, her occasional flirtation with pajamas I saw around the house… They were all quite charming as well. But even if this was a fake date, going this far to dress up for a day out was just so cute I could barely take my eyes off her.

“Ummm…is there something wrong with how I look? I haven’t worn an outfit like this in a while, so I wasn’t sure what to go with… Does it look weird?”

I was just standing there, not offering any feedback, which was now making Himeji anxious. There was a bit of a gloomy cast to her expression, which finally snapped me out of my stupor. Taking a deep breath, I forced myself to keep it cool, suppressing the heat that seemed to be boiling my brain on the inside, as I looked straight back at her clear eyes.

“No, um… You’re just so cute, I’m in trouble.”

We stood there bashfully for a few minutes.

“Um… Master?”

Himeji next to me had her eyes on the ground, but then she shook her head and quietly looked back up. Her silver hair swayed for a moment…and I have to say, being called “Master” when she was dressed like a prim, proper young lady instead of in her usual maid outfit gave me an intense fear that I was doing something forbidden. It almost seemed criminal.

“So, um, I have a proposal. We have a little bit of time, so what do you think about tackling one of the items on our checklist right now? Maybe it’s not what the client meant, but as far as I can tell, Ms. Asamiya doesn’t have to be nearby for us to check them off the list.”

“Ah, yeah, that’s true.”

I nodded back at her refreshing voice. She was right. Seeing Himeji in normal clothes had caused my mind to short out, but this was a Unique Star competition, not a real date. To complete Asamiya’s request, we had to complete two successful dates today—in other words, tick off every box on both my and Asamiya’s checklists.

“But with most of them, we need to be in a certain spot to complete them, right? The only one not location dependent is the first one—holding hands.”

“That’s right. It’s not quite as awkward as the other ones, either…and whether it’s fake or not, it’s something we’ll have to do as part of the date. Plus, we can do it anytime, so Rina shouldn’t have a way to block us. So, Master…if you don’t mind, could we hold hands?”

“…!”

The whole time she was whispering to me, she was gazing up at me from her position to my side. Her left hand moved away from her handbag, drifting just a bit closer toward me—a hesitant gesture, almost as if she was waiting for me to take it. Right now, she wasn’t wearing her white maid’s gloves but was revealing her smooth, bare fingers.

“Ah, sure, all right. So…um, here goes.”

“Okay.”

I focused strictly on my limbs to keep the butterflies at bay as I reached out with my right hand. It slowly approached Himeji’s left, finally reaching its destination after a moment.

“…!”

Then a soft, chilly sensation shot across not just my hand, but my whole body. All we were doing was holding hands—our fingers weren’t even linked like I often saw couples do—but it was still more…ticklish than I’d thought it would be. Total euphoria might be a better word for it, actually. If this was what couples got to experience every day, no wonder they were generally happy with life.

But then I noticed something.

“…Huh? That’s weird.”

“…? What’s the matter, Master?”

“Um, this…”

We kept holding hands as I opened DearScript and showed the screen to Himeji. The checklist for the second quest of the Unique Star checklist was there, and it was the same as when we’d gone over it during our strategy meeting…but the fact that it was exactly the same was strange. Himeji and I were holding hands, so it was odd that the first item on my list hadn’t been checked off. The little box was empty.

Himeji grew a little puzzled. “That is odd. Based on what I read in the details, Master, ‘holding hands’ involves you joining hands with your partner for at least five seconds. I think we’ve held them for two minutes now…”

“Yeah, we’re definitely doing this right. But if there’s still no check mark, I wonder what… Hmm?”

I normally put my right hand to my lips to think, but right now that hand was occupied, so I shut both eyes instead. The next moment, the device vibrated, cutting off my words. I looked at the screen with a deep sense of foreboding, and as expected, it was a notification from DearScript. In the newest available page, outlining the details behind the second quest, there was now a new passage that wasn’t there before. It read:

New Objective Unlocked!

Additional Order: Perform all checklist items with a female student from another ward. Any applicable candidate will suffice for this requirement. If your partner does not satisfy this condition, no actions will be marked off your checklist.

“Wha…?!”

My eyes burst open. They wouldn’t accept my partner for the date unless she was a student from another ward? In which case, continuing this pseudo-date with Himeji would do nothing to fill my checklist?

Yeah, I’ll admit, the victory conditions had seemed a bit too loose compared to the first quest. The order concerning Asamiya was one thing, but as long as I had a willing partner, I wouldn’t have had much trouble with my own checklist. We’d been talking about that ever since our strategy meeting, but having this restriction added the day of was just too much.

“Hmm…”

Himeji had seen the update as well, and she looked just as concerned as she thought this over. She raised her head, as if she’d suddenly thought of something, then looked around and called out to a female student who had just walked out of the station.

“Um, excuse me! Do you have a moment?”

“Hm? …Uh, a-are you talking to me? Yeah, sure, but…”

“Thank you very much. Forgive my rudeness, but I looked at your profile on my device. You attend the Ohmi School over in the Tenth Ward, correct?”

“Yeah, that’s right. I’m not an Eimei student—I’m just meeting a friend here. But…isn’t that, um, Shinohara? The strongest person in the Academy? Am I wrong?”

“No, you are not. This is Mr. Hiroto Shinohara, the only Seven Star in the Academy, just as you surmised. Would you like to shake hands with him, perhaps?”

“Huh? Oh, um, sure, yeah. If I had to say one way or the other, the answer’s more yes, I guess…?”

“You heard her, Master,” Himeji said, twisting her upper body around to look back at me. It was clear what her scheme was, so I mentally switched gears and put my “strongest in the Academy” mask on, extending my right hand without hesitating.

“Ah, thank you… Um, you were really cool during ASTRAL. I think Eimei and Ohmi were only fighting together for a short while, but that was, uh, really exciting to watch.”

“Glad to hear. If you happen to know anyone on their team, tell them I said thanks for helping out.”

“Um, okay.”

The girl nodded briskly, perhaps a bit nervous at having a (fake) Seven Star in front of her. Breaking off the handshake after a good amount of time, I saw her walk away in my peripheral vision as I looked back at my DearScript app—and this time, the hold hands item on my list had a check mark by it.

“…It worked? So this isn’t a joke or a mistake after all. It’s really not gonna accept a dating partner unless she’s from another ward.”

“It looks that way, yes. Um, Master…do you really think we can finish this quest?”

Himeji looked a little nervous as she turned her eyes toward me.

“If dating me doesn’t fill out the checklist, that pretty much torpedoes the strategy we prepared for today. We could complete the ‘hold hands’ objective by forcing it, like we did just now, but that might not be too possible with the other ones…”

“Hmm, yeah… It’d be one thing if I’d planned to have a partner from another ward, but this is too much of a challenge. I really don’t think we can make it through this… However!”

My right hand went to my lips as I quietly thought this over. Clearly, we were facing a crisis. That was undeniable, but knowing this gamemaster of ours, she must have predicted from the start that I’d pick Himeji as my date. She had then issued this extra order on the day we went out, at the worst possible moment—which suggested to me that maybe she hadn’t deliberately closed every door for us yet. After all, if she made this impossible from the very start, it wouldn’t function as a Game.

But I really don’t see us finding a substitute with this little notice. If only there was a girl from another ward who’d just happen to play along with this pseudo-date for me today… Hmm?

My thoughts racing, I raised my head slightly, suddenly realizing something. There was someone like that, wasn’t there? A girl from another ward, who would be in my vicinity for the entire day. Unlike my victory conditions, the orders given to me weren’t revealed to my competitor, so she’d have no way of knowing that I was limited in my choice of dating partners. She’d probably go all-out to block my date with Himeji, just as planned.

I’m sure she was watching that exchange just now, too…but oh well. At this point, we’ll just have to take this as far as it goes, I guess.

This was going to be like walking a tightrope, no doubt about it, but I did see a chance at victory ahead. So, with a shake of my head, I decided to hold another strategy meeting with Himeji.

“…Hmph. So Akizuki can’t make it, then?” Enomoto said with a sigh.

We were in the lobby of a movie theater attached to a large shopping mall in the Academy’s First Ward. Enomoto was standing in the ticket line, phone in hand.

Shinji Enomoto was the president of Eimei’s student council, and a man fresh in my memory after we had competed together in ASTRAL during the May Interschool Competition. He was a Six Star nicknamed the All-Seeing, and his memory and intuition skills were among the best the island had to offer. He also had an irritatingly no-nonsense personality and a stubborn streak a mile long, and his default facial expression made him look like he’d just sucked on a lemon.

“Y-yeah, sounds like it,” replied Nanase Asamiya, another integral part of today. Her loose black off-the-shoulder sweater revealed a worryingly large amount of her upper body, and her denim shorts accentuated her long, slender legs. Her short hair featured curly tips, and she had done her nails for today (both fashion pointers taught to her by Akizuki). It was a bold fashion statement, one that highlighted all the natural tools that made her excel as a model.

“Like,” she continued, her right hand playing with her bright blond hair, “it sounds like Noa-chi got a bad stomachache out of nowhere, so, um, she can’t make it.”

“…? Well, sure, I received a message, too, so I know that much… Something wrong, Nanase? You seem to be avoiding looking at me.”

“N-no, I’m not, Shinji! You wanna say we’re lying or something, don’t you?!”

“I never said that. What point is there in lying about this? I’m just saying that if one of us can’t make it, why don’t we postpone this for some other day?”

“N-no, we can’t do that! I can go out with Noa-chi anytime…and, like, if we cancel today, I know Noa-chi’s gonna beat herself up over it. Why can’t you be a little more considerate, you moron?”

“Aha. I’ll throw that last question right back at you, but otherwise, I agree. I thought that Akizuki could keep you out of trouble if she were here…but oh well.”

“H-hey! I haven’t stooped low enough that I need you to act like my mom around me! You wouldn’t have even gotten out of bed today if I didn’t call you!”

“Don’t be stupid. I set the alarm so I’d make it here in time. I was only late because of all that nonsense you were giving me on the phone just before I put my clothes on. All ‘Oooh, don’t wear your uniform, oooh, don’t wear sweats out in public…’ I had to spend that much more time selecting my wardrobe thanks to you.”

“Well, you can’t wear your school uniform when you’re going out on a da—on a day out with us, okay?”

Asamiya’s shoulders were slumped—she already looked exasperated with him. And, yeah, I bet Enomoto would do that unless someone told him not to. I could totally picture him wearing his uniform on his days off…and since he didn’t think today was a date at all, he’d have no reason to dress up.

“Eh-heh-heh! He looks pretty decent, at least!   And he can be perceptive like that, too, so maybe he had an outfit picked out but just wanted to paint it as Miya forcing him into it!  ”

Whoa, that…actually sounds pretty plausible. That’d really irritate me if I had to deal with it, though…

I internally snickered a little at Akizuki’s commentary in my ear. But now we were finally through the line and at the ticket machine. There was no need for all four of us to buy separate tickets, so I stepped up to the touch panel.

Four student tickets…and the seats? Let’s go with…

The interface allowed us to choose our seats. We were here to watch a film just about ending its run, so the theater would be pretty empty. Normally, our seat assignment wouldn’t really matter…but while this wasn’t a date, this also wasn’t just us screwing around. If I half-assed any aspect of today, it could quickly lead to my defeat.

I better take another look at the “movie theater” objective. On the checklist that embodied Asamiya’s idea of an ideal date, the second item read Spontaneously look into each other’s eyes during a romantic scene. Reading further, the exact conditions were for both dating partners to keep eye contact going for at least three seconds during a kissing scene.

With that in mind, our seating arrangement was all but set in stone. Instead of the four of us sitting in a row, we’d take a two-by-two formation, with me and Himeji up front and Asamiya next to Enomoto in the row behind us. That way, Asamiya was free to act without worrying about us watching her—and I was guaranteed to have an open seat next to me, which would be helpful.

So I quickly made our purchases. “Right,” I said, turning around to face the other three. “Let’s get some popcorn and drinks before it starts.”

We made it into the theater around ten minutes later. I climbed the stairs, ticket stub in hand, heading toward the back of the room. As predicted, there were few other patrons—in fact, we almost had the place to ourselves. Scanning the whole theater, I could count the rest of the audience on one hand.

“…I think these are our seats, Master,” Himeji said, spinning around toward me. She had been watching the lit-up signs at our feet as we walked.

“Right.” I sat down next to her, putting the coffee I’d bought in the drink holder and my medium popcorn (caramel flavor) on the little table between the two of us. Asamiya and Enomoto, meanwhile, were one row behind us, and I could hear them start to bicker the moment they sat down.

Movie theaters, by the way, come in one of two types—the kind where patrons share the armrests between seats, and the kind where everyone gets their own set of two. This one was the former, so if I plopped my arm down on the armrest, I’d be rubbing up against Himeji’s left arm…which is exactly what happened.

“…! Ah, um, sorry.”

“No, Master, it’s fine… In fact, we can stay like this if you want. It’ll help the performance seem more like a real date.”

She added a little smile to the end of that, staring into my eyes and keeping her arm where it was. It was a pretty bold move by her standards, but we were meant to provide a “sample date” for our companions, so it’d be too much of a blatant lie if we didn’t do at least this much. I could sense our companions’ eyes on us from behind now and then, so I couldn’t jerk my arm back that readily.

It’s just a performance… Just a performance…!

I was frozen with anxiety inside, but kept it cool on the outside as I looked at the screen.

Then, shortly before the film was set to begin, I saw a lone girl enter the theater. She marched up the stairway, not pausing to look around, and despite all the empty seats, tromped right over to where we were sitting. It wasn’t the familiar Ohga uniform, but a cute little pink-and-white outfit—almost as if she was about to embark on her own date, actually. It made my heart skip a beat, despite myself.

It was, of course, Sarasa Saionji, who stood there with her hand on her hip.

“Hmph… Don’t you have it nice, Shinohara. Using the Unique Star competition as a pretext to go on a date with my Yuki. You sure have DearScript to thank for that, don’t you? She’s way out of your league, you know.”

“…Well, hello to you, too, Saionji. What are you so angry about?”

“You were holding Yuki’s hand and smiling and stuff! It’s your fault.”

“Wow, projecting much? …But why are you dressed in such a cute outfit anyway? Isn’t this supposed to be a stealth mission for you?”

“Cute…? W-well, I had to, okay?! I don’t want to stand out this much, but that was the order I was given. Now I’m attracting even more attention than normal! This is such a pain to deal with.”

Saionji sat down next to me on my left side, her cheeks still red and puffed in a dissatisfied pout. I guess DearScript was throwing her for a loop, too.

Still, apart from her outfit, having Saionji show up at this point was exactly what I’d predicted, which I was glad for. She must have been tailing us since this morning, but her first chance to interfere with us directly would be in this theater. No way she’d pass up this opportunity, to be sure.

Phew… Well, time for the first checklist item.

I turned toward the screen again and let out a small breath.

The movie began shortly afterward, with no further comment from Saionji.

Regarding the “make eye contact with each other during a romantic scene” checklist item, according to Kagaya’s research, the only kissing scene in this film was just before the end credits. That meant I had only one chance to earn that check mark, but otherwise, I was free to fully enjoy the film until then.

This movie was a plot-oriented, emotionally driven drama that had received universally great reviews. It was based on a novel that won some kind of prestigious prize last year, and it easily took the number one spot in the box office during its opening week. There wasn’t anything particularly new about the story, but what made it stand out was the delicate yet thorough approach it took to depicting the characters’ emotions. The protagonist is in love with a woman suffering from a terminal illness, and he throws away everything he has to fulfill her final wish. This wish is something that’d normally never be possible, but the hero doggedly pursues it nonetheless, and at the end, he finally manages to get her to smile again.

Wow, this is such a great story…

It really was excellent. I couldn’t cry, since I had my image as the strongest student in the Academy to hold up, but it almost seemed like a waste not to shed a few tears. Unlike some convenient fantasy world, there was no way the heroine would suddenly be cured, no matter what her lover did, and seeing the hero struggle so hard to help her, despite knowing all that, took me by the heart and didn’t let go until the end.

“Mmh…”

I glanced across at Himeji, who also looked to be fully engrossed in the film. I had a feeling she’d been nibbling away at popcorn for much of the first part, but for the past half hour or so, at least, those light blue eyes of hers hadn’t moved away from the screen for a second. I imagine the same was true for the two behind me; all I could hear from them was the shifting of their seats every now and then.

But, sadly, it couldn’t last.

“Sorry to interrupt the entertainment, Hiro, but that scene’s about to come up.”

The sound of Kagaya’s voice in my ear made me straighten up…but, really, I didn’t think I’d have much of a problem with this item on the checklist. Everything was working out just as I’d wanted it to so far, and once the moment arrived, I could do it without even saying a word. My main concern was for Asamiya. We had rehearsed this a few times, but now that the big moment was here, I couldn’t offer her any help. It would all depend on the effort she had put in—along with Akizuki’s skills as well.

“…”

Even as I thought about this, the movie was reaching its final climax. The heroine, who’d never really displayed any emotion so far, began to pour her heart out to the hero, telling him how he’d saved her. “If you weren’t there for me, I never would’ve found any value in my life. My world was a transparent blur, but you painted it full of color. For the first time since I was born…I actually don’t want to die.”

“…!”

It was the first, and last, truly romantic scene in the whole film—a tender embrace, with all the emotion from the rest of the plot thrust into it. The cross-media ad blitz described it as an “incredibly moving masterpiece of film!” and the ending was ephemeral and heartbreaking enough to easily back that up.

…Wait, no, no, I can’t get distracted by this!

I was bawling internally as I watched the film, but remembering my quest momentarily, I turned to my right and tugged at Himeji’s arm. Noticing this, she turned toward me with her watery eyes, quietly looking into mine—but just before our eyes met—

“No!”

I heard a whisper, kept as hushed as possible, and at the same time, someone physically pulled me away from Himeji. I turned to my left, and there in the dim light, I could see those ruby eyes pointed straight at me. Then, trying to keep as quiet as possible, Sarasa Saionji pulled my face toward hers.

“Got you. Okay? Just look at me, all right? Not Yuki over there…!”

We were at point-blank range, close enough that I could feel her breath on me. She must’ve been watching the film, too, because her eyes were as tear filled as Himeji’s—but as forceful as she was being, my heart couldn’t have been beating much faster. Whenever I tried to move, even a little, she’d pull me by the sleeves toward her. Saionji was now the only thing in my sight…and our eyes were locked on to each other the whole time.

The moment I became aware of that, I felt a vibration from the device in my pocket.

“Niiice! That just completed the movie-theater objective, Hiro!”

…Good.

Hearing Kagaya’s cheerful voice, I let out a mental sigh of relief.

So this was it—the alternate plan I’d come up with. Nothing I did with Himeji would complete the checklist, but I couldn’t rely on random strangers all day, like I had with the “hold hands” objective; there was no way I’d just happen to run into a girl attending high school in another ward everywhere I went today.

This time, though, that actually had been the case, kind of. Saionji, ordered to interfere with my date and prevent me from winning, was guaranteed to hang around Himeji and me all day, trying to make sure we screwed everything up. In other words, we already had the bare minimum we needed to complete my orders, and I hadn’t even needed to rely on chance.

So, basically…I’m luring Saionji into messing with me and Himeji’s pseudo-date and having her help complete the checklist for me.

I shook my head slowly, picturing how the rest of the day would go.

“Huh…? Wait, did you just check off one of the items on your list?”

Saionji must’ve found out about that right when it happened—presumably she had Asuka or someone serving as her information relay. Her ruby eyes opened wide in shock. She just sat there silently for a bit, but then she must have remembered that our faces were mere millimeters apart, because she sank back into her seat, red from ear to ear.

“Oh, come onnn… Did I peel you off Yuki too late? But…”

She started griping to herself, arms folded beneath her chest. I took a side-glance at her as I breathed out a sigh, trying to calm my heart, which was pounding hard for all number of reasons. It was a pretty good way to start the day, I guess. If Saionji figured out what I was up to, we were doomed, so I needed to proceed on tiptoe the whole time…but seeing how this had gone, it no longer seemed completely impossible.

Ah, wait, but what about Asamiya…?!

Recalling the other checklist, I subtly looked back at the results on my screen. But surprisingly enough (although maybe she’d yell at me if I put it like that), the movie theater box was checked on Asamiya’s list, too. I guess she’d managed to drum up enough courage after all.

Guess there’s no way to tell how it went down, though…

“…Eh-heh-heh! Wanna know how she did it, Hiroto?  ”

The moment I had that thought, Akizuki had whispered her question to me, like she was reading my mind.

“I tell you,” she continued, sounding tremendously happy with herself, “I wish you could have seen it, Hiroto!   They were both focused on the screen, but the moment that kiss scene came on, there was this kind of bittersweet atmosphere between them, and then Miya just happened to look at the president, and then he just happened to look back! Then, you know, they could’ve looked away right then, but they both tensed up, like ‘no, this doesn’t mean anything at all…’ and they wound up just looking at each other for a long time. Then they started going all red, and… Eh-heh-heh!   Guess I didn’t need to give them a push after all, huh?  ”

Wow…

I marveled at how innocent it all sounded, like two lovers early on in their relationship. Glancing behind me, I saw Enomoto looking the way he usually did—arms folded and pouting—while I could almost see the steam coming off Asamiya’s bright red face. Listening to Akizuki’s critique just now must’ve been really embarrassing for her.

Then…

“…Hmph. Well, I’m gonna make you mess it up next time.”

Having already gone through the “depression” and “bargaining” stages of her grief, Saionji next to me quietly stood up. She didn’t bother hiding her displeasure, and even stuck her tongue out at me as she turned away. Then she walked away without looking back once.

“…”

Seeing her leave like that, I couldn’t help but compare Saionji to Asamiya and Enomoto behind us, who were red in the face with embarrassment but still, in their own way, having the “ideal date.” It made me sigh out loud.

They couldn’t be more different from us… All we’re doing is performing this big swindle and calling it a date.

We decided to have lunch at this buffet in the shopping mall that specialized in desserts. That was Asamiya’s pick, of course; apparently, the strawberry parfait they offered exclusively for the lunch rush was exquisite, and she’d been meaning to try it out for a while.

Our task at this place was to do the “say ahhh” thing with our partners or have them do it to us. It was straight and to the point, but looking at the details, we couldn’t just feed the other person anything—it had to be a piece of strawberry from the top of that lunch-hour parfait.

They’re sure ramping up the difficulty from the movie-theater…

I was enjoying a stack of thick, fluffy pancakes with syrup, while Himeji and the others talked about the film and what they thought about it. Over in the theater, just looking at someone had done the trick, but here it was spoon-feeding? Yeah, it’s a classic dating trope, I suppose, but the psychological hurdle you needed to overcome to do it was way higher than the last one. And it had to be with a girl from another ward? Come on.

…But if I can freestyle it like I did in the movie theater, it shouldn’t be impossible, at least.

I tapped my earpiece as I considered my options. According to Kagaya, two girls from Ohga, Saionji included, had just entered the café. Saionji’s presence was expected, but the person joining her was Suzuran Kazami, a second-year student and member of Libra, the largest student organization in the Academy. I couldn’t see either of them from my seat, but they were no doubt spying on us from somewhere.

The question was, how were they going to try to prevent us from completing the “say ahhh” task? I mean, it wasn’t like they had many choices. They could physically block us, like Saionji had tried at the movie theater—restraining me and preventing me from doing what I needed to do. A simple, straightforward approach, but I thought that would be a bit hard to do in a restaurant. Holding my arms behind my back in a public place with lots of witnesses wasn’t the kind of all-or-nothing plan Saionji would come up with.

No, plan B here would be to electronically block us. In other words, hacking. They could make our ordering device act up so the parfait went to the wrong table, or prevent us from sending orders in the first place—just a few different possibilities. But messing with the café’s hardware would be illegal, of course, and while I was a dyed-in-the-wool cheater, Saionji—who’d earned her Seven Star status the old-fashioned way—was extremely unlikely to pick that route.

That suggested a plan C—and if Kazami was with her, she had to be involved with it.

…Well, if I know that, I can take measures against them.

With my mind made up, I took a breath and shook my head a little.

Just then, Asamiya, sitting diagonally from me, put her hands on the table and stood up. She had a cheerful smile on her face as she looked around at us all.

“Okay! That was a perfectly sized lunch… How about we go for that parfait to wrap it up?!”

“Sounds good.” Himeji, already enjoying a post-meal hot tea, was the first to voice her agreement. “In fact,” she added, placing her cup on the saucer, “it’d be a waste if we didn’t, given how I’ve been saving space for it. Would you care to join us, Master? Mr. Enomoto?”

“I’m a little tempted when you put it like that…but no, thanks. I’m stuffed. Those pancakes filled me up far too much. How about you, Shinohara?”

“Same here, Enomoto. Those pancakes were really good.”

“Yeah, I can hardly believe they’re real, even. Now I want to come here all the time. But what happened to your manners, Shinohara? Didn’t you mean to say Mr. Enomoto? I’m a year ahead of you, remember.”

“No, I know… Anyway, Himeji, I think me and Enomoto are gonna pass, so you can just order two of ’em.”

“Hey!”

“Very well, Master. Perhaps I could give you a bite?”

“D-don’t just ignore me…”

Enomoto folded his arms, looking irked from across the table. We’d had conversations like this a million times before, but despite it all, Enomoto had been complaining about my form of address a lot less often lately…or maybe he’d given up on correcting me, but whatever. I wasn’t about to show deference to him—I had a rep as the best in the Academy to uphold—so he was just gonna have to accept it, sooner or later.

Regardless, the two strawberry parfaits Himeji ordered came to our table a few minutes later. She’d ordered them both in extra-large, so they were about the size of the girls’ faces, with layers of sponge cake, mousse, and crunchy bits topped with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, and a generous amount of chocolate sauce. Around this mountain of flavor was a ring of vivid red strawberries that had been sliced in half. This was a marquee item for the café, and even looking at it was a feast for the eyes.

“…Here goes,” Asamiya said, eyes sparkling as she gripped her spoon and took the first bite. “Mmph! …Oooh! Wow, this is so sweet… I’m so happy…”

“Hmph. Chew or talk, Nanase, one of the two. Talking with your mouth full is terrible manners.”

“Uh-uh, too bad, Shinji. It already melted, so there was nothing left in my mouth.”

“…I really deserve praise for having the willpower not to reach out and slap you for that.”

Enomoto turned his back to her, offended at this razzing he had been given. Asamiya was too busy tucking into her parfait to care much, but by the time she made it to the strawberries, her pace was clearly flagging. She looked down at her glass, then at Enomoto, then quickly away before they accidentally made eye contact again.

“Ooh…”

“You can do this, Miya!   You’re all the way in now. Show him a little sex appeal!  ”

“I—I can’t…! That’s too much to ask for at once!”

“…You can’t? What’re you talking about, Nanase?”

“…!”

Asamiya’s loud reply to the voice in her head made Enomoto next to her raise an eyebrow. Her eyes widened, turning left and right in search of an excuse…but then she nodded to herself, steeling her resolve.

“Sh-Shinji! Um…d-don’t you want a taste of this?!”

She looked down, blushing and not even facing Enomoto as she said it. I guess offering to feed him a spoonful was too insurmountable an obstacle for Asamiya, so she’d gone with this roundabout approach as a compromise. Atop the spoon held weakly in her hand was some ice cream with a piece of strawberry plopped on top.

Enomoto, presented with this, thought for a bit, but then gave her a nod and quietly leaned over. His face approached Asamiya, whose body tensed up as she shut her eyes tightly…

“…Mmm, this is good.”

“Hwuh?”

…as he used his own spoon to take a bite of her parfait.

“W-wait… Uh, why’d you…?”

“…? What, Nanase? You said I could have some.”

“I—I did! I did, but, like, not like that… I—I mean, it’s not fair! I didn’t have any of the strawberry part yet!” Asamiya flailed.

“Oh, that’s what you mean? Well, then…” Enomoto just nodded with understanding and scooped up another spoonful of parfait and presented it to her.

“You try it, too, then. Open your mouth.”

“…?! Wait, you mean, you’ll feed it to me? B-but that’s your own spoon! It’s like an indirect kiss!”

“…? Will you quit mumbling like that? Speak up so I can hear you.”

“N-never mind! I didn’t even say anything!”

Asamiya rapidly shook her head, flinging her cute blond coif back and forth. She took a deep breath, hands on her chest…and then, her mind made up, she closed her eyes tight, opened her mouth, and let Enomoto feed her with his spoon.

“Ah…mmmph.”

“…Well? Good, isn’t it? You can enjoy the rest of it by yourself.”

Enomoto removed the spoon from Asamiya’s mouth, a satisfied look on his face. Lunch was over, as far as he was concerned, so he took out his device and started reading an e-book or something. Asamiya, for her part, sat there for a moment before swallowing the parfait.

“…I’m not sure I actually tasted any of that.”

It was a breathless sort of murmur, but her expression was totally that of a cute young lady in love—so much so that even my heart probably started to race. Still, it meant that Asamiya had another check mark on her list—and now it was up to me to earn mine.

Hmm, it should be about time…

I looked at Himeji, who was quietly working on her own parfait, as I nodded at myself. She still hadn’t touched any of the strawberry pieces—or more accurately, she was saving them for me. We had a plan to carry out, after all.

“Um…Master?” Himeji said softly, in response to the signal I’d given her underneath the table. She shook her silver hair a little, hands clasped above her knees as her clear eyes peered into mine.

“Um… I was wondering… Seeing those two, I want to experience that, too—someone feeding me. I won’t get the opportunity very often, I imagine.”

“…! N-no, probably not.”

“Indeed… So would you mind, Master, if I received a spoonful from you?”

Himeji handed me a spoon with the utmost elegance. Then, her hands close to mine, she leaned over just a little and opened her mouth. It reminded me of a child acting all spoiled or begging their mom for something, and it was so far removed from Himeji’s normal demeanor that it made my pulse shoot up, even though I knew it was just an act. It was, to sum up, amazingly cute.

“Uh, yeah… I mean, no, of course I don’t mind.”

With my iron willpower, I maintained enough control over my fine motor skills to lift the spoon up. Scooping a bit of ice cream with a strawberry on top, I moved it toward Himeji’s small mouth, when—

“Meowwww!!”

Just before the spoon reached Himeji, there was a familiar-sounding shout as a girl ran up to us, a camera dangling from her neck. She wore a boyish cap, with brown hair peeking out from under it, and an armband that read Ace Reporter near her shoulder. This was Suzuran Kazami—a Three Star from Ohga, member of Libra, and someone I’d worked closely with on the front lines during the May Interschool Competition.

She stood before us, struggling to catch her breath, then flashed a cheerful smile.

“Yes, a meow-meow to you two elites of the Eimei School! What a coincidence—a total coincidence to run into you like this! What brings the two of you here?”

“A coincidence, huh…? Nothing really, we’re just having a little day out between friends. How about you?”

“I’m on work duty, I am! We’re covering the lunchtime-exclusive gelato parfait available here in the First Ward! And I think we’re about to begin shooting here in the café… Oh, right! If you don’t mind, Shinohara, do you think you could lend us a bit of a hand?! You wouldn’t be working for free, either! The big-name Seven Star and his maid, plus the Six Star pride and joy of Eimei… If you all show up together in the story, it’ll gather huge amounts of interest! We’d have the media in a frenzy! So what do you think?!”

“A story? Hmm… Well, I’m fine either way.”

“Me too. As long as it doesn’t affect today’s plans, it’s okay by me.”

The reactions from the two third-years led Kazami to turn her gleaming eyes toward me. Her facial expression told me that she wasn’t weaving a total lie, but I was sure there was some reason behind the convenient timing of this request.

Really, I had no doubt in my mind that Kazami was working with Saionji. She had been ordered to interfere with my actions, and they were going with plan C after all—not a physical or electronic block, but a psychological one. As long as Kazami was flashing her camera around, I couldn’t do anything too out of character as the Academy’s strongest player. If footage of me feeding a parfait to Himeji spread across the island, my reputation would take a massive hit. At the same time, I couldn’t flat-out refuse Kazami’s offer, either. Libra was the most powerful media outlet on the island, and considering the lies I had to keep up, getting on Libra’s bad side could be potentially lethal.

At first glance, I appeared to be cornered. It was an exquisite, perfect strategy, the kind you’d expect from the (almost) undefeated Empress.

Sadly for her, I saw this coming, too.

I grinned a bit as I shifted in my seat, facing Kazami. “All right. We have plans later, so we can’t stay here for too long, but just for a little bit should be fine.”

“Oh, really?! Aw, I’m so glad! You’re really helping me out here! So maybe if you could stay just a bit longer—like, until the time limit to order that parfait runs out?”

“Sure thing. But before that…”

“…Huh?”

I adjusted my grip on the spoon in my hand, changing its direction and thrusting it in front of Kazami’s face. Her eyes shot open in surprise as I kept speaking calmly.

“You can’t really shoot a story introducing this parfait unless you try it yourself, right? So go ahead. Oh, and this is Himeji’s spoon, so don’t worry about that.”

“Huh? B-but…are you sure? I’m on duty…”

“Of course I’m sure. This is also a part of your job, right?”

“Y-yeah, good point. Okay, um…thank you.”

I wasn’t giving an inch here, and I guess that was enough for Kazami to admit defeat, because after blinking once, she opened her mouth and chomped down on the spoon in front of her. She silently chewed for a little while…and then her face melted into a warm smile.

“That’s sooo good… Wow! It’s like the sweetness is gently spreading all across my mouth!”

“Yeah? Well, I’m glad you got a chance to try it for yourself.”

I acted casual as I sensed my device vibrating in my pocket… Mission accomplished. Asamiya and I had both checked the café box on our lists.

“…Oh. I see.”

Our list was now half-complete, counting the first, the hold hands, objective, and when I showed it to Himeji, she nodded her approval, her silver hair swaying a bit. Then she looked straight at me and took the spoon away from my hand.

“So your date with Ms. Sarasa is complete, and so is your date with Ms. Kazami, then, Master?”

“Um, I wouldn’t phrase it like that, exactly…”

Himeji pouted adorably as she went back to excavating her way to the bottom of the parfait.

After finishing our dessert and helping out Kazami, we moved on to a bit of shopping at the mall.

It seemed fair to say that things were going smoothly enough so far. The extra order this morning had thrown me, but we’d successfully changed tack, and now we were three items deep into the list. Asamiya, too, had the movie theater and café items on her list checked off. For now, I couldn’t have asked for a more ideal state of affairs.

But that was when things began to veer off course.

“…Master, what do you think of this? I’m sure it’d look great on you.”

“Um, yeah…”

I quietly thought to myself as I moved in front of the mirror, carrying the shirt Himeji had found for me.

The requirement for our next checklist item was the girl tries on something at a store, and the man compliments her. That wasn’t nearly as emotionally trying as the café task had been, but if I needed Saionji—not Himeji—to try something on for me, the difficulty suddenly shot up to the stratosphere. If that was what I’d be forced to do, I was better off speaking up to whatever random girls were using the dressing room and giving them awkward, unsolicited compliments. That was a lot more realistic of a solution, at least.

More to the point, I don’t see Saionji or her friends anywhere…

Unlike at the theater and café, there was no sign of Saionji, even with Kagaya’s consummate spy work. That was a clear change from the norm. She needed to block me at every turn to win this second quest, but now it looked like she’d abandoned that and simply disappeared. I mean, it wasn’t like I didn’t understand why she might do something like this. Some items on the checklist were a lot easier to block than others; there was a decent chance she’d elected to skip out on this one entirely and head over to our next stop, the amusement park, instead.

In which case, that’s fine by me…

So, with a few nagging concerns still in my mind, I came back to reality. As I lifted my head, I was greeted with the sight of Nanase Asamiya holding her own personal fashion show.

“Hee-hee! What do you think, Shinji? Pretty good, huh?”

She had opened the dressing-room curtain and turned a proud smile on Enomoto, who was standing near me. Her choice of outfit was a camisole that revealed a lot of her shoulders and lower abdomen. It had a stylish black design, with straps tied to the waist. Asamiya had put a denim jacket over it, but the outfit still emphasized her chest a lot and left her navel exposed—a pretty aggressive approach, I felt it safe to say. But she was a former model, after all, so it didn’t look wrong on her one bit, and even the store clerk nearby looked stunned.

“Th-that looks very stylish on you, ma’am. I’m not sure I’ve seen anyone else wear it so well before.”

“Hee-hee! Aww… But what do you think, Shinji? You can be honest and call it cute, you know.”

With the clerk backing her up, Asamiya approached Enomoto. She really did look cute, like she’d just walked out of the pages of a magazine. Even Enomoto, I thought, had to openly compliment her on that…but when I looked at him, I realized he still had a sour expression on his face.

“‘Be honest,’ huh? All right, then—it doesn’t suit you at all. It’s too flirty and reveals far too much skin. It looks the same on you as it would for anyone else, I’d imagine.”

“Wha… Are you serious? You’re just hellbent on not saying anything nice to me, aren’t you—?”

“You wish. Look, Nanase… I’ve got a top and bottom here picked out. Go change into them right now.”

“Huh? You…picked this out, Shinji? …For me?”

“…? Yes, I did. So?”

“…! A-all right. I’ll change into it right now. But this is gonna look too plain on me… You’re so stupid, Shinji.”

Asamiya quietly complained, trying to hide her embarrassment, as she pulled the curtain shut and started changing. We waited for her, averting our eyes as we heard the sound of fabric slipping off and on, and then she slid the curtain open again.

“Um…does this work?”

She popped just her face out at first, then timidly revealed the rest. It was much plainer than the camisole she’d had on before—a bit more on the “elegant” or “prim” side, to be sure. But did it look wrong on her? Absolutely not. In fact, Asamiya’s head-turning looks struck a perfect, delicate balance with this demurer outfit. It suited her almost miraculously well.

“…These plain clothes look so good on me. It’s annoying.”

Asamiya didn’t seem to mind, either. She’d been all but ready to deny it at first, but I guess being an ex-model made it hard for her to say that something didn’t look good on her.

Enomoto let out a huff of satisfaction seeing her reaction. “Didn’t I tell you, Nanase? I chose that myself, you know. Of course it suits you.”

“Like I believe that. You wear your school uniform even on weekends, Shinji. You’ve got zero fashion sense whatsoever.”

“I’m not going to try to defend myself, but you’re a different story, Nanase… How often do you look at a mirror?”

“How often? Like, how many times? Well, when I wake up in the morning, when I brush my teeth, when I get changed, when I put on my makeup… I mean, it’s too many to even count, really.”

“But we’re still talking less than an hour, I assume. You’re only looking at yourself, Nanase, for less than an hour per day, total. Meanwhile, for the past ten years or so, I’ve been looking at you for hours at a time, every single day. I don’t think there’s any debate about who knows more about your looks.”

“…That… That’s so gross! You’re such a stalker, Shinji!”

Asamiya slammed the curtain back shut. She sounded pretty angry, but just before she’d closed that curtain, I saw her turning around and crouching down, trying and failing to hide how much she was blushing. Again, so incredibly innocent.

Either way, that was definitely a compliment from Enomoto about her looks just now, so that took care of that item on her checklist. But I still didn’t see Saionji or her cronies anywhere, so I couldn’t really make any moves at all. Actually, now that I thought about it…

“Hey, Himeji, is this store usually this empty on a weekend?” I asked in hushed tones after looking around.

It was a weekend afternoon, no doubt the peak time for a clothing store, and there were virtually no other customers in the place. Maybe a group of guys would show up every now and then, but there were almost no women, and definitely no girls from other high schools.

“…No.” Himeji shook her head of silvery hair, perhaps having the same premonition I did. “This isn’t normal at all. Even on a weekday, it would normally be busier than this. Being this dead on a weekend is unheard of, so it makes sense to assume that something’s up.”

“…”

I brought my right hand to my lips as Himeji voiced her trepidation, then went over things in my head. At the movie theater and café, Saionji had taken physical steps to interfere with me and Himeji’s pretend date. She was successful both times, in a way, but despite that, we’d still managed to complete our objectives. By now, I was sure she’d realized what my game was—or at least, she probably realized at the theater that she had been used by me. That was why she sent Kazami my way instead of stepping in herself. She wanted to figure out what kind of orders I had…or how loose the judging was for who counted as my “dating partner.”

So…if she’s figured out my orders and lured everyone away from the store…

Then, no, Saionji hadn’t given up on the “shopping” task at all. In fact, she would probably never bother approaching me again, in the hopes that would make it impossible for me to complete my checklist. She was probably keeping the customers away from here somehow, too. I didn’t know how, but a Six Star would have that much authority, at least.

She’s completely turned the tables on me… Oh man, just how cunning is she?!

I gritted my teeth as I internally cursed myself. But with no other option available to me here, I left the mall, the shopping item on my list still unchecked.

The Academy has several sites categorized as “amusement parks.” The one we had come to, called Union Park, was on the far west side of the First Ward. It’s well known as one of the island’s best leisure sites and gets profiled in magazines and travel sites all the time. Its Ferris wheel, which gives you a view of the entire island, is particularly famous.

And, of course (although I don’t know enough about parks to know how obvious this actually is), like any decent theme park, there’s a parade-like event every Sunday. It was slated to begin at six in the evening, so we hadn’t been able to spend too long at the mall.

“Wow, it’s so pretty…”

That was how we found ourselves being treated to a lively parade right before our eyes. The objective here was to watch the parade sitting shoulder to shoulder. It turned out that this simply meant two people sitting next to each other, and despite their frequent bickering, Asamiya and Enomoto were constant companions, so they had no problem checking that box. As for myself, well, I didn’t even need to think about it. I was surrounded by a crowd of parade onlookers packed closely together, and at some point or another, my device buzzed its tick of approval.

The only real concern was that, even as the parade neared its end, there was no sign of interference from Saionji at all. There really wasn’t any more doubting it… She must have surmised what my orders were, and now she wasn’t going to risk coming within ten feet of me.

“…What do you want to do, Master?” Himeji whispered in my ear amid the crowd, her face looking slightly tense. “If we’re here at the park, we can still potentially check the ‘Ferris wheel’ box…but even if we do, is there some way to cross the ‘shopping’ task off the list?”

“Hmm…”

I sighed quietly, trying not to attract Asamiya’s and Enomoto’s attention. Himeji had good reason to be concerned. We couldn’t win the second quest until we checked all the boxes, and the day of this date had been specified in the orders, so there wouldn’t be any retries. We had to cover all our bases today, but it was already almost seven. Even if we completed the Ferris wheel task, the shopping mall would be closed by the time we got back there.

Frankly, we seemed done for. However…

“…Sure there is.”

I slowly shook my head, attempting to banish Himeji’s concern.

“I’m pretty sure we can work something out…or, at least, I’ve set it up so we can.”

“Huh…? You have? You’re not just saying that to make me feel better?”

“Nope. I might be a liar, but I’d never lie to you, Himeji. I’ll work something out with the ‘shopping’ thing…but the real tough nut to crack is the Ferris wheel. We need to ‘secretly embrace inside the car,’ right? We can think about how to do that later, but first, Saionji has to join us in the car, or we won’t get anywhere with it. At worst, we could ask someone in line with us, but that’s not really befitting a Seven Star.”

“True. I’d prefer not to see my master reduced to that.”

“Yeah, and I don’t wanna do it, either. But I think we can guide Saionji’s hand a little here. She pretty much always makes the optimal decision in any given moment, so we just need to make her think that boarding the Ferris wheel with us is her best move.”

Just as the parade was reaching its climactic finish, I turned toward Himeji next to me once more. I looked into her eyes, reflecting all the glitz and glamor of the parade lights, and kept my voice low.

“So listen, Himeji… Would you mind putting on a little act for me?”

After the parade ended, we strolled around, taking in the amusement park like any normal guests. It was getting late, though, so we stuck just to the main attractions. Himeji kept a straight face but latched on to my arm the whole time on the high-speed roller coaster as it zoomed along the ground. I, on the other hand, was all frozen up in the free-fall ride, shutting my eyes tight. The haunted house made Asamiya panic and cling to Enomoto, which forced him to all but drag her to the exit. It may not have been the most elegant approach, but the hold hands checkbox was now filled in for them, too.

Then, with about an hour to go before the park closed, Himeji and I decided to round things out with the Ferris wheel—Union Park’s biggest showpiece. Its size spoke for itself, but it was also famous as a site for lovers. The rumor was that if you got together here, you’d stay together forever.

Enomoto and Asamiya were taking a break on a bench a little behind us. Asamiya had been the one to ask to sit down, the haunted house having exhausted her to her limits—but that, too, was part of our scheme. If all four of us stood in line for the Ferris wheel, we’d naturally be inclined to take one car together, which would ruin any romantic mood. Thus, I had worked with Asamiya to make sure we were split up at this crucial moment.

Anyway, Himeji and I were just about to get in line when:

“…Wait one minute.”

With an audible whoosh, a girl blocked our way. Between her luxuriant, burning red hair and her intrepid, strong-willed ruby eyes, it could be none other than the Empress, Sarasa Saionji. She had her hand on her hip, as usual, as she eyed us both.

“What do you two think you’re doing?”

“…? That’s an odd question to ask, Ms. Sarasa. My master and I are on a date, as you can plainly see. We’re holding hands because we’re madly in love.”

“I-I’m not talking about that. I mean… Shinohara, why don’t you look the least bit panicked right now? I know you can’t complete your checklist if you keep up this pretend date with Himeji. Why are you just enjoying yourself like everything’s normal?”

She didn’t even try to hide the suspicion in her voice. It wasn’t showing on her face, but I could detect a twinge of both doubt and impatience, too. I could understand why, though; up until now, Saionji had been acting on the assumption that my orders demanded I “date” a girl from another ward, but in fact, she had no real evidence telling her whether that was actually correct. Maybe she really had been a second too late at the theater, and maybe I had completed the objective at the café while her eyes weren’t on me.

To her mind, there was still a chance that Himeji really was my officially sanctioned dating partner. And if that wasn’t the case, then my total lack of concern was just weird. If we were this close to the end and I still had two items left to check off, that pretty much meant I was screwed—but here we were, Himeji and I, chilling in the amusement park, totally unconcerned about anything else. That faint possibility had to be tormenting Saionji right now. If Himeji was my date, we’d tick off the Ferris wheel task in a flash, then we could work out something with the shopping one and come away winners.

“…You wanna know why I’m not panicking?”

Having gone over all that in my mind, I gave her a subtle smirk.

“Because there’s no need to, of course. I don’t know how you’re reading this, but from my viewpoint, this day’s looking pretty winnable to me.”

“Hm…? Yeah, I was sure you’d dodge the question when asked point-blank like that. You don’t want me to know the truth…but that doesn’t really matter anyway. Whether your dating partner is Himeji or not, I just have to take the right measures to win, is all.”

“…Oh? And what do you mean by that?”

“How do you think? I’ll come in the same car as you both. Then I’ll just hold on to Himeji the whole time while the wheel’s doing its lap around. I won’t let you lay a finger on either of us, and then you won’t be able to check that box. I’d already thought about taking Himeji and running away somewhere, but then I wouldn’t have been able to keep tabs on you.”

“…”

“Hee-hee! Guess this was the optimal strategy, huh? And don’t try to stop me, either. I am getting in your car.”

She brushed her luxurious, long hair back with her right hand, seemingly enjoying every moment of this. Meanwhile, my mind was elsewhere…

Good… Good! She took the bait!

I did a little mental fist pump. It was a do-or-die bet, but Saionji really had taken the best option available to her. She had acted to remove the one losing path left in her sights. Now this game was all mine.

When I’d told Himeji my surefire plan, she’d said, “I wouldn’t really recommend it… But, yes, you really could win with that.”

This was how I was going to end the second quest—and with that conviction in mind, all three of us boarded the Ferris wheel.

“““…”””

Our car quietly lifted up into the sky, none of us saying a word.

I was seated on one bench, while Saionji was on the other holding Himeji on her lap. She was keeping a pretty hard grip on her, actually. Nobody else was watching—I even had my earpiece shut off—so Saionji didn’t have to worry about acting like an Empress or a rich girl or anything.

“Um…Rina? This really is a little embarrassing for me…”

“I know. It is for me, too. But we have to do it this way, or else there’s no reason for me to be on here.”

“B-but… Well, no, maybe you’re right.”

Himeji had protested and squirmed a bit at first, but she’d given up after a little while and was now sitting still on Saionji’s lap. It was an iron-wall defense—Himeji was being held from behind and Saionji was underneath her, so I was being physically blocked from getting close to either one of them. There’d be no embracing anyone for me like this.

“…Hee-hee!”

But just then, Himeji, still stuck in Saionji’s arms, let out a little laugh.

“Now that I think about it, Rina, you always did like hugging people, didn’t you? I feel like you did this to me a lot when we were little.”

“…? Wow, she did?” I asked.

“Yes, she certainly did. Oh, but not in any indecent way, of course.”

“Of course it wasn’t! If it was…that’d be, like, a scandal, okay?”

Himeji’s joke was met with a blush and a shake of the head from Saionji.

“Hmm…” Saionji looked up a bit, tracing her memories back as she spoke. “You know, you’re not wrong. Back when you were new to the Saionji house, Yuki, you wouldn’t really come near me too much, but once we got friendly, you started begging me for attention a lot…which made me happy. You used to hug me a lot, too.”

“Ohhh…? Himeji, begging for attention?”

“…! Th-that’s so mean, Rina. You’re bringing up a story like that after how many years?”

“What? You’re the one who started reminiscing, Yuki. Besides, this is six or seven years ago we’re talking about, right? I came here from Japan, I met Sarasa, I met you…and it was just a bit after that.”

Saionji seemed to enjoy talking about this, perhaps because she was usually the one being embarrassed about her past. “Sarasa” here wasn’t referring to Saionji herself, but the real daughter of the Saionjis that she was currently pretending to be. She was Saionji’s best friend and Himeji’s former employer who had brought them together, changing their fates forever.

On a different note…

“Actually…you just mentioned it, Saionji, but you used to live in Japan, right?”

“…? Well, of course. The real Sarasa is one thing, but it’s pretty rare for kids to be born and raised on the Academy. Most students take the test to get admitted to a middle or high school here…although the real talents can get picked up well before then.”

“Huh. So what about you?”

“I came here right after I started elementary school. I think I officially made the move during second grade, maybe?”

Saionji let out a snicker, acting as smug as possible about it. I found it a little irritating, but there was no doubting her natural talent, so I couldn’t fire back.

“After all,” she continued, taking my silence as a cue to brag some more, “I had finished up my high school education by the time I was five years old. I was helping with university research and stuff after that. And I wouldn’t call it boring or anything, but thanks to that, I was confined indoors pretty much all the time. I can count all the times, really, when I played like a normal child.”

“That’s like on a different dimension. I can’t even contemplate how amazing it is. How about you, Himeji?”

“Me, Master? I came to the island at around the same time as Rina. Not on a scholarship like her, of course—it was just decided through our families that I’d be serving the Saionjis. Before then, I was studying the art of maidship at home.”

“…Maidship?”

“Yes—the skills and abilities needed to be an effective maid. Much like Rina, I don’t recall going out to play very much, but I think that was just due to my personality. I was always a rather shy girl, so unless someone escorted me, I never really thought about going out myself.”

“…?”

Listening to them talk about their pasts, something I’d never had a chance to really hear about before now, made me silently raise an eyebrow. It wasn’t that their stories made me suspicious at all…but something about them did stick in my mind, somehow. “Confined”… “Escorted”… What was it? What did I find weird about that…?

“…But that doesn’t matter.”

I had been turning that thought over and over in my mind, when an exasperated-sounding Saionji stopped me in my tracks. Keeping Himeji tightly in her arms, she shook her luscious hair a bit as her dimly shining ruby eyes glared at me.

“Look, Shinohara, can we cut to the chase already? Because I don’t see us getting this far and you just saying ‘Okay, I give up.’ Our car’s almost at the top of the wheel, so I’d appreciate it if you didn’t drag this on any longer, okay?”

“Hmm…? Ah, right. Then if you insist, that’s exactly what I’ll do.”

“…? If I insist? …Wait, you’re not gonna try to grab Yuki from me, are you? Is that your grand plan? Are you gonna attack both of us now…?!”

“…Who the heck ever said that?”

Maybe that would check the Ferris wheel box off my list, but it’d cost me a hell of a lot of other things. I wasn’t about to fall that far, no. So I kept my eyes pointed forward, with a hint of a smile on my lips.

“But you know, Saionji…I really should apologize to you first. I mean, even Himeji got angry at me.”

“…Of course I did, Master. Normally, I would try stopping you with everything I had.”

“Um… Wh-what? What’s this about?”

“We’re talking about what I’m gonna do shortly. So…sorry, Saionji, but I’m going to be using you, starting now.”

The moment I said that, I glanced to my right. With our car near the top of the wheel, we had a beautiful view of the starry sky and the nightscape below. Beautiful, yes, but otherwise perfectly normal for a vantage point like this.

But then…

“…!”

Suddenly, my view began to shake violently, and a wave of dizziness swept over me. I felt awful, almost like I was going to throw up. Losing my sense of balance made it hard to stay on my seat, and I slumped down onto the floor of the car.

“Huh? …Sh-Shinohara?!”

This must not have seemed like an act—and in fact, it wasn’t an act at all. Saionji, sitting across from me, flew into a panic. Her face paled as she pushed Himeji off her lap and knelt down next to me, not minding the dirt it’d leave on her skirt. She held me up by my shoulders, her face right above mine.

“Shinohara! Shinohara, what’s wrong?!”

“…Are—are you sure you should be so close to me like this, Saionji…? That’s probably gonna check the box, you know…”

“I… I know that, but it beats watching you suffer like this! Your breathing’s clearly abnormal right now! …Hold on one second, okay? I’ll access the control system and have them get us down—”

“You won’t need to, Rina.”

Himeji had been silently watching so far, but with those few short words, she was ready to enter the fray. Elegantly standing up from the seat she was on, she turned her clear blue eyes toward Saionji and gave her a deep bow.

“I’m deeply sorry about this. I will apologize in place of my master, so please, calm down.”

“Apologize…? What do you mean, Yuki? Are you saying this was just an act?”

“No, it is not. My master truly is in no shape to get up right now…but he is neither sick nor injured. Did you not notice? Ever since we boarded this car, my master hasn’t taken his eyes off me and you, Rina. We’ve had this beautiful view, and he never once took a moment to look at it. In fact, he nearly fainted on the free-fall ride we took about an hour ago.”

“…Huh? You mean…?”

“Yes, your assumption is correct. My master…has acrophobia—a fear of heights.”

Saionji’s mouth hung open, as she let my upper body slip through her hands and fall to the floor. It was the final blow for me, and this time I really did fall unconscious.