Rokujouma no Shinryakusha!? - Volume 28 - Chapter 1

The Usual Morning

Tuesday, March 1st

March mornings in Kisshouharukaze City were still quite cold. While asleep, Koutarou unconsciously pulled up his quilt to cover his face. Poking out from the quilt, however, was a small, clenched fist. It was far too petite and feminine to be his. The fist opened and closed a couple of times before completely falling limp like a wilted flower. About that time, Ruth peeked out from the kitchen and called out to the hand’s owner.

“Your Highness, would you like some help?”

“...mmr...”

Alongside that indistinguishable mumble, the hand swept back and forth. Seeing that, Ruth returned to the kitchen with a smile. Kiriha was there in the kitchen as well, since they were in the middle of preparing breakfast.

“How’s Theia-dono doing?”

“It seems she wants to continue trying on her own.”

As they cooked together, the two girls whimsically chatted away. This was pretty typically for their mornings in room 106, and the topic this time was Theia.

“I’d bet she’s frustrated that Harumi and Maki can wake him up relatively easily.”

“I wonder why there’s such a difference...”

“They just keep going at it until Koutarou wakes up.”

“Ah, I think I see. If either of them kept at it, kind Master would have no choice but to wake up, heehee...”

Today, Theia had decided to challenge herself to the task of gently waking up Koutarou. But instead, Koutarou had literally caught her up in his terrible sleeping habits. Right now she was in his arms, wrapped up between him and the quilt. Being well-versed in martial arts, Theia wouldn’t have had any trouble breaking free if she got serious. Or waking Koutarou up, for that matter. But her pride got in the way. She wanted to wake him up with words and gentle shaking because that’s how Harumi and Maki did it.

“But in Theia-dono’s case, that’s the biggest obstacle she could face.”

“From Master’s point of view, he must be depending on Her Highness... thinking he could leave everything to her.”

“But Theia-dono doesn’t see it that way. Which is, I believe, how things have ended up like this.”

“It’s a little different from what Her Highness wants him to do, or rather, from the love she wants. Heehee...”

In the end, Theia was at Koutarou’s mercy. Kiriha and Ruth understood exactly why, and had no trouble seeing where this was going. As such, they quickly lost interest in Theia and Koutarou and moved on to the next topic.

Around Koutarou’s left eye was bruised, and there was a bump on Theia’s head. Normally if two people like that were sitting down and eating breakfast next to each other, it would invite questions. But here in room 106, nobody thought it was all that strange. “They did it again, huh?” was about the only reaction it would elicit. If anything, the other girls were a little envious.

“Um, Theiamillis-san, how do you get Satomi-kun to hit you seriously like that?” Harumi asked.

“Yes, please tell us. We would love to know,” Maki echoed.

“Harumi, Maki, are you two trying to pick a fight with me?” Theia demanded.

“We wouldn’t dare,” both girls said in harmony as they shook their heads.

Harumi and Maki knew Koutarou treasured them, but tended to fall on the side of being a little too nice. They were dying to know how Theia had actually managed to get Koutarou to hit her seriously.

“Here I was having a nice sleep and she just up and put me in a joint lock,” Koutarou muttered while pouring soy sauce on his pickles.

Hearing that, Harumi and Maki looked at Theia in awe.

“Amazing!”

Harumi had an intrinsic resistance to hurting people, so she felt nothing but admiration for Theia who could hit Koutarou without damaging their relationship.

“Is that true?!”

In Maki’s case, she had such a dark past that she craved as much contact as possible with the person she treasured most, even if it was on the violent side. It would just be another aspect to their relationship, and help confirm their bond. While that was all unnecessary now that she had the crest on her forehead, it wasn’t like she could change the way her heart was programmed overnight. Such thoughts and desires were merely second nature to her now.

“I woke you up like I was supposed to! I even did what Harumi and Maki usually do!”

“Don’t lie. If you had, I would’ve woken up.”

“It’s not a lie! But you just ignored me like you didn’t have a care in the world! So I switched to using force! I wasn’t the one at fault!”

Theia’s cheeks puffed out in humiliation and discontent. Harumi and Maki had no trouble waking him up sweetly, but she just couldn’t do it. And Koutarou himself didn’t appreciate the difference. Theia was irritated, and she was about to hit her limit.

“Is that true, Ruth-san?” he asked.

“Yes. Her Highness tried to wake you politely even though she felt that it wasn’t like her to do so. But when you showed no signs of waking up, Her Highness had no choice but to resort to force.”

“So it was true...”

“See? I told you so. It wasn’t my fault. Now what do you have to say for yourself?”

Theia boasted triumphantly now that she’d gotten the upper hand in all this thanks to Ruth backing her up. She then pressed Koutarou for an apology by lightly headbutting his shoulder.

To go for physical contact so naturally, Theiamillis-san really is amazing...

So that’s how you do it... but I have to get him angry at me first? How do I do that?

Harumi and Maki were still admiringly watching Theia. Theia herself hadn’t noticed that they were staring. But perhaps that was for the better. She certainly would have been unhappy about it.

“I don’t care! You still could have woken me up normally. Why did you go straight from shaking me to putting me in a joint lock?”

“What?! That’s what you’re harping on?!”

And just as their conversation was about to devolve into a quarrel...

“Hey, Theia.”

Sanae, who was sitting next to Theia, called to her and tugged on her sleeve. The moment he saw it, Koutarou suddenly got a bad feeling. Sanae had the expression on her face she always did when she was about to play a trick on someone.

“I’m going to let you in on a little secret.”

“What’s that?”

“The easiest way to wake up Koutarou.”

“There’s such a thing?! Please tell me!”

Just as Sanae had hoped, Theia took the bait. Holding back her laughter, she began explaining in a confident tone.

“Well, first you have to reign in your feelings as best you can and focus.”

“I see, I see. So feelings come first...”

“Then you slowly lean in and try to kiss Koutarou.”

“And next comes the kiss... Wait, the kiss?!”

Hearing that word, Theia blushed. It was a most unexpected suggestion. But nevertheless, her interest was piqued and she stared at Sanae, waiting for her to continue.

“Yeah. And when you do, Koutarou will sense it and wake up to run away. This was a plan crafted by Kiriha herself, so it’s guaranteed to succeed.”

“I see. Guaranteed success...”

“Stop it! Anything but that! I won’t be able to rest in peace!”

Sanae’s advice was starting to twist in an unexpected direction. Koutarou had been the victim of such mischief at Kiriha’s hands before, but with Theia doing it too, the danger he was in would increase dramatically. He could read other’s feelings through their auras, but sensing goodwill from up close was difficult. That was because the other party’s aura would completely envelop him. That’s why he couldn’t be certain he would notice that kind of thing in time.

“If it works, he wakes up. And if it fails, you get to kiss him. It’s the perfect plan.”

“But isn’t it shameless for a princess to kiss someone who’s sleeping without permission?”

“Yes! Yes, it most certainly is, Theia!”

Koutarou was on the defensive here. All he could think to do was appeal to Theia’s pride in her nobility.

“It’s only shameless if there’s no love on it,” Sanae continued on. “But there is love, right?”

“Well, that’s true...”

“Don’t let that persuade you, princess! Defend the prestige and honor of the royal families!”

Theia was on the verge of being swayed, but Harumi and Maki were floored by the potential power of the plan to kiss Koutarou in his sleep.

“...”

“...”

After looking at each other with dumbfounded expressions, their faces turned red from imagining themselves trying it. A kiss on the lips was on a totally different level than one to the cheek or hand.

If he does wake up, he might brandish his fists... But even then, it might be a good chance...

I bet Satomi-kun would get angry... But that might be good too... I wouldn’t mind if he got angry with me like he did with Theia-san or Yurika...

Even if he were sleeping, kissing him would be far too forward an expression of love. It was a big hurdle for these two modest girls, but they knew giving up outright would be a waste.

Shizuka, who lived upstairs in room 206, met up with Koutarou and the others either during breakfast or when it was time to go to school. Since her daily karate training had run late today, she ended up grouping up with them on the way to school. And without any context from the prior conversation, she was curious as to why Koutarou had snatched Theia’s smartphone and was staring quite intently at it.

“What are you looking at, Satomi-kun?”

“Nothing, it’s just... I’m on an alarm clock maker’s site. I’m hoping to find a real loud one.”

“Why?”

Shizuka tilted her head in confusion. With so many people going in and out of room 106, she found it hard to believe Koutarou needed help waking up.

“I guess you could say I’ve recently had a moment of enlightenment... Perhaps a premonition of danger would be more accurate.”

“A premonition...?”

His answer only puzzled Shizuka even more.

“Actually...”

Seeing Shizuka’s confusion, Yurika leaned over and whispered something into her ear.

“...Ah, so he got his comeuppance for letting you do as you please.”

“That’s right.”

Now that Yurika had explained, Shizuka clapped her hands together and smiled. Considering his situation, poor Koutarou had no choice but to buy an alarm.

Satomi-kun thinking that he’ll get out of this somehow is cute. Even I’ve kissed him on the cheek, heehee...

Shizuka had a few opinions on the matter, but chose not to voice them. She felt it was her job as a lady to show some discretion when it came to men here and there.

“Yurika, do you need a loud one too?” Koutarou asked.

“Naw.”

“Why not?”

“I get the feeling I’d set it wrong and end up waking everyone up in the middle of the night.”

“I wouldn’t want that either. All right, none for you then.”

“Yeah, you can just wake me up instead, Satomi-san. And gently if possible.”

“It’s not possible.”

“Well, at least don’t use hot water please...”

“We’ll see.”

Kiriha and Ruth seemed to share Shizuka’s opinion on all this, and both exchanged knowing looks with her. Koutarou had no idea that while he was carefreely chatting away with Yurika, the girls’ encirclement was gradually closing in.

“Why don’t you just wake up Yurika with a kiss too, Koutarou?” Sanae asked.

“Whaaaaat?!” Yurika shrieked.

“You wouldn’t want him to?”

“I-It’s not like I wouldn’t want him to... I’d just... rather be awake. It would be a waste in my sleep...”

“Or so she says,” Shizuka said with a giggle.

“Don’t worry. You don’t have anything to be worried about. More importantly, Yurika, Sanae, you’ll have to start studying soon.”

Koutarou put his foot down and changed the topic. Things weren’t going in his favor right now and he didn’t want any talk of this to continue, so bringing up someone else’s problems seemed like the best way to go.

“Whaaat?! But we just finished studying for the test the other day!”

“Yurika’s right! We studied a lot for that!”

After just overcoming the educational assessment test from Folsaria, Yurika and Sanae had no interest in studying any more. They felt like their brains would fry if they tried to stuff anything else into them.

“We have finals soon. That’s what’s going to decide if you flunk or not. The test from before was just a warm up.”

Final exams would come in the middle of March. If they failed now, the test from the other day would have all been for nothing. They’d have to repeat a year anyway. And since this wasn’t being administered by Rainbow Heart, who had their best interests in mind, there would be no room to argue with the results. In that sense, finals were much scarier. Sanae and Yurika’s crisis had only just begun.

“But, but... why are we the only ones who have to study?! Doesn’t everyone have to too?!” Yurika pleaded.

“That’s because your grades are terrible,” Koutarou explained.

“But I had a passing grade!” Sanae argued.

“Just barely.”

While everyone had passed the test in the end, Sanae had only just barely managed to scrape by, and Yurika was so borderline that Theia had had to plead her case and argue that they make a special exception for her because of an error in one of the questions. If left to their own devices, both of them would bomb their finals for sure. Koutarou wanted to make sure they studied properly so that they could all move on to their final year of high school together.

“What are you two going to do if you really end up repeating a year?”

“It’s okay, that won’t―”

“Yeah, more importantly, Kou, take a look at this picture.”

But before a conclusion could be reached, a familiar voice muscled its way into the discussion and steered the topic away from studies. That unmistakable voice was Kenji’s. In the past, Kenji used to meet up with Koutarou at Corona House. But after all this time, Kenji knew Koutarou’s route and his schedule well enough that he would just meet up with him on the way there. That meant that neither of them would ever be kept waiting, so both boys were just as happy this way.

“You’re early today, Mackenzie.”

“Who cares? Just come over here and take a look at this!”

Kenji was rather excited for some reason, and he shoved his phone in front of Koutarou as he got closer. On display was a picture of a certain someone Kenji adored.

“Kin-chan, huh? Oh, that’s our uniform! That’s right. She’ll be starting high school soon, right?”

“You betcha! And she’s super cute, isn’t she?! I couldn’t help taking a picture.”

The picture was of Kenji’s little sister, Mackinley, also known as Matsudaira Kotori. Kotori was very shy and would often follow after her older brother Kenji. Kenji treasured his sister in return, and his personality changed whenever he talked about her. His normally cool attitude disappeared, and he would turn into nothing more than a doting older brother. So when it came to Kotori, it was almost like Koutarou and Kenji reversed their roles.

“But what’s with the uniform? She just passed, so she shouldn’t have gotten a uniform yet, right?”

Kisshouharukaze High School held its entrance exams in February. The results were announced at the end of the month, so Kotori should have only heard that she had passed within the last few days. Of course, she shouldn’t have a uniform yet either. Despite that, here Kenji was with a picture of her in the Harukaze High uniform. Koutarou found that a little odd.

“Yeah, I just got her to try it on yesterday. I borrowed a uniform from one of the upperclassmen in the drama club. It’s my cute little sister’s high school debut! I had to make sure we ordered her one that was the perfect size!”

“...You’re an idiot, aren’t you?”

“Don’t be so rude! What’s wrong with treasuring your sister?!”

It seemed the inner workings of Kenji’s mind were truly strange. Once he could appreciate that, Koutarou smiled bitterly. He knew Kotori was a good girl, but felt Kenji took things a little too far.

“I didn’t say it was bad. I just think it’s a bit much.”

“What can I do when she’s just so darned cute?”

“Yeah. I bet the boys won’t leave her alone.”

“That’s exactly what I’m worried about, Kouuu! I wonder if she’ll be able to properly turn them down.”

Kenji looked anxious from the bottom of his heart as he held his head. He was normally very calm, but he could never keep his cool when his little sister was involved. Since he had plenty of relationship experience himself, he was constantly worried about his overly shy sister.

“She’ll probably be fine. Kin-chan’s a high schooler now.”

“I know, but just look at her! She’s so freakin’ cute! And weak to peer pressure!”

“You’re overthinking things.”

“But I don’t know if I’d be able to take it if she gets taken in by some bad boy and changes on me.”

“Come on, Mackenzie... This is just getting gross.”

“You’re awfully cold today, Kou.”

“No, you’re just being weird today.”

Kenji was practically clinging to Koutarou, but Koutarou pushed him away. In the middle of their antics, they were both struck by tresses of golden hair reflecting the sunshine fluttering next to them.

“Let’s see here... I believe I’ve seen her face before.”

“Your Highness, it was New Year’s Day.”

“Ah, that’s right, of course! It’s the girl from that time! I’m glad to see she’s in good health!”

It was Theia who leaned in to see the picture, and Ruth who jogged her memory about where they’d met before. It seemed the other girls were interested in Kenji’s little sister, and they had all gathered around Koutarou to see the picture.

“Look at this, Aika-san,” said Harumi. “When we saw her last, she was merely a girl, but she’s rapidly becoming more feminine.”

“I wonder if Satomi-kun likes girls with this kind of atmosphere to them...” Maki sighed.

“Not at all,” Kiriha interjected. “Koutarou isn’t simplistic enough to make up his mind over just atmosphere.”

“Heehee... Kiriha-san is right. Besides, isn’t that why we’re all struggling?” Harumi asked with a giggle.

The girls grabbed the smartphone from Koutarou’s hands and all gave their opinions while looking at Kotori. While admiring her picture, Koutarou could see how interested they all were in this kind of thing. They were all normal teenage girls in the end.

“Kou, do you think Kotori would be able to fit in with a circle of friends like that? Oh, I’m so worried...”

“I’m sure she’ll be fine. It’s not like Kin-chan hasn’t been a girl for fifteen years for nothing.”

“But I’ve never seen her talk to anyone but me and you...”

“Just because it’s been like that doesn’t mean it’ll always be like that. Just have a little faith in her.”

“If it doesn’t work out, you better take responsibility, Kou! Got it?!”

“Okay, okay, jeez...”

Koutarou shrugged with a wry smile. Kenji was a handful whenever it came to his sister, but Koutarou couldn’t bring himself to criticize him too strongly. After all, it was because Kenji was so doting and caring that he’d stayed friends with Koutarou all this time even when things got rough. And Koutarou was grateful for that. That was why he’d never really be able to scorn that side of his personality, even if he was a handful at times like this.

“Hey, Mackenzie, do you have more pictures of your little sister?”

“Would you like to see them, Theiamillis-san?!”

“Indeed, show me!”

“Look at that, Kou! This is what I wanted to see!”

Kenji gleefully ran towards Theia and the others. Not long ago, Koutarou probably would have just watched over them from where he stood. But not today. Recently, Koutarou had changed a little. And after thinking about it for a good ten seconds or so, he walked over to Kenji and the others.

“...”

Noticing this, Harumi followed Koutarou with her eyes. However, she simply smiled and said nothing. She even took a few steps back to make way for him. He was walking over to the others as it was, but he stopped where Harumi stood and seemed to be thinking about something again.

“...”

“...!”

Having made up his mind, he grabbed Harumi’s hand. Pulling the surprised Harumi along, the two of them joined in on the commotion with Kenji and the others. Reflecting on what had just happened, Harumi was truly happy. She no longer needed to say anything.

“...They seem to be having fun... without me...”

That’s why it wasn’t Harumi who muttered those words, but Clan. She was watching over the group through an observation device, and she occasionally witnessed such wordless interactions between Koutarou and Harumi. It was seeing it happen now that made her think to herself...

“I think I will start attending Kisshouharukaze High School starting next month. It’s a good idea, politically speaking. And it should be more convenient to be near Theiamillis-san. Politically speaking...”

Despite the reason being clear, not being able to admit to it was simply the kind of girl Clan was. Though it looked like she was losing out, there was a space for her in that cheerful group. If she could just grasp that, everyone would be happy.