“What about you, Alya? Can you cook?” Masachika innocently asked, figuring someone as perfect as her would be able to cook at least the basics.
“…”
Alisa silently looked away.
“Eh. Most first-year high school students can’t cook anyway,” he added, taking the hint.
“It’s not that I can’t cook… It just takes too much time.”
“Oh… Are you the kind of person who has to cut vegetables and whatnot perfectly and all the same size?”
“I suppose you could say that. I like to make sure the food gets equally cooked, the seasoning is tasty, and it’s consistent…”
“And then you end up burning it, right?”
“…”
She took a sip of her melon soda, and he guessed that he’d hit the nail on the head. Masachika smirked but understood, since she was a perfectionist. Precise calculations were important when it came to cooking, but skill was even more important. To Masachika, not being exact while still not necessarily being careless was the trick to cooking, but a perfectionist like Alisa had to be exact with everything.
“…I can’t help that it bothers me. Just watching Masha cook based on ‘feeling’ makes my skin crawl…”
“Ha-ha. I can easily see her doing that.”
He imagined Maria throwing ingredients into the pan and sprinkling seasoning on top at random with her usual cheerful smile. That would be her style, he thought while smiling. He did feel that she was a little too nonchalant about it, though…
“But whatever she makes always turns out really good…”
“I guess she’s a natural, huh?”
Maria was apparently an excellent cook.
Seriously? Does she really have no faults?
One could hypothesize that she may be an even “better catch” than her little sister. Masachika placed a hand on his forehead, but Alisa waved her hand and changed the subject as if his gesture bothered her.
“Anyway, forget about that. What kind of story did you have in mind?”
“Oh, uh… Right. Where was I again?”
“You told me that we needed a story where everyone wanted to see us succeed like Kenzaki had.”
“Ah, yeah.”
Masachika changed his expression and switched his gears back into thinking mode.
“It’s just like you said, Alya. First, we need to show everyone how hard you work…at the first semester’s closing ceremony, more specifically.”
“At the closing ceremony? You mean when the student council members give a speech?”
Masachika nodded, confirming her suspicions.
“Yep. The speech is just an excuse to introduce the student council’s members for next semester.”
“I vaguely remember hearing the student council doesn’t get any new members after that. Is that accurate?”
“Yeah, a lot of people join and drop out during the first semester, but after the speech, no new members can join. People can still quit, though. In addition, this speech also acts as a platform for us first-year students to announce our candidacy.”
“That was kind of how it seemed last year, now that you mention it…”
Alisa thought back to her third year of middle school.
“It’ll be your first policy speech in front of the entire school, and I’m sure I don’t have to tell you how important that is,” Masachika stated with a serious expression.
“Yeah…”
Lowering her gaze, she pondered with a serious expression as well until she suddenly glanced at Masachika with a worried look in her eyes.
“…What exactly should I talk about?” she asked in a soft voice.
“Whatever you want to. Just be honest and speak your mind. People will listen,” he promptly replied.
“Really? You don’t have any actual specific advice?”
She looked displeased. After all, she’d gone to him for help for a change, and he was giving her nothing in return. Masachika, however, only shrugged.
“You’re someone people want to cheer for, and I’ll be there to back you up if you ever have trouble communicating your ideas, so just be yourself and say what’s on your mind.”
The words he said so casually… Those words…
“Oh… Okay…”
Alisa blushed. Her pout instantly turned into something more bashful as her eyes wandered restlessly. She fidgeted, tapping her fingers and opening her mouth as if to say something before thinking for a moment and whispering in Russian:
“<…What makes people want to cheer for me?>”
Her darting eyes said, “Compliment me,” as she spoke.
You’d know if you could see yourself now. You’re so cute, dammit.
He stared off into the distance with a sigh when suddenly, the waitress returned with the rest of his food.
“Will that be all for you?”
“Yep.”
“Enjoy.”
After watching the waitress walk away, he shifted his gaze back to Alisa, who sympathetically told him to go ahead and eat.
“Thanks… Sorry about this.”
After placing his hands together as if to say a prayer, he went straight for the sautéed spinach with bacon covering the white plate. It wasn’t long before he cleared the dish like an appetizer, then moved on to the main dish: bubbling hot mapo tofu in a thin cast-iron pan. The perfectly crumbling snow-like tofu was covered in just the right amount of dark red magma-esque fermented bean paste. He dug his spoon into the meal and briefly cooled it off with a blow before taking a bite.
“Wow… This is pretty intense for a restaurant that’s not even Chinese.” Masachika nodded with evident satisfaction as the spiciness prickled his gums.
“…Is that good?”
“Huh? It’s all right. Want to try some?”
Ah, crap, he immediately thought. It was a mix between how uncomfortable he felt for being the only one eating and how he’d just offered to share some of his food even though it had only been a few minutes since the spoon incident. After giving it some more thought, he decided this was way too hot for her to eat, but he was hesitant to take back his offer, and rightfully so. Alisa was hesitant as well. Of course, she didn’t want to eat the seemingly hazardous waste, but she was worried that Masachika would realize she really didn’t like spicy food if she refused.
I have water. I have some melon soda left. I can survive a bite.
After making sure she had enough healing potions (drinks) left…
“All right, I’ll have a bite,” she declared with resolve.
“Oh… Uh. Okay.”
Despite knowing how she really felt, Masachika pretended like he didn’t notice and reached for a small plate. He then thrust his spoon into the mapo tofu to hopefully scoop up more tofu than spicy sauce, at the very least. But what he excavated was…a red stick of dynamite.
“Oh, wow. Check it out. An entire cayenne pepper.”
“…?!”
Masachika lifted the crimson weapon of mass destruction with his spoon and glanced in Alisa’s direction… She gave him puppy-dog eyes. “Don’t even think about giving me that,” she pleaded with her moist blue eyes. An angel and a devil instantly appeared on Masachika’s shoulders. The angel, who looked like a tiny Maria for some reason, gently spoke in a discouraging manner.
“You can’t. Only bad boys would do something like that to Alya.”
Meanwhile, the devil on his other shoulder, who looked like Yuki for some reason, sleazily tried to talk him into it.
“Heh. Do it, bro! You don’t need to hide it from me. I know ya’d get off on seeing Alya cry.”
The angel’s pleas and the devil’s temptation—the contradicting emotions clashed as he grinded his teeth.
Tsk! I…I…?!
His hands trembled as he struggled, wavering between deploying or putting aside that dangerous weapon. In his mind, he was like a man in a war zone clutching his gun, conflicted on whether or not he should shoot, but in reality, it was nothing more than a little cayenne pepper. Anyone watching would probably get secondhand embarrassment. That was the kind of situation this was.
“I don’t think it’s right to make girls suffer for your amusement, Kuze. I—”
“Get outta here!”
“Eep?!”
The tiny Yuki slammed her imaginary body into the tiny Maria, sending her flying away to the stars. The battle had ended in under a second. There was just too much of a power difference between angels and demons.
Forgive me, Alya.
Masachika apologized to Alisa in his heart while selling his soul to his inner demon.
“Here, you can have the most delicious part.”
“…Thank you.”
A monster. That’s what I am.
Masachika criticized himself on the inside but smiled on the outside as he handed Alisa the modest plate. After that, she drew a pair of chopsticks out of the chopstick container sitting at the corner of the table, then scooped the entire piece of tofu into her mouth without another second of hesitation. Once the hard part was over, she laid her small plate back down on the table…and closed her eyes.
“You like it?”
“…Not bad,” Alisa replied without changing her expression. Masachika knew, though. He saw her hands clutched together and trembling on the table. He watched her right hand desperately holding on to her left, which looked as if it was going to grab the glass of water by its side any moment now.
I’m sorry, Alya.
Although cheerfully smiling, he muttered those words in his mind like a man who had actually very compelling reasons for betraying his friend.
“Alya… You forgot to eat the best part.”
“…”
For a very brief moment, the look in Alisa’s eyes wasn’t very ladylike, but Masachika pretended not to notice. Pressured by his smile, she plucked the cayenne pepper off the tiny plate and tossed it into her mouth as if to say, “Fire in the hole!” She then covered her mouth with her right hand and lowered her head as low as it could go.
“…Alya?”
“<You idiot.>”
Those pitiful Russian whispers.
“<Stupid idiot.>”
She repeatedly muttered <idiot> in a tearful voice, keeping her expression hidden. It wasn’t clear whether she was saying that to Masachika or herself for being stubborn, but…
“You should probably drink some water. Here.”
“<Stupid…>”
Even Masachika started to feel guilty for his stupid prank, but Alisa only continued to repeat those words. They didn’t discuss the election any more after that. Masachika finished his meal in silence as quickly as he could and waited for Alisa to recover before they left the restaurant.
“…We talked a lot longer than I thought,” she commented outside under the night sky.
“Yeah…”
You were basically half dead the entire time, though, he thought while looking away guiltily. Nevertheless, he didn’t regret his actions because there was something touching about hearing Alisa’s tearful voice, since she always acted so tough.
If you want to call me a scumbag, then do it.
“What is Yuki going to do, by the way?”
“Huh?”
He suddenly lifted his head after hearing the unexpected name and noticed Alisa was glancing in his direction with a slightly uncomfortable expression.
“You know… Since we’re going to be running together, Yuki needs a new partne—a new running mate, right?”
“Ohhh.”
He pretended like he didn’t notice what she’d almost said. After shooting him a dirty look, Alisa continued with a somewhat dissatisfied tone.
“You mentioned earlier that new members couldn’t join the student council after the first semester’s closing ceremony, didn’t you? She doesn’t have that much time to find a vice president to run with her.”
“Well, she is really popular, so I feel like she could run with anyone and be okay… I mean, I ran with her and barely did anything, and she still won,” he added with a shrug.
Alisa shot him a wistful look, and he uncomfortably began to scratch his head.
“Like… She has a wide circle of friends, so she’ll have someone to run with her. I’m sure of it.”
Masachika imagined who the partner could be for a few moments.
“It’d probably be someone who used to be a member of the student council… But who?”
The brief glimpse of a person outside the window came to mind.
“Huh… We’d have a really tough road ahead of us if she got Taniyama on board.”
“Taniyama? Who’s that?”
“Sayaka Taniyama. She was Yuki’s last standing opponent in the presidential race in middle school… Wait. You don’t know her?”
“No.”
As Alisa shook her head, Masachika curiously furrowed his brow and tilted his head. He had figured Sayaka was one of the girls who had joined the student council before almost immediately quitting this year.
Did she give up trying to become the president?
His heart swelled with bitter memories of the past as he recalled the young girl whom he had worked diligently with in the student council until she lost the election.
“Kuze?”
“Oh, it’s nothing… At any rate, I guess we’ll find out who she’s running with before long. We can plan for how we’ll deal with them after that.”
“Yeah…” Alisa nodded a little skeptically. Masachika reminisced about the previous student council members, wondering whom Yuki would choose, but the answer was eventually revealed to him far quicker than he could ever have imagined. It happened the next day after school when Yuki brought a student with her…who wasn’t a previous member of the student council.
“Ayano.”
“Very well, Yuki.”
A female student, who was standing diagonally behind Yuki, took a silent step forward in response to Yuki’s summons. With both hands touching in front of her, she bowed gracefully, then made eye contact with each of the five seated members of the student council before introducing herself in a monotone voice.
“Nice to meet you, everyone. My name is Ayano Kimishima. I am a first-year student in Class C, and from today, I will be working as a general member in the student council with you all. It is a pleasure to meet you.”
Her expression didn’t change even once during her entire introduction. She gracefully bowed again. Each member of the council greeted her, puzzled in their own way by her robot-like demeanor.
“Kuze?”
“…”
Masachika grimaced. While he was completely taken by surprise by Yuki’s decision, this made it more than clear how serious she was. He knit his brow, staring so hard at Ayano that he didn’t have any energy left to respond to Alisa. All of a sudden, Ayano turned her head, and she began to stare Masachika straight in the eye, showing faint emotion as if for the first time.
“I look forward to working together, Masachika,” she quietly stated.
Ayano Kimishima. A maid of Yuki’s…who used to be Masachika’s maid as well.
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