CHAPTER 7
Apparently, it’s sort of like Ishikawa’s 5M method.
It was already a little past eleven when Masachika woke the next day.
“Wow… I slept way too much. I’m kind of impressed I could even sleep this long.”
While he may have been on the verge of going bankrupt after all the sleep debt he had accumulated through countless days of being chronically sleep-deprived, sleeping almost half the day away was still too much. He slept an entire day if you included the previous afternoon as well. His body felt like a bag of garbage after resting that long. His head felt heavy as well, but that might have been because of his cold for all he knew.
“Wait… Did I just inadvertently play hooky from school?”
He was suddenly hit with anxiety as a cold sweat broke out because he had overslept and didn’t even call the school. A few moments of panic went by when a sudden knock at the door interrupted his thought process.
“Are you awake?”
“Y-yeah…,” he replied, baffled by the familiar voice. The door opened and in walked Ayano wearing her maid uniform. She looked captivating as she clasped her hands in front of her chest and gracefully lowered her head—revealing the frilly headband on top.
“Good morning.”
“Yeah, good morning. Did you skip school today because of me?”
“Yes, taking care of you is far more important than getting my exams back. Your grandfather Tomohisa already contacted the school and told them you wouldn’t be coming in today, so you have nothing to worry about.”
“Grandpa called them for me, huh?”
Ayano checked him out from head to toe as he sighed in relief, then handed him the thermometer.
“Your thermometer, sir.”
“Oh, thanks.”
“How do you feel?”
“I feel a lot better…but I think I slept too much. My body feels really heavy…and my throat still hurts, too. I might just be a little dehydrated from sleeping so long and not drinking enough water, though.”
“…I see.”
In the midst of his explaining, the thermometer suddenly beeped, so he took it out and checked his temperature.
“Oh, 36.7 degrees Celsius. My fever’s basically gone.”
“I am so glad to hear that. What would you like for breakfast? Rice porridge or udon?”
“Let’s go with udon.”
“As you wish.”
After thanking Ayano for her kindness, Masachika headed to the bathroom to rinse his mouth and take a quick shower, then changed into a new pair of pajamas and returned to the living room. The udon’s broth was rich and delicious enough for him to easily finish half an extra helping. His body was finally starting to feel better by the time he had finished eating.
“Phew… Thanks a lot, Ayano.”
“I am glad you liked it, and I am glad you seem to have your appetite back.”
“Yeah, I’m basically back to normal. Even my sore throat feels a lot better already.”
“I am relieved to hear that. However, you should still rest today, just in case.”
“Yeah, school’s already over anyway.”
When he looked at the clock, it was already 12:35 PM. While it’d usually be lunch around this time, today was a half day, and while the student council members had to meet the following day to discuss the closing ceremony and prepare for it, they didn’t have a meeting today.
“Here is your medicine.”
“Oh, thanks…?”
All of a sudden, Masachika felt like something was off when he saw the medicine and the glass of water being handed to him.
Hmm? Hold up. Something doesn’t feel right.
It felt as if there was something extremely important right under his nose, but he couldn’t figure out what that something was, and his instincts weren’t allowing him to ignore it, either.
This pill…?
He stared hard at the pill in Ayano’s hand before suddenly realizing what was most likely the problem. The previous day, Masachika was out of it due to his fever, so he hadn’t really thought much about it, but he recognized these pills.
“Is everything okay?”
Ayano tilted her head, her expression blank. And yet she looked almost nervous.
“Ayano, show me the box you got this medicine from,” he quietly demanded, staring right into her eyes.
“…”
Panic…could not be seen in her eyes, but she wasn’t able to immediately answer him, either. Her quiet hesitancy only solidified his suspicions.
“Ayano.”
“…As you wish.”
She closed her eyes in resignation before returning with the box the medicine came in. And after checking the front and back of the box, he was sure of it.
“Ayano, this medicine makes you sleepy, doesn’t it?”
“…Yes.”
It all made sense now. No wonder he slept so much. He wasn’t sleep-deprived. It was simply one of the cold medicine’s side effects. Mystery solved. But what he didn’t know was why Ayano was making him take this medicine, which Alisa had bought, when she knew it made him sleepy. Furthermore, who chose this medicine?
“Ayano, you know this medicine makes me really sleepy, right? Why didn’t you warn me?”
“…”
She didn’t answer his question but instead dropped to her knees smoothly and bowed.
“You have my sincerest apologies.”
“…”
“What I did was unforgivable. I should have never made you, my master, take medicine that has such strong side effects. Please punish me however you will.”
She kept her head perfectly lowered over the carpet as she apologized.
“Ayano, was Yuki the one who told Alya to buy this medicine?” he quietly asked.
“…”
His question was met with her silent admission, for she could not sell out her master (Yuki) or lie to her master (Masachika), either.
“What is Yuki scheming? Let’s assume she didn’t want me to go to school today. Why would that be?”
“…”
But Ayano maintained her silence, ready to take the fall for her master. Masachika sighed, then softened his tone.
“Ayano?”
“Yes?”
“Tell me everything you know, and I will let you take care of me for the rest of the day however you’d like. I won’t complain. You can do whatever you’d like to me.”
“…?! N-no, I refuse to be seduced.”
“Nobody’s seducing you.”
She jumped a bit, still bowing her head on the floor, then she turned down his offer. Masachika scratched his head at her somewhat bizarre reaction and thoughtlessly improvised another proposal.
“Then how about this? If you tell me everything you know, I will ridicule you. Like ‘How dare you sell out your master, worthless scum,’ or something like that.”
“Oh?!”
Ayano swiftly lifted her head, eyes brimming with surprise and expectation, before promptly looking away and returning to a bowing position.
“Okay, I just saw you waver.”
“I—I did no such thing.”
“Don’t lie to me. That was the most expressive I’ve seen you all year. I can’t remember the last time I heard you squeak like that.” He sighed, rolling his eyes.
“H-hey… Master?” she timidly stammered, slightly lifting her chin.
“…What?”
“Out of curiosity…were you also planning on stepping on my head when you ridiculed me?”
“…Would you like me to?”
“I only thought it would make sense if you did, seeing as you are standing over me like this. In addition, I noticed you were barefoot, and I thought that might be why, so I wanted to make sure just in case. That’s all.”
“Stop avoiding the question and answer me. Do you want me to step on you?”
“…”
“The silent treatment again, eh?”
Fast-talking, excuses, and silence: Everything she did was an admission of guilt. Wow, what wonderful weather today. It’s so bright outside, thought Masachika, staring out the window and into the distance. Something he’d done partly as a joke and partly because he’d wanted to see if she really was a masochist had far exceeded what he could have ever imagined. His childhood friend was not just a masochist, no. She was a freak. Oh, and a hard-core masochist. You could describe Ayano in a few words: Blank expression, Devoted, Silent, Maid. Oh god! It had been right there in plain sight the entire time!
“Sigh…”
Masachika exhaled, holding his head as if his brain was hurting. Then he stood up and began heading to his room.
“I’m going to school. And I’m not going to reprimand you for something like this, so you can stand up already.”
“I mustn’t. I must pay for my sins.”
“Then clean the house for me while I’m at school. That’s your punishment.”
“…As you wish.”
She finally stood, but she turned to him with worry in her eyes.
“Are you really going to school? Shouldn’t you get some more rest?”
“The fever’s gone. I’ll be fine.”
“Shall I call the chauffeur and have him take you?”
“Nah, walking’s faster.”
“But you just recovered from your fever, and it is an extremely hot day today. Besides…”
“Hmm?”
Ayano’s gaze wandered in hesitation, as if she was having trouble telling him something.
“I believe it is already…too late.”
“…What is?”
Distressed by Ayano’s ominous words, Masachika got dressed as quickly as he could; ignored Ayano’s efforts to stop him; and headed straight to school. The burning-hot sunshine was like a whip beating his recovering body as he ran, eventually arriving at school at a little past one o’clock. Students were shuffling out the front gate, perhaps having finished lunch in the cafeteria. They shot him curious glances here and there for coming to school late on a half day that was already over, but he continued to press forward against the current until he reached the school building.
“Where are Alya and Yuki…?”
He panted heavily as he changed into his school slippers and decided to check out their classroom first before heading to the student council room. He swallowed some of the phlegm in his throat, and as he walked briskly toward the classroom, he heard three guys passing by talking excitedly about something.
“Man, the noble princess is such a good talker—very fun to listen to and unlike anyone else.”
“Princess Alya did a really good job, but they’re just on different levels, ya know?”
“I thought Kujou did a good job at the debate the other day, but she’s not really good at improvising, it seems. Like, at all. Did she memorize some sort of script before the debate last time?”
“Yeah, I bet she did.”
“Totally.”
They continued chatting as they passed by, seeming not to notice him at all, and anxiety began to swell in his heart once more.
What? “Improvising”? “Script”? Don’t tell me there was a debate… No. There’s no way they’d decide to do a debate on the one day I’m gone, especially not the following day.
But he didn’t have enough information yet to produce an answer. What he did know was that while the details were unclear, it was obvious that Yuki did something to put herself above Alisa in popularity.
Dammit! I can’t believe I let my guard down! I was an idiot to think nobody would make a move before the closing ceremony… Dammit!
He beat himself up over his own carelessness and peeked into the classroom…where he found Alisa sitting alone at her desk.
“Alya…”
When he opened the door, Alisa, who was staring in a daze at her desk, lifted her head, and when she saw that it was Masachika, her eyes opened wide in shock.
“Kuze?! What are you doing here?!”
“I heard from Ayano that Yuki was up to something, so I came.”
“Oh… How do you feel?”
“My fever’s gone, so don’t worry about me. More importantly, what happened?”
He sat at his desk so that he was facing her, and she bit her lip, lowering her gaze.
“…I’m sorry.”
“Alya?”
“I messed up. You went through so much to help me, and I failed! I…!”
Her voice cracked, tainted with regret, and her clenched fists trembled in her lap.
“Okay, okay. Take a deep breath. Can you tell me exactly what happened?”
He spoke in a soft, soothing voice to calm her down until she eventually began her explanation.
It had all started the day prior, before morning homeroom. Alisa and Yuki were facing each other in the student council room after Yuki stopped by Class B and asked her if they could talk.
“Alya, I know this is sudden, but do you think you could stop by Masachika’s house after school and give him some medicine for me?”
Although Alisa was puzzled by the sudden request, Yuki continued with a hand on her cheek in a troubled manner:
“Masachika has a fever right now and can’t get out of bed.”
“Wait. Really?”
“Yes. Normally, I would be more than happy to stop by and take care of him, but I unfortunately have business I must take care of today, so I was wondering if you, his partner in the election, could go in my place?”
“Oh… Sure, I can do that.”
Despite feeling kind of annoyed at being asked by Yuki to help him, Alisa accepted the job, since it would have bothered her more if Yuki decided she had no choice but to go herself. Yuki then pulled a sheet of notepad paper from her pocket as though she already knew Alisa would accept.
“Thank goodness. This is the name of the cold medicine he usually takes, along with his address. Are you sure it’s okay?”
“Of course.”
Alisa took the sheet of paper, feeling frustrated that there was yet again something she didn’t know about Masachika.
“All right, I’ll stop by his place after school,” she promised. She was standing up to go back to her classroom when Yuki suddenly stopped her.
“Oh, Alya? There is actually one more thing I would like to ask you before you go.”
“…? Go on.”
“If it is okay with you, I would like for you to join me as a guest for the afternoon school announcements.”
“Huh?”
Yuki intertwined her fingers, clasping both hands together.
“As I am sure you know, during lunch once every two weeks, I, as the student council publicist, give reports on what the student council is doing, has done, or is going to do. Therefore, I thought I should discuss the debate from two weeks ago tomorrow, and who better to have as a guest than you, Alya?”
“T-tomorrow?”
“Yes. I believe it would be a great opportunity for you to leave a good impression on more students, since you won the debate. Think of this as a postgame interview in sports. They almost always interview the winner, right?”
“I guess…”
Alisa hesitated. She wasn’t sure it was her place to discuss what happened at the debate. The negative comments going around school about Sayaka had been contained thanks to Masachika’s and Nonoa’s efforts. Even though there were still some students who had a problem with Nonoa putting plants in the audience, Nonoa didn’t care in the slightest, and there was nothing Alisa could do anymore to help, either.
Would it really be okay to stir things up again after they worked so hard to get everything under control?
She never planned on announcing her victory to begin with, but would it really be right claiming it was a no contest? Would making it a no contest actually end up making things worse, as Masachika suggested when he talked about the victor pitying the loser?
Yes… I should be careful about what I say.
Masachika and Nonoa were far more social and good when it came to relationships, and she didn’t want any shallow thoughts of hers to destroy the outcome they created. Only after coming to that decision did Alisa decide to convey how she really felt to Yuki.
“…I apologize, but I don’t feel like I actually won that debate. That’s why I don’t plan on doing any winner’s interview, let alone bringing up something that is already long over.”
“Oh my. Is that so?”
“That’s so,” Alisa said with a nod. Yuki leaned back as though she was shocked before eventually smiling confidently.
“Then how about you join me during the show as a guest, and we can simply not talk about the debate?”
“Huh?”
“This will be the last student council report of the semester, so I thought maybe we could make it a little special. So? Will you do it?”
“S-sure, if that’s the case…”
“Wow! Really? Thank you so much!”
Yuki clasped her hands in front of her face again, and Alisa nodded back. But after smiling innocently, she suddenly lowered her tone a few notches and added:
“However, it appears that you and Masachika really do plan on letting your victory at the debate go to waste. It’s almost as if you are trying to make it seem like your victory didn’t count.”
“…! I’m impressed you noticed…”
“Of course I did. There have been rumors going around as of late that Nonoa broke the debate rules, and you two are not doing anything about it. That alone tells me everything I need to know. If you really were serious about proving you won at the debate, Masachika would have spun the information in your favor and put a stop to it.”
“…”
Alisa was considerably disturbed by the fact that their opponent had completely seen through them, and Yuki capitalized on that shock by suddenly changing her smile.
“Ha-ha! Oh my, Alisa. You must be very confident, throwing away your victory at the debate like that. Do you seriously believe you can defeat me with a single win under your belt?”
“What…?”
Yuki’s entire vibe instantly changed. Peeking out from the shadows of her perfect ladylike expression was a different her—one with a menacing sneer like nothing Alisa had ever seen before, making her eyes widen in disbelief.
“You casually stepped foot into my territory as if it wasn’t even a big deal. Don’t you think you are being a little naive? In fact, you are being so careless that I just had to warn you myself.” She snickered, blissfully narrowing her eyes in a cold glare. Although the ominous smile sent a chill down Alisa’s spine, she began to deeply ponder Yuki’s proposal. And then it hit her. What Yuki said about her being a guest was a lie. What she was really inviting Alisa to do was to come on her show to argue it out.
“Did you finally figure it out? Giggle. This is not an invitation as a friend. This is an invitation as a rival. You should have been wary when I asked you to do this when Masachika was absent.”
“Don’t tell me that was your plan all along?”
“Of course it was. I figured this was a wonderful opportunity to destroy you while your strategist was gone.”
Her smile didn’t break when any of those foul words slipped off her tongue. However, the utter shock of seeing her friend act like this roused Alisa’s rebellious spirit.
“In other words, you think you can do whatever you want to me if we play ball in your court.”
“Yes, of course. Obviously, I didn’t need to warn you of my plan, but I figured I wouldn’t need to resort to surprise attacks if you were alone. Furthermore…”
Yuki paused for a second, looking at Alisa with a contemptuous smile.
“You can’t make excuses if someone challenges you to a fight, and you lose fair and square, right?”
“…! It sounds more like you’re underestimating me.”
“Oh my. Do you not realize that you are already dancing in the palm of my hand? I believe I am estimating you just right.”
“…!”
Yuki’s taunting completely altered Alisa’s way of thinking. The woman in front of her wasn’t a friend who she worked together with on the student council. She was an enemy who needed to be defeated.
“Oh. Of course, you can rely on Masachika if you want to. You could even ask him for guidance when you deliver the medicine to him today.” Yuki smirked smugly, perhaps having sensed Alisa’s change of heart and realizing she didn’t have to hide it any longer. Alisa knew she was being taunted, but her pride still wouldn’t allow her to depend on Masachika after being insulted like that.
“That won’t be necessary. He’s sick and needs to rest, so I’m not going to bother him. No matter what.”
“Oh my. Are you positive? Surely having his assistance would only benefit you.”
It was as if her eyes were saying to Alisa, “Go cry to Masachika for help because you’re not going to get anywhere without it,” and that made her snap.
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