Chapter 5. Blinding for more than one reason.

“Wow … I wasn’t expecting to see everyone here today … ,” muttered Chisaki, forcing a smile and surveying the student council room. Touya sat at the head of the long desk in the seat farthest from the door. To his right were Maria, Alisa, and Masachika—in that order—and to his left were Chisaki, Yuki, and Ayano. Every member of the student council was present. Of course, they had all gathered there that day because they had business to attend to … They were waiting to be called in for parent-teacher conferences. The meetings took place in the classrooms after they went over exams in the morning. Each meeting was thirty minutes long, but when you got to go home depended on your seat number. Your meeting could be right after lunch, or you could be there waiting until night. Many students used their clubroom or the library to kill time until it was their turn. Each student council member found themselves drawn to the student council room for some reason or another, as though they had planned to meet here all along.

“Yeah, I never really thought about it, but our last names are really close alphabetically: Ki mishima, Ku jou, Ku ze, Ke nzaki, Sa rashina, Su ou … Every one of us lands between Ki and Su , huh?”

“That is a really big coincidence,” Touya said, and replied to Chisaki’s comment with an awkward smile.

“Just to be clear, though, Ayano actually finished her student-parent-teacher meeting yesterday,” chimed in Yuki, eyeing Ayano beside her.

“Wait. Really? Then why are you still here? You could have gone home after class this morning,” questioned Chisaki. She blinked curiously.

“I told her she could go home, but, well … you know how she is.”

“The only place I belong is by Lady Yuki’s side,” promptly replied Ayano as if the thought of leaving was preposterous. With a slightly forced smile, Yuki shrugged as if to say, “See?” The others smiled stiffly until Maria suddenly clapped her hands and suggested:

“Then how about I put on a pot of tea for us all?”

“Yes, please!” Chisaki cheered, and Maria stood up.

“Ayano, you can stay seated. Allow me,” added Maria, smiling down at Chisaki without even glancing in Ayano’s direction.

“ … ?!”

Ayano, who had started to stand and was hovering silently over her chair like a shadow, looked stunned. It was as if her eyes were saying, “What the … ?! I could never!” as she stared at Maria with a fixed gaze until Yuki lightly tugged her arm, and she sat back down.

“Ayano, let Maria take care of this.”

“Lady Yuki … Very well.”

Maria headed over to the shelf with the cups after waiting for Ayano to settle in her seat.

“Kuze? What’s wrong?” Alisa asked with a curious tilt of her head.

Masachika had been quietly observing Maria.

“ … It’s nothing.”

But he shook his head and faced forward before turning to Touya, seemingly having suddenly remembered something.

“By the way, I was talking with Alya yesterday about changing our summer uniform, and I was wondering how that was coming along. Does it sound like we’re going to be getting new uniforms next year?”

It was a casual thought half-heartedly put into words, which was why Touya’s reaction was so surprising. He smirked proudly and replied:

“This is just between us, but we should have a new uniform ready for us at the beginning of summer vacation if we’re lucky.”

“What?! Seriously?!”

“Yeah, I was planning on surprising everyone at the closing ceremony, but it’s basically a done deal already.”

“Oh my. What wonderful news. While I do like this uniform, it is far too hot for summer weather.”

Yuki cheerfully put her hands together. But after cackling at her reaction, Touya looked apologetic.

“But it hasn’t been a completely smooth process … so I might need everyone’s help during summer break.”

“That’s not a problem at all. We’ll gladly do everything we can to help, especially after you went through all that trouble for us.”

“Thanks … I have to admit, though, this plan would have fallen through without Chisaki’s help.”

Everyone looked in Chisaki’s direction as she stared back at Touya with an awkward smile.

“That’s not true. You made this happen because you never gave up and fought for it.”

“Only because you were there to support me. Not a day goes by when I’m not grateful to have you as my partner.”

“Touya … ”

“Chisaki … ”

“Look at ’em. They’re in their own little world now. I don’t know how they do it.”

Masachika rolled his eyes at the couple, who were passionately gazing at each other, then turned to Yuki and shrugged as if to say, “Unbelievable.” Yuki then shifted her gaze to Ayano and began passionately gazing at her for whatever reason.

“Ayano … ”

“Lady … Yuki … ”

“Wh-what the … ?”

A world of flowers and rainbows celebrating the love between two women materialized before Masachika’s puzzled, blinking eyes, but after exchanging a swift glance with Yuki, he figured out what she was trying to say, so he decided to play along as well. He anxiously scratched his head, then let out a deep breath to brace himself before he turned toward Alisa, creating the sweetest mood he possibly could.

“Alya … ”

“Not a chance.”

“Oof!”

He was shot down the moment he faced her with that troubled expression, causing him to collapse in defeat. Yuki, being herself, then provocatively leered at Alisa.

“Oh my. I thought they’d be closer by now, since they’re running together.”

“ … !”

“Will they really be able to defeat us like that, Ayano? After all, nothing is more important than teamwork when it comes to campaigning.”

Yuki smiled softly as she traced her finger across Ayano’s cheek, making Ayano shut one eye and tremble as though it was tickling her. A rose seemed to bloom behind them as if to bless their love, and Masachika’s heart raced slightly, much to his surprise.

“Kuze … ”

There wasn’t even a smidgen of sweetness in Alisa’s almost defiant stare.

“Just stop. You can’t let people provoke you like that.”

Masachika wanted to roll his eyes, but he ended up gazing into Alisa’s because she wouldn’t look away for some reason. And when he saw her up close like this in the light … he once again realized just how beautiful she was.

It’s like she’s from another world. Hard to believe she’s really human, too … Wait! Just how long are her eyelashes?! I seriously feel like I’m being drawn into her eyes … Her almost translucent skin is so beautiful, too. Not even a single wrinkle, either … Where the hell are her pores? Is she seriously not wearing any makeup? … Hmm? Her skin is turning kind of red … Wait. Is it just me, or is she slowly getting closer?

But the instant his numbed mind came to this vague realization, Maria’s voice dragged him back to reality.

“Sorry to keep you all waiting. ♪ Hmm? What’s going on? Are we having a staring contest?” wondered Maria, who couldn’t be further from the truth. Nevertheless, Alisa jumped in her seat the moment she heard her sister’s voice and looked in her direction. Masachika slowly blinked a few times before facing Maria as well, but the moment she saw the look in his eyes, she winced, and her smile tensed. She almost immediately began handing out cups of tea as if nothing had happened.

“We ate all the snacks last time, so it’s just tea today.”

“Oh, we did?”

“Well, summer break is coming up, so we didn’t have much of a choice.”

“Oh, right … I guess we can’t just leave snacks in a hot room during vacation. At any rate, your tea’s so good that we don’t need any snacks to enjoy ourselves.”

“ Giggle. Thank you.”

Maria smiled after hearing Chisaki’s compliment, and she placed cups of tea on the table before Alisa and Masachika as well.

“Here you go.”

“Thanks.”

“Th-thank you.”

But Maria seemed to just barely avoid Masachika’s gaze once more. He watched her hand Yuki, Ayano, and the others cups of tea and gradually realized he wasn’t imagining it.

She really won’t make eye contact with me … The whole hypnosis thing from two weeks ago must still be bothering her.

He’d apologized to Alisa once more the day after the hypnosis incident and was forgiven. Although she probably had plenty of things to complain about, she wasn’t too harsh, perhaps due to her sister being the main reason she got into that whole mess. Instead, she commanded that he immediately forget what he saw, but there was no way he would ever forget something so exhilarating. Regardless, while Alisa had forgiven him, he had not seen Maria since the incident, and she still seemed bothered by what happened.

Yeah … I should probably apologize again to her, too.

He didn’t want to start summer vacation like this, so he decided he had to apologize to her later that day. Just as Maria took a seat at the table, Touya suddenly spoke up as though he were waiting for this moment.

“Oh, right … What’s everyone doing during summer break? I was thinking we could get together somewhere and hang out. Maybe stay the night at an inn or something. You know, like what sports teams do when they go to those weekend training camps.”

“An inn, huh?”

It wasn’t common for the student council to do something like that unless it pertained to student council work. At the very least, Masachika had never experienced anything similar in middle school. Touya suddenly laughed to lighten the mood, seeming to have noticed the first-year’s bewilderment, and added:

“It’s only to get to know one another better. I’m not going to make you work, and it’s not an actual training camp, either. Think of it like a vacation and my way of thanking you in case I do end up needing your help during summer vacation as mentioned earlier. So what do you say?”

“Sounds like a lot of fun to me!” said Chisaki enthusiastically.

“Yes, that does sound like a wonderful idea,” Maria agreed.

The first-year students started to consider it once Chisaki and Maria expressed interest.

“Hmm … I believe I could open up my schedule as long as we do not wait too long to decide on a date. Giggle. I have never done something like this in the student council before. I cannot wait.”

“Lady Yuki’s wishes are my own.”

“I’m fine with it as well … ”

“Yeah, I don’t have any plans, so I’m cool with that. Just like a weekend thing, right? Where do you want to have it?”

“First, we need to check everyone’s schedule to pick a date. And place? Well, I was thinking about my family’s vacation home if that was okay with you all.”

“Wait. ‘Vacation home’?”

Masachika and the others doubted their ears as Touya grinned confidently.

“My family has a small house by the ocean in a somewhat touristy city … It has its own private beach, and they have festivals almost every year as well.”

“Seriously?! Wait. Hold up … I don’t mean to be rude, but never in a hundred years would I have guessed you come from a wealthy family.”

“I get that. It’s not like my father is some top CEO or anything, but my grandfather was apparently a pretty savvy investor, and the vacation house was one of his assets.”

“Ha-ha. Ohhh. All right.”

“Anyway, it’s only an option. We don’t have to go if everyone wants to go somewhere else,” added Touya, looking at the others. Chisaki thought it over for a few moments and replied:

“It’s not really a vacation home, but my relatives own a mountain, so I think I could pull some strings if more people would rather go to the mountains than the beach.”

“They own a mountain ?! That’s incredible!”

I swear, this school … ! shouted Masachika in his mind at the startling admission, but the next thing Chisaki said turned his face to stone.

“Well, I guess the building on the mountain could be considered a vacation home. It is a villa used for lodging athletes. Like, it has a big dojo in it. Anyway, while there isn’t a beach, there’s a cemetery nearby, so we could go check it out at night, which might be fun … or scary. Oh, they also have festivals in town every year. They’re martial arts festivals, though.”

“Sounds like we’re comparing heaven to hell. ‘There’s no beach, but we have a cemetery.’ Uh … What? … Wait. Don’t tell me the graves in the cemetery belong to the people who died in past martial arts tournaments … ”

“Ha-ha-ha. No way.”

“Y-yeah, I figured.”

“Maybe some of them do, but it was mostly during training when—”

“President Touya! I vote we go to your vacation home!”

“I would prefer the beach as well.”

“If that is what Lady Yuki wishes, then that is what I wish as well.”

After Masachika interrupted by energetically raising his hand, Yuki and Ayano soon followed. Alisa and Maria looked over at Touya as well, not uttering a single objection. Their eyes said it all. Touya nodded with a troubled grin, then turned to Chisaki and admitted:

“While I am interested in the mountains, I don’t think it would be the best place for us to get to know one another better, so maybe some other time.”

“Really? Then … maybe just you and me can go together?”

“ … ?!”

Touya’s expression froze at Chisaki’s slightly bashful reply, and as his girlfriend shyly glanced up at him, he robotically forced his stiff lips into a smile.

“Yeah … That … would be nice … I’d love to go … if that’s what you want to do … ”

“Yesss! Then it’s settled! I can introduce you to my master when we get there, too!”

“Your martial arts master … ? Okay … ”

Touya’s mind naturally played out the situation in his head.

Introduced to Chisaki’s martial arts master → “So you’re the man who fooled my dear pupil into going out with you. Let’s see what kind of man you really are!” → Death.

There was a semivacant look in his eyes because of how easy it was to imagine such a future, but Chisaki simply continued the conversation, showing no signs of even noticing.

“Oh, hey. Why not join the martial arts tournament at the festival while you’re there?”

“Uh-huh … ”

Enter tournament → Die.

The light in Touya’s eyes faded into darkness as his girlfriend continued to obliviously open doors that all led to his death.

“Don’t worry! There’s an amateur division, too! Anyway, I just want to see you fight. You’d be so cool.”

“Er … ”

But he was no match for Chisaki’s adorable charm.

“Then I hope you’re ready for this because I’m going to give it everything I’ve got!”

“Really?! I’m so happy to hear you say that! I honestly cannot wait!”

“Ha-ha … ”

He firmly nodded with a dry laugh. Now that’s a real man , thought Masachika in admiration … while clasping his hands together and promising himself that he wouldn’t be disgusted when he saw Touya next semester in his second form. “This isn’t even my final form,” Touya might say, but even then, Masachika swore he would accept him for who he was.

They chatted for a while after that. With cups of Maria’s tea in hand, they discussed the student council, talked about school, and announced their plans for summer break. After around thirty minutes, Touya suddenly took out his phone and stood up after checking it.

“They’re early … My parents seem to be here already, so I have to go.”

“Oh, okay. See you later.”

“Yeah, good luck … I don’t know why I said that.”

Touya promptly exited the student council room, smiling at his girlfriend’s odd words of encouragement. It wasn’t long before Maria stood up and began collecting everyone’s empty cups and saucers.

“It’s almost my turn, so I should start cleaning up. ♪ ”

“Oh, let me help you.”

Now’s my chance! thought Masachika, immediately standing and grabbing Ayano’s and Alisa’s cups. Telling Yuki and Ayano to stay down with his eyes, Masachika stacked the cups and plates before turning to Maria. As she held a tray in her hands, her eyes wandered for a few moments before she smiled cheerfully.

“Really? That would be a huge help.”

“Great. I’m right behind you.”

After placing the plates and cups on the tray, he took the tray and left the student council room with Maria. While there was an electric kettle, small fridge, and other similar conveniences in the student council room, there was unfortunately no sink, so they had to borrow another clubroom’s sink whenever they wanted to wash dishes—which was a small pain in the butt at times. They usually borrowed a sink in the home economics room, but they used the science room from time to time as well. Of course, they only did that if they had no other choice, since it didn’t really feel all that hygienic. Fortunately, the home economics room wasn’t being used that day, so they decided to borrow the sink there. Standing side by side and washing the dishes, Masachika subtly glanced over at Maria, who appeared to be acting completely normal but still seemed uncomfortable in a way.

Yeah … It looks like I was right.

But right as he breathed a soft sigh of resignation in his mind and looked away, he accidentally bumped his hand into hers.

“ … !”

Flustered, she immediately pulled back, and the plate that was in her hand clanked.

“Oh, my bad.”

“N-no, it’s fine. Sorry about that. Must have been … static electricity or something.”

I highly doubt there’s much static electricity when it’s this humid and we’re washing dishes , thought Masachika jokingly, but he kept his opinions to himself and replied:

“Oh, all right.”

He stealthily glanced at Maria once more after that … and noticed her ears were slightly red, and she was forcing a smile as though she was trying to hide something.

“ … Masha.”

“Hmm? What is it?”

“ … You already washed that cup a few seconds ago.”

“Oh my. Did I?”

Does she think she’s going to find a clue if she keeps staring at it like that? thought Masachika as she stared hard at the cup in her hands. He wasn’t sure if she was panicking or merely being a ditz. Regardless, it was clear she was still upset about what had happened the other day, so he decided it was time to talk after they finished washing the dishes and drying their hands.

“Hey, uh … Masha?”

“Yes?”

“I just … I wanted to apologize again for what happened the other day … with the hypnosis and all … ”

“Oh, it’s perfectly fine. Besides, I was the one who wanted to do it … ”

Slightly panicking, she told him to lift his bowed head, but the instant he did and their eyes met, she blushed and looked away.

“Ah. Um … I forgot to ask the other day, but … did I do anything to you while I was hypnotized?” she asked, bashfully glancing at him. Masachika swallowed his breath, caught off guard by how unusually nervous she was, since she always gave off a mature air of confidence. Absolutely embarrassed, he instantly attempted to take his mind off it and think back to what happened that day … and he was hit with an unbearable sense of shame, almost causing him to writhe in agony, which he desperately fought to contain.

“Well, uh … You held Alya and me in your arms … then rubbed our heads.”

He gritted his teeth after putting the uncomfortable memory into words, but Maria simply blinked slowly before a faint glow of relief brightened her expression.

“ … That’s it?”

“Yeah, basically.”

He actually had his face buried halfway in her cleavage, but that fell into the realm of being “held in Maria’s arms.” He technically felt her thigh from over her skirt as well … and after thinking about it further, Masachika realized his fingers may have traveled to even more risqu é locations, but she didn’t ask what he did to her. She asked what she did to him . Therefore, there was no reason to bring it up. He was a gentleman, after all … with the broadest definition of the word possible, of course.

“Oh … Thank goodness.”

She sighed in pure relief, seemingly oblivious to Masachika’s somewhat twisted logic, but her innocent expression elicited an uncomfortable sense of guilt.

“Uh … Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yes, if that’s all it was. But … ”

Maria swiftly wrapped her arms around her body as though she had remembered something.

“Hey, uh … Did you see my … ?”

“U-uh … ”

Masachika’s eyes naturally wandered as she looked up at him with an ever so slightly angry, accusing gaze.

If my only options are if I looked or not, then yes, I looked. I mean, I looked away when she started undressing, but what Chisaki did was so shocking that I instinctively glanced over … and that was when I just happened to see her … in an extremely sexy pose without her skirt on and her shirt already unbuttoned two buttons down from the top. Her sister’s shirt was already almost completely unbuttoned, though, so that definitely left a deeper impression, but, well … I definitely remember Masha’s also snow-white skin.

He racked his brain, trying to think of how he was going to explain that, but it was already too late when he didn’t immediately deny it. Maria pouted a bit resentfully as she looked at him.

“Pervert.”

“Oh, uh … Sorry. I didn’t mean to.”

While somewhat surprised things like this made her angry, he still lowered his head apologetically. In fact, surprised was an understatement. He actually thought she would say, “Don’t worry about it. I don’t care at all,” and shoot him a bubbly smile. That was why he wasn’t really expecting her to react like any other girl would … and yet, at the very same time, he enjoyed a small taste of the immoral delight he got from angering the school Madonna.

“Kuuuze?”

“Huh?! Yes?”

“Are you really sorry about what you did?”

She still pouted, but there was nothing scary about her sweet baby face glaring at him.

“Yes, very much.”

If anything …

Thank you for this extremely rare experience, Masha. She looks so cute. There’s something about seeing this childish side of her, when she’s usually so much more mature than the rest of us, that almost brings a tear to my eye. I’m pretty confident that if she started pointing at me and scolding me, I would immediately drop on all fours and scream, “Yes, ma’am! Thank you, ma’am!” at the top of my lungs.

“Kuze! You’re not sorry at all, are you?!”

Puffing out her cheeks, she reached for his face in the midst of his ridiculous daydream, pinching each cheek and pulling them to the side as if she were playing tug-of-war with herself.

“Wha’ aww you ’ooin’?”

“I’m punishing you!”

Maria glared menacingly at Masachika and frowned as she tugged his cheeks in opposite directions, but even that didn’t really hurt. In fact, compared to Alisa’s relentless slap, it was cute in more ways than one. If anything, Masachika felt like he was being rewarded right now. She eventually let go, as though she was content with her work, before gently wrapping her hands around his face, guiding his eyes until he was looking into her serious gaze only inches away.

“Kuze, you shouldn’t embarrass girls like that, okay? And when someone is angry, your apologies need to be sincere.”

And yet she still didn’t really seem angry. In fact, one wrong move, and any spectator would think they were going to kiss. There wasn’t a teenage boy on the planet who would be able to remain calm this close to a beautiful older woman. Whether Masachika realized this was another story.