Chapter 9. Adoration and Arrogance

CHAPTER 9 Adoration and Arrogance

One day during summer break…

“I wonder if my dear brother can be hypnotized, too?” Yuki muttered, sitting on the bed in her room with a book on hypnosis in hand. The book was titled Hypnosis for Idiots: Welcome to the Hypnotist Club , and it had an interesting history. Namely, it had been used that fateful day in the student council room, which had ended in tragedy. Despite promising her brother that they would seal this book away so that nobody would ever get hurt again, Yuki couldn’t give up something so fascinating simply because they had failed once. She had purchased this book with her own money, and ever since then, she had been testing various types of hypnosis on her guinea pig, Ayano. Nevertheless, the samples proved to be far from adequate, since Ayano’s “Loyalty” was already at max level, and she would submit to and serve Yuki, regardless of what she was ordered to do. I really want to try this out on someone, but if I tried it on a friend, and it didn’t work, then… , she thought. Suddenly, it hit her: Masachika.

“What do you think?”

“Meow?”

Ayano, who was snuggled up with her head in Yuki’s lap, looked up at her with eyes full of wonder, then sat up and began brushing her bangs to the side with her right hand curled into a ball.

“Oh … ,” Yuki muttered. She then raised both hands to clap…but froze. Her eyes were locked on Ayano, who was sitting femininely on her knees with her legs somewhat spread open, and she suddenly got the urge to reach out and massage the maid’s chest.

“Hmm … ? Have you gotten a little bigger since I last checked?”

She tilted her head to the side, ignoring Ayano’s curious gaze, and rubbed her maid’s chest with a serious expression.

“O-oh? Oooh! They’re so big, you can lift them … ,” murmured Yuki with admiration as she lifted Ayano’s chest. She continued to enjoy her maid’s bosom for a few more minutes after that before finally clapping with clear satisfaction. Immediately, Ayano froze in place, slowly blinked a few times, then curiously tilted her head.

“…Did it work?”

“Yep. Mission Kitty-Cat was a success… Do you think it will work on Masachika, though?”

“Sir Masachika? …I believe it would be difficult.”

Ayano tilted her head to the other side, seemingly unconcerned with the fact that she had been hypnotized to act like a cat.

“Yeah, they say the hypnotists are resistant to hypnosis, too.” Yuki shrugged. “Oh, look at the time. I have to get ready for violin practice.”

After Yuki stood up from her bed and began getting ready, Ayano immediately went to her aid, pressing her lips tightly together as if she had formed some sort of resolution.

A few days later, when Yuki was getting ready to go to the Kuze residence to hang out, Ayano suddenly approached her.

“Lady Yuki.”

“Hmm?”

“It’s about the hypnosis… I prepared a few things that may help you.”

“Huh? Hypnosis … ? Ohhh, right! I was going to hypnotize my brother! You went out of your way to prepare something for me?”

“It was my pleasure. I figured that you would need some sort of tool to aid you if you wished to hypnotize Sir Masachika.”

“Oh? An enhancement item? I could definitely use one of those.”

“I did a lot of research…and came up with this,” revealed Ayano, pulling a dark-pink candle out of her maid uniform’s pocket. “It’s a scented candle that apparently helps relax the body and thus makes it easier to hypnotize people.”

“It’s just like those erotic fan comics.”

“In addition…I prepared this.”

Ayano went through her cell phone for a few seconds, then handed it to Yuki. Displayed on the screen was a questionable picture of two giant eyes with squiggly waves radiating from them.

“…What’s this?”

“It’s apparently a hypnosis app.”

“It’s just like those erotic fan comics!” Yuki repeated jokingly, but the next thing Ayano took out of her pocket…was a massive, rugged collar.

“…What’s that?”

“A collar that apparently forces the wearer to obey every command.”

“It’s just like the ones you see in those another-world fantasy shows! …Wait! Don’t tell me you plan on having Masachika wear that?!”

“No. I thought you could make me wear it…”

“That’d be pointless.”

“Oh…”

“Why do you look depressed?!”

Yuki turned toward the strangely well-built collar with a hand on her forehead as if she had a headache. What appeared to be numerous power stones of all colors decorated the collar, giving it an unusually strong presence, which made it hard to believe this was a gag gift.

“Where did you even get that sketchy collar?”

“So…when I went shopping the other day, a street vendor wearing a hood called out to me… And despite not telling them what I was looking for, they gave me this and told me I didn’t need to pay anything for it…”

“Whoa. Sounds less like an another-world fantasy and more like a this-world secret occult society. You better not even think about using that, okay? I’ve seen this before. Whoever uses that will become a shell of their former self, and then that street vendor’s going to be like, ‘Humans are so foolish,’ and laugh.”

“Oh … ?”

“Wait. Hold up. Don’t tell me you got the scented candle from this person, too?”

“I got this at the hundred-yen store.”

“Seriously? You really can get anything there.”

“It was two hundred yen, though…”

“The hell? That’s way too expensive. Lying dirtbag store,” joked Yuki. Then she suddenly noticed that Ayano seemed somewhat depressed.

Oops… Maybe I went a little too far. She went through all that trouble to find this stuff for me…

After reflecting on her behavior, Yuki softly cleared her throat, shifted her focus back to the candle, and suggested:

“But, well…why don’t we give it a try? The candle and app could work…”

“ … ! Yes, I completely agree!”

“Thanks for finding this for me, by the way.”

“It was nothing.”

We’d probably have a better chance of hypnotizing him with a five-yen coin tied to a string , thought Yuki cynically as she grinned at her attendant’s instantly improved mood.

“There was a time when I used to truly believe that, too,” muttered Yuki with her eyes on her brother, who was sitting on the side of the bed with a vacant stare. Last night, she handed Masachika the scented candle and claimed that it improved sleep; she had him bask in the smoke for the entire night, then used the hypnosis app when he had just woken up and was still half asleep…and it actually worked.

“Seriously?”

“Congratulations. It worked.”

“Yeah, uh… So… How about we get some fresh air in here and crack open the window?”

“As you wish.”

After maid-mode Ayano did that, she opened the door that led to the living room to air out the bedroom, allowing the hot air from outside to pass through while simultaneously diluting the strangely sweet fragrance lingering in the air. And yet Masachika still showed no signs of returning to normal—he stared idly at the floor with a vacant expression.

“…What should I do now?”

Never in a million years did Yuki think her brother would actually get hypnotized, so she hadn’t considered what she would do if it worked. On top of that, she didn’t have the heart to say, “Well, at least we know it works, so let’s call it a day,” after all the effort Ayano put into this, either.

“Hmm…”

Yuki racked her brain for a few moments until she was struck with an epiphany, and she began looking through her phone. Once she opened the hypnosis app, she pointed the screen at Masachika and suggested:

“You will become a cool, doting guy who cannot hold back his love any longer.”

When she tapped the screen, her phone began to ring eerily, causing Masachika’s body to twitch. His pupils gradually began to focus…until out of nowhere, he looked at Yuki and smiled sweetly.

“Hey, Yuki… Cute as always, I see.”

“Ew! Blech! Gross!” bitterly hissed Yuki, not even pausing between each word, but Masachika simply shifted his gaze to Ayano without a care in the world.

“You’re really cute, too, Ayano.”

“Th-thank you?”

“Heh! What’s wrong? You look puzzled… Oh?”

He stood from the bed as if he noticed something and gently reached out to touch Ayano’s black hair.

“You have some lint in your hair.”

“Ah! P-please accept my sincerest apologies! I’m so embarrassed…”

While the corners of her eyes began to burn and she lowered her head in shame, Masachika gently placed his right hand on her cheek, kindly lifted her chin, and smiled the most loving of smiles.

“There’s nothing for you to apologize about. This is just proof of how hard you work. You should relax more, if anything.”

“N-no, I couldn’t…”

“Really? You’re such a hard worker. Thank you for always helping out… I love you,” he declared as he affectionately caressed her cheek, causing Ayano’s eyes to immediately open wide in shock…

“Fshhh…”

“A-Ayano … !!”

“Uh-oh. ♪ ”

Ayano’s eyes spun, and her knees gave out, but before she hit the ground, Masachika swiftly grabbed her in his arms, picked her up like a princess, and gently laid her on the bed before tenderly rubbing her head.

“Ha-ha. You’re so cute, Ayano.”

He looked back at Yuki as if he was seeking approval, but she immediately got into a defensive stance and lowered her posture, causing his lips to curl sweetly as he approached her.

“Wh-what? You want some of this? I hope you don’t think you can scare me just by telling me you love me, because it’s not happening. It takes a lot more than that to scare me. Unlike Ayano, I— Ah! Hey?!”

——Five minutes later.

“I love you. I love you more than anyone else, Yuki.”