Chapter 179: Girlfriend is a Maid
Leaving the office.
Sakurai Saki walked to the base of the school building and noticed that everyone's gaze carried a trace of… respect? No, it was the look people give an idiot—the kind of impulsive person who confesses without thinking of the consequences. That's probably what they were thinking.
It's over. The perfect image of General Affairs Sakurai has collapsed, all because he turned into a love-struck fool over a girl.
So stupid. Confessing and then getting expelled—Sakurai Saki himself felt he was being an idiot.
But Sakurai Saki didn't care about their looks. Would you give a damn about how ants see you? The kind of creatures you could crush a bunch of with a single step? No, right?
Sakurai: （￣^￣）凸
'What a damn hassle.'
He ignored the whispering around him, pulled out his phone, and called Hayasaka Ai.
After a few short rings, the call connected.
"Where are you?! I'm coming right now—we have to go apologize to the principal and the teachers together!" Hayasaka Ai's voice on the other end was anxious and panicked.
Compared to her earlier fake gyaru act, Sakurai Saki much preferred this version of her.
Hearing someone worry about you like that—yeah, it makes a person happy.
Sakurai replied, "I'm under the classroom building."
"What's wrong? Got scared after what I said?"
"You still have the nerve to talk?! Do you even realize what you're doing? You'll be punished for this! It was hard enough getting into Shuchiin, and if you get expelled, do you know how disappointed your mom would be?!"
Hayasaka Ai had completely recovered from the shock earlier.
If she'd known he would do something this stupid, she definitely wouldn't have hidden her identity.
"…I know." Sakurai Saki looked at the figure not far away and calmly said, "But there's something more important. About that confession earlier—give me an answer."
"Fine." Hayasaka Ai said as she put down her phone.
Then she rushed straight to Sakurai Saki.
The next second.
Ai-chan shouted angrily, "Are you fucking stupid?! Why the hell are you confessing now?! You think that's important?!"
⁽⁽(੭ꐦ •̀Д•́ )੭*⁾⁾ (๑ｰ̀ ₃ ｰ̀๑)~
She grabbed Sakurai Saki by the collar. Her beautiful face no longer held any calm.
"You're the one who's stupid." Sakurai Saki didn't feel he was wrong at all. In fact, he even chose to argue back.
"You don't think you did anything wrong?" Hearing that, Hayasaka Ai clenched her fist tight.
"Whoosh!"
(=O •`０´•)=O Q(*,*Q)
That punch—brutal, with no intent to hold back.
She felt her boyfriend had something wrong with his brain, and she absolutely had to knock some sense into him with this punch!
Punch him clear! Yell him straight!
"What? You won't accept my confession and now you wanna hit me too?" Sakurai Saki caught her punch, smiling as he spoke.
Around them, the crowd of students watching the drama unfold were stunned.
That punch clearly had no intention of going easy.
If he hadn't fought back, he probably would've been knocked flat on the ground…
"So Ai-chan hates Sakurai-san that much?" a gyaru muttered.
She usually hung out with Hayasaka Ai, but from now on, she'd better be a little more careful when joking around.
Not for any particular reason—just afraid of getting sent to the hospital with a single punch.
"I think she's just shy. Hayasaka-san totally loves romantic stuff like this. I bet she was blushing so hard just now, steam probably came out of her head!" one girl said, resting her chin on her hand as she spoke.
"You sure about that? Doesn't look like it at all. Who the hell gets embarrassed and punches someone?!" the gyaru replied instinctively.
Then she turned her head—
"Shinomiya-san?!"
Shinomiya Kaguya tilted her head. "What is it, classmate?"
"Gulp." The orange-haired gyaru swallowed hard. "Shinomiya-san, do you also like this kind of stuff?"
"Of course."
After all, this was a juicy rumor about her personal maid.
Shinomiya Kaguya looked ahead—things were getting more and more intense between Sakurai Saki and Hayasaka Ai, mostly with Ai-chan launching the attacks while Sakurai Saki kept dodging.
Was General Affairs Sakurai actually this skilled? She knew her maid had been trained in martial arts from a young age; regular boys, no matter how many, would be taken down by her easily.
"That's enough, Hayasaka-san, stop hitting him," Shinomiya Kaguya spoke up to stop them.
Then she turned to the crowd of students watching and said:
"Everyone, the closing ceremony of the sports festival is about to begin. Please head there and gather. Leave this to me."
She had great authority in Shuchiin, and as soon as the students heard her, they scattered immediately.
Once everyone was gone—
Shinomiya Kaguya looked at the two of them and said:
"Let's talk in the student council room."
There were some things Kaguya felt should be said by her personally.
That's why she didn't call any of the other student council members earlier.
...
The three of them walked down the hallway.
Sakurai Saki tried to hold Hayasaka Ai's hand—but unfortunately, she dodged.
Yep, she was still mad about earlier.
"So, that confession I prepared so carefully... just got rejected like that?"
Ai-chan gave him a side glance and replied irritably, "We were already dating, you were totally doing something unnecessary."
"Do I like you or not! Do you even need to ask that, you baka!"
Hayasaka: ૮₍ ˶>⤙<˶ ₎ა
Hearing that, Sakurai Saki scratched his head.
It's over for real. I'm such a dumbass.
————
They arrived at the student council room.
Shinomiya Kaguya handed a bag of coffee beans to Hayasaka Ai—this was originally something she had prepared for Sakurai.
"Hayasaka, go make some coffee."
As usual, Kaguya-sama issued her command with a single sentence.
"Yes." Hayasaka Ai responded.
The way the two acted was pretty much a self-reveal.
"Ai-chan, your job has something to do with Kaguya-san?" Sakurai recalled the day of the sports festival—Hayasaka Ai had the nickname [Faceless One], which sounded a lot like an intelligence role.
A Ojou-sama like Shinomiya Kaguya… it'd be weirder if she didn't have a bodyguard in school, right?
Hayasaka Ai was silent for a few seconds, then replied, "I'm a maid of the Shinomiya family. I take care of Kaguya-sama's daily life."
She had thought Sakurai Saki would have a strong reaction, but surprisingly, his expression remained weirdly calm.
"That's it?"
Sakurai Saki asked again.
Not an assassin? Not a spy? Modern-day maids of conglomerate families have to be that badass now? If Ai-chan could stop time too, she'd be full-on Sakuya Izayoi cosplay.
"Your words are kind of hurtful, Sakurai-san," Kaguya chimed in to explain for her maid. "Hayasaka didn't tell you because she was afraid you'd get involved in the Shinomiya family's internal conflicts."
"Otherwise, how many times have you asked her? And why didn't she tell you?"
While grinding the coffee beans, Hayasaka Ai said with focus, "I usually have to gather intel, ensure Kaguya-sama's safety, and after school, I still have to return to the Shinomiya estate to continue my duties. So I couldn't go on dates with you."
"Maids don't work from 9 to 5?" As soon as Sakurai said that, he realized it was a dumb question.
Since when did capitalists let servants work just 9 hours a day? What a fucking dream.
"Haah~" Hayasaka Ai sighed.
"Every day I played games with you—that was always right before I went to sleep."
Sakurai Saki went quiet.
He sat down on the sofa.
Inside, he began seriously wondering whether he should "rescue" his girlfriend from the Shinomiya household.
"Every day, Kaguya-sama talks to me, and she often makes ridiculous requests too." Ai-chan took the opportunity to complain freely.
Sakurai snapped back to attention: "Kaguya-san, what exactly are you doing with someone else's girlfriend every day?"
Ai-chan added, "She even brings you up all the time when talking to me."
"Kaguya-san, don't tell me you've got feelings for me? Because that'd be kind of…"
Listening to the two bicker like an old married couple, Shinomiya Kaguya felt an itch in her hand.
These two—showing their true selves like this is even more annoying than when they used to pretend.
Kaguya: (ꐦ◺˰◿ )---------------(๑˃́ꇴ˂̀๑)人(๑˃́ꇴ˂̀๑)