Chapter 180: Can't Think of a Title (LOL)
In the student council room.
Shinomiya Kaguya lifted the cup of coffee Hayasaka Ai had just brewed and took a sip.
Putting the cup down, Kaguya-sama turned to Sakurai and said:
"If Sakurai-san wants Hayasaka to quit being a maid, it's actually not difficult at all—you don't even need my approval."
"But Hayasaka is my personal maid…"
The more Shinomiya Kaguya spoke, the lower her voice sank.
She didn't want to be separated from Hayasaka Ai.
"Kaguya-sama, I won't resign at this time," Hayasaka Ai cut in from beside her.
Since she was young, she had secretly kept things from Shinomiya Kaguya—reporting information about her to the Shinomiya main family, to be exact, to Kaguya's older brother, Shinomiya Oko.
This had never really stopped. Ever since she became Kaguya's personal maid, it had been a daily routine.
Hayasaka Ai didn't want to be hated by Shinomiya Kaguya. As a traitor—even if the job was exhausting, even if Kaguya's demands were ridiculous—she still endured.
If there ever came a day she had to resign, Hayasaka Ai wanted to tell Kaguya everything she had done, face to face, before she left. She was afraid that once the truth came out, Kaguya would despise her, so she hadn't dared say anything yet.
More importantly, Kaguya currently had no one to lean on—she was alone. Hayasaka Ai couldn't abandon her.
"Hayasaka~" Shinomiya Kaguya looked at her blonde maid with deep emotion.
As expected, her own maid still cared more about her than that maid's boyfriend ever could.
That's right. Hayasaka and Sakurai-san had only been dating for a year. How could that possibly compare to the bond the two of them had built over more than a decade?
Hmph hmph~ Sakurai-san, sorry not sorry!
( ⸝⸝´꒳`⸝⸝)
Faced with her mistress's emotional look, Hayasaka Ai sighed:
"Kaguya-sama is both spoiled and sharp-tongued. She always says one thing and means another. With someone like that, how can I be at ease?"
Shinomiya Kaguya tilted her head. "Hayasaka? Are you badmouthing me?"
"Kaguya-sama, you finally have some self-awareness!" Hayasaka Ai shot her a side glance.
"Huh? How am I spoiled?!"
Sakurai took a sip of coffee as he listened to them bicker.
Their relationship really was close.
Hayasaka's coffee-making skills were excellent too—so all that talk about not liking coffee before must have been an act. No way someone who dislikes coffee could brew it this well.
"When did I ever say I wanted Ai-chan to quit?" Sakurai asked.
Kaguya: "…You didn't?"
"I was just pissed off that I asked her so many times and she never told me where she went after school. It's not like I'm against her being your maid," Sakurai said as he glanced at the strong bond between the two. He didn't think Hayasaka was being bullied.
…More like Shinomiya Kaguya was the one being bullied by Hayasaka.
Compared to Hayasaka Ai, this Kaguya Ojou-sama with her deeply scheming nature was still pretty green.
Everything Sakurai had been doing behind the scenes—Hayasaka Ai knew all of it. But when it came to Hayasaka's own life outside of school, Sakurai knew nothing. That's what pissed him off.
Even that other personality of hers—the white cat—never wanted to talk about it.
'If it's really just being a maid, then why was the pressure enough to trigger an abnormal personality?'
Clearly, there was still something hidden. But even just knowing this much already made Sakurai feel more at ease.
In a relationship, people still need personal space. No need to dig too deep.
But still… a maid of the Shinomiya family...
Sakurai suddenly remembered Herthaka-kun—the butler who also worked for the Shinomiya family and had a thing for Hayasaka.
"Kaguya-san, your butler's name is Herthaka, right? I really enjoyed chatting with him last time. Do you have a way for me to contact him?"
Sakurai just wanted to talk to the guy.
It's totally not because he's jealous or anything. Believe It!!! (,,Ծ‸Ծ,, )
Hayasaka Ai and Shinomiya Kaguya glanced at each other.
Then the two exchanged a silent look.
"Of course I do. I'll ask him to add you on LINE when I get home," Shinomiya Kaguya said. "I'm sure he'd love to be friends with you, Sakurai-san."
Then she looked at Sakurai with hopeful eyes.
She had just gotten a new phone recently and had only just reinstalled LINE. She didn't have many friends yet…
Too bad Sakurai didn't get the hint.
On the other hand, Hayasaka Ai totally did. She reminded him:
"Kaguya-sama wants to add you on LINE."
The moment she said that, Shinomiya Kaguya's delicate face turned beet red.
"I… I didn't say I wanted to…!"
(>/////< " )
Sakurai didn't care about that typical tsundere talk. He pulled out his phone: "Let's add each other then."
One minute later.
"If anything happens, just message me on LINE, okay?" Shinomiya Kaguya beamed brightly, so thrilled she looked like she might jump on the spot just to release the excitement inside her.
Kaguya: ₍₍⚞(˶˃ ꒳ ˂˶)⚟⁾⁾
They didn't stay long in the student council room. The three of them stood up and headed off to attend the closing ceremony of the sports festival.
At the ceremony, Principal Adolphe announced the punishment for Sakurai Saki: a one-week suspension for reflection, along with three self-criticism essays from three different perspectives, each a minimum of 1,000 words, and all handwritten.
Down below, the student body reacted with quite a stir. Shuchiin Academy had always enforced strict regulations—even though there were many students with strong personalities, it was still extremely rare for anyone to openly cause a disruption—yet he wasn't expelled?
But then, thinking of Shinomiya Kaguya, everyone found it somewhat understandable. After all, the Shinomiya family were the real power behind Shuchiin. It was rumored that even the chairman of the school board was Kaguya's older brother.
...
After school, Sakurai Saki went to tutor the Nakano quintuplets as usual, and informed them that lessons would continue next week, only the location would be changed to their house.
During the session, Nino seemed very distracted, as though a gloomy fog had descended over her, dimming her entire presence.
Sakurai Saki's confession today also carried a secondary motive: to push Nino to give up.
From the beginning, he had never considered Nino a romantic interest, which was why he hadn't even bothered to explain things before.
What happened today—aside from uncovering what his girlfriend had been hiding—was also meant to help this girl sever her lingering feelings for him.
Nino had great qualities. There was no need for her to give up the whole forest for a single tree. She deserved someone much better—not a scumbag like Sakurai, who was already struggling to juggle two girls. Adding one more would truly be unmanageable.
Around 6 PM, he returned to his apartment.
Tomorrow, his mother would be leaving. Tonight would be her last night staying here. The next time they'd meet would likely be during the parent-teacher-student conference at the start of the next semester—in September.
He opened the apartment door…
Sakurai Saki froze.
"Shiro?!"
The ghost girl with white hair who always clung to him was now teary-eyed, being held up by Jinguuji Tamaki like a small white cat caught by the scruff of the neck—trapped by fate itself.
"Sakurai-kun~ save me!" Yakumo Shiro's eyes brimmed with tears. She didn't want to cry, but Sakurai-kun's mother was seriously terrifying!
"She wants to eat me!!"
༼;´༎ຶ ༎ຶ༽
Jinguuji Tamaki gently stroked her own cheek with her left hand, and spoke in a voice as calm as a flowing stream:
"This little girl—staying under the same roof as my precious son with questionable intentions—and now she's blaming me?"
That afternoon, she had thought long and hard before ultimately deciding to infringe a little on her son's privacy.
Originally, she just wanted to check if the boy was hiding any suspicious materials. No 18+ magazines were found—but something far stranger had been discovered in his closet.
With a few tricks up her sleeve, she dragged the little ghost girl—who had still been lingering at Shuchiin, helping Sakurai keep an eye on things—back to the apartment.
"Baby, would you mind explaining to Mommy what the hell is going on here?" Madame Jinguuji's amber eyes glinted with pressure as she stared directly at Sakurai.
In her vision, there was a red thread tied between Sakurai and Yakumo Shiro.
That was the only reason she hadn't gone full-on aggressive yet.
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