Chapter 195: Summer Vacation Is Coming
July 16th, Saturday.
The Shinomiya family's villa in Minato Ward, Tokyo.
The diligent maid Hayasaka Ai was preparing to wake up Ojou-sama.
She lowered her head to text her boyfriend.
Ai-chan: Good morning! Boyfriend-kun~ [attached photo: a selfie of Hayasaka Ai, with the Shinomiya family's garden as the background, just after watering the plants, under the early morning sunlight, a few water droplets on the petals sparkling transparently.]
A few seconds later, read.
My boyfriend I love love love the most: Good morning Ai-chan~ I'm on my way to school right now. [(˵ ¬ ¬˵)Orca licking licking.jpg]
Hayasaka Ai stared at the last sticker he sent, falling into deep thought.
What on earth does this sticker mean? This was the first time Sakurai Saki had sent her this kind of expression.
Although it's really cute, she just couldn't understand it—does he want to lick her or something?
There's no way he just randomly sent it because it's cute, right?
Forget it, stop thinking about it.
After that.
The two continued sending each other cheesy, sickly sweet love messages until Hayasaka Ai, wearing a blissful and content expression, stood in front of Shinomiya Kaguya's room.
More than ten minutes later, Shinomiya Kaguya called her name:
"Hayasaka~"
"(* ´ ﹃｀*)ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁
This call sounded completely drained of energy, it seemed Kaguya-sama didn't sleep well last night.
Lately, she had been studying extremely hard, and Hayasaka Ai was a little worried.
Not everyone can become Shirogane Miyuki; if she keeps studying like this, she might just die suddenly.
"Kaguya-sama, what time did you go to bed last night?"
"Twelve o'clock."
For someone who turns into "Baka-guya" the next day if she doesn't sleep before midnight, this was truly the maximum limit for late-night studying.
"Kaguya-sama, why don't you sleep a little earlier?" Hayasaka helped her get dressed.
After lightly pulling her sleeve to make sure everything was neat, Kaguya glared at Hayasaka and complained:
"Isn't it because you didn't put in enough effort?"
(｡•̀ ⤙ •́ ｡ꐦ) !!!
∘ ∘ ∘ ( °ヮ° ) ? Hayasaka Ai's face was full of question marks.
Kaguya-sama, you've found another excuse to torment me, haven't you?
How come everything can be blamed on me? Be reasonable, will you!
"Hayasaka, just think about it, if you actually tried harder and attracted all of Sakurai-san's attention, would he even be able to study anymore?" Shinomiya Kaguya was planning to reenact the previous strategy.
Last time, although there was the reason that Sakurai Saki wasn't feeling well during the exams, Hayasaka Ai's plan to keep him on a super long phone call so he couldn't review had been executed flawlessly!
"You're absolutely right, even if Kaguya-sama's bad grade was 1% my fault, then wouldn't that mean the other 99% was also on me? Yes! Totally right! Makes perfect sense!" Ai-chan mocked.
'Feeling better now.'
After venting her frustration, she continued:
"But these past two days he's been going to practice at the kendo club, so he probably doesn't have time to study anyway."
The part after that didn't interest Kaguya much—what she cared more about was Hayasaka's earlier remark:
"Hayasaka, are you indirectly saying that I'm being unreasonable?"
Kaguya tilted her head and asked.
"You have one quality I really like — knowing your place." Hayasaka Ai nodded as she answered.
Kaguya's lips twitched as she gritted her teeth: "Thanks for the compliment."
( ` ᴖ ´ )
After saying that, she started thinking about Hayasaka's last sentence.
'This time… could I lose again?'
The exam is next Thursday, and this weekend he still has to go to training. Hmph, as if he could possibly win! If he does win, I'll swallow this blanket right here and now!
...
At the kendo club.
Captain Kojima looked at the book in Sakurai Saki's hand, "Sakurai, you're reviewing even while practicing? Isn't that a bit too much?"
It's just a final exam, with his grades he'd do fine even without studying.
"This is war." Sakurai's expression was serious.
The loser has to wear a miko outfit and dance, and you're saying this is too much?
Or what, if I fail, you'll dance in my place?
After that, Sakurai and the other members of the club started warming up. First was a run around the yard for a while. Running alongside them were the soccer and track teams, and even the baseball club was there. Shuchiin's baseball and soccer teams were top-tier, both strong contenders for the finals.
In the regional qualifiers for the Koshien baseball tournament, Shuchiin's team had even made it through the preliminaries.
July, the season of passion—on the sports field, the boys shouted in unison—
"Let's go!! Let's go!! Fight!! Shuchiin!!"
In the crowd, Sakurai Saki let out a yawn.
His action was like an ink stain on a sheet of white paper, standing out so clearly.
Among a bunch of people desperately putting in effort, he was just lying there lazily, how nice.
After the run, back at the kendo practice hall, Sakurai Saki glanced at Miyazaki Kazuki, who had just recovered from an injury a few days ago and was now jumping around like normal.
The other party saw Sakurai and even took the initiative to walk up to him.
"Sakurai! You really have what it takes to be an official member, I underestimated you last time. About that, I truly apologize!!" Miyazaki Kazuki spoke while bowing deeply.
In the end, in the kendo club, strength is what speaks the loudest.
At first, he was a Pure student of the school, so he always looked down on Sakurai Saki—the one who got in through the entrance exam—and the same went for President Shirogane. But the previous sparring session with Sakurai had changed his opinion.
After bowing, Miyazaki looked straight at Sakurai: "So! Next time I'll defeat you miserably!"
"No need to wait for next time, let's fight later today." Sakurai smiled as he said this.
"…I think… maybe we can wait a few more days, Sakurai, you haven't touched a sword in a while, right? I can wait until you're back in peak condition." Miyazaki Kazuki was slightly intimidated by his smile.
At this moment, he understood the meaning of one phrase—a smile that hides a knife.
"Your 'next time' doesn't necessarily have to be a few days from now." Sakurai, seeing his reaction, found it a little amusing, "This time, I won't stab your throat."
"That's good then."
Miyazaki Kazuki felt relieved again.
"A match later!!"
Half an hour later.
Miyazaki Kazuki was lying sprawled on the ground, clutching his head and rolling around.
You promised not to hit my throat, so you aimed for my head instead?!
Damn it, if I spar with him again next time, I really am an idiot!
Next to him, Daimon Saburou clapped after watching their match and spoke up:
"Next, anyone who wants to try can spar with Sakurai."
"Coach, are you sure we're not going to end up in the hospital?" Kinoshita Youta, with his shaved head and slightly round face, raised his eyebrows as he asked. This guy was also an official member of the kendo club.
"You've got your armor on, what's there to be afraid of?"
"True enough."
Hearing the instructor say that, the team members all let out a sigh of relief.
After that, they went through a day of pure nightmare.
Coach, you've doomed us! The members' eyes went dark as they were knocked down one by one.
From that day on, only two people dared to spar with Sakurai Saki: Kojima and Miyazaki Kazuki.
The former could rely on skill to fight evenly with Sakurai, while the latter simply refused to accept defeat—thinking if he's already an idiot, might as well go all the way; he just couldn't keep losing forever.
...
July 21st, Thursday—the final exams officially began.
The Nakano quintuplets walked into the exam room, looking anxious.
In another exam room.
Sakurai Saki and Shinomiya Kaguya exchanged glances, both showing a confident expression.
This time, I absolutely cannot lose!
ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ