Chapter 52: A Piercing Glance
Friday morning.
Sakurai Saki noticed that the disciplinary committee member on duty today had been switched — it was no longer the adorable Miko-chan.
This left him feeling utterly uncomfortable. It was the kind of feeling like missing a daily task you must complete, overall just suffocating!
Imagine this: you're playing a game, the daily quest progress bar has reached 95/100, but the last points can only be completed by playing an extremely annoying mode before you can claim the full reward.
Right now, Sakurai Saki felt exactly like that.
Sitting by the window, Sakurai stared outside, zoning out when Hayasaka Ai entered the classroom through the door.
Today, she hadn't been caught by the disciplinary committee, so at a glance, her expression looked calm.
Umu, at least outwardly, she was very calm.
What she was thinking inside? Well, only the maid herself knew.
After exchanging a few greetings with classmates, Hayasaka Ai walked toward the seat next to Sakurai.
'How did Kaguya-sama record that voice?' — Since last night, Ai-chan the maid had been mulling over this question nonstop.
(≖_≖ )?
Not to mention that the old, outdated her phone could even record audio, just the fact that Sakurai could imitate such a cute cat meow… was shocking enough for Hayasaka Ai.
A person who usually looked like they were wearing a sour cat-face, yet could make such an adorable sound — it honestly gave people chills.
Yes, chills.
Listening to the recording, Hayasaka Ai only felt it was creepy.
Hayasaka: (｡Ó﹏Ò｡)
Perhaps only Secretary Fujiwara could appreciate the cuteness of Sakurai Saki.
Though she was very curious about what had happened yesterday afternoon, deep down, Hayasaka Ai had no intention of investigating.
She had thought before about sneaking into the student council room, but as a devoted maid, it was inappropriate — and an unforgivable breach of manners — to intrude upon Shinomiya Kaguya's private space.
Having been trained as a maid since childhood, Hayasaka Ai was very clear about the Shinomiya family's rules.
No matter how close the two of them were, like sisters even, there were still boundaries… that could not be crossed.
Reaching the seat beside him, Hayasaka Ai glanced at Sakurai, who was absentmindedly gazing out the window, then quietly slipped behind him.
She then hugged him from behind, affectionately rubbing her cheek against his:
"Sakurai-chan~ good morning! What are you daydreaming about?"
(っ˶ ˘ ᵕ˘)ˆᵕ ˆ˶ς)
Sakurai Saki turned his head, and upon seeing it was her, didn't seem too bothered. He was thinking about the inner-club union meeting happening that afternoon.
"This afternoon, I have to attend the club presidents' meeting with President Shirogane, so I was figuring out how to handle it."
Hayasaka Ai noticed quite a few classmates' gazes drifting over, so she didn't overdo it, letting go of Sakurai and returning to her own seat.
"Good luck!" — she cheered.
ദ്ദി(˵ •̀ ᴗ - ˵ ) ✧
The Shuchiin Academy Club Presidents' Conference, often called the Shuchiin VIP meeting, was a gathering of people not to be trifled with — behind each of them was usually one of the major forces: military, business, politics, religion, police, yakuza...
Just glancing over those keywords was enough to understand how terrifying the deterrent power of these VIPs was.
They could practically do whatever they wanted within Shuchiin Academy. If they found someone displeasing, just a slight twitch of a finger could make that person voluntarily leave Shuchiin.
In the past, aside from Shirogane Miyuki, the academy had also seen "commoner" students rise to the student council president's seat, but most of them couldn't last a full term — the fastest one "voluntarily" resigned after just a single semester.
Currently, the reason Shirogane Miyuki could firmly hold the president's position wasn't just because of the reputation he had built up last year, but also because of another key factor.
For example… Ice Queen Shinomiya Kaguya.
For Shinomiya Kaguya, protecting the entire student council from being sabotaged was of utmost importance.
Not only because her close friend Fujiwara Chika was part of the student council, and not just because her maid Hayasaka Ai liked someone in the council, but also because… of another reason.
She cared deeply about winning and losing!
Ever since Shirogane Miyuki "stole the position" from her through last year's exam results, Shinomiya Kaguya had always held a grudge in her heart — she wanted to win that round back!
To achieve that, she had pushed Shirogane Miyuki to become the student council president —that way, he'd have less time to study, and she'd have more chances to defeat him!
That was Shinomiya Kaguya's thinking.
The above might be a bit off-topic, so let's set that aside for now.
At the moment, what Sakurai Saki was thinking about wasn't actually all that serious.
Although the club presidents all had big backings, it wasn't like they'd break out into an all-out fight just over some club funding.
Mainly, they just had to be stopped from arguing too fiercely.
Among them, there were two people who especially loved to stir up trouble.
One was Ryuju Momo from the Astronomy Club — the daughter of a yakuza boss.
The other was Kojima from the Kendo Club — a guy whose family held high-ranking positions in the police force.
As long as those two didn't pick a fight, today's meeting should go smoothly… hopefully.
Thinking of those two, Sakurai Saki suddenly felt all his confidence drain away.
He went back to zoning out.
...
...
The teacher entered the classroom.
No idea what the homeroom session this morning would be about.
Sakurai Saki looked at the female teacher with a ponytail standing in front, chattering nonstop,and he quietly let out a yawn.
(* ´ ﹃｀*)
These days, he needed to sleep at least ten hours a day, maybe even more, just to feel awake.
Normally, aside from liking the taste, he drank coffee to help stay alert.
Working part-time before had been exhausting, and even in the past half-year of working as a "rent-a-boyfriend," it hadn't exactly been easy — but at least… he could get a bit more sleep.
After school, which ended a bit after 3 p.m., Sakurai Saki would go to the student council room to handle work, then head off to his part-time job, which usually started at 5 p.m.
His service shift would end close to or just after 8 p.m., and by the time he got home, it would be around 9 p.m.
At that point, if during the day Sakurai Saki had randomly gained some uncontrollable supernatural ability, he'd still need to log into a game to vent his destructive urges, scaring the poor gamers there.
Only after playing games and satisfying his impulses would he finally feel at ease enough to sleep.
But by then, it would already be close to midnight.
The next morning, he had to be in class by 8:30 a.m. — no matter how you calculated it, it wasn't nearly enough to get ten hours of sleep.
In short, Sakurai Saki was chronically sleep-deprived.
Even if it didn't show physically, deep inside he was utterly exhausted.
Sakurai rarely showing emotion when in the student council room partly stemmed from this very reason.
When the last morning class, literature, ended, Sakurai Saki grabbed his bento, preparing to head to the student council room.
He glanced at Shinomiya Kaguya and saw she didn't seem like she was planning to go eat.
Right now, she was quietly sitting alone at her seat.
At a glance, people might even think she was being isolated.
But in Sakurai Saki's eyes, it was more like Shinomiya Kaguya was isolating herself from others.
Lately, she had started showing a bit more expression, and her cold demeanor had softened slightly, but for her to truly return to being a normal person… there was still a long road ahead.
Leaving the classroom, Sakurai Saki walked down the hallway.
Many people were heading to the lower-level courtyard to eat lunch,and some were still chatting about club activities.
When he pushed open the student council room door, Sakurai Saki saw Ishigami Yuu had arrived a step before him.
"Huh? Ishigami, you're not having lunch?"
He didn't see Ishigami carrying a bento — was he not planning to eat?
Ishigami Yuu pulled out a spiral-shaped pastry from his bag.
Taking a bite, he replied, "This is enough for me."
Sakurai Saki looked at the top of Ishigami's head,and right above him appeared a giant glowing word — [TRUE]!
He wasn't lying.
Why was Sakurai so sure about that?
Because today, Sakurai Saki was a human lie detector!