Chapter 2 – Exchanging Moves

Because of what happened the other day, Rui and I had become ‘lovers,’ at least for the time being.

After that, we exchanged our LINE ID. Our first message to each other was, ‘Please take care of me from now on,’ and ‘Likewise’. A totally lover-like exchange.

When I went home that day, I could still feel the lingering taste of her lips… Well, it was quite an intense experience, so this much was normal, at least I thought so.

And I’d also love to believe that she also felt the same way as me.

Anyway, I’ve been thinking about the matter a lot, but it seemed like I had no particular feelings toward Mareshino Rui myself. Yes, the kisses with her felt good, and she was such a wonderful person that I’d willingly brag to other people over the fact that she was my lover, but… I couldn’t feel any attachment for her. Maybe it was because I didn’t know her well enough?

That was why rather than lovers, it felt more like we were… Uh… For the lack of better words… Sex friend¹セフレ/sex friend. Yes, she deadass said this.…?

Crazy. Having such a pretty and innocent girl like this as a sex friend? Yeah, I won at life now. I felt like a toddler getting a new toy. Happiness personified.

The school was only three stations away from my house. As I walked, the school gate, which was located on top of a hill, came to my view.

“Look, look, it’s Mareshino-san!”

“Ah, you’re right…haah…she looks as pretty as always…”

Just as what the students walking nearby said, Mareshino-san had just arrived at school.

She was the only person in this school who’d make other girls sigh in admiration just by walking normally.

…What about me, you asked? Well, I was more approachable than her, so in my case, those girls would just come up to me and greet me instead.

In any case, I still couldn’t believe the fact that such a girl had become my lover.

* * *

“Sara-san, you seem prettier than usual today?”

“My, stop teasing me.”

As I entered my class and sat down, my friend, Mayuko, said that to me. She sat in front of me, staring at me with an amused gaze while poking my arm repeatedly. Seriously, we might be friends, but I’d really appreciate it if she didn’t touch me carelessly like this. Especially when she was giving me that kind of look.

“Did something good happen?”

“Kinda. I talked with Mareshino-san for a little bit.”

“Oh! The two great princesses had a chat together? Nice. Now I’m inspired!”

…What the hell were you on about?

For some reason, after she said that, she took out her sketchbook and started doodling on it. There were still three months until the Aitan Festival, but she had started to come up with something for it now. She looked like she was having a lot of fun.

“I wonder which one of you will become the Belle Fleur? As your friend, I’m cheering for you, but as the President of the Fashion Club, I couldn’t decide on which one of you is more suited for the title!”

“Jeez, seriously, you… It doesn’t really matter which one of us actually becomes the Belle Fleur, right? In the end, it’ll be you who’ll become the Fairy Godmother and come up with a dress for us.”

“I guess you’re right. I’ll be satisfied either way!”

“Nihihi!” Mayuko-san laughed. Though at a glance she looked fairly sociable and kind, when it came to designing clothes, this girl could be rather obstinate.

I’ve known her ever since we were in our first year of middle school, and she had been telling me, ‘I can make better dresses than that…’ every single year the festival happened.

That was why I wanted to see if she could own up to those words or not.

“Anyway, it feels unreal to think that we’re in the fifth year now. Good luck, Sara-san. Know that I’ll always be cheering for you as your friend!”

“I’ll do my best to not cause a scandal in the meantime.”

“Right, don’t try to get a girlfriend for a while, okay? Belle Fleur is the symbol of the school. The one who receives the title shouldn’t be monopolized by a single person! She is for everyone!”

We’ve known each other for a long time, that was why she knew that I liked girls. As a response to Mayuko-san’s kind advice, I smiled at her before saying, “Obviously. I know that.”

At that moment, the memory of the kiss resurfaced in my mind. Because of that I had to restrain myself from touching my lips due to how attentive the girl in front of me could be.

* * *

Despite us already becoming lovers, I still wasn’t able to meet up with Mareshino-san anytime I liked. All because of how popular I was. Whenever I went, my friends would follow.

We also agreed to be more cautious about it because we didn’t want any strange rumors before the voting started.

That was why we could only meet up after school, but we still couldn’t do it every day. This was because someone from her home would pick her up. She could tell them that she’d have to stay a little longer at school, but it wasn’t like she could do it every day. And even if she could, she still wouldn’t be able to stay at school for too long either.

So we talked about it.

And decided that we’d meet up every Thursday after the committee meeting.

Our meeting would last around one to two hours after all the other committee members’ left.

Well, this should be good enough, since we had to keep our relationship a secret anyway. The kisses I had with her felt a little too good, so I’d just take this as a way to restrain myself.

* * *

Third week of October. Today marked a full week after our first kiss.

After all the other committee members left, Mareshino-san and I, under the guise of doing light work that we didn’t actually need to do today, stayed back inside the room for a while longer.

Outside the window, the sun was setting, and we could hear the voice that the marching band made from a distance away.

Just when I thought that the mood was perfect for us to start, Mareshino-san opened her mouth.

“Alright, now that we’re lovers…”

“Mm?”

She was still sitting in her seat, stapling some documents on the desk.

From where I was at, her visage looked especially pretty. The setting sun, creeping through the gap in the curtains, created an angel halo that decorated her hair. Her smooth, silky hair, now tinged in an orange hue, looked as if it was pleasant to touch.

Suddenly, I felt the urge to touch her— Wait, no! No matter how pretty she looked, she was still Mareshino Rui, a viciously cunning woman!

“Don’t you think it feels weird for us to refer to each other with our surnames?”

“You think so? I personally don’t really care.”

“Just for appearance purposes.”

Well, she was the one who proposed this deal to me, and I knew that she could be really persuasive if she really wanted to do something.

Should I just indulge her?

“Fine. It’s a lover’s duty to fulfill her lover’s wishes. What if I call you ‘Honey?’ You can start calling me ‘Darling’ too.”

Too bad, Honey wasn’t on board with my suggestion.

“And why should I? Give me a good reason.”

“Well, ‘Darling’ originally is a way to address one’s beloved, only in Japan does it used to refer specifically to a man. In truth, it isn’t a strange thing to address a woman with it.”

“Then, let’s do the opposite. I’ll call you ‘Honey,’ you’ll call me ‘Darling.’”

Fine.

Let’s test it out.

“…Honey…”

“…What is it, Darling?”

We stared at each other. The atmosphere turned weird.

Both of us let out a sigh at the same time.

“Why don’t we just call each other by our given names?”

“Right. I’ll be in your care from now on, Sara-san.”

“Likewise, Rui.”

Mareshino-san— No, Rui, furrowed her brows. She probably didn’t expect that I’d immediately drop the honorifics when addressing her. ‘This is why I’m better than you, I’m always one step ahead.’ I thought in my mind. Our showdown had already begun, after all, so there was no reason for me to hold back.

Though, the gap I created wasn’t big enough to make it worth bragging it off to her.

“Sara-san, what’s your favorite color?”

The topic that she chose to start our conversation was surprisingly cute. It made me feel like I was talking to a new deskmate after a class change.

“I love red. As for the shade, I’m more into garnet’s shade than ruby’s, or strawberry’s than apple’s. What about you, Rui? Is it blue?”

“Yes. I don’t wear such colors at school, but I do like lapis lazuli a lot. Well, I guess it’s kinda obvious, isn’t it?”

“Well, your name IS Rui²The 瑠 kanji in Rui’s name just meant lapis lazuli..”

Some people might find that childish, but I wouldn’t ever think so.

For me, defining your character with such an obvious trait was an easy way to boost your popularity. People would feel more connected to you if they were to know your likes and dislikes. Rui liked the color blue, so she wore blue ribbons every day, anyone could tell from that and it’d give them a little understanding of her character.

Of course you needed to take care to not exaggerate it, or else it’d just bring you more trouble than it’s worth, especially if the character trait you were showing was one that was completely different from your actual personality. Keep everything in moderation, to put it simply.

Speaking of character traits, I had a few of them. People thought of me as a cool person, someone who was always able to snatch the spotlight, an existence that shone brighter than anyone and so on. Most of them were the character traits that I purposely created, obviously.

As for Rui, her most well-known traits were; An honor student with a kind personality, someone who always got the perfect score on exams, a flawless beauty that never made any mistakes.

Those were the things that I’ve heard the most when someone was talking about her.

“Funny, isn’t it? We’ve been attending the same school for five years, yet we didn’t even know each others’ favorite colors until now.”

She made a good point.

Then again, despite us being in the same grade all this time, she always was like an unattainable flower to me.

Gazing at her from afar was the only thing I could do. You might find this surprising, but I actually was afraid to talk to her. Afraid that she’d push me away. After all, she was the complete opposite of me; Someone who never took anything seriously and always tried to look good in front of others.

Then again, I’d rather love a pretty bouquet of flowers within my reach instead of some unattainable flowers myself.

That was why I really appreciate my current situation, as said unattainable flower suddenly came within my embrace. If only this wasn’t a showdown, but a pure relationship between lovers…

“We’ve learned one more thing about each other, I’d say that’s one step forward in our relationship.”

Hearing her words, I involuntarily blurted out, “Relationship? Ah, right, we’re supposed to be lovers, aren’t we?”

“Oh my, did you forget already? Are you not happy that we’ve become lovers?”

“Obviously I am happy. In fact, I got excited just by thinking about the things we could do together from now on. There are a lot of things I want to do together with you, as lovers.”

Still, I couldn’t deny that I felt a little frustration about our current relationship. Since we would only be lovers until the voting started at early December, we could only meet each other like this seven more times in total. Which meant, we had to make every moment count.

I sat down next to her. She flinched. Guess she remembered our kiss last week.

Despite that, she still tried to gain the upper hand by saying…

“…What’s wrong, Sara-san? Do you want to sit next to me that badly? Jeez, what a spoiled girl you are.”

“Yes, I do. Since it’s just the two of us here, why don’t we do something that lovers normally do?”

“What do you have in your mind? Do you want to talk about our future together…? Or maybe you want something else?”

She made it sound as if I was desperate for her affection.

Or maybe she was just trying to make me say some embarrassing things. Whatever it was, I ignored it and intertwined my hand with hers. As I indulged in the warmth of her hand, she gave me a motherly smile.

To explain our relationship in simple terms, both of us were pretty much ‘trying to gain control.’

We were trying to make each other give in and think that ‘I am no match for her.’ To make each other intoxicated in their feelings and say ‘I’ll give all my heart to her.’

None of us said this out loud, but such a rule was already established between us. As an honor student, Rui was certainly smart. She was unbeatable in terms of intelligence, and she definitely thought that her victory was all but assured.

Too bad for her, her opponent was me. She might be smarter than me, but I was more cunning than her.

“Rui, can I ask you something? Please tell me your honest feelings.”

“…Eh?”

I smiled.

“How do you feel about me exactly?”

For a moment there, her whole body froze.

Understanding the intention behind my words, she answered my question fluently.

“I think…you’re a very attractive girl, Sara-san. You have gorgeous long hair and a presence that makes you stand out from the rest. Oftentimes, I’d stop to admire your gait. The underclassmen adore you, and the seniors love you. You’re truly the pride of our school.”

It was obvious that she prepared those lines in advance.

“…Is that so?”

Still, it was the first time I’ve heard her praising someone so eloquently.

I wouldn’t blame anyone if they felt that they’ve achieved all their life goals if they were praised by her. One could take her praises as a divine blessing after all. Once in a lifetime blessing that not everyone in this world could receive.

If she actually meant what she said, I’d definitely have trouble sleeping tonight because I’d be too excited.

I commend her effort, but too bad.

If it was only this much, it was still within my expectations.

I placed my index finger on her chin and lifted it up.

“But, what I want to hear is what you truly feel, Rui.”

“…Sorry?”

Still playing dumb, I see. This was Mareshino Rui we were talking about, there was no way that she’d misunderstand my intention.

Guess I’d have to teach her that such a resistance was futile. Alright, let’s make that my goal for today. To drop her facade and bring out her true personality.

“Please give me an honest answer. Do you like me?”

After saying that, purposely sounding as if I was a spoiled girl craving for her lover’s affection, I stroked her collarbone with my free fingers. Now Rui looked as if she was at a loss.

Well, she told me that she found me attractive, so I might as well use it to make her yield like this.

I didn’t know how badly she wanted to avoid answering that question, but after a while, she opened her mouth. There was a determined expression on her face.

“…I do…like you…”

She said, looking up at me while clutching the hem of her skirt.

There was a possibility that she only said it because we were supposed to be lovers at the moment. In other words, a pretext. But, since she said it out loud, I could ignore that and pretend that she was telling me the truth.

Still, having her confess her affection toward me…ah, this feeling…so irresistible…!

“I see. You aren’t lying, are you?”

“…Of course not. I like you.”

As expected of her, she managed to regain her composure quickly. She was still blushing, but the tone of her voice was calm.

Rather, she already came up with a way to fight back.

“Your beauty, pretty eyes, and slender figures are all things that I admire, Sara-san. I like you. Well, that’s a given since we’re lovers.”

‘I see, thank you,’ I was about to say that when I realized that she had only been praising my look all this time. Well, whatever, the feelings’ mutual anyway.

But still, did she really think that I was that pretty? Well, I obviously had confidence regarding my own look, but I’d still feel happy if someone were to compliment me like this. No. I lied. In fact, I was elated.

I caressed Rui’s cheek. She remained still, but I moved my face closer to her.

And kissed her.

“Thank you, Rui.”

“…No, you don’t need to…”

This was our third kiss, and it was just a gentle peck from me.

She seemed about to run away and say something like, ‘Time to go home,’ but too bad for her, I didn’t want that. I still had something I wanted to do here.

So, I asked her another question.

“Next time, will you be willing to kiss me while saying, ‘I like you,’ Rui?”

“…Huh?”

Her eyes widened in surprise.

Oh my, was it really that surprising?

“Please? I want to be pampered by my lover too.”

“…”

For a moment there, she had an incredulous look on her face. As if trying to tell me, ‘What the hell are you talking about?’ This look of hers was nice too, I liked it. Of course, I didn’t say it out loud, and instead just gave her a smile.

Rui quickly fixed her expression and returned my smile.

“Sure, I’d love to pamper you, Sara-san. I wouldn’t mind fulfilling the request of my spoiled lover.”

She placed a hand on my shoulder, but her grip was rather strong. What was she aiming to do? Was this her revenge?

“…I like you, Sara-san.”

She said in a small voice before gently pressing her lips against mine.

The taste of her kiss was exquisite. Not only did her lips feel as soft as fresh cream, I also got to see her gorgeous face from a close range. This wasn’t something that could be experienced by just anyone, so having able to monopolize her kisses made me feel good.

With flushed cheeks, she murmured in a sulky tone.

“Is this enough?”

“Of course not.”

“Huh?”

I shook my head, as if it was the obvious answer, meanwhile Rui didn’t even bother to hide her dissatisfaction.

“Once isn’t enough. Let’s do it a hundred more times~”

“…S-Sara-san…”

I could see her eyebrows twitching, but there was still a smile plastered on her face. What an amazing display of self-control.

“I didn’t expect that you’re such a greedy person, Sara-san.”

“You like that side of me, don’t you?”

I smiled as I said that, and I could faintly hear her clicking her tongue. She hadn’t dropped her smile, though.

“…Of course I do.”

“Mhm.”

Then, she brought her face closer to me.

“I like you…”

She whispered swiftly before pecking my lips.

“I like you…I like you…I like you…”

I welcomed each of her kisses eagerly, even interrupting her words by sticking my tongue inside of her mouth.

“Nng…haah…I like you…mmh…Sara-san…”

Such words of love came out of her mouth as our tongue intertwined. Anyone who didn’t know of our circumstances would definitely think that she was obsessed with me or something. I couldn’t help but say something to her.

“…The feeling’s mutual, Rui.”

Replying to that, Rui kept on pouring the words of love to me from a close proximity. At one point, she grabbed my hand and locked my fingers with hers.

“Mmh…I like you…pwah…like…like, like, like, like— Mmh…like, like— I like you…”

She repeated her words, as if she had given up on resisting.

Such a passionate courtship coming from her made my head spin.

Oh no, I was about to lose my mind.

Currently, we were the only ones in this building. The curtains were closed, so no one could see what we were up to from outside.

Our previous kisses were nothing compared to this one. More than fifteen minutes had passed, and Rui was still showering me with countless kisses, repeating the word ‘like’ as if she was possessed.

Because she was the one who said it out loud, she was definitely in a worse state than me, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t close to my limit. Still, I let her do her thing despite knowing that this might lead to my own destruction.

After all, it was the first time that someone had ever showered me with this much love.

“I like you, Sara-san…I like you…”

Her voice sounded sweet, like honey.

I couldn’t tell if her reddened cheeks came from shame or lust.

“Haah…haah…I like you…”

In the meantime, it seemed like she had finished saying her 100th words of love. What a cheeky girl, she actually counted it, didn’t she? She took a step backwards. Her lips parted in a regretful manner.

Phew…that was quite fun, Rui.

After receiving such one-sided words of love, I smiled in satisfaction.

“Thank you. I’m assured of your feelings towards me now.”

I guess this much was enough for the week.

“…I see. That’s great, then. Though, I won’t mind if you’re begging for more.”

“Really? You can kiss me again until you’re satisfied, Rui.”

“I’d love to, but it’s already time for us to leave. Also, I’d rather not take too much of your time, Sara-san.”

Maybe as a revenge, she leaned forward and patted my head. I expected that she’d bite me after I went this far, but instead, she treated me rather gently, so I decided to let her off.

This didn’t feel bad.

Feeling her touching my hair, I felt like someone special.

“…You know, Sara-san.”

“Yes?”

“When you’re quiet like this…you’re rather cute…”

“Oh my, are you implying that I’m not usually cute?”

Seeing me in such a good mood, showing off a proud smile at her, Rui looked away, pouting.

“…Normally, you’re pretty.”

That was such a wonderful compliment that would definitely leave me dumbstruck if I didn’t know that she didn’t even mean it. Nevertheless, I patted her head as a ‘thanks,’ and she didn’t resist it.

While we were getting ready to leave, the door was opened. A female teacher entered the room. She should be Minato-sensei, the teacher in charge.

“Oh my, you two are still here, Mareshino-san? Kureha-san?”

We quickly put on our facade.

“Yes, we finished our work just now. Thank you for your hard work, Sensei.”

“We’ll return the key to the staff room later.”

Minato-sensei relaxed her face and smiled gently at us. She was a pretty, elegant and kind teacher who was well-liked by the students of this school. Even me, someone who was into younger girls, felt attracted to her.

“You don’t need to report to me, I trust you two completely with that. Also, all the teachers are looking forward to the voting in December.”

She only said that because she had no idea what was happening just a few minutes ago. She didn’t know what kind of face that Rui made when she kissed me.

I obediently said “Yes, Sensei,” and waved my hand. Right before she closed the door, I leaned closer to Rui and whispered something in her ear.

“…I like you too, Rui.”

“—!”

Rui’s face turned red as she turned her gaze at me. Noticing her sudden action, Minato-sensei tilted her head and asked.

“What’s wrong, Mareshino-san?”

“N-Nothing!”

The way she glared at me with tears in her eyes was definitely one of the best faces she made so far.

I made quite the huge harvest just by doing some small things today. Now I felt even more excited to enjoy the rest of the period of us being together as lovers.

If things were to continue this way, soon enough she’d kneel down to me.

I’ve always felt intimidated towards her, mostly because of her grades and how pretty she was, but it seemed like it was overestimating her by a lot. Seeing her dancing in my palm like this was delightful.

Or so I thought. When we were about to part ways in front of the school gate, Rui, who had been silent all this while, suddenly opened her mouth and said.

“I had fun today, Sara-san…hopefully, we could get to know each other better next time too… Then, see you later.”

She was smiling, but there was something hidden behind that smile, I could feel it.

I didn’t know about it at the time.

From that point onward, this relationship of ours developed into a merciless showdown where we’d have to constantly exchange moves to make each other kneel down.

* * *

As we entered the fourth week of October, the preparation for the Aitan Festival finally began in earnest.

With the five-year students in the lead, they divided the underclassmen in groups, each doing their own work. Because of this, the meeting room was bustling with activities.

“I’ve received the list of school alumni from the Principal, but Senpai, is there any standards that needs to be followed to be the ‘Tsubomi?’”

“That part is already taken care of. This is a list of eligible candidates from the first to third-years, the order of priority starts from the third-years down, so please contact them for the time being. Mind the priority and availability when picking the candidates.”

“Yes, Ma’am!”

Rui was giving instructions to the underclassmen, meanwhile I was busy discussing the poster design we’d put up for the vote with a group of underclassmen.

“What if we place a big flower here?”

“Ah, that sounds good… Also, we should make the two candidates face each other here.”

“If that’s the case, we should use Lily³Lily = yuri. as the flower!”

As the girls around me screamed, I let out a wry smile.

“Keep in mind that we still need to make it appropriate. We won’t be the only ones seeing the posters, the teachers and our parents will too.”

Hearing my words, the girls responded simultaneously with a “Yes!” Cute and obedient, just how I liked it. I had the feelings that the remaining six meetings would pass noisily like this.

Oh, right, there was that matter, huh? I turned my gaze toward a certain girl.

“Mareshino-san, about our appointment at the coffee shop near the station on Sunday, will you be able to come?”

“Yes.”

Hearing our conversation, the underclassmen immediately went into an uproar. Well, this was an expected reaction. But, we wouldn’t be doing the naughty thing that they probably expected.

A courageous fourth-year, Ryouko-chan, came forward and asked me.

“Huh? Senpai, will you two be going on a date on the weekend?!”

Instead of me, Rui, taking her eyes off the documents in her hand, was the one who answered her question.

“You can say that. I was planning to draw a template for the budget that we need, but Kureha-san unexpectedly offered me her help, and I accepted it.”

“Yes. I can’t just let the Committee President do everything by herself, can I?”

I wasn’t lying. Sure, in reality, Rui might be able to do everything by herself so there seemed to be no point in me doing this, but that wasn’t actually the case. With this, I painted myself as someone who would willingly ease other’s burdens, and more importantly, Rui would owe me a favor now.

But, it seemed like Rui wasn’t used to receiving such help, so when I offered her my help, she showed me a surprised expression. She even asked me in suspicion, ‘…Are you planning something?’ as if I was some kind of troublemaker or something. Like, no? I wasn’t planning anything against you? This was literally just something anyone with the least sense of morality would do, it wasn’t anything special!

“If you don’t mind, you can come with us.”

“N-No! I-It’s fine!”

“T-There’s no way someone like me would dare to come between you two, Mareshino-senpai, Kureha-senpai…”

The girls vehemently refused. Jeez, they wouldn’t come between us or anything. I genuinely wouldn’t care even if they were to come, since I truly planned to help Rui out this time, not to flirt with her.

Meanwhile, Rui grumbled as she did a rather sexy gesture by putting her hair behind her ears.

“If only the school opens during the weekends.”

“What? You want to come to school on the weekends too?”

“I mean, I wouldn’t come every week.”

“What are you, a black company trainee or something?”

Seriously, this girl. She was just a hardcore workaholic, it seemed.

“Since I can do it, I’ll do it to the best of my ability.” She said. Such words were the reason why she was loved by so many people. I mean, I would love a pretty and hardworking wife like her, so I could relate with those people.

As we were joking around with each other like that…

The girls around us were staring at us with a blank look. This was a completely different reaction than before. What happened to them?

“What’s wrong?”

“S-Senpai, what happened to you two?”

““Hm?””

Rui and I both tilted our heads in confusion.

“Y-You two are going along just fine—”

“Ryouko, shut it!”

“Eh? A-Ah, s-sorry, I-I didn’t mean it like that!”

As I was still showing my confused expression, Ryouko-chan’s friend, Rin-chan, started to explain to me what was going on with a complicated expression.

So, apparently there was a rumor that Rui and I didn’t get along well, and we were in the middle of a cold war or something like that…how exactly did that rumor even appear? No one knew.

Wait, maybe it was because of me? I mean, I got along well with mostly everyone in the same grade as me except for her, so…

“That’s the first time I heard it…”

Even Rui was shocked by this revelation. Seeing that, Rin-chan desperately tried to provide her with follow-up information.

I was in the same state as Rui, except that I didn’t show my true reaction on my face. Instead, I pretended to be calm and blurt out some words of wisdom.

“Sorry for acting in such a way that caused such a misunderstanding to happen. Everyone must have been feeling uncomfortable because of this…”

“A-Ah, no, no! I-It was just our misunderstanding in the end! A-Anyway, it’s good to know that you two are getting along, Senpai!”

“Ehehe,” Ryouko-chan giggled cutely. So cute.

“While you two are supposed to be rivals for the Belle Fleur, I’m rooting for both of you, Mareshino-senpai, Kureha-senpai!”

For a moment, the atmosphere inside the room turned stiff.

Rui and I pretended to not know anything, but anyone could tell that this topic was some sort of a landmine among those girls.

“Ryouko…”

Rin-chan, who was sitting next to her, groaned.

“It’s okay.”

Rui smiled, trying to ease the atmosphere.

“Also, regarding Kureha-san, I’ve always known that she’s a wonderful person. The reason why I haven’t been talking with her is because I’m a little bit shy around her, and our schedules never matched. And, if she were to be chosen as the Belle Fleur, I wouldn’t mind. She deserves it, and I’ll definitely congratulate her from the bottom of my heart when that time comes.”

With those words, Rin-chan and Ryouko-chan let out a sigh of relief, as if they had just been released from a sea of fire.

“As expected of Mareshino-san,” someone in the room said. The smiling Rui was the definition of a ‘pure saintess,’ and I had the feeling that everyone in this room who saw her smile would come to an agreement that she was the perfect person as the Belle Fleur. Truly, she was a strong opponent for me.

* * *

“So.”

The two of us were finally alone in the room as everyone had gone back home. We had to stay here to check the details of the budget proposal.

“Will you really congratulate me from the bottom of your heart?”

“Of course. In the unlikely turns of events where you win the title, yes, I definitely will.”

Rui poured out some hot tea from a thermos into a cup before drinking it.

I could understand where she was coming from. The reason why we were doing this was because we wanted to settle this matter before the vote could go live in the first place.

“Oh my, that’s a rather cold thing to say to your lover.”

“I came to the conclusion that I shouldn’t be pampering you too much. Loving and pampering are two different things, I can love you as much as I want, but that isn’t the case with pampering.”

It seemed like she learned her lesson after what happened the other day.

“Then, do you love⁴Previously they used suki, now they explicitly use ai instead, it’s annoying to TL but basically, in japanese, ai > suki me?”

Holding the lid of the thermos with both hands, Rui nonchalantly answered.

“Yes. I love you.”

It seemed like I could no longer fluster her with this method. She seemed to be getting more resilient day by day. As if we had been together for years already, she wouldn’t react much to my words of love.

But that was that. I still had hundreds of ways to subdue her. The question was, which one should I use for today, hm?

“Still, I can’t believe that there’s a rumor going on that we have a bad relationship, Rui.”

“I don’t think that’s a problem for both of us.”

“Can you elaborate?”

“It’ll be better for them to think that way since we’re supposed to keep our relationship a secret. This way, it’ll be harder for them to notice how we became closer during this period of time. Of course, both of us still need to be careful, lest they somehow manage to notice it anyway.”

“I think you’re just overthinking it. People won’t think much even if they notice that we became closer during this period of time. They’ll just dismiss it as we trying to hype each other up before the voting begins. And, even if they notice that we’re unnaturally close with each other, it isn’t like they would hate us for it. On the contrary, they’d love it.”

Rui gave out a small sigh. What was with that reaction?

“You’re a way more carefree person than I expected, Sara-san.”

“No, I think you’re just too uptight.”

“And you like me despite that?”

“The difference in our personality is what exactly made me attracted to you.”

The only similarities that we had was our love for kisses. Ah, wait…

Considering how uptight of a person she was, did she really not mind such carefree physical contact? I mean, I liked it because that was how I was, but this kind of thing didn’t seem to fit her moral compass.

“Hey.”

“Yes?”

“Rui, do you, perhaps…know me from somewhere prior to this…?”

She kept her mouth shut. Her face was blank, so I couldn’t tell what she was thinking about.

“…Obviously. You’re a famous person in this school.”

“But, have you ever thought ‘I want to be this person’s lover’ when you heard of me?”

“I just thought that I’d definitely have to settle things with you one day.”

Well, that glare wouldn’t intimidate me, you know?

“Who are you, Sasaki Kojiro? Does that mean I am Miyamoto Musashi?”

I looked at her with a blank face as she grew more and more restless by the second. She tried to cover it up by letting out a fake cough. Then, she pulled her chair away and approached me.

“Your hair is so long and pretty, Sara-san…”

“Yes, thank you for always praising it.”

“May I touch it?”

“Of course you may. It feels weird that you ask my permission for this, yet you’d kiss me without my consent.”

“That’s because I figured that you’d like it if I were to do that.”

Always trying to get the last words out, huh? She stroked my hair gently as if it was some kind of expensive jewelry. It felt ticklish. At one point, she twirled it with her finger while saying, “Pretty.” Should I assume that this was her plan for today? To constantly showering me with praises?

“Sara-san, have you always been growing your hair long?”

“At one point, I had short hair during grade school, but yes, otherwise, I’ve been keeping them long.”

As for the reason why I decided to do that…

“Years ago, I saw the Belle Fleur with her long hair and white dress in the chapel. She was so pretty and her presence made everything around her pale in comparison. So, I made a promise to myself that I’ll keep my hair long so that I could become that pretty when I eventually become the Belle Fleur.”

Hearing my words, Rui’s finger stopped.

“…So there’s such a thing.”

“Well, that’s just a little dream of mine. Still, what struck me back then wasn’t actually how pretty the Belle Fleur was. It was because of the gaze everyone gave her, as if she was a Goddess. I also want to be loved by so many people…”

When I probed her reaction, she seemed to show how happy she was to hear my story.

“…But if that’s the case, Sara-san, you’ve already been loved by so many people. That means you don’t need the title anymore, do you?”

“Wrong.”

My voice came out strong. Like a lump of iron being dropped onto the ground.

…No, calm down. Control yourself.

I needed to at least ease my tone. Well, it was probably too late at this point since we were already so deep in this topic. I spectacularly dug my own grave deeply, huh?

“If someone else were to become the Belle Fleur, then I’ll be stuck as the number two. Everyone will just completely ignore me for that person. I’ll become a mere extra, a background character. Especially when the one who’s chosen is you.”

“…That shouldn’t be the case. There should be people who genuinely care about you. They won’t abandon you just because of that.”

For some reason, she tried to soothe me. She could just dismiss it lightly and move on like what she always did.

This was why I shouldn’t ever reveal my weakness. Everything just went awry the moment I did so.

Calm down. Blur my honest feelings between my jest. Hide everything. Carefully…but, ugh…it was way too late to recover at this point…

With furrowed brows, I tried to shift the focus of the conversation towards Rui.

“What about you? Why do you want to become the Belle Fleur?”

“My reason is similar to yours. Back when I was a kid, my mother brought me to the Aitan Festival and I saw the Belle Fleur there…that was when I decided that I wanna be the Belle Fleur.”

She glanced at me. There was an expectant look in her gaze, for some reason…?

“I’ve been studying hard since middle school, always trying to be the best in my class, taking care of my appearance, so that I can become a role model for everyone and get them to admire me…I’m serious about this, I’ve been working all my life for this…”

“That’s admirable.”

Though we were aiming for the same thing, we did it in different ways. While I’ve been trying to maintain my image so that I could be popular among the students, Rui put in all her efforts to be THE model student.

Well, I didn’t think that what I’ve been doing was wrong or anything. This just made me understand the reason why I felt that there was something different about her when I laid my eyes on her.

“Sara-san.”

“Yes?”

“…No, nothing.”

Her voice sounded a little sullen this time.

“…Jeez.”

Imitating my usual tone, Rui continued to brush my hair with her fingers. She brought her face closer to my exposed ear and—

“Hya!”

I accidentally let out a strange voice, so I quickly covered my mouth.

Girl, that was a foul!

She suddenly stuck her tongue in my ear.

It actually sent a shiver down my spine…

She wasn’t done, after hearing my yelp, she immediately whispered something in my ear.

“That was quite the cute voice you let out.”

“H-Hey, stop it.”

“Shh, don’t resist it. I’ll make you feel good…”

“No, just stop—”

She licked my ear again. A wet sound echoed in my ear as I hurriedly slammed my lips shut. If I didn’t do this, I’d let out another strange voice again.

“Rui—”

“So this is your weak point, hm…? Don’t worry, I’ll do it more for you…”

Her smug face made me want to at least glare at her, but I couldn’t. I was most likely blushing furiously, so I had to hide my face from her gaze.

Seriously, how did this happen? There must be something that triggered her switch on, but what was it? I couldn’t tell, this situation was too crazy for me. There was barely anything I could do to keep myself calm when such a beautiful girl was licking my ear like this!

Maybe her words were true. My ears were my weak point…

While I was struggling like that, Rui moved her tongue and tapped on my earlobe with it. At this point, I could only hear the wet sound of her saliva as she rubbed her tongue against my earlobe.

“W-Wait, Rui—-”

“I won’t stop. This is revenge for what you’ve done the other day…”

This girl must have been waiting for this moment, huh?

My body jerked because of her hot breath. It was embarrassing.

Rui’s voice was soft, yet it was more alluring than usual, prompting another yelp to come out of my mouth, but I managed to hold it back at the last second. “Ahh—ngh—” Despite my effort, a low moan still escaped my lips anyway.

Ugh…when will she stop…?

At this point, she had been caressing my earlobe countless times, but she wasn’t done. Now, she began to nibble on it, gripping it rather tightly between her lips before sucking it.

Then, she moved her tongue again, covering the outermost part of my earlobe before licking the inner part of it once again.

“Nnn—!”

I knew that it was useless by now, but I still tried to stifle my voice.

And of course, she wasn’t done yet. She reached toward my other ear with her hand, and tickled it with the tip of her short nail. The situation just turned from bad to worse for me.

“Ahh—haaa! Ahn–!”

Due to the close proximity between my ears and my brain, it felt like she directly transmitted the pleasure to my brain.

The wet sound of her saliva sounded distinct by now, but it felt as if it overwhelmed all my senses at once.

Her intentionally mixing lewd sounds in between her breath only made everything worse for me.

Not only that, she also tried various things to probe my reactions. From her teasing the entrance of my ear by placing her tongue there, to her swirling her tongue around my earlobe like a puppy licking a treat.

“I like you, Sara-san…I like you…so much…” She whispered in such a sweet voice that drove me crazy.

This girl, seriously—!

At this point, I was already half-conscious, so I failed to notice that she already slipped her other hand inside my uniform.

I only realized it when her hand reached for my bra and flicked the tip of my breasts. “Ngh—!” Once again, I let out another stifled moan.

What was she doing?! W-We were still in school! Unable to withstand the situation anymore, I scolded her, all while trying to keep my voice down.

“W-What are you doing, Rui—?!”

Her face was close to mine. A seductive smile plastered over her pretty face, the only thing I could see with my clouded vision. The hot breath that came out of the gap between her lips caressed my cheek as she whispered.

“You see, if there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s studying. And getting better at something like this is a trivial matter for me, as long as I studied it beforehand. So, what do you think, Sara-san? C’mon, I’ll make you feel even better~”

N-No, wait, it wasn’t supposed to be like this! I should be the one who—!

Though my heart strongly rejected what she was doing, I couldn’t utter a word to resist her.

In the midst of my struggles, she pulled up my bra. Underneath my uniform, my breasts were completely exposed.

Wait, wait, wait! We were still in school, what the hell was she trying to do to me?!

Despite my mind telling me to yell at her to make her stop, my body accepted the pleasure she provided me.

As if my body was telling me that since I let her have her way up to this point it was too late to resist…

“R-Rui– Rui, please—! A-Ahhn–!”

“Yes, I understand Sara-san. That part of your body must feel lonely as well, doesn’t it? I’ll work on it, don’t worry.”

“That isn’t what I—-!”

Suddenly, she pinched the tip of my chest. The timing in which she had done it made it as if she was telling me to stop resisting.

I…had to admit…she was good at this…

Her relentless attack on my ears and chest… No, I can’t—!

No, no, no! At this rate, I—! I desperately tried to gather the last pieces of my scattered self-control.

“Stop—!”

In desperation, I shoved her away.

I stood up, and the chair I was sitting on fell down, making a loud noise.

My breathing was ragged, so was Rui’s, but I was having a harder time than her. For a while, we stared at each other.

I could still feel my burning hot face, and seeing it, Rui let out a chuckle.

“You look cute, Honey.”

My heart pounded so strongly that I could hear its beats in my ears.

“Y-You idiot, pulling off something like this at school! Do you really want to get back at me that badly?!”

“What are you talking about? I just want to make my lover feel good, that’s all.”

So cheeky! But, it wasn’t like I could refute her words! The issue here was the location, not her actions. We were lovers, this kind of thing was normal between lovers!

My mind was still in chaos. Why exactly was I feeling so frustrated…? Was it because I hated it when she did whatever she wanted to me? Or maybe I hated it because we…didn’t go all the way…?

“…That didn’t feel good at all.”

Yes, the words that came out of my mouth were pathetic. In fact, I was angry at myself for even thinking of saying it, and even more so at Rui for making me say it. I quickly adjusted my messy uniform. While I was doing so, something came to my mind. If I didn’t stop her back then… Maybe, just maybe…she’d reach out towards my skirt too…?

But, she wasn’t done yet.

While I was thinking as such, she rummaged through her bag and pulled out something.

“Are you sure it didn’t feel good? You sounded like you were enjoying it, though?”

“What are you on about? I wasn’t—”

A clicking sound came from her hand.

‘R-Rui– Rui, please—! A-Ahhn–!’

My whole body froze.

“Huh…?”

“Your voice sounded so lovely, Honey~”

There was a voice recorder in her hand. A devilish smirk was plastered on her face.

My face turned even hotter.

“Wha—?!”

“Don’t worry, I won’t use it as blackmail material or something. I mean, there’s no way I’d threaten my one true love with this. This is for my personal use only.”

My moans echoed through the room, it sounded like I was in some kind of ecstasy.

I was too embarrassed to process everything that happened properly. It was to the point that I couldn’t even look in Rui’s direction.

“P-Personal use…? W-What are you, a pervert?”

“…Huh? W-Wait, I-I didn’t mean it that way!”

When she noticed that she had said something horribly wrong, her face reddened as she shook her head, trying to deny my accusation. But soon, a triumphant smile was formed on her face.

“Jeez, why are you suddenly saying such strange things? Maybe you’re the pervert here, Sara-san? I mean, you did enjoy getting your ears licked while your chest is being fondled even though we’re still at school.”

You were the one who did that to me!

“Well, you can be more honest with me, Sara-san. If you ask, I’ll pamper you to the best of my abilities, you see? It seems like you prefer to be pampered instead of the other way around, so you can leave everything to me.”

She said with such confidence, as if she was kindly telling me about the side of me that I didn’t know, but I knew that she was just taunting me here. The frustrating thing here was that I wasn’t in the place to deny her words.

Even though her words couldn’t be further than the truth, I couldn’t do anything! I might have seemed like I was enjoying it, but that was only because she caught me by surprise! I definitely didn’t prefer to be pampered in that way by her!

Ah, whatever, I don’t care anymore!

The voice recorder kept on playing the same track, its voice echoed in the room, where only the two of us were there, staring at each other.

Suddenly, accompanied by a low “Um?” the door to the room was opened.

I almost jumped out of surprise. Rui was in the same state as me, but she managed to turn off the voice recorder quickly.

Luckily, I’ve tidied up my uniform already. My face might still look red, but it should be fine. I turned around.

There was Ryouko-chan, one of the underclassmen. She must have run here since her face was red.

“W-What’s wrong?”

“N-Nothing, I just left something here…there, my pencil case! The light was still on, so I thought that you two might still be here, Senpai, hehehe…”

“Y-Yeah, we still had to take care of a few things.”

“We are about to wrap it up and go home though.”

When I saw Ryouko-chan’s shy smile, I gradually regained my composure. It felt like I was being abruptly pulled back into reality as the strange atmosphere that lingered around before this fizzled out.

I was in quite the predicament back there, but luckily, she came at a good time. Thank you, Ryouko-chan, thanks to you I was able to escape from Rui’s clutches.

As I turned my warm gaze at her, my savior looked pretty embarrassed.

“Um, by the way, Senpai…did you two hear those…weird voices…?”

““Huh?””

Rui and I exclaimed in unison.

Could it be…the reason why her face was red wasn’t because she ran all the way here…?

“You know…there’s a girl’s voice…ah, you know what, never mind! There’s no way you’ve heard it from here! It probably came from a different room! At least, I know it wasn’t from you two, Senpai! Maybe it’s a ghost or something…? Ahaha…”

Immediately, I gave Rui an elbow on the part of her body that wasn’t in Ryouko-chan’s view.

“Ow!”

“Huh? W-What’s wrong, Senpai?”

“N-Nothing! T-Take care on your way home, okay?”

“A-Ah, yes!”

She bowed her head and scurried away quickly, as if running away from a ghost.

I praised myself for not lashing out in anger while Ryouko-chan was still here. But I didn’t need to do that anymore.

Turning my body around, I grabbed Rui by the collar.

I was smiling while I did so, but I could feel my brows twitching. The voice that I let out was in a lower-pitch than usual.

“Rui…”

“W-What is it, Honey?”

‘You almost screwed both of us over, don’t you know that?’ I complained as such with my eyes. It seemed like she got the message loud and clear.

“For our meeting the day after tomorrow, we’ll do it at your house. You won’t have any trouble with this arrangement, right?”

Her face tightened.

Finally she realized that I was really, really mad at her.

“I won’t, but…my house is a little far from the station, you’d need to walk from there. W-Won’t that trouble you instead, Sara-san…?”

“Oh you don’t need to mind that, I don’t mind walking. Anyway, since this is the first time I’m visiting my precious lover’s house, I guess I should put in my best effort in dressing up, don’t you think so?”

“U-Um…”

“I knew you’d think so too.”

Seriously.

I let go of her collar and tidied up my uniform again. Then, I warned her in a serious tone.

“From now on, no more doing this kind of thing at school. Both of us will be finished if someone were to find out. You understand that, right?”

“…Y-Yes…I-I’ll be more careful next time…”

“The day after tomorrow. At your house. Got it?”

I whispered the last part in her ear. Her body tensed up even further as she clutched the voice recorder tightly.

“I swear, I’ll pay you back a millionfold for what you have done today.”

“…Y-Yes…”

She obediently nodded.

Alright, now, what should I do to get back at her?